A Pure Yet Impure Grappler
Chidori Kaname and Tokiwa Kyoko were running. Dressed in their street clothes, covered in sweat, panicked and flailing, they scrambled down the dark alley. Hot on their heels was a trio of obvious delinquent-types, sporting the usual array of tattoos, piercings, and eye patches. Determination glinted in their eyes as they pursued.
“Come back! Ya can’t get away!”
“Come back or we’ll kill ya!”
“Come back and we’ll kill ya!”
Their fury must have clouded their judgment, because their requests were unreasonable and contradictory. These were not men open to compromise or discussion.
“Sheesh, these guys don’t give up!” Kaname, a girl with long black hair and pretty features, said ruefully while panting and heaving for breath. She was holding her paper bag from Parco under one arm as she pulled Kyoko along with the other.
“It’s probably because,” her companion, Kyoko, likewise panted, tears hanging at the corners of her large, round eyes behind coke-bottle glasses, “you threw your drink on them... then hit them with a vacuum flying knee kick...”
They were in the shopping district on a Sunday. They’d come here to hit up the local stores and were grabbing a meal in a fast food place when the delinquents had approached. They’d surrounded Kyoko, going on about how cute she was, trying to jokingly put their arms around her, and more.
Kaname had happened to be away at the time, so when she’d returned, she’d unleashed a stream of verbal abuse on the trio. She had indeed thrown her drink on them and inflicted a jumping knee kick before spraying them with a fire extinguisher and hitting them with the empty tank when she was done. Then she’d taken off like a bat out of hell, leading to their present situation.
Some might even say the delinquents’ rage was understandable.
“Hahh... hahh... c-can’t go on...” Kyoko struggled for breath as she stumbled along in her high-heeled shoes.
“C’mon, Kyoko, get a grip!” Kaname ordered. “If they catch us, we’re done for! We’ll be sold to work on a tuna boat!”
“I really... doubt that...” Kyoko panted. “Ah, can’t go on...” But despite her exhaustion, she continued to run while being pulled along by Kaname. They knocked over piles of cardboard boxes, charged straight through a heap of trash bags, rounded the corner, and then... “Ahh!” Kyoko cried, finally tripping and falling flat onto the ground.
“Kyoko?!” Kaname ran back and helped her up, but not fast enough; the delinquents had caught up to them at last. “Geh...” she choked. “This is bad.”
“I’m sorry... sorry, Kana-chan,” Kyoko said with tear-filled eyes.
The three men surrounded the two girls, mouths slack, heads uniformly tilted forty-five degrees to the left.
“Little bitches.”
“You’re gonna pay for that, eh?”
“Really thought you could get away, eh?”
They were, indeed, furious.
“C-C’mon, guys. Let’s not fight. Let’s live in peace and friendship. As-salamu alaykum, peace be with you,” Kaname said soothingly, putting her right hand upon her left breast.
“You messin’ with us, eh?!” a delinquent demanded.
“Yeah, partly...” she was forced to admit.
“Hey! Whaddyawa?!” he replied in a barely comprehensible shout. Then he raised a fist and swung it at Kaname with full force.
At least, that had been her expectation. In fact, before he’d had a chance to bring his fist down on her, someone had grabbed it from behind.
“Eh?” the delinquent exclaimed in surprise.
The one who’d seized his hand was a boy, about the same age as Kaname and Kyoko. He was on the short side—about the same height as them or a little shorter. He had a very pale, attractive face, almond-shaped eyes, and long black hair tied back tightly beneath a red bandana. He also had a strangely dingy air about him—perhaps he was a cook at a local restaurant.
“A real man doesn’t hit women.” The boy’s voice was as cold as ice, yet a flaring passion seeped out around the edges.
The seized delinquent sneered back at the boy, “Eh? What the hell do you think you’re— ow, ow, ow!” His barks became a whine the second the boy began to twist his wrist. “Ow! Cut it out! Quit it! Hey, cut it out, I said... ahh, stop, stop, stop! Mommy... lemme ’lone... won’t hurt nobody... I’ll go straight, I promise!” Here, he began wailing openly. The horrific pain seemed to have caused him to relive memories of his less-than-ideal childhood.
“He told you to cut it out, asshole!” the other two delinquents shouted as they leaped forward. One held a riot baton, the other a knife. They came at the boy from both sides.
