He nods and puts it down then goes back to his phone. He'd rather not... think about it. Right now.

“You know I sort of implied I was going to stab him, right? Ijichi-san, I mean. Grabbed him by the collar and everything.”

“Oh, did you?” says her mother, like they’re talking about the weather. “Good job.”

Akiho snorts.

“Thanks, mom.” She fidgets with her new phone for a few seconds, then says, “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Fushiguro lets out a half-snort-half-sniff at that.

"Hmm. I think I feel like getting some tea. Do either of you want anything?"

"No, thank you."

Fushiguro shakes his head, not looking up from his phone.

Away she goes! What mysterious timing that is absolutely a coincidence.

"See," says Akiho, in her stage-whisper. "Very scary."

"I'm not very scared," he shrugs.

"No?" She (carefully) props up her head on her good arm. Well, the arm that isn't broken, anyway. "You know she'll probably make polite excuses to be elsewhere if you need space to have feelings. Or you can wait, she'll leave to go make sure my dad eats something soon enough."

"Hm."

"Or you can have time to figure it out, because feelings are complicated! My point is just that you're. Allowed to feel things. Okay?"

"...and that makes her scary?"

"No, I changed topics to why you should acknowledge your feelings instead of speaking only in hums. I nominally accepted your answer about how scary my mother is because if you don't know now you soon will."

"My feelings are fine where they are, thanks."

"Okay. Just as long as you know that I care about them, and also you."

Aaahhh she's doing it again no he'll just nope out of this for now yep this is a very engrossing phone he is not blushing you're blushing shut up

Hayashi giggles, and then goes to fiddling with her own phone, because yay! She has a phone again!

They don't stay in the hospital for that much longer. A better sorcerer healer than the one who tended to Fushiguro's wounds a few weeks prior is sent to fix them up this time, whether by Gojō's influence or a token show of care by the same higher ups who sent them to the meat grinder. They're not a hundred percent fixed, only time can do that (or, well, maybe they could figure out how to do reverse cursed healing and finish it up, but that's unlikely), but they're doing well enough to return to their normal lives.

Kind of.

"So I propose," says Hayashi, stopping at the threshold of the main dormitory that holds their rooms, "that we move our rooms to somewhere else. There are a lot of empty ones, right?"

"...there are."

Fushiguro looks—conflicted about this.

She gives a sigh and turns to sit down on the steps. "... I'll room next to you either way, just. I thought it might be smart to... Not have to look at his empty room every time I try to go to bed."