Preparation
Sakata Akio's POV
Nurses running the halls.
Doctors rushing to the patients.
The hospital was too busy. Rei-kun and I patiently waited for Watanabe-san.
Moments later, a doctor came out searching for Watanabe-san's guardian. It turned out that Watanabe-san is living alone. I came rushing to the doctor.
Akio: Sensei, we're schoolmates. Can we at least know Watanabe-san's condition? Is he going to be okay?
Doctor: The patient was lucky he didn't die. But as of his vocal cords, he must not talk for a while. He needs medical attention. He needs to rest his voice to minimize the development of edema. He is currently unconscious but you won't have to worry about him. He only needs bed rest and clear liquid diet.
After all the talk with the doctor, the school ended up taking responsibility for Watanabe-san because he is a scholar. We come to visit him from time to time.
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Days passed. Rei-kun and I were finally healed. Watanabe-san was still resting.
I ended up having training with Rei-kun and Yamazaki-kun. I have become quite stronger but still not enough. Saito-san hasn't bothered me ever since the tournament. Things at school have become peaceful.
Midterms are coming and all students are busy studying. None of the students here anyway is lazy to study because all students here are both smart and good at fighting. What's different in this school is that everybody is allocating time to train themselves and not just only hitting the books.
Every after classes, everybody does their training at school. Unlike normal high schools, our school only has different martial arts clubs instead of the book lovers club, broadcasting club and such. We train at our specific martial arts expertise. There are a lot of clubs such as, Karatedo club, Jiu-jitsu club, Wrestling club, and many more. It is compulsory for every student to belong to a club. I belong to, obviously, the Taekwondo club. a Korean instructor is assigned to us.
Even though we compete each other, the school still provides the best instructor in every respective martial arts because our school is known for producing the best martial artists. Our school's students are always the members that embody the country's MMA national team for secondary division.
Even alumnus of Seishin HIgh represent the country in higher divisions. That's just how great this school produces MMA fighters. Some even already debuted in the infamous UFC. Some became part of the government enforcements such as the police force or the army. Others, especially the eldest heirs of different companies, ended up succeeding their parents.
Not everyone are heirs of big companies or government scholars though. Some students enrolled in Seishin High because they can afford and both qualify in intelligence and fighting skills, just like Yamazaki-san.
After our club trainings, Rei-kun and Yamazaki-kun and I meet up to do additional training. I also did my training but not full-heartedly. I can feel Yamazaki-kun shooting daggers through his glare. I don't know why I am being like this but I don't feel like committing to train 'til I die.
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Midterms has finally ended.
As I stretched out my arms, I saw Rei-kun resting on his desk with one arm stretched and the other supporting his forehead.
I stood up and gently patted his shoulder.
Rei-kun raised his head with a tired look on his eyes.
Akio: How was the exams?
Rei: I don't know. But I know I won't fail them though.
Akio: That's great. To celebrate, let's go to the ice cream parlor near the school. Shall we?
Rei-kun nodded and smiled lazily. Yamazaki-kun was on the other class. So, we picked him up from the room and headed to our destination.
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Waitress: One strawberry parfait and two chocolate parfaits.
The waitress carefully placed our orders on our tables. I got the strawberry one and the two got chocolate. I sat across Rei-kun and Yamazaki-kun.
Rei: So, now the midterms are finally over, instead of sports day, we're having another tournament, right?
Akio: I thought we'd get a normal school activity just for once. Man, this school is torturing us.
Tatsuo: This time I get to see Rei-kun and Sakata-kun fight. I'll be rooting for the both of you. You better do it right, Sakata-kun. I'll be watching your lazy ass.
Rei: Win or lose as long as nobody gets fatal injury. That would be fine. Stop bullying Akio-kun every time, Tatsuo-kun.
A tall man wearing a hoodie, a cap and a face mask suddenly approached and sat beside me. The two in front of me showed a confused look on their faces like "Who's that guy?" look was written on all over their faces. I shrugged in reply and tried to look at the guy beside me.
Akio: Uhm, excuse me? Who are you and why are you sitting here? You are not some weirdo, aren't you?
"Pffft. It's me," the guy whispered.
Still confused, I raised my eyebrow and tried to identify him.
I stared at his ice blue eyes and still got no clue as to who this guy is.
The guy looked at his surroundings carefully and removed his mask.
"It's me. Your senpai."
