The bell is ringing, school has finally ended. Erii stands up and immediately approaches me and Ryo looks at both of us then he approaches us as well, Erii is waiting for the promise I made to her to go out with her after school, Ryo is coming as well because it's been a while for the three of us hanging out together. We leave the school gate and are on our way to grab some takoyaki and ice cream.
Ryo is licking the ice cream and he's immediately disgusted with the taste.
"Ugh... what's this flavor? How can people enjoy this kind of flavor? I thought it's viral because of how good the taste of the ice cream is, but it's just because of the looks of it. Erii, want to switch with mine?"
Erii is furrowing her forehead and shaking her head.
"No, I don't like that because I already tried it when it went viral a few days ago. It's your fault that you didn't ask for my opinion about that first."
Ryo looks at me and I immediately shake my head.
"No, I don't want to switch with that. I like my dark chocolate ice cream."
Ryo takes a deep breath and munch the ice cream and devours all of it in one bite. He's screaming in agony because he's having a brain freeze while he's squatting and holding his head. Erii and I are just snorting at him, Erii is rubbing his head because of pettiness. Ryo sighs and walks away to order different ice cream and this time he chooses his favorite ice cream while he's complaining about how the ice cream tastes so bad.
Erii looks at me while licking her ice cream.
"You said that you're going to the gym later, are you going to do something?"
I look at her while putting my ice cream in front of my mouth.
"No, someone needs my help to get stronger that's all. I'm going to train him and I think I'm going to be busy for the next few days."
Erii is humming with understanding while biting the ice cream cone.
"Oh, by the way, I have good news for you."
I raise my eyebrows.
"Oh? What's it?"
Erii is smiling and raises her eyebrows.
"I have been chosen to represent our school in the judo tournament next month, so I'm also going to be busy training after school every day from tomorrow."
I look at her and smile happily.
"Wow?! Really?! Is it time already? Now that you mentioned it, I remember that you were dominating in the tournament last year. I believe you would dominate the tournament this year as well and I will be watching you in the front seat."
Erii nods with a big smile on her face.
"Yeah, oh and Ryo will be helping me out with my training."
I look at Ryo and chuckle.
"Poor Ryo, he's going to be a punching bag."
Erii is chuckling and nodding in agreement. Ryo comes back and looks at both of us with curiosity.
"What are you talking about?"
I look at him and give him a thumbs up.
"Good luck on being a punching bag."
Ryo is confused at first but then he's aahing with understanding.
"Oh, you're talking about Erii's training. Yeah, at least that's what I can do to help her."
We are talking about her preparation for the tournament, and then my phone is vibrating, I look at my phone and I'm surprised when I read Arata's message that he's already at the gym. I jolt from my seat and look at them both, I tell them that I have to go to the gym now and they both are nodding with understanding, then I immediately run to the gym that's 15 minutes away from where I'm at.
I'm catching my breath and my hands are on my knees, I look at the gym and I don't see him outside so I run into the gym, Togawa-san is sitting at his table while enjoying his hot tea. He looks at me and raises his eyebrows.
"Aze-kun?"
I look at him and nod.
"Togawa-san, do you see a college student this tall with dark brown hair coming in here?"
Togawa-san is scratching his forehead while thinking so hard, and then he lifts his index finger.
"Oh! That guy! He's upstairs right now and I think he's trying to spar with Sando right now. Why? Is he your friend?"
I'm surprised when I heard that Arata is sparring with Sando because he's either going to get knocked out with bruises on his whole body or worse.
"He's sparring with Sando?! Are you kidding me?! He's the weakest person that I have ever met! He can't even throw a punch!"
Togawa-san jolts from his seat.
"Shit! Are you serious?! I thought he knows how to fight! Let's hurry and save him before it's too late!"
We both run to the stairs and go to the second floor, and as soon as we see the ring, we see Arata is on the ground with bruises on his face while Sando and his friends are mocking and laughing at him. Arata can't even move a muscle and he's laying on the ground helplessly, Togawa-san is pointing his finger at Sando and immediately scolding him because he's not going easy on him even though Sando knows that Arata doesn't know how to fight.
I immediately enter the ring and drag Arata out from the ring while checking his condition. He's breathing heavily and his pupils are almost are moving rapidly, I immediately grab a bottle of water that I see around me and help him drink the water. He got beaten so badly, and I can tell that Sando isn't holding back at all and throws his punches at him like a maniac.
Sando is scoffing.
"It's not my fault though, he asked for a spar and of course I accepted his request. He asked for it in the first place, so no matter what happens, it's his fault."
I'm sick of his attitude and I guess it's time for me to give him a lesson. I stand up and turn around, I'm staring at him and raise my eyebrows.
"Are you satisfied with the spar?"
Sando looks at me and smirks.
"Satisfied? That guy is just a punching bag, how can I be satisfied with something that can't even throw a punch properly?"
I'm humming and immediately remove my uniform.
"Then how about pick someone on your level?"
Sando raises his eyebrow.
"You? You're on my level? Sure."
Sando is snorting mockingly but Togawa-san is looking at me so seriously. I know the meaning behind that expression of his, he's allowing me to go on all out on Sando. I remove the gloves from Arata's hands and Togawa-san is helping me to put them on after I put the hand wrappers on my hands. Arata is slowly can move his body and he's leaning on the wall while staring at me.
I enter the ring and Togawa-san is going to be the referee even though he's not planning on stopping me from beating Sando's ass. I look at Sando's gloves and something feels off about them, but before I jump to a conclusion, I must check it out first. Togawa-san is standing in the middle and we both approach him and we both are staring each other in the eye. Togawa-san raises his hand and then puts it down.
"Fight!"
Sando throws a jab and I dodge it easily, then he throws a right hook at me but I duck my head and he misses both of his punches. I'm faking my movement and faking my left hook, and he immediately moves his head to the left but then I immediately throw a straight punch on his face, he barely dodges it and he almost loses his footing so he moves back and tries to make distance with me. I'm not going to give him space and so I dash forward and try to put him into the corner, he's not as good as I thought because it's easy for me to get into his head.
Sando throws a left hook and I'm ready to block his punch with both of my hands, and as soon as his hook hits my hands I immediately know what's inside his gloves because his hook stings so bad. Instead of backing away, I keep moving forward and throw low and high hooks at him, he keeps trying to make space but I keep pressing him forward. As long as I show my confidence, he will lose his in a matter of seconds. I throw a straight punch at him, but he dodges it but I'm already throwing a left uppercut and my hand hits his face right on the jaw, he's stunned but I'm not going to be easy on him and bombarding him with punches while he's trying to keep moving back until he's stuck in the corner. I throw him so many punches from his ribs, jaw, nose, and chin, and when he's about to collapse, I grab his body and push him to the corner again.
"No, you don't."
I punch him over and over until he's slowly sliding down while I keep throwing punches at him. I know my limit so I don't go all out because I don't want to kill somebody in a ring, I'm just touching him with the gloves that hard enough to make him feel a bit of pain. Togawa-san is just looking at Sando getting beaten up by me while his friends are yelling at Togawa-san to stop the spar, but he's ignoring them and letting me give Sando a lesson, and when I'm satisfied, I stop punching him and immediately remove my gloves, then I remove Sando's gloves and I can see brass knuckles on his both hands, I forcefully grab those from his hands and throw them to Togawa-san. Togawa-san is shaking his head and he's going to kick Sando out of the gym and forbid him from entering the gym from now on since Sando just broke the rules.
I walk past Togawa-san while shaking my head.
"You can do the rest, old man."