A/N: Hi all, back again.

This is a follow-up to chapter 18, one of the chapters that had some requests for a follow up. Just a reminder that this chapter involves a non-canon character that was made up a while ago.

Who knows, might even make this one it's own short story.

Hopefully it's good enough

Naoto could only stare slack jawed at the man. He refused to believe it was true; maybe that Nagatoro had somehow discovered his training and asked the man to help in a joke for payback.

But the man's face betrayed no hidden intentions, only pure shame and sympathy.

"I'm so, so sorry. I knew she was eccentric, but I had no clue what she was really doing."

Naoto's breathing sped up a little, anxiety slowly rising as he finally came to terms with the fact that he had been training with his bully's own father without the slightest idea.

"I already talked to her about her behavior. The school called me and we promise she won't bother you again."

The boy could only nod. Words eluded him but he wanted to let the man know he was actually listening.

Hayase's father, clearly riddled with guilt from the lack of a verbal response, gave the boy one last statement.

"If you don't want me to help you anymore, I can find someone else that will. I know plenty of regulars here, and I get it if you'd rather not talk to me after this."

"No," the boy quickly replied, shaking the man out of his remorse and into a more surprised state.

"I mean...You're nice. You've helped me. I...I would like it if you still did..."

The man let out a chuckle, mixed both with amusement and some other less happy emotion. He gave the boy a small, not entirely true smile, but nodded.

Naoto and Mr. Nagatoro approached a punching bag. The boy tapped it a few times and took a Judo stance. One light punch made contact, then another one with more force. Then a slow but steady barrage of punches began rattling the bag.

The man could only watch and hold the bag still enough to not swing wildly. This boy, who seemed polite and at least decent for a guy, had somehow gotten his daughter's attention. His daughter who he knew was a bit rough around the edges but gave him no reason to suspect she could be an actual bully.

His daughter who had been given after school detention for the rest of the week.

Did the friends she had over now and then treat this boy the same way? How far had any of them gone? The school had briefed him of the boy's stories, filled with emotional turmoil and borderline harassment at times. And that was only what he had told the principal.

How much was there that hadn't been told just to keep her out of hotter water? Had they put him through anything he was still keeping a secret?

Hayase was home late again the next day; she still had a few days of after school detention left.

"We need to talk," the man stated firmly the moment his daughter entered the kitchen. He could see her tense up. Fatherly instinct told him to show her some mercy, but mercy was not what she needed at the moment.

"About what? How I bullied him? You already had that talk with me."

Her tone lacked the strength he had come to know from her, another pang of guilt hit him like a nail to the heart.

"I know. But I think you need to hear it again...Look at me."

The girl slowly turned, meeting her father's unusually stern eyes.

"I thought you knew better. I know you can be a tad mean at times, but I hoped you were above being a bully."

Father and daughter both understood the guilt trip he was imposing. But only one showed signs of backing down.

"I know I told you to leave him alone, but you need to apologize to him."

Hayase just nodded silently, almost exactly like her victim had done in the gym the day prior.

"Go to your room," was all he said before turning away to open the fridge. Soft footsteps left the room, and only got softer as they went up the stairs, ending with the sound of a door closing gently.

Another door closed, this time from the front of the house. He knew the sound of Misaki's approach. Keys being tossed into the bowl by the front door accompanied by slightly heavier footsteps than Hayase's.

"What's eating you?"

Right, Misaki had been out last night and was still unaware of the recent discovery.

"Well, your sister...she's been bullying this guy at her school for some time now. Can I assume you didn't know?"

Misaki began to shake her head, but stopped and brought a finger to her lips in a thinking pose.

"Glasses, brown fluffy hair and a tiny frame?"

"Damnit," the man muttered. "How did you know about him?"

Misaki shrugged, seemingly more unbothered than anything regarding the news. "He stopped by a while ago when she was sick. Dropped off her homework and some of that pudding she likes," the older sister explained, than began giggling softly.

Her father raised a brow, curious about his other daughter's lack of concern for the situation. As if she could tell, Miskai began to divulge more information.

"She clearly likes the guy, and I can see why. He's thoughtful, steadfast in his passions, and kind of cute if I have to be honest."

"And you're not at all bothered by how she treats him?"

"A little, but I know she's not trying to make him miserable. I think she just doesn't know how to react to the idea of liking someone."

Then she just left, making her way up the stairs and leaving the man alone with his thoughts.

"Great, now I have to worry about that now," the man groaned. He needed a beer, which the fridge had a few of waiting for him.

"Hey, can I come in?"

Hayase was roused from her self pity by the sounds of her sister from the other side of her door. She wanted to tell her to go away, but lacked the energy for the bickering session such a response would cause.

"Yeah."

Misaki entered and closed the door behind her. Arms crossed in front of her, a bad sign in Hayase's eyes.

"I knew you liked the guy, but c'mon, you'd really bully him?"

Hayase, groaned, not even in the mood to deal with her sister pointing out her feelings for the older boy. "It's not like I wanted to make him feel that way!"

"Yeah, I kind of assumed from the way you two danced around each other when he visited. But in school of all places? What was going through your head?"

The younger sister wanted to throw a pillow, or maybe something harder like a small book.

"I don't know! I just get weird around him!"

Misaki sighed. Normally she would have been teasing her sister already for her obvious crush, but that was not going to help either of them at the moment.

"Well if you want him to like you back, you need to do something different."

"Like what?" Hayase shot back, realizing too late that she had unwillingly asked for dating advice.

