Reiji wiped his face with the back of his hand, his eyes blinking in confusion as the sweat dripped from his forehead.
He looked around and saw the other members staring at him in shock.
"Is this what Fujita was talking about? I didn't believe him when he said he found a gem..."
"Nah what is this? He clearly couldn't react much at the start, how the hell was he able to keep up towards the end?"
"Damn, I thought the rumors about him destroying Nakamura was an exaggeration, but this is insane!"
"He might even be ready for the tournament at this rate, Sensei doesn't give out praise lightly..."
Fujita Senpai was also looking at him with a massive grin on his face, giving him a thumbs up.
"Have you not trained in martial arts before?" Sensei asked, cutting his thoughts short.
"Uh, not really. I learned some self-defense, but wasn't actually trained in a specific martial art."
"Hmmm, your movements did seem like self-defense a lot of the time, but why are you playing so passively?"
"Well, I wasn't sure what to expect so i thought I'd take my time to analyze your fighting style. Maybe I'd be able to learn something from it," Reiji explained.
Nishimura Sensei laughed joyously at this, and nodded with a content expression.
"That's good. At your current stage you should be prioritizing growth and not wins, if you had mindlessly thrown punches at me from the start you would have missed out on all the things you were able to learn!"
Reiji confirmed his suspicions at this. Sensei was deliberately showing him a variety of moves once he saw that Reiji was trying to study his movements.
"Thank you for your guidance Sensei," Reiji bowed with his hands clasped together.
"Don't worry about the formalities. I'll draft up a tailored plan for you, which you should follow diligently. Hopefully you can absorb enough experience in the next month so that you can participate in the city tournament."
They climbed out of the ring and the coach signaled Fujita Senpai to explain the details of the tournament to him.
There were multiple tournaments happening throughout the school year, and the one next month was a minor competition that preceded the nationals that would happen much later.
It would include all the schools in the city, and the top 10 would be eligible to enter the country-wide version while the rest were eliminated. Since Souhei High's club performance was one of the best throughout the country despite not being a sports-focused high school, this tournament was more of a formality treated as a training session.
At least, that's what they were expecting.
The format was split into two divisions. The first division consisted of martial art specific clubs fighting each other.
This meant that the Karate club would fight the karate clubs of other schools, while the MMA Club would fight the MMA clubs. The fights would be conducted in teams, with each club fighting member by member until they have the majority winner.
However, there was the second division which was more highly regarded. All the best participants would enter this one because it was the ultimate competition.
There was no separation in this division, and it would be a single player bracket style tournament. Any martial arts club member could join regardless of which discipline they chose, prioritizing practical and effective combat over mastery of their style.
So if Reiji participated, he might face members from taekwondo, karate, boxing, judo, etc. The only distinction was gender, with separate brackets for men and women.
'I knew about this from the game, but they really do take their martial arts seriously here.... That sounds so fun!'
He was a little pumped up now, determined to take his training seriously so that he'd be eligible to participate. If he didn't make the cut for the tournament next month, he couldn't fight in any of the subsequent ones until next year aside from some minor practice options.
Over the next hour and a half of the remaining time, Reiji was taught personally by Nishimura Sensei while the seniors proceeded with training drills that they already knew about, honing their skills as much as they could.
Technically, every freshmen would get this privilege of the coach training them at the start to teach them the basics, but Reiji's case was special.
Sensei was freakishly motivated, creating a completely different plan for him to help maximize his talent and potential.
The intensity and the expectations were a lot higher, so by the time Reiji had a decent grasp of some of the basics, he was lying on the ground covered in sweat and panting like a dog.
'FUCK EVERYTHING HURTS!'
He winced as he rubbed his aching body, slowly standing up to see everyone walking towards the changing room.
The two hours of club time felt like it had passed by in a flash, and he was completely exhausted despite being as fit as he was.
Just goes to show how grueling his regime would be from now on.
He waved goodbye to his new club members and bowed to Nishimura Sensei.
"Thank you, I'll work hard to surpass your expectations," he said with gratitude.
He knew that the attention and care he was being given was better than normal, and even though it was because Reiji was so talented, it also shows how passionate his coach is.
It would be easy enough to just let him follow the regular routine, but Nishimura Sensei created an in-depth personalized plan for him.
"Bah, don't give me that sappy shit. I just need results," he scoffed, but Reiji saw the satisfied look in his eyes.
He quickly changed and walked out, because Yui was waiting for him at the club's exit. When she saw him coming, her eyes lit up but then shifted to annoyance when she saw Reiji wearing clothes.
".....Can you take it off?"
"I'll report you for sexual harassment."
***
~ROOFTOP GLUTTONS~
Chefalicious: What'd you guys do today?
MrGreeny: I read a few chapters of the book we were assigned
IndigoFlower: Me too! It's crazy good, right Greeny?
MrGreeny: Yeah, the MC is cold-blooded which is awesome
Chefalicious: Damn, I kinda want to read it too but I barely have any time (T_T)
IndigoFlower: Forget that, what are you making for lunch tomorrow????
Chefalicious: ...
Chefalicious: Now you're not even planning on waiting till lunch? You're going to get fat at this rate
IndigoFlower: Hehe, I'm blessed with good genetics Chef Reiji, I don't get fat no matter how much I eat!
MrGreeny: That's the same with me lol
Chefalicious: Twigs
IndigoFlower: Delinquent
MrGreeny: Yakuza
Chefalicious: No food for you guys tomorrow ಠ╭╮ಠ
MrGreeny: I have reflected and I deeply regret my actions
IndigoFlower: Chef Reiji is magnanimous and would surely not be so narrow minded?
Chefalicious: Try me mfs
***
At lunch the next day, Reiji crossed his arms in dissatisfaction as he watched Airi split their food again.
".....This is not fair," he frowned at their excited smiles.
"Oh come on, Chef Reiji has such a big heart! He wouldn't still be mad about yesterday, right?" Airi grinned teasingly.
"Wow, this is really g-good Reiji-kun!"
"....Really? I tried adding a dash of vinegar to brighten the flavor," Reiji said proudly as he watched Greeny eat his dish with gusto.
Airi giggled at how easy it was to make him happy, digging into the food as well.
'Holy shit, it really is amazing,' she thought.
Lunchtime had become their favorite part of the day lately, and the two of them didn't even try to come up with excuses to skip school anymore.
"Oh, by the way! You guys are going on an outing already?" Airi asked with an envious expression.
"Yep, right after classes end. I don't know where but it's probably a restaurant or cafe."
Well, he did know where they were going but that wasn't important. He had thought about visiting the place earlier because of how appetizing it looked, but he held back just for this moment.
It would be more fun to do it with others who could appreciate it.
"Tch, if you want to talk about what's not fair, it's this right here!"
"I wanna g-go too..." Greeny said with a forlorn voice.
"....We could always go again later?" Reiji replied encouragingly.
"Great! That's a promise!"
Reiji shook his head at their eagerness, biting into his own plate of food.
"Also, what should we do about Sakuraba-san today during reading club?"
Greeny and Airi looked at him with guilty expressions, recalling the argument they had with her a few days ago.
"Why do you both look like you killed someone, relax!" Reiji chuckled, continuing with a slightly more serious voice, "Like I said before, don't force anything. If you guys still don't mind befriending her, try to talk to her again but don't even bring me up this time. If it doesn't work out, it's not your fault."
At his words they both visibly calmed down. But there was also a fire burning in their eyes, as if they were determined not to make the same mistake this time.
After school today would be one hell of a battle!