find solace (belong) [KNY/BNHA]

[22] a silent gift, a tender promise

Lmao, a new chapter has arrived! Omg, this took way too long, longer than it should've T-T I can literally feel the urge to rip my eyeballs out of my skull.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter everyone!

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"'If you call yourself a man'." Makomo smiled, absolutely prepared to recite the entire interaction from her memory alone. It was the fourth time this day and it wasn't even noon yet.

Sabito's eyebrow twitched.

He didn't know if he was going to be able to take this any longer, even though it was his fault.

The peach-haired boy hid his wince from the girl beside him to salvage at least a little bit of his dignity. The reminder coming up every other minute in their conversations for an entire three weeks after he had said those words made him want to bury himself into the ground and perish. Which was kind of ironic since he was technically dead already.

Details.

Swearing to himself never to make such a careless mistake ever again, he fixed his eyes on Char's figure, stretching her sore battered limbs from another round of sparring. Makomo smiled as she glided towards the girl, leaving Sabito to simply watch on the sidelines.

She was improving, Sabito could see it in the way she thought, the way she moved, the way her sword hit his own. Even if only by a little, she was getting better at assimilating her prior experience with her recent teachings.

A chill went down his spine. He felt an inkling of fear and trepidation on behalf of those who might face this blooming youth in the future. At the rate they were going, Char was probably going to be a close contender for the record of least time a student spent on the boulder test.

They were nearing the one month mark. Soon, Char would have to go against Makomo. Perhaps the flowery dream-like girl would be of some help to Urokodaki's current pupils. They were both flexible, more so than Sabito despite the fact that he could drop down into splits with ease.

"What are you thinking about, Sabito?"

Even though technically his heart could no longer beat as it once did, he felt as if it nearly leapt out of his chest cavity.

He coughed, "Nothing much. Just about the current progress in training."

Makomo smiled, innocent and kind. "It's been three weeks and we're making good progress. You're already sticking around a lot longer than with others, perhaps...?" She left her sentence unfinished, and Sabito didn't really know if he wanted to find out the rest of it.

"Ahem," He could feel a migraine already. "I'm off now Makomo-san, you can take charge of afternoon training."

Amused, Makomo cupped her hands around her mouth to speak even though Sabito's shadow had already disappeared. "I told you to just call me Makomo!" Sighing, she turned back to the girl who was examining the newly-formed blisters on her palm. Crystal eyes turned questioning at the light laugh that Makomo gave.

"It's nothing," she waved off, instructing Char to practise the forms once more under her watchful gaze.

Really, what a stubborn fellow.

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