My eyes widened in astoundment.
Akio: Kai-senpai!
Kai-senpai covered my mouth and immediately wore back his face mask.
Kai: Shhh. Lower your voice.
Akio: What's going on senpai?
Both of us talked in a hushed manner.
Kai: Girls are chasing me.
Akio: Eh? Why?
Senpai winked at me. I responded with a dumb look on my face.
Kai: I'm glad I met you. I got a chance to slip away from them.
Senpai grabbed the menu on the table to cover his face.
Akio: Senpai, I have a hoodie in my bag. It may not be of the same size as yours but you may use it to confuse the people chasing you.
Kai-senpai immediately grabbed my hoodie as I took it out from my bag. He changed his clothes and removed his cap. I instantly put his hoodie and cap in my bag and he immediately put back the menu in front of his face.
Few seconds later, girls came running in the parlor asking the whereabouts of senpai to every customer. Customers were annoyed but they didn't mind. A girl came to our table showing a picture of Kai-senpai.
Girl: Excuse me. Have you seen this guy? I heard he's also from your school.
The girl noticed senpai and tries to grab the menu from him. Rei-kun jumped into our conversation and brushed away the girl's hand.
Rei: Do you mind your manners? That guy's not feeling well and you're bothering him.
The girl startled, said sorry and was scared off.
The staff of the parlor kicked the girls out as they were disturbing everyone.
Akio: They're gone, senpai.
Kai-senpai slowly put down the menu and sighed in relief. He placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on the palm of his hands.
Kai: Thank you so much Akio-kun's friend!
He smiled carefreely.
Akio: By the way, senpai, do you have somewhere to go?
Kai: Oh. I didn't just pass by here. I really came here looking for you.
Akio: Huh? Why?
Kai: I really came here to talk about our school.
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After the weekends, the results of our midterms came out. Rei-kun, Yamazaki-kun and I checked the results together. I'm glad I got the top rank in our year.
I can't believe I still got the top rank despite having trainings. Rei-kun got rank 18. Yamazaki-kun got rank 60. Saito-san got rank 3. And my goddess, Asami-san got rank 7 out of 80 first years.
Rei: Wow. Akio-kun. You are really smart. I gotta seek help from you regarding academics next time.
Tatsuo: Yeah yeah. He is smart yet very weak when it comes to fighting. Still no hope for the incoming tournament.
Yamazaki-kun continued to blabber with a blank look on his face and Rei-kun smacked his head.
Rei: Stop blabbering nonsense and look where your rank is. You are rank 20 from the bottom. Being smart also means everything after high school also.
Tatsuo: Yes, mom. You're nagging like a mom.
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After checking our ranks, we had our classes and had our club trainings after classes then had extra training with the boys (Rei-kun and Yamazaki-san). We do our extra training near a shrine which is a few blocks from our school.
After a long and tiring extra training, we sat on the ground and wiped our sweat with our towels. As I wiped my face, something caught my eye. A bunch of silhouettes suddenly appeared from afar, slowly approaching us. I rubbed my eyes to be certain of what I am looking. Is this going to be the part where I get to have a horror or thriller genre in my life?
I was just kidding. The bunch of silhouettes turned out to be a bunch of hooligans. Who the hell are they? And how did they know this place when it is secluded?
A guy who seemed to be the leader of the gang stepped forward.
Guy: Oi. Yamazaki Tatsuo! Wec came here for you.
Yamazaki-kun who was just peacefully wiping himself shifted his gaze to them. His facial expressions turned annoyed and pissed.
Tatsuo: What the hell are you doing here? Haven't learned your lesson?
Guy: Hohoho. You're too confident now that Matsumoto Rei is with you. Even if you have Rei with you, you are outnumbered. I got many boys with me.
I was just observing and thinking about what is happening then I suddenly blurted out my thoughts.
Akio: Cowards.
When I came to realize my thoughts were heard. I covered my mouth. The guy's gaze shifted to me and raised his brow.
He was about to move towards me when a punch knocked him down. The leader was down and I just noticed the boys brought by that strange guy were already knocked out. I thought it was Rei-kun and Yamazaki-kun who knocked them out but they were still on their positions from a while ago when we were training. Their faces showed a dumbfounded expression.
I looked at the person who knocked them out. A familiar face smiled at me.
"It's been a long time, Akio."
Akio: Onii-chan? (Older brother)
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End of Chapter 11