"Uh, s-sure, but it'll need to be quick. My uncle is still here."

Katsuki scooted back as Rui stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

"What is it..?" she asked sheepishly.

"I want to know what you were going to say earlier." he said, a bit more bluntly than he had intended.

"Oh... I just..." Rui sighed, fiddling with the plastic wrap covering the plate of dorayaki. "It was nothing really..."

"Why can't you just say what's on your mind, huh? Why do you have to always hesitate like this? Do you realize how irritating it is?"

Rui flinched a bit at his tone, but she stood her ground. "What about you? Why are you always so quick to jump straight to anger? Why are you always so abrupt and rude?"

Katsuki opened his mouth to reply, but stopped himself before he said something else he would regret. He took a moment or two to calm down and gazed down at her as she peered nervously up at him- her bangs falling against her cheeks. "I'm sorry..." he muttered.

"What?" Rui didn't hear him.

"I said I was sorry, alright?"

Rui was shocked to hear him apologize, being reminded of how he used to apologize when they were kids. The only thing different was that this time it was dorayaki instead of her favorite cherry flavored candy.

"I shouldn't have gotten so upset with you about telling me you weren't staying, I should have known better since work studies are meant to be temporary. I just..."

Rui could see that he was really struggling to keep his emotions in check. "You just what..?"

"You were gone for so long and to have you show up out of nowhere again like that really messed with me. I got my hopes up that you would stay this time, that you wouldn't just disappear from my life again."

"Katsuki..."

Katsuki stepped closer to her, his tone much softer and his expression more relaxed. "Rui, I don't want to lose you again..."

"You won't lose me, Kacchan, I'll be able to write and stay in touch this time. I'll even try my best to come visit on the weekends as often as I can." Rui sighed. "To be honest, I've been worrying that I'd lose you again, too..."

"Why?"

"You've been so angry with me lately, I really thought I did something or said something wrong and I didn't know how to fix it..." she started to explain. "And I didn't want to leave without trying to make amends with you... I couldn't bear it if I lost you as a friend again, not when I..." She paused, wondering if she would come to regret the next words she was about to speak.

Katsuki reached up to touch her hand. "What?"

'It's now or never, Rui...' Rui took a deep breath. "I-"

Behind her, the door opened and Shota saw them standing there. He glared at Katsuki, who quickly averted his gaze, then put a hand on Rui's shoulder. "Rui, you need to take this call. It's your mother."

Rui looked back at her uncle, hurrying to take her phone from him when she saw the concern etched all over his face. She told Katsuki to hold on a moment, then put the phone to her ear. "Hello, Mom?"

As Rui went inside, Shota stood in the doorway and crossed his arms, glaring down at Katsuki. "Shouldn't you be preparing for tomorrow's exam?"

"Tch, shouldn't you be grading papers?"

Katsuki's tone touched a nerve and Shota's brow furrowed even further. "Listen here, Bakugo, just because we aren't in school does not mean that you can be a disrespectful little shit. And I suggest that you stop acting like a spoiled brat around my niece. You hurt her again, I'll see to it that you regret it for the rest of your days."

Katsuki balked at his threat, knowing full well that he meant every word. He kept his mouth shut and turned away, excusing himself.

Shota watched Katsuki disappear down the hall, then turned to go back into Rui's apartment. As he closed the door, Rui was just finishing up her call with Isane and turned to face her uncle.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah... I assume Mom told you what happened?"

"She didn't say much, just that she was hit by a stray bullet and was sent to the hospital."

"Apparently, she got caught up in the crossfire of some sort of turf war and a stray bullet grazed her arm. She said the doctor told her she was lucky it had only grazed her, that if it had gone any deeper it would have hit her brachial artery."

"Well, shit..."

Rui sighed, looking down at the plate of dorayaki. "Mom said that she's fine and that she'll be discharged soon."

"I take it then you will stay through the end of your work study?"

"Yeah, she said I shouldn't rush to come home over a silly scratch, so the plan is to still leave Sunday evening." She sighed. "I'm going to make some tea, would you like some?"

"Sure."

As Rui reached for the tea bags, her phone dinged and she checked her new messages.

"Let's talk a bit more later, when you have time."

"We can talk now, if you'd like?"

"It's fine, you don't have to. You're busy with family."

"Are you sure? I don't mind. Uncle Shota won't be here for very much longer, so if you'd like maybe we can meet up at the park we used to play at after?"

"Sure, that works."

"I'll let you know when he leaves."

"Sounds good."

Rui smiled at that, glad to see that things were looking promising between them- at least as far as mending their friendship went.