Ch. 3 - No Matter What
For the rest of that school day, I couldn't stop thinking about the upcoming selection phase. The last bell rang and I quickly packed up my things, walking home without interacting with anyone. My mind was completely focused on getting stronger. Beating anyone who went against me in the selection, and standing next to Araki at the cross district tournament. Teiru was a prodigy— a talent that would be hard to beat, however I had years of fighting experience on him. I was confident that I would beat him if I had prepared beforehand.
When my parents had gone to bed, I slipped out of my window again, I had created a new mask— much lighter. I had gotten rid of the illumination feature after experiencing the drawback of temporary blindness following my fight with Kashiha. Tonight, I had a target: Fumiki Hikari. Hikari was ranked 10 in district 13. He excelled at kickboxing, a style of fighting I was very familiar with. I knew Hikari ruled a gang 2 streets down, and he operated in the late evening. Approaching his territory, I put on my mask and breathed in. I was going to get stronger— I was going to beat a top 10 fighter. No matter what.
Climbing up from a nearby stairwell, I jumped, crashing into the window of Hikari's base of operations. Falling from the window, I could scout 4 members as well as Hikari, who was near the opposite side of the room. Hearing the crash and seeing an invader, two of the gang members pulled out knives, while the others started to crack their knuckles. Everything so far was going to plan— I had anticipated 3-5 gang members not including Hikari, and I suspected that at least 1 would have a weapon. I timed a roll perfectly and landed on the ground without hurting myself.
"What the hell?" Hikari groaned. "Broke my damn window for what?!" He stood up from the couch before taking off his jacket. He looked at his goons before gesturing and yelling in an annoyed tone. "Well guys?! Are you gonna move or what!"
His goons sprung into action, all 4 of them running at me, the two with knives leading the quad. Hikari stayed back, judging to see how capable I was. The knives were the main danger of course, so with a swift kick I disarmed one of the boys before dashing back to avoid the other's swing. Noting that the four were going to surround me within a few seconds, I exploded straight into them, catching them off guard. Taking advantage of this, I elbowed the second guy's knife, disarming him as well. With all 4 goons weaponless, the entire state of the fight shifted.
"Jesus Christ." Hikari groaned. Everyone including me stopped to look up at him. "What a bunch of useless idiots.. you two had knives and yet.. he's still standing." He mocked before stopping just a few feet from all of us. "I'm interested enough now, back off you 4."
The 4 goons quickly retreated around us as Hikari stepped up to take their place. As he replaced them, I immediately felt a change in pressure. Hikari was the same height as Teiru, however as a kickboxer, he was much more muscular. His braided dirty blonde hair and vicious eyes were paired with an evil smile. He stretched his arms and back before jumping lightly.
"Alright masked avenger.. let's see what you've got."
Hikari dashed into action, however I anticipated his early start, dodging his immediate strike. He followed his first punch up with 5 jabs, retracting back after the attack. I was able to dodge 3 of the jabs, blocking the other two. Before I could close the distance, he had already unleashed a high kick directly at my head, catching me off guard. I had expected a leg kick, but I was able to react in time, directing the impact of the kick to my forearm instead of my skull. His kick was hard, and my forearm was definitely bruised, but it wasn't broken. The single thought repeated itself in my head: no matter what.
I charged at him, feinting 2 punches before slamming my foot into his stomach. I knew he wouldn't be able to catch it, and even if he did— Hikari was a kick boxer, and had less experience than me on the ground. He took the impact of the kick, exhaling loudly but nevertheless, unbothered by it. He turned his heel, unleashing a jab so fast I barely saw him move, yet the impact rang the metal in my mask, and I stumbled back. I kept my stance however, and ran back into the fight, anticipating a strike. As he shot another fast punch at me, I slid, rolling onto the ground beneath him before grabbing his leg, tackling him onto the ground.
The moment I brought him down, two of the goons ran at me, not expecting me to tackle their leader. I slammed my fist into Hikari's jaw before jumping back up to fight the two guys. They decided to both go in, however I was faster, slamming my foot into one of the goon's throats. He fell to the ground and wheezed in pain as I dashed at the other one. The second goon threw a few punches before I stepped on his foot and hit him square on the chest, forcing him to trip and hit his head on the rough ground. Before I could finish him, I was hit on the back of my head by Hikari. I stumbled to the ground as I looked up— Hikari jumping onto me. I rolled out of the way, dazed with my vision blurring. As I continued to dodge his attacks on the ground, my hand brushed against something. As I felt around more closely, I realized it was one of the knives that I kicked out of a goon's hand earlier.
Making a decision, I rolled quickly, grabbing the knife and jumping up. Hikari noticed the weapon in my hand and grinned.
"Really? A weapon.. seems like you don't think you can win without it."
"Says you. I almost had you until your goons bailed you out."
He scoffed, but he was right. I didn't want to win with a weapon. I came into his domain without one, and I wouldn't feel satisfied leaving with one. I threw the knife onto the ground before slapping myself and getting into my fighting stance.
"Huh.. I guess you're no coward after all."
Hikari dashed at me again, going for a series of heavy swings. I managed to block the first one, forcing my way inside and slamming my metal mask into his face, breaking his nose. He grunted, stammering back.
"God damn it!" He screamed out of anger before dashing back in.
He threw a haymaker at me, something that I could counter easily, however at the last second, he switched it up to fake me out, swinging another punch at the other side of my head. Before I could even fully register what I was doing, my hand shot up blocking his strike.
"W-what?!" Hikari exclaimed.
I don't know exactly how, but I had an idea of how. I felt my senses heightening the further I fought against Hikari, and as we continued, I felt as if I could almost sense his thoughts— when he was going to feint a strike, when he was going to move, I could feel it. We continued to throw punches at each other, and my block rate continued to increase as well. Hikari screamed, getting more frustrated. I began to overwhelm him with strikes, slamming my fist into his jaw, breaking it instantly.
As he fell to the ground, I remembered what Teiru did in our first encounter. Decisively, I swung my leg up, tearing past what I thought my flexible limit was, striking my leg up almost vertically, slamming into his skull. His neck jolted backwards and his body went stiff immediately as he slumped to the floor. The other two goons who had stayed back stared in shock before quickly shuffling out the back of the building.
"H-how.." The conscious goon muttered softly looking up at me.
I stared at my hands, my photographic memory replaying Teiru's aerial leg kick in my mind. My movements just now— felt exactly like how I thought Teiru must have felt when he performed his move against Kashiha. Had I forced past a physical limitation within myself? Had I always been able to feel the same way as others? No, I understood it clearly, I had copied Teiru exactly how I envisioned copying him: within my limitations. I knew I could never become Teiru, my body would never be able to move like his, and I would never be able to control my power and speed while maintaining flexibility. But I could imitate and evolve his moves into my own, and implement them into my fighting style. Isn't that what my infinity is about? The endless adaptation and understanding of myself and those around me?
As I loomed over Hikari's unconscious body, I felt satisfied. He was still breathing, and would most likely be fine, however I could imagine how he would feel when he regained consciousness. Losing to someone unknown, unranked— he would feel almost dead. I felt a chill run down my spine. I would never want to experience that feeling. I told myself then and there: even if I lost— I would never give up. I would never stop fighting. No matter what.
"Impressive." A voice said.
I turned around calmly, not worried about my identity since my mask was still placed firmly on my face. As I turned around, only faintly seeing a pair of red tinted eyes as they left.