Pre-season (5)

"S-shut up. Just call for some help."

"You're very demanding for someone who needs my help." He chuckled.

Kiko turned around and crouched in front of her.

"Get on."

"What?!"

"Hurry up, my knees are getting tired."

Reluctantly, the tall girl got onto his back awkwardly.

Kiko stood up with her on his back and huffed lightly.

He staggered slightly and began walking back to the sports center.

As he was walking Skylar who was being incredibly timid and quiet finally spoke up.

"Are you sure? Aren't I heavy?" She said timidly.

"You are heavy, matter of fact you're probably aroun-"

Skylar whose face turned bright red hit the boy's head to stop him from guessing her weight.

"What the hell! You asked."

"Shut up... Then why are you carrying me?" she said in an unusually quiet tone.

"I have to build muscle somehow."

His answer left the girl speechless and she had no choice but to change to topic.

"Don't you dare touch my a-"

"Oh please, there's nothing to touch..."

During their journey the two spoke about a fought and spoke about a variety of topics, getting to know each other better.

***

7 AM

Just outside the sports center, an average-height youth stood outside the large building with a tall beauty on his back.

He took a deep breath and walked through the door.

'She's heavy as fuck.'

As he walked through the building to the infirmary he got tons of stares from various students, coaches, and staff.

"Ahh young love!"

"He doesn't even know what to do with a girl like that."

"In public? How shameful."

Ignoring the remarks, Kiko walked into the infirmary and was instantly greeted by a short pretty nurse with long black hair.

"Hi, I'm nurse Hailey. May I ask what your issue is?" She smiled invitingly.

"She has an injured ankle." Kiko replied casually.

"Oh okay, that should be a quick fix. Just put her on the bed over there." Hailey said as she pointed at an unoccupied bed with a curtain near it.

'What a caring young man.'

Kiko put the girl on the vacant bed as she blushed in silence (a rare occurrence for a girl who has something to say about everything).

When he laid her down his watch vibrated indicating he just received a message.

He glanced at it and read what it said.

{Come to the training area at the higher level, we're going to be working on your 'prediction skills'. And make sure to wear your hand wraps}

'I guess I've barely trained today, so I might as well.'

"Hey."

He tapped the nurse who turned around to look for the medication she needed.

She turned around and was face to face with the youth who was taller than her, she was a bit flustered by him being surprisingly close.

He reached out and grabbed the pen that was poking out of her breast pocket.

"I'll be needing this." He smiled softly.

He turned around and grabbed a long piece of gauze that was lying on the side table.

He used the pen to write down a sequence of numbers on the gauze and placed it on the girl's lap.

"Call me if there are any issues."

'Hehe now she owes me now, maybe that's another meal ticket.' He fought the urge to start laughing maniacally. The youth had finally revealed the true reason he was being unusually nice.

'Hm? Was Tensei so caring?' She thought, not aware the teen's intentions.

Before she could reply his watch vibrated once again and the youth sighed.

"Okay okay, I'm coming. Damn"

He turned around swiftly and put the pen back into the nurse's breast pocket once again flustering her.

Kiko then walked out in a hurry without looking back.

"Your boyfriend is very caring... and unique." She smiled nervously at the girl lying on the bed.

***

Kiko opened the large door to the St Winter's exclusive training room and was greeted by dozens of eyes looking in his direction.

After a few seconds, they merely brushed him off as an average person.

The training room was smaller than the school's boxing gymnasium but was not to be underestimated by any means, it consisted of multiple weight equipment, a punching bag in the corner, and lots of open space.

He walked towards his coach who was standing in the corner wearing punching pads.

"We starting now?"

"Yep, are you warmed up?"

"Yeah, I just came from a run."

"Good, let's get this start-"

Interrupting his own words, the coach lunged at him to strike him with the punching pad, towards his head.

Kiko took a step back and looked at him surprisingly.

"You didn't even let me get ready, sheesh."

After having his attack dodged Azure stopped and cracked a smile.

"Then get ready, you big baby."

'Who the hell are you calling a baby.'

"Can I try out a new stance?" Instead of voicing his complaints on being called a child Kiko asked a question related to their training.

'Hm? Eidikos told me was trying out southpaw, let's see what he has accomplished.'

"Since you haven't found a fighting style or stance that works for you, I don't see why not."

"Okay great, I only anylized this today and thought it was interesting."

"Today?"

'Didn't he see the southpaw earlier this week...'

Kiko crouched down and lifted both his arms in front of his face.

{Peak-a-boo}

'So, he is mimicking Percy's stance?' Azure started laughing boldly.

"What's up?"

"Nothing... Are you ready?"

"Yeah, Let's do this."

Azure once again lunged at the boy with his left hand delivering a quick cross toward his head.

Kiko weaved under the attack at the last second.

"That's too late Tensei, use your eyes to look at the moving muscles and predict the trajectory of the attack."

"Yeah yeah, I get it." Kiko was irritated by the nagging as it was adding to his frustration.

Azure used his right hand to throw a hook at the youth's body at a faster speed than the initial attack.

Kiko stepped back easily evading the attack.

"In the ring, you don't have unlimited space, you can't keep stepping back. You should block some attacks as well."

" Are you just going to keep criticizing everything I do?"

"If you keep being dumb."

'Who the hell does this old fart think he is?'

Azure punched at the youth's guard using a jab.

He slipped underneath it where he was met with a hook coming from the opposite hand.

Kiko shifted his right hand so it could block the attack. Instead of connecting He didn't feel a thing, using his peripheral vision, he saw a red missile coming from below.

Azure had feinted the hook and instead threw a devastating uppercut.

When the blow connected it had much less force than the coach was capable of, the punching pads greatly decreased the impact whilst still having the same level of speed. Although the pain wasn't excruciating it was nothing to scoff at.

"Hehe..."

Kiko rubbed his chin gently.

"You told me to not move reflexively but then went and delivered a blow I could've dodged if I did." The youth complained.

"I didn't say don't use your reflexes, I said incorporate prediction into this to reduce energy consumed." Azure sighed at the seemingly helpless boy.

"Let's go again."

Azure jabbed twice at the youth's guard, and he slipped past both attacks easily, but he didn't celebrate as he knew this was merely the beginning of a troublesome combo.

The coach threw an attack that came from the bottom and was heading up to Kiko's lower abdomen slightly above the belt.

Using his opposite hand, Kiko punched at his coach's arm to send the attack off course.

'When the hell did, he learn to parry? And to do it in such a troubling situation.'

Continuing his assault, he used his other hand to go for Kiko's head with a hook.

Kiko looked at the attack while trying to make sure he can see the other parts of Azure's body.

'His other arm is still outstretched so I don't think it'll be possible for him to throw another attack, so this one is the real deal!' Kiko concluded that his teacher was going to commit to this attack and bent his head before the attack was even close to connecting.

BAM!

Instead of being struck from the side where he thought the attack was initially going, he was struck by Azure's pad on the opposite side.

"If you dodge too early, you'll be hit by an attack coming from a completely different direction."

They continued like this, with Azure surprising Kiko in a different way every time and clobbering him then telling him exactly where he went wrong and exactly how to fix it.

***

10 PM

Azure had left at 9 PM as he had to be fully energized for the next day when he had to coach all 4 of his fighters.

Kiko was the only one left in the training room as he was the only one who wouldn't be competing the next day, so everyone had to be well-rested.

He was training with weights to increase strength and muscle mass. As he was doing a bench press, he was sweating buckets as he struggled to press up the 65kg weight.

He had come a long way from the past month, where he used to bench 40kg, although he was still unsatisfied with his growth. He still had to build 4 more kilograms of muscle.