The feast was really awesome. Some of the stuff that Ryuzio ate was food he hadn't even heard of before. The over-grilled prawns were super crunchy and savory and the horn pepper chutney amplified the taste of the crisp potato slice-folds. Benji even got to enjoy the plum pudding he always wanted to eat. The taste of the pudding was elevated for Ryuzio when he saw the blue-haired boy enjoying the dessert.
The lady who lived on the floor below had gathered up the cutlery after the dinner, Tryst and Benji had helped her in taking care of cleaning the table. She was the same woman who was holding the dumb baby who couldn't even speak, back when she'd welcomed Ryuzio and Benji, when Tryst had brought them to this street for the first time, before tonight's match.
Hitryel didn't speak much even after eating his food, continuing to ignore Ryuzio and every offer he made to the brawler. But he would try again. And again, and again, until Hitryel agreed.
Ryuzio was sitting on a chair the wrong way, looking at Hitryel. The young man had his shirt off, the glistening sweat on his bare body trailing down from his chest to his abs, from all the punches he was continuously throwing at the pear-shaped cushion hanging from the ceiling.
"What're you even doing?" Ryuzio asked, picking his nose with a pinky, pointing at the cushion with a finger of his other hand. "Don't you think it's boring to just hit something that can't even hit you back?"
"It's a punching bag," Hitryel said in between his punches, each impact making a sharp whipping noise. "That's its entire purpose. But I don't expect you to get it."
"So—"
"No."
Ryuzio's sighed. "Lame…"
Hitryel pressed his fists knuckle-first against each other, exhaling as he straightened away from the punching bag. He wiped the sweat off his body with a towel, and then put on his shirt, starting his stride toward the stairs.
"Where're you going?" Ryuzio asked, getting off his chair. "Don't you know you must sleep after eating?"
Hitryel glanced over his shoulder. "Just…don't follow me—"
Ryuzio's lips curved to a sly smirk. "Okay…"
Hitryel sighed, turning forward. He climbed down the stairs, Ryuzio following behind—of course.
"I going for a run, Tryst," Hitryel said as he passed the kitchen. "I'll be back in a minute." He started putting on some shoes.
Ryuzio tilted his head sideways in confusion. "You can only run for a minute? You're not tough at all."
Hitryel climbed to his feet, walking out the front door of the house with urgency in his steps.
Ryuzio smiled, leaping out the door behind the brawler.
###
"Good luck!" Benji said to Hitryel, coming out from the kitchen with a kid on his shoulders, who was wearing his glasses—this was not the little baby, but the kid who'd bit Ryuzio's finger in the park. "He already left—?"
He noticed the door closing. "Ryuzio, stop bothering him! He has a match with the heavyweight champion not a full day from now!"
"You should go stop him, big bro," the kid said, leaning his head in front of Benji's. "Big Bro Hitryel does not like people getting in the way of his training."
Benji took off the glasses the boy wore, resting them on the bridge of his own nose instead, the boy's eyes suddenly becoming clearer to him. "I'll try."
###
Ryuzio ran just a couple steps behind Hitryel, who was running at a not-so-fast pace himself. Ryuzio looked around at the modestly sized houses on either side of the street, some of which even had five stories. Many streetlights were planted on the borders of the roads, illuminating the path and everything around it.
"That Tryst guy bought all this," Ryuzio said, amused, comparing the street with Klanta. "He's awesome!"
Hitryel did not look back. "He was a decent fighter."
Ryuzio ran beside him. "You saw him fight? Ben told me he was awesome even in that."
"He was," Hitryel said, still focused on the path. "But the only time I saw him fight, he lost the match. He didn't fight after that."
"It was the fight with the super heavy guy," Ryuzio said, nodding to himself. "The one you'll be beating tomorrow."
Hitryel glanced sideways, and then returned his gaze forward. "I won't join your squad just because you're betting on me, got that?"
Ryuzio laughed. "That's not why I said it."
Hitryel raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"I know you'll win because you're tougher than the Maxvil guy."
Hitryel snorted softly. "Flattering me won't work—"
"Why were you holding back against the streak guy today?" Ryuzio said flatly, turning his head to Hitryel.
Hitryel increased his pace, running ahead of Ryuzio. "So you noticed. That's alright. But I wasn't disrespecting my opponent by holding back; I was only keeping it how it was meant to be."
"Heh?" Ryuzio said from beside him, matching his pace.
Hitryel looked sideways in amazement. "You got good control on your breathing. You run a lot?"
Ryuzio looked up thoughtfully. "I used to… When I was in the mountains."
Hitryel's eyes widened. "You're also from the mountains? Which ones?"
"You know Klanta?" Ryuzio said. "We have mountains to the west of our village."
"Those aren't real mountains," Hitryel said, returning his head forward. "They don't even have a name."
"Yes, they do," Ryuzio said in a matter of fact tone. "They're called Klanta Mountains."
Hitryel exhaled softly. "So you're a village boy hoping to see the Skies?"
"See?" Ryuzio said flatly. "I'll soar through all eight of them! That's my dream!"
Hitryel kept a straight face as he continued running.
"What's yours?"
"I'll become Unrivaled under the Stars!"
Ryuzio's snorted as his nose ran down. "Heh?"
Hitryel started to pace down. "My dream is to become the greatest fighter that has ever lived. For that, I'll go around all lands and beat the strongest of fighters I can find there. But the last three years have only disappointed me. So after Maxvil, I'll go straight to challenge the greatest fighter in all of Nova Labyrinth, by flying to Nova Zephpolis."
"Where is it?"
"Huh?" Hitryel looked sideways as he continued to slow down. "You don't know? Highplexia is divided into two parts: the Nova Labyrinth and the Ultima Labyrinth. The farthest skyreacher in Nova Labyrinth is Nova Zephpolis, the place that's on the gate of the Higher Skies."
