I'm looking at myself in the mirror and wiping my nose while massaging it, Arata is taking a dump in one of the toilet stalls. There's another person in the other toilet stall so I can't start a conversation with Arata and ask him about what just happened, so I'm waiting for the guy to leave the toilet, then the toilet stall is opening and the guy is washing his hand. As soon as the guy leaves the bathroom, I look at the toilet stall.
"Iesada-san."
Arata is flushing the toilet.
"Yeah?"
I lean on the wall and cross my arm.
"Why did you give your wallet and phone to that guy? Why didn't you fight him if you know that your wallet and phone are important to you?"
Arata is chuckling nervously.
"Why? Well, I really have bad luck and this isn't the first time something like this happened to me, you know? The first time when someone robbed me, I was so scared and I gave my wallet to the guy, but after that, I promised myself if something like that happens to me again, I would try to resist and fight. When the second time someone robbed me, I tried to resist and I just realized that I was just a coward and useless man who never throw a punch at anyone, so in the end, I didn't just get robbed but also beaten to a pulp. I know at that moment it was pointless for me to resist and just give whatever they want to avoid a bigger problem."
Arata flushes the toilet and then he opens the toilet stall door. I look at him and he's wiping his hand with a tissue.
"I'm a coward and I'm not denying that at all. I'm ashamed of myself, but what can I do?"
I look at him and scoff.
"So you will keep doing the same thing if something like that happens to you again?"
Arata is laughing nervously and nodding.
"Yeah."
I'm furrowing my forehead and staring at him.
"What's so funny about it?"
Arata goes quiet and looks at him nervously.
"Well, it's funny because I'm a coward."
I raise my eyebrow.
"It doesn't even make any sense. So you're telling me if someone took Tamamiya-san from you, you're just going to laugh it off like this? It's pathetic, you know?"
Arata shakes his head.
"No, I'm going to protect her no matter what happens. She's someone special and important to me, I won't let anyone get close to get. I don't even want to think about it."
I tilt my head while keep crossing my arms.
"Oh, really? What if I told you that the reason I helped you out isn't because of you but because I see Tamamiya-san is a woman of my type and I want to impress her? I can just make a move on her now and take her away from you. Now I know that you're just a coward, what are you going to do?"
Arata is shocked and still processing what he just heard.
"Th-then I'm going to tell her the truth behind the reason why you helped me!"
I scoff and shake my head.
"You're so pathetic, Iesada-san. Do you think she's going to believe you? After I took a punch on my face just to give you back your phone and wallet? If that's your only way to prevent me from taking Tamamiya-san from you, then you should get ready to say goodbye to her."
I'm walking toward the door and then I can hear his footsteps following me from behind. I turn my head and look at him from the corner of my eyes, he immediately stops moving.
"What? Do you want to fight? If you can't even protect the belongings that are important to you, you won't be able to protect someone else. You're pathetic and a coward, Iesada-san, as you said earlier, just laugh it off."
Arata is gritting his teeth and clenches his fists.
"NO! STAY AWAY FROM HER!"
I lock the door and turn around. Arata is backing away and I can tell that he's scared shitless by the expression he's making right now. I walk toward her and he keeps backing away, and as soon as I taunt him by moving my body toward him, he falls to the ground and crawls back. I sigh and shake my head then turn around while unlocking the door, but then he runs toward me. I know he's about to throw a punch at me so I immediately turn around and hook his gut before his hand can even reach my face. He falls to the ground and starts sobbing while coughing from the pain.
"Please... don't take her away from me..."
I look at him and kind of feel bad because I just punch an innocent guy.
"Then what do you want to do? Are you going to keep crying like this? Do you think begging someone while crying will solve the problem? You do know that the problem is you, so either you be ready to lose someone that's precious to you or try to protect them with all you got. There's no other option."
Arata lifts his head and looks at me.
"I'm not you, Norl-san. I'm not strong like you, so this is the only thing I can do right now."
I raise my eyebrow and look at him with disbelief.
"Bullshit! That's just an excuse! Do you think I'm strong? No, you're just weak, you gave up even before you tried. Forget it, you're hopeless."
Arata grabs my leg and he looks at me.
"Please! Make me stronger! I will do anything to protect Kureha! I will change!"
Jackpot, now I have a reason to get to know him better. I guess this is enough and I really feel bad for him and playing with his feeling and emotion.
I sigh and squat down in front of him.
"Are you really want to change? Because I'm not going to give you a second chance no matter how many times you beg on your knees."
Arata is nodding repeatedly.
"Yes! I swear that I will change!"
I smile and nod.
"Okay, then let's meet up tomorrow after you're done with your class. Give me your contact and I will send you the address of the gym. I will train you and I'm not saying that I will make you stronger, but at least you will be able to throw a punch properly, the rest is up to you and you have to improve your mental state."
Arata is nodding with understanding.
"Yes, I will try my best."
I nod and I offer my hand then he immediately grabs it and I help him get up. We leave the bathroom and go back to our table, Kureha is looking at both of us with confusion while Ren is looking and scoffing at me. Kureha then looks at Arata while raising her eyebrows.
"What took you so long in there?"
Arata is scratching his head while keeps rubbing his stomach where I punch him.
"I think I'm a bit stressed out from what just happened, and I took quite a huge dump in there while Norl-san is accompanying me in there and comforting me a bit. I feel bad for Norl-san because it smells so bad."
Kureha is showing her disgusted face.
"Okay, you don't have to tell me the details you know that? It's gross..."
Ren and I are chuckling at them both.
We are enjoying our drinks but when I tell them that we are just high schoolers, they both are surprised and thought that we were college students from a different major. Arata is speechless and he just realized that he just got helped by a high schooler and got punched by a high schooler, I look at him and raise my eyebrow but he shakes his head and doesn't want to make a comment about that.
We have spent an hour in the cafe talking about random things, but then Kureha looks at the time and she has another plan with her friends to do some project so we decide to leave the cafe, and before Arata and Kureha leave, he says to Kureha that he will be busy tomorrow and he tells her that he wants to learn to fight because he doesn't want the same thing to happen again to him, Kureha is surprised and somehow looks so happy for him, she's supporting him and tells him to try his best, then they both leave after they say goodbye to us.
Ren is looking at me while smiling.
"Nice, I thought you're going to fail because I already prepared for a backup plan."
I'm humming arrogantly.
"Do you think I can't handle something that easy? You're underestimating me, Ren, and you know that already because I beat you up because of that."
Ren scoffs and nods in agreement.
"So, do you think you can handle him on your own?"
I look at Arata and Kureha walk away while laughing at each other, then I nod and look at Ren.
"Yeah, leave him to me."