❝she appreciates megumi❞

marri was holding onto itadori and megumi's hands, to which the two teens were swinging the girl as she giggled throughout the streets.

"noba, where are we going next?", marri asked, as kugisaki was the ultimate shopper.

"oohhh!! how about that store?! it seems like there's a sale!!", kugisaki excitedly said, to which the boys had sighed as they begrudgingly followed.

"hello, welcome to—"

"where's the clearance isle?", kugisaki interrupted, to which the woman had awkwardly chuckled as she pointed to the back of the store.

megumi slightly bowed as an apology as marri had dragged the two teens towards the kid section, meanwhile kugisaki had already picked out loads of clothing to try on.

"goomi, what do you think?! should I get this? or what about that?! which one do you like??", marri excitedly asked, turning her head every which way as there were many things that excited her.

"whichever you like", megumi responded, to which marri had only hummed.

the girl then skimmed the store, looking outside as she then noticed a very low level curse, clinging onto a pole like a caterpillar.

intrigued, marri had immediately let go as she ran out, causing both boys to yell out to her.

"OI! MARRI!!"

the little girl smiled as she ran to the pole, bumping into the same man that she had met at the horse racing stadium.

"oh, it's you, mister shady", marri commented, to which the dark-haired man would've loved to forget about her, but she was just annoyingly unforgettable.

"it's you...brat.."

"marri's the name, but close enough", the little girl smiled as she inched closer to the pole, staring at it intensely.

"what the hell are you doing here? don't you have a parent or something?"

"do you see it?", marri asked, not taking her eyes off the curse that had a brown outer appearance with a coral-colored body and multiple legs.

"hah? what are you talking about?", the man asked, now suspicious that marri wasn't just some normal child.

marri then tried to touch the curse, making a few people look weirdly at the child as they couldn't see the caterpillar-like creature.

"oi! stop it; it's mine", the man lowly snarled, to which marri had smiled.

she had found the connection.

"I knew you could see it. I knew you were special just like my friend", the little girl said, making the dark-haired male even more paranoid.

"who are you?"

"MARRI!! MARRI, WHERE ARE YOU?!", itadori and megumi shouted, to which the girl had flinched.

"I gotta go, but see you soon, mister shady!!", marri waved as she ran off into the crowd, returning back to megumi and itadori.

"marri! you can't just run off like that you know?", megumi huffed.

"but I saw a cute curse".

"still! that'll make us worried", itadori reprimanded, to which marri had pouted.

"gomen..."

"it's okay. just don't do it next time okay?", megumi said.

marri nodded her head as megumi had picked the girl up, walking back to the store as she saw the curse and man disappear.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?! I TURN AROUND AND FIND THAT YOU'RE ALL GONE?! AT LEAST TELL ME FIRST NEXT TIME!", kugisaki yelled, to which itadori and megumi both glanced at each other, their faces sour.

"hai~ gomenasaiiii", itadori apologized.

kugisaki huffed.

"anyways, let's head to the next store".

"can we please get some food first? I'm starving", itadori whined.

kugisaki rolled her eyes as she sighed. "yeah, sure", she replied, to which itadori had pumped his fists as marri was also quite elated.

as the teens were walking, marri suddenly laid her head on megumi's shoulder.

"goomi..."

"hm?"

"I met someone today...", marri started. "well...this isn't the first time, but he looks a lot like you..."

"really?"

"mhm...and...and...I just wanted to say that I-I..."

marri couldn't remember the exact word, as she struggled to express what she was feeling.

"I like you a lot so please don't go away", the four-year old seriously said, to which megumi had raised a brow, wondering where this was all coming from.

"you're...you're my first friend goomi, so...so please don't leave me...", marri mumbled, snuggling into the crook of megumi's neck, as she thought about what satoru had told her before.

'megumi's originally a zenin, and his father left him for his own reasons'.

marri had plenty of questions like any curious four year old, so who was satoru to stop his daughter from learning about megumi's past.

and surprisingly, she understood a lot more than a normal child would, as she was also way more observant and sharp.

"I'm not going anywhere", megumi reassured, patting marri's back as the girl straightened up her posture.

the girl then slapped both her hands on megumi's face, forcing him to look at her.

"and I promise that I'll never leave you! I'll be here for you, because you mean a lot to me, okay?!"

megumi nodded, letting marri down as they had reached the restaurant.

the dark-haired boy never knew what was going on inside marri's head, but he cracked a small smile.

truth be told, megumi always enjoyed marri's bright presence, as she never failed to make megumi feel included, even if she herself didn't know what was going on.

megumi knew that marri knew about his past — curtsy to satoru — so he somewhat understood where she was coming from.

and it didn't take a genius to figure out that marri had probably seen his dad, as even though he hadn't seen his own father in years, he knew that he still resided at the zenin household.

he was thankful that satoru had kept him from the zenin family, as he was content with where he is right now.

'I'll be here for you too'.