A/N: Which is stronger? Love mainly built on affection or love mainly built on respect?
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Respect
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"I really respect you. Let's continue to get along from here on out."
Hayami's words from just the previous day echoed inside Chiba's head. It had been just a simple statement and request, but for Chiba, it held a much greater depth.
At the time she had actually said that, he was, admittedly, excited in some odd form due to receiving chocolates from a girl and hearing her say that she respected him, and so could only reply with a 'thanks'. Not that he hadn't received chocolates from girls before. He had always been labeled, at least by a certain amount of people, as one of those cool and quiet guys. So even with the grades that dropped him to Class-E, back when he was at the main building, he was somewhat popular with some amount of girls.
But receiving the bitter-sweet delicacies from Hayami with a statement about respecting him had set his heart aflame of sorts. He had felt a kind of excitement and happiness he rarely felt, even with the hectic life he now lived with the rest of his class.
And those feelings were the reason he couldn't think much on the statement at the time. He had, after all, just ridden the kick through the eventful day. But when he went home and thought back to it on his sleeping bed, he had realized her words meant much more to him than just a simple statement.
Of course, he was sure Hayami also didn't mean it in any shallow manner whatsoever. But, the emotions and thoughts that rose from his end, along with how he felt about her, were much deeper than initially anticipated.
"Oof!"
"Ah, sorry Chiba!" Okajima apologized quickly for bumping into him before continuing on his running way to class with Maehara and a few other boys.
Chiba straightened up and looked to one side. He saw that most of the class was now going up the mountain with him. He had left for school early today, but it seems he had slowed down in his thoughts on the way and allowed them to catch up to him.
"What's wrong?"
Chiba switched sides to see it was the girl occupying his thoughts that had asked the question.
"Nothing,"
Hayami smiled. "Then want to walk to class with me?"
Chiba returned the gesture. "Sure,"
-x-X-x-
Initially with the thought of respect, Chiba didn't doubt Hayami's honesty. He could tell when she told him, that she really did respect him, a lot in fact. However, Chiba felt that his own respect towards Hayami was even greater. And not just in relation to their temporary profession, but also regarding the normal aspects of a teenage student.
As a sniper assassin, Chiba very well understood why Hayami respected him. He excelled in spatial calculation, making his accuracy in long-range shooting second to none in Class-E. It was something Hayami looked up to him for as a fellow sniper.
In contrast, Hayami was gifted with well-balanced fingers and kinetic vision. Her ability to shoot down moving targets as well as accuracy while moving herself was much greater than his. She was showing this even at the very moment.
Chiba watched from a high branch as Hayami hit six targets placed at fair distances in an impressive span of time. The targets were hanging by ropes on branches, making them sway with the slight breeze that ran through the woods. And with the locations they were in, Hayami had to move from one tree to another to get a clear view of each of them. However, she did not halt in her position changes and kept moving while hitting each target dead on. And when she was done, she ended up with a new class record for the particular course.
"Impressive," Chiba complimented when the girl landed beside him.
"Thanks. Think you can do better?" Hayami asked with a challenging smile.
Chiba looked around the place. "Not with all these trees around. But if it was a more open area, I can shoot them all from a long distance in half the time you took."
He respected her more. But that didn't mean he didn't realize his own abilities.
"Oh? Then want to test it out?" Hayami asked, her smile growing into a smirk. "We can set up a similar course by the riverside."
"We can… but I have something else in mind." Chiba said, making Hayami raise an eyebrow. "Come with me after class today. I will show you."
Hayami looked confused, and slightly unsure, but agreed nonetheless. "Alright,"
-x-X-x-
They were both said to be stoic, and Chiba agreed that it was true. No matter what kind of failure their efforts resulted in, what kind of hardships they faced, before Class-E, they always endured it by themselves. And it was also something that the more observant ones of the class would agree on, that Hayami was more stoic than Chiba.
Being stoic may not be something someone can take straight pride in or be praised for. It could, and usually did, prove emotionally unhealthy for the person. However, Chiba found this trait that Hayami had to a greater extent than him to be one of the reasons for his respect towards her.
