The Beginning of the End II

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Chapters like this are a bit of a pain to go through, but it's important to take it slow and develop things organically. I might edit this in the future, if I do so I'll add a [edited] next to the title. 

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On with the chapter!

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To say that Leandro was busy in the following months was an understatement. 

Katori Shinto-Ryu. Filipino Eskrima. Chinese Wushu. Italian Fencing. Korean Swordsmanship, and other, non-related disciplines. He mastered it all. The instructors were left befuddled by the speed of his progress. Of course, Leandro didn't have time to go through all the curriculum; he mostly copied what the seniors did. 

To be fair, none of them could compare to the Moonblade style—an Aura-demanding style Leandro learned from an ancient hermit in the higher floors of the Monolith. 

'Dance under the moon, and it shall guide your sword.'

Urged by one of the instructors, Leandro signed up for a fencing tournament, and ended up winning it. Not that there were any questions about it, in the first place. He had been mowing through his opponents so swiftly that he might as well have ruined the sport for everyone else. 

In an UFC fight, spectating a completely one-sided massacre could be fun, but when both parties shed blood while staring each other down? It'd be even better.

Of course, Leandro preferred speed that delivered nothing but killshots. 

There were many talented people he kept an eye on, though that didn't necessarily translate into them having the potential of going far in the tower. How many talents met an early end due to carelessness?

Life throws curveballs. You're either prepared, or you get hit in the nuts. 

And Leandro has been hit in the nuts many times. 

Now, it was finally time to hit them back in the nuts. 

Harder. Stronger. 

Hell, he'd make a fucking necklace with all of their nuts. 

〔2 days until the 'integration'.〕 

Leandro stared at the sword in his hand, his green eyes reflected in the polished blade. '48 hours until the end.' His conditioning was perfect. His Aura was alive; a flickering flame compared to the bright inferno it used to be, but he'd get back there.

With a light thrust of his sword into his sheath, he quickly put it back where it belonged—a corner of his room, not to be forgotten, but soon to be used. 

His memories were still fresh, his experience still there. Of course, he could still die. 

His early cultivation of Aura made him stronger than others, but he was not invincible. He was still a puppet to the whims of fate. And he knew first-hand how much of a petulant bitch it was. 

But there were ways to deal with it. Getting to the top of the Monolith was one of them. 

Outside, the sky was darkening. A beautiful transition from a sunset red to a deep purple hue. 

'Oh right… Nari's vocal and dance class. She finishes around this time, doesn't she?' 

He might as well pick her up and go for a walk. With that thought in mind, he wore a flowing, black coat and walked out. 

••••

•••

••

•

"Damn, look at him."

"He looks even better than Jae-Hoon Park!"

"He's coming this way?"

"No way! No way! He's looking at me!"

A sudden chatter broke out, followed by giggles, and furtive glances. 

Nari wasn't really interested, but her friends were making such a fuss that curiosity got the better of her. She turned around, her ponytail swishing. A man stood in front of her, a good head taller, broad-shouldered, and with familiar green eyes.

If the world were to crash down right in that instant, Nari was sure there would hardly be a ripple in those orbs. 

Oh.

Nari's heart skipped a beat as Leandro stared into her eyes, seemingly unaware of all the people stealing glances at him. 

As though she just saw an abyss that could swallow her soul, she felt her breath caught on her throat. His voice called her out.

"...Nari. You've got time or are you going to hang out with your friends?"

"Ah, they—"

"Ne, ne, Oppa. Are you Nari's boyfriend?"

One of the girls chimed in, leaning forward, hands behind her back. She was quite pretty. The type of girl that would be a headache for anyone not used to some impromptu flirting. 

"Get off of him! And he's not my boyfriend!" Nari quickly corrected. Probably too quickly considering the smirks that grew on their faces. "A-Anyway, I'll be going now!" Retreating from further teasing was the smart choice. Who knew what weird idea Leandro would get by hanging around these vixens. 

Nari grabbed Leandro by the crook of his elbow and started to drag him away.

Leandro glanced at Nari with some amusement.

She stopped once they got to the nearest bus stop. She still hadn't let go.

Her friends' teasing remarks were still echoing in her mind, and it left her frazzled. She wasn't exactly an expert in coping with her emotions, especially the ones that orbited around Leandro. Those were the worst. 

"...You want to come with me for a walk, Nari?"

Leandro suddenly spoke, prompting her to turn her head up.

"...Isn't that why you came? Let's go." She mumbled with a sigh, releasing his elbow and simply leading the way.

Leandro let a chuckle slip by his lips and simply followed suit. He discreetly eyed her outfit. A crop top. A skirt. And a transparent legwear he couldn't hope to put a name to. But it gave her thighs a beautiful, polished look. 

Not that she honestly needed it.

"So…" Nari started, not looking at him. "Someone confessed to me today."

