Outside of Fighting Music. 02:30

 Both Kikaru and David walked outside onto the jarringly empty street. It was a warm night where the moon shined brightly on the two boys. Tom sat down on a bench, looking very interested in what was about to unfold. A few people gathered too, regulars from the bar that enjoyed seeing these street fights happen.

They were both given MMA gloves by Tom.

Kikaru and David stood 5 meters apart from each other. The nerves were beginning to creep up on Kikaru, however. He had never been in such a fight before, all he had were training sessions with his teacher. But that was for sword fighting. He did think that he could apply some skills that he learned to regular non weapon fighting, so he wasn’t panicking.

David stood in a very casual manner still, to the surprise of Kikaru. There were no nerves to be seen, as though he had done this multiple times before. “Is he.. familiar with this?”  Kikaru thought.

David raised his right arm. “Yo, dude! I just realised, I never got your name.” He shouted.

This took Kikaru off guard. “such a casual question before a fight?”

“It’s Kikaru Aikawa!” He shouted back.

David crossed his arms in response. “Nope, doesn’t ring a bell, you’re a total newbie, aren’t you?” He laughed as he said that.

Tom stood up. “All right, before we begin, allow me to explain the rules! You win if the other person gets knocked out. You’re allowed to hit your opponent everywhere, but don’t hit with the intent to kill, otherwise you’re disqualified. You can give up by raising your left arm, index and pinky finger out, and shouting “GIVE UP!” He laughed.

“Are ya ready…?”

A dead silence ringed as both opponents assumed their fighting stance.. Kikaru raising both arms in a boxer style, mainly protecting his face. David leaned to the front. Putting a lot of his support on his left leg. Kikaru noticed that he was oddly low to the ground. David just smiled. The only thing that remained was the warm ambience of midnight enveloping the two. Only being interrupted by Kikaru’s heartbeat growing louder.

“FIGHT!”

Zoom.

David instantly took the offense. Low to the ground, intending to hit Kikaru with a left uppercut. Caught off guard with the way David was moving, Kikaru barely managed to dodge it. THUD. Kikaru felt a blow against his waist. He had dodged the uppercut, but David quickly reacted with a right hook.

Kikaru jumped backwards, trying to regain his composure. It was a clean hit. It made him stumble a bit, sweat running from his forehead. This made him realize how outclassed he was.  He couldn’t gather his thoughts anymore. Raising his fists to prepare for David’s next attack. Zoom. Another very low to the ground attack. Kikaru could react to it. But, David had disappeared.

Within the blink of an eye, he managed to get behind Kikaru. Barely scraping his right fist against the opponents face. Kikaru countered with a right punch, but David had jumped back to dodge it.

“Your reflexes are sharp! However, it seems that I’m slowly chipping away at you.”  

He responded. Kikaru said nothing back, opting to take the offense this time. Aiming for David’s chest, but he easily dodged that. Kikaru responded back with a punch to the face. David suddenly dodged very deep to the ground. He tried to sweep Kikaru to the ground. With another jump, the boy made distance again.

David was smiling brightly. “This is so fun!” He shouted, not expecting a response back. His flaming yellow eyes burned with excitement.

Kikaru stood in silence, his eyes seemingly darkened.

He could hear his heartbeat ring through his ears. His blood was rising. Yet, there wasn’t anger. He was enjoying all of this. His hand were trembling in excitement. He smiled back towards David. “You know what.. Yeah!” he shouted.

Kikaru felt something dripping down on his face, his nose had begun to bleed. His eyes began to shine as if it was on fire. Raising his fists again with a smile that showed confidence. “Oh?” David responded.

Fwoosh. He dashed right at Kikaru.  Responding with another uppercut. Kikaru reacted to it by dodging and very quickly stopping the next attack with a swing towards David’s face. David was caught off guard, now having to dodge the next barrage of punches. He retaliated back with his own barrage. Thud. Thud. Thud. Was heard throughout the street.

 Both challengers chipping away at each other. Their breaths being heavy with no time to rest.

