"Move your feet faster."
Tilting my head as the words left my mouth, I dodged a sloppy punch aimed at my nose.
"Don't close your eyes when facing pain."
As I spoke, I grabbed onto his arm and twisted slightly, causing my opponent to prove my point by instinctively squeezing his eyes shut. Sighing, I ended the spar by placing my ankle behind his leg and pushing lightly.
"Have better awareness of your surroundings."
Turning away, deeming this over, I headed for the showers while my opponent—Toma—lay sprawled out on the ground.
'How did he rope me into sparring with him again? ...oh, right.'
A few days after I met Toma, he had started pestering me to train together. At first, I refused—even when he asked at the worst possible times, like during bathroom breaks or right in the middle of a fight. Eventually, I made a deal with him: if he gave me half a bottle of whiskey per spar, I would both spar with him and teach him a few techniques.
'Not my business why he's here.' I thought as I entered the public showers, stripped down and started scrubbing away.
-
"Three days ago, Adelheid's men were reported to be gathering in larger groups than normal—"
I tuned out the senior's words as my eyes drifted from him to the other seniors, slapping away Toma's hand as he tried to poke me.
"—As such, you will be assigned teammates. A box with numbers will be placed at the front—"
My ears tuned back in as a box resting on a pedestal was set down.
"Those with the same numbers will be assigned to each other. Well? Hurry up, we don't have all day!"
Forming a line, I heard Toma whisper in my ear from behind,
"Think we'll be placed together, Sato-senpai?"
I sighed.
"If fate allows such a thing."
'Hopefully my future "teammates" aren't nosy.'
I waited as the line dwindled until it was my turn. Placing my hand into the box, I felt around the papers before pulling one out.
'Heh. Sixty nine.'
Turning the paper toward the senior monitoring us, he nodded and gestured to a spot that had my number marked.
"Sato-senpaaaaai!!"
'Fuck.'
Tilting my head just as Toma flew by, he skidded to a stop, turned around and walked over while showing me the same number.
"Seems fate allowed it, Sato-senpai!"
I nodded before sitting down cross legged, waiting for the rest of our teammates to show up—while Toma continued yapping in my ear.
Hearing two sets of footsteps approach, I turned my head and spotted a female and male duo walking toward us.
'Must be the others.'
Sighing, I stood up just as they reached us, holding out my number as they did the same.
"Cool. We get the psycho child." The girl muttered.
I stayed silent at her comment, turning my gaze to the absolute unit of a man beside her awkwardly scratching his chin.
"Sorry about her." he said.
I hummed, but before I could reply Toma stepped in front of me, glaring at the young woman.
"Sato-senpai isn't a psycho!"
The girl snorted and shot back a retort, which turned into them yelling at each other. Ignoring them, I looked back at the man towering over me—easily a foot taller and twice as wide.
"Sato Kazuya." I introduced myself, stretching out my hand.
He smiled and did the same.
'I'll look like how I once did one day. I'll be far taller than you.'
"I look forward to our efforts together going forward, Sato-san. I'm Arai Daiki." he said, his grip easily dwarfing mine before we let go.
Meanwhile, the two others finished their bickering.
"Daiki! You can't tell me you're getting along with the psycho child!"
In response, Daiki laughed. As I stepped back and watched the three argue—and yell—amongst themselves, I thought about how this would make what I wanted to do slightly more difficult.
'Life is all about challenges.'
-
"God, why here?!"
I ignored the young woman's whine as we entered a quiet ramen shop under the protection of Mizuki's group and sat down while an order was made.
"I think Sato-san's idea of getting to know each other is quite good, Rin. Just try to bear it for a bit." Daiki said.
Grumbling, the woman—Rin—nodded as she sat down next to Daiki.
"Hmph. Sato-senpai chose this place, so of course it's good... It is good, right, Sato-senpai?"
I ignored the question and spoke instead.
"I'll start the introductions first with myself."
I received two nods and a snort before continuing.
"I'm Sato Kazuya. I have things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future are ones I will accomplish. As for my hobbies... I have many."
Silence followed as they digested my words. Before Rin could open her mouth to say anything, the food arrived.
"Let's dig in." I said, immediately doing just that, causing the others to blink before shrugging and following suit.
-
"Ahem."
We all turned to Daiki as we finished eating. He shook his head slightly before speaking.
"Well, now that the food's out of the way, I should go next?"
Hearing no complaints, he nodded and continued.
"I'm Arai Daiki. I like cabbage and working out. I hate sand and broccoli. My dreams are small — I plan to have a house in the mountains when I get married. My hobbies are working out, woodworking and practicing the flute."
I filed his words away as Toma suddenly slammed his hands on the table, starting his own introduction.
"I'm Toma! I love nature and seeing new things. I don't hate much. I have a few dreams, like being recognized—and something else I'm hoping I'm close to doing! My hobbies... I love training with Sato-senpai!"
I ignored the way he kept staring at me and shifted my gaze to Rin, who stared back before sighing.
"This is stupid." she mumbled, frowning as Daiki reached over, grabbed the back of her black leather jacket and lifted her halfway off her seat.
"Fine!"
Straightening her jacket, she sighed again before speaking.
"Shimizu Rin. I like some stuff, like music and shit. I dislike children—"
I felt her eyes dig into my being as she said that.
"—I don't have any dreams for the future because I don't know what I want to do. And my hobbies are a few things that I won't say to any of you."
We stared at her for a moment before I shrugged and turned to Daiki, who looked at me with a smile.
"I don't have any money on me, Arai-san."