#dazai died twice in it. which i think is very impressive

[sugarcarnation]

finally finished 55 minutes

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I think people who are mad at Fyodor and saying he underestimates Chuuya forget something though - Chuuya's capable of all these impressive physical feats and stuff, but at the end of the day, he's not particularly smart. He's always easily manipulated by Dazai, Ranpo was able to trap him in a book by simply goading him, Mori is able to keep him in line despite Chuuya being way more powerful, etc. Idk I think the fandom put Chuuya on a pedestal for some reason but he has weaknesses too.

"people who say he underestimates Chuuya" as if... I am not one of those people...? I made a whole analysis on this anon??? I'm a bit confused why you sent this to me...

I'm going to assume this was sent in good faith and that you haven't read the light novels, because it becomes very clear from those that Chuuya is actually perfectly intelligent. I'd say probably above average, if I'm being honest - he picks up new skills very quickly with no formal education and he's really quite intuitive. It's just that the poor guy is constantly surrounded by strategic geniuses, and due to his hot-headedness, he comes across as less intelligent by comparison.

If he's so smart, why then is he always tricked by Dazai? Well, everyone is tricked by Dazai. It's kind of Dazai's whole thing. He runs circles around most people. He pranks and torments Kunikida, Atsushi, Sigma, and the list goes on. This has little bearing on Chuuya's intelligence, and is much more to do with Dazai's intelligence. Besides, this kind of becomes a moot point when their plans are very much a team effort, made and carried out with barely any verbal communication whatsoever. When it's time to get serious, Dazai is far from leading Chuuya - they're in step with each other. Chuuya keeps up with Dazai, and is capable of challenging him. That's why the partnership works.

Why was Ranpo able to trap him in Poe's book? Let's take a step back and think to the build up of that. Firstly, this is during Cannibalism arc, where each side had two days to save the lives of their respective leaders. Chuuya's family is under threat, and so he's already under a lot of stress. Second, Ranpo is well-known for being an intentionally irritating little toad and he knew just what to say to make Chuuya lose it - ordinarily, Chuuya is actually capable of keeping it together, but Dazai makes him angry enough to explode. Finally, I sincerely doubt Chuuya expected to get sucked into a book. There's no way he didn't think the goading was a trap, but really? He couldn't have known that and likely assumed his ability was strong enough to handle anything Ranpo threw at him.

So, there's a weakness of sorts, and it's actually highlighted by Hirotsu in Fifteen. Chuuya tends to jump into things because he expects he will just be able to "handle things", which is a consequence of growing up with a powerful ability. Hirotsu warns that people who overly rely on their abilities end up in trouble. This scene was likely a form of payoff for that warning. Either way, I'd expect he won't make that same mistake twice.

Why is Mori able to keep him in line? He isn't, because he doesn't have to. Chuuya serves under Mori because he sees Mori as the successful leader that he wasn't. To Chuuya, Mori has what he doesn't - he respects him and thinks he can learn from him. Chuuya sees the Sheep's betrayal as his own personal failure as their leader. This has nothing to do with intelligence, one way or the other.

Moreover, I think it needs to be said that Chuuya is often well aware when he's being manipulated. He's not oblivious, it's just that there's often nothing he can really do about it. For instance, he is very aware that Fyodor's intention in Cannibalism is to make the agency and mafia fight each other, but as they only have two days before Mori dies and that isn't enough time, he opts for the most direct and immediate course of action.

So, there's another weakness - Chuuya's really not a long-term strategist. He doesn't play the long game like Mori, Dazai or Fyodor - he prefers to sort things out as quickly as possible. However, I need to stress that this does not make him unintelligent or never strategic in the short term.

And that is all that is needed to turn the tables on Fyodor - Fyodor devalues everything about Chuuya other than his ability, but it is always Chuuya who wields that ability, not Dazai. I don't think anyone expects Chuuya to come up with a master plan to completely destroy Fyodor's plans for good... but I fully expect Chuuya to clothesline the guy after the way he continues to refer to him like he's little more than a tool. He's done it before.

Actually, I think I'm just going to wrap this up with a quick list of moments I can think of off the top of my head that demonstrate Chuuya's intelligence.

Every piece of media: Chuuya near immediately pieces Dazai's manipulations together in retrospect, from start to finish.

Main manga: Chuuya is sent to negotiate with the Agency, implying he learned negotiation well from Kouyou.

Fifteen: Chuuya awkwardly tries to shift the investigative focus away from Arahabaki and onto the Old Boss. While this doesn't change Dazai's focus, Dazai ends up entirely unsuspicious of him because he thinks Chuuya just wants to beat people up.

