ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ꜱᴍᴀʀᴛᴇʀ, ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴀʀᴅᴇʀ

Ch. 18 - "다쳐도 괜찮아, I'll run to you."

Quote: RUN2U by STAYC.

I'm so ahead on chapters currently that i'm already working on chapter 20 💀💀
FINAL EDIT ON THIS CHAPTER, BUT I ALMOST HIT 5.5K??? 😭❤

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It was nearing spring, the lack of snow lately has been proof of that. Though it was still a little cold on some days, there were days where the weather was perfect.

Kind of like today.

The snow has all but melted away, fresh grass starting to grow once again. The leaves that used to be dead are starting to grow on the trees, and flowers were starting to bloom.

I let out a content sigh as I made my way outside, sitting on the stairs next to Yuta, who was all alone. This seemed to startle him, due to the fact that he didn't sense me approaching.

"What are you doing here alone?"

"Oh, uh, the others all had missions to go on. I just happened to finish mine right when they left. I was going to train, but..."

I caught on to what he was saying, "ah, I see. You find it easier to train with others. Alright then, lets spar, Yuta."

I got up, wiping any dirt off of me before turning towards him.

"Really?! But, you don't usually combat train with anyone-"

"That's because I usually spar with someone at home. I'm willing to help you, though. Lets try hand to hand, first."

I stuck my hand out towards him and he took it, lifting himself up. We both headed closer to the middle of the field, separating ourselves to prepare. Yuta got in his battle stance, and I simply stood there, relaxed.

'There's never a "start" for battle, so I'm able to go in at any time.'

"After this," I started as I ran towards him, "I would like to try something with you."

I tried going for a kick straight to his torso, but he blocked and grabbed my leg. Since his grip was loose enough, I used my other leg to spin my body to free it and bring it back down. Simultaneously, I brought the other leg to his head, effectively knocking him back.

He grunted as he made contact with the ground. "Try what?" He recovered quickly enough. Although I could've made a move to take advantage of the knock back, I didn't.

"I want to see if you can imbue cursed energy into me."

He ran at me, openly getting ready to punch with his left fist.

'He has too many openings.'

I huffed, dodging to the right when he tried to punch me. As soon as I got the chance, I positioned myself to face the same direction he was in, and grabbed his forearm with my left hand and his lower face with my right. I brought my right leg forward to sweep his legs as I forcefully pushed his head back with my right arm. This caused him to fall backwards, and I could see the surprise on his face when he made impact with the ground.

"You have too many openings, Yuta," I looked down at him with a smile, "I'll give you some pointers." I brought my hand out to help him up, to which he took it.

"Just so you know," I looked at him with a serious expression, "if this was a real battle to the death, I wouldn't have grabbed your face with my hand. Your head would've already been completely severed from your jaw."

He tensed up at this comedically in shock, "HUH?! Who did you even learn to fight from?!"

"Toji."

"Of course," he sweatdropped, "it all makes sense now."