“Ah, look o—” Kaname and Kyoko tried to shout.
But the boy moved into action before his assailants reached him: first to the left, then to the right. Sharp slams rang out around them. It looked like he’d executed a pair of Bajiquan-style stomps. The next thing the girls knew, the two attackers had been slammed into either side of the alley, their weapons flying off. Kaname was completely in the dark about what had happened; it had occurred faster than the eye could follow.
The first man took off, weeping, as the other two slumped to the ground, unconscious.
The boy stood there for a while in a low stance with a blue aura rising from his fists. Then, at last, he relaxed and straightened. “Hmph,” he said with an indifferent snort before once again picking up the trash bag at his feet and beginning to walk off.
“E-Excuse me...” said Kaname.
“What is it, woman?” the boy asked bluntly as he stuffed the trash bag into an orange trash can.
“Thank you. Um... for saving us.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea,” he told her.
“Er...?”
“This is where I work,” he said, indicating the nearby door with his chin. “I didn’t want a commotion bothering our customers.” The delicious smell of gyoza wafted out from the exhaust fan; it appeared to be some kind of Chinese restaurant.
“Ah... I see.”
“I would never go out of my way to save tawdry women like you,” he clarified. “Now, make yourselves scarce.”
Kaname found herself annoyed by his attitude. It was one thing to be stoic—she knew someone with a similar demeanor, in fact—but to address her as “woman” in this day and age... it was a little offensive, frankly!
“Y-You...” she seethed. Normally she’d follow up with, ‘What the hell is wrong with you? Who do you think you are?!’ but for once, Kaname held her tongue. After all, the boy had saved her life. She recited a chant in her heart, Endure, endure, endure... and then concluded, Okay, I have endured. Kaname then took a deep breath, and said, “But... before I go, can I ask a question?”
“What?” The boy looked a little bit surprised. Most girls, when addressed that way, would either lay into him or run off crying, and perhaps that was the reaction he’d been expecting.
“Show me your hand,” she requested. “You’re bleeding.”
“Eh? What are you—”
Without waiting for his response, Kaname grabbed his right hand. There was a small cut on the edge of his fist. Perhaps he’d scratched it on a piece of the delinquents’ jewelry. Kaname pulled a Band-Aid from her pocket and placed it straight on the wound. “There. My way of saying thank you.”
The boy fell silent as he stared at his hand, the adhesive bandage, and Kaname’s slender fingers.
Kaname just looked back at him mischievously. “But that’s it. Of course, if you’d been a little nicer, I would’ve given you a lei, a hula dance, and a passionate kiss. Your loss, I guess.” She giggled.
“K-Kiss?” the boy stammered. “What are you...”
“Just kidding. Anyway, thanks. Come on, Kyoko, let’s go.” Kaname turned away and left the alley behind as the boy stood there, paralyzed.
Kyoko, who’d been watching the whole thing, gave him a quick bow, then followed after Kaname. After a little bit of walking, she said, “Hey, Kana-chan... why do you always tease guys like that?”
“Do I tease them?”
“Yeah. But seriously, that guy was pretty tough. Was that some kind of martial art?”
“Dunno. It didn’t quite look like karate...” She spoke indifferently enough, but Kaname was definitely curious. She hadn’t met anyone that strong besides Sousuke. It had been a genuine surprise to see the boy in action.
Whether she realized what Kaname was thinking or not, Kyoko said, “He was seriously awesome. He just laid them out. Too bad Sagara-kun’s not more like that.”
“What’s he got to do with this?” Kaname asked curiously. “Although...”
“Although?”
“Those martial arts types are pretty hot...” Kaname whispered, not thinking about it particularly deeply. From behind her, Kyoko let out a noise of surprise, but she didn’t even notice.
The next day, at the edge of the school grounds after class...
“Did that happen to you?” Sagara Sousuke asked. He wore his usual sullen expression and tight frown, but his brow was furrowed beneath his disheveled black hair.
“Yeah, it was incredible. He looked like Bruce Lee!” Kaname said pointedly, gazing at Sousuke from the side. “You just can’t beat a barehanded fighter! So gallant and striking...” She watched him closely as she spoke in a manner designed to elicit a response.
