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People often point out Nobara's habit of always rounding her age up. She'd been doing it since she was a child, probably ever since Saori moved to her village.
Saori was thirteen by then, and that's a really cool age when you're six. Six is definitely a long way from thirteen, but it's not that far from seven if you really think about it.
So maybe that's when Nobara started telling people she was seven, especially whenever Saori was around and she wanted to impress her. Fumi was always confused, but she was much too sweet to correct her.
The habit just stuck, even after Nobara actually turned seven. By then, she simply started saying she was eight. She'd been seven for so long that, in her head, it only made sense to add one more year.
Time goes by, and Nobara enrolls at Jujutsu High. She ends up being the oldest among the first-years. Sure, they're all fifteen, but Nobara is almost sixteen.
And Fushiguro and Itadori aren't nearly as nice as Fumi was. In fact, they're not nice at all. Megumi always says something like, "She's fifteen," even though, like, nobody asked.
And then Yuuji, like an idiot, goes, "Wait, aren't you the same age as us?" as if he didn't already know that yes, she is fifteen. This is, like, the ninth time they've had this exact same conversation.
So imagine everyone's surprise when Nobara finally turns sixteen, and the next time the subject comes up, she goes,
"Yeah, I'm, like, seventeen.”
Which brings them to where they are now, sitting on the steps as they watch the second-years play a free-for-all that looks less like training and more like The Hunger Games, judging by how viciously they're trying to beat each other.
It hasn't been that long since Nobara admitted her not-so-secret admiration for Maki, which may or may not have grown into a not-so-secret crush. Naturally, this escalated into a very serious discussion about whether Maki would ever be into Nobara, with mandatory supporting arguments and optional physical evidence.
Itadori even suggests a sleepover where each of them has to put together a PowerPoint presentation defending their thesis and trying to convince the others. It's actually scheduled for tomorrow night. But Fushiguro seems completely unwilling to budge on one particular point: no, Maki would never be into Nobara.
And since a claim that outrageous simply cannot wait until PowerPoint Night, Nobara demands that he explain himself right now.
"We're first-year brats. She doesn't see you like that," Megumi argues, mostly after the kicked-puppy look Yuuji gives him, apparently already far too attached to the idea of Nobara and Maki being married with two kids and a dog.
"You might be a first-year brat. I'm basically seventeen." Nobara points at herself with an air of superiority.
Megumi stares at her, thoroughly unimpressed. "You're sixteen. Maki"— he puts an absurd amount of emphasis on Maki, Nobara can practically see the venom dripping from the word —"is seventeen."
"That's barely even a difference." She shrugs, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"To you, maybe. You're the sixteen-year-old. It's different when you're the older one," Megumi says.
"Wow. Is this a vent? Is this about the crush you 'clearly don't have' on Okkotsu-senpai?" Nobara makes a ridiculous number of air quotes. Actual, physical air quotes.
Megumi practically growls. "I do not have a crush on senpai."
"As I said!"
Yuuji cuts in, resting his chin on both hands. "Ah, I agree with Kugisaki. It's only one year."
"See? I knew I could count on you." Nobara reaches over to squeeze Itadori's shoulder — he's sitting between them — and gives him a firm bro pat.
"Always at your service, Captain." Yuuji snaps off a salute.
Megumi sighs in disappointment.
"Then why don't we ask the people who are actually seventeen?" Megumi points toward the second-years, and only then do Nobara and Yuuji realize the match has probably ended. Panda has Maki and Toge locked in headlocks, one tucked under each arm.
Nobara and Yuuji look at each other.
"This is perfect!" they exclaim in unison.
Megumi, who had only suggested it in the hope that they'd finally drop the subject, simply accepts his fate and follows the two of them.
They give them the very abridged version of the debate, something along the lines of, "What do you think about a sixteen-year-old dating a seventeen-year-old?" Which is vague enough that it eventually turns into, "Would you date a sixteen-year-old?"
That's fine, though. They leave out the less important details, like, Maki, please answer while thinking specifically about Nobara, and, Toge, if possible, could you text Yuuta and ask what he thinks too? Even if Yuuji insists those are, in fact, very important details.
