AN: Just a little Ryuka and Sir Nighteye bickering in this chapter.
~ 28 ~
Heavy breathing. That was about all you could hear inside the big training room of Sir Nighteye's agency.
Ryuka stood there, heavily breathing while her eyes stared forward at the red punching bag in front of her.
Slowly, her fists sunk down to hang losely beside her, her eyes never leaving the red punching bag. Has it always been red?
"You should really go to sleep. Cause I wanna go home." A voice said from behind her. Ryuka didn't move, only closing her eyes in annoyance.
The pro hero slowly stepped into the big training room. His eyes scanned over Ryuka with concern. "How long have you been here?"
It was the fifth day of the internship already, and Ryuka was using her time to train. She let out a groan while stretching her arms.
"I finished your paperwork early so I've been here all day." She stated, now slowly turning around to look at him.
Sir Nighteye squinted his eyes. "Well...another reason to go to bed now. After you cleaned up." He said, walking further into the room.
Ryuka took a short glance at the dirty punching bag behind her. 'Ohhh.'
It really wasn't red from the beginning.
It was Ryuka's blood that stained the punching bag in a dark red colour. She was so invested in training that she didn't notice.
But this was nothing new for her. No, not one bit.
She shrugged shortly. "I'll clean that up don't worry." She reassured the hero.
Ryuka walked over to a nearby bench, taking her water and starting to drink while sitting down.
Sir Nighteye looked at her with uncertainty. He walked up to her, looking her up and down. "That was not what I meant." He said, gesturing to something on Ryuka.
The girl looked at what he meant. Her still bandaged hands were bleeding through the white fabric. Her elbows were scraped too, along with her ankles.
"Hm?" Ryuka hummed. "Oh that. Yeah I'll just take a shower." She told him nonchalantly.
Sir Nighteye seemed to get irritated. "Why would you go so far? You must be in great pain. Let's get you to the nursery—"
"You're overreacting. I do this all the time. Why do you think my arms are always bandages up like this, hm?" She asked, taking another sip from her water.
The man huffed. "You're not serious."
"Course I am."
Sir Nighteye could feel his heart clench at her words. No...it was more the way how she said it. Like it was nothing, like it didn't matter.
"Your shoulder has a hole in it and you don't even remember where it came from..."
"It doesn't matter, I won."
Those words echoed inside the pro hero's mind. His eyes looked at Ryuka closely. She looked so much like her father, and in some disturbing way, she was beginning to act in the same self destructive way.
Or was that even the beginning? How long has this been going on?
"Get cleaned up and meet me in my office."
- - - - -
Half an hour later, Ryuka walked inside Sir Nighteye's office, with comfy clothes on and yet another coffee mug inside her hand.
"...So? Why am I here?" She asked, sitting in front of him at his desk.
The pro hero looked up, eyeing her coffee sceptically. "Another coffee? It's pretty late." He stated.
Ryuka crossed her legs. "It's decaf." She said.
Sir Nighteye sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat while crossing his arms. "You lie without reason and without batting an eye, clearly something a compulsive- or pathological lier would do."
Ryuka blinked. "...I'm sorry, Is this therapy session?"
"It could be." He answered, ducking down to pull something up from under his desk.
Ryuka frowned at him. "Well I don't really respect therapy." She stated.
Sir Nighteye pulled out a chess board from under his desk, putting it on the table in front of them both.
"Why do you disrespect therapy?" He asked, starting to prepare the chess board for a game.
Ryuka raised an eyebrow at his actions. "I said I don't respect it, not that I disrespect it."
Sir Nighteye rolled his eyes. "So why is that?"
"Because I'm a realist. Because I don't have time speculating about the meaning of life, and when I don't like something about my life, I change it." Ryuka answered, taking a sip of her coffee.
The hero huffed. "Why did I expect such an arrogant and completely ignorant answer from you, hm?"
