I'm staring at the ceiling and the birds are chirping outside, I have been staring at the ceiling for almost half an hour. I grab my phone and look at the time, it's 7:40 A.M. and today is Saturday, today is the day Erii and Aiko are going to have a spar in Ren's dojo. I get up and take a shower because I'm going to accompany Erii there in the afternoon and Ryo is going to come as well so he will be coming over today.
I get out of the bathroom and I'm surprised that Ryo is already here playing with Himawari-chan, he looks at me and waves at me.
"Yo!"
I'm still in my boxer with the towel on my head, I approach him and raise my eyebrow.
"I thought you're going to come here later in the afternoon, what's up?"
Ryo is scratching his head and smiling nervously.
"I want to talk with you, can we go to the convenience store?"
I'm drying my hair with the towel while furrowing and staring at him with confusion, then I nod with understanding.
"Yeah sure, let me put my clothes on first."
Ryo nods with understanding, then I go to my room.
We both leave the house and go to the convenience store, Ryo is oddly quiet and I have no idea what's he wants to talk about but this is the first time I see him like this. Ryo keeps his head down and barely lifts his head up, it seems serious but I will wait for him to tell me rather than ask him now. We get into the convenience store and buy a coffee then we sit at the table outside, Ryo immediately grabs his pack of cigarettes and lights his cigarette then he offers a cigarette to me, I grab one and light it up.
"So, what do you want to talk about? You look tired."
Ryo is puffing his smoke and rubbing his forehead.
"I confess my feeling to Erii..."
I'm surprised and puff the smoke while raising my eyebrows.
"Oh, by the look of your condition right now it didn't go well?"
Ryo is giving me a sour smile and nods in agreement.
"Yeah, she rejected my feelings and she said that she doesn't want to be in a relationship with anyone at the moment. She also said that she doesn't want to lose our friendship and she looked so scared when she rejected me and asked me to not leave her alone because of this, she treasures our friendship and she doesn't want to lose another person in her life. I understand her feelings, and I'm glad that she said it that way because that means I still have a chance with her."
I'm humming with understanding.
"Well, you're kind of stupid to express your feeling right now when she's still not in the right place, I know that you're trying to be there for her to comfort her, but why now? You can express your feeling later in a few weeks or at least after the tournament because you were there for her every day."
Ryo is clicking his tongue and scratching his head.
"I know... I should have waited a bit longer, and I regret that I confess to her yesterday."
I'm leaning on the chair while smoking my cigarette.
"She needs you because her feeling is so fragile right now, but that doesn't mean you can take advantage like that, and if Miyazaki-san heard this, you will be scolded by her. I suggest you understand her feeling and help her out, it doesn't matter if she will realize that you're special to her or not, but as long as you provide her with what she needs, she will know. If I know that you like her, I shouldn't have asked her to be my girlfriend, now look at me, I broke her heart into pieces and I couldn't do anything about it."
I look at him and sigh.
"You're my best friend and we both should be happy and sad together, now whenever I see you or Erii is like something heavy is thrown onto my shoulders and I can't approach you both like how I used to do. Now I want you to be happy because that's the only thing I should do right now."
Ryo looks at me and smiles.
"Thanks, dude..."
I look at the time and then look at Ryo.
"Let's go back, Auntie should have made breakfast for us by now."
Ryo nods and we both go back to my house.
We are enjoying our breakfast together Aunt Lisa and Himawari-chan, then we are playing with Himawari-chan until noon while we are waiting for Erii to come back from school since she has to train every day at school until the tournament started. Aunt Lisa is putting Himawari-chan to the bed to nap while Ryo and I are smoking in the backyard talking about random stuff.
It's 2 P.M. and Erii is messaging me that she's ready to go, I reply to her message and tell her to come over first because Ryo wants to take a shower in my house. In less than a minute, Erii enters my house and I let her sit on the sofa in the living room, she looks tired but she seems ready to have a spar with Aiko. After I know the story between her and Ryo I really want to ask her about it, but I guess it's better for me to not interfere with their business.
Ryo is ready to go and so the three of us go to the train station and go to Ren's dojo after we say goodbye to Aunt Lisa.
We go to the dark alley where Ren's dojo is, and these people are here again and it seems like this is their second base, or is it because Aiko is in the dojo so they have to protect her from any danger. Erii and Ryo look at those people and the alley in front of us, they both know who they are and why are they here. We enter the dojo and we see a pair of shoes inside then we can hear someone is hitting a punching bag upstairs, I look at Erii and Ryo.
"Aiko is upstairs, let's go and meet her."
They both nod and we remove our shoes and go upstairs, and we see Aiko is kicking the punching bag very hard, she then looks at us while she's catching her breath. She waves at us then approaches us while wiping her sweat with a towel, and turns out she's not alone, we see Ren and Kuro there as well sitting on the sofa while eating a bar of chocolate.
Aiko without beating the bushes looks at Erii and nods.
"Are you ready?"
Erii nods while removing her jacket.
"Yeah, I'm ready."
Ren is looking at me and he smiles while waving his hand to come. I gently tap Ryo's stomach and nod up at Ren and Kuro, he nods and we both walk toward Ren and Kuro then sit next to them. It's Erii who's going to spar with Aiko but the one who's nervous is Ryo, and he can't sit still while tapping his foot on the floor. Ren and Kuro are looking at him and just chuckling while shaking their heads.
Aiko grabs the head protector and gives it to Erii but Erii shakes her head, Aiko is smiling and keep offering the protector to her.
"I insist because I'm not going to hold back and I don't want you to have a serious head injury."
Erii looks at the head protector and then grabs it and puts it on her head. Aiko smiles and nods.
"Let's go."
Erii without hesitation, dash towards Aiko, and her hands are ready to grab her but Aiko uses a crescent kick with her left foot and puts Erii's hands down then in an instant Aiko uses a front kick and pushes Erii away from her with the same foot. Erii is surprised but then she immediately runs toward her again, and when Aiko is about to lower Erii's hands again, Erii grabs her foot and pulls it toward her but then Aiko jumps using her right foot and uses a flying back kick at Erii on the face. Erii falls to the ground while Aiko is still standing with confidence.
This time, Erii isn't moving and in her defensive stance, Aiko is looking at her and smiling then she runs toward Erii close enough for her to throw a punch, but when Aiko is about to throw a left hook at Erii, Erii is ready to grab Aiko's hand but Aiko pulls her hand while at the same time spin around and kick Erii's in the head with the back of her right foot. Erii falls to the ground again and she looks really pissed and before Aiko can put her foot to the ground, Erii crawls and kicks Aiko's leg then grabs her right hand while pushing Aiko down with her right hand. Aiko is slammed to the ground, and Erii isn't stopping there, she's still holding Aiko's hand then she rolls over on top of Aiko's body while pulling Aiko's right arm and slamming her again to the ground.
Aiko is still dizzy from that, Erii still holding her right arm and she's forcing Aiko to stand up and as soon as Aiko stands up, Erii puts herself on the ground and uses his feet to push and throw Aiko's body behind her. Aiko is weak and Erii puts herself on top of her, she looks at Aiko while trying to remove the head protector.
"I win."