The walk home was filled with silence and internal grumbling for both Rui and Katsuki. Rui had finally won a sparring match against Katsuki, but it didn't make her feel better. Katsuki was still being an ass, acting as childish as he used to. Her arm still ached a bit from where he had grabbed her and she wondered why he had tried to stop, what he could have been thinking in that moment.

Meanwhile, Katsuki was struggling with the mixed emotions raging around in his mind. He had lost a sparring match against Rui for the first time, which impressed him a bit, but he still couldn't get over seeing her with another guy like that and it confused him quite a bit. He had thought that he had gotten over his feelings for her, but feeling jealousy like that was not only new to him but made him realize that maybe he wasn't as over her as he thought he was. When he thought back on how he handled things before she stormed off, Katsuki wondered what he was thinking grabbing her arm like that and trying to stop her from leaving.

'This is a mess...' he said to himself, running his fingers through his grimy hair as he walked home. He barely glanced up at Rui's apartment building as he passed by, just wanting to get to his apartment and get cleaned up.

While Katsuki was stripping out of his dirty clothes and hopping into the shower, Rui was just stepping out of hers. Once she was dressed and her hair was more or less dry, she made herself a cup of tea and went to sit on the balcony to enjoy the cool night air. She sat quietly for a while, sipping her tea as she listened to the soft chirping of crickets nearby.

As he showered, Katsuki recalled their sparring match. 'And what was up with her during our sparring match? She had that look again... but what was it? And what was that feeling I keep getting any time we spar?'

He sighed and turned off the water, grabbing the towel and drying off before going to his wardrobe to change into his usual sleep attire- a pair of shorts and a tank top. As he dried his hair, he opened the curtain and went out onto his balcony- stopping when he noticed Rui sitting out on hers, nestled behind the patio plants. He leaned against the wall, watching her a moment as he tried to figure out what to do. He wanted to fix things between them, somehow, and he wanted to move passed these mixed emotions- hating how they made him feel.

'But how can I do that...?'

Across the way, Rui finished her tea and stood to go back inside- stopping only when she noticed Katsuki lounging on his balcony. 'I don't want for things to continue as they are now, but how can we fix things? I understand that he's hurt that I didn't reach out sooner, but it's so hard to talk to him when he's like this. Should I let him come to me this time...?'

Sighing, she stepped back into her apartment and cleaned her tea mug before going to her room to turn in for the night- feeling rather beat after a long day.

Back on his balcony, Katsuki noticed that Rui had gone inside and sighed. 'Maybe Eijiro will know what to do...' he thought as he turned to go back inside. He fell back on his futon and grabbed his phone, sending Eijiro a quick text in hopes that he could provide some insight.

The following morning, Rui and Katsuki were in charge of training some of the new recruits to the agency. Gunhead left Rui in charge then went on to supervise a different training group that he himself was overseeing.

Rui and Katsuki butted heads a few times but tried to keep their personal issues out of the task at hand as best as they could. They divided their group into pairs, setting each of them up with a person they hadn't sparred against before to keep their senses sharp. It was working well, much to everyone's surprise, and by the time lunch rolled around, things were starting to look promising. That is until the same man from the day before- the one who had been flirting with Rui- showed up at the agency. Rui had excused herself from some of her coworkers and greeted him, learning that his name was Itsuki Moriyama.

Katsuki came out into the lobby and saw Rui with Itsuki, his somewhat good mood turning very sour at the sight of them together. He could overhear as he drew nearer to where they stood that Itsuki was inviting Rui to dinner later that evening and he glared at the man as he passed by them, heading out of the agency and out onto the street to grab some lunch from a nearby diner.

Rui wasn't sure why Katsuki seemed so upset seeing Itsuki there, but she accepted Itsuki's offer regardless and agreed to meet him at the restaurant around seven that evening. She sent Itsuki on his way and found that she was more surprised than anything to be asked out to dinner.

For the rest of the day, Rui noticed that Katsuki was noticeably more on edge and grumpy than he was earlier- and more so than she had seen him in a while. He avoided her, then disappeared after their shift was over. It bothered her a bit, but she didn't want it to ruin her evening and tried to push it out of her mind. She hurried home and got cleaned up, changing into a purple dress with three quarter length sleeves and a hem that hung just above her knees with matching heels.

As she reached the street, she chanced a glance up at Katsuki's balcony and sighed. 'I hope this doesn't continue... this is becoming exhausting... hopefully dinner will take my mind off of things, though.'