Maki is the first to answer. She doesn't even seem to think about it. "Sixteen is basically fifteen."
Nobara is a little offended by that, actually.
"Or basically seventeen!"
Maki lets out a quiet snort. "That's not the same thing."
"See?" Megumi says, wearing the most insufferably smug expression imaginable. At least if you know him well enough to recognize it, which, unfortunately, Nobara and Yuuji do.
Yuuji makes a face that clearly says, You gonna let him get away with that?
Nobara huffs.
"Mentaiko ikura, sujiko," Toge offers his two cents of opinion.
Shame Nobara still hasn't learned how to decipher his vocabulary. Not that it's ever been particularly high on her list of priorities, honestly. Still, every opinion counts right now, so she asks, "What did he say?"
"I'm not translating," Megumi says, folding his arms across his chest.
"Oh, come on. Now I'm curious." Yuuji practically latches onto him from behind, clearly attempting some sort of underhanded psychological blackmail tactic, which Nobara fully supports.
Maki volunteers as tribute.
"He said it's kind of sexy."
Nobara grimaces, then shrugs. A win is a win.
Panda finally lets the other two out of his hug-slash-headlock-slash-psychological torture chamber so he can join the conversation too. "I'm with you on this one, Nobara."
Maki takes the opportunity to drive a solid punch into Panda's chest. He doubles over with a loud, painfully dramatic, "Oof."
She dusts off her hands as if she'd gotten them dirty.
"No one cares what the panda thinks."
"Yeah," Nobara agrees. "But he's agreeing with me this time, so now I care."
"Should I be offended?" Panda wonders, thoughtfully rubbing his chin with one finger.
Megumi nods. At the exact same time, Yuuji shakes his head.
"You're young," Maki insists, completely ignoring the others. "Of course you think you're more mature than you actually are."
Well. This has gone completely off the rails.
"You wouldn't date me?!" Nobara blurts out, maybe a little more indignantly than she'd intended. Which is still nowhere near as outrageous as watching your crush casually shatter your ego with her bare hands.
The whole group collectively decides to ignore the fact that Nobara has just confessed.
Maki remains completely unfazed. She raises the end of her staff beneath Nobara's chin, tilting it up with a lopsided smile.
"You're barely sixteen."
"But barely sixteen is sixteen!”
Nobara nearly tears her hair out and wears it as a scarf when Maki lets out that little snort again, like any adult watching kid Naruto scream that he's going to become Hokage while he's still a broke little loser. God. That's humiliating.
"C'mon. Are you saying I'm exactly like these dorks?”
"Not exactly." Maki leans against her staff and arches an eyebrow. "You're like them. Just prettier."
Now it's Nobara's turn to look confused. She glances at Itadori and Fushiguro. "Should I be offended?"
This time, they both shake their heads. Though it seems less like an answer and more like they're just as confused.
Maki finally laughs. An actual laugh this time, amused. "You've still got a lot of growing up to do, Nobara. You can't even beat Yuuji or Megumi in a fight without using cursed energy, let alone someone like me."
"That's a funny way to decide if someone's good enough to date you,” Yuuji whispers to Megumi. Absolutely everyone hears him. Probably even Gojo-sensei from his office, while pretending to do paperwork.
"I think we're in the fifteenth century," Megumi replies, not bothering to whisper at all.
"Deal!" Nobara says anyway.
"What?" Fushiguro and Itadori ask at the exact same time.
Actually, Panda and Inumaki do too. Or, well, that's what Nobara assumes Inumaki's very startled, "Takana?!" means.
Wait. Did Maki just ask too?
"I'm going to beat you in a fight," Nobara declares with absolute conviction. "And then you'll admit we're basically the same age... and you'll date me.”
Maki is looking at her now like Nobara's speaking a completely different language. Her face is twisted into an expression of utter disbelief, but she's still smiling, which Nobara chooses to take as a good sign.
It's the same smile she had the day Nobara and Fushiguro first met Mai and Todo. Damn. She thinks she just fell in love all over again.
"Alright," Maki laughs. "If that's what you're saying. The day you beat me in a hand-to-hand fight, I'll give you a chance.”
