Some Practise

His mouth opened wide as his taste buds prepared for the arrival of food. Zayd's salivary glands had already gone into overdrive.

Surely enough, as his teeth sank through the burger, he already tasted it. A sensational flavour invaded his mind, wiping out anything that wasn't the flavour until it was all that was in his mind.

---

After finishing their food, Zayd and Minoru paid and then left.

"That burger was amazing! I literally couldn't do anything but eat: it was that good! How did you find this place, Minoru-san?" Zayd said.

"Umm, my parents brought me here one time," Minoru replied.

"Okay, I see." Zayd looked at his phone to check the time. Having no reason to not go to the gym, he excused himself. "Minoru-san, thanks for bringing me there. It was great. I've got to go to the gym now. I've been delaying it for a while now."

"Ah, I see." Minoru seemed to be a little disappointed. However, she rapidly hid it. "Yeah, see you at school?"

"Sure," Zayd responded.

"Um, Zayd-san, text me if you need any more help with any work."

"How about I text you whenever I want to talk to you?"

"Yeah! Absolutely. Of course," Minoru smiled as she replied.

"Alright. I had fun hanging out with you today, Minoru-san. Bye." Zayd said.

---

Finally, Zayd arrived at the gym with his boxing gloves in his gym bag. He had purchased them shortly before his arrival after trying them on.

Once Zayd got changed, he grabbed his gloves, some earbuds, and a water bottle. He went to the second floor of the gym. There was a boxing bag on the second floor which Zayd wanted to use for practising.

Putting in the earbuds, he played some music to have in the background, which he had prepared beforehand.

Zayd remembered Mr Kaiju's advice for when he was on the bag.

"Use your imagination. Pretend that a bag is a person who you're fighting. That means you pretend they hit you, and you pretend to dodge. If your imagination is good enough, you can practise on the bag efficiently."

Zayd stood before the bag. As he imagined fighting an opponent of his size, he mentally marked where his head was, the body as well, and began after setting a round timer. There were three minutes for the round and then a minute rest. Zayd was going to do it six times.

When punching a punching bag, when you first hit it, it will swing. When it moves, you don't hit it when it's still going back, and you don't hit it when it's moving forward either.

When it's swung back and is about to come back, the bag momentarily halts its movements. That's when you hit it.

Zayd remembered this advice which Mr Kaiju told him.

In his mind, he imagined himself in the ring. He closed his eyes.

An opponent was before him, and he jabbed towards Zayd.

Zayd leaned back slightly out of range of the jab.

Getting back, Zayd stepped forward and jabbed at the opponents face.

*BAP*

He hit the face this time, and the opponent moved back as Zayd jabbed again.

Zayd jabbed a third time. His glove was blocking the opponent's view, and Zayd did a level change, crouching as he struck the body with a Two.

Moving back after that, Zayd kept his hands up as a combo came in.

One, Two, Left Hook!

The One and Two hit Zayd. He slipped the Left Hook!

*BAP* *BAP*

Zayd had thrown a Right Hook to the body and a Right Hook to the face. Both hit and the opponent's head shook as they came back in.

More punches exchanged, and Zayd was 'hit' a lot.

His defence was lacking outside of being tip-toed and reacting to the punch. Sometimes, he was too close when a counter came. Also, there was the dropping of his hands.

Having your hands drop was extremely detrimental sometimes. Of course, this was not always the case.

A specific incredibly famous boxer who was called the best boxer of all time fought with his hands down in his early career.

However, he managed to use it well. That specific boxer was Zayd's favourite to watch. The cockiness of the way his hands were down and his head out there for the opponent was superb. Then, the opponent tries to hit them, but it doesn't work.

The boxer put his head forward as a taunt. It was to make the opponent do what he wanted.

When fighting somebody, you can't tell what's in their mind. You can, however, understand what an opponent's body is doing.

'Telegraphing' it's called.

Feints work because you 'telegraph' the start of a punch but don't go through with it. The opponent reacts preemptively, and you can strike them.

Feints don't always work. That is not saying they are useless!

If you double jab at an opponent, they know what is going on the third time you do it, next time, you switch it up, you do a One, Two, and because that memory is still in their head of the double jab, the change gets them.

When you change things, when you do something new, the opponent is confused. How do they expect something they haven't seen yet?

The answer is that they do not.

---

Zayd finished all the rounds. After heading to do his workout, he felt exhausted. Luckily, he already ate, otherwise he would be feeling worse. However, even if he did not eat, you can never skip leg day!

(please don't take that advice!)

Zayd had a shower in the changing rooms before putting on his other outfit and leaving the gym.

On his way back, he thought of Aunt Naomi and called her.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Aunt Naomi, are there any groceries we need? I'm about to head home now, but I thought I could grab some stuff on the way. Is there anything we need in particular?"

"Ummm, let me check. Ah! We need milk and some bread too. Get some eggs as well if you could, please. The eggs are not that important. Okay, get home safely."

"I will. Bye."

---

As Zayd was walking back, he looked at his phone to check the time. He had all three things that they needed and got an overpriced protein shake for himself.

Suddenly, he bumped into somebody's shoulder. His drink spilt onto them, painting a white T-Shirt a chocolatey brown.