❝she's a bit secretive❞

it was promptly midnight and marri should've been asleep three hours ago, but she had forced herself to stay awake as she actually found it really hard to call her secret angel.

she would've texted him, but then her father would've asked who she was messaging or just straight up gone through her texts, and she obviously didn't want that.

it was hard being a four year old and having your father or someone else constantly watch you because they underestimate one's abilities.

"I mean come on!! I'm gojō marri for goodness sake!", marri quietly whined, wearing headphones that connected to her phone as she was facetiming getō, who just chuckled.

"you sure do take after your father's attitude", getō commented.

"really?? I think we're quite different. like he thinks a lot more than I do, and I just do stuff without thinking. he calls my actions rash", marri murmured, laying on her stomach as she was hiding under her blanket.

the little girl's phone was propped up against her pillow as she also brought a little light under her blanket, helping her see better.

"oh trust me. when your father was in his teenage years, he was way worse. he'd forget to put the curtain up when exorcising curses, he'd talk back to our teacher at the time: yaga-sensei, and he'd just do things on a whim. though to be fair, I wasn't any better", getō slightly chuckled.

"ohhhh!! so you two were the school troublemakers! no wonder auntie shōko has such terrible eye bags. I bet you both worried her so much she couldn't sleep", marri teased, to which getō had just shrugged.

"speaking of shōko, how is she? nanami too", the male inquired, sipping some freshly brewed tea as he combed through his dark locks with his free hand.

"oh, they're both very good! uncle nanamin just left for work again, so he won't be able to celebrate the new years with us, but I heard I'll be seeing the kyoto students and the kamo and zenin clan", marri excitedly explained.

"doesn't the gojō and zenin clan have bad blood or something? I remember hearing him complain about it all the time", getō confusingly asked.

"mhm! but I wanted to see who they are and make friends with them. it's a new year which means a new beginning", marri positively said.

"I don't think..."

"anyways, would you like to see the picture I drew of my curse friends? I sent you a picture, but no worries, I'll delete our conversation later", the little girl smartly assured.

getō exited out of the facetime screen as he saw satoru wearing a skirt.

the man snorted as he questioned marri whether she had sent the right picture or not.

"oops! my bad", the little girl giggled as she then sent the correct picture.

"what are their names?"

"jōgo and hanami, but I call him hanamin", marri stated.

"also thank you for the christmas gift! how do you know so much about curses? are you just obsessed as I am?"

getō let out a low chuckle.

"it's my technique. I manipulate curses by eating them once they're exorcised".

marri blinked twice.

"so...you eat dead bodies? honestly, why am I even surprised anymore? I mean, yūji eats s'kuna's 1,000 year old fingers..."

"no no! they turn into this black glob-like thing and I just swallow it. it tastes like a dirty rag", getō explained.

"aw cool!! I want to control curses too! well, I want to be friends with them, so I guess they wouldn't really appreciate that...", marri mumbled.

"anyways, not to be that person, but you know my birthday's coming up right?", the white-haired girl asked.

getō hummed.

"mhm. is there a present that you would like?"

"actually yes. can we meet up a day after my birthday? I'll have an outfit prepared for you and stuff because I'm actually quite fashionable myself", the little girl boasted, making getō snort.

"you have a way of getting there alone?", getō asked, skeptical as he wasn't sure whether satoru would allow that or not.

"of course!! no need to worry. I have everything all figured out", marri smiled.

getō sighed.

"alright then. where and what time will we meet?"

"I'll let you know", marri grinned.

̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊

"hey princess. whatcha doing?", satoru asked, getting a glass of orange juice as he threw out all alcoholic drinks since marri claimed that it was unhealthy and that she hated the smell of them.

"just shopping", marri answered, as she sat beside inu on the couch, quietly discussing her options with the curse.

"for?"

"clothes", the girl shortly responded.

satoru chuckled.

"are you getting yourself a new years kimono?", the white-haired male asked, looming over marri's shoulder as the girl quickly turned off her phone.

"yes, and it's a surprise, so no peeking", marri warned.

satoru lifted both his arms in surrender as he hastily kissed the top of his daughter's forehead before taking a seat beside her.

marri sighed as she glanced over at her father, who had promptly taken out his phone as he too was scrolling through some messages or perhaps emails related to work.

"so...papa?"

"mhm?"

"how tall are you?"

"190 centimeters, why?"

"no reason", marri replied as she physically scrunched her body up into a tiny ball, clenching tightly onto her phone as she aggressively typed away on amazon.

"so....do you think pink's a good color on me?"

satoru raised a brow.

"you look good in every color and everything, sweetheart".

"okay...sooooo....pink, blue, green, or white?"

satoru chuckled.

"I think blue would bring out your eyes", the man responded, to which marri had nodded as she couldn't wait to show all her friends her new kimono.

it was a pity that the curses couldn't spend new years with them, but she figured that she'd just text mahito and send him pictures afterwards.

"papa, do you have any new years res...umm..."

"resolutions?"

"yeah!! got any of those?", marri asked.

"mm...not really?? maybe spend more time with my sweet daughter", the white-haired male smiled, to which marri had just nodded.

"have you ever thought about spending time with others?"

satoru scratched the back of his head.

"is this you trying to set utahime and I up on a date again? honestly marri, couldn't you have picked someone el—"

"ORRRRRR, a guy?", marri nudged, to which satoru had snorted.

"I'm not gay".

"yeah but that's not—never mind...", the girl huffed.