Sousuke’s response was serious and cold, “That’s a naïve way of thinking.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I suspect that restaurant staffer was merely forced to fight barehanded because he didn’t possess a proper weapon.”
“I don’t think... that’s what happened...”
“It’s a shame,” Sousuke continued. “Perhaps he lacks a decent arms supplier. As a show of gratitude, I should provide him with an assault rifle. Or antitank rockets, perhaps.”
“I doubt he’d like that... Anyway, I’m talking about cool factor,” Kaname told him.
At this, Sousuke tilted his head. “I don’t understand. Does ‘cool factor’ offer a strategic benefit? I don’t believe it increases the accuracy of artillery shells or the smoothness of logistics...”
Kaname let out a sigh. “Oh, whatever. Just forget I said anything.”
“Very well... Ah, I believe this is the place.”
They were on the outskirts of the school grounds, a quiet place on a lonely path lined with cherry trees. Come spring, the cherry trees would be in full bloom, and the place would be lively with students engaged in flower viewing. But for now, there was no one in sight.
At the end of the path lay an old wooden structure: a single-story building the size of an ordinary house. It looked rather ramshackle from the outside, with broken windows and many holes in the walls.
“Wow... it really is an old beat-up judo dojo,” Kaname said in disbelief. From inside, they could hear shouting male voices and bodies being thrown; the sounds of a violent practice.
As the judo club didn’t currently have enough members to function, the dojo was currently home to the karate society, They were the ones that Sousuke and Kaname had business with today.
The school also had a proper karate club—the karate society had formed out of a handful of their disgruntled members. Apparently, these members wanted to abandon the art’s formal rules and structure in order to develop more practical real-life combat styles. They believed the karate club was lacking in that regard.
“Which isn’t an issue in and of itself...” the student council president, Hayashimizu Atsunobu, had said when he’d given them the job. “The issue is the judo dojo. The building is badly damaged and in violation of the fire code. Previously, the fire department looked the other way, but there was a change in leadership last month and now they’re on our backs about it.”
Which meant the dojo had to be torn down. This had been decided at a staff meeting, and Hayashimizu hadn’t objected. The karate society, however, had—it was the only place where they could practice, after all. The student council had sent them several notices, all of which they’d ignored. Hence, Kaname and Sousuke had been dispatched to give them their notice of eviction in person.
“Why am I always dealing with weirdo sports clubs?” Kaname mused.
“Perhaps you’re simply well suited to the task,” said Sousuke.
“I’m sad that I can’t deny it...”
They were about to open the dojo’s door when... Crash! A large man came flying out, bashing straight through it. Corkscrewing through the air, he flew over Kaname’s and Sousuke’s heads before landing hard against the ground, back first.
The next thing Kaname knew, Sousuke had forced her to the ground, his gun drawn. “Hey... get off me!” she protested. “I can’t breathe!”
“Hold still,” Sousuke cautioned. Then, after training his gun a full 360 degrees around them, he finally relaxed and released her. “All right. It’s safe.”
“For the love of... Why are you always like this?” Kaname muttered to herself, dusting off her arms and backside. She then addressed the collapsed man. “Excuse me. Are you all right?”
“Ah, I’m... I’m fine...” His face was stained with tears and blood, and one wrist was bent in a strange direction. His karate uniform was fairly shredded, with red lumps visible on his body here and there. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Forgive me!” the man then screamed tearfully toward the door and ran, half-crawling, away from the dojo.
“Er... what?” Kaname breathed. While the two of them watched him run in shock, they heard a low laugh from behind them. It had come from the dojo.
“Ha. Gutless coward!”
“Runs off crying over one broken wrist!”
“Maybe he’ll finally learn his lesson!”
Kaname turned and saw three men in a variety of positions in the dark dojo hall. They were all huge figures, with necks as thick as tree trunks and broad, burly chests. Their square jaws and hard-edged faces made it hard to believe they were high school students. They had a particular intensity—the kind of aura commonly referred to as “fighting spirit”—welling up from their bodies. The word “menacing” even seemed to be written over their heads, like a manga sound effect.
“You two there! What are you looking at?” one of the men called haughtily.
Their school was known as a pretty laid-back place... she’d had no idea that there were students like this here. Kaname let out an awed breath as she watched them with a shiver.
“So this is the karate society,” Sousuke said calmly.
