Chapter 102: Hero Name (2)
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Neji's current goal was to push Kimi towards her awakening while focusing on his own training as well.
Sparring with Kimi attained both of those. So for the next two days, Neji and Kimi kept fighting in the training hall.
Like right now.
A punch came flying towards his face as Neji's eyes blazed red.
In an instant, he activated EL and ducked down, barely dodging the attack.
Like this, he's been jumping into Eyes of the Lord whenever he was getting pushed in a corner, but sometimes even while EL could see her movements, Neji's body simply couldn't keep up.
In other words, he never won.
Nor did Kimi's tier change.
The next punch came flying to Neji's solar plexus. He didn't receive much DMG, but it did hurt a lot as his back hit the wall of the hall again.
"Okay… stop…" Neji said, huffing. "I-i am done for today…"
In fact, following the movements shown by EL was tougher than taking her attacks head-on.
She wasn't physically any stronger than him, if he somehow grabbed her, the match was finished. But Kimi didn't give him the chance to grab her.
'And this is her after no training for 13 years. What the hell.'
Neji would put her in the Tier 7 category if he only counted speed.
Speed-wise, he doubted if even Hawks would be able to match her. For reference, Hawks was the fastest Hero in Japan currently, since All Might has weakened a lot.
"I hope you aren't hurt, young master…" Kimi said apologetically as she transformed back.
"I am fine…" Neji grabbed the bottle of water from beside him, gulped down the water, and sighed. "For the most part."
...
Next was curing her phobia.
On the night before school was supposed to start, Neji sat in his room with Kimi squeezed between him and Nejire.
"Um, why are we sitting like this…?"
"It's nothing, it's nothing. Don't worry, Kimi!!" Nejire hugged her side as Kimi's twitched in suspicion.
Before she could change her mind, Neji immediately played a gory horror movie on the TV.
The horror part didn't scare anyone, Nejire was instead getting curious and asking if ghosts were real or not since Magic apparently was. However at the gore part… Kimi lost consciousness in less than a minute.
She had first tried to run off from the room but Neji and Nejire from the two sides had kept her squeezed.
Only later did they realise it was a bad idea as Kimi started to vomit before losing her consciousness.
"...I am really sorry, I didn't think it was this serious."
Neji could only deeply apologise to her but she only waved her hand with an easy smile, saying she was completely fine.
Neji wasn't a therapist after all. He shouldn't have tried such a thing, and it might have even caused something worse to rise inside Kimi.
What if she formed a phobia where she hated him and Nejire?
That thought simply made him shiver.
So, the next morning, as he sat on the dining table in his school uniform, he handed the matter to his parents.
"Mom, I learned about Kimi's Hemophobia years ago, and I really think it's time for her to see a therapist," Neji said to his parents with a sandwich in his hand.
And then, Nejire continued on his words. "You probably heard from the other maids what happened last night, didn't you?! I and Neji feel reaaally sorry for doing that. But just think about it, if the condition is so bad that she can't even enjoy a movie... it needs to be fixed!!"
After exchanging glances with his wife, Aiko shrugged. "Ehh, I don't know, you two. Around the first time, she started to work here, we had her see a therapist, too. She had even gone there on our word. But… it didn't exactly end well, so we never forced her again."
"Oh…" Neji turned to Kimi who was standing on the side silently, her face anxious. "I didn't know, you never told me."
Just a moment after saying that, he realised— he had never bothered to ask.
'Ah fuck. I know most about her life, but some details are still missing.'
When their relationship stabilised on the Countrywide trip, Kimi started to share about her life with him. He knew about her childhood, her parents, her sister, and recently he even learned about the villain who killed her sidekick.
'But I never bothered to ask her about her life after she took her job as a maid… Ugh, such irresponsibilities.' Neji cursed himself in his mind.
With slight guilt in his heart, he spoke again to Kimi. "So, will you give it another try?"
Kimi thinned her lips for a long moment before nodding. "If the young master wishes, I… don't mind going."
Neji held back a sigh. 'If he wished'—in other words, he was forcing her. She didn't even question why he needed her to lose that phobia.
'She probably thinks I am just doing it for her mental health…'
But he was doing it so that she could fight beside him in the far future.
Neji clenched his fist under the table. He didn't like this line of selfish thoughts of his.
'I don't like forcing her again…'
While he went through an internal dilemma, Kimi's words seemed to have caught his parents' interest as they both raised an eyebrow.
"Oh my, you two seem rather close," Gara said, slowly munching on a sandwich. "...Perhaps closer than I thought."
Kimi's face grew hotter just as Neji returned to reality while blinking innocently. Gara stared at his eyes for a long moment before shrugging.
"Oh well," She bit on the sandwich. "If she is fine with it, I don't see a problem. I will ask Kishimoto for a good therapist's contact."
Neji nodded. "Make sure the doctor is a female."
Gara raised an eyebrow again.
"...Alright, alright. I understand." Then she giggled to herself. "The appointment should be ready in a day or two, tell your maid to prepare."
Neji ignored how she emphasised the word 'your maid', and nodded again.
If his parents could see through their relationship and be fine with it, it wasn't a bad development. Knowing his mom, she'd be a bit displeased knowing he's 'cheating' on Momo, maybe even angry since Momo's mother was her old friend, but now that Neji was of age, she would gladly choose Kimi as her son's wife over Momo.
They were just that close to each other.
Though that's all considering she could indeed realise their relationship. A normal person would initially assume that Kimi had requested Neji for a female doctor beforehand.
Neji then stood up and walked to Gara. "Thanks, mom!"
He kissed her on the cheeks and ran outside the mansion along with Kimi and Nejire.
As they left, Gara stared at the door with a distant gaze.
"Hmmm, really close…"
A spoon hit her head softly as Aiko meddled in.
"Stop thinking too much."
"...Oi!" Gara spun around. "Don't hit my head!"
Aiko blocked her incoming spoon with his while saying, "Kimi's like an aunt to him if anything. More so, if there was any chemistry between them, Nejire would know since she seems to be involved in this too. You think Nejire will be fine with her younger brother cheating?"
Gara stopped trying to hit him for a moment before continuing with a nod. "You have a point. She wouldn't allow Neji to cheat. Guess you're not too dumb. Now prepare for my ultimate attack!!"
...Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
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Author's Note: Chad Dad unknowingly saving the day. 😌
Cheese note: To this day, I'm not a fan of Kimi. Kys, 4th.
Author's Note: 🖐️ We don't do that here.