Waking up to the light of the sun shining on his face, Grim yawned loudly before forcing his way out of bed.
"Aaagh..." He yawned before putting some shorts on and walking down stairs bare-chested.
"Morning." He nodded after seeing Yami sitting on the sofa reading a news paper. After yesterday's party, Noelle and the others had started looking for various ways in which they could lift Asta's curse. Grim on the other hand focused solely on practicing his mana control as he could himself getting better with each passing day. While he wanted to help with Asta's situation, he felt like he was so close to achieving his goal and that any distractions could ruin it.
Sighing to himself, he made a quick breakfast before eventually making his way to the dining room and sitting down.
Compared to yesterday, he felt like his body had adapted quite nicely to the physical enhancements of [Breath of the Beast]. He could probably even do his normal amount of push ups without breaking a sweat. Chuckling to himself, he enjoyed his breakfast while thinking back on his time with the Black Bulls.
Reminiscing on the past, he remembered the time that a bunch of Diamond Kingdom assassin's accidentally attacked the Black Bulls base in search of some guy called Fanzell Kruger. Since this event took place shortly after Grim had learnt [Unknowing Fire] from the whole dungeon excavation mission, he was busy training himself far away from the base at that specific point in time. According to Noelle, this Fanzell Kruger was the guy who taught Asta how to use his sword and happened defect from the Diamond Kingdom with his fiancee. Thinking about it now, it was actually quite a shame that he was training far away from the base as he could have used those assassins to practice his new spell on. That being said, he didn't regret it. If not for him training by himself, it probably would have taken longer for him to get a proper feel of the spell.
Sighing to himself, he thought back on the information Finral gave him yesterday after the party. Apparently after he passed out in the cave, that Licht guy and the Third Eye members fought the captains while also trying to take Asta's grimoire away from him. But what really concerned Grim was the fact that they said that Asta's grimoire didn't belong to him and that they called his sword Demon Slayer.
Consider what his magic was, he felt that it was pretty weird that the sword had the same name.
Just as he was about to continue eating, he felt Finral's mana signature pop up from outside.
"Hmm?"
---
"Did you get everyone to their destinations?" Noelle asked once she saw Finral exit one of his portals.
"Of course!" He said smugly. "Got Luck and Magna to that weird sand dungeon outside the kingdom, sent Charmy and Gray to some strange forest and transported Gauche and Gordon to the library so they could read up on ancient curses."
"Good, everyone's where they need to be."
"But what about Grim and Vanessa? Neither of them have come to me for transport. And why are we being so secretive about this? Wouldn't it be better to tell Asta?"
"No." She shook her head. "If Asta knew what we were doing he'd just worry about us and tell us that he was fine. As for Grim and Vanessa... I know that Grim said that he was staying here because he had something to do, but I think that's just an excuse to not leave Asta here by himself."
"You think Grim would do that?" Finral asked with doubt.
"Yeah, he might not show it, but he really cares about his friends." Remembering back to that time that Grim ruthlessly defeated Mars after she was injured, Noelle felt his heart flutter.
"You okay?"
"What?!" Snapping out of it, Noelle looked at him with confusion.
"Your face is red, are you feeling sick or something? Do you want me to take you to a doctor?"
"I-I'm fine! Its just a bit hot out here!"
"You sure? Because it looks like-
"Focus!"
"Eh?"
"Ahem." Clearing her throat, she continued. "As for Vanessa, no one's seen her all day."
---
'Oh? Now I can feel Asta's ki nearby.'
Continuing to eat his breakfast while simultaneously practicing mana control, Grim was surprised to see Asta come and sit in front of him.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"...."
Seeing that neither one of them was gonna say anything, Grim took it upon himself to start the conversation.
"Do you want some breakfast?"
"No thanks... I just wanted to say that I'm happy to have you as my friend."
"...Right..."
'Weird.'
"..."
"..."
'Fuck! Now he's just staring at me.'
"Hey Grim."
'Thank God he said something! That silence was way to awkward.'
"Hmm?" He raised his head.
"You've changed."
"What?"
"Ever since the cave fight... you've been different."
"I have?"
'That's news to me.'
"Yeah." He nodded. "You seem more like Yuno."
'Yuno?'
"You mean I'm calmer."
"Yeah! That's it."
"Hmm?"
'I can't deny that. After entering the transparent world and almost frying my brain, I do seem to be a bit different.'
"Is that bad?" He asked.
"Nope, just thought I should tell you."
"Thanks?"
"Hehe, no problem." He grinned before continuing. "Wanna work out?"
"Work out? You do know both your arms are broken right?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Of course! That's why we'll make it a legs only workout! If I push myself hard enough I'm sure I'll not only be able to fight better than before, but I'll also grow a bit as well!"
"You mean leg day?"
"Leg day? That's such a cool name! Did you come up with it?"
"...Sure."
"Cool! Lets go!"
Getting up, Asta raced through the door and signaled for Grim to follow.
*Sigh* 'At least I can still practice while exercising.'
Smiling to himself, Grim got up and followed Asta to the courtyard.
Weird week, I wanna write more but Ghost of Tsushima is pulling at me. Honestly tempted to go on a short hiatus so I can play, but I know that you guys are looking forward to these chapters (especially this arc) and I don't really want to disappoint.