They took off their shoes and entered the dojo.
When Kaname introduced herself as being from the student council, the three men’s expressions hardened. Their faces, already seemingly hewn from stone, took on an even more threatening cast.
“So, what do you want?” they demanded in unison.
Kaname, with very deliberate motions, drew some documents out of her file case, then proceeded to explain the situation in the manner of a bank employee. “Well, as you may know from previous notices you’ve received, it is the decision of the teachers and the student council that this dojo should be demolished. There have been requests from the fire department as well. Therefore, I must ask you to pack up your things and leave. Today, if possible.”
At this, the three men sneered.
“Too bad we can’t do that.”
“We don’t got nowhere else to go.”
“Foreclose on those karate club pussies instead.”
The three of them, all sitting there in the formal kneeling style, arms folded, truly looked like mountains of men. Their curious haughtiness gave them the air of video game boss characters. She didn’t know their names, so from right to left, she decided to label them Marron, Waffle, and Chocolat.
“Well... our intention isn’t to shut down your club,” Kaname explained. “It’s to tear down a dojo that violates the fire code.”
“Like we care,” said Marron.
“If you really want this place...” said Waffle.
“...you better take it by force,” said Chocolat.
Then they let out a unanimous guffaw.
Kaname sighed, and Sousuke nudged her with his elbow.
“What?”
“Chidori. They’re saying that we can have it if we take it from them,” Sousuke clarified.
“So?”
“Why don’t we simply expel them by force, then? It seems like the simplest means available.”
Veins bulged on the three men’s foreheads as they heard this.
“Oh, yeah?” said Marron.
“What an interestin’ proposition,” said Waffle.
“You think you can beat us, eh?” said Chocolat.
Upon hearing this, Sousuke’s normally tight frown took on an even tighter curve. “It seems cruel to say so, but it’s the unavoidable truth. The three of you cannot defeat me.”
“Wait, Sousu—”
Wham! Just as Kaname was about to speak, a tremendous roar ripped through the dojo.
The middle man of the trio, Waffle, had stood up and slammed his heel onto the floor. The resultant shockwave shook the building itself, dislodging dust from the walls. Kaname looked and saw that the hit had opened a large hole in the floor below the tatami mats. As old as the building was, the floor would have been built to resist those sorts of hits. A single barefoot stomp shouldn’t have been enough to break through it!
“Sagara, right? If you don’t wanna end up like this floor, or that karate club reject before you, you might wanna shut your big mouth,” Waffle hissed.
“Yeah. Your eyes! Fists! Muscles! They all tell us how strong you are—or ain’t. So take it back, get on your knees and apologize, and maybe we’ll let you off the hook,” Marron said.
“Exactly. There’s a saying that the Amazon River can’t take the Tama to task. But that’s not how we roll,” Chocolat said.
Sousuke frowned at them, then sighed quietly. “You seem quite confident in yourselves. It seems you won’t recognize the size of the ocean outside your pond until I beat you.”
“Oh?!” At this, the shaved giants grinned down at him, eyes flashing.
“All right... we were just feelin’ a little bored. We’ll humor you,” Marron said.
“Pick one out of the three of us. If you can beat him... we’ll leave the dojo without a fight. However!” Waffle said dramatically.
“If you lose, you gotta pay a price. Let’s say...” Chocolat spoke and made a big show of thinking.
Their gazes then converged on Kaname. “Give us that girl,” they said in unison.
“Wuh?”
“We’ve been wantin’ a manager.”
“She looks pretty classy.”
“Yeah. Good birthin’ hips.”
The men with faces as craggy as cliffs by the sea were saying terrifying things. Kaname was just starting to squirm, when...
“Very well,” Sousuke simply agreed, without even asking her first.
“Hey, Sousuke!”
“Don’t worry, Chidori. I just have to win.” Having made that calm declaration, Sousuke smoothly stood up. He pointed unceremoniously to the man in the middle. “I will fight you. Don’t regret your offer.”
“Ha, we’ll see how long your big talk lasts,” said Waffle, “though you do seem like you know what you’re doin’...” They at least seemed to recognize that Sousuke had a degree of fighting skill. A fierce smile appeared on the man’s face as he walked to the center of the dojo. It seemed they were going to start fighting immediately.
