Morning After the Match
Hoshino High's front gates looked like a movie premiere.
Students lined up with phones, cheering like they were waiting for idols instead of sleep-deprived teenagers.
"Erase-us-Senpai! Look this way!"
"Tomo, autograph my lunch box!"
Someone had even drawn chalk outlines of Daigo's fall spot on the gym floor.
Tomo trudged through the noise, hoodie up, wishing for invisibility.
Jin bounced beside him, eating a steamed bun like victory breakfast.
"Prez, you're trending in three prefectures! Someone remixed your punch with lo-fi beats!"
"Great," Tomo muttered. "Now people can study to me ruining lives."
Kei swaggered up behind them, sunglasses on indoors. "Relax, champ. You're not ruining lives—you're inspiring them. To subscribe."
Rika snatched his phone. "Delete that channel before I throw you through a window."
Aya, walking a few steps back, hid a laugh behind her notebook. "You all act like you didn't just start a revolution."
Tomo sighed. "If this is revolution, I want a refund."
Club Room – Lunchtime
The Combat Club's supply closet now had decorations: crooked banners, water bottles, and a badly drawn mascot cat on the door reading "Meow Means Fight."
Rika tapped her clipboard. "Congratulations. We're officially recognized as an athletic organization."
Jin cheered. "Does that mean free snacks?"
"It means mandatory training schedule."
Collective groan.
Kei raised a finger. "Permission to design said schedule?"
Rika didn't look up. "Denied."
Kei pouted. "Democracy's dead."
Aya leaned against the windowsill. "You guys realize you just beat the top combat club in the region, right? You'll get challenges nonstop."
Tomo: "Can we decline politely?"
Rika: "Not if they file the forms."
Tomo: "…I hate paperwork."
Jin: "See? It all comes back around!"
The room buzzed with laughter. For a moment, they almost looked like a real club.
Two Days Later — The Mandatory Retreat
The student council, terrified of unsanctioned fights, declared a "team-building and sportsmanship weekend." Every combat club had to attend.
Jin called it "Hell with lunch breaks."
Kei called it "market research."
Rika called it "justice."
Aya packed a first-aid kit big enough for a war.
Tomo packed nothing.
Arrival — Yatsuhara Campgrounds
Buses wheezed up a dirt road. Pine trees. Cicadas. Zero Wi-Fi.
"Nature!" Kei shouted, stepping off the bus. "Where men become legends!"
"Where perverts get eaten by bears," Rika corrected.
The camp director greeted them with too much enthusiasm. "Each club will share cabins and complete physical-bonding tasks!"
"Physical what?" Aya asked.
"Races, obstacle courses, trust falls!"
Jin whispered, "Trust fall with Rika sounds like death."
Day One — Obstacle Course of Pain
Mud. Rope. Water. Screaming.
Jin face-planted halfway through. Kei tried to vlog it and got hit by a flying shoe.
Rika finished first, dragging both of them by their collars.
Tomo jogged last, calm, barely sweating. When he crossed the line, everyone stared; his uniform somehow stayed clean.
"How?" Jin wheezed.
"Stayed out of the mud," Tomo said simply.
Rika rolled her eyes. "Physics doesn't like you."
Aya just smiled. "He cheats with reality."
Evening — The Lodge
Dinner was curry rice. The entire hall smelled like nostalgia and exhaustion.
Kei balanced a tray. "Rika, share table? For… tactical dialogue?"
She kicked a chair out from under him. "Dialogue denied."
Aya sat across from Tomo. "You eat like someone counting seconds."
He blinked. "Is there a correct pace?"
"For normal people, yes."
"Guess I'm not normal."
"Guess not," she said softly.
The noise faded around them. For the first time since the fight, Aya saw him relax a little—shoulders down, breathing slow.
Then Jin yelled, "FOOD FIGHT!" and chaos resumed.
Night — Bonfire
The clubs gathered around flames crackling in the dark. Stars blanketed the sky. Someone strummed an out-of-tune guitar.
Rika sat cross-legged, pretending not to enjoy it. Jin roasted marshmallows. Kei flirted unsuccessfully with members of the archery club.
