After such an encounter that brought the eyes of each student to it, Ishikawa brought her phone screen close to his face again during class.
"Look at this, Daigo! You're blowing up online!" Ishikawa told him.
Looking at the phone screen with his chin rested against his palm and his elbow against the desk, he saw the feed:
"Holy crap! Yusei Ito came to my school today! Some people got wrecked, but they probably deserved it LOL" +12300 likes.
"Yusei Ito…so cool!" +18000 likes.
"The Martial Arts King actually held his own against an Overseer?! Seriously?!" +8760 likes.
"...Did anybody see that? What did the silver guy do at the end?" +500 likes.
He wasn't too pleased seeing his encounter be on the forefront of social media, mostly due to wanting to keep his style a secret, but it seemed that most of the attention was on the Overseer himself, to his surprise. Usually all of the viral insanity was pointed to himself, but it seemed this event had a much larger reach.
"That Yusei guy is pretty popular, isn't he?" He muttered.
Ishikawa withdrew her phone, "Uh, yeah! He was voted the "Third Sexies Man in Japan" last year! See?"
Again, he looked at her phone to see a shirtless photo of the overseer with his abs on full display, which he could only sigh at.
"He was even sent as an ambassador for talks with the United States! He's a superstar! Do you live under a rock or something, Daigo? Seriously," Ishikawa said.
He shrugged, "Whatever. I don't see what's so special about him."
After classes for the day ended, his mind was caught on the prospect of the illustrious tournament ahead of him, walking on auto-pilot out of the school gates.
"I'll text you later, Daigo!" Ishikawa waved him off.
"Yeah, cya," he waved with a smile.
On his route home, Tadashi walked beside him as they shared a similar destination, walking down the street.
"Ahhh…" He yawned.
"Only you would be yawning at a time like this," Tadashi said, pushing his glasses up.
"Mm?" He looked over at his companion.
Tadashi looked forward with a smile, "You had a skirmish with Yusei Ito today–that's something most martial arts enthusiasts could only dream of. Not only that, you're going to be participating in the Celestial Fist Tournament. Yet, you're as lax as ever, Touma."
"Is that weird?" He asked, keeping his hands behind his head as he strolled casually.
"Indeed," Tadashi laughed a bit, "but, it's just like you."
He smiled, continuing to walk alongside his friend until they finally reached diverging paths.
"I'll see you on Monday, Touma," Tadashi waved, "Rest properly."
"Right, cya."
Now being by himself, he continued his path home as he cut through the quiet alleyways of the neighborhood.
As he reached the other side of an alleyway, what waited was the dingy, conspicuous side of town, filled with delinquents and smokers sitting in the curbs.
Though, nobody got in his way as he wandered into a small, corner-side shop: "Spring Leaves Cafe."
It was a small, quiet cafe run by a wizened old man behind the counter, who was currently wiping down porcelain cups.
"Hey, Mr. Genji," he smiled upon entering the empty shop.
"Welcome back, Touma. How was school today?" The apron-wearing, white-haired man asked.
He sighed, "...Eventful."
"Really now? Well, as long as your studies are going well," Mr. Genji said with a warm smile.
"Mhm," he nodded with a smile.
Heading past the counter, he moved up the stairs that led to a second story of the cafe, which was more of a residential floor, heading up to a room with a sign marked: "Touma Daigo."
This was where he lived; a respectable sized room, though minimal with a blue-sheeted bed, some dumbbells and other training equipment, and books laid out on the floor.
"--"
He breathed out, dropping his bag onto his bed before plopping down onto it for a minute, relaxing before jumping back up.
From his pocket, he pulled out the exclusive, black ticket again, looking at it before setting it on his bedside stand.
I'll have to be careful not to lose that, he thought.
Once he left the door to his room, he was switched out of his school uniform and into the barista uniform of the cafe, heading back down to the cafe floor.
"Alright–I'm ready to get to work!" He announced, rubbing his hands together as he stood behind the counter beside the old man.
I work here after school and on the weekends. Mr. Genji lets me live on the second floor for free as long as I work, and I get some money on the side. It's a nice gig, he thought.
As he turned the sign on the front door to "OPEN" instead of "CLOSED", he went back behind the counter, beginning to put some coffee beans into the machine, turning it on to pre-make some hot coffee.
"Is Yui coming in today?" He asked with a small smile.
Mr. Genji hummed, still wiping down cups, "I believe so. You can check the schedule, if you're so curious."
"I'm not that nosy," he laughed a bit.
It wasn't an exuberant shop, but it had a nice little space for itself, welcoming in customers just ten minutes after the "OPEN" sign was flipped.
Of course, the customers to the cafe were usually quiet business men and woman who sat themselves down and got to work on their laptops.
Taking their orders, it hardly felt like a "job"—he thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of the humble cafe.
The old-fashioned cafe with furnished wooden floorboards and similar walls still made for a modern space with the large, flat television screen hooked up above the fireplace.
A fragrance of coffee beans naturally filled it; the lightly caramelized, rich scent was the natural aroma of the well-maintained cafe.
"What can I get for you?" He asked, holding a small notepad as he smiled with his radiant, golden eyes greeting the seated customer.
As he lowered his notepad to look at his customer, his smile dropped as he saw the one who was seated at the window-side table.
"Gk…" He tensed up.
Tipping down the aviator sunglasses on his face, the customer looked up at him with his unmistakable, diamond-shaped amber irises.