Tension ran through the quiet dojo as Sousuke moved to face off against him.
“Lemme start by sayin’,” the man said, cracking his neck audibly. “Us karate society guys train to fight in real life. ‘Karate’ is what we call it, but it’s really a mixed martial arts style incorporatin’ throws, strikes, kicks, you name it.”
“I see,” Sousuke said neutrally.
“In other words, this won’t be one of those fights where we put on armor and hold ourselves back with a buncha stupid rules. Even biting’s fair game. No killing, of course, but major injuries are just fine.”
“Real-life combat, then? That’s fine by me.” Sousuke didn’t even bother removing his high-collared uniform as he stood there, his posture relaxed.
I hope he’ll be okay... Kaname hadn’t heard anything about Sousuke practicing martial arts, but given the skills she knew he’d acquired growing up in war-torn regions overseas, she wouldn’t be particularly surprised if he had. And she’d seen him knock out bigger, tougher men time and time again. She wondered, was he about to reveal some kind of military fighting style?
No, wait a minute. It came to her in a flash. Raised in war-torn regions... At times like these, Sousuke, an actually experienced real-life fighter would—
“I’m ready anytime,” he said.
“Okay! Yeah, let’s do this!” Waffle slapped himself on the cheeks and charged at Sousuke.
In response, Sousuke flipped up the hem of his high-collared uniform and drew the small shotgun he kept hidden behind his back.
Cracka-POW! There was a sound like a bolt of thunder, and the large man toppled over, fingers twitching, a rubber stun bullet lodged in his face. It had struck with the force of a heavyweight boxer.
“Hang on! Hang on just a—”
Blam! Blam, blam, blam!
Sousuke unloaded his entire stock, causing the giant to spasm with pain. Poor Waffle, the recipient of the merciless blasts, soon fell still, his eyes rolling back in his head.
“I win,” Sousuke said quietly, gun still pointed quietly at his foe. “If you want to fight in real-life situations, your first task is to ascertain whether or not your enemy is armed.”
“Yeah, figured...” Kaname muttered. Then, in an almost obligatory fashion, she slapped Sousuke on the back of his head with her fan.
Needless to say, Sousuke’s conduct had enraged the other two men, who insisted that the round didn’t count.
“You damned coward!”
“You used a gun!”
Greasy sweat appeared on Sousuke’s forehead as the men took him to task. “But,” he said in confusion, “what’s wrong with using appropriate weaponry to defeat—”
“Shut up! No guns, dammit!”
“I don’t understand,” Sousuke protested. “He said you train to fight in real-life situations. Is it not the nature of real-life combat to utilize equipment, terrain, weather, training, and information to their fullest?”
“Guns still aren’t allowed!” The two men fumed.
“Foolishness. There’s nothing in the rules of engagement that forbids the use of firearms. I would understand it on missions in no-fire areas, such as oil refineries or tankers... but this is merely a wooden building. Are you trying to get your soldiers killed?!” Sousuke demanded.
“That’s just not how we do it! No guns allowed!”
“I see...”
“Now, we’re gonna try this one more time!”
“Very well. I won’t use guns.” Sousuke relented with a sigh after a moment’s hesitation. He handed his firearm to Kaname. Then he faced off against his next opponent, Marron.
“Time for revenge. Get ready!” the man said and then charged at him fiercely.
Sousuke took a stance, reached into his pocket, and... Fwssssh! Teargas flooded out from the can he’d produced, potent enough to quell even the most violent riot.
The white gas hit Marron clean in the face, sending him rolling around the dojo floor, screaming and coughing. He began to wail, shedding tears and snot, as his opponent inflicted further punishment with a series of kicks and even more gas. “Stop! Stop!” Marron cried.
Sousuke, wearing a gas mask he’d pulled from somewhere or other, said simply, “I win.”
“No gas, either!” Kaname and the remaining man screamed, stamping their feet.
“Hmm... I don’t understand what you’re basing this on,” Sousuke said, thoughtfully.
Kaname pressed her fingers to her temples. “Listen, Sousuke... These guys are only any good at fighting barehanded. They want you to play along with that,” she explained bluntly.
“Only barehanded? But I thought they were preparing for real-life combat. Where in the world would you be fighting barehanded in real—”
“Those are just the rules, okay?!”
