2.49: Heart to Heart

After school, Aoi-chan and I trained behind the gym like always. It was a slightly lighter session than usual, just enough to keep the usual rhythm of our training.

My body moved easily. I wasn’t vaguely exhausted like yesterday. My muscles didn’t ache.

The rhythm filled me as we performed kata together.

Aoi-chan corrected the details now and again. 

Angles, timing and breathing.

When she stepped in close to guide my shoulder, I smiled at her, feeling warm.

“Thanks, Aoi-chan.”

When her hand brushed my waist to adjust my stance, I felt a jolt inside, but disassociated my feelings from what we were doing.

Training.

“Right.” I said, focusing on and remembering everything she showed me.

By the time we finished, sweat clung to my neck and my legs. As usual, they felt heavy in a satisfying way. Aoi-chan had a knack for pushing me right to the edge, the burn settling in without tipping into limping or collapse.

We rode home together on my bike, Aoi-chan balanced on the back bolts. When the road got bumpy, her arms slid more securely around my waist, her cheek occasionally brushing against my head when she leaned in to talk.

I irrationally wondered why she didn’t have her own bike.

Maybe that would take something special from our mornings and evenings.

No, it absolutely would.

I wanted her behind me or even in front of me whenever we went to and from school. I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.

When she rode with me, I wished time would just stop. However I could make it happen, I wanted to stay right there with her.

My heart fluttered.

“Hey!” Aoi-chan leaned down and nibbled my ear. I gasped, nearly losing control of the handlebars. “Why don’t you take me to my apartment building today?”

I blinked.

I didn’t know where her apartment was.

Unlike usual, nothing came to mind.

“S-sure… but… where is it?” I asked.

Aoi-chan giggled. “It’s not too far. I’ll direct you.”

We passed my house’s gate. Aoi-chan pressed her breasts against my back, then leaned forward to place both hands on the handlebars, her posture easy and confident, showing off her flexibility without even trying. Her skirt was probably flapping madly in the air like that, bent low at the knees.

She guided my hands, unlike usual, her body pressed fully against mine. Her warmth wrapped around me, closer than ever, more deliberate.

DOKI-DOKI… BADUMP

My heart climbed straight into my throat.

We rolled through several intersections, the road blurring together beneath us.

“Pay attention,” Aoi-chan murmured near my ear. “You might get lost on your way home. We wouldn’t want that.”

She smiled as she rubbed against me. “You still have to take care of your brother this weekend, remember?”

Something wet touched my ear.

My bike wobbled violently.

She actually put it inside…

My heart hammered.

I couldn’t keep up with her…

We soon reached the apartment building she lived in. It was a middle-class complex that felt clean and well maintained, the kind of place that looked affordable without feeling cheap.

When I came to a stop, she hopped off the bike as lightly as ever and smiled back at me, bright and untroubled. She seemed to be in a much better mood.

“I’d invite you in, but…” She tilted her head, playful. 

DOKI-DOKI… BADUMP

I stayed frozen, clutching at my chest. Even though I’d gotten used to being close to her, she kept escalating things in ways that caught me completely off guard.

“But we don’t have the time right now,” Aoi said and winked. “Anyway, I’ll see you at school tomorrow and I’m looking forward to our date on Saturday.”

“Um…” My face felt hot. “I never asked about your parents… what’s your home like?”

I definitely wanted to come inside. To see where she lived. To see her room. To meet her parents. 

I wondered, suddenly, if she ever felt that way about my house. She’d never asked.

“Oh…” Aoi-chan smiled softly. “I guess I never told you.”

She met my eyes. “I live on my own.”

“What?!” I gasped. “You’re completely alone?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “But that’s okay. I chose it.”

Her voice softened. “A day or two after we first kissed on the rooftop… after dealing with those troublesome senpai… I decided to move out.”

“But isn’t your family—” I started.

“They’re wonderful,” she said immediately. “Too good for me.”

She smiled, although it was a little crooked. “They even pay my rent until I can go to college. That’s what they insisted on.”

“Amazing…” I breathed. “But why?”

