Akilah ran towards Taro, immediately activating her Mode.
Taro did the same. He went for a southpaw to Akilah's chin.
She dodged it with ease, already anticipating Taro's next attack.
"Yeah, that's the right move right about now. I should focus my Spirit into my prefrontal cortex. I'll think of an offensive attack while tiring him out." Akilah continued to dodge Taro's strikes, seeing the apparitions of his next attacks through her Mode.
After throwing his tenth miss, Taro began to grow frustrated.
"What is this? She didn't train in martial arts at all, why is she able to dodge my attacks?" Taro's fist tightened.
Taro's controlled swings started to turn into a flurry of random attacks.
Akilah began to get worried as the apparitions of Taro's next attack began to get blurry before disappearing entirely.
"What's going on?! Not only are his swings less controlled and more random, but I can't predict his next move-" Akilah's train of thought halted when Taro's fist met her gut, lifting her several feet into the air.
Akilah collapsed onto the mat, trying to catch the wind that was just knocked out of her.
Taro's heavy and frustrated breathing began to mellow out as he saw Akilah helpless on the floor.
"Is that a forfeit?" Jason yelled the question from the bleachers.
Akilah silently shook her head, still breathing heavily.
Her friends stared in silence, trying their best to keep themselves out of the fight.
Taro turned his back to the girl, scratching the back of his neck as he thought to himself.
"Maybe that was a little excessive." Taro looked to the bleachers to see the reactions of their friends. Most of them were waiting for Akilah to get up, while some of them were looking away.
Taro felt torn. His shame wanted him to end the match, but something inside of him said he had something to prove.
He gritted his teeth as his ego and his morals tore each other apart.
Suddenly, Akilah got up, charging right towards Taro.
The boy still had his back turned, so he had no time to react to Akilah's next move.
She shoved Taro forward with surprising force.
After jumping a couple feet to catch himself, Taro stumbled over himself right before he would step foot on the red line. He stood on the tips of his toes to try to stop himself from taking another foot forward.
"Why you-" Taro turned around with that same frustrated expression. All of the embarrassment from his excessive force had utterly disappeared.
Taro unleashed another flurry of fists, making Akilah step back entirely.
"I can't risk another direct hit like that." Akilah told herself as she created space between her and Taro.
Taro had nothing on his mind but winning. He gritted his teeth as he charged in a straight path towards his opponent single-mindedly.
Akilah began to get chased around the mat, keeping to the edges to try to lure Taro.
Instead, Taro stood his ground near the center of the circle, trying to cut Akilah off.
Taro went for the cut off, ready to move on Akilah's next step.
Akilah activated her Mode.
"Shit, no luck." Akilah could still only see a blur around Taro where his next movement would usually be. But as Akilah examined Taro's expression, she got an idea.
"How is this gonna end?" Amora asked Chase, who shrugged in return.
"Akilah might find a way to win, but Taro could win through brute force before she finds a path…" Vida thought out loud. She watched the fight intensely, with Akilah trying to keep the space between her and her opponent as she tried to think of a way to win.
Hendrix watched with less intention. He took the occasional glance towards his opponent, Biggie, who was joking around with Slim at the end of the bleachers.
"What kind of fighter is he?" Hendrix asked himself repeatedly, failing to answer the question every time.
Kai felt torn as he watched the fight. Both participants were people he cared for deeply, so who should he be partial to?
"Go…" Kai would say occasionally, wanting to cheer on a winner without knowing who the winner should be.
Taro chased Akilah around the mat, making him more frustrated with every step he took.
Taro stopped his chase for a second, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Here's my chance to prove my hypothesis." Akilah activated her Mode, moving it to the prefrontal cortex to attempt to see Taro's next move.
It seemed that as Taro calmed down, his next movement became clearer.
"Then I'm correct. I can only read the intent of the attack through his Spirit. When he's more emotionally charged he is less focused on his attacks, making them more random and harder to read." Akilah took one more breath in before charging at Taro one more time.
Taro, now with a renewed focus, went for a sweep with his right leg.
Akilah jumped over it with ease, predicting it with more than enough time to react.
"The key is to end it before he gets frustrated again. This is my chance" Akilah raised her feet up instead of getting ready to land.
"I've got you, Taro." Akilah muttered.
Akilah's words made Taro look down at his feet. He saw his heel planted right in front of the red line, placing him at the very edge of the circle.
Akilah kicked Taro in the chest, sending him flying out of the circle.
"A winner! Akilah wins!" Jason yelled as Taro hit the mat outside of the circle.
The crowd clapped awkwardly. They didn't know if they should stay silent or not, since both opponents were their friends.
The clapping went on for a couple more seconds before-
"Fuck!" Taro screamed, stomping out of the gymnasium while clutching his head.
A couple seconds of silence passed.
"I guess… We should take ten again…?" Jason asked, making the kids stand up, beginning to walk out of the gymnasium.
"What a sore loser." Biggie muttered to Slim, who shook his head.
"Don't talk about their friend like that." Slim responded, making Biggie scoff.
Kai overheard the exchange, keeping quiet as he thought to himself.
"Even though he's my brother, I never know why he's so angry all the time…" Kai thought to himself as the group exited the gym, starting their search for Taro.
After a few minutes of looking around, they found him in his room, crouched over on his bed.
"Yo, bro. You good?" Kai asked as he entered the room.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Taro rubbed his eyes, putting his head back into his hands.
"I'm sorry about-" Akilah attempted to apologize before getting cut off.
"Don't… Don't say that." Taro spoke without looking up at his brother or his friends.
"That's not how you talk to friends, Taro," Kai spoke quietly while looking down at his brother.
Without saying another word, Kai left the room, leading the other kids to follow him.
"Are you gonna be okay for your match? You can ask Jason to switch yours and Hendrix's." Akilah looked over Kai's shoulder to check his expression.
"Yeah. I wouldn't wanna miss a chance to show my skills. Taro just needs time to check himself." Kai nodded at Akilah.
She nodded back, showing a slight smile as she fixed her glasses.
"Wait… Does that mean you're concerned for me?!" Kai's face twisted into a cheesy smile.
"Oh my god!" Akilah dragged her hands down her face as the rest of the group laughed.
Hendrix looked down at Vida, who was laughing slightly less than the rest of the group, just enough for him to notice.
He put a hand on Vida's shoulder, making her look up at his face.
"You'll be alright, right?" Hendrix asked with a concerned face.
"Yeah…" Vida was about to smile before asking herself "Would he feel just as concerned for Molly?" without even having to bring it into her mind. The thought made Vida's face twisted into one of annoyance.
She walked forward, leaving Hendrix in the dust.
Hendrix almost let her go before grabbing her hand.
"Are you okay…?" Hendrix's question faded into nothing as he noticed Vida's flustered expression as she looked back at him.
"Oh, sorry." Hendrix let go of her hand with urgency.
"I'm fine." Vida let out a deep breath before continuing to walk. Her annoyance returned when she saw Molly at the end of the hallway.
"My brother wants you guys. It's time for the next match." Molly exclaimed down the hallway.
Vida and Kai both looked down anxiously.