Sousuke nodded hesitantly. “Understood. Any damage I deal barehanded is acceptable, then?”
“Precisely.”
“One more time, to confirm. Weapons aren’t allowed, but punching and kicking is?”
“Right. Now, do your best!”
“Hmm...” Sousuke was ready to go again. He turned to the last man, Chocolat, and both moved into a fighting stance.
“Here we go!”
“Roger. Take this.” Sousuke whipped a hand grenade out from under his coat and tossed it at his opponent.
“Wh-What?!” The man caught it without thinking and, panicked and confused, was about to throw it out the window, when...
Pow! Sousuke landed a jump kick into his side and sent him toppling. It was a kick hard enough to break a less burly opponent’s neck.
Poor Chocolat hit the back of his head against one of the dojo’s pillars. While he was in a daze, Sousuke stepped up to stand astride him, and then... Bam! Wham! Crack! He struck every vulnerable point the man had in a blinding series of blows.
“Stop! Stop it!” Kaname grabbed Sousuke from behind and tore him off of his now-unconscious opponent. “Knock it off already! That was a nasty trick!”
“But I defeated him barehanded,” he pointed out.
“You used a grenade!”
Sousuke plucked the grenade off the floor as he looked down at the felled giant. “It was simply a bluff. I hadn’t removed the safety pin, so there was no danger of it exploding. I used his lack of cool-headedness and careful observation to open him up for a strike.”
Smack! Sousuke fell over, having taken Kaname’s own jump kick head-on.
“Chidori,” he said in tones of great admiration, “That was a fine kick...”
“Shut up!” she snarled. “I thought we were setting up for something out of a fighting manga... but you keep cheating!” Bringing in illegal weapons, hitting his opponents in the back... It was the kind of thing a pro wrestling heel would do.
“But this is simply how I fight...”
“War really is hell; it produces immoral idiots like you in droves...” Kaname lamented.
Ignoring her protestations, Sousuke started dragging one of the bodies of the men he’d knocked out toward the door. “At any rate,” he observed, “we’ve neutralized all of them.”
“Are you stupid or something? The karate society isn’t going to accept this result,” Kaname groaned.
It was just then that a new voice spoke up. “That’s right. I do not accept it.”
The two of them turned around questioningly to see a boy standing at the entrance to the dojo. He was on the shorter side of average and wore a high-collared uniform with two lines on the sleeves, which suggested that he was a second-year like Sousuke. His long hair was tied back beneath a red bandana, and he was fair-skinned with almond-shaped eyes.
“Ah...” It was the boy from the Chinese restaurant who had saved Kaname and Kyoko the day before. Kichijoji certainly was close to their school, but she hadn’t expected him to actually go here! Kaname’s mouth flapped in shock, but the second-year boy ignored her as he slowly approached Sousuke.
“And you are?” Sousuke asked.
“Me? I am Tsubaki Issei. And you must be Sagara, the student council’s lapdog,” the boy—Tsubaki Issei—said. He didn’t even seem to have noticed Kaname at all.
“Hey, hang on a minute!” she called.
Issei didn’t even spare her a glance. “What is it, woman?”
“It’s me. Me! You remember—”
“Shut up. I don’t care about what any irritating woman has to say,” he spat in annoyance, then focused his attention fully on Sousuke. His indifferent attitude suggested he really didn’t recognize her.
Kaname just stood there and stared in confusion. Maybe a coincidental resemblance? Or a twin? But he really did look exactly like him... She looked at his right fist, and saw the blue adhesive bandage she’d applied yesterday still there. He couldn’t possibly have forgotten her, could he?
“How long have you been watching?” Sousuke asked.
“Not long. I don’t know the exact situation, but I assume the three idiots here promised to hand over the dojo if you beat them or something like that.”
“Indeed. And I beat them. So, move out.”
“I can’t do that,” Issei replied.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m the society’s president, and you haven’t beaten me yet.”
Kaname was even more surprised. The society’s president? Those three burly men served Tsubaki Issei, a boy even shorter than Sousuke? Although, from what she’d seen yesterday, he had serious skills...
A slight smile appeared on the boy’s face, as porcelain white as a noh mask. It was the expression of someone who, even knowing what Sousuke could do, remained unintimidated.
“Tsubaki-kun! You’re here!”
