She's here.
19 days 5 minute and 26 seconds remaining-
His eyes focused, Ryota stood up again holding his wooden Katana with a strong grip. He looked at Ryuu in front of him, who was also getting a bit tired. Ryota had already quite mastered defending and had been sharpening on his attacking techniques for the past few days. He had been in multiple spars and had been getting used to the rhythm of fighting. The biggest problem for Ryota currently was controlling his strength. Due to his physique hitting hard wasn't a problem, but the problem lied with him unnecessarily wasting energy in useless slashes that were done with his full force.
"Let's end this for today." Ryuu said as he suddenly jumped towards him.
Surprised by the sudden attack, Ryota unconsciously activated his mystic and with a slash you could hear a big snapping sound. Raku, his dad and the other members of the gang who were watching their match looked with their eyes opened wide as to what just happened. Ryota had not only managed to dodge the attack but his opponent, Ryuu's sword was left in two pieces. Ryota realized his mistake but it was already too late as everyone was staring at him.
"Ryota-sama, you're really awesome." Ryuu said holding Ryota, "This is the most amazing thing I've seen in my life. If this was a real match, then I would sure be dead after that attack."
"It was just a coincidence, maybe the wood was already on the verge of breaking and I just hit at the weak place," Ryota said trying to explain himself.
"It could be, but this is the first time, I've had the feeling of fighting like a real samurai." Ryuu said, "I am really proud to be the one who taught you, Ryota-sama. If you keep practicing like this, within a year, I am sure you'll be the strongest swordsman of our generation."
"If you say so." Ryota laughed trying to go with the flow.
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"That was close." Ryota sighed crashing into his bed, "I should be more careful next time."
Currently practicing swords with his mystic eyes was his biggest struggle. Though it would be helpful to practice it ahead of time, it was still too dangerous for a spar. After all, a minor mistake and he could end up killing the other party in a single strike.
Ryota had begun realizing the biggest defect of Mystic Eyes and that wasn't him not being able to do some weird genjutsu or something, but it had more to do with the fact that the eyes were made only to kill and destroy. If Ryota couldn't turn the thing off, his eyes would be a total curse. He wondered if it was really possible to save someone with these eyes without violence but he couldn't think of a single scenario in his head where he could do so.
"I guess, this is the perfect give from the devil."
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"Sure thing. Yeah- if you could do so I'd be really glad. Okay, see you." Ryota hung up his phone.
"Who was that?" Raku asked.
"My brother, I guess." Ryota said, "According to him, he is quite good with quick-drawing techniques, so I was asking him if he could send me a manual."
"I am not even going to ask." Raku said too weirded out by how Ryota's life changed on a daily basis.
"It's best if you don't." Ryota nodded, "By the way, thank you Kosakicchi for bringing me my favorite treats. Last time Rakucchi ate it all, and I couldn't even have a bite."
"No worries." Onodera said, "I didn't know you liked daifuku's as well, Ichijou-kun?"
"..."
Leaving the love birds alone, Ryota walked out of the class heading out for a walk when he suddenly got a message from Shizuka.
'I think I've found another old friend of yours.'
'Who?' He replied.
'Head to class 2-F and figure for yourself.'
Though Ryota wasn't too interested in finding friends as he wasn't close to a lot of people, he figured since had nothing better to do, he might as well go check it out. Class 2-F was on the same building as his class but on a higher floor. Looking around at the signboards he finally found class 2-F but got stuck wondering if it would be weird to enter another class.
Sighing he decided to go for it anyway since he didn't really feel like going back empty-handed as he opened the door to the class.
Seeing someone they didn't recognize enter their class the students looked at him for a while wondering who he was, Ryota didn't mind the stares as he looked around only for him to find someone he didn't really want to see.
"Isn't he Kise Ryota, the most good looking guy from the first year?" The girl with light orange hair whispered to her group of friends, "What is he doing here?"
"I think the most important question is why is he staring in our direction." The blonde girl said as Ryota began walking towards their direction.
As he got closer the more they realized who he was actually staring at.
"Hayama-kun?" The girl questioned seeing Hayato staring right back at Ryota.
"It's been awhile Ryota." Hayato said looking at Ryota with a smile.
"Who's here to see you, dumbass." Ryota completely ignored Hayato as he turned over to the orange-haired girl at first but as if he decided not to, he looked over at the blonde girl.
"I am Kise Ryota, nice to meet you."
"Miura Yumiko." The girl introduced herself with a haughty expression as she shook his hand.
'And there goes my interest.' He thought to himself looking at her unneeded arrogance as he began ignoring her completely from there on,
"You got quite the party here, Hayato-kun." he said sarcastically looking at the group of people around him, "It hasn't even been long since school started and you have already started collecting bees for your hive."