Fifteen: Chuuya expressly warned the Sheep against venturing into Mafia territory to avoid extra aggression.

Fifteen: Chuuya knew the entire time that Randou was the culprit and was gauging how much Dazai knew about his own connection to the Arahabaki situation.

Fifteen: Chuuya goes back to investigate the arcade, suspecting Dazai of having tampered with the game, and was correct in his assumption.

Stormbringer: Chuuya escapes Adam by entering a dark tunnel then hiding to give the illusion that he ran all the way through it. It works and Adam runs right past him.

Stormbringer: Chuuya fakes out Verlaine into thinking he's going to attack N while gearing up to attack Verlaine instead.

Stormbringer: Chuuya fakes out Verlaine again so Adam can launch a surprise attack with an anesthetic.

Dead Apple prologue: Chuuya pieces together Dazai's clue from a single piece of dialogue.

Dead Apple: Chuuya near instantly predicts the course of an incoming grenade while on his motorcycle in motion to ride the shockwave and avoid getting hit.

Also, I think it's important to note that Chuuya's ability is gravity manipulation, not telekinesis. He's not moving whatever he touches - he's manipulating one of the forces acting on it. This means he needs to adjust in the moment to other forces acting on the objects in his surroundings, which can and do change - my first thought was of wind affecting resistance. Either way, he's actually having to juggle a lot of sensory information in the heat of a single moment and that's very difficult to do.

If anyone wants to add any "Chuuya is not dumb" moments that I have missed, please feel free to in the tags or the comments.

Anyways, I hope this answered the initial question, anon!

[patchwork-panda]

If A Moment Is All We Are (29/?)

AO3 link HERE

“Combat training?” I repeated as Kunikida nodded.

“Yeah. I heard about your last run-in with Akutagawa and well...”

He rubbed his neck again, looking awkward.

“Honestly, I’m relieved,” he said, “that you made it out alive. There are few who’ve met him and escaped and now you’ve done so twice. That was impressive. However...”

His jaw tensed and I instantly felt my heart sink as I recalled the words I’d said to Akutagawa back in the flaming wreckage of the garage.

“I’d rather die than be captured by the likes of you.”

I bit my lip.

Kunikida must’ve read the report, which meant he knew what I’d almost done. That was probably why he wanted to wait until we were alone to talk about it...

“And if I’m going down...”

I could still see Akutagawa’s steely gray eyes narrowing, still sense the smooth plastic of the car ignition underneath my index finger... still feel the cold, hard determination coursing through my veins as I lay in the wreckage of President Tanaka’s car, prepared to blow us both up.

“...I’m taking you with me.”

Kunikida looked up and without meaning to, I drew back.

“You were still seriously hurt,” he said at last, his voice low. “And if Dazai-san hadn’t brought you back to see Yosano-sensei in time...”

His expression grew solemn.

“You would have died...”

He grew quiet and as the silence filled the room, I felt a sudden flush of shame and embarrassment creep up the back of my neck.

Idiot.

I was a fool to think for even a moment that Kunikida had called me here to deliver the confession I’d been wanting to give him several years down the line.

What was I thinking?

It was such a far-fetched fantasy. There was no way Kunikida would confess to me first, much less reciprocate my feelings...

Kunikida sighed.

“I understand running into Akutagawa was...”

He paused to think.

“Unexpected,” he said at last. “But that’s why I wanted to talk to you about combat training.”

Kunikida’s gray-green eyes swept over me.

“I read your report, so I know you were trying to be careful. I know you only ran off to catch the bomber because your Ability had shown you exactly where she was going to be and that you worked carefully to avoid injury.”

His expression softened.

“I’m... glad. That you listened to me. I’m glad you took me seriously when I told you to take better care of yourself. I really can’t say it was entirely your fault you ran into trouble back there, but I do think it would’ve been a good idea to tell someone in the Agency, like your case partner, of your plans. Which brings me to my point...”

He gestured to the folders I’d been putting away at my work station.

“You’re going to be getting more and more solo assignments in the future,” he said, taking out his pen as well. “I trust you’ll call for backup in the future, should you need it—”

I felt a sudden stab of guilt.

“—but there will be moments where you’ll inevitably need to fend for yourself. And we won’t know when those moments will occur.”

Kunikida smiled at me then and I felt my heart flutter in my chest.

“Well, I suppose you might, if you’re anything like Atsushi-kun and your Ability ends up becoming more and more powerful. But let’s say it doesn’t happen very quickly or at all.”

