Burning Bright | Keigo Takami x Male Reader

Chapter 7

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(M/N) groaned from his spot on the grass. He felt bruised all over, and he was so sweaty. This was not how he imagined his Saturday morning going down.

"Come on, let's go again," Keigo said.

(M/N) lifted his head up and looked in front of him. Keigo was standing there with his hands on his hips, waiting for (M/N) to get back up. "I'm really sore though."

"Yeah well, we all had to go through this when we first started, you can't get out of it that easy," Keigo said.

"I thought I was supposed to be stronger with these powers or whatever," (M/N) said, still making no effort to get up.

"Yes, you are, but it's not like flicking a light switch. You need to train up to really notice a difference," Keigo explained. "As you are right now, you wouldn't be able to beat the easiest of monsters."

(M/N) dropped his head, sighing loudly. After taking the oath, he and Keigo's group spent the rest of the night training. Well, he and Keigo had, everyone else had left, claiming that since Keigo was their leader, it was his job to train (M/N). Though he suspected they just didn't want to stay up all night. (M/N) could have waited until morning to start, but he was too excited to wait at the time. Now, he was regretting his decision.

"Ok, fine," (M/N) said. He slowly pulled himself off the ground and surveyed himself. His Star Guardian outfit was covered in dirt in various places, and he had a few visible bruises littering his skin, several others were not visually apparent but (M/N) could definitely feel them.

"How do you clean these outfits?" (M/N) asked, looking at the grime in distaste.

"They're magical outfits, (M/N). They clean themselves," Keigo said.

(M/N) stared at him. "I can't tell if you're joking or not."

Keigo laughed. "I'm not, they really do. Don't ask me how. It's just magic."

"...Right."

"Anyway, you're not gonna get stronger by standing here all day chatting, let's get to it," Keigo said, a burst of red light filling his hands before dissipating to reveal two feathered blades. (M/N) got into a defensive position, hands readied with a golden glow.

He still didn't know anything about his powers, but Keigo said sparring was the best way to get a hang of the basics, then furthering his abilities would be a lot easier. The most he could manage was small bursts of golden light from his palms, he hoped he'd be able to do more soon. Once he could, he'd be able to go out into the stars with Keigo and the others and experience it all for himself.

(M/N) spent the rest of the morning trying and failing to beat Keigo in a fight, not that he expected to, he was just hoping he would make some progress in his abilities. So far he had nothing.

"You two are still at it, I see."

(M/N) panting and barely able to stand up straight, turned to see Nemuri walking across the field, Denki and Kyoka trailing closely behind.

"Yeah, just getting my ass kicked, nothing special," (M/N) breathed out.

"It gets easier, trust me," Nemuri laughed.

"I hope so, feels like everyone's saying that," (M/N) said.

"Well you guys should take a break, we brought food!" Denki exclaimed, holding up two takeaway bags.

Keigo agreed to take a break, much to (M/N)'s relief, and the two joined the rest of the group to eat. They talked about (M/N)'s progress at first, but soon realised there wasn't much to discuss, so they moved onto other related topics, some of which (M/N) sought answers for.