INTERLUDE 1: LOVE IS HARD

"Perfect! Now that everyone's familiar with you two... Why don't you sit right there, Dan-san?"

He points at the empty spot in front of the black-haired girl, next to the window.

"Of course, sensei."

"And Himiko-san can sit right there."

He shows Toga her seat, opposite of Go-Ru. With a happy grin, she hops to her seat while Go-Ru slowly walks alongside her.

Placing his bag on the ground, he took out his textbook and put his pencil box into the drawer for later use.

He turned his head to look at the window, and with a shift of his head's angle, he used the window's reflection to get a good look at his new classmate behind him.

The girl was looking down at a book on her table. It looked like a fantasy novel regarding a reincarnated hero which made his smile turn into a grin, he mentally noted it down in his head as he looked at the girl's appearance.

She had short, around chin-length dark purple-black colour hair now that he really took a good look and black onyx eyes. She had a bored expression on her face, but her eyes tells him that she was interested in the "transfer students" whispers that were going on in the class right now.

The most prominent thing about her appearance is her ears. There are flexible, plug-like earphone jacks hanging from each of her earlobes, making him realize who she was.

'Kyouka Jiro. Never thought I'd see a main side character this early...'

From how her earphone jacks were moving, Go-Ru deduced that she was listening in on the mutters and whispers of the classmates regarding him and Toga.

Closing his eyes in slight annoyance at the boys looking at Toga, he briefly recalled the conversation he had with Toga after settling some... things with the boys.

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"What do you need, Gohru?"

"Yeah! Did something happen? | Hopefully! I'm itching for a fight!"

"You look stressed. What the fuck can even make you stress out?"

Gohru had assembled the boys for one important decision.

"Thanks for coming. Now I have a question."

He places his hand on his chest, directly on his heart as he asked.

"This... Feeling. Er... What is it?"

The room was silent for a second before Kenichi cleared his throat, Dabi and Buba letting him talk.

"What kind of feeling are you talking about?"

He said with a brotherly tone as Gohru leans on the floor of his bedroom while the boys were on his king-size bed.

"I... don't know. It's like there's this... feeling when I see Toga. Like not sexually, that's completely different, but there's some sort of thing that just wants to make me see her smile, you know? Like a string in my chest that tightens whenever I see her."

He said as the boys looked at each other before starting to laugh, even Dabi was, which was rare for the man.

"H-Hey! What the fuck?!"

He yelled at the three with a blush as they laughed even harder, making Gohru regret his decision to ask for advice even further.

Once they cooled down, Dabi was the one who broke the laughter.

"You fucking like her, idiot."

He froze.

"Wait what?"

"Yeah! You like her! | Toga and Gohru sitting under the tree! K I S S I N G!"

"... Listen, Gohru. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. You've never felt attraction before. Usually, for us, we have already felt attraction before from our parents... even if they were harsh to us, but you're an orphan, so that makes a lot of sense. This pull in your chest is attraction, it can go a few ways, romantic, sexual, physical, whatever. The point is, you're scared about this right? To feel an emotion that you've never felt before."

... Damn he just hit every single button with accuracy.

'He's right. I've never felt this attraction before, even in my past life.'

"... So, what do I do?"

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"Listen, Toga."

He said with an expression that she'd never seen before. Awkwardness.

She knows his usual personality. Outgoing, funny at times, never looking back at the decisions he made, and serious when he is usually training, but she had never seen this expression before.

Fear.

It was so foreign to her that she noticed something. She had never really seen his weak side before. All the while, she and her friends had always looked at his positive and strong side, but he had never shown any amount of weakness before.

"I... I-I just want to say... God, this is hard."

She could hear his hesitation, and her first instance of thought was...

'Cute! SO CUTE! He's getting all shy! Camera! Where's the camera?!'

"Ahem! What I'd like to say is... Er... I... Like... You?"

Her brain freezes all operations the moment he said that sentence.

'What.'

Looking at him, she could see him getting all flustered, scratching his cheek with a faint blush on his face as he coughs into his fist.

"I mean, I think I do. This feeling when that bastard... Nevermind. In any case, I think I have an attraction to you... And I'd... Gosh, this is embarrassing... I'd like to... Er... Maybe get a drink with you?"

He started fiddling with his fingers, something that he does when nervous, her mind kindly notes, mid-sentence as her mouth opened to give an answer back, but nothing came out. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his body before staring at into his gorgeous obsidian eyes.

He looked so vulnerable, it was killing her to see him so weak, but making her so happy since he's showing this to her.

"Listen, Gohru. I know that you're not sure about this, so I'll make a deal, just like you did for me. For one year, we go out on normal dates before anything, get a feel about all this dating stuff to make sure that this attraction that you are feeling is meant for me, alright?"

His flabbergasted look was a sight to behold before blinking confusedly.

"...Huh. And I'd thought that you'd jump the moment I brought it up..."

"I'm crazy for you, not inconsiderate Gohru. I know that you're not sure if you even like me since attraction isn't all about liking someone. I am attracted to blood and you, you're attracted to fighting and training, see?"

"... I guess I'm the innocent one, huh?"

He said with a weak chuckle as their foreheads touched.

"You're so cute when you're innocent though!"

She giggles, to which he rolls his eyes before he tightens the hug with a shaky breath.

"All right. I'll accept the deal then."

"Come on, let's go sleep."

And with a pull, she rests on her bed with him as she hugged him to sleep, making him feel at peace finally.

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Ever since that day, he had reduced the time used on training to be with her and the gang more. From going out for dinner more often to enjoying days together with movies and games.

His tournament schedule reduced a ton from this too, with him appearing in tournaments once a month only in contrast to 4-5 times a month.

But that didn't mean that his training was reduced. He actually increased it, making it more intense for him to cover the time used to be with his friends.

'Ah, good times.'

Glancing at Toga who was talking to a girl classmate next to her, he just looks at her without interrupting.

'... I don't even know what are we. In the middle of family and lover, I guess? Maybe more to the lover side?'

Eh, he had time. Who knows, maybe once the plot starts, their relationship would grow further.

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A/N:

Holy cow, this chapter was a struggle to make.

I'm straight up telling you guys this, I am no romance expert. Hell, I've never had a crush on anyone before even at the age of 20, so I may fumble a little when it comes to the romance of the story.

But that's the thing. This story is about fighting and martial arts, not romance, so I'm not going to write a lot of romance scenes like this chapter. Just understand that they are attracted to each other, but because Gohru never learned how to love, they are delaying the inevitable basically with Toga letting him understand and learn how to love back.

So, not many romance chapters, just imagine their romance stories behind the scenes with your own imagination alright?

That's all, peace ;)

P.S. Give me tips on how to write romance I guess.

P.P.S. God help me for the next few chapters. Warning, it's going to be kinda cringe but necessary for the plot to work.

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