A pencil, freshly sharpened and ready to use, sat untouched atop an easel. A blank canvas, usually littered with strokes this far into lunchtime, sat just as untouched.

Naoto was staring out the window, unable to find the willpower to engage in his passion. He was not depressed, exactly, but still far from happy.

Why? He should have been elated to be free of the torment. He should have been celebrating the fact that he could sketch and draw and let himself be himself without any interruptions.

So why was he so unable to focus?

Despite his internal questioning, he already knew the answer.

Nagatoro had not said a single word to him, outside of a quick but seemingly heartfelt apology that morning. But after that she had ran off, not even looking back. Her friends had only walked past him in the halls once the whole day, and none of them even looked at him.

He had always preferred being alone, but why did he feel so lonely?

As per routine, Naoto and Mr. Nagatoro were in the gym together. Unlike the last few times, this time Hachioji was doing his best to bench-press a mere seventy-five pounds, and his best was rather embarrassing.

Hayase's father was urging him to finish the set of ten, but his arms were urging him to stop. His frustration prevailed, giving him just enough strength to raise the bar and return it to the resting spot.

"Good job, kid," Hayase's father offered once the teen seemed like he was physically capable of communicating again.

"Thanks." Naoto grabbed a bottle of water from the floor and greedily drank the whole thing as if he was never going to have water again.

Something was wrong again. The first time the two had met, the man could tell Naoto had frustrations he was taking out on the punching bag. Maybe not the healthiest way to deal with pent up emotions, but there were far more destructive alternatives.

This time, the man was getting a similar feeling. He was worried, if only a little.

"What's wrong? Is my daughter back at it? I told her to leave you alone unless she was apologizing, but if she's going behind my back, I can-"

"It's not that," the teen replied, cutting off the man's sentence. "It's...you see...I-I don't know how to put it..."

The two stayed in their spots, as if waiting for the other to begin a conversation. The awkwardness became stale and nearly unbearable, but Naoto was clearly not going to be the one to break the silence.

"It still has to do with Hayase, right?" Naoto met his eyes for a moment, but quickly adverted them, giving the man everything he needed. "Figured."

"Is it weird if I miss her? I know I shouldn't, after everything she...after what they did. But...I...It's...I don't know." Naoto brought his hand to his face, fingers sprawled and mind racing.

Should he miss them? Would it be better to be left alone or be subjected to their games again?

A thoughtful hum. The man was weighing an option that he was not a big fan of, but also not entirely against. "I have an idea, I think."

It had been a while, but Naoto was strangely familiar with the path he had taken to get to this house. Most likely because it was just a bit off the path he took to get to school, but that was beside the point.

The door was the only thing separating him from his bully now. He knocked thrice, and soon was facing a woman he had met once before.

She smiled, a slightly wicked yet somehow welcoming smile. "Ah, come in. I was told you'd be here."

Misaki gesture for the younger boy to enter, which he did.

"It's just me and Hayase home at the moment. Dad wanted to give you some privacy but also wanted someone to stick around just in case."

Hayase's older sister turned to face him, a glint in her eye very similar to her younger sister's. "After all, who knows what a boy like you might do if left alone with my sister?"

Naoto immediately defaulted into his nervous stuttering, promising he would never consider doing that to her. Misaki laughed off his antics, but could see why Hayase had gone out of her way to get a reaction out of him so many times.

"She's upstairs. I figure you remember where her room is. If you need me to intervene, just holler."

Hayase was just finishing her last assignment when someone knocked on her bedroom door.

"What is it this time, Sis?"

"Uh...Can-can I come in?" That voice that she would never forget asked from the other side. Before she even knew what she was doing, her legs rushed her to the door and opened it, revealing that was indeed him and not a figment of her imagination.

"S-senapi? What are you doing here?"

She hoped her excitement wasn't too obvious, but she knew it was.

"H-hey Nagatoro. Uh...your dad suggested we have a talk."

"Oh, okay." The tanned girl made room for Naoto to enter and shut the door behind him. Naoto stood there, not sure where to sit or how to begin.

"Wanna play?" Nagatoro gestured to the console the two had played last time, and Naoto accepted the offer.

A few rounds went by with little talk. Nagatoro wanted to make silly comments about inability to beat her at the game, or do something sneaky to distract him.

But she remembered the lectures her dad had given her, and the advice from her big sister.

She stole a glance at the boy beside her, who was seemingly more unguarded at the moment than he usually was around her. Quick to divert her attention back to the game lest he catch her looking at him, a small idea brewed in her mind.

She recalled something her sister had told her, how something she thought was teasing could be misconstrued as something else. She had also given her a list of other things she could do to show how she felt that were less likely to leave the boy fearing her presence.

Hayase braced herself for the worst and gently leaned into Naoto's shoulder. No snide remarks, no jabs at what were pointed out to be possible insecurities, just a small amount of physical contact.

She felt Naoto falter under the sudden contact, but made no note of it, which she assumed was because she gave him no grief for touching her. She stayed leaning against him for the rest of the match, and all the way through the next two games they played.

"Hey, Senpai?"

Naoto turned to her, rather shocked by the softness he rarely heard in her voice.

"I really am sorry. Do you think...we could restart?"

Naoto's lips turned, giving her a soft smile.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

A/N: Sorry if this isn't great, but I did this all in one go that was about half an hour.

So yeah, it's not exactly top quality. But I hope you enjoyed regardless