I nodded, wondering if someday I really would have such power.

“I think it would be a good idea for you to learn some basic self-defense or martial arts skills.”

He got into a sort of kung fu stance that I thought I’d seen in a movie once and glanced back at me as he demonstrated. I tried to keep my eyes on his face instead of the way his clothes stretched over his musculature. My heart kept beating faster.

He has really nice arms...

“We can start with teaching you how to properly dodge, throw a punch or get out of a choke hold. You know, that sort of thing.”

He glanced back at me and I tore my eyes away from his biceps.

“President Fukuzawa was the one who taught me martial arts,” he said, a note of pride sneaking into his voice. “And I passed down what he taught me to Atsushi when he first joined. If you’re interested in learning from me as well...”

Kunikida’s smile shone bright.

“I would be happy to train you. One-on-one.”

His smile suddenly faltered a little and at once, he looked away. His cheeks were tinged with pink.

“I-if you’re okay with it, that is.”

I brought my fingers up to my lips.

“Kunikida-san...”

One-on-one training with my tall, handsome mentor?

How could I possibly say no?!

“I mean, we don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with it,” he elaborated, looking oddly flustered. “I could ask President Fukuzawa to train you instead if you’d rather have someone better--”

“I’d love to.”

He stopped talking immediately. He blinked.

“Huh...?”

“I’d love to have you as my teacher,” I replied, warmth flooding into my chest.

I smiled and bowed low.

“Please take care of me, Kunikida-san...”

“O-of course.”

When I straightened back up, I saw that he was adjusting his glasses, his face hidden by the pages of his olive-green notebook. He looked like he was rapidly flipping through the pages.

“In that case, do you think you’d be able to start tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?”

I pulled out my phone to check my schedule. Not much on there, but even if I did have a meeting or two, I’d move everything around just to be able to spend a little more time with Kunikida.

“Yes, I think so,” I said, putting it down. “What time?”

“Come to the training room at seven,” Kunikida answered, jotting the lesson down in his schedule.

He put the notebook back into his vest and smiled.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

***

Training with Kunikida...!

I could hardly keep the smile off my face.

And from the sound of it, this was only going to be the first of many sessions...

I let out a long, drawn-out sigh, feeling like I was floating three feet off the ground as I drifted through the hallway.

Okay, sure. So neither of us had confessed our feelings to the other in the soft orange glow of the Agency office at sunset, but I was going to be getting training from Kunikida Doppo, the man who was both my mentor and my crush!

“I would be happy to train you. One-on-one.”

I barely managed to stifle an excited squeal.

Alone time with Kunikida...! He would be the first person I saw when I came to the office tomorrow morning and he’d be the first person I interacted with every other morning I had a training session as well.

I let out another happy sigh as I pictured us growing closer together over the course of the next several weeks, or however long these training sessions were going to last. Would we become close enough to the point where he’d one day feel comfortable calling me “Kyou?”

“Kyou...”

My cheeks grew warm as I imagined his deep, resonant voice calling out my first name, the look in his gray-green eyes as he turned his handsome face towards me, the way he would smile when he heard me calling him by his first name as well.

Ahh... if only that day could come soon...!

Even though I didn’t have my earbuds in, it felt like there was music playing all around me. I started humming under my breath as I reached into my bag and flipped out my phone.

I’d be meeting Kunikida at the training room on the first floor at seven. That meant I’d have to set my alarm so I could get up an hour earlier than usual...

Wait.

I stopped short and stared at the open memo on my phone.

Would I have enough time to make myself look decently presentable with only an extra hour to prepare? And what was I supposed to wear when I got there? It didn’t make sense to show up in my work clothes when he was going to be teaching me how to fight, so should I be wearing gym clothes and carry my work clothes in a bag?

And what about makeup? I wanted to make myself look cute for him (I always wanted to look my best around him!) but would he see it as appropriate for me to be wearing my usual light makeup? Or would he see it as me being frivolous and impractical when I was probably going to sweat it all off?

I felt the smile slowly sliding off my face as I thought about all the things I needed to do tonight to get ready for tomorrow.

I’d have to stop by a clothing store to get some new gym clothes (my old ones were really ratty and probably smelled bad), maybe go by a convenience store so I could buy some breakfast for tomorrow morning—oh, I should probably buy Kunikida some coffee too, to help wake him up and to thank him for doing all this extra work for me—

“Kusunoki-kuuuun—!”

I let out a shriek as someone suddenly popped out of a doorway on my left. That shriek immediately turned into a cry of frustration when I saw who it was.

Of course it would be Dazai. Who else?