Kikaru dodged two punches aimed at his face and chest, hitting David clean in the face. THUD. He stumbled backwards. Not letting up on him, Kikaru dashed straight ahead, aiming another punch at the opponents chest. Whoosh.

It missed. Kikaru lost his footing, stumbling slightly. David had bended over backwards, using his hands as support on the pavement. He kicked Kikaru cleanly on the chin, sending him flying upwards a bit. THUD. Distance was created between the two as Kikaru stood up. He tasted blood in his mouth.

Tom just smiled, there were no rules after all, except for no killing.

“Time to… end this.” David’s voice sounded heavy due to fatigue that was building up. He rushed at Kikaru, who was preparing himself. His breath was beginning to get heavy too.

David jumped, doing a flying tornado kick. Kikaru deflected the kick, only to be met with a quick punch to the face. Thud.

He couldn’t do anything but block and deflect trying to look for an opening. His ears were beginning to ring.

Thud. Another punch to the chest. Kikaru wasn’t going to give up, gritting his teeth through the pain. David ducked very low again, a last effort move to get his opponent off his feet. But Kikaru dodged the sweep, and knew what was coming next. Seeing David rise for the uppercut, he grabbed the fist with his left hand, gripping it tightly.

The realization hit David that he was fully open now, he clenched his teeth as a THUD hit against his chest. The two of them looked at each other once more, raising their fists for the last time.
Kikaru let out a ROAR. Throwing a right punch faster than he ever had, the power behind it was inhuman.

David let out a Roar. Throwing a left punch with the force of a tiger, slower than the one Kikaru threw.

A loud THUD.

Both challengers fell to the ground, Kikaru’s punch connected faster, but David could still follow up.

There was no clear winner. Both of them fought very hard, but they both didn’t lose consciousness. Heavy breathing was heard from both men.
“D-Damn dude… that was… amazing.” David said, a smile of satisfaction on his face as he laid on the ground.
“Y-yeah.. Gasp you are way too quick… Gasp” Kikaru complemented. A thought occurred in his mind. “B-but.. Gasp who won?”
David chuckled, slowly raising his hand with his index and pinky finger out.

“I GIVE UP!” he shouted.

Winner: Kikaru Aikawa.

Kikaru slowly stood up after a short while. Slowly walking towards David.
“You okay?” He asked him.
“Totally, just taking a rest on the pavement.” He chuckled.
Kikaru extended his hand, lifting up David.
Tom walked up to the both of them, tears swelling up in his eyes. “My.. that was.. beautiful, such a stunning display of two people not willing to back down.. reminds me of my younger days.” He dramatically said.

The crowd clapped for them, all very impressed by the fight that just occurred.  “Come downstairs lads, I’ll get you both something to drink.”

Fighting music, 03:00

Kikaru and David were sitting at the bar with Tom preparing two drinks. Kikaru had a bandage put on his nose as a precaution. David had a bandage too, on his cheek.  The injuries they got during their fight wasn’t bad, although Kikaru had a sore chin due to the kick he received.

“Right, before I can serve you these drinks, I do need to check your id’s” Tom said, realizing he should’ve done that before the fight.

Both Kikaru and David nodded, shuffling through their wallets. Kikaru was the first one to put down his ID. Tom picked it up and checked it. He nodded and gave it back to Kikaru. David was up next. Looking at his card, Tom’s eyes suddenly almost popped out of their sockets.
“PARDON?!” He shouted. Some head’s turned around, before going back to what they were doing.
“What’s wrong? Am I too young? I’m 21 man.” David asked, his age on the ID was correct, he should be allowed to drink.
“No! Your last name?!” Tom could barely contain the excitement in his voice, both his hands placed on the top of his head.
“What… Yūki?” David responded, a smile slowly began to appear as it dawned upon him.
“So.. Can I assume you’re familiar with my family, then?” He had a smile of confidence plasted on his face.
Tom gave the both of them their drinks. “Yes! Your father and I used to clash a lot back in the days, your dojo is feared upon. How did I not recognize your fighting style?!” Tom’s excitement just overtook the conversation.

