I’d love to see a giant!Shuichi with Kaito and Maki. Perhaps a modified training time?
Absolutely! This is one of the top 3 asks that's been in the inbox and I'm a little sad it took so long to deliver, hope you all enjoy either way!
Summary: Kaito drags Maki far from school for training. She already isn't fond of training itself, but she likes it even less so when a dangerous individual joins them tonight.
It hadn't crossed Maki's thoughts that as a space enthusiast, Kaito would know the best spots for stargazing. But as he lead her through the dark depths of the woods, she thought it was the only reasonable explanation.
"We're almost there, just a little longer," the boy tugged her hand and walked ahead, leading the way as if she could somehow get lost on her own. She didn't retreat her hand, though.
Soon enough, they reached what Maki guessed was a clearing, exceptionally clear of trees too; a stark contrast to the thick woods they'd walked through with its closely-knit trees. Kaito cupped his hands and called out in the air, "Hey, Shuichi! Look who I brought."
She followed his eyes up towards the sky. Her mind blanked when she didn't see the starry sky but rather two moons- no; a pair of eyes peering down at her. The longer she stared, the clearer the shape of a head followed the eyes, likely taller than her whole, and the more she felt the nerves in her brain tangle up.
"Kaito!" She breathed out, in unison with whatever monstrosity hid in the shadows. The voice made her step back despite her best effort not to.
"Relax you t- Whoa whoa whoa whoa, hey! What's this?" Kaito pointed an accusatory finger at her. She followed his glare and found a knife in her fist she hadn't realized she'd grabbed. She wouldn't drop it, though.
"Kaito, you didn't tell me we would- you didn't tell me about this." She pointed with her knife at the giant- human- thing that stood a good thirty meters above her head. "Of course I'll bring something to defend myself if you bring me into your death traps all the times." She grabbed his arm and dragged him back on their track.
"Hold on, he's an okay guy, trust me! We train together every night and I thought you two could become good friends so that's why-" a sharp yank made him stumble forward and silenced him. She hurried on before she could feel any tremors following them.
"An okay guy? Do you hear yourself? That's what I mean by deathtraps, you can't make the entire world into your own big friend group." She replayed his words in her mind and sucked in a sharp breath. "How long have you been coming here? You're not meeting that- whatever again."
Maki felt a hand fall on her shoulder to make her halt, or at least attempt to. She only stopped to glance back at taller (but at least human) boy, still more focused on their surroundings.
"Why can't you trust me? Shuichi is a good guy and my friend. You could try to see for yourself, but if you won't then you can leave and I won't stop you." Before she could reply, he slipped from her grip and walked back.
The crazy moron. He surely didn't have anything to defend himself besides his fists and speeches. If anything happened to him she would be left alone to deal with the aftermath. Knowing him, no amount of force or reasoning would change his mind. Maki felt like tearing her hair off, but instead, she followed after him and made sure to smack the back of his head when she caught up.
"You'll regret this," she kept a firm grip on the knife under her skirt. Kaito only gave her a bright grin and didn't reply.
Once back to square one, it took a moment for the impossibly large face to appear above them again, half-hidden behind thick leaves.
"Kaito, this is a bad idea, you should let her leave." Maki watched the boy move and talk. Nothing looked odd about his face or behaviour, nor his speech. How strange it felt to look at someone so normal-looking, only scaled up to tower over her.
"How is this bad? He invited me to train, so I'll stay." Time crawled by before the being stepped out and sat across from her. Somehow assigning a body to the head made it less freakish, if only a bit.
He lifted his hand, and rather than grabbing her he only gave a feeble wave. "Besides Kaito I never got anyone to stay long enough to converse. Humans usually run away when they see me, so I don't know what to say... But hi, I don't bite." Kaito moved beside the giant... and gave him a pat on the knee.
"Well, this didn't go so bad, now did it?" Two glares settled heavy on the boy, and he audibly gulped. "R-Right. Anyway, it's fifty push-ups and sit-ups for today, and no slacking off." Kaito took his coat off and got to work right then. The girl looked up at the giant boy and he stared back; both looked at Kaito, blatantly ignorant or blissfully unaware of his absurdity. They followed his suit.
Maki finished the 'training' in a breeze. "I'm done," she didn't wait for a reply before stepping back to lean on a tree and watch over the duo. Kaito lay on his back without a care for push-ups, but Maki was more interested in the giant moving in what seemed like awkward warm-ups.
Even his smallest movement sent tremors under her threatened to make her lose balance. More than once did his feet get stuck between two trees, bending them and breaking twigs in dozens with only a twitch of his limb. Anytime he caught her peeking, his face would flush and he would look away, as would she. Kaito was as crazy as she'd judged seeing how close he stayed to 'Shuichi', who at least did try to keep his distance. What stupidy did he have stored in his brain, if he could stand to be so close to a guy so tall a flick of his fingers could snap his spine?
"I'm really glad you two met. Training with two people separately every night was starting to wear me out... Forget I said that." Kaito held his hand up to the sky and formed different angles with his fingers. Maki wondered which constellations he was looking at; she also wondered how training could tire him out when he always ended up stargazing halfway through.
The- Shuichi (the name left a strange aftertaste in her throat) abandoned training as well in favour of laying down on his stomach and laying his head down in crossed arms much too close to Kaito, who didn't acknowledge him. She had to wonder just how long the two had known each other; Kaito could make a week-long friendship feel like a lifelong one.
"Maki, right?" The voice startled her enough to flinch. She re-tightened her grip on her knife and looked at the giant boy, acknowledging him with a short nod. "Kaito's told me a bit about you.'
"He did? What did he say?" The idea of her conversations being laid bare to a stranger made her hair stand on its ends. She took a couple steps closer to the two boys.
"Nothing too interesting, the usual 'I'll befriend her whether she likes it or not' that he says about everyone. I only remember your name since he kept bringing it up." Large hazel eyes drifted to Kaito's resting form, pensive. "There was something you kept saying, too. What was it...?"
"Hey, not cool!" Kaito's eyes shot open, "You can't reveal the private stuff-" His face bumped into the giant's nose, silencing him.
"I remember now!" His hand came towards Kaito. Whatever he was about to say or do, Maki would never know, as she charged for his hand and ran her knife through its palm.
"Maki!" An arm reached around her waist and pulled her away. She turned around and found something almost hurt in the boy's expression that made her mind stop for a second, before looking him up and down and reminding herself she was responsible for his safety.
"No, it's fine. Being around me takes some getting used to." She glanced back at Shuichi, who kept his hand on the ground, as if hiding his scar in embarrassment. She would have liked to at least see her work. "Do me a favour, though, and don't ever aim for my eyes or something, 'cause that would end badly," He got up and stepped back away from them, but she swore there was a threatening hint in his tone.
Silence stretched on as the two underwent a stare-down, with Kaito stuck in-between and stuttering to sort the situation out. "Ah- look, it's getting late. We should get going. See ya, Shuichi."
"Right. Good night, Kaito," And when she turned around to leave, certain he would ignore her (and glad if he did), "I'll look forward to seeing you again, Maki."
She didn't reply and kept going forward. Kaito soon caught up to her. "I didn't know you were the scaredy type. Anyway, this didn't go as bad as I thought... if only you could put that knife away. Wh-Where'd you even get that? Anyway, you're coming tomorrow?"
A frown tugged at her lips, and she was quick to pull it back. She still had to come to make sure Shuichi wouldn't try anything. "We'll see."
