34 | just like the old days

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an: temporary new publishing time! this'll probably go on until i get a new permanent shift at work

Sixteen year old Nari jolted up on her bed and sat up with wide eyes, blinking her eyes twice to ground herself on the fact that she's inside her bedroom, on her bed, wearing her pajamas.

What a weird dream. She tells herself inside her head. Haru's going to kill me when we get older? She asks, shaking her head before getting up from her bed and going into the bathroom.

Ever since her mother caught sight of Smiley sleeping besides her in her bed one morning, the two of them were called down the dining area to explain their relationship with one another. For the most part, it was Smiley who did most of the talking. And when he was away did her mother, Hina and Naoto began bombarding her with questions.

"I thought you liked Haru kun?"

"Where's your Haru now?"

"He left you? I didn't think he'd do that...he's such a sweet boy!"

If only they knew half of what happened, then they would certainly feel the same resentments as her. But Nari shrugged those off. Not when she's moved on from her long time crush.

"Your school is literally in the opposite direction from mine." She chuckles softly, happy to see Smiley standing and waiting for her outside of the apartment building.

"It's just a late record!" Smiley reasons

"You've said that multiple times! Aren't you like one more late and you'll get a bad rate on your report card?"

"My report card's just a piece of paper. I can feed it to my dog-"

"No you won't!"

And this is an almost everyday occurrence - Smiley would drop by her place to walk her to school before going to his. But on the way to her school, they would bicker and talk about anything and everything.


"So...Toman's really disbanded, huh?"

"Yeah." Nari confirms, wiping away bead's of sweat that continued to drip down on the side of her head. "Mikey says the gang's gotten too big already." She adds.

Wakasa and Benkei sat before her, listening to her story of how Toman faced Tenjiku months ago and then leading to it's disbandment. Whereas Senju just sat besides her, leaning her back against her seat while stretching her legs.

"What are you doing now?" Benkei asks

"The usual...going to high school, being a studious student but both at day and night now." She answers, holding onto her water bottle in her hands. "I don't have to worry about sneaking out anymore to go to meetings. Most of Tenjiku's members are in prison as of the moment too. It's most likely that no gang would ever pop up right now."

At her sudden revelation, Senju immediately piqued interest at this. Standing up from her seat with a determined smile painted on her lips. "Even though there's no Toman nor Mikey in action, there will still be gangs that would pop up."

Nari raises her head up to look at Senju. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you think is a good name for a gang, Nari?" She asks. "No, let's think about the name later. For now, spar with me!"

"Eh?" Nari makes a sound. Looking at Senju with furrowed eyebrows. "But our break just started!"

"You too, Waka! Benkei!" Senju urges, getting back up inside the ring.

"But there's still ten minutes left of our fifteen minute break." Nari pouts, looking up at Wakasa and Benkei with pleading eyes.

"You heard her." Wakasa says, patting her shoulder as the two of them get up from their seats.

Nari frowned but nevertheless stood up from her seat and entered the ring as well.

Back then, she used to be so excited about training and sparing, always wanting to prove a point to the three of them. But now, the spark inside her felt like it was fading a little by little. What was this feeling? Nari didn't know if she was already losing interest. Needless to say, she still gave her best inside the boxing ring.

. . . . . . . . . .

"If Toman were to come back again and fight a gang, would you come back?"

Smiley scoffed. "Of course I would. I'd still hold being the captain of the Fourth Division." He responded to her question, tilting his head down to brush his rough hands through her hair. "Why'd you ask? Is Toman returning?"

Nari darted her eyes up at him while shaking her head. "Not likely." She replies. "It's just yesterday I didn't feel like training. It felt so heavy in my heart to do so."

Smiley was quiet as she told him about her feelings yesterday in the gym. While his hand continued to run through her hair, he was thinking of the right words to tell her. The kind of right words that would cheer her up.

"It's normal to get tired of the things that used to make you happy." He begins to say, "If you feel tired, make sure to give yourself some rest. Don't just rush diving into it. Healing does take time. But if you're tired and feel like quitting, you gotta remind yourself why you're here in the first place and see how far you've gotten." He says, letting out a breath before pressing his palms back on the ground.

"I sound so serious like shit earlier." Smiley says, laughing afterwards.

"I didn't know you were capable of being serious while sounding serious." Nari commented.

"Oh but yes, my dear sweet girlfriend. I can in fact be serious and sound serious." The orange haired smile grins at her. "Are you falling for me again?"

Nari smiles, extending her hand up to poke his cheek. "Nope!" She answers, chuckling teasingly afterwards.

"Okay. Good luck on walking home by yourself later." Smiley says, gently pushing Nari off his lap. The girl didn't budge, grinning while removing his hands off her.

"I was just joking! You're so funny like this. Maybe I should tell everyone this side of you!" Nari spoke, sitting up by herself only for Smiley to bring her back to laying down on his lap.

"Just stay there!"

"Ah, what a big baby you are."


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