Are You Picking A Fight? (4)

"WHY CAN'T I FUCKING HIT YOU!??"

As Reiji dodged another punch, Nakamura's hideous roar rang through the silent hall, piercing through the ears of the stunned audience members.

Leaving aside the seniors and the three friends, the visitors of the session were also first year students who had heard a great deal about Reiji's antics, reputation, and background.

So they were actually pretty excited at the chance to see him get demolished by an experienced senior from the boxing club, seeing it as some sort of karmic retribution.

Though they knew he got into a lot of fights, street brawls are very different when compared to trained martial artists, so the ridiculous scene of the bright-eyed delinquent evading those powerful punches was nothing less than shocking.

"STOP MOVING AROUND FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Nakamura yelled again, getting more agitated as the halfway point of the allotted two minutes had already been crossed.

"Why on earth would I do that?" Reiji asked nonchalantly, ducking under a right hook that came flying from his blind spot.

Initially, Reiji had decided not to fight back to sort of make things even and resolve the grudge his senior seemed to hold, but looking at just how infuriated he was getting, it seemed like their issues would only worsen.

'Well, looking at it from his angle he might think I'm mocking him.... Should I just hit back and end it?'

Not punching back was as far as Reiji was willing to go in terms of making up for his predecessor's mistake of punching his brother, so there was no way he was going to let Nakamura land a hit just to make him happy.

He wasn't the one who was responsible for it in the first place.

"Fuck it, let's end this," Reiji whispered, making a decision.

He instantly assessed his location in the ring and came up with a plan. He twisted his feet slightly, angling his body in a way that his back faced the corner of the ring.

As Nakamura threw two jabs in quick succession, Reiji made it look like he was dodging by backing away. This made him get closer and closer to his planned position.

The raging bull's eyes lit up slightly, because from his perspective it seemed like he was pushing Reiji to the corner.

'Yes! Once he backs into the corner, he'll have no place to dodge! I'll throw a heavy punch and knock this motherfucker out!'

Nakamura's mind raced as he got more and more excited at the thought, rushing at Reiji with greater force than before.

'Wow, his thoughts are so obvious haha....'

Reiji smiled internally as he realized things were unfolding exactly as he expected.

And then the moment came. With another step, he had reached the post where the ropes connected, feeling his back hit the padded cylinder softly.

Nakamura smiled widely, his eyes squinting with glee as he cocked back his right hand for his strongest punch yet.

But instead of waiting, sidestepping, or backing away, Reiji chose to take a single step forward.

In that split second where Nakamura's arm was swinging backwards to gain power, Reiji threw a fast yet simple punch.

A punch aimed right at the chin, one of the best places to aim if you want to knock someone out.

*WHAM*

.....

*THUD*

The fist connected.

The fight ended.

***

As Nakamura fell backwards, his eyes spun and his swirling brain struggled to comprehend what just happened. The hit was ridiculously fast, so even though it lacked as much power as his own punches, the accuracy and speed was enough to finish the fight.

The last thought that flashed by before he lost consciousness was: 'fuck'

"Wh-Whoooaaah! What just happened??"

"Nakamura got knocked out? With one punch?"

"...Saitama?"

"Wait! I think being forced into the corner was on purpose! He was lured there!"

"Holy shit, did you see how fast that punch was?"

"We gotta recruit him, no matter what!"

The seniors started jabbering as soon as Nakamura hit the floor, stars practically gleaming in their eyes. One even ran off to the supply table to get a pamphlet to give Reiji later.

"Yuzuki-san! He won! Reiji-kun won!" Airi started jumping in place, her pigtails bouncing up and down.

"Damn.... That was pretty cool..."

Haruna's eyes were slightly glazed over as she stared at Reiji's sharp features. The drops of sweat rolling down his chiseled jaw made her gulp involuntarily, clutching her skirt for support.

"Y-Yuzuki-san are you ok?" Greeny asked worriedly when he noticed her daze.

"H-Huh? I'm fine! I was just surprised that's all!"

Airi and Greeny both tilted their heads at her unusually high-pitched voice that squeaked a little. But then they turned to the ring when they noticed Reiji climbing out as he wiped the sweat off his face.

"Junior, that was fucking awesome!"

"That was fun, I can't wait to spar with you when you join!"

"Hey forget the MMA Club, come to Taekwondo we'll give you special treatment!"

"FUCK OFF, HE'S OURS!"

