Noriko Kamo twisted her long ponytails up into space buns, revealing her ears which were well adorned with various gold piercings and hoops, and pulled on a cropped hoodie. Twirling in front of her mirror, she decided she was satisfied with how she looked. The dark-haired girl slipped on her trainers and snatched a tote bag from a hook on the back of her door before she stepped out into the hallway.

Saturday at the compound was always relatively quiet. There was the odd sorcerer appearing to collect more jobs and the occasional weekend training, but other than that, the students were free to do their own thing. Usually, it was Nobara and Noriko getting the train into the city of Tokyo and descending on the shopping district like magpies, but Gojo had been criticised for his lack of engagement with his students after the incident at the exchange event. Therefore, he was having one-on-one time with each of his students on alternating weekends and this one so happened to be Nobara.

It was 10am and Noriko was already thoroughly bored. She'd done her morning prayers, sharpened her pole weapon, refilled her supplies and cleaned her room. Not only that but she'd reorganised all her clothes and her books by alphabetical and colour order. Even after leaving the temple, she'd never grown out of waking early. Locking her door behind her, she strolled down the hallway to a familiar door.

As she rapt sharply on the wood, she could hear a muffled groan from inside and a few thuds. After a groggy yell, Itadori appeared at the door a couple minutes later looking remarkably dishevelled. He ran a hand through his hair and stared down at her questioningly.

"Morning, you alright?"

"Uh-huh, you've got exactly twenty minutes to get ready," Noriko announced glancing down at her watch - a white one with a corn snake on the face, which he remembered Noriko excitedly telling him that it was a super realistic knock-off. With a smirk pulling at the corners of her lips, she returned her gaze to her classmate. "We're going on a date."

"Oh, okay, just let me get - huh? A date? Eh?" A deep red blush flushed over Itadori's skin, all the way from his neck up to the tips of his ears as he turned back to Noriko looking wonderfully bemused.

"Yes. Nobara's training with Gojo so we can't have our coffee date this weekend, so you're coming with me instead," the red blush subsided a little as he realized that this was a 'platonic date' like the ones she went on with her friends. Itadori couldn't lie to himself, he was very embarrassed he'd jumped to conclusions, but a little part of him was disappointed. He shrugged it off and went to go get dressed, leaving Noriko in the hallway engrossed in her phone.

Deciding not to make a big deal out of what was technically his first 'date', Itadori dressed in his usual style, a baggy hoodie and some shorts, and slipped on his trainers. Pushing back his hair, he gave himself a once over before deciding he was ready; he picked up his phone and wallet on the way back towards the door.

He pushed it open only to wince back as a large, turquoise beast face stared back at him. Its nose flared as hot air blew bast Itadori's face and the red pupils trained themselves to his - it didn't feel bad. It just felt like her and so he couldn't be scared. He gave it a once over decided it was most similar to a lion dog you'd find at the entrance to a shrine.

"Ah, what were you called again? Lion beast? Comma? Coma?"

"Koma Inu," the creature retreated back out from his personal space and came to sit neatly by Noriko, who was cross-legged on the floor playing a mobile game. He knew she was weak to them, they often sparked her interest quite quickly, but she usually got bored of them in a week. The lion dog purred. "The best way to get down off the mountain."

Pushing herself up, she straightened out her clothes before mounting the creature as it lowered itself to the ground.

"Well?" She gave Itadori a pointed look over her shoulder when he made no move to get closer to the beast. The lion dog let out a rumbly purr, shaking it's head as it's ear twitched. "Hurry up, I'm hungry."

"Oh, yeah, of course," her classmate murmured as he began to tread towards the beast carefully and began to lace his hands into the thick red and green fur as he pulled himself up onto the beast's back. As he clambered into a comfortable position, the lion dog pushed itself back up to it's full height, startling the boy who leant forward and fell into Noriko's back. She let out a chuckle as he apologised weakly, gripping the side of her hoodie with one hand and the fur of the lion dog with the other.

The lion dog began to pace down the hallway to where it linked up with the open veranda. It's pace increased, twisting sharply from the wooden platform to the ground as they reached the outside. The sun shone harshly and Noriko basked in the sudden warmth that spread along her shoulders - a feeling that she no longer associated with sweeping the shrine grounds or performing midday mass, but with her own freedom. Bounding through the compound, the lion dog weaved through the statues and thin alleyways between buildings, startling a few sorcerers as it emerged from a particularly narrow gap near Yaga's office.

"Sorry!" Yuji called out quickly, hearing a frightened squeal from one of the startled sorcerers. The lion dog didn't stop, the muscles in it's legs flexing as it raced towards the edge of the compound where the path down to the village was. Noriko let out an excited yell as it leapt off a sizable rift, landing with a dull thud against the dusty path. Finally getting used to the speed, Yuji let his grip (that he didn't realise he had) on Noriko loosen, finally lifting his head out the back of her hoodie to watch the scenery around him blur.

Noriko was right, he realised, when she said that it was the fastest way down the mountain and the two windswept teens thanked the lion dog with a bow before it flooded into a shallow pool of ink. There were maybe five minutes from the town but tucked into a wooded alcove so Noriko could dispel the creature.

Creeping out of the woods, Noriko started her signature complaint of how her white shoes were going to get wrecked while Yuji tried to find a route out which involved not stepping in puddles. They emerged from the forest's edge and took a few minutes to bask in the sun before they started their walk down to the town. They chatted idly as they walked about things they learnt, about why Fushiguro was so moody, about the news on the TV - about anything. It was nice, Itadori noted, to feel normal again and he appreciated how Noriko seemed to retain the sense of 'normal high school girl'. It was like everything that they'd been through together ran off her in raindrops; like she didn't soak in all that fear and anxiety like the others did.

He hadn't asked about the 'other one' yet. Sukuna talked about it and he himself could feel that strange energy, but it wasn't his place to ask.

They were closer to the town now, walking through the suburbs when Noriko felt a pulse and came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk near an alleyway. Yuji stopped shortly after, glancing back at her questioningly as he noted her furrowed brows.

"Can you feel that?" She asked quietly, eyeing the alleyway that Itadori was now closer to. He glanced down it, a foreboding feeling washing over him, and pursed his lips as he began to feel the same heavy sensation. The alleyway was empty with a few trash cans against the side of the house to the left of it. To the right was just a stone wall and he assumed the stone steps at the back of the narrow space lead up to it. Noriko followed his gaze, letting her eyes linger over the verge of which the stone wall was a side of. "So much for a date... we should check that out."

"Do you have your stuff?"Itadori asked but he didn't tear his eyes away from the alley. "I can go alone if not."

"Of course, I do."

[A/N: Hiya (＾▽＾), I know this wasn't a chapter people were expecting but here it is. I know a few people wanted the baseball scene, but to be honest, I'm more of a descriptive writer. I have quite an 'old' or dated writing style with long sentences and more description than dialogue, so for an episode of pretty much all dialogue and centred around a single basketball game would've been very time consuming for me. Maybe I'll revisit it after all my exams are done and add the chapter in later? Anyway, again, thank you for all your support. You guys are the sweetest (¯︶¯)]