“Like I said,” Aoi-chan replied gently. “They’re too good for me.”

She looked away, then added, quieter, “There are things I need to focus on.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Living.”

Her gaze lifted to the night sky.

The word hit me so hard I couldn’t move.

Every part of me wanted to go with her—to follow her inside, to stay and take care of her.

I fumbled my phone out of my backpack… something I almost never did… and dropped a pin at my location without really thinking.

“Um… w-what’s your apartment number?” I asked.

When I looked up—

She was gone, just like a ghost.

When I finally looked down, my phone screen was glowing in my hand.

The pin I had dropped sat there like proof that she was real, that she had been standing right in front of me a second ago, close enough to touch, close enough to follow.

I stared at the apartment building entrance for another few breaths anyway.

Then I put my phone away, got back on my bike, and rode home with my heart still thudding in the strangest rhythm.

Aoi-chan lived alone.

That thought stayed with me the whole ride. It stayed with me while I changed out of my uniform and while I ate with my family. I took it with me while I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, imagining her in her apartment with no one else in it, no voices but her own, no footsteps in the hall, no one telling her to properly eat, sleep, or study.

Living.

That was the last thing that she’d said to me tonight.

I didn’t know how to handle that word. It sounded too sad, almost forlorn.

The rest of the week should have felt long after that.

But it didn’t.

It moved too quickly, slipping through my fingers a day at a time.

At school, planning our play swallowed every spare moment. By the second morning back, it felt like the whole class had decided nothing else mattered nearly as much as pulling off a perfect performance.

It was still hard to handle. A prince, me.

Every time someone said something about it, my stomach did a little flip.

Riko adlibbed the part of Princess Aurora before she even had a costume or a script, all graceful smiles and narrowed eyes and pretending at a noble dangerous calm. Yuna, somehow, only had to tilt her head and half the class remembered why she’d been chosen as Maleficent. Megumi talked about script ideas with the bright, feverish energy of someone who’d been handed a fire and wanted to feed it more fuel. Hinata groaned every time the subject of our costumes came up, which only made people ask her more questions.

And Aoi-chan stayed beside me as always.

She still rode behind me in the mornings, finding excuses to touch me in passing. Pressing her hands on my shoulders, around my waist or even sometimes across my chest as we rode. Whenever we could, we pushed our desks together while planning, our fingers touching under the desks. A quick squeeze and kiss at lunch when no one was supposed to notice.

Her jealousy never fully vanished, but after I asked her out, it changed a little. It stopped feeling so sharp and more like a coal she kept hidden.

Sometimes I caught her looking at me in class and had to look away first.

My training continued every day after school, even if we were both still carrying the subtle weariness from our time at Shirasuna in our muscles for a few days. Some days she pushed me harder. Some days she watched my form and corrected only what needed correcting, as if she were saving something in both of us for this Saturday.

The closer the weekend got, the more aware I became of her.

The way her ponytail swung around, the warmth of her hand on the small of my back, the way her eyes softened when she thought I wasn’t looking.

I started counting the days without meaning to. Three days passed in a blur.

Each one seemed to pass faster than the last.

At lunch, Riko and Yuna kept orbiting us like they’d made an unspoken agreement not to leave us alone for too long at school. Riko teased me every chance she got. Yuna watched me with that same calm, unreadable warmth that made it impossible to tell where friendship ended and something more dangerous began. Aoi-chan endured both of them with the patience of someone imagining violence and consciously choosing not to act on it.

It was almost funny.

Almost.

At home, things were changing a little bit too.

Mom and Dad spoke more and more often about the trip they were taking, as if saying it out loud enough times would make it easier to leave Haru and me behind for the weekend. Dad tried to make it sound like it was no big deal. Mom made it sound romantic on purpose, because it was. I knew how romantic I’d felt towards Aoi after our trip. Haru pretended not to care and then hovered around me more than usual anyway.

He asked for Tekku again one night.

Then again the next.

By then he had stopped looking at me like I was a suspicious package and started looking at me like he was trying to solve something. Every time I beat him, he got mad. Every time I praised him, he tried to act like it didn’t matter.

