Episode 1 - The First Night (3)

At this point, it slowly became impossible for me to think of myself as the hero, after all, if I wanted to beat Tyler, I would have to forget about what Mr Sasaki taught me for a bit.

"Look kid, Akira might know a lot about proper technique and that stuff, but we're not in a dojo here, we're living on the streets and if you're gonna be on the streets you need to learn how to fight the way we do."

Shaun and Mr Sasaki never saw eye to eye when it came to teaching me their ways. Mr Sasaki was always adamant about teaching me honour and the proper ways to face an opponent. Shaun, on the other hand, was convinced that street fighting was the way to go.

Whenever we had some time alone, he would show me all kinds of dirty moves and ways to cheat my opponent in a fight. If I was going to beat Tyler, I was going to need to remember what he showed me.

My fist, now lighter after I removed the handguards, swung towards him, surprising him with the speed at which it was moving. Even still, he was quick to react and put up his guard to make sure I didn't deliver a clean hit.

With astonishing speed, he lowered his guard and went back in to punch me again.

-I'm sorry kid.-

"They can't hit you if they don't see you."

As Tyler's body moved towards me, I used the opportunity to get out of the way and throw dirt that I had previously picked up from the ground into his eyes.

-What the hell!-

While he was stunned, my fist moved in steadily towards his stomach.

-Uuurghh!-

As soon as my punch connected he bent over and began coughing.

"If you let them rest, they'll just get back up again."

My knee was already moving towards his face with full force and his head swung backwards from the impact. Tyler was now on the ground holding his nose and trying to clean the dirt out of his eyes.

"If you don't finish the job, they'll come back to get revenge."

I picked up my bat and stood over the boy with my bat raised above my head. He had finally managed to clean his eyes but was too beaten down to retaliate. I'd have expected him to fear the man looming over him with a weapon, but instead, all he had was a cold look.

"It's either you or them, kid, that's a choice you have to make."

My bat began swinging down towards him.

*THUMP*

He didn't even blink. He was just lying there, staring at me with cold, empty eyes and my bat on the ground next to his head.

-Well, you gonna finish me off?-

What was I doing? Beating up kids, that's not who I'm supposed to be.

-You're horrible kid, you know that.-

I let go of my bat and pulled out some zip straps I had bought earlier and tied up his hands.

-You're gonna stay here until the police arrive.-

He had stopped struggling and calmly sat on the ground.

-I could've beaten you.-

His words weren't what I was expecting.

-I'm stronger than you. If you hadn't thrown that dirt at me I would have won.-

-Yeah, you would have.-

For someone who was just in a fight, he looked oddly satisfied. What an odd kid.

***

After tying Tyler down, I went to check on the man him and his friends had assaulted. He was still on the ground and probably didn't realise what had happened. As I came closer to him he clutched his dog tighter.

-N-n-no, please, just leave us alone.-

I stretched out my hand towards him.

-Sir, are you alright?-

His eyes shot open wide and he gave me a stare filled with fear.

-What happened?-

As he slowly started to get up I could see what the boys had done to him. His nose was bleeding and it seemed like he had some broken ribs.

-They're not going to hurt you anymore.-

He managed to get up but quickly collapsed again due to the pain he was experiencing. He was in no shape to spend the night on the street.

-Sir you...-

He quickly cut me off.

-David, my name is David.-

With every passing moment, he was looking worse.

-Alright. David, you need to get to a hospital.-

-No, I can't do that. If I go there they'll take Haki from me.-

He was going to risk his life just to stay with the dog.

-I'll take him to the overpass and leave him with some friends while you're at the clinic.-

His eyes lit up and tears slowly started flowing down his face again.

-Thank you, thank you so much.-

The man cried a little longer until he finally fell unconscious in my arms. He was very slender, but I still didn't expect him to be as light as he was. It took me barely any effort to carry him to the bench he was going to sleep on tonight and put him down.

I took out my phone and notified the authorities about what had happened. As I was doing so, I couldn't help but notice Tyler whose expression changed into one of contemplation. Not in any malicious way, just reflective, one could say.

I knew this expression very well since I had seen it many times on the faces of my students. It's a shame that he had to reach this stage through such violence instead of proper guidance. In a sense, I guess I did do my job after all, just not in a way I was proud of.

***

I left a note to the police making sure to change up my handwriting and left as soon as I saw their lights coming towards here. Haki resisted for a while, but he eventually came after me and followed me to my car.

Sitting down in the car with the dog by my side, I finally had a moment to relieve the tension that had built up in my body. Both my arms and legs were trembling from the whole experience. It was like my whole body was a drum kit played by my heart in perfect sync.

It took me a good twenty minutes to gather myself and turn on the car engine. I drove straight to the overpass to leave Haki with Maria, letting her know that David would come to get him in a few days. She wasn't very happy about all the secrecy but I didn't have much of a choice, she would probably give me a slap in the face if she knew what I spent my night doing.

-Don't go out looking for trouble vagabundo, okay?-

I gave her a slight smile and waved goodbye. As I was leaving it was clear that Maria knew something was going on, just not exactly what.

-I'll tell you everything some day, just not right now.-

I whispered to myself and began my drive home.

CHAPTER END