“I was wondering why I hadn’t seen you leaving earlier,” I mumbled under my breath. “What are you doing here? Why were you hiding behind that door?”

“You were thinking about me?” Dazai gasped, ignoring everything else I’d said and latching onto that one statement. “Ahh~ I was thinking about you too, Kusunoki-kun! Were you waiting long for me? Did you want to go out for dinner perhaps? Or drinks? Or maybe we could—”

“If I said no to dinner with Yosano-sensei,” I deadpanned, side-stepping him before he could reach out and grab my hand, “what makes you think I’d say yes to you? And before you finish that sentence, the answer is no. I’m not joining you in a double suicide.”

His face fell.

“Always so cold, Kusunoki-kun!” he whined, looking injured as I brushed past him without so much as a second glance. “I was just asking if you wanted to spend some time together. I mean...”

He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked alongside me as I made my way to the stairs, easily keeping up with my hurried pace because of his long strides.

“You’re going to be spending plenty of time together with Kunikiiiida-kun in the future,” he said, stopping me in my tracks.

I turned to face him.

Dazai smiled.

“So why not spend a little time with me as well? I mean, I’m your mentor too, right?”

“You were listening in?” I asked, gripping my bag. “Again?”

“No, it was just a guess,” Dazai said, his grin widening as I scowled at him. “But I was right, wasn’t I?”

He scooted closer, looking for all intents and purposes like an overly excited puppy.

“So, so? Did you confess?” he asked, his brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “No, wait! Don’t tell me.”

He gasped dramatically, covering his mouth with his hands.

“Did Kunikida-kun confess to you? I mean, he’s the one who called you to the office after work when nobody else was going to be around right??”

“That’s not what happened!” I exclaimed, shoving my hands over his mouth. “And you need to stop talking so loudly! Kunikida-san is still here, you know! He stayed behind at the office to finish up some work so if you could just—”

“Oh, ish he mow?”

Peeling my hands away, Dazai walked past me, making a beeline for the office.

“Perfect. Thanks, I actually wanted to talk to him about something.”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” I cried, going after him. “He’s busy right now! And it’s after hours. Can’t you do this some other—?”

“I mean, if you’ve changed your mind and you’d rather go get dinner with me—”

“That’s not what I said.”

I stopped walking and sighed.

“Oh, never mind. Just go.”

I brought my hands up to my head and started rubbing my temples to stave off an oncoming headache.

They’re partners, so Kunikida’s probably used to this by now...

“Just go, huh?”

Dazai’s voice was quiet. Uncharacteristically so.

I let my hands drop away from my head and looked up to see Dazai standing there before me, in the middle of the hallway with his half-bandaged hands tucked into the pockets of his sand colored trench coat. For a moment, he was still and stood there studying me with an unreadable look in his deep brown eyes. He cocked his head to the side a little as he looked at me, his bangs falling just so about his eyes.

And as I watched, the corners of his lips twitched upwards into a smile... a smile that looked oddly wistful for the perpetually grinning Dazai.

“Sure thing,” he said quietly, his smile growing slowly wider.

“Kusunoki-kun.”

I fell silent.

“Dazai-san...?”

What... what was that...?

He laughed a little, a bright and happy sound that didn’t quite fit the look in his eyes earlier.

“Why don’t you go home now?” he asked, turning his back to me and heading for the main office. “You’ve got a long day coming up tomorrow and I think you could use the rest.”

He waved to me as he continued walking away.

“I’ll see you around.”

And with that, he opened the door to the Agency office and went in without giving me a second glance. The sound of the door shutting behind him seemed oddly final.

For a moment, I just stood there, staring down the hall at the spot where he’d just been as the light slowly and surely faded away from the fourth floor.

“Dazai...?”

As the sound of muffled voices floated towards me from behind the closed door, I gripped my bag and turned to go. I wasn’t like Dazai, so it wasn’t like I was going to stay and listen in. Whatever business they had with each other was none of my concern...

But as I reached the stairwell, I stopped short and shot one last glance down the hall towards the office.

Why was Dazai looking at me like that earlier?

“Is everything alright?”

The empty, darkened hallway did not respond.

***

Okay... Five minutes to seven...

Taking a deep breath in, I tucked my cell phone back into my pocket and knocked on the door. The reply came immediately.

“Come in.”

Warmth flooded into my chest at the sound of that familiar deep voice, my pulse already racing as I thought about what lay ahead.

Calm down, Kyou.

Kunikida said he was going to be here waiting for me and he was. There was nothing to get excited over, he was just keeping a promise he’d made to me yesterday and he was here early because he was a professional.