Nobara feels the need to point out that she's not bad at fights without cursed techniques. It's just... not exactly her greatest strength. She knows how to hold her own, of course, but Maki was kind of right. Nobara can't beat Itadori or Fushiguro in a straight hand-to-hand fight.
So that's where she starts.
Her entire routine changes, and eventually even Gojo gets dragged into it. He seems ridiculously excited by Nobara's undeniably noble motivation — winning over a girl — so he happily agrees to help with her training too. Gojo's pretty pleased for another reason as well: it forces Megumi out of his shell.
At Gojo's invitation, Toge and Panda start joining in from time to time to see how well Nobara adapts to fighting styles she isn't used to. It might not look like it, but Inumaki has a surprisingly athletic side. Nobara will admit she's lost to him a few times after underestimating him. As for Panda, hand-to-hand combat is practically his specialty, just like Itadori's, so he definitely knows what he's doing.
At one point, Nobara even considers getting in touch with Todo Aoi after Yuuji mentions a few training tips he'd picked up from the guy. Let's be honest, Nobara's type is exactly why she's in this situation in the first place, after all, it's an incredibly noble type, Todo would be moved to tears.
Still, she decides to keep that as an emergency plan. Nobara isn't that desperate to willingly strike up a conversation with Todo.
Instead, she starts paying closer attention to everyone's training. She practices on her own, runs extra laps around the field, and, damn, she's even starting to get abs. They're a little shy, sure, but they're there. Nobara has to give them some credit.
And, of course, she tries fighting Maki a few times too. Usually because Maki happens to be nearby, watching her train with everyone else. Or because Nobara's practicing on her own and Maki shows up afterward with a bottle of water, a towel Nobara forgot to bring, or sometimes for no apparent reason at all.
Nobara gets defeated in seconds. Every single time.
"Weak," Maki says with that smile. That same smile! While pointing her staff at Nobara's chest, who is currently flat on the grass.
"Still weak," she adds weeks later, as she holds both of Nobara's arms behind her back, keeping her pinned to the ground.
Nobara doesn't give up.
Maki literally gave her the exact conditions that would earn her a chance, so all Nobara has to do is meet them. It doesn't matter how many times Megumi insists those were just different words for never.
Maki finds her at the end of another match, this time against Itadori. By now, it's so natural that Nobara just walks over, letting Maki take her hand gently and start wrapping her fingers, a little calloused from all the training.
"Did you see?" Nobara exclaims, practically glowing. "I held him for two more minutes than last time." She flashes a huge, proud grin.
Maki nods. "But you still didn't beat him."
She never gives an inch.
"Yeah, but it's just a matter of time," Nobara says, so confident that Maki raises an eyebrow at her. "And when I beat Itadori, it's only a little more before I beat you. And then you're going to date me, Maki-san."
She taps her bandaged finger against Maki's chest, smiling. It isn't a possibility, Nobara is stating it as a fact.
Maki is going to date her.
Maki stays silent for a few seconds, staring at Nobara so intently she could probably count every freckle on her face if she wanted to. Nobara has no idea what she finds there, but Maki seems satisfied when she looks back down at Nobara’s bandaged hands, taking them again just to hold them.
“Watch your balance when you attack. Yuuji knows you go all out and aims for your feet to throw you off. That’s how he wins.”
Nobara frowns, listening carefully. And when she actually thinks back on her recent training sessions with Yuuji, there really is a pattern to his wins. And every time, Nobara ends up on the ground.
“That bastard!” she yells, loud enough to draw attention from across the field. “Itadori, get back here right now!”
She’s already storming off after the poor guy, who is sitting on the steps with Megumi, suddenly exclaiming, “What did I do?!”
"Isn't it kind of cheating if you help her?" Megumi asks Maki, even while acting as Yuuji's human shield in a scuffle.
Maki crosses her arms. "Only if she wins."
"I think Maki's smiling," Panda snitches from where he's waiting to be Nobara's next opponent.
Inumaki nods. "Shake."
"Shut up, both of you!" Maki yells, smacking them both on the head with her staff.
Nobara loses to Panda, but she knows she won.