Check out my new fanfic: Jujutsu Kaisen: What is Life?
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A little bit of slice life.
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Twenty days since the USJ incident:
Honoka's eyes opened slowly.
She stared at the ceiling blankly for a while, then turned her head and looked at the clock on her bedside table.
8:00 AM.
She giggled.
"I love my weekends."
She lay there for a moment, wrapped in her blanket, enjoying the rare luxury of not having an alarm, a meeting, or a child-related emergency dragging her out of bed.
A quiet, peaceful morning. Just perfect.
She reached for her phone on the nightstand and checked her messages.
One notification.
"Good morning, Honoka-senpai. Hope you have a good day."
Honoka laughed softly.
"She is so serious around me."
She typed back: "Same to you, Thirteen."
She placed the phone down and smiled at the ceiling. Ever since Akira had given Thirteen her number before the USJ, the two of them had been texting regularly. Reconnecting after years of silence. But Thirteen still treated her like a senior with all those formal greetings and respectful sign-offs. The girl had been her mentee for only a few months, years ago, but she still carried that student energy around Honoka.
Give it time, Honoka thought. She'll relax eventually.
She grinned at the ceiling.
My son has a girlfriend. A good one, and more importantly, a smart one.
She giggled again. She couldn't help it. The whole thing still felt like a dream.
She got out of bed, stretched until her back popped, and went through her morning routine. Shower. Teeth. Hair. A quick look in the mirror to confirm she was, in fact, still gorgeous.
She threw on comfortable clothes. Which was an oversized sweater that she had stolen from Akira's closet because it was softer than anything she owned, and loose pants. 'The perfect weekend outfit,' in her opinion.
She headed downstairs. The estate was quiet, as Chiyo was probably still asleep, or reading in her room with a cup of tea and a medical journal, because that woman's idea of relaxation was studying.
It was just Honoka and the silence. And she was going to enjoy every second of it.
She padded down the hallway toward the kitchen, her socked feet making no sound on the hardwood. She was already thinking about coffee. The good beans, she kept hidden from Akira, cuz it was fun to see him pissed.
She passed the living room and stopped.
She turned her head.
And froze.
On the couch, Akira was asleep. He was sitting upright, his head tilted back against the cushion. His tie was loosened, with his sleeves rolled up.
On his shoulder, Momo was sleeping.
She was leaning against him, her cheek pressed onto his shirt, both hands wrapped around his arm. Her ponytail had come undone, and her black hair scattered across her shoulder and his. Her expression was completely peaceful.
On Akira's lap, curled into a ball, was Nia. Her tiny body rose and fell with each breath, her paws twitching in whatever dreams cats had.
Honoka's hand flew to her mouth.
They are sooo cute!!!!
She screamed internally. Externally, she didn't make a sound. She did not want to wake them up.
She pulled out her phone and took several photos. One zoomed in on Nia. One focused on Momo's hands wrapped around Akira's arm.
She made sure the photos were perfect, then she sent all of them to Reika.
The reply came in four seconds.
"OH MY GOD!!! THEY LOOK SO CUTE TOGETHER!!"
Honoka typed back: "I know, right? They were made for each other."
Reika: "I gotta show this to Kiyomasa. He needs to see his daughter like this."
Honoka: "Do it. But tell him if he overreacts, I'm deleting him from the group chat."
Reika: "No promises. You know how he gets."
Honoka laughed silently and slipped her phone back into her pocket.
She looked at the couch one more time.
They pushed themselves really hard during yesterday's training.
She had heard them come in late the night before. They had been pushing themselves for the UA festival, even though they did not need to.
She looked at them with a proud smile.
What a perfect couple.
She left the living room without making a sound and made her way to the kitchen.
The kitchen was her favourite room in the estate.
Not because it was fancy. It featured marble counters, professional-grade appliances, and more cabinet space than most restaurants. But that wasn't why she liked it. (Yeah, sure. Nothing 'fancy')
She liked it because it was quiet in the mornings, and because this was where she and Akira had most of their real conversations — late at night, over reheated food, when neither of them could sleep.
She made coffee and poured it into her favourite mug — a chipped ceramic thing that Akira had made in a pottery class when he was ten. It was uneven, and it said "BEST MOM".
She carried the mug to the window seat, sat down, and looked out at the garden as she took a sip.
"What a perfect day so far, what could go wrong?"
She had no idea how wrong she was.
Ding-dong.
She blinked.
"Who could that be?"
