The Ultimate Stride | Prince of Stride Fanfiction |

23 | Training Camp

    "Oh look, it's Kyouko!" Kaede cheered before pausing at the sight of my abnormally tall brothers below him.

    "And her... friends?"

I laughed at his confusion and proceeded to introduce my siblings to the Saisei runners.

    "These are my brothers. Ryan, Brenden, Tino, Tyler, and Teagan. They're not on our team, but they're here to help us with training. Please be kind to them, their Japanese isn't very good," I requested politely, only for Bantarō to cheerfully run down the stairs to greet them.

    "This is so cool~ I never thought I would get to meet some of Kyouko's relatives from America," he grinned, jumping from brother to brother to inspect their faces.

    "How troublesome," Tasuku scoffed, and I rolled my eyes at him without even thinking about it.

    "Grumpy ass."

He shot me a glare, and Reiji concealed a laugh. The training hadn't even started and I was already fun with my rivals. Memories of my drunken experience at the festival we attended with them tried to invade my mind, but I was already over that misdemeanor.

At least partially, that is.

    As people like Asuma and Shizuma proceeded to descend the stairs to introduce themselves to their surprise guests, Dan-sensei emerged from the shadows to speak with me.

    "Kyouko, I need to remind you of a few things," he noted, and I looked over to him with open ears.

    "I'm listening." He pushed up his glasses.

    "I know we've had struggles with Saisei in the past, but I really need this training camp to be a success. I want you all to have fun, but remember to keep it serious when necessary." I smiled and gave him a solid smack on the back as I began to follow after everyone else who had already begun their climb up the stairs to tour the building.

    "Don't worry Dan-sensei! I'll make sure to keep things right."

    A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips before he turned away to begin his journey back to his car.

    "I trust you, Kyouko. Stay sober," he waved.

    I grinned at the warm feeling of familiarity when his words reached my ears. It wasn't always easy to openly trust someone, and the fact that Dan-sensei was able to do that with me made me happy.

He really is a lot like my dad.

Pushing past those feelings, I chased after my friends with a newfound spring in my step. I wanted to put all of my effort into training that day, but I also wished to enjoy my time with my friends.

Luckily, I knew I wouldn't have to babysit my brothers as much as the day before. I'd still have to translate things, but that was a minor issue that I had already grown accustomed to.

After they had properly apologized for all the crap they had done to the boys because of their petty jealousy, they were getting along with the team a whole lot better.

Pretty much all of the hostility has disappeared.

They were still nit picky whenever someone said something even remotely flirty directed towards me, but their Kyouko-like glares were enough to scare them away.