It wasn’t because he was looking forward to this as much as I was...

But my heart only beat faster as I gripped the knob and turned it, carefully pushing my way into the room past a surprisingly heavy door.

There was no reason for me to worry about oversleeping and missing the training session. I’d been so excited about this morning that I’d practically jumped out of bed the instant my alarm went off. I was so energized by the thought of spending almost a full hour alone with Kunikida that I hardly needed the can of coffee I’d bought at the convenience store this morning.

Trying (and failing) to keep the stupid grin off my face, I headed into the room, taking a brief moment to look around at the polished wooden floors and freshly painted walls. I never would’ve guessed that just opposite the Uzumaki Cafe, with its pretty stained glass windows and warm, comforting atmosphere, was a fully furnished training room.

I passed a stack of gym mats and a collection of wing chun dummies and headed for the front of the room, which was marked by a large, framed piece of calligraphy. Pitch-black ink curled and looped across the parchment to form a single phrase: “If you have an honest mind, everywhere is a dojo.”

And sitting quietly, just below that sign... was a tall, seated figure.

I felt my heart literally skip a beat.

Kunikida-san...

He was wearing a plain white martial arts gi, with a black cloth belt tied loosely around his waist and no shoes on his feet. As usual, his long blonde hair was tied back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck and it wound down his back between his shoulder blades like a thin river of gold. Bright morning sunlight streamed in all around us and I realized that the closer I got to him, the more it felt like I was holding my breath.

He looked so dignified sitting there like that, with eyes closed and legs crossed, his palms resting gently on the tops of his thighs. I watched as he took a deep breath in, his broad chest rising and then falling slightly as he exhaled, his glasses slipping just a fraction down the bridge of his nose.

I felt a small smile tugging at my cheeks as I saw that, wanting nothing more than to push those glasses back up for him—

“Kusunoki.”

I jumped. The contents of the plastic bag in my hand jangled noisily as I moved and I suddenly wished I hadn’t chosen canned coffee to bring to Kunikida this morning.

He’d spoken without opening his eyes.

“Y-yes?” I squeaked.

“Put that down.”

I dropped the bag.

“And come here.”

I swallowed.

“Okay.”

Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I bowed slightly, forgetting that he couldn’t see me and shuffled forward.

“Closer.”

A flush crept up the back of my neck and I shuffled forward a little more.

“Closer.”

I obeyed and kept moving forward until I was standing right next to him.

“Good. Now sit.”

I sat.

A tiny smile crossed Kunikida’s face and seeing it, I felt my heart skip another beat.

“I want you to close your eyes,” he said, “and take a deep breath in. Slowly... good... Hold it for four seconds and slowly breathe back out, counting four seconds again.”

He was meditating, I realized as I closed my eyes and did what I was told.

That’s why he was here earlier. Did he start every morning with meditation?

Or...

“Keep going,” he said gently. “Focus on your breathing and just your breathing, okay? We’re going to do this for five minutes.”

Was he doing this because he could tell I was a little nervous?

Warmth flowed through me and I felt my smile returning as I settled in next to him and tried to focus on my breathing. Silence settled in around us like a soft, comforting blanket and I could feel myself nodding off, my tiredness from the night before finally starting to catch up with me. My head dropped lower and lower towards my chest, a jumble of memories and sensations rising to the surface of my mind into the beginnings of a waking dream...

“Just go, huh?”

I jerked up, my head snapping back harder than I expected and I winced as I heard Kunikida stir next to me. One gray-green eye opened and peered out at me from behind those thin, rectangular frames.

“Falling asleep?”

“N-no!” I lied, flushing in shame. “I mean... yes. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. One minute left, okay?”

I nodded, realizing a little too late that he’d closed his eyes again and couldn’t see me any more.

“Okay.”

I closed my eyes too and tried to clear my head, but it wasn’t working any more.

I just kept seeing Dazai’s tall, trench-coat clad figure strolling down that empty, darkened hallway... alone.

I sighed.

The truth was, I felt kind of uneasy after my encounter with Dazai last night. Although I tried to put it out of my head as much as I could, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was he wanted to talk to Kunikida about. Why did he want to wait until everyone had left the office to talk? And why wouldn’t he look at me as he left?

Was I just being paranoid...?

Or...

Was I missing something? Something important?

Next to me, Kunikida sighed. I jerked my head towards him, another apology ready to go when I realized he was just breathing out, releasing one last long, steady stream of air between his lips as the meditation session came to an end. I shut my mouth and stayed quiet, suddenly feeling strangely guilty as I looked at him.

