𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒; 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

The Office

"Naoya!" a man, in his 70's, sped over to the door to Naoya's room and slid it open, catching him in his bed. Naoya looked at the old men, squinting his eyes at his silhouette standing in the sunlight that just so happened to be shining into his room.

"It's been two weeks, boy. When's that Hatake coming back?" the old man grunted as he stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him and crossing his arms with a huff. Naoya rolled his eyes and leaned back against his headboard. "I dunno, I didn't exactly give them a deadline."

"They need to be back soon, I need to get some news of that useless girl found dead somewhere," the old man shouts then quickly turns around to slide the door back open, walking out and leaving it open for the whole estate to see him still in his pajamas. Naoya frowned, getting out of bed walking to the door, sliding it shut before running a hand through his messy hair with a sigh. When he turned back around, he glanced at his phone sitting on his nightstand, then he remembered that you don't have one, so how were the two of you supposed to stay in contact? He wasn't gonna sneak onto campus, there's too high of a risk of getting caught for that- between Gojo's presence and all those barriers placed around the school, it's too risky.

On said campus, you were busy getting your ass handed to by Maki, getting beaten up by her every day in training. It was boring, for sure, leaving your room in the mornings and coming back in the evenings with a bunch of bruises on your body (that Shoko treated) and repeating the same process for over a week and a half. Your body was aching by the time the next Thursday rolled around, and Thursday was typically the day of the week when Maki would spend all day training (only taking half an hour to eat lunch in the middle of it). The first time you spent Thursday with her, which was last week, you had Yuta put packs of cold food all over your body before going to sleep to help with the aching.

"You're making progress," Maki comments, swaying her head to the side and bringing her hand up to grab your arm, twisting it and throwing you on the ground. Your back hit the ground, earning a grunt from you as your eyes squeezed shut, waiting for Maki to poke you in the forehead with her polearm. Nothing happened; instead, she simply leaned over you, placing her hands on either side of your head and stared at you.

"You focus entirely on your arms instead of your hips," she comments again as she continues staring at your warm face. You open your eyes again, frowning as you find her staring down at you, then quickly scramble to get up. She's watching you scramble to sit criss-cross with sharp eyes, taking note of how nervous you got when you found her staring. No, she wasn't staring at you cuz she thinks you're pretty (she does but she'd never say it out loud), she was simply making sure you didn't pass out.

For sure.

"Gee, thanks," you grumble, looking away as your cheeks begin to heat up even more in the 60 degree weather right now. Maki hums as she gets up, holding her polearm while she waits on you to get up right after her, crawling to stand up as you yawn. "Don't fall asleep, dummy. I've still gotta teach ya how to punch correctly."

"And instead you've been beating me up this whole time!" you argue, throwing your arms wide open as Maki drops her polearm, finally staying still with a single bounce before laying perfectly on the grass. She pops her knuckles, even her knees and her elbows, then looks at you. "Do you remember that fighting stance I showed you earlier?" she asks, sending you a knowing look. You nod in response, then proceed to get into that pose. Maki hummed in satisfaction, "Alright, now I want you to throw a punch."

You stood there, seeming dumbfounded at her question. "Like- throw a punch at you?"

"Who else?" Maki scoffed, rolling her eyes when you shook your head. "Alright, alright," you huffed, balling up your fist and dashing towards her, raising your arm to punch her square in the jaw. Yeah, that didn't work, cuz she caught your fist just before your knuckles reached her face.