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**The First Mistake Was Letting Them Teach Together**
"Whose idea was it to pair *them*?" Mitsuri whispered as she peered over her rice ball.
Rengoku, smiling radiantly, replied, "They balance each other beautifully!"
Out in the field, Sanemi Shinazugawa was yelling at a recruit to "*stop crying and swing like you mean it,*" while Giyuu Tomioka adjusted a student’s stance with a gentle nudge and a quiet, "Not like that. Try again."
Their approaches were polar opposites. Sanemi taught like a soldier at war. Giyuu taught like a river whispering its secrets. It shouldn't have worked.
But it did.
They moved together without speaking. Giyuu would catch a water bottle tossed at him without looking. Sanemi would instinctively step aside for Giyuu to pass. They handed each other towels, finished each other’s unfinished sentences, and when one was injured, the other patched him up like it was routine.
Naturally, the students assumed they were dating.
---
**Day Six: The Assumptions Begin**
"Obviously," said Taro, a second-year trainee, eyes wide with certainty. "They're a couple."
Kiko snorted. "You're hallucinating. Shinazugawa threatened to shove his sword through Tomioka's mouth."
"That's flirting," Taro replied.
"You're sick."
But then came Day Seven. Giyuu touched Sanemi's elbow to stop him from pushing a student too hard, and Sanemi *didn't* explode. Just rolled his eyes and backed off.
On Day Eight, they argued over rice. Sanemi shouted, "I know how he likes it!" and slammed a bento down in front of Giyuu.
Giyuu nodded and said, "Thanks."
The rumors were cemented.
---
**Day Ten: A List is Born**
The students formed a secret club: *Operation: Get Our Dads Together.*
Taro started a list. It was titled: "100 Proofs Tomioka and Shinazugawa Are In Love."
1. Share tea
2. Talk without talking
3. Shinazugawa yells less when Tomioka is around
4. Tomioka touches Shinazugawa and doesn't die
5. Shinazugawa knows how Tomioka likes rice
By Day Twelve, the list had 37 entries and a hand-drawn cover featuring a poorly illustrated heart with swords.
---
**Day Fourteen: The Shattering**
"So... you and Tomioka?" Obanai asked, completely deadpan.
Sanemi blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"The kids think you're dating."
"We’re *not*. What kind of idiotic gossip—"
"Thought so," Obanai said. "They’ll be crushed."
Sanemi growled.
Kiko overheard the whole thing from behind a tree.
That night, she broke the news to Taro, who screamed into a pillow.
They were *not dating.*
*Yet.*
---
**Day Fifteen: Operation Matchmake**
Plan A: Forced proximity. They assigned them to the same sparring match.
Plan B: Intense stares. Giyuu looked confused. Sanemi looked murderous.
Plan C: "Accidental" physical contact. A well-timed trip by Taro launched Sanemi into Giyuu.
Giyuu caught him. Sanemi blinked up at him, a flush creeping up his neck.
"...Suspicious," Giyuu murmured.
Later, when they were walking back to the compound, Giyuu said, "I think the students are trying to make us... date."
Sanemi, without looking up, replied, "Yeah. I noticed."
Giyuu raised a brow. "You're not surprised?"
"Tomioka. We eat together. Patch each other up. You once stabbed a demon who called me ugly."
"He said your nose was crooked."
"It *is* crooked."
"You still looked upset."
Sanemi paused. "You remembering that proves their point."
"Do you want them to stop?"
Sanemi smirked. "Let’s see how far they go."
---
* Kiko gave them a double bento.
* Taro wrote a haiku and left it on Giyuu’s door: *"Your silence is soft / Shinazugawa hears it loud / Love is in your fists."*
* Two students faked an argument about who loved who more, loudly, in front of them.
Giyuu stared. Sanemi blinked. They walked away.
---
Rengoku called a meeting.
"My friends! The flames of love must be stoked!"
Mitsuri clapped. "They're *perfect* together! We have to help!"
Iguro: "This is idiotic."
Uzui: "How flashy. I'm in."
They all joined.
---
One night, patching up Giyuu's shoulder after a training injury:
"You should be more careful," Sanemi muttered, tightening the bandage.
Giyuu looked up. "You always say that."
"Because you're an idiot."
"You always patch me up."
Silence.
Sanemi didn’t meet his eyes. "Someone has to."
---
During training, a demon infiltration breaks into the compound. Students panic. One of them lunges at Giyuu.
Sanemi moves fast. Too fast. He kills it, but not before Giyuu is cut across the chest.
"You could've *died!*" Sanemi shouted, voice cracking.
"I didn’t."
"That’s not the point!"
The students watched, wide-eyed.
Sanemi grabbed Giyuu by the collar. "Stop risking yourself. I—"
He stopped. Swallowed.
"Just stop."
Giyuu placed a hand over Sanemi’s.
"I won’t if you don’t."
---
A week later.
Giyuu found a letter on his desk:
*"You idiots clearly like each other. Either kiss or we’re telling the Master."*
Giyuu showed it to Sanemi.
Sanemi read it. Then shrugged.
"They’re not wrong."
Giyuu blinked. "Wait. What?"
Sanemi grumbled. "You heard me."
Giyuu stared for a long time.
Then: "Good. Because I do, too."
---
They didn’t kiss that day. But they stopped denying it.
They trained like always, bickered like always, but Sanemi lingered longer when Giyuu was nearby, and Giyuu no longer hesitated when brushing his hand against Sanemi’s.
The students didn’t even bother hiding their excitement. Taro handed out cupcakes with pink icing. Kiko sewed a banner that read *"True Love Breath Style"* and hung it outside the training hall.
One day, Giyuu brought Sanemi tea during break. Sanemi took it without a word, then caught Giyuu's wrist before he walked away.
"Hey," he muttered. "You free tonight?"
"For what?"
"Just tea. And... maybe sitting. And not talking. Like usual. But together."
Giyuu smiled. "Okay."
And it became a habit. Tea in the evenings. Quiet. Close. Familiar. Soft.
It wasn't until a month later, during a thunderstorm, when the compound lost power and everyone was stuck indoors, that something shifted.
Sanemi knocked on Giyuu’s door, soaked to the bone.
"You came through a *storm*?" Giyuu asked.
"Couldn’t sleep," Sanemi muttered. "You make it quiet."
They sat by candlelight. Giyuu dried his hair with a towel. Sanemi mumbled something about Giyuu being too nice.
And finally, finally, after minutes stretched too long, Sanemi leaned forward and kissed him.
It was short. Clumsy. A little stunned.
"You good?" Giyuu asked softly.
Sanemi nodded. "I think I am."
They stayed like that. Thunder outside. Peace inside.
---
The students added a final page to the list.
101. We did it.
Mitsuri wept. Rengoku declared it the greatest romantic victory in Corps history. Uzui hosted a fireworks show.
Sanemi and Giyuu didn’t comment.
But they stood next to each other in every meeting. Shared tea. Shared blankets during stakeouts. Shared smiles they thought no one saw.
The war wasn’t over.
But for now, they had this.
And for the first time in a long time, both of them believed they might have something to live for afterward.