“There. That was pretty relaxing, wasn’t it?” Kunikida asked, turning to me with a soft smile.

“Y-yes,” I stammered, my heart pounding just a little faster at the sight of that smile. “It was...”

He nodded slightly, looking pleased, and slowly got to his feet.

“Thanks for coming early,” Kunikida said, his gray-green eyes warm. “It’s always nice to have an enthusiastic pupil to teach. Really nice, considering how things at the Agency usually are...”

“O-of course,” I stammered, my tongue suddenly feeling thick and clumsy in my mouth. “Thank you for offering to train me. I—I really appreciate it.”

“Oh, it’s really nothing,” Kunikida replied, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. “I just thought, as your mentor, I should...”

He cleared his throat abruptly and trailed off.

“A-anyway, have you ever taken any self-defense classes before, Kusunoki-kun?”

I shook my head and my neck cracked a little as I moved.

Apparently, I was in worse shape than I thought...

Not hearing the cracking noise, Kunikida nodded a little, seemingly deep in thought.

“I see...”

His gray-green eyes swept over me, his eyebrows knitting together as he spoke.

“Your Ability isn’t very useful for combat but unfortunately, like many others who possess information-gathering Abilities, you’ve had to defend yourself from being kidnapped or attacked. Based on what happened after your last encounter with Aktuagawa, I suspect the Port Mafia won’t go after you in the near future. However...”

His jaw tightened and I saw his expression darken in the bright morning light.

“There’s no telling who might target you in the future if your Ability grows more and more powerful. In fact, we should probably consider issuing you a gun in the near future, before you start taking any assignments that may require you to go out at night—”

“A gun?!” I squawked, backing away from him abruptly. “W-wait a minute, Kunikida-san! I thought today was—”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Kunikida said in a rush. “That’s not going to be happening right away. Like I said before, today we’re just going to go over some basics! However, please keep in mind that we are the Armed Detective Agency. In our line of work, combat seems almost unavoidable at times and so most of our members carry a weapon of some kind; there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have one as well.”

He grew quiet, his gray-green eyes downcast.

“Besides... I’d hate for something to happen to you when I could’ve...”

His lips were moving but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

My breath hitched in my throat.

“...Kunikida-san?”

At the sound of my voice, he twitched—jerking up so that his back was ramrod straight and I took another step back away from him as he turned around and let out what sounded like a violent series of coughs. He looked really red and I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears as he turned back around. He was standing there with the most flustered look on his face I’d ever seen...

“Um...?”

I could barely hear myself talking over the sound of my heart beating in my ears.

What was he going to say?!

“A-Are you okay—?”

“L-let’s get started, shall we?” Kunikida exclaimed, his voice strangely loud.

His face was still very red.

“Why don’t we work on dodging first? I think that’s a good place to start!”

“That sounds good!” I agreed, nodding vigorously. “How should we do this?”

“Ah, well, I can’t expect you to know how to dodge properly unless I show you first,” Kunikida said, the color not fading from his cheeks in the least. “So why don’t you throw a punch at me first and I’ll explain what I’m doing as we go?”

My jaw dropped.

“Hit you?!”

I waved my hands in front of me and shook my head.

“N-no!! I can’t hit you! Kunikida-san, you’re my—my—”

Oh God.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to calm myself down.

What was I getting all tongue-tied for now?! And why did I have to blush?!

“You’re my mentor,” I choked out at last as Kunikida somehow flushed darker, “I can’t just—!”

“Please don’t worry about that, Kusunoki-kun!” Kunikida said in a rush, “I can take it. I mean—! I don’t think you’re going to be able to land a hit on me. Wait, no that’s not what I meant—!”

He slapped a hand over his face and groaned as I suddenly felt the strongest urge to grab one of the canned coffees I’d gotten at the convenience store and knock myself out with it.

“I know you know how to dodge,” Kunikida said at last, his voice muffled.

He still hadn’t taken his hands away from his face. His ears were now the color of fresh beets.

“If you didn’t, Akutagawa would have captured you the first time for sure. The fact that you were able to evade him twice means that you have good instincts and on some level, you knew exactly what you were doing when you avoided his attacks.”

The color fading from his ears, he took his hands away from his face at last and finally glanced back over at me.

“We’re just going to take what you know already and refine it a little. Hopefully, if this goes well, you’ll leave here after a few sessions being able to dodge anything that comes your way. So...”

He took a deep breath, then stepped back and got into a fighting stance.

“If you’re ready, I want you to try to hit me.”