“Please... please, avenge us!”
“He’s a tricky one! Please... beat him!” The men begged Tsubaki Issei.
“Silence, you fools. Get out of here this instant,” Issei barked.
“So I just need to defeat you?” asked Sousuke.
“Yes,” Issei affirmed. “By any means you wish.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Sousuke fell silent. He and Issei stood within arm’s reach of each other. Both looked relaxed, their arms loose at their sides.
And then, after a moment of silence... the two of them moved.
To Kaname’s eyes, it just looked like they’d sprung into a grapple. In fact, a very complicated exchange had taken place. The two of them had swiftly taken each other by the wrist, then knocked the grabbing hand away. There was likewise a lashing out of knees and elbows, and dodging of the same. Each tried to knock the other over and failed. This had all happened over the course of a few seconds.
Then Issei dipped down, and... Crash! With a dull, heavy sound, Sousuke’s body went flying. Issei had channeled his full strength into a powerful palm strike.
Sousuke shouted wordlessly as his body flew through the air, hit a wall, and then collapsed. He lay there, face-down and immobile.
So much power in such a small body... Where in the world does it come from? Kaname wondered.
“The killer strike passed down through generations... the Ketsuzensho, the ultimate move of Daidomyaku style... No one who takes a hit from that can ever stand up again,” Issei explained.
“Sousuke?!” Chidori cried out in alarm.
“Stay back, woman,” Issei chastised her as she was about to run to Sousuke. “The idea of a female in my sacred dojo sickens me enough. If you don’t want to meet the same fate, get out of here at once.”
Kaname glared at him. “Would... Would you quit calling me ‘woman’?! I have a name, and it’s Chidori Kaname!”
“Hmph. ‘Woman’ is sufficient for the likes of you,” Issei huffed back.
“How dare you!” she fumed. “You seemed like a decent guy yesterday!”
“Yesterday? What are you talking about?” Issei asked with a scowl. He narrowed his eyes and gazed at her from afar, then muttered dubiously at length. “Hmph. Ignore the foolish female... I’ve won! You’ll have to give up on tearing down the dojo!” Issei declared, when just then...
“It’s not... over yet,” Sousuke whispered as he slowly stood up.
“Sousuke?” Kaname breathed.
“I’m all right. Though it was a fairly effective hit,” he said, spitting a gob of blood from his mouth.
Issei’s eyes narrowed, and he let out a hum of appreciation. “Oho... I’ve never seen anyone get up right after taking that hit. Interesting.”
“It won’t hit me again. And...” Sousuke looked over at Kaname. “I believe I’ve begun to understand the feelings of those who exclusively fight barehanded now. A gun would be inelegant in a situation like this.” With that, Sousuke removed his jacket. He dropped his pistol, his knife, and his other equipment. It appeared his fighter’s heart had been lit aflame. “Let’s try this seriously,” Sousuke said.
Kaname let out a noise of awe. “Oh... yesss! It’s battle manga time!”
“I don’t know what that means, but never mind. It’s not an issue.”
“Hah. Never knew there was someone this tough in our school. I’ve been blessed with interesting encounters of late. Just yesterday... heh.” Issei looked down at the blue adhesive bandage on his hand. For just an instant, his expression looked uncustomarily joyous, almost innocent.
“What’s that bandage?” Sousuke asked.
“It’s none of your business. I met a goddess, that’s all.”
At this, Kaname narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
Meanwhile, Issei approached Sousuke again. “Now, come at me, Sagara Sousuke. I’m ready any time. But the next time I hit you won’t be like that one... You got lucky then.” Issei produced a pair of horn-rimmed glasses from his uniform pocket.
“Hmm? What’s all this?”
“This.” With a slightly self-recriminating smile, Issei put on the glasses. The thick lenses obscured his almond-shaped eyes and gave him a rather nerdy appearance. Despite being a martial artist, he appeared to have poor eyesight—very poor, given the lenses’ thickness.
Nearsightedness? Kaname wondered.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. My years of brutal training have prepared me to fight well enough even with poor eyesight,” said Issei. “Nevertheless, my nearsightedness does sometimes result in my strikes hitting off-center. Do you see? That’s why the damage of my Ketsuzensho was reduced.”
Sousuke said nothing.