You could see that everyone was annoyed with how Ryota phrased his sentence but unlike how they expected, Hayato began laughing, "You're still the same as ever."
"Well, I don't like wearing two faces at the same time." Ryota said, "It's quite exhausting you know."
"For some of us, it's quite necessary though," Hayato said not minding Ryota's intentional sharp words at all, "But I am glad that it is really you. I asked Shizuka-sensei about you but I still had my suspicions. So I had to lie about wanting to see you, not sure if it was really you. I mean, it could've been a bit awkward if somebody else showed up."
"Why did you make it sound like it's some sort of elaborated trap?" Ryota questioned lazily, "Watching too many movies lately?"
"Not really." Hayato said chuckling, "Though I'd love to catch up. I want to tell you something really important first. She's here."
Ryota's eyes became more focused as he seriously stared at Hayato for awhile judging whether he was really telling the truth or not, "How is she?"
"Good," Hayato said, "But as you told me back then, I couldn't really help her the way you did."
Ryota chuckled in self-pity, "You mean beating everyone up?"
"Yeah! After all, I can't be you."
"Well it doesn't matter," Ryota said, "I didn't think that method would hold up for long anyway."
"You should go and meet her."
"I don't think she wants to see me." Ryota said, "After all, I did cause her a lot of pain."
"She knows you did those things for her and it's not like it's completely one-sided." Hayato said, "And again, we were just children back then, so there's no point in hurting yourself over it. Just talk and sort things out."
"Does she know I am here?"
"Of course, she does. When have you not attracted attention wherever you went?" Hayato said, "Hearing rumors about you, it feels like I am back in middle-school again."
"Well, let's leave it to fate then." Ryota said smiling, "Sounds kinda pathetic coming from me, doesn't it?"
"Yeah! it does."
*Ring!*
"Looks like the break is over, let's catch lunch sometime," Ryota said before walking away from their class not turning back even once.
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-Hayato POV-
"So you two know each other?" Yumiko asked still wondering what she did wrong for Ryota to ignore her suddenly like that. It especially annoyed her seeing that he left even without saying goodbye.
"Yeah! we met in middle-school back when we were still in the states but we got separated since we had to return back to Japan."
"We?"
"Yeah, me and a friend." Hayato said.
"So what's his deal?" The orange-haired girl asked, "And what were you guys talking about? Sounds kinda serious."
Seeing their curious eyes Hayato sighed, "It's related to the reason why he can't find love."
"Is he stuck on someone?"
"Why? He's so handsome. You're telling me he still doesn't have a girlfriend."
"It's for him to answer, not me." Hayato said, "But I can understand him, after all, we are quite the same."
"Yeah! you shouldn't leave his side, Hayama-Kun." The glasses girl said but her intention behind the word didn't seem kind at all, especially seeing the perverted look in her eyes.
"Hayama-kun, Can you tell us about the type of girls he likes?" The girls asked making a pitiable face at Hayato. "He's quite popular now, so we can't help but feel curious."
"Fine, I'll answer it but this would be the last question I answer about him." Hayato sighed thinking to himself that he really did end up with a hive of gossipers, "Well, looks-wise he prefers pretty girls obviously and with long hair if I remember correctly. By personality, he prefers someone intelligent and loving."
"But that's so basic."
"Well, it's hard to describe but if he ever dates someone, you'll see what I am talking about." Hayato said leaving the girls wondering what kind of girl would it be,
"If the rumors are true then we all will meet sooner than expected, Ryota, even with her."
-Hayato POV end-
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The cold voice saying 'I hate you' kept repeating in his head, as he washed his face looking at himself in the mirror.
"Sigh! As if I didn't have other things to worry about." Ryota shook his head, "I knew I saw her before but I guess, I didn't want to accept it."
Heading back to class, Raku and Onodera kept wondering what was wrong with him but he wouldn't budge. When school ended, Ryota stood up first as he turned to Raku and said, "Tell Ryuu, I won't come today."
"What's gotten to you so suddenly?"
"Nothing much." Ryota said showing if the training manual Teppei had just sent him, "This is really interesting and I think I should adopt this style to my fighting style. So I'll be practicing for a while on my own today."
Raku wanted to stop him but Onodera stopped him from doing so, "I think he just needs some time alone."
Raku sighed watching Ryota go.
"What do you think happened over lunch break?" Onodera said wondering the same thing Raku was thinking.
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Author note:-
*All the characters are from Yahari Ore.
https://oregairu.fandom.com/wiki/Hayato_Hayama
https://oregairu.fandom.com/wiki/Yumiko_Miura
https://oregairu.fandom.com/wiki/Yui_Yuigahama