Swallowing a little, I mirrored his stance.

“O-okay. Then...”

I drew back my fist, intending to copy a move I’d seen in a ninja anime recently.

“Here I go.”

For the next few minutes, I tried to hit Kunikida. Either punching or kicking or swiping at him, whatever I could think of. At first it was a little hard trying to get close to him (I did still have a massive crush on him, after all) but as he calmly side-stepped hit after hit, not dropping his guard for even the briefest of moments, I started to relax. Soon, I’d gotten used to the idea of just being that close to him and the heat building in my face had less to do with embarrassment or flustered and more with the amount of exercise I was getting.

“Okay, and we’re going to stop there.”

The color had faded a little from Kunikida’s face and he was smiling slightly as he dropped his fists and addressed me.

“We’ll work on your attacks later but for now, I want you to try doing what I was doing. Let’s switch places and this time, I’ll try to hit you. Don’t worry, I’ll go slow.”

And as promised, he did.

I managed to avoid the first few hits but as the lesson dragged on, I found myself getting tired, sloppy. Without the added boost of adrenaline that came with the threat of death or capture, I wasn’t moving as quickly as I could and it wasn’t long before Kunikida raised his hand to indicate we should stop.

I was so out of shape...

“Okay, not bad,” he said, tapping his chin. “But I think I can give you a few pointers...”

I saw his smile widen just a fraction as I took my phone out of my pocket and opened up a fresh memo and warmth flooded through me as I saw the look in his sage-colored eyes. His expression was almost... affectionate?

“You’ve got the right idea,” he said, “and you’re pretty good at keeping your distance, which is key to keeping yourself safe if you want to avoid being hit. But, you have a tendency to turn your back on your opponent and I want to train you away from that. You see...”

He put his hand on my shoulder and slowly walked around me so that now I was no longer facing him. He swept one leg out so that his foot was touching the back of my shoe and positioned me so that I would lose my balance if he let go of my shoulder.

“When you can’t see your opponent, you can’t see them telegraphing an attack. If you can’t see where the attack is coming from, you won’t be able to get away.”

He moved his leg back and took his hand off my shoulder as I turned to face him.

“Remember to keep your eyes on your opponent whenever possible. Both so you can avoid those attacks and so you can counter attack. Now let’s try that again.”

Time passed quickly. To my surprise (and Kunikida’s), I picked up on what he said very quickly and as the pseudo-sparring session continued, I was able to avoid every attack with ease.

“Good.”

His fist came towards me, a little faster this time. I took a step to the left.

“Very good.”

Kunikida began picking up the pace and as I kept dodging his attacks, making sure to keep my eyes on him and his movements whenever possible, I saw a smile blooming on his face. After about ten minutes of these rounds, Kunikida clapped his hands together and nodded, looking very satisfied.

“Kusunoki-kun, I’m impressed,” he declared, beaming. “You picked that up pretty fast.”

“Ah, well, I have a pretty great teacher,” I said shyly, twisting a lock of hair between my fingers.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Kunikida looking so happy. Knowing that he was smiling because of something I’d done... I couldn’t help it if I was smiling as widely as he was.

“Since you’ve pretty much gotten the hang of dodging, let’s move on to counter attacks. There’s a whole range of techniques for countering grabs or holds of different kinds, so let’s do that next.”

He pointed at the fabric of his gi.

“We’ll do the exact same thing as before. I want you to grab the lapels of my clothes and I’ll demonstrate how to get out of it.”

His brows twitched together.

“Would you like me to put on gloves for this? Or are you comfortable enough with your Ability that skin contact won’t be a problem?”

“S-skin contact?”

What were we going to be doing?

“I think...” I decided slowly, “I want to try it without.”

I looked up at him, a strange sense of determination flowing through me.

“I... I don’t want to be wearing gloves all the time,” I said, my hands balling into fists.

I want my life back.

“I want to live like an ordinary person, as much as possible, and if I want to do that, I have to work to control my Ability.”

And I want to move forward.

“If President’s Fukuzawa’s Ability itself is not enough then...”

I looked up at him, my body tensing, resolve burning deep inside my chest.

“I’ll have to make up the difference.”

So that one day, I can finally stand beside you... beside all of you.

As your equals.

For a moment, Kunikida’s beautiful sage-green eyes widened.

“Kusunoki-kun...”

His mouth set into a line and his eyebrows slowly furrowed further. He studied me.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“Okay, then.”

He patted his chest. “Grab hold.”