“Tragic though it may be, it is only with these pathetic glasses on that I can unleash my true power. Then...” Issei, now wearing his glasses, let out a slow sigh and lowered both his arms.
The atmosphere over the dojo became hushed, and a crackling tension raced through it as hostility sparked between the two superb fighters.
“All right, let’s begin.”
“Mm.” Though he appeared to just be standing there, Issei didn’t show a moment’s opening. The very air around him seemed to form an invisible wall. “Make your everyday stance your combat stance... It is only in this way that the fist can thrive.”
Sousuke was silent.
“Heh heh... Now, Sagara, attack me as you please.”
It was a truly touch-and-go situation. But as Kaname anxiously watched the two facing off, preparing for a violent battle, she remembered something important. The requirement that if Sousuke lost, she would have to become their manager... Was that still in play? She clenched her fists and spoke up, dazedly, “Um, could I ask a question? Is the manager thing—”
“Later, Chidori,” Sousuke said.
Issei turned his gaze keenly to Kaname. “You, woman! I told you to leave this place... at... once?” For some reason, Issei’s speech suddenly slowed. The gaze of his coke-bottle glasses fixed on Kaname... and his face first paled, and then went bright red. It was the face of a man who couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Kaname blinked in confusion.
“Y-You go to... our school?” Issei stammered.
“Wh-What’s wrong?” she asked.
Issei, with the proper distance vision afforded by his glasses, stared at Kaname, sweat rising on his forehead. His mannerisms were suddenly extremely awkward. “Ah... well. I’m sorry. I just... all the yelling I did. I really... didn’t mean it.”
“Huh?”
“I’m g-g-grateful to you for... the bandage. I mean it. I’m not lying. I... I just didn’t realize...” Issei wasn’t looking at Sousuke at all now, and squirming with obvious awkwardness.
Kaname stared at him for a while, then clapped her hands together. “...Oh! Did you not recognize me until now? Because of your bad eyesight?!”
Issei began to panic openly. “N-No! I would never... Ah, well, your voice just sounded different... I, er... I simply... Oh, yes. Chidori Kaname, was it? That’s a very... very nice name... ha ha...”
It was true that she’d kept her voice a bit aloof yesterday, while today she was being her usual assertive self. It wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t recognized it. What was much stranger was how flustered Issei had become since recognizing her. He was no longer a fierce fighter capable of defeating a man raised on the battlefield. He was simply an awkward, blushing teenager.
“What’s wrong?” Kaname asked. “Are you okay?”
“Um... ah...?”
Seeming to think that the fight was still on, Sousuke strode up to him with clenched fists. Issei simply watched him come in a daze, as if he had no idea what was going on. “Let’s begin, Tsubaki,” Sousuke commanded.
“Begin? Begin wha—”
Wham! Skreeeeeeeeeeeeee, crash!
It was a critical hit. Issei took Sousuke’s punch head-on, and his HP instantly hit zero.
“You left yourself wide open, Tsubaki,” Sousuke said, looking down in surprise at the body on the floor.
“That’s... cheating...” Issei said faintly.
“I don’t understand how,” Sousuke said, “but nevertheless, I appear to have won.”
Issei fell silent.
Kaname frowned as she walked up to him and examined the fallen young man. “That’s weird,” she remarked. “You went down so easily... I thought you were tougher than that.”
“You said your combat stance was your everyday stance. That certainly looked like an everyday stance... I suppose I don’t understand barehanded fighting at all,” Sousuke admitted.
“That’s... that’s not what I... meant...” Issei moaned as he writhed on the floor.
Three days later, as planned, the aging judo building was torn down.
“Even if I question its fairness, a loss is a loss. We’ll abandon the dojo. You’ve shown me how inadequate my training has been,” Issei sighed as he watched the destruction take place. “However! You won’t have it so easy next time, Sagara. I won’t make the same mistake again. I... I... I will defeat you, and make Chidori Kaname the manager of the karate society!”
“Very well, Tsubaki. Do your best. But Chidori will have a long wait ahead of her,” Sousuke said, provoking him openly to his face.
Sparks flew between the two men, standing so close that their noses almost touched.
“Excuse me! Don’t I get a say in this?!” Kaname argued from the sidelines.
But neither Sousuke nor Issei heard her.
〈A Pure Yet Impure Grappler — The End〉
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login