Pre-season (4)

The advancement of medical technology over the years, allowed people to heal way quicker, train more efficiently and gain muscle faster without the need for harmful steroids.

When Percy's match concluded, Charles was sent to the infirmary for his broken arm and informed he'd be off for the next week.

While his opponent was out for the rest of the league, Percy was healed pretty quickly and told he could continue as normal.

***

Straight after the match Azure called Kiko from the stands and led him to the changing rooms.

"So, tell me Young Kiko, what is it that you're missing?" He asked eagerly.

Kiko put his hand on his chin and thought of how he could properly articulate his words.

"Prediction, that is what I lack..." He said solemnly as he looked into his coach's eyes.

"Close..."

Azure raised his hand and swung it down towards the youth's shoulder with an incredible amount of force.

The coach's hand stopped mere centimeters above the youth's shoulder.

"Hm?" Kiko just stood there motionlessly and tilted his head confusedly.

"Did you know I wasn't going to hit you?" Azure chuckled as he looked at the seemingly nonchalant boy.

"Nope, I had no idea what you were planning."

'That's strange.' The coach was even more intrigued by this strange youth.

"Then why didn't you dodge; you are more than fast enough."

"Your arm wasn't close enough..." Kiko shrugged.

"And that's your issue." Azure finally stated.

"What do you mean?"

"You lack a fundamental human instinct, flinching. Most people when they are being attacked or feel that they're in danger instinctively move in a manner to protect themselves. By extension, this develops into prediction, which is a fundamental part of blocking, dodging, and ties directly with reaction speed. Which is why people can dodge attacks they are actually slower than..."

Steam started accumulating in the air, the source was Kiko's head. Although he heard what Azure was saying, his brain was working overtime to comprehend it.

'What the hell is this old man saying.'

Noticing his expression Azure sighed and simplified it.

"Basically, the reason is that you rely on your body instead of your mind. It's supposed to be 50/50. I'll give you some training techniques to help you with your prediction and trajectory analysis."

"You coulda said that from the beginning..." Kiko shrugged as he complained.

'Cocky brat.'

"Is that all?" He asked.

"Yeah, that'll be all." Azure dismissed Kiko and watched him turn and leave.

'There's an issue though that I haven't told him, but I'm not sure...'

'Let's test it.' Azure smiled menacingly as he watched his student walk away slowly.

He crouched his legs and gathered all his strength in his legs, he released it all and dashed at full speed in with his arm back.

He threw a ground-shattering cross at the youth's turned head and but when he was roughly 10 centimeters away, he screamed.

"Watch out!"

The youth quickly snapped his head back and noticed a large fist approaching his face at a blistering speed.

"Hm?"

Just when his fist was barely 3 centimeters away from his face the old man stopped his gruesome attack, had it landed it would've undoubtedly killed the boy.

'What the fuck is wrong with this kid?!'

"Oi! Last time you said that you didn't dodge because it wasn't close enough, surely this was dangerously close to your face, even I didn't know whether it would connect or not. Why didn't you dodge." The coach asked seriously with his fist still extended and extremely close to the youth's comparably small head.

"..." Kiko didn't reply and just looked at the fist.

'Could it be that I just overestimated his speed?' Azure thought for a few moments.

'No... I know 'God Given Talent' when I see it.' He dispelled his previous idea and deemed it ludicrous.

"Answer me!" Azure commanded the boy and garnered the attention of dozens of male boxers who were getting dressed.

For a full two minutes Kiko didn't say anything.

"I wouldn't gain anything if I dodged both your attacks." After a few moments, Kiko finally replied.

'What?!'

"What if you died..." Azure was practically speechless and was struggling to understand the boy who seemed to get stranger and stranger the more he spoke to him.

"I hope that's all."

Azure didn't reply he was speechless.

He shrugged and finally turned to leave.

Azure didn't think to try any more antics and merely stared at the first year who was leaving the room.

'People who have been through traumatic situations usually flinch excessively at the slightest hint of danger... but to not flinch at all, even when your life is in endanger is a sign of pure lunacy.'

