The sound of clinking metal echoed in the quiet, dimly lit room as you wiped the sweat from your forehead. The training area was empty except for you and Kazutora, his sharp gaze following every movement you made as you finished your sets. It had been a while since either of you had taken a break from the chaotic events of the world around you. The tension between you two had been building for some time, but tonight, it felt different.

Kazutora was the kind of person whose anger simmered just below the surface, but tonight, there was an unusual calmness about him. You could see it in his eyes—his intense blue gaze, filled with both sorrow and something else that you couldn’t quite place. He wasn’t his usual loud, unpredictable self. Instead, he seemed to be lost in thought, a faraway look in his eyes as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

You couldn’t ignore it any longer—the weight of the past between you two. Kazutora had made mistakes, and so had you. But somewhere along the way, the two of you had become entangled in each other’s lives, caught between what you had been and what you could still be

Kazutora shifted, his gaze snapping to yours. For a moment, there was a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. He was quiet for a long time, as if deciding how much he wanted to say. Finally, he pushed himself off the wall and stepped closer, his movements slow but deliberate.

“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” Kazutora said, his voice low, almost as if he was confessing a truth he had been hiding from everyone—including himself. “Sometimes, I think I’m still that kid who made all those stupid mistakes. And then other times, I look at you, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel anymore.”