Aya found Tomo sitting a little away from the group, staring at the fire again.
"You keep watching flames," she said.
"They make sense," he answered. "They burn what they touch and stop when there's nothing left."
"That's a grim metaphor for a teenager."
He smiled faintly. "Maybe I'm tired of pretending I don't like fighting."
She tilted her head. "You don't like hurting people."
"That's different," he said quietly. "Fighting feels… clear. Like breathing. But afterward, it's always noise again."
Aya looked at him for a long moment, the fire reflected in her eyes.
"Then maybe you need people who can handle the noise."
Next Morning — Training Run
Sunlight cut through fog. The club jogged a trail along a ridge. Birds scattered. Kei carried a selfie stick.
"Day two of greatness!" he announced.
Rika: "Trip on that rock."
Thunk. He did.
Tomo jogged ahead, steady rhythm, expression blank. Rika matched pace.
"You fought clean yesterday," she said. "No showboating."
He nodded.
"You could've ended it faster."
"Didn't want to."
"Why?"
"Because he was fighting for something. I wasn't."
Rika slowed a step, glancing at him. "That's a scary kind of honesty."
Afternoon — Rainstorm
Rain hit like applause. The group huddled under an awning while thunder rolled.
Kei filmed dramatic footage. "Trapped warriors await the storm to pass!"
Jin sneezed. Aya wrapped a towel around his head.
Rika tried to keep order, failed.
Tomo stood outside, letting rain soak his hair. Aya watched him again, the way he didn't flinch at cold.
He looked back. "Feels clean."
"Most people use showers," she said.
"Less dramatic."
Lightning cracked; for a heartbeat, his silhouette was stark against the white sky—tall, calm, unreadable. Aya's chest tightened, though she couldn't say why.
Evening — Return Bus
Everyone slept except Tomo. He stared out the window at neon streaks cutting through dusk.
Kei snored into his own hoodie. Rika leaned on her clipboard like a pillow. Aya's head rested near the window, eyes half-open.
"Tomo," she whispered. "Do you ever wonder what comes after winning?"
He thought for a long time.
"Usually another fight," he said.
She smiled sadly. "That's what I'm afraid of."
Next Week — Back at School
The training trip ended, but the buzz hadn't. Rumors morphed into prophecy. "Eraser can dodge bullets." "Eraser was raised by monks." "Eraser's hair glows under moonlight."
Tomo ignored them all.
Until he opened his locker and found a single pair of taped-up boxing gloves inside—old leather, cracked at the seams, faint initials: R.M.
A note tucked inside read:
You can stop pretending now. Meet me in the ring.
— Rento Minori
Tomo's breath left him like a punch.
Club Room — That Evening
Rika read the note twice. "Rento Minori? Aya's brother?"
Aya nodded, voice quiet. "He used to be in pro circuits. Suspended after breaking someone's jaw mid-match."
Jin swallowed. "Uh… do we get hazard pay?"
Kei whispered, awed, "This is cinematic."
Rika glared. "This is dangerous."
Aya turned to Tomo. "You don't have to fight him."
He looked at the gloves again. "I think I already agreed."
Later — Rooftop
The city shimmered below. Rain-washed air, faint smell of ozone.
Aya joined him, arms folded. "You're really going to fight him."
He nodded.
"Why?"
He stared at the gloves hanging from his fingers. "Because he's what happens when fighting becomes everything. Maybe I need to see what that looks like up close."
Aya hesitated. "If you lose—"
"I won't."
"That's not comforting."
He looked at her, tired but certain. "I'm not fighting to win this time. I'm fighting to understand."
Down below, the city lights blinked like heartbeat monitors.
Elsewhere — Minori Boxing Gym
Rento stood alone in the ring, throwing slow, perfect jabs into the dark.
Daigo watched from the doorway. "You're sure about this?"
Rento's eyes never left the bag. "He touched something I lost a long time ago. I want it back."
He threw one last punch. The chain snapped again.
[END OF CHAPTER 4 — "Brothers, Gloves, and Other Accidents"]