Kazuto woke up the next day with same excitement as the previous day. He got ready and started his morning exercise. Now, based on yesterday's incident, Kazuto had two options.
One, he could dial down his exercises and training intensity and gradually increase them, slowly growing stronger.
Two, he could continue to push himself everyday so that he can make sure that he never loses in the future.
Kazuto had two options and he obviously went for the second one. Kazuto always had a speedy recovery everytime he trained and he wasn't worried about the duel with Kenji. He was sure that he would get used to the exercises by then and fight with all his strength.
Kazuto finished exercising and returned home to get ready for school. Just like he had predicted, he was not that tired as the previous day. Sure, it still hurt everytime he moved his body, but he didn't have any difficulty moving his body.
Kazuto went to school, where nothing important happened. No one from the show was in his class, or his school.
Kazuto then made his way to the dojo, where he taught the kids and then trained later. It was nothing much, since Kenji didn't show up. Since Kenji wanted a true duel, he didn't come to the dojo, because he knew that only Kazuto was capable of dueling against him.
The same was true even in Kazuto's case. Kenji was the only one who could put up a fight. No one else in the dojo had the technique or the strength to duel against him and last long enough for Kazuto to enjoy or learn something. Arashi was the only one who could hold up against him for a while with his technique and years of experience.
He left the dojo early and made his way to his new gym, where he would be spending the rest of his evening.
Kazuto entered the gym and was hit with the same smell and sounds he heard the previous day. He made his way to the reception, where the receptionist, without even looking at him even once, knew who had arrived, and placed his access card on the counter.
Kazuto, surprised, asked "How? You didn't even see me coming."
"I did see you coming. Now, don't waste time. You have places to be and I have things to do." She replied without moving away from her phone.
Kazuto silently took his access card and entered the gym. The gym music, the screams and the smell only got more intense.
As he walked through the gym, he noticed that there weren't many people in the gym. This is because some people with superhuman strength feel that training is only for the weak and they don't have to train.
Kazuto went to his locker which was assigned to him and mentioned on his access card. He quickly changed to his gym clothes and started his workout.
Like the ad said, their weight plates started at 50 kg and went till a ton. This was made possible by a person who had a quirk to permanently increase the weight of objects he touches.
Since there is only one person in Japan who could do that, these plates are expensive.
Kazuto then noticed the dumbbell section where they also had the weights starting from 50kg to a ton.
Kazuto stretched a little before reaching out to the 100kg dumbbell set. His usual dumbbells weighed 50kg each.
After he was done with the dumbbells, he moved to bench press and dead lifts next, using weights 250kg and 500kg respectively.
There was not much equipment like the other gyms since the advance equipment from normal gyms can't handle this heavy weights.
He made sure to woke out all parts of his body with the equipment in hand and finally decided to stop for the day.
Kazuto cleaned up, changed his clothes and headed home. As he was walking home, or more like dragging himself like a zombie, he decided that it would be a great idea to train haki since he has time till he gets home.
The minute he activated his armament haki around his fists, he understood how terrible that decision was. He felt like he was being held up by strings and all of a sudden, the strings were served.
Kazuto's legs were wobbling, his hands using his Bokuto like a walking cane for support, which was kind of disrespectful towards the sport, but he didn't care.
He immediately turned off his haki and dragged himself home while constantly cursing himself. "You could've just walked home peacefully, but no. You had to fuck yourself and activated haki. You know how weak you get when you use haki, but you still did it." Kazuto cursed himself.
Kazuto reached his apartment, opened the door and immediately collapsed on the floor. He kicked the door close and removed his shoes without his hands.
Kazuto didn't even stand up. He crawled to his kitchen, opened his refrigerator and pulled out his frozen chicken and rice, which was in a box.
He didn't even heat it up. He took it with him and crawled to his bed. He used his frozen dinner as an ice pack to soothe the muscle pain. A hot bath would be better, but he didn't want to move anymore.
He used the ice pack until it warmed up to room temperature and then ate his dinner. When he was done eating, still laying on the bed, he just closed his eyes and he immediately started snoring.
The next day, there was no change in his schedule, he woke up, exercised a bit, went to school, worked at the dojo and finally worked out at the gym. Even the way back home from the gym was the same. He could learn from his past mistakes, but no. That's not Kazuto.
Then, it was finally the day when he was going to duel Kenji. He decided to go easy on the morning exercise and decided to be in perfect shape for the duel.
Kenji went to the dojo after school and he taught the kids. While training them, he could hear the older students who train with him, whispering about the match.
When he was done teaching the kids, he left to get ready for his duel. He was about to put on his protective gear when suddenly he felt that it would be better if he went without it.
This would help him prepare for actual battles in the future where even a small mistake could lead to death.
Kazuto walked into the training hall with his Bokuto in his hand. Kenji was already waiting in the training hall and when he saw Kazuto without his protective gear, he commented "Little brat trying to act tough, huh."
Kazuto asked "Is that seriously your best trash talk?"
Kenji growled and said "Try to maintain the same arrogance after you lose this match."
Kazuto said "I think that's enough trash talk for others."