It was 8:30 on a Saturday morning. Nezu always called ahead, while Momo's parents used the side entrance.
She got up, mug still in hand, and walked to the front door.
She wasn't expecting anyone. If it were a delivery, the gate staff would handle it. If it were a guest, they would have called. If it were Nezu, he would have appeared inside the house already, because that rodent had keys to everything.
She opened the door.
And froze.
"GOOOOOD MORNING, HONOKA!! HOW ARE YOU DOING????"
The last person she expected to see on her doorstep on a Saturday morning was standing there with a smile.
Jian Li. (Yes, he is speaking in Japanese, and so will his wives.)
White suit with gold sunglasses. Arms spread wide like he was posing for an invisible photographer. Grinning like a man who had just won the lottery and wanted everyone within a three-kilometre radius to know about it.
Behind him, a black car was parked in the driveway.
He drove here?! Honoka thought. Wait, no, you can't drive from China. He flew here. He actually flew here. On a Saturday morning. Without telling me.
"The fuck are you doing here?!" Honoka yelled.
"Oof!" Jian clutched his chest dramatically, staggering backward. "Your aggression wounds me, Honoka! Is this how you greet family?! I flew fourteen hours for this!"
"You are NOT family, and it takes 3 hours from China to Japan on a flight!"
"I am in spirit! The spirit of brotherhood! Of sisterhood! Of-"
"Jian."
A voice came from behind him.
A woman stepped out from behind Jian.
"She'll punch you, honey," the woman said pleasantly. "If you keep this up."
Jian looked at Honoka, who was indeed giving him a look that promised violence.
He cleared his throat. He stepped back behind the woman and straightened his posture.
"Ahem. Sorry about that."
He placed his hands on the woman's shoulders and presented her as if she were one of the most precious things in the world. Which, to him, she was.
"By the way, last time you weren't able to meet her." He smiled. "She is the unofficial head of our family. One of my beautiful and loving wives, Li Xiaoqing."
Xiaoqing stepped forward and bowed.
"It's an honour to meet you, Honoka," she said. "I've been a huge admirer of yours for a long time." She paused. "And of your late husband."
Honoka stiffened.
The mug in her hand lowered an inch.
"I watched every broadcast. I studied your field triage methods in nursing school. But your husband... he was special. The way he treated everyone — heroes, civilians, even villains — with the same compassion. A true doctor's heart."
She looked Honoka in the eyes.
"I'm sorry for what happened to him. I was watching the live broadcast when he passed. It stayed with me for a long time." She placed a hand over her chest. "He inspired me to keep treating people others had given up on. Even the ones the system called villains. He showed me that healing wasn't about who deserved it. It was about who needed it."
She paused. Then, quietly.
"The world lost something important that day."
What followed was silence.
Honoka stared at Xiaoqing. She looked at her eyes, trying to see if these were her genuine feelings.
She remembered Xioaqing's story from when Mei told her. A woman who had been fired from a hospital for treating villains, standing on her doorstep, telling her that her dead husband's kindness had mattered. That it had reached across oceans and changed someone's life.
Honoka kept staring at her, then she smiled.
It was a real one. The one that only came out for family.
"Thank you for saying that," Honoka said quietly. "I'm glad he's still inspiring doctors around the world."
She looked past Xiaoqing at Jian, who was standing at the back, watching the exchange.
Honoka's annoyed expression returned instantly.
"Come in," she said. "Quietly. Akira, Momo, and Nia are resting."
They both nodded and followed her inside.
As they walked through the entrance hall, Jian leaned close to Xiaoqing and whispered, "You're amazing at that."
Xiaoqing whispered back, "I didn't do anything special. I just told her the truth."
She was quiet for a moment.
"Her husband was like me. But even more extreme. He healed a villain on live television, knowing the villain might kill him. And it did."
Her expression softened. Something sad crossed her face.
"It's sad to lose a kind soul like that. The world doesn't have enough of them."
Jian looked at her. He didn't say anything. So he just reached over and took her hand.
Xiaoqing felt his fingers wrap around hers.
She leaned into him slightly as they walked. Not because she was tired, because she wanted to.
"I can't wait to see her house," Jian whispered.
Xiaoqing laughed at his excitement.
They walked into the Shuzenji estate together, hand in hand, following Honoka toward the kitchen. Honoka was already muttering something about needing more coffee and how she was going to kill whoever gave Jian her address.
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I won't spoil much, but MC is about to get some help in training. By a certain sword weilding devil.👀
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