Ava looked at the cell phone on the table and smiled. She picked it up and glanced at the daring first year.
"Y'know you're the first boy to ever directly ask for my phone number." Ava giggled as she locked her hazel eyes with Kiko.
Ava wasn't the only one who found the teen amusing, the rest of the club members also found his approach entertaining. A few of the members began cheering for the youth mockingly.
"Don't flatter yourself, I'm not asking you out. I just need to contact you, when I want to collect my meal." Kiko's face became serious as he looked at her.
'Who the hell does she think she is?'
The whole table went silent as the words escaped his pink lips.
Ava's face instantly turned as red as the first year's eyes.
"Y-you're lucky to get my number, much less a meal with me. This is only cause you won the bet." She input her digits into the junior's phone before tossing it back at him.
"Woah, watch it!" Kiko caught the phone swiftly with one hand.
'That'd cost me 600 Aru.' He sighed in relief.
"See ya on our 'date'." Kiko teased as he turned to leave.
'Arrogant bitch.'
***
5PM
The first three in the gym arrived at the exact same, they were 3 first years: Kiko, Percy, and Rachel (the assistant.)
As Percy was warming up with the light bag delivering a barrage of attacks in the corner, Kiko was sitting on a bench struggling to take off his bandages.
"Hey Rachel, could ya help me change my bandages?"
"S-sure" A bit startled, Rachel stopped organizing the headgear and walked to her fellow first year with a first aid kit she took from the cupboard.
Arriving Infront of Kiko, she crouched and began removing the bandages.
"Tensei, can I ask you something?" As she was unraveling numerous layers of thin black bandages, she finally decided to ask the question she's been waiting to ask since she first met him.
"No, I don't have a girlfriend," Kiko replied with a smirk on his face.
"N-no that's not what I wanted to ask." The girl's face turned beet red.
"Ouch, sorry I'm not as handsome as Percy over there." Kiko laughed a bit before looking in Percy's direction.
Upon hearing Percy's name, she went completely silent and her eyes became glassy.
'Huh?' Kiko was taken back by her reaction and decided to stop teasing her.
"Why did you decide to start boxing? I mean, with your speed logically track is a better fit." She tried to ignore Kiko's previous words and asked her question.
"Running around like a fool isn't fun, now is it." He smiled softly.
"Bu-" Before she could respond to his question she paused as she looked at his bare hand after she took off the bandages.
'These wounds are so deep... and fresh.'
Her face turned stern as she stared at his knuckles for a few seconds.
"W-what happened?" she asked concernedly.
"Are you that worried about me?" He chuckled teasingly.
'I can't help it. Not when someone is this emotional' he giggled to himself.
"Of course, I am!" she shouted as she took out a bottle of alcohol from the med kit.
'Scary. Wait maybe my passive charm made her fall in love with m- Wait, am I turning into Nathaniel?'
"As a member of the boxing team, you must take care of your body. And it's my responsibility to make sure you're as fit as possible." She said seriously.
'Wow, someone takes their job seriously.' He decided not to say this out loud in case she scolded him even further.
Rachel poured the alcohol onto the gauze before she looked her fellow first year in the eyes.
"I'm sorry, but this'll hurt." Rachel placed the gauze onto his knuckles and pressed down.
'Huh? he didn't even flinch?" she pressed the gauze with alcohol even more to clean the wound.
Kiko's face stayed the same expression as he watched himself be treated.
She did the same with his other hand and the youth displayed the same level of pain tolerance.
She wrapped his hands in a fresh pair of black bandages, and he was ready to go.
***
5PM
For half of the session, Kiko worked on honing his techniques alone while Azure would occasionally correct him when he made a mistake.
During the second half, he worked with the reflex bar to practice his accuracy on moving targets and tried to figure out what he was 'missing'.
5-6:30 PM
After his boxing practise, he switched to weight training to build size and strength.
7PM
When he was done with his intense training for the day, it was only him left in the gym. He switched off all the lights, tidied up, and locked up the gymnasium.
***
6 March Saturday
9AM
Kiko's week was pretty uneventful, he followed a consistent schedule that completely drained him and left him exhausted by the end of the day.
4AM-6AM: jogging 30km/18.6miles
6AM-8AM: getting ready for school.