But as I reached my hands out towards Kunikida’s chest and gripped the lapels of his gi between my fingers, I came to the abrupt realization that he wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath... and by grabbing on to the fabric of his clothing, I was opening his gi and pulling it away from his chest.

Smooth, glowing skin glistened up on me, the thinnest sheen of workout sweat condensing on Kunikida’s toned, well-muscled chest and I felt my grip faltering as I stared straight ahead of me. I suddenly couldn’t talk.

“Uh, Kusunoki-kun?”

Oblivious to my current predicament, Kunikida tapped my hand.

“I’m gonna need you to actually grab me if I’m going to show you how to break free of an actual grab...”

My tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth. I could barely breathe. I swallowed thickly and tried to tighten my grip, praying he wouldn’t notice how much sweatier I’d just become.

“L-like... like this?”

“A little tighter.”

Oh God, my face was burning—burning!!

“How’s that?”

“Great.”

In one smooth motion, Kunikida moved his left hand across his chest and gripped my trembling right hand in his left. His hand was so large, it almost completely enveloped mine. He gripped my hand tightly and plowed on, completely unaware of how our positioning and overall height difference was causing me to literally tug his clothing off of his body.

“So this is going to sound counter-intuitive, but if you want to break free of a hold like this,” he said, gesturing at our positions with his free hand, “what you want to do is first trap your opponent.”

He pulled his arm down—the arm that had crossed over mine to grab my hand—and as he did so, both my arms folded downwards at the joint and I was pulled forward. My nose was now right up against his bare chest.

Heat exploded in my face.

I could feel the pull of my Ability but it was nothing next to the overpowering rush of sensations that flooded into my body as I tried to keep my face as far away from Kunikida’s chest as possible. I couldn’t hear anything above the pounding of my heart as Kunikida slowly and patiently explained the technique he was teaching me.

I was going to die... Die! But at least I was going to die a happy woman...!

“...Are you listening, Kusunoki-kun?”

My voice came out as a tiny squeak.

“Hm?”

“I asked if you were listening,” Kunikida rumbled and I bit back a groan as I saw a droplet of sweat slide down between his pecs. “I was talking about—oh.”

And for the second time this morning, he went completely red.

Kunikida let go of me at once. As we each backed several steps away from each other, I spun around and covered my face. I thought I heard him swearing softly under his breath.

“I-I’m so sorry, Kusunoki-kun,” he stammered, his voice sounding strangely muffled—like he was covering his face with his hands again.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I—”

“No, it’s okay!” I squeaked, not daring to turn around and look at him again.

I could still see that drop of sweat trickling down his chest...

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for!”

Absolutely nothing.

“You were just trying to show me something—!”

And as I stood there, several meters away from him, babbling like an absolute idiot in the middle of the training room, I heard a set of familiar voices carrying into the room from outside. It sounded like Yosano and Edogawa. If they were here, then it was almost eight...

“Ah!”

Kunikida let out a sigh of relief.

“It looks like it’s time to head up to work. Why don’t we pick this up another time and go upstairs with them?”

“Sounds good to me. Oh, wait!”

Suddenly remembering, I rushed towards the front of the room, where I’d left the plastic bag full of snacks and drinks I’d gotten at the convenience store this morning. Grabbing the bag, I plunged my hand into the middle and fished out a black canned coffee and croissant in a plastic bag.

“Here!”

I shoved both at him, my head inclined in a bow half out of respect, half so I wouldn’t have to look him in the face.

“I—I got you breakfast. I wanted to say thank you. For taking time out of your busy schedule to train me. I... really appreciate it.”

“Oh—!”

Kunikida sounded surprised. I risked a quick glance up and saw that he’d fixed his shirt. I tried not to think about whether I was relieved or disappointed.

“Thank you, Kusunoki-kun. That’s very thoughtful of you...”

“It’s really nothing!!” I exclaimed. “A-anyway, did you want to go upstairs together?”

“Oh, um...”

He trailed off and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I should stay here and clean up,” he said quietly, his eyes focused on something I couldn’t see. “Why don’t you go on ahead?”

He glanced back at me, a sort of half-smile tugging at his lips. His cheeks were still just a little pink.

“I’ll catch up with you later.”

I nodded.

“Okay, then. I’ll see you soon, Kunikida-san.”

As he nodded and turned away from me, I was struck with a sudden urge to ask another question.

“Kunikida-san?”

He glanced over his shoulder at me. I stopped chewing my lip and steeled my nerves.

“Same time tomorrow?”

There was a pause. Then he nodded.

My heart soared.

“Sure,” he said, his half-smile turning into a full one.

“Same time tomorrow.”