The tension in the air was so thick, you could probably cut it with a butter knife. In front of Shiro and Toge was a surprisingly angry Gojo Satoru.

Satoru angrily tapped his right foot, the noise of the tapping echoed through the hallway of the dormitory.

"Are you two stupid or what?" He lectured. "And you Toge" He sighs before turning his focus to the white haired boy, while Toge only looked away to avoid his angry gaze. "You were supposed to keep her out of trouble."

"Aw c'mon sensei," Shiro nervously protested, "Nobody got hurt!"

"And what if someone did?" Satoru challenged and Shiro shrunk under his gaze. Despite him having a mask on, Shiro could feel how his eyes burned through her entire being.

"I...I'm sorry..."

"Tuna mayo..."

The two knew Satoru was right. They were lucky that the curses at the abandoned house weren't all that strong. Within the house, there was one curse that Toge took care of on the first floor and the two upstairs with the human hostage. Despite both of being a semi-grade 1 sorcerer, they were both at a disadvantage with Shiro not having her usual weapon and Toge not having his throat medication.

"Just-" Satoru sighed before running his hand through his hair. Clearly stressed about his student's behavior. "Try to be smarter next time." he finished before ruffling the two's hair.

Shiro felt the tension in the air dissipate as Satoru's usual carefree demeanor returned. She let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding before feeling her eyes water.

"Um-" She quickly rubbed her eyes before averting the gaze of her watching teacher and childhood friend. "There's just something in m-my eyes"

The feeling of being worried about was a foreign feeling to her. It felt... kinda nice to feel that Satoru was worried about her as a human being and not as just someone that could provide benefits to.

Unknowingly to Shiro, a cat-like expression crawled its way up to Satoru's face.

"Touched aren't you" He teased, poking a finger on her cheek.

"Wh-What no-"

"You guys are my precious students" He says with a smile as he retracted his finger.

Those words were enough to shut her up. Just as she had quickly suppressed her previous tears, it had begun to flow once again. As much as she didn't want to cry in front of Toge or Satoru, she just couldn't stop them. As she cried, she felt Toge pull her into an embrace as she softly cried into his shoulders.

"Salmon" he whispered softy and slowly pet her hair. Even he was touched by his teacher's words. It wasn't something that they had expected to hear from the Gojo Satoru, famous for his eccentric attitude. But it was something that he was glad to hear, probably something that Shiro needed to hear.

"Alright now, I have an appointment with the Principal so see ya~" He waved. "Don't cry too much" and with those words, he disappeared.

"S-Stupid sensei" Shiro cried, as she held onto Toge's uniform, still crying. Her tears are slowly lessening, while Toge continued to pet her head softy.

Minutes passed as the two stood there in each others embrace while Shiro cried. A couple minutes after her tears stopped, she pulled away to look at Toge, before apologizing for ruining his uniform.

She sniffled while giving him a muted chuckle before shyly saying "I must look terrible right now."

Toge shook his head without any hesitation before taking in her current appearance. It was probably the first time he had seen her cry. He had seen her on the verge of crying in the past, but she'd always stop herself and smile to avoid being seen. But, he wasn't sure how she was still so beautiful with tear soaked cheeks and swollen red eyes. There was a kind of special light within her eyes, despite just crying a couple of minutes ago, that just made her glow. He frowned to the oblivious gaze of Shiro, he felt a small knot appeared within him. It was wrong, but he wanted that look to be reserved just for him. It was an unfamiliar feeling, one that he immediately shook off and scolded himself for feeling like this.

"Leaf mustard?"

"Yeah, thanks Toge." She gave him a soft smile, her cheeks still red and wet from earlier. He lifted a hand off her back and wiped the remains of the tears that stained her cheeks. He was entranced by her. Maybe he did like her more than a platonic friendship. Would he feel this way if it was Panda or Maki too? Honestly, he wasn't sure. He made a mental reminder to have a conversation with Panda later.

"I'm kinda hungry," She said as she brought him out of his internal dilemma. "Want to make some onigiris?"

"Salmon"

"Salmon onigiris?" She teased.

Toge had to fight the urge to rolled his eyes as he started making his way to the kitchen. "Kombu"

"Ohhh so kombu?"She continued, skipping to catch up to her childhood friend, completely ignoring the annoyed expression on the boys face.

"Hehe"

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Note: This chapter and the next are on the shorter side, but big big thank you to everyone that have been reading Gifted and I hope you continue to read it as new chapters are released.

I'm having such a fun time writing this story and I'm just so happy that you guys like it as well!