8AM-3PM: School
3PM-5PM: Boxing training
5PM-7PM: Weight training
7PM-8PM: jogging home
The first year's money was being burned through incredibly quickly due to the exorbitant amount of food he was consuming to gain weight.
***
He and the rest of the boxing team were at the Eastern Metropolis Sports Centre, a huge venue that hosted a variety of sports events. The building consisted of multiple large stories each hosting a different sport.
This was the location of the Preseason League and where 5 of the boxing club members had to rendezvous.
(The boxing preseason is only for less experienced fighters and therefore is limited to 1st years to 3rd years.)
Along with the 5 members were three assistants and coach azure. Although there were 5 members gathered only 4 would participate because the first year Kiko Tensei was too light to compete.
The boxing story of the building was about as large as the school's gymnasium but, there was no boxing equipment, only 7 small square rings and a small stage equipped with a large scale and huge announcement board.
The preseason league was quite different from the city championships.
The Pre-season League had 20 contestants and was in a leader board format where for every win you receive 3 points, a draw 1, and a loss none.
Each match lasted 3 minutes and had one round and people fight 3 others in one day.
Unlike professional boxers, amateurs didn't take weeks of training for one opponent and often times fought multiple opponents a day with shorter and fewer rounds. Amateurs were also required to wear headgear at all times during the bout.
The prize for the winner for each weight class was 20 000 Aru with 5 000 Aru going to the contestant and the rest to their school. This figure was much lower than the city championships.
The number of boxers a school could send depended on the strength of the overall club, the higher the strength of the club the more boxers they could sent. Since St Winters High School was pretty unbalanced, having multiple national champions but multiple mediocre boxers they could send up to 6 fighters.
St Winters also had more 4th and 5th-year members than 1st - 3rd years, so that allowed for all of them to attend.
Leonard King- Welterweight
Storm Draxler- Super Lightweight
Percy Avenoir- Welterweight
Hugh Aristevo- Lightweight
This Preseason league is completed over 5-day period with each day consisting of 38 matches and each contestant fighting 3-5 times a day.
***
11AM
The opening ceremony was incredibly long as the announcer had to thank the multiple sponsors, acknowledge the participating schools, and re-announce the accolades from the previous year.
After watching 3 Matches of fighters Kiko didn't recognize in the welterweight ring it was finally his fellow first-year's turn.
"Will Percy Avenoir from St Winter's Highschool and Charles Evans from Patriot Highschool make their way to the stage please?"
Percy's opponent was a tall 2nd year with green eyes and short silver-blonde hair, his face had a smug and confident smile on it.
Charles Evans
-Grade: 2nd Year
-Height: 1.84m/6'0
-Weight class: Welter weight
-Record 15-5-8
-Punching speed(jab): B-
-Punching speed(straight): C
-Punching force(straight)- C+
-Dominant Arm-Right
-Fighting style- Out fighter
Before Azure left the stands to go join Percy, he looked at Kiko and smiled.
"Watch closely, I want the answer to my task after you watch this match."
"Okay."
'I've been struggling on finding the answer the whole week, what's an extra 3 minutes gonna teach me.' He sighed as he left his Coach leave.
After the two contestants weighed themselves in, they stepped into the ring where their respective coaches helped them wear their head gear, mouth guards, and gloves.
Both coaches could be seen whispering to their fighters, tips, and information about their opponents.
The referee finally stepped into the ring and brought the two closer and explained the rules to them.
With an arrogant smile, Charles looked at Percy straight in his piercing black eyes.
"Looks like I'll have to settle with the less talented brother." He chuckled.
Upon hearing these words Percy didn't say anything and merely looked back at the fellow welterweight. Although he was looking at Charles, he didn't see him, he merely saw a steppingstone to reach his brother.
After they mutually refused to touch gloves, the referee told them to get into the corners.
"Are you both ready?" He looked at the fighters.
Both Percy and Charles nodded simultaneously.
DING DING
***
{Author Notes}
-I've altered the template for fighters, adding more relevant information and removing subjectively useless information
-Full character evaluation for all fighters of the boxing club excluding Kiko and Eidikos coming tomorrow.
-Thank you to everyone reading my novel, please leave a review.