Leo can now be seen washing up and getting dressed. He had agreed to meet with two friends in a park today. Luckily today his mom wanted to go on a shopping spree again. He would rather want his father to suffer alone as opposed to share the pain.
Before his mom could drag him with them, he quickly got on his bike and took off.
After 10 long minutes conquering a mountain, he arrived at the park. He could already see a girl, Sarah, swinging on the… well the swing and a boy, Jack, sitting in one of those spinning bowls.
Jack was the first to notice Leo.
"Finally!" He shouted as he jumped out of the bowl. This got Sarah's attention as she quickly jumped off the swing. She quickly hid her smile as she approached Leo with Jack.
"What took you so long? We will miss it if we don't hurry!" She said a bit annoyed. She was a bit haughty, but from her class she seemed most comfortable with those two boys.
"Relax. Didn't you say we got until 12 o'clock? It is just 11.45…"
"Yeah, and I said that we will need half an hour to get there!" She retorted while she aggressively poked Leo's cheek.
"Yeah, right. That's just because you are always planning with a 100% buffer. Come on let's go." Leo swatted her hand away and waited for them to get on their bikes. Sarah glared at him for a second before going to a fence to unlock her bike.
Jack just stared at the two confused before shrugging. He had just tossed his bike on the ground, so he just needed to pick it up before he was ready to go.
The three took off together after Sarah was ready.
"Wait, why are you in the front? You don't know the way!" After she said that, she quickly overtook Leo.
"Geez. What's her deal?" Leo whispered to Jack as he slowed down a bit.
"Hahaha. She is super mad because you are late. She was complaining the whole time that you are late to our date."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Our date?"
"Hahahaha. Yeah, she also told me to be a third wheel or something. I don't know but it sounds funny. Imagine being a human robot and turning into a wheel. Hahaha."
"I don't think that's what she meant, and your human robot thing is not funny, that's actually a horrifying thought."
"Psshh. You don't have any humor! Why were you late, anyway?"
"I sparred with my dad and I won!" Leo said as he puffed his chest.
"No way! Is your dad super weak or something?"
"What?! No, he is super strong, but I am just too powerful for any mortal to handle!" Leo retorted.
"Hmph. Knowing you, you probably cheated or ran away or both." Sarah said over her shoulder.
"Eh, nooo. I won fair and square. Also, I don't run away I am a man who stands his ground even when faced with death." He answered with fake bravado.
"Yeah, right. First, how about you stop running from me and take responsibility!" She glared at Leo as if daring him to say otherwise.
"Dafuq you talking about? What responsibility?? Are you still on about me headbutting you? I already apologized!"
"No. When you helped me up and… Hmph. You should know what you did wrong!"
"Hahahaha. I feel uncomfortable." Jack interjected but was completely ignored by the two.
"Are you…? No way, are you talking about me holding your hands when I took you to the nurse?"
"Yh- Yeah, so what? Everyone saw us and I am no woman who holds hands with just everyone!"
'This bitch crazy!' Leo thought speechlessly.
"Girl, you are no woman at all!" Leo shouted as they turned around a corner. "You!" Before she could continue Sarah saw something from the corner of her eye. "We will continue this later. We are here."
"Thank god. Finally!" Jack sighed out in relief.
What the three saw was a grandiose palace of the gods called an abandoned skyscraper.
"Are you sure that's it? It looks like an addict might come out of a dark corner." Leo looked at the ruined structure and graffiti with skepticism.
"Of course, I am sure! And what about addicts? Are you scared? Just give them some candy and they will leave." Sarah told him with a smug face and chin up.
"That... You know when I call you a candy addict, it is something completely different then a drug addict sleeping in an abandoned house searching for the next high, right?"
"D-drugs?? You mean like al-alcohol? Mommy told me drugs are bad and only for adults! She said it is worse than bed wrestling!" Sarah was shocked. 'Maybe it really wasn't a good idea to come here. No, I can't back out now. He will tease me for weeks!' She thought as she looked at Leo's face.
He seemed to say something, but she somehow couldn't hear him.
"-ey. Seriously. Why are you staring at me??" Leo said while taking a step away.
"I-. There is no addict here. My father said his team did a super quick sweep already! He is responsible for the security after all!" Sarah seemed to be proud.
"Okay. What are we waiting for then? Let's go in." Leo asked while looking at the skyscraper, searching for any sign of activity.
"No! We can't just walk in. My dad would scold me if he knew I was here!"
"Wait. Your dad doesn't kno- *sigh* Never mind I don't care. If we die it's your fault. So, how are we getting ins-. Wait, is that Jack?" Leo pointed at Jack who is waving at them with one hand from the corner of the building while his other hand was close to his chest. He had a stupid wide smile on his face as if he found something cool.
"That idiot! Let's just tell him to shut it before he can attract more attention." Sarah said before running straight towards Jack crossing the wide-open street.