Arashi then entered the training hall and everyone immediately went to their positions. Kazuto and Kenji were standing, facing each other when Arashi asked them to go to their initial positions.
Kenji and Kazuto took their stance and waited for Arashi. Seeing them ready, he shouted "Hajime".
Just like before, Kenji didn't just rush at Kazuto. Both of them were just moving around, waiting for the other to do something.
Kazuto then decided to slowly approach Kenji, who was in his defensive stance, ready for any attack from Kazuto.
When Kazuto was close enough, he didn't attack, he just waited again, this time with full of openings.
Kenji could seize this moment to attack with all his strength and there were high chances of him succeeding, but he remembered how Kazuto dodged without even looking at him. This made Kenji think about what to do.
Kazuto didn't wait for Kenji to make the first move. He executed a normal slash aimed at Kenji's wrist.
Kenji blocked it with his Bokuto, but didn't put all his strength into blocking it, preparing for any surprise attacks where he changes trajectory. But, something entirely unexpected happened. Kazuto used all his body strength to press down on his attack and he actually managed to slip past Kenji's Bokuto and hit his wrist.
Arashi shouted "Kote-Ari".
The round ended and Kenji looked pissed, but also slightly confused. Sure, he didn't put all his strength into blocking the attack, but that doesn't mean his block was weak. It would still require a lot of strength to push past his Bokuto.
'How did he improve this much in two days?' Kenji thought.
Both returned to their initial positions and took their stance. Arashi shouted "Hajime".
Kenji this time decided to go offensive and approached Kazuto carefully. Again, Kazuto was full of openings and this time, Kenji didn't let Kazuto make a move.
He immediately started a barrage of attacks aimed at different parts. Again, something completely unexpected happened. Kazuto was completely dodging all his attacks. Now, he used to dodge Kenji's attacks before too, but they were all close calls but now, he was effortlessly dodging the attacks.
While dodging, Kazuto saw an opening when Kenji was doing a diagonal slash and immediately went for Kenji's throat. He stopped his Bokuto hair length away from his throat.
Arashi announced "Tsuki-Ari" (which means point from the throat).
Again, everyone was shocked in the hall. A lot of them thought Kazuto's win the first time was a fluke and when Kenji defeated him the next day, many believed that it was a fluke, but now not only did he defeat Kenji again, he also made it look effortless.
Kazuto was tired from using haki to dodge all those attacks, but he didn't show that. Kenji immediately left the training hall and since he didn't want to duel anyone else in the class, he also decided to leave.
He changed his clothes and left the dojo, heading towards the gym. While walking, he heard someone call out to him. He turned around and found Kenji, who approached him with his arms crossed.
Kazuto waited to see what this was about. When Kenji wasnclose enough, he took out a card from his pocket and handed it to him.
Kenji said "This place teaches all forms of martial arts. I train here after training at the dojo. Come if you want to fight like real men."
Kazuto looked at the card and said "I know this place. I wanted to join this place, but they only train people who are serious about martial arts. When I told them I was learning to become a hero, they kicked me out."
Kazuto didn't join other martial arts dojo or boxing clubs because he couldn't afford them.
Kenji said "I know how the boss is like. He only trains those who see martial arts as their life and not just a hobby. He dreams of one day training an MMA fighter. Don't worry, I know him and I will talk to him."
Kazuto said with a smirk on his face "I can't believe you are inviting me to beat you again. I know how that feels. It gets lonely at the top right."
Kenji chuckled and said "I would like to see if you can keep the smirk on your face after you visit the club."
Kenji then left and Kazuto went to the gym. After gym, he used his haki for a while so that he doesn't get tired too quickly. This time however, he was smart enough to train after he entered his apartment.
The next day, everything went the exact same way, morning exercise, school, kendo practice, but after his kendo practice, he went to the club with Kenji.
When he entered, he was greeted by the familiar smell of sweat, but he didn't hear any screams. This place was more peaceful than he expected. There were only sounds of sandbags getting punched, or people falling to the ground.
Kenji then walked towards an old man in his 60s and said something to him while pointing at Kazuto.
After a while, both of them walked towards Kazuto. The old man looked at Kazuto and said "Looks promising , could be useful as a punching bag, but I will agree only after seeing him fight."
The old man then turned around and called someone. A man in his early 20s walks up to them.
The old man said "This is Takeshi and he will test your out He is the weakest in this club."
Kazuto looked at him and nodded. They both then went to prepare and then entered the ring.
The old man shouted "Begin".
Takeshi immediately rushed at Kazuto and started throwing punches at Kazuto, who easily dodged them using his observation haki.
The old man looked at Kazuto and said "Not bad".
Between his dodges, Kazuto saw an opening and went for an uppercut. Takeshi, who was waiting for this, immediately dodged his attack and countered with his uppercut, connecting with Kazuto's face.
Kazuto staggered for a moment and that's all Takeshi needed. He rained down punches at Kazuto, who couldn't recover. He was trying to use his observation haki, but couldn't focus when there were attacks raining down on his face.
The old man from outside shouted "That's enough for today."
Kazuto walked out of the ring and the old man looked at his bruised face. He smiled and said "Welcome to the club kid. I am Fuji."