When I woke up, I was back in my jail cell, alone. Once again, I was reminded of the reality of the situation. I'm an undercover prisoner who just lost his one cellmate.
I rub my neck, which is bruised from the collar chafing. Then, a loud bell rings, much like the one used to signal a fight. I have only been asleep for a day, haven't I? I thought fights were only held one day of the week!
A guard comes to my jail cell, the same one that allowed me to see the fight last night.
Guard: "Hey there, rookie. It's training hours in the arena. Go get your strength up."
Training right now? I'd rather stay here and relax for a while. After all, I need to rethink my current situation.
Adachi: "I'd rather not."
The guard looks at me with slight annoyance and begins to open the door.
Adachi: "I don't have a choice, do I?"
Guard: "I'm afraid not. Training hours are mandatory."
We leave the cell, go down the hall, and enter the arena. There is training equipment strewn about the arena, and many other fighters are training as well.
Guard: "Two rules. You don't have to train, you just have to be here. No fighting other contestants. And lastly, you can't use one piece of equipment for more than ten minutes. Now go on!"
That was three rules, but I'm not energetic enough to mention it. I hear the gate close behind me as I walk forward into the arena.
The area is rich with noise, mostly grunts of exertion and chatter between contestants. However, as each person notices me, they go quiet. Slowly the noise dies down to complete silence, and everyone's attention is on me.
Why? What did I do?
Suddenly, a huge man steps forward. He's not wearing a collar, meaning he's here of his own volition.
Large Contestant: "You must be the kid who almost beat The Torturer. Everybody here heard about the stunt you pulled yesterday. We have a rule about getting in the way of other people's fights."
Adachi: "The fight was already over when I got there. All I saw was a grown man mangling the corpse of a child, which had to be stopped by somebody."
The whole room murmurs. Some sound hostile, but others sound sympathetic.
Large Contestant: "It doesn't matter what you think you saw! You still got in the way of a fight."
Before I have a chance to reply, the man walks up to me. He's larger than The Torturer but probably not as robust.
Large Contestant: "My name is Paul. I would ask yours, but you don't look like you'll last long here."
Adachi: "What makes you say that? I almost beat The Torturer, didn't I?"
The room erupts into laughter, and Paul leans down to me while wagging his finger in my face.
Paul: "You really think anyone here believes that? The Torturer is stronger than anyone else here, and you almost beat him? You're tiny!"
The room erupts into laughter once more. No, I don't believe the laughter ever fully died down in the first place. Am I missing something here?
Adachi: "I don't care if you believe me or not. I'll kill that bastard next week regardless of what any of you say."
The room falls silent. Apparently, What I just said was no laughing matter, though I didn't mean it as a joke regardless. Instead, the mood seems to have turned hostile.
Paul: "Do you realize what you're saying, boy? Each and every one of us recognizes that The Torturer is stronger than us. So if you say you'll beat him, that means you're claiming to be stronger than everyone in this room."
I scan the room, seeing if I can confidently claim that I'm stronger than each of them. Every fighter has poorly trained muscles, only boosted by weight lifting. They've entirely ignored important muscle sets, including Paul. I can't tell what their midst capabilities are, but if I assume they're anything like their muscles, they're weak as well.
Everybody in the room watches my gaze, waiting for my response. I nod my head and take a deep breath before replying.
Adachi: "Yeah... Yeah, that sounds about right to me. I don't see anyone here strong enough to beat me."
The room erupts once more, this time into an angry clamor. Paul picks me up by my shirt, but I remain unbothered by it, which only serves to make him angrier.
Paul: "Why, you little..."
I glance towards the gate to see if guards will enter the arena, but as I expected, nobody comes. Those rules I was given were just for show. Either I'll have to talk my way out of this or fight everyone here. I don't want to think about the consequences of taking out everyone in the arena, so I'll try to talk my way out of it first.
Adachi: "Woah, Woah. Calm down, big man. Let's have a contest of some sort... a best of three. The first match type will be decided by you, and the second by me. Then, if there's a tie-breaker round, I'll let you decide the last match. Sound good?"
The room murmurs once more, and Paul places me back down on the ground and scoffs.
Paul: "Fine. The first match will be over here."
Everyone in the room gathers around as Paul approaches a bench press. He stacks every weight in the room onto the bar and then prepares to lift it.
The contestants all chant Paul's name as he prepares to bench press. Then, suddenly, he begins his effort to lift it. He doesn't look confident at all, meaning he's probably never lifted this much weight before. But, despite his lack of confidence, his arms get the job done. It takes a full thirty seconds for him to get the bar up, but once he does, the room erupts into applause.
He sets the bar back into its place and stands back up. He looks incredibly proud of himself, as he should. That is a lot of weight, but I don't see how it proves his battle potency. These people seem to think that these one-dimensional feats of strength display a better battle prowess. But I digress.
Paul: "Beat... That... Kid..."
He's still out of breath, making his cocky words seem laughable. I approach the bench and realize there's no more weight in the room. All the plates have been stacked onto this one bar. I have an idea!
I look around at the contestants, trying to ascertain their weight. My eyes land on two men who are twins. They share the same face but have different haircuts. I point at the two of them.
Adachi: "You two, come over here."
Everyone is a bit confused as to what my intention is.
Adachi: "Grab onto either side."
Everyone has realized my intention now, but only a few chuckles echo through the room. Nevertheless, it appears that my confidence has everybody a bit shaken. I dip underneath the bar and place my hands in their respective places.
I won't use physical enhancement for this. It's time to see if my training at the dojo has had any effect on me.
After I've taken the weight off its stand and lowered it to my chest, I lift slowly at first but then begin to put in an earnest effort. The whole room is quiet, but I'm too focused to give a damn. I can feel my face becoming red with effort as my arms reach the halfway point. My life of heavy-set living can't have been for nothing!
As my arms are about to extend fully, they begin to fail me. I can feel them giving way. The tension in the room rises, and everyone seems to be holding their breath.
Suddenly, I think of The Torturer and everything he's done to me and others. The anger I feel gives me a boost of energy, and I finish the lift successfully.