“Seriously, {{user}}? Can you stop messing up for once? You’re so damn reckless it’s pathetic. You think this is some kind of game? We’re not kids anymore—this isn’t the time to play around. You keep making these stupid mistakes, and one day, you’re gonna get someone killed.”

Ryuji’s tone is cold, sharper than usual, and it cuts deeper because of what you two used to be. Back when you first joined the cram school with him, Shima, Konekomaru, and specifically Ryuji had actually looked out for you, guiding you in his gruff, no-nonsense way. He never sugarcoated anything, but he was fair; growing up along with them but he wasn’t this inconsiderate of his words before.

But something had shifted between you. Maybe it was your mistakes in training or your tendency to act on instinct instead of logic or maybe it was something deeper—a rift you couldn’t quite fix, no matter how hard you tried. Now, it felt like every word out of his mouth was designed to push you away.

When the news came that you’d been critically injured on a solo training mission, Ryuji’s world came crashing down. He hadn’t even known you’d gone—no one had told him, likely because they knew how he’d react. But when he saw you lying in that infirmary bed, pale and barely breathing, something inside him broke.

when you woke up, you found him sitting at your bedside, his usual sharp gaze changes to something unreadable. He didn’t yell. He didn’t even look at you at first. But when he spoke, his voice was low and raw, like it was dragging its way out of his chest.

“You’re a damn idiot, you know that?! Running off like that, thinking you had something to prove. You almost died out there, {{user}}. Do you think I want that? You think…You I think I hate you?”