Leandro briefly closed his eyes. "Well, you're at that age."

"What does that even mean?" She rolled her eyes at him, huffing. "And you're the same age as me, fool."

"I'm a few months older."

"Should I start calling you Ahjussi, then?"

"Haah... where have those adorable teary eyes gone to? Did Hari Noona eat them when I wasn't looking?" Leandro sighed forlornly, as though his little sister had already gotten beyond his reach. Nari couldn't help but let a giggle slip from her mouth.

Her smile swiftly vanished at the realization she was acting cuter than intended.

Leandro, however, did not miss the giggle and cracked a smile. "Well, let's hear it. What did you tell him?"

"Hmm…" She looked a bit awkward. "I-I told him that I'm a transgender…"

Leandro immediately grinned. Nari would rather look the other way than see it. He had that slight smile on, whenever he heard something amusing. That cocky smile of his. She wished it didn't have much of an effect on her.

Her heart fluttered even if all he did was just open his mouth. 

His teasing laugh broke the silence. Nari felt her face flush. Damn Leandro and his insensitivity!

He truly was terrible at reacting to people's attempts at romance or confession. He was the type of person that would look at a fish asking him to catch it and laugh, chucking it right back into the ocean. Unfeeling bastard.

"W-Why are you laughing!" 

"Because it's the first time I've seen someone come up with such a weird excuse to turn someone down. Come on, that's funny."

"Are you even listening?" Nari huffed, hitting Leandro on the shoulder. 

He grunted. "Well, yeah. Why would I laugh for no reason?"

Nari thought there would be an angry twitch in her brow, but she only ended up blushing, for some reason. The heck, what even is this guy? Why wasn't her brain working properly today?

A strange sort of silence, accentuated by the dim, white glow of street lamps fell between them. It wasn't really awkward, but it did nothing to calm the flustered beating in her chest. 

This was a pretty cliche walk to end the night, anyway.

"To be fair, you've always had a knack for turning down men and making it extra hilarious."

He smiled, a gentle curl of the lips.

They stood next to each other and walked silently for a while more, with Leandro looking up at the starless night sky, while Nari looked around. There were just them, the sidewalk and the streetlamps. 

She faintly wondered how Leandro could stay so unperturbed in his thoughts.

Nari would try her hardest, but she never knew what he was thinking. It's not as though she was trying to find out his secrets. It's just that when she tried to look at Leandro, all she could see were barriers.

Brick walls and padlocked doors. It was not as if he wasn't caring or genuine, but whenever Nari tried to prod further, to read his emotions, he'd deflect her attention somewhere else. She knew he loved her—but he also kept a certain distance with that love. He drew lines. 

Even so, her curiosity grew more and more...

'If... we were closer...'

If she tried harder?

He'd shut down like a gate, as though she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.

Leandro has never had the most expressive face. His mouth rarely went further up than a grin and his expression barely changed. She was convinced that he only allowed Hari and herself to have his unconditional warmth.

He was like that only with Nari and Hari. And, honestly, it would have been weird if Leandro just suddenly smiled at anyone else. 

That... made her chest a little constricting.

Somehow, monopolizing a side of him—a side no one else had seen—made her feel like she was more important than anyone else. 

It was a simple walk, yet the only thing on her mind was Leandro.

"Hey..." Nari softly called, without waiting for an answer. There was something about him, though. No matter where they were.

Somehow it felt like people only had eyes for Leandro.

So being beside someone like him... she wondered how Unnie felt. She must feel very blessed. That beautiful older sister of hers who knew more of Leandro's personality than Nari herself could ever hope to.

"Yes, Nari?"

Nari blinked and shyly fidgeted. Her mouth became dry all of a sudden. Maybe she was a little excited to be talking to him. Maybe. Just a little bit.

Maybe a little more than a little bit.

Maybe.

Okay, it could not get more obvious than this.

"Oppa..."

Leandro looked down at her expectantly. "Go on, Nari." He softly nudged. His tone was the same. Always comforting. Patient. So very much that it reminded her of the first day they met.

"Do you remember, Oppa..." Nari started to shyly fidget, fidget, and fidget! She played with her fingers. This kind of atmosphere reminded her of a confession scene from a drama or a fan fiction she might've been reading a few weeks ago.

Maybe even a romance drama she had secretly binged watched in her room and has been asking to have Leandro watch it with her!

...Not like Leandro would have any interest, he didn't even play games!

Nari stopped in the middle of her thought process for a bit. Leandro nodded quietly, prompting her to continue. "Do you remember the confession letter I wrote you?"

He glanced at her, a little wary. "Yes, why?"

"Well… I was just thinking." She clasped her hands behind her back, walking a little more confidently. "Back then, you made that stupid comparison of puzzles, meeting new people, different experiences. I think you're also quite good at coming up with some BS yourself to turn people down."

