While working the rest of his shift, he couldn't put the excitement in his heart away while tending to the customers.
As he went back behind the counter to start up one of the patron's orders, the wizened owner of the atmospheric cafe looked at him.
"Something has your mind, doesn't it?" Mr. Genji asked.
"Ah, no, I'm fine," he assured the man with a smile.
Though Mr. Genji was hardly believing his answer as he smiled slightly, "No need to hide it. You know, an old timer like me isn't so ignorant of the world."
"Huh? I didn't mean anything like that," he looked at the man.
"You've got something big to prepare for, don't you? A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I'd say," Mr. Genji said.
When he looked down at his own hands, he could see it was pretty obvious himself; the mug of coffee he was holding was trembling as he was sweating in anticipation of the coming event.
"...Yeah," he nodded, answering quietly with a smile, "...This is pretty much my dream come true. Something I didn't realize was even possible."
"Mm…Take some time off, then," Mr. Genji offered.
"Huh? No, I can't do that–"
"Don't worry about it. Yui should be arriving for her shift soon enough–I can hold down the fort. Who do you think built this place from the ground up, anyway?" The gray-haired owner smiled.
He paused for a moment, not knowing how to answer before smiling brightly and giving the benevolent owner a nod.
"Thanks, Mr. Genji," he said, already heading up the stairs.
"Of course–prioritize your future, Touma," Mr. Genji told him.
As he rushed up the stairs, he changed out of his barista uniform and into a light-blue tank top and flexible, gray shorts before heading back down and straight out of the cafe.
First, I'll need to work on rebuilding my stamina. It's been awhile since I've actually trained, honestly. If I'm going to do this–and do this right–I'll need to be in peak physical condition, he thought.
Standing outside of the cafe, he slid his phone into his pocket before placing his ear buds into his ears, jumping up and down a few times to warm his body up.
In truth, he was anything but "unfit"; his body was chiseled and toned, well below ten-percent body fat, but this was more of a case of building the proper physical prowess for combat than simply everyday health.
What spurred on this motivation to sharpen his physical capabilities was his encounter with the Overseer, Yusei Ito.
He was incredibly fast, and even stronger than he was fast. I felt it, though. The physical capabilities he had–they weren't out of reach for me. I know in my top condition, with my mind in the game, I would be able to handle that without a problem, he thought.
As he stretched side-to-side a bit, with a few passing citizens looking on, he finally took off in what he considered a "light jog."
In actuality, a "light jog" for him was moving well over fifty kilometers per hour, racing down the sidewalk as people moved out of the way of the swift young man.
The last couple years, I haven't had much motivation to keep myself at the top of my game. Frankly…there hasn't been anybody around here to push me to that. But…world champions? Overseers? Gento…I can hardly contain myself–I want to fight them all! He thought.
Though the neighborhood was infamous for its crime rate, relative to the rest of the country, the streets were still well-maintained with the spring trees looming overhead, stationed beside the sidewalk.
"...Huu…"
He composed his breathing perfectly, even several blocks down already, he wasn't hard of breath yet.
Playing into his ears wasn't blood-pumping music by any means, but more tranquil electronic that made his "jog" a much more calming experience.
Coming to a stop, it wasn't because he was out of breath, but he took out his earbuds as he looked around, realizing he went much further than he had planned.
Cars zoomed by as he looked around with a small smile, realizing where he was at by the oni-faced graffiti on the brick wall beside him.
"Looks like I overdid it a bit, huh?" He mumbled to himself, looking back as a trail of dust was left in his speedy wake.
Before he could place the black earbud back into his ear, something caught his ear–
"Get away from me!"
–It was the voice of a girl, one that was familiar to him that made his eyes widen slightly out of surprise from hearing it.
Is that…? He thought.
In addition to the girl, he also heard the voices of a few men–it all came from the alleyway just a few meters ahead of him, to which he slowly approached.
Turning the corner to the shadow-filled alley–he confirmed it with his own eyes.
Standing in the alley was a young woman with dark-brown hair and sharp, emerald eyes, wearing a light-brown sweatshirt over what was clearly the barista uniform for the cafe.
"Out of my way–I'm going to be late for work," the youthful woman said sternly.
Surrounding the woman were three men who just by a quick glance at their features definitely fell under the category of "no-good":
The one looming over the girl from the left was a tall, burly man with a buzzcut and a sour-face, wearing a raggedy, hole-filled top with baggy sweatpants.
"Come on, don't play hard to get," the tall man laughed grotesquely.
To the girl's right, a pudgy thug with curly, orange locks was dressed in a red coat, drooling over himself at the sight of the girl.
"Yeah! We just want to show you a good time, sweet thing!" the pudgy man said.
In front of her was who looked to be the ringleader of the band of three thugs–a lanky, tan-skinned man with tattoos and shaggy, dark-blue hair.
"Don't make us get forceful now," the lanky man threatened.
Before he could make a move to step in himself, ready to throw fists–it seemed he wasn't required to.
"Pyuh!"
The tall man spat out as he was launched a foot meter into the air, lifted by a sharp high-kick to his jaw.
It was the dark-haired girl with emerald eyes who seamlessly launched the kick, much to the surprise of the other two thugs as their friend fell back down into a pile of discarded trash bags.
"What the–?!" The pudgy thug let out.
Before the round-built thug could react, the emerald-eyed woman spun around, launching her foot against the side of his head and knocking him over with the sharply delivered blow.
"--"
The girl wore dark leggings, making sure that the abhorrent thug saw nothing he should have from the flexible kick.
"Why you–!" The lanky thug lunged towards her.
But, once again, little effort was made by the woman with silken hair as she used an ax-kick to bring her shoe down atop the tattooed man's head, knocking him down in an instant.
"--I warned you. Don't make people late for their shifts!" The girl shouted sternly.
Once the emerald-eyed girl issued her words, she looked up to see the silver-haired young man, who greeted her with a smile.
"Looks like you have it covered," he said.
"Touma," the girl said in surprise before walking over to him, not before giving one of the laid out thugs a kick to the side, though.
"Yo, Yui," he greeted her.
"What're you doing here?" Yui asked.
"I was out for a job then happened to hear you from the street," he explained with a cheeky smile.
Yui looked him up-and-down, taking note of his athletic attire that was unmistakably fit for cardio as she held her hand to her chin.
"Is that so? What's got you so active? And aren't you supposed to be on your shift?" Yui raised an eyebrow.
"I'll explain it later…Looks like our friends here are waking up from their nap," he said, pointing to the back of the alley.
The trio of thugs groggily returned to their feet with malice in their eyes.
"You bitch…!" The tattooed man scowled, "...We were gonna play nice, but not anymore!"
Reaching to the back of his stained pants, the lanky man retrieved a pocket knife, flipping it open with a dangerous grin.