"Wha- I thought we needed to be stealthy…" Leo mumbled. 'What is Sarah's dad doing here anyway? I thought he worked for a big business. Well at least big for a city like ours. Maybe they want to buy the building?' He thought while catching up to her.
"Hahahaha. Guys, look what I have found." Jack said while holding out his closed hand before being smacked over the head by Sarah.
"Be quiet, will you?! Nobody can know we are here!" Sarah angrily whispered as she glared Jack down. That glare of her only lasted for a whole 3 seconds.
"Urgh. What is it now, what did you find?" She said defeatedly as Jack seemed to be saddened.
Like a switch, Jack was happy again and opened his hand to show them a frog that jumped right at Sarah's face.
"EWWW-" She shouted and flicked the frog away before being smacked by Leo. "Didn't you say to be quite?"
She didn't retort as she held the top of her head in pain while she glared at Leo with tears in her eyes. "You can't hit girls!" She squeezed out after some time.
"I am a believer of gender equality. Now let's get in."
"But how do we get in? We can't go through the front door." Sarah asked rubbing her head, while Jack was trying to catch the frog.
Leo didn't answer as he rolled a garbage bin a bit further down the side of the building. He climbed it before jumping and grasping a metal bar, which belonged to a rather rusty ladder from the fire stairs.
"Sarah, in what story was this event that we must see? And Jack stop chasing that frog and come with us." Leo asked nonchalantly as he started climbing up. He released the ladder so the other two could follow.
"Don't worry. I got Fred! Hahaha look at him with his head poking out of my pocket." Jack stroked the frog's head, who was now watching the world from Jack's breast pocket.
After climbing the stairs to the third floor. They went through a window and heard some people talking agitated. They quietly snuck through the floor and towards the voices. At one point they could see a bunch of people in suits standing in a big circle.
Before they could be discovered Sarah dragged them into a room with a half crumbling wall where they could watch the adults.
There were even two chairs. "Have you been here before?" Leo asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. It's nothing, really." She said that but she seemed awfully proud.
"Alone?"
"No, I blackmailed our maid. I saw her steal some jewelry from mom." Sarah already sat down while pointing towards the other chair.
"Eh. Is that okay? Shouldn't you tell your parents?" She waved his concern away.
"I already told mom, otherwise I wouldn't be able to come here. Mom is now with the police arresting her. Since she didn't have time, I was able to convince her to let me meet up with you."
"T-that's really cunning. Are you sure you are 7?" She just looked at him as if he were dumb. "It was your plan, don't you remember?"
"Wait, what? Oooh. That- I thought that was a hypothetical!?"
"A what now?"
"Eh… Never mind. You did give me awfully lot information, should have known that you wouldn't be able to come up with that on your own." Leo said nodding as he sat on the only other chair.
"Guys? Hey guys?" Jack said as he rapidly tapped Leo on the shoulder.
"What is it? Is someone coming?" Leo asked slightly panicked.
"Do you have some worms? I think Fred is hungry." Jack said as he pointed at the frog who was hiding in the pocket making himself as small as possible.
"I think he is sleeping?" Leo said unsure. "Just sit down and watch this… something. You won't get any worms here anyway. We will get some later."
"Oh okay." Jack was worried about his new little frog friend. The frog will survive a short amount of time without eating, Jack thought. He sat down on the ground and occasionally checked up on his frog friend.
"What is this event, anyways?" Leo finally asked her.
"It's something you will like I promise. Ohohohohoh." Sarah laughed with one hand hiding her mouth.
"Please never make that laugh ever again. You remind me of a cool villain, well he isn't as cool as his brother but meh."
"What are you talking abo- Oh it starts."
Leo quieted down and tried to see what this was all about. Two men walk in from the sides into the middle of the formed circle.
They were dressed differently than the rest. They wore something akin to a boxing robe. They took them off and one of them gave their robe to Sarah's dad. Leo only recognized him because he sometimes picks her up from school.
By now Leo already knew what was about to happen, how could he not? Frankly, he should have guessed it earlier. The atmosphere was a telltale sign, but the people as well. Although they seemed to be rich folks, they were all so familiarly agitated.
This was an underground fight and since they were businessmen, they probably fought for assets. Leo had seen this scenario in an anime before and he even encountered something similar himself when he was testing himself in a local underground fight club.
Sarah looked at Leo with a smirk on her face. 'I knew this was your thing. Hmph all you talk about is fighting and training, nowadays!'
Soon the referee gave the start signal, but the two fighters seemed to be content in probing their opponent first. The tension was high, and Leo unconsciously approached the holes in the wall.
'Tch. Stop moving around your fat ass I can't see! Can't an uninvited man watch an illegal fight in peace?!'
The fight was already heating up as they engaged with each other. Their movement seemed to become blurry. Their punches were powerful and lightning fast. Their every attack seemed like they were shot from canons, fast and powerful. Their hands were cutting their enemy like sharp knives.
'This- This is. Isn't this a bit much?!' As if to answer his thoughts one of the fighters kicked a chunk out of a cement pillar.