Back in the ring

At first, nothing suspicious happened. The man named Nicolas didn't make his existence known in any way, which was a relief to me. I figured he might just be bluffing, even though he sounded really serious. Nevertheless, there are a lot of people living on Shinrin, there wasn't a very high probability that he would somehow find me.

And so I was at ease with my work again. I worked with the guys on new orders in the garage accompanied by some music in the space. In addition to Hideaki and Chris, there was also a part-time worker with us. A boy who was still in his last year of school. Daran.

Later in the afternoon, I always went to the office to handle documents, and sometimes I left the work be because of Mali, who texted something to me through the communicator. Most of the time it was about work or some news from the neighborhood, but here and there she also told about the child she was expecting. She wasn't even halfway through her pregnancy and she was already texting me about the names she and Elias were thinking about. I always had to shake my head at that as I didn't understand their enthusiasm.

However, then I also found one unpleasant message. I was looking for the number of the amount we were supposed to pay for the place. I furrowed my brows because I didn't like the news at all. And so I started going through the earnings that we have approximately every month. But the price has risen too much. And then it occurred to me. Maybe that crazy rich scumbag Nicolas had a hand in it.

I sent a message to Arno to find out about that guy, but I didn´t know the perpetrator's full name. In case of emergency, I could pay with the money I earned from racing, but if it continued like this, it might not be very pleasant. And so I thought about fighting underground. Occasionally.

And so I found myself in the evening of the last working day on my way to the lowest part of the city. And at that very moment I had the feeling that someone was watching me. However, I could not find anyone by looking around from time to time.

As soon as I went down the stairs, I looked around the familiar neighborhood that I visited recently. There was a noise all around, as it used to be for fans of matches. But I didn't spend much time in the crowd, because I went to an old, well-known building, which was guarded by security.

I pulled out from my pocket a familiar symbol of family Wen that I could keep. Which, years ago, when I wrestled here for the last time, that is what I was hoping for back then, surprised me. The security guards let me in and I headed upstairs in the direction I hoped to find the person I was looking for.

There were again guards in front of the entrance door, one of whom was familiar to me. Apparently he worked here for many years. They let me in once again, to which they closed the door behind me and I looked around the huge room as I searched for a certain person.

Zhang Shuo was sitting at the bar as always, staring at the screen that was playing away matches. I made my way to him, during which I looked at the displayed offer of alcoholic beverages.

"Hi." I said as I stood next to Shuo, who looked back at me clearly in surprise:

"What a nice surprise."

I chuckled and looked at one of the matches on the huge screen I watched for a moment before I heard a serious tone from the figure next to me: "What brings you here?"

With a sigh, I sat down on the bar stool next to him: "Oh, a certain person is throwin´ sticks at my feet."

"Who?"

I chuckled at the realization that I didn't even really know who the person was: "One Nicolas."

Zhang Shuo gave me a strange look. Apparently over my ignorance to people´s names, to which he looked down at his drink glass and asked: "Are you comin´ back?"

And so recent events led to my return to the ring, which I was headed to as they announced my name. It felt like it had been almost decade since I was last there. Besides, it had been less than four years since my last match was down here.

I went out the door to the ring, where my opponent, who looked a little younger than I was, entered right after me. She seemed slightly nervous, so I figured it was probably her first match here. Or she was always nervous.

I looked down at my hands, where I was putting on black and white boxing gloves. After one, I closed them with velcro and returned my gaze to the figure in front of me. We took pre-fight positions and were just waiting for the match to start.

The referee in a white T-shirt firstly looked at one and then at the other of us, to which he raised his outstretched hand in the air with the opening words. And my first match of the evening could begin.

We both started a few steps in a circle with our arms bent at the elbows with our forearms up and our hands in fists in the gloves. We looked into each other's eyes and waited for the other one´s first attack. One could easily and well deceive one's eyes. I found that out a long time ago, so I never trusted my opponents in this. One flinches with a glance to one side but attacks from the other, which is a good tactic after all. And that's exactly what I used on my opponent. I had to find out what level she was.

The girl with perhaps platinum colored hair tied in a ponytail suddenly had a surprised look on her face. She probably didn't know this tactic. And so I had the first moment of surprise on my side. My right hand hit her on the left shoulder, to which she reacted by taking a step back. But at that moment, her wait was over.

In the next few minutes, she got into me quite a bit. Which, on the one hand, was a hasty mistake - she quickly ran out of steam while I just covered her attacks, although I didn't enjoy it much, and probably neither did the audience, judging by their unenthusiastic responses.

When I had had enough, I began covering my face with one hand with my forearm horizontal while I punched my opponent in the stomach with the other. She staggered and grabbed the sore spot, to which I stepped back a little. I could easily knock her to the ground with my familiar step at that moment.

I took a few steps around her and, as years before, I flipped into the air and kicked her in the back of the head with my foot, which sent her quickly to the ground. The blonde stretched out on the floor of the ring and raised her hand in resignation. It seemed like she was really here for the first time today when she gave up so quickly.

And so, on the very first evening, I got into the next round, which was not as easy as the previous one. One of the very good fighters came against me, which could be seen from her outward appearance.

A female figure with a rather stern expression on her face and a sleek haircut gave me an almost indifferent look, which turned into a haughty look when the match started. She was clearly at home here. However, I wasn't going to give up so easily.

I dodged, ducked, and hit back at my new opponent, who didn't seem nearly caught off guard by my attacks. Sometimes, however, I managed to catch her with a basic trick that also worked against my previous opponent. Or a bigger blow was enough.

However after very long minutes of fighting, I had enough. So did she, it seemed. But I was probably worse off, because at one point she got me to the ground, which I couldn't get out of, even though I kept fighting. Well, to tell the truth, I was more like covering my face from her blows, which she aimed at it, when she trapped me sitting astride her.