A wiry-looking senior with short-cropped dark blue hair, high cheekbones, and a permanent scowl on his face bellowed at the others, pulling Reiji behind him as if he was going to protect him from predators.

He then turned to give him what might have been a 'kind' smile, but looked fucking terrifying because the scowl never left his face.

"Don't worry Junior, the MMA Club promises to support you to the best of our ability!" He declared confidently, giving him a thumbs-up and a creepy wink.

Reiji stared at him blankly, feeling overwhelmed at the situation.

"U-Um.... That's all well and good, but.... Shouldn't we help Nakamura-Senpai first?"

"....Ah."

At this moment, everyone realized that they had completely forgotten about the poor guy who was still laying sprawled out in the ring.

"Ahem, ahem.... Someone go wake him up," the blue-haired senior from the MMA Club pointed at Nakamura and turned back to Reiji.

"So like I was saying, the MMA Club will prioritize your growth, and I'll personally appeal to our coach to draft a tailored training plan for you!"

Reiji's lips twitched when he simply continued on with his pitch as if nothing happened, taking a small step back when he got more and more passionate.

'Wow.....'

***

Reiji finally managed to pry himself away from the almost fanatical seniors, walking back to the trio that was waiting for him.

"Fuck, that talk was more exhausting than the damn fight," he muttered.

He looked up to see the three of them staring at him, half in awe and half in curiosity.

"Reiji-tan, I remember you saying that you hadn't trained in martial arts, why did you lie to us?" Haruna stepped forward first, lightly punching his shoulder in protest.

"...I didn't lie, I really haven't. I just know a bit of self-defense and my reflexes are pretty good," Reiji shrugged.

He wasn't lying, he was actually quite shocked at just how good his reflexes were. His secondary goal of gauging his strength was successful, and he had learned quite a bit about himself.

First, as mentioned before his reflexes were extremely high. This meant his reaction time and response speed were definitely top-tier.

Secondly, his mind was sharp throughout the fight. he was able to keep track of Nakamura's movements, somewhat predict what he might do next, and still had the capacity to keep an eye on his surroundings.

A lot of people think that having a strong body is the biggest strength a martial artist can have, but that's a major misconception. A physically weaker fighter can win more often than not against a stronger opponent if his mind processes the information during a fight at higher speeds, giving them more leeway to judge the right decision to make and plan out the process.

But the biggest takeaway was that he had understood his weakness.

His lack of proper martial techniques.

Though he won easily with just his reflexes, Reiji's final punch was lacking in strength when compared to Nakamura even though his body was fit and muscular. This was because he wasn't properly utilizing the muscles used to throw the punches, which happened due to lack of training the right areas and understanding the right method.

When he fixes this drawback... Reiji couldn't help but grin at the prospect.

"...What's with that creepy smile?" Airi asked.

*WHACK*

"Ow...."

As she rubbed her head slowly after the head chop she got in response, Greeny pumped his fists and congratulated Reiji.

"Y-You were really cool Reiji-kun!"

"Thanks buddy!"

"Well what now? Those seniors are still looking as if they're going to eat you up," Haruna giggled.

"Haaaah, let's leave. The session is over anyway so there's nothing else to do. I'll hand in my choices a little later," Reiji mumbled as he sighed with exasperation, frowning at the seniors who were still hovering nearby like starving vultures.

"Huh? Choices? Plural?" Haruna asked in confusion.

"Oh right, you don't know. The student council punished me for my behavior by making me do two clubs."

".....I can't tell if that's lenient or overly harsh. What's the other club aside from MMA?" Haruna raised an eyebrow at the revelation, slightly shocked at the seemingly random yet perfect punishment for the troublemaker.

"I'm doing MMA and Cooking."

"Cooking? Hmmm..... Cooking...." she squinted her eyes slightly, her mind drifting away thoughtfully.

The four of them exited the hall, walking away from the Martial Arts Area. But then they saw someone walking towards them, shoe heels clacking purposefully on the tiled flooring.

*CLACK CLACK CLACK*

Just as they thought he would walk by, the person stopped right in front of them.

The tall, thin man had black hair slicked back neatly into a combed style, a pair of rectangular and frameless glasses on his emotionless face. He pushed them up slightly and stared right at Reiji with his dark eyes.

His lips parted and a monotone voice reverberated into their ears.

"Yagami Reiji, the Student Council President has summoned you to her office. Please follow me immediately."