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It's not my fic with the highest amount of hits, or even kudos or bookmarks. It's not my most popular fic on AO3, but since we started publishing it I got so attached to it.

It started out as an hyper fixation (like most of my fics) but for once I was able to hold on to it and now it reached one year of consistent updates, 100k words long.... Those are big milestones.

Sure, it's gonna take years for it to be finished, we have so much planned for Chrono Stone and galaxy in the Gok! universe (sorry Tenma) so celebrating the one years is a bit silly but it's such a sweet moment.

Idk how to say it lol for the one that has wrote the fic I'm suddenly at a lack of words.

Another great thing about Gok (and my other fics lol but mainly Gok and Tam) is that it's the thing that really brought me and Giuliko closer. We met through Accidental Reverse but it's Gok that really had us becoming such close friends (I'd go even as far as saying best friends but that's kinda cringe lol). While before we had months on end where we didn't talk now we simply share news about our lives completely unprompted. Mainly Giuliko sending pictures of her kitten and me sending pictures of my university project and random audios where I talk for minutes and minutes about crazy ideas while I'm cooking 10 feet away from my phone with a lot of background noise. I know u love my audios.

I did some digging and I found these. The chats from when I first published Gok last year (apparently it was posted at 20:12 so I will publish tomorrow's special at 20:12, Rome, sorry y'all will have to wait a bit, no snippet this once)

(^ this last screen is me waiting for any kind of interaction in Gok because I was so not patient)

It's been so much fun writing Gok this past year and seeing everyone's comments and thoughts and ideas. I'm really glad to have found people who have hyper fixated on this as much as me (can't forget to thank @calice-says from whom all of this is inspired from, the original ass class x Ina 11 go writer)

^ these were our texts after we received our first comments lol look at how excited we were (we still are this excited after every single comment lolol. Just today new comments dropped and we were like :D :3 while talking about them lolol we get easily excited)

ANYWAY LETS CUT THIS SHORT CUZ IT'S GETTING LATE AND LONG (it's currently 1am for me)

Giuliko, my dear, sweat, beta reader (you're actually so much more then simply beta San) all of this without you would've never happened, not even the first chapter. It's thanks to you that Gok and so many of my other fics are what they are today. You hyped me when no one else knew of GOK's existence and you kept me motivated (threatened) to keep writing and writing every month for our new chapter. You helped me when I needed ideas, or materials and you listened whenever I started a new text with "so I was thinking" before starting to bullshit yet another way to hurt our favorite characters (again, so sorry Tenma)

It seems so silly but you've been here through it all and it's such a cute special thing I only share with you so thank you for being here donrocrn (you'll never catch me being this sweet again) and I am so proud of us, you, too for all we achieved.

As I was scrolling to find these texts I added I found a text where you said "I was admitted officially to 5th year!" And now in just a few weeks you'll be holding your finals exam, a whole year has passed and now you're on your way to finish your highschool journey, idk I find it "romantic" (for the lack of a better term) that so much has changed since we first published Gok. Because so much did change!! But damn it feels like gok was published so much longer then just a year ago.

What gok was so far is a journey, a journey that me and Giuliko lived together just as much as we lived it with every single one of our readers. It's safe to say that probably it would've been abandoned months ago and it nor received the support it did, it kept both of us hyped and motivated to do more, create more, live it more and love it more. So a big BIG thank you to all the people who decided to take the time out of their day to read our work and maybe leave a comment, it meant the world for us to see you participate in our journey so far and we truly hope you all will continue to do so as the journey keeps going.

"what are you talking about?" Shindou asked, voice soft as he exchanged a concerned glance with Tsurugi.

Tenna didn't reply immediately but his face morphed into a contorted scowl.