The coach began laughing when he saw he left the room, All the boxers looked at him with mixed expressions: judgment, fear, and many more.

"Kiko Tensei... What kind of life have you lived for you to not even fear death itself?"

***

After Percy's match, there were no other matches that particularly caught Kiko's attention.

Overall, the St Winter's club did quite well on the first day.

Percy- Won twice and drew once.

Leo- Won all 3 of his matches.

Storm- Won once, lost twice, and drew once.

Hubris- Won all four. of his matches.

***

5PM

All the matches for the day had concluded and it was time for the athletes to go to their rooms.

The dormitories were located at the top levels of the sports center, each school and its own section which was further divided by their clubs.

Kiko was in his room getting dressed for an evening run, since he didn't train the whole day he felt the need to dedicate the next few hours to it.

'I'll just work on Cardio.'

He left the room dressed in his usual black long-sleeve compression shirt and black shorts and locked his room.

On his way out of the entrance of the building, he programmed his watch to measure 60 kilometers and set the timer.

On his way to the running path he ran into Skylar, of the volleyball team.

She was dressed in the school volleyball uniform: short black tights and a white long-sleeve shirt.

She was on the side of the path near a vending machine drinking bottled iced tea.

She noticed the approaching youth and smiled.

Kiko stopped abruptly as he noticed the vending machine, he still hadn't identified who the girl was and was confused as to why she was looking at him like that.

'Weird.'

"You really are rude; you don't even greet your former classmate." Rachel pouted teasingly as she looked at Kiko.

"Hm? Who the hell are you?" He raised his eyebrow as he looked at her.

'He doesn't remember me?!'

"I'm a Skylar bird, we went to the same middle school and we were in the same class."

"Uh, I have no idea who you are..."

"We also went to the same kindergarten??" She was flabbergasted by Kiko's poor memory.

"Nope." He simply shook his head.

Skylar sighed as she was losing hope in helping him remember.

"We also spoke at the Club dinner." She said as a last attempt.

"Ohhh, I see you are part of the girls club with the annoying captain," Kiko said as he pressed a few buttons on the machine.

"You mean the volleyball team?" She said confusedly.

" Yeah, that..." He paid using his watch and took out the water from the opening at the bottom.

"Y'know most men love our team, thanks to our captain." Skylar giggled as she sat down on a nearby bench.

'He's as strange as ever.'

"Eh, who the hell would love that witch." he uncapped the bottle and began gulping down.

She laughed as she heard his words and began swinging her legs.

"Say, you've been attending school way more than when we were in middle school."

"That's cause someone threatened to burn my house. " Kiko sighed as he finished his water and threw the bottle into a faraway bin.

"What'd you just say?" She swiveled her head at full speed to look at Kiko with a shocked expression.

He was stretching his legs and ignored the girl's reaction.

"I better get going before I get cold."

'Don't just brush me off!' Skylar became mildly irritated as she was slightly intrigued by what the youth had just said about the threat of arson.

"Mind if I run with you?" She asked as she stood up and looked at him.

"Just don't slow me down..." He chuckled as he looked at the girl who had started stretching.

"Oh please, don't be so full of yourself."

"Wanna bet?" He smiled deviously as he looked at her.

"Hell no, I'm familiar with your antics."

The two continued with their banter for 15 minutes as they stretched afterwards, they began their run.

***

20 kilometers in, Kiko was more than a couple hundred meters in front of Skylar he was panting loudly, and he kept glancing back to check on her.

'Seems volleyball players don't do much cardio' he laughed.

After a few minutes, he glanced back once again and noticed she hadn't moved at all.

"Hm? That's strange." He stopped and double-checked, as he thought his eyes might be deceiving him.

He sprinted back towards her and when he was 100m away he noticed she was crouched with he hands on her swollen ankle.

With sweat dripping from his face he looked down at her foot and shook his head.

"What'd I say about slowing me down?" He shook his head disappointedly.