Jin's POV (And a little of Jean's POV)
The moment I entered the cafeteria, I noticed that the cafeteria went quiet, but not the judging quiet like when they thought I was crazy. As I went for my tray, their eyes followed me even as I took my meal.
Bothered by the eyes, I decided to take an obscure corner of the cafeteria when I noticed Jean waving me over.
"She looks brighter than normal."
Gojo laughed from inside the mental space.
"What? Did you expect her to stay emo girl forever?"
"What do you mean emo... she wasn't that bad, right?"
Right?
"You have peculiar tastes in women, kid."
"Wait, what?"
"No. Ew. I don't."
"Brother, eughhhh."
As I said this, I reached the bench Jin sat on, which was apparently the cool kids' table, or in this case, the strong kids' table.
Bobby, Scott, Kitty, even Rogue was there.
Wait, wasn't Rogue supposed to be that kinda girl that keeps to herself because of her powers?
I looked at her again and noticed that she was wearing quite heavy clothing, even up to her neck.
And even with how casual she looked, the Six Eyes still helped me see the slight discomfort in her body posture.
"Hey, Jin. What's up?"
"I'm doing great, especially now that no one is looking at me like I am crazy."
"Yeah, right."
It wasn't exactly fun.
"So what about you?"
"Doin' okay?"
"No bird bothering you in your sleep or trying to take over your body?"
Jean shifted awkwardly after that sentence, and I swore I saw flames flare on her body for a second there.
"Ahem... uh, yeah."
"I'm doing okay."
"And no disturbance up here."
She pointed to her head.
But I could smell lies all over that sentence.
"What are you, a dog now?"
Gojo's voice sounded again.
"Oh, come on. It's obvious that she is lying, right?"
Right?
Neither of them answered me, and I turned back to the cafeteria and saw that Scott was staring at me weirdly.
"Uh, Scott? Something wrong?"
He stared silently at me for about a minute before he withdrew his gaze, and I hurriedly ate my meal and basically marched out of the cafeteria, heading back to the Danger Room.
But I was stopped when someone pulled on my arm.
Turning back, I met eyes with Jean, whose face was a bit pink.
She's blushing, I thought.
"No shit, Sherlock."
Gojo said.
"Where'd you hear that from?" I asked.
"From you."
...
"Uh, Jean, what's wrong?"
I asked as I turned back to face her.
"I, uh... need your help."
"Yeah, okayyyy."
"Is it something we can do in the Danger Room? Cause I'm heading there right now."
Jean's face heated up even more.
"Uhh, no. It's something private."
"We can do it in my room or... or your room if you would like..."
Looking at Jean, who looked like she was steaming with how hard she was blushing, my thoughts couldn't help but drift towards some particular activities I could help her with.
"Hey, hey. Keep your thoughts straight. It's not like she likes you."
"You literally beat her ass to the ground."
"She isn't an M, right?"
"Aw, c'mon. I'm just thinking."
I turned back to Jean.
"Yeah, sure. Your room."
As we were walking, I focused on my mind space again.
"But Gojo, what do you think she could want?"
"Don't ask me. I know nothing about women."
"Of course. What was I thinking asking two men who have the worst luck with women?"
"Hey! That's rude... I could charm any woman with my looks, you know."
I ignored him and spoke again.
"A guy who couldn't even hit on any of the bombshells that were around him and a guy that feasted on people."
"Ah, just my luck."
"I just hope your shitty luck with women doesn't rub off on me."
At this moment, we had reached the door of her room, and she opened the door.
While entering, neither of us noticed that at the end of the hallway, a pair of eyes behind ruby glasses stared at us from a corner of the corridor.
But both Sukuna and Gojo sensed the gaze from the soul space, as their sensitivity to cursed energy was particularly high.
As for why I couldn't sense it, let's just say I was pretty occupied with the sight in front of me.
"This is going to be fun."
Gojo said.
"Hmph. Women are only good as appetizers. They affect the speed of my blade."
As soon as I heard those words from Sukuna, both I and Jean paused, but for different reasons.
"Bro, you did not just say that," I said out loud, failing to even remember to speak through my thoughts. "You totally sounded like you for the first part, of course, but that second part sounded like some ancient immortal who hasn't touched grass in millennia."
Neither of them could understand my words, but Jean's expression at that moment was particular.
As she was having her own internal conversation.
Do I really have to do this?
Another voice sounded from inside her, save her own voice, but this one carried more weight, making it obvious who was speaking.
The Phoenix.
Of course it's important.
Unless you wanna turn into a galaxy-sized lump of TNT.
Of course I don't want to, but you heard what that guy inside him said.
And Jin's surface emotions contained respect for those words.
Even the Phoenix paused at that.
Oh, little brother, you have failed me, the Phoenix said.
Can you not find any other alternative?
He's not exactly a bad guy, considering he did help me get back control and is willing to help me even now, although we might as well be thinking about different things.
But I don't think I can hand my safety over to someone who thinks that way.
Aw, don't be so worried.
It's just boys acting as boys, the Phoenix said.
Right. Boys being boys. Yeah, right.
How did I even get here...?