The cicadas buzzed lazily in the late afternoon heat. Shadows danced between the long wisteria branches, filtering golden light down in soft patches over Lena's white hair.
Megumi sat with his legs stretched out under the tree, reading a small, worn paperback. He wasn't paying much attention to the words, though. Not since Lena had curled beside him — unusually quiet, even for her — and then…
Gently, like she was testing gravity itself, rested her head on his lap.
His breath caught.
"Is this okay?" she murmured, glasses slightly tilted, one hand resting over her stomach.
She was looking up at him with those icy-blue eyes—vulnerable, soft, without any of the aloof elegance she normally wore like a second skin.
Megumi blinked, the tips of his ears going red.
"Yeah… It's okay."
He wasn't sure what to do with his hands. So he placed one carefully on the grass, the other resting near her shoulder but not touching. Her presence was warm. So very warm.
And Lena—Lena smiled.
Not the polite, practiced smile she gave professors. Not the "I'm fine" smile she wore during missions.
A real smile. Sleepy. Soft. Entirely unguarded.
Somewhere Nearby: Satoru Gojo's Soul Leaves His Body
Up in a tree. Again. Infinity humming like a warning siren.
Satoru Gojo, cursed technique: "Horrified Brother Mode."
"NOPE. Nope. Nope nope NOPE—" "Is that—HER HEAD—is that on—HIS LAP?!"
He's speaking into his phone like it's a military crisis line.
"Shoko. Deploy Protocol Curtain Breaker. I repeat: she has initiated lap contact. This is not a drill!"
Shoko, from the clinic, barely even looks up.
"Satoru, if you interrupt them again, I will perform cursed surgery on your vocal cords. With no anesthesia."
Back to the Wisteria Tree
Megumi finally gathers the nerve to rest a hand on Lena's hair — gently brushing a strand back behind her ear.
"You can sleep. I'll stay."
Lena hums in reply, already halfway there. Her breath evens out. She doesn't realize she's gripping his sleeve lightly between her fingers.
Megumi looks down at her, heart drumming a little too fast, and thinks — not for the first time — that Lena is both the calmest and most dangerous person he's ever met.
And maybe, maybe… she's the only one who sees him not just as a tool, or a legacy, or a shadow.
Just him.
Cut to: Satoru Writing a Threat List in a Notebook Titled "Ways to Intimidate Megumi Without Actually Killing Him"
"Threaten with toe socks again?"
"Tell Lena he failed a fake purity test?"
"Adopt five more cats and give them names like 'Trust' and 'Boundaries'?"