Ryuka shrugged. "I just don't think sitting across from a know it all idiot savant trying to explain to me which words explain which feelings will help me in life."
Sir Nighteye smirked at her choice of words. "Maybe not, but talking about problems certainly can." He said, positioning the figures on the board while Ryuka only continued to drink her coffee.
"It can help people stop panicking and get comfortable with putting their problems on someone else's shoulders...Which I guess is a comfortable state of mind that we like, and the animals that we eat. But it's not for me." Ryuka said.
Finally, Sir Nighteye was finished with the chess board, looking up at Ryuka with a straight expression.
"You talk a lot of nonsense, did you know that?" He asked bluntly.
"Yah."
He only smirked. "You can play?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not against you. You can already foretell my moves." Ryuka answered, staring blankly at him.
"I won't use my Quirk." He said, making the first move on the board because he played white.
"Sure you won't..." Ryuka said, not believing him but moving her figure on the board regardless.
"I haven't touched you, have I?" He retorted.
Ryuka looked up at him. "Not that I noticed. Actually....how does your Quirk work? I don't really believe that there's something like fate in this world..." Ryuka said, watching Sir Nighteye do his next chess move.
He raised his eyebrows. "So you don't believe in my Quirk?" He asked almost amusingly.
"Not exactly. I just don't understand. I mean your Quirk speaks against all rules of physics but then again...who's Quirk doesn't?"
While Ryuka moved her figure, Sir Nighteye adjusted his glasses with a frown. "You got a point there. And to be completely honest with you...I don't understand either." He answered.
"I mean, if you use it on me, you can dodge my attacks and all, and I won't be able to get you?" Ryuka asked curiously while they continued their game.
"That's right."
"What if I blow up this whole building, will you be able to dodge that?" Ryuka asked teasingly, smirking at the man.
He seemed unimpressed. "I would know that so long in advance that yeah, I would be able to dodge that." He answered back confidently.
"Huh." Ryuka huffed.
They continued their game, but Ryuka was still curious. "But like, isn't there something like the butterfly effect? What if I do one little thing different and your prediction changes?" She asked.
Sir Nighteye shook his head. "It's all taken into consideration. I've tried it out, believe me. It always comes true. There's no point on speculating about it." He explained.
Ryuka thought for a minute, rethinking her strategy while also thinking about Nighteye's words.
"...What if...your Quirk doesn't foresee things, but actually decides that future for that person and forces it on them?" She vocalised her thoughts.
Sir Nighteye gripped the chess figure in his hand tighter, stiffening up. "That...." He pauses, looking up at Ryuka now.
"...That would be terrifying." He answered honestly. He thought about it before as well, and it made him sick to the stomach.
"Can you look far into the future of a person?" Ryuka asked.
"Theoretically yes."
"Can you like, see when I die?" Ryuka grinned at him in curiosity.
Sir Nighteye frowned. "....Probably.." He hesitated. "But you don't really want to know that, right?" He asked dumbfounded.
"Yeah I do...that would be awesome." Ryuka retorted.
"...You're a weird kid."
"I'm not a kid, I'm sixteen."
"A kid in my book."
"Okay then you're a geezer in my book."
Nighteye opened his mouth to talk back, but no words came out. Ryuka smirked while they continued playing.
"You didn't even train with me yet, must be the hurting mussels from all the geezer-ness."
"We'll see about your big mouth after we seriously trained together." He answered calmly, but he was loosing concentration.
"I don't think so...you weren't even useful at the Nomu attack..." Ryuka continued to provoke him.
"If I remember correctly, I saved you from death, no?" He made his next move, making Ryuka smirk.
"You mean before or after you stood around being useless?" She asked, moving her figure.
Nighteye raised his eyebrows. "You're so irritating, I can't even..."
After a few more moves, Ryuka smiled very lightly. "Okay okay, I take everything back..."
"Good." The man answered.
"...Oh, but, Sir Nighteye?"
"Hm?"
"Checkmate."
- - - - -