It obviously did.

He even intruded in my room once, watching me do my homework. That couldn't have been very interesting, but he didn’t seem especially bored.

By Friday, my body felt caught between two kinds of anticipation.

One lived in my chest every time someone mentioned the play, the prince, the kiss, the script, the rehearsals to come.

The other was warmer and deeper. Saturday. Aoi-chan. Our date!

Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!

Even the ordinary parts of Friday felt charged because of it. The scraping noises of our chair legs on the floor. The sound of chalk scratching on the classroom board. The smell of our lunches as we unpacked them on the rooftop. The walk to the bike racks after school. 

Everything felt one breath away from becoming a memory I never wanted to end.

That afternoon, we trained more lightly than usual.

Not because I asked for that… simply because she wanted to be ready too.

When I gave her a questioning look, she only clicked her tongue and told me not to show up to our date exhausted.

That made me blush so hard I nearly missed her next strike. 

She laughed at me for my blushing.

Then she kissed me before we parted at my gate that evening, quick and close and just hidden enough to not be noticed.

“Tomorrow,” she murmured.

“Tomorrow,” I repeated.

I carried that word all the way into my house.

The light had gone softer, the sky already dimming toward night, and the house felt different before I even opened the door.

Something about it had shifted.

Inside, bags were already waiting by the entrance.

That night, my parents moved around the house like they were in a hurry, even as they kept pretending everything was normal.

Bags appeared by the door sooner than I expected.

Dad tried to act casual while Mom checked the list on her phone at least three times in a row, her lips moving silently as she counted.

Haru hovered nearby like a sleepy ghost, watching me with narrowed eyes.

After dinner, they left us with too many, “Don’t stay up late!” warnings and too many, “Lock the door!” reminders.

The door clicked shut behind them.

The house felt too quiet.

I stared at the door for a long moment, then shook my head.

No big deal. This is how things are. I’m sure they’ll have a fun time.

Me too, I hope.

I drifted into the kitchen and made some tea.

Haru followed me, still staring at me in that strange way.

I took the box of our good tea from the cupboard, dropped a teabag into my cup, and poured hot water from the dispenser. Steam curled up and I immediately took a sip.

He didn’t stop staring at me.

“What do you want?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“…You’re taking care of me for the next few days, right?” he said.

“Yeah. What about it?”

He hesitated. “…Could I have a cup too?”

I blinked, then smiled, shaking my head at myself. I was too lost in my thoughts.

Aoi-chan’s disappearance on Tuesday night still felt strange, even though she’d reappeared like always. That was proof that she wasn’t really a ghost.

I’d wanted to follow her into her place and forget everything else, but she hadn’t given me that choice.

It was probably for the best.

She didn’t want me to neglect my responsibilities… and maybe she was afraid of what might happen if she did…

“Sure,” I said, grabbing his mug and dropping a teabag into it. It wasn’t like he couldn’t do it himself, I knew. I wasn’t sure why he suddenly seemed so helpless, but it didn’t bother me. If he wanted to lean on me, if he wanted a cup of tea, he’d get tea.

I handed him the cup quietly.

“Anything else?”

He shook his head, holding the mug carefully.

“Are you worried with Mom and Dad gone?” I said lightly. “Don’t be. Everything will be fine. I can handle it. Nothing’s really going to change.”

I winked as I walked to the table.

I took another sip, and my thoughts drifted back to Aoi-chan.

I felt my vision go a little hazy as I thought about tomorrow… about our date.

My mind drifted again to Tuesday night.

How her body felt against my back.

Her warmth.

Her hands guiding the handlebars from behind.

Her hands holding me.

I couldn’t wait to see her.

Tomorrow was going to be wonderful. I knew it was.

And still… I wondered what would happen.

Maybe something like that…

Something like my wet dream, not that I remembered any of it.

I blushed.

Haru interrupted my thoughts by sitting down beside me at the table, sipping quietly. I looked at him, focusing on now.

Is he lonely already?

I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t say anything.

We sat together in silence, steam swirling up from our cups.

After a while, I spoke, “My friends are coming over tomorrow.”