Ryuzio's eyes flashed with excitement. "Awesome! So I just have to go to this Zephpolis place to enter the Higher Skies."
"Huh?" Hitryel asked in amusement. "You only discovered that just now? What was original plan, then?"
Ryuzio pointed toward the stars. "To go up."
Hitryel returned his head forward, taking the right path. "This puts your focus into question."
Ryuzio's eyebrows curved downwards. "I'm awesomely focused—" His mouth opened wide as his eyes fell upon the two-wheeled vehicle that was parked alone next to a house. "What's that?"
Hitryel glanced at the vehicle before focusing back onto his path. "My bike. I don't wanna rely on it too much, so I keep it away."
"Yours?" Ryuzio said with sparkling eyes, shooting the glitter from his gaze at the young man next to him. "Can I ride it?"
"Huh? How would I know that?"
"Heh? Are you dumb?"
"You're dumber."
"You're tough."
"You're toughe—"
Ryuzio laughed to himself. "I won! I'm not dumber than you!"
Hityel flushed as he sprinted away. "I didn't lose. This wasn't a fight."
Ryuzio cocked back his head as he saw another person running ahead. He quickly caught up to Hitryel and that other person, only to find out it was Benji. "You were ahead of BOTH of us? You're tough, Ben."
Benji's eyes were almost rolled back into his skull, as his feet scrambled on the ground, trying to balance his body as he kept dragging himself forward. His arms wobbled outward as his foot tripped against the other one, making him fall on the paved road.
Hitryel paced down, reaching for Benji with a hand as he was falling. "You good?"
Ryuzio sprinted in front of Benji, catching him on his back before the blue-haired boy could get a taste of the road. "You're not tough, Ben."
Benji's panted deeply as he struggled to get his breathing back in control. "I…took…the…wrong…way…" He continued to pant.
"You should get him back to Junia's place," Hitryel said, before turning forward.
"I'm…fine…" Benji said in between his pants. "I just came…to take you back…so you don't bother…Hitryel's training."
"You're in no position to worry about others," Hitryel said dryly. "You shouldn't have come if you couldn't run." Hitryel pointed at Benji.
"Burdening yourself is fine as long as it doesn't end up burdening others." With that, he turned around and ran off.
Benji's eyes widened as he gulped in thought. "I'm…burdening you…?"
"Ben…" Ryuzio said.
Benji turned to him with hopeful eyes. "Yeah…"
"Who's Junia?" Ryuzio asked in sincere confusion.
Benji's head fell. "She's…the one who fed us…Ryuzio."
Ryuzio nodded to himself. "Okay." He picked up Benji on his back. "Now tell me the direction, yeah? You need to rest."
"Alright…" Benji said in a subdued manner.
###
Benji lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His body was feeling numb, and it was not due to the exhausting run that he went on.
He glanced to the right side at Ryuzio, who slept in the bed next to his. After they got home, Ryuzio yawned and just fell onto the bed. Benji was envious of how carelessly Ryuzio could fall asleep. But he was even more envious of Ryuzio's strength.
Benji hated himself for feeling this way.
'Now that I think about it…' he thought, feeling conflicted once again. 'I really am just a burden to Ryuzio… At this point, I'm just taking advantage of his kindness. If it weren't for him, I would still be getting abused by Codix and Edden. Getting marked as an intruder by Commander Myles is not fun, but the other things that happened after I met Ryuzio sure were.
'I met Tryst freaking Bracken thanks to him! AND Hitryel Hystryk! And I ate a plum pudding with the both of them! I also got to see an ABC match at Victor's Domain, WHILE sitting next to the People's Champion! I…
'I simply don't deserve a single one of these things…'
Benji got up, letting his legs fall off the top. He sat, looking at Ryuzio, who slept without a care in the world. He turned his head toward the lamp in between their beds, reaching for the notepad atop the table by the light source.
He gulped, picking up the pen with shaky hands, as he opened the notepad to a blank page. 'Don't worry, Ryuzio…' he thought, looking at the boy who slept with a smile on his face. 'I won't bother you anymore…'
Benji started writing the final lines of 'Luminary Sunrider' on the blank page, the same lines he never got to tell Ryuzio when they were inside the Skybridge, making their way to Sonas.
He tore off the page from the notepad, putting everything back in place. He stood, stepping to Ryuzio's bedside as he folded the paper. Then he slid the note inside the pocket of Ryuzio's jacket that was crumpled beside his pillow.
Benji returned to his own bed—
Tears started forming in his eyes as he grabbed the sheets. He slowly turned his head toward the soft bed, only now returning to the moment.
'Ryuzio…' Benji thought, eyes welling up. 'You gave me so much more than I deserved… So much so…that it slipped out of my mind…that this is the first time in years that I'm sleeping on an actual bed…'
He lay down, sinking in the comfort of the soft bed, trying to register this feeling in his mind, safely storing it away. 'I'll earn a bed this time…' he promised himself 'I think you've done enough for me already, Ryuzio… Either I'll get recruited tomorrow, or I'll never show you my face. But one thing's for sure…I'll go my own way…
'Or at least…try…to find it.'
###
Hitryel sat on his bed, leaning forward with hands inside of the bag in which he kept all of the things most important to him.
The bag only had one thing.
He pulled them out carefully, staring at them in the low lamplight of his room.
This old pair of black and white striking gloves was still the same it had always been, small and heavily used. The padding of these gloves had almost become flat, the result of more than a million punches. Hitryel had done his best to preserve them for the past seven or so years.
He brought them closer to his forehead, fond memories coming back to him, only to end with bitterness. 'By the time I kill the day to come,' he repeated his nightly ritual. 'I'll get one step closer to fulfilling the promise we made in the sunset…'