"..."

Yeah, that was not a moment Leandro was proud of. 

"We were kids, Nari…" Leandro looked up at the sky; he'd always been fond of the moon. "You also said something interesting, about me saving you from a giant killer clown."

She giggled. "Why do you still remember that?"

"Because I carried out my duty even in your dreams." Leandro said, softly, as he gently draped his coat over her shoulders. Seriously, she was still a bit sweaty from practice. He couldn't have her catch a cold. 

Nari closed her eyes, a smile still on her face. She tightened his coat around her; it almost felt like he was hugging her. 

Leandro saw her step a bit closer, and bump into his arm softly.

There was this mysterious atmosphere between them, as though Leandro was carrying a secret with him that Nari couldn't know. But his tender gaze made her feel special. Like there would be someone to take a bullet for her.

Her pale cheeks were dusted pink, but she hid them behind the flared collars of his coat. The scent of his cologne, of himself, clung onto the fabric. She kind of understood why her Unnie was so obsessed with his clothes. 

"It's been so long…" She continued, turning to look at him. A proper look—not one of her discreet glimpses. "... you know, I've met new people. I've made friends. I've met some guys."

"..."

Leandro felt the slightest burning in his chest. He almost huffed a laugh at the ridiculous thought that, deep down, he might harbor some feelings that went beyond pure platonic love for Nari.

"Yet…" Nari stopped walking, and she made sure Leandro stopped too. She stood right in front of him, hands clutching the hems of his coat. You'd expect her to be blushing, or looking a nervous mess—she didn't. In a way, it was as if she had come to peace with whatever inner turmoil she had. "I haven't felt that same puzzle again with anyone. The puzzle you talked about. There hasn't been a single piece that fit. Oppa, you... were wrong."

The slight burning was no joke.

Leandro felt an annoying tightness in his chest, like the warm fluttering of a flock of butterflies, or wasps, because butterflies aren't this violent. 

She looked straight into Leandro's eyes, a coy smile on her face. She looked even prettier up close—the streets weren't doing her justice, and the dimly lit bus stop hid half her face, yet her gaze was unmistakably, undoubtedly, and double-unmistakably Leandro-oriented.

Her cheeks were as rosy as Hibiscus, adding that splash of vivid color. 

"I believe…" Nari started in a small voice, walking slightly ahead. "That the missing piece has already met its partner piece."

"..."

He kept quiet for a moment. The subtleness of a young girl's feelings; he couldn't possibly mess around with that. He didn't even know where to start. 

This was Nari, for fuck's sake. They had grown together. He saw her transition from a kid who always dragged a plushie along to an incredibly beautiful and sweet young woman. Leandro could stand unfazed to someone's heart falling out of their bodies, but not when someone so innocently offered theirs like this. 

Leandro wanted to put down this puzzle once and for all.

Maybe Nari already got attached to someone else; she just didn't know it yet—

In fact, this might even be a phase—a hormonal surge—

No—that didn't sit well with him either. Why would it? Leandro didn't want to be some passing wind in Nari's love life. The thought of someone else being there for her... wasn't that his role? The way she looked at him shouldn't be directed to anyone else. He could be selfish, couldn't he? 

He wasn't ready yet, but he didn't want to turn her down. Because if he truly did shatter her hopes, the pieces might never fit together again. You could glue it, force it, like a kid forcing two dolls to kiss. But it would never have the same intensity as now. 

It wouldn't be as pure. 

It would be a broken picture. 

He rejected Nari once, a long, long time ago. And now, he was stuck in his own head, struggling to say the two easiest words in the Korean language—

'Yes', 'No.'

It shouldn't have been so hard. Yet it was.

His relationship with Nari was not a puppy crush, nor a silly kid's thing. This was about their future. What if their emotions betrayed them, made a fool of them and then burned them to ashes? This was no game where there was always a 'try again' button. Leandro never did romantic relationships after—

Leandro stared at Nari. 

Why was it so hard to put down the puzzle?!

He stopped walking.

Ah, yes—

The picture was crystal clear now. 

Nari stopped walking as well. His silence spurred her on. She glanced at him, a smile sitting under lovely, blushing cheeks. Her eyes sparkled under the moon. Did she sense his hesitation, was she about to…—

Leandro was caught off guard when Nari stood on the tip of her toes, and gently placed a kiss on his cheek.

A warmth lingered on his skin.

A different warmth from his Aura. 

"... and this feeling... isn't some puzzle Oppa and I have made to fit each other. This is more about Oppa finding that first piece to that same puzzle I have—sooner or later... Oppa will fit there as well. I..." Nari clenched her fists, stopping where she was. She would not back down. "... I can be patient enough to wait for that piece."

She smiled, eyes heavy-lidded.

"Just… don't take too long, Oppa. I won't always be young."

"..."