He blinked slowly. “Your friends? Why?”

“To help out,” I said carefully. “You’ll be okay with them here, right?”

He nodded, then frowned. “Yeah. As long as they’re not too loud and annoying.”

I laughed. “No promises. Riko-chan can be very loud and unpredictable. And Yuna-chan…” I smiled a little. “She’s got a really calming aura. You couldn’t ask for someone more reliable than her.”

“…Okay,” he said. “Riko-chan sounds a little like a guy. Does she like playing Tekku?”

I chuckled. She kind of was…. But then so was Aoi-chan.

“I don’t know about that,” I said, thinking. “But it’s possible. She’s weirdly good at spotting martial arts stances. She’s sporty even though she doesn’t belong to a club like me, so that might translate into being a great gaming buddy.”

“Oh!” He brightened. “Okay then.”

“They’ll be with you most of the day tomorrow after breakfast,” I added. “Yuna-chan will cook you lunch.”

“What? You’ll be gone? Why?” Haru’s voice sharpened for a moment, then he looked away.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “It’s for something important.”

He looked disappointed for half a second, then tried to hide it. “Hmph. Like what?”

“Would you laugh if I told you it was a date?” I asked.

His eyes narrowed immediately. His arms crossed. “No, but who? I want to know what kind of guy you’re interested in.”

I covered my lips with a finger and winked. “Will you promise me something before I tell you?”

“…Depends,” he pouted. “What are you planning to do with him?”

“Promise,” I said. “It’s nothing bad, I swear.”

“No love hotels,” he said firmly.

“We have a deal.” I extended my hand. He took it, and we shook.

“Also,” I added, quieter, “can you promise not to tell Mom and Dad what I’m about to tell you until I’m ready?”

He frowned, his lips twisting.

…

He thought about it for a long time, but finally, he nodded. “But if I find out it’s bad but you don’t seem to think it is—then I’m telling.”

“Not good enough,” I said, frowning. “This is a pinky-swear level kind of promise. You can’t break it no matter what.”

“Are you some kind of yakuza?” he asked nervously. “You’ll cut off my pinky if I tattle?”

“No!” I laughed. “The gentle kind. Please?”

“…That still sounds sketchy.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “It kind of is.”

He sighed. “Fine.” He extended his pinky. “Tell me.”

I hooked my pinky with his.

I took a deep breath and forced it out, “...I don’t like men.”

His eyes widened.

“I don’t know how Mom and Dad would react. I trust you not to hate me. I’m going on a date with a girl my age.”

“…You’re really weird, Onee-chan,” Haru muttered.

“Yeah,” I said, smiling proudly. “I guess I am.”

“…What’s she like?” he asked.

“Really cool,” I said immediately. “She’s the one teaching me how to fight. She’s the reason I’ve changed so much.” I pressed my hands to my chest. “This date… It absolutely has to go well. I can’t skip it.”

He sighed. “You’re definitely weird… but she sounds cool. I’ll try to have an open mind.”

Then, almost shyly… “Maybe she plays Tekku too.”

“Yeah… she definitely does,” I said. “She’d kick your ass, though.”

“…Maybe not then,” he laughed.

“I promise we’ll hang out on Sunday,” I added quickly. “We’ll play some Tekku then. All of us.”

That seemed to settle him.

Our conversation drifted into a comfortable, companionable quiet.

When I finally crawled into bed, my body was exhausted, but my heart was wide awake.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Susumu.

Immortality sounds glorious.

Until you are the one still standing at the family altar, watching everyone you loved turn into names on wood.

RCW: Real Cultivation World is cultivation with receipts. Pills spoil. Talismans smudge. The clan counts spirit stones before it counts favors, and progress is measured in years, not chapters.

Elian has a cheat, but it is not a golden ticket. It is a small edge in a world that still wants him dead, indebted, or broken.

If you want a cultivation story where power has weight, time has teeth, and “family” means shelter and competition in the same breath:

Read RCW: Real Cultivation World on NovelFire: https://www.NovelFire.com/series/2172950/rcw-real-cultivation-world/