Wilted Flower ~ Chuuya x Non-Binary Reader

Chapter 38

Y/n POV:
Pacing back and forth in the Port Mafia lobby, I wait eagerly for Chuuya to return from Versault. A few days have passed, and despite Fyodor being dead, I still feel uneasy, almost like it's too good to be true. Part of me is waiting for him to pop up again like a cockroach that refuses to die, even though I know he's dead.

In an attempt to calm my nerves, I feel Akutagawa's hand on my shoulder, momentarily halting my pacing. "I know this is easy for me to say but be patient. Chuuya-san has been giving you updates on when he'll be back, and seeing as how the last message you got was that he just left the airport, I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"I know, I know. But I can't help but worry about him. My mind is plagued with thoughts that Fyodor will come back and take away everything that I care about." At this point, tears begin to form around my eyes unknowingly, that is until Akutagawa wipes them away for me.

"Do you remember what you told me about you and Chuuya-san before we went on the mission to help the weretiger?" Akutagawa asks, causing me to look at him with a slightly confused face. "You told me that whatever challenge is thrown your way, you and Chuuya-san will be able to overcome them together, and his return home proves that. You both fought hard against Fyodor so you could come back to each other. If you trust in nothing else, trust in yourselves."

'Trust in ourselves.' These three words were so simple, and yet I had managed to forget about them—about our struggles, about our pain; and most importantly, about our victory. That's right. We had won. We came out on top. And yet all I could think about was the impossibility that there was still a threat out there.

"I... I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to see me act so lame after we literally won. I guess I was so shocked that we won that I almost didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe that that was all it took for us to beat him. But you're right. I should've trusted in us, in all of us. We all worked hard for this, and that work paid off in the end." I wiped away the remnants of my tears, shaking my head to get it together. "You really are the best friend I could ever ask for."

"Alright, no need to get sentimental on me. Doesn't suit you," Akutagawa says with a hint of joking in his tone.

It made me chuckle, even if he ruined the moment. "Yeah, yeah, Mr. Unsentimental. Give me a break though. I haven't worked this hard since my gruesome training with Chuuya when I first got here." I shivered at the thought, remembering how little mercy he gave me, though that was to be expected.

"Gruesome? I thought he went fairly easy on you," Akutagawa says with the straightest face ever.

I blinked at him, not believing what he was saying. "Easy? You've got to be kidding me. I know you're not one to kid but do you seriously think that he was going easy on me?"

"Perhaps not 'easy' but definitely not as harsh as he could've been," Akutagawa states plainly.

I stare blankly at him, blinking slowly. "Are you sure? I can't see Chuuya going easy on anyone, let alone someone he very clearly didn't want to be around back then."

"Yes, I'm sure. I've witnessed a few of Chuuya-san's missions and he doesn't go easy on anyone. But with you, he was different. Though that could've been because you were the first person he's ever had to properly train."

I tilt my head in confusion. "Wait, I'm his first trainee...? WAIT, I'M HIS ONLY TRAINEE?!"

"That's right. He's only ever trained you," he says as if that wasn't a big deal.

"You seem far too nonchalant about this. I mean, why was I the only person who had to be put under Chuuya's training? And better yet, why would he go easy on the only person he had to train? A person that, might I remind you, he saw as a kid he had to 'babysit.'"