"I mean anyone would've been a better chosen one then me" he said, looking at the flames angrily "you two would've been much better choices then me!" He said, looking up at his two friends for a brief moment before moving his eyes away again in a moment of weakness "I was trained my whole life for this. Ever since I was 5 years old I did nothing but train for this" he whispered while his eyes moved to glance at the stars before he squeezed them harshly "but I fucking suck at it, gods— I can't do anything right! I fail again and again! I got you guys hurt today and I couldn't do anything about it" he continued turning to his friends as angry tears started slipping down his face "I was the reason you guys got hurt! And I was the reason the monster run away! I'm the one that failed this mission"

Shindou and Tsurugi didn't say anything for a long moment as they considered the words and took them in. They had no idea Tenma had such a low self esteem. They had been struggling with their missions for a month or so as the guild had increased their party level, meaning they got to go on harder, stronger, missions. They managed most of the time but since they were still newbies to this rank they struggled a lot. The other adventurers had told them not to take it to heart and that it was normal to need an adjustment period, and since none of them had gotten seriously or critically hurt they had been considered to be adjusting just fine. But apparently Tenma had taken all of it to heart, and it was probably affecting his performance.

"it's illogical to feel guilty" Tsurugi started, slowly, as he sat down next to the brunette "you heard what the senior adventurers said, we're doing well all things considered"

Tenma didn't say anything in reply but Tsurugi frowned when he saw him gritting his teeths.

"you are not a disappointment" Shindou tried instead, not sitting down as he added a few logs to the fires "you're just adjusting to a big change. It's completely normal. We're struggling too, none of what happened today is your fault, just like it isn't any of our faults, we're just adjusting"

"I'm tired of adjusting!" Tenma half screamed as his hands tore some of the grass he had been clutching. "You guys don't get it! I need to adjust faster, move up rank faster, or I won't be able to save anyone" he continued, his words half chocked and heavy. "I need to be stronger than this. It's not enough in order to defeat Fifth Sector"

"we'll get to it in time" Shindou said softly "there's no rush-"

"of course there is rush!" Tenma interrupted him, getting up and pacing around the fire to try and relieve some of his stress "every second we waste on 'adjusting' is a second a kid, an elderly, a mother, someone, suffers because of Fifth Sector. We're wasting time only because we can't proceed unless we're rank SS+"

"we're almost there" Tsurugi told him, looking up at him while tilting his head "we're currently rank S, we just need a promotion to SS and then SS+ and we're done, we'll be able to embark your quest"

"it's been a year" Tenma uttered in defeat "we've started a year ago and we still haven't done anything"

"you're wrong" shindou said, looking sternly at Tenma. "Maybe we haven't fought against Fifth's armies yet, and we haven't faced any of their soldiers and commanders, but we have done a lot of things" he continued, standing in front of his younger friend.

Tenma looked at his senior with wide confused eyes and Shindou let his eyes soften by a fraction.

"remember the elderly couple we helped a couple of days ago? Don't you they they were suffering before we helped them?" Shindou asked softly. That couple had been nice, asked them to bring them some medical herbs in an area that was too dangerous for them to reach. Without those herbs the woman risked dying.

"that's different" Tenma huffed, looking at the ground "anyone could've helped them"

"well and anyone can help the people who suffer because of Fifth" Tsurugi argued, crossing his arms. Sure, the prophecy stated that Tenma was the only one capable of killing Fifth, but that didn't mean anyone else couldn't help.

"you guys don't get it" Tenma whisperer bitterly without looking up at his friends

"maybe we don't. We aren't the chosen ones, we can't understand how that makes you feel" Tsurugi said, voice much softer than the other two had ever heard of him "we don't know what kind of training you went through since you were a child, or what ideals your masters put inside your head" he continued, voice slightly more bitter at the mention of Tenma's past. Shindou and Tsurugi had never liked how the boy was shaped into a soldier, a weapon, ever since he was a little kid "but we are your friends" he finished, his hand groundingly touching his friend's shoulders

"we might not understand everything that goes in in your head, Tenma" Shindou continued, crouching down in front of the younger, taking his hands into his own "but that doesn't mean we don't understand how hard you're trying. Every day, all day, you put in everything you have. If you try any harder you'll explode. It's okay to take it slow sometimes. Late help is better than no help at all"

Tenma stayed silent, his hands tightening around Shindou's as his shoulders relaxed by a fraction. "I guess you're right" he concluded eventually, losing any will he had to fight his friends. He didn't seem entirely convinced, like there were still hints of doubt and pain inside his eyes, but for now Shindou took it as a win.

They'd work on this again tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, until Tenma finally understood that his value wasn't limited to his role as the chosen one.

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^ this is the writing prompt I used, it's from @creativepromptsforwriting (love their dialogue prompts with my whole life)