Kikaru took a sip from his drink. “Wow, seems like your father sure is something.” He said towards David.
“Not just my father, our whole family. I have 3 brothers that I had to fight a lot. I love a good fight though!” He boasted proudly.
“Wow, cool! Is that why you came to this bar? Why did you challenge me of all people then.” Kikaru chuckled softly. “I mean, I don’t look that strong. You could’ve easily fought against Tom.”
“Nah, that wouldn’t have been satisfactory. You had a fire in your eyes when I saw you walk into this bar. That somehow just made me want to fight you the most!” He slapped Kikaru on the back.

“Turns out my gut feeling was correct. You lack in experience, but your speed is amazing!” He laughed, Kikaru joining him soon after.
Tom jumped in the conversation again. “Why did you enter this bar, young lad? You never told your intentions. You didn’t even know what the fighting part of the name meant.” He asked towards Kikaru.

“I came here because of a rumor.” Kikaru stated. Both David and Tom inched closer towards Kikaru with intrigue.
“Have you heard of an object called infinity?” He softly asked so that only the two of them could hear it.
Tom’s face suddenly got serious. “Infinity. I’ve heard of it. I have some information on it, people talk about it from time to time.” He said with a more serious tone than before.
“Cool! Could you te-” Kikaru got interrupted.
“But. I’m not going to give that information away just like that, young lad. Even if you put on quite the show, I don’t know your true colors.” Tom cut him off. David didn’t know what they were talking about, yet he could feel the sudden seriousness of the situation.
“Tell me, what is your Dream. Why do you chase after It. Only if the both of you answer with something satisfying will I give you what I know.” Tom looked at both David and Kikaru.
David was the first to answer. “Even if I don’t know what Infinity is, I can assume Kikaru means well.”
He stood up, his eyes staring intensely at Tom.
“The motto of my family’s dojo is ‘never turn your back on anything or anyone! Fight on!’” He proudly proclaimed.
Kikaru’s eyes lit up because David was helping him, even if they only met half an hour ago.
“My dream is to carry the pride of my family and to take over the family dojo one day. I want to be a man that everyone can look up to.” He said with a large, cocky smile.
Tom nodded in response. “Just like your father back in the day.”  He then turned to Kikaru.
Kikaru began to sweat a bit under this suddenly heavy situation. He had to deeply think about his response. He closed his eyes in thought.
Suddenly, a vague memory flashed in front of him.
‘When we’re both stronger, let’s travel to all the places we’ve always wanted to see!’ it was his own voice. He could see the vague image of a young woman. With a soft giggle, the memory faded as quickly as it came.
He opened his eyes, a hint of sadness quickly drowned out with confidence.
“I want to see the world and become stronger. I need to hold onto a promise made long ago. So please.” He bowed deeply, almost slamming his head against the bar.
“Tell me!” In an act of desperation, he begged.
A few moments of silence occurred.  Both Tom and David were speechless.
“Young lad… Raise your head. I’ll tell you everything.” Tom’s voice was melancholic. He had seen a bit of himself in Kikaru.

“There is this village up in the mountains. Strange occurrences have been happening lately to it, it might be linked to what you’re searching for.” Tom explained to him.
Kikaru’s eyes lit up with gratefulness. “Thank you, Tom.” He said.

David was moved by what Kikaru had said. “A promise, eh? Well.. would you mind if I joined you, then?” He asked, taking a sip off his drink.
Kikaru thought about the offer that was just given him. He had just met David, yet he could tell that he would have his back during the travel. He had assumed he would do this all alone.
“David…” He looked at him, slowly raising his hand.
David’s flaming yellow eyes seemed to glow in excitement as he saw Kikaru raise his hand, quickly slapping against it.
“Let’s do this!” They both shouted in unison. Clanking their glasses against each other.
Tom laughed loudly, witnessing the start of a new duo.
“It seems that fists can really make great friends, eh?!” he said while laughing.
Kikaru nodded. “Seems so.” All the sadness he had disappeared. The three of them were laughing.

The night continued as always. The start of a friendship had just begun. The dawn of a new story about to begin.