He had heard about how things were before Hayami dropped to Class-E. How she kept enduring, without showing her true emotions, even as her grades fell further and the treatment from her mother got worse. They were close enough by now to share some aspects of their personal lives.
Chiba new enduring those by herself wasn't a good thing. He had gone through the same things after all. But because of that same reason, because he knew what she went through, he respected her for it. For a student trying their best, receiving constantly dropping grades and consequently scorn from their parents among many other things. What Chiba endured was much lighter than that. And that's why he knew just how strong she had to be to endure all that and still keep going. Not just keep going, but get better.
Now when he looked at her, she was more open, willing to share her troubles with others. Even now, looking on from his seat, he saw her among the girls, speaking and interacting relatively normally with them. Korosensei had helped them both get out of their shells of course. But Chiba felt that Hayami had made much further progress than him. And he respected her for that.
While Chiba continued to stare at the girl, an arm suddenly draped around his shoulders as Karma leaned in from the side.
"Admiring your girlfriend?" The redhead asked with his usual mischievous tone.
"I guess you can say that," Chiba admitted, ignoring the 'girlfriend' part.
"Oh? Then want me to hook you up? I may not look it, but I'm actually pretty good at it."
"Thanks for the offer, but what's in my mind right now is a little different." Chiba only now pried his eyes away from Hayami and looked up at his red haired classmate. "And regarding that, I have a little request. I was initially going to ask Nagisa, but since you offered to help…"
Karma leaned back and straightened up with a smile. "Sure, ask away."
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After the school and assassination activities were over for the day, the Class-E students were heading back to their respective homes under the golden hour sky. Hayami Rinka however, was a little strayed from her usual path at the moment. She was currently at the end of a road behind the mountain her classroom resided on. 'Behind' as in, the opposite side of the road leading from the classroom to the main school building.
'Chiba said to come here after school, but I don't see him anywhere.' Hayami thought as she looked around. While doing so, she noticed something else. There was a tree inside a private property's walls. A branch of the tree was extended out over the street and on the branch was someone. Someone she knew.
"Karma-kun, what are you doing up there?" Hayami asked, walking into a spot below the branch. There, she saw that he was tying a folded piece of paper onto the wood with a thin rope.
"Ah, you're here huh? Well, I'm done anyways." Karma said and sat up from his leaning position. He dusted his hands off and leapt down before dusting his clothes as well. "Chiba asked me to do this. He's still up on the mountain, at the classroom's level I believe. You just stay here and wait for 'it' to happen. And that's my job done. See you tomorrow!"
"What..?" Hayami asked while Karma casually started jogging forward with hands in his pockets. "W-Wait, hold on!"
Her call was met with no verbal response, much less did he stop, and he soon rounded the corner and disappeared from her sight.
'What in the world was he taking about?!' Hayami thought in confusion. She glanced back at the mountain, wondering what Chiba was still doing there, before her eyes went to the tied piece of paper hanging from the branch.
Soon after they did so, something flashed past her line of sight. It had apparently cut the rope since the paper started to flutter and fall. Hayami instinctively stuck out her hands and allowed it to fall onto them. And at the moment the paper brushed her skin, Hayami realized it was a bullet that had cut the rope.
Her eyes once again went to the mountain. But this time, instead of confusion, they were filled with awe. 'Chiba… shot that thin rope from that far?!'
Even through her amazement of the shot, Hayami grasped at the point that she was meant to see the paper. Thus, a bit absentmindedly, she unfolded the piece and scanned it to see just two lines written on it.
'I accept your respect towards me and consequently will do my best to live up to your expectations.
And on that note, I also really respect you. Let's continue to get along from here on out.'
It took only a moment's pause for a smile to spread through Hayami's lips. And the smile stayed in place as she looked back up at the mountain.
"Yes, let's continue to get along."
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A/N: Remember when Hayami said "I really respect you." to Chiba during the valentines arc? That was probably my favorite RyuRin moment in the manga to be honest. I felt like Hayami saying that made me happier than I would've been if she had actually said she liked Chiba. And thus, this time the theme is 'Respect'.
Also, canon grown up Rinka with long hair~
-Plus Ultra Bye!