Kenji
The sky was just beginning to darken as Kenji made his way to the abandoned lot, his footsteps echoing in the quiet of the night.
He let out a long breath as he took in the silence of the place.
"Alright," he muttered to himself. "Let's see if today's the day I finally get the hang of this."
Putting his bag down next to a rusted barrel, he pulled out his phone and opened a stopwatch app.
For the past few days, he'd been counting how long he was able to keep OFA stable. But progress has been slow so far.
Closing his eyes, he pulled the feeling from within once more, and the sensation of OFA simmered beneath his skin.
"Let's do this." He grit his teeth and made the power flow evenly across every part of his body.
For a few seconds, everything was alright. His power was comfortably coursing through his body, like he was inside a hot bath.
But that comfortable feeling didn't last long, as the energy started to waver.
"Ghh—!" Kenji clenched his fist as he felt his muscles burn from the strain and his vision began to burn.
"Gah!" He turned off OFA the moment he felt like he was about to pass out.
Quickly grabbing his phone and stopping the timer, he saw that it showed seven seconds.
It was only two seconds longer than before, but it felt like an eternity.
Kenji let himself sit down to catch a breath. His body was ready to stop functioning just from a few seconds of OFA activation.
"I guess… that's progress," he panted between breaths, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Small steps—well, really small steps but I'll get there."
The fact that he'd managed to hold OFA for even a little longer was encouraging. But it was clear that he was still far off from being able to maintain or even use it in any meaningful way.
"Alright, one more time." He eyed the timer once again and stood up, "Let's try to get to just ten seconds."
Once again, he closed his eyes and activated OFA.
The glow returned through his body, but unfortunately for him, the strain from the previous attempt made this one feel all the more excruciating.
But he held on, forcing his eyes to look at the timer as it went up to eight seconds.
'Just a little more!'
Then almost instantly at the ten-second mark, he let go of OFA and fell straight to the ground.
"I… did it." He muttered, lying down on his back and staring at the sky with a faint smile.
After that, he continued with his usual body strengthening workouts. It wasn't long until the sun started to set as he finished another day of training.
He'd be back here again tomorrow to start another phase of his training. Instead of trying to hold the power in one place, he'd practice moving with it.
Picking up his bag, he glanced at the empty lot one more time before heading home.
/ — /
"I'm starving," Kenji grumbled as he walked the road back home.
'Maybe I could buy a snack quickly?' The temptation appeared in his head, but he shook his head to throw the thought away. 'No! I can't afford to throw off my diet…'
As he walked, he walked past many convenience stores and fast food restaurants. He turned his head away from all of them, if he stared for too long, he might give in.
'Stay strong!'
Moving past a narrow alley, he heard a quiet voice echo out. It was barely audible through all the city noise, but the voice seemed off.
Against his better judgement, he walked closer to hear better.
"Hey, I told you, this is our spot. You've gotta pay if you want to keep setting up here."
Kenji froze, glancing into the alley.
At the far end, he spotted three guys cornering a younger man who looked around his age.
The guy was dressed in an apron and held his hands up in surrender as his eyes darted across the men surrounding him.
"I-I already told you I don't have anything," he said with a shaky voice, "I'm just trying to close up."
The tallest of the three thugs leaned in with a cruel smirk. "Wrong answer." He shoved the shopkeeper against the wall, and the two others laughed, exchanging a glance that sent a chill down Kenji's spine.
Without thinking, Kenji walked into the alley, throwing his bag to the side.
"Hey!" He shouted, earning the attention of everyone there. "That's enough! Leave him alone!"
The thugs were surprised by his sudden appearance, but their expressions quickly changed to one of amusement and irritation.
The tallest one, probably the leader, crossed his arms and gave Kenji an unimpressed look.
"And who the hell are you?" the leader sneered. He walked closer to Kenji and sized him up. "You lost or something?"
Kenji suddenly felt a lot more nervous, but he forced himself to stay calm.
"Just someone who thinks you should back off and let that guy go."
'Fuuck that did not sound how I wanted it to,' Kenji cringed as the leader let out a mocking cackle.
"Oh, really?" He gestured to his friends, who closed in around Kenji, blocking his escape route. "You've got a lot of nerve, I'll give you that. But you should really learn to mind your own business."
Kenji's palms started to sweat as he weighed his options. 'Alright, Kenji, think. You've trained for this… sort of.'
He prepared to channel OFA into his fist and got into a fighting stance.
For some reason, he thought he'd be more confident with having OFA in hand. But in a real fight, he found it harder to focus.
This was the real deal and not some training by himself. If something went wrong, he was at real risk of injury.
'I can't hold OFA long enough, so I need to fight in bursts,' He thought as he eyed the three thugs, 'I should have thought of a better plan than this. God dammit.'
"Last chance. Walk away and there won't be any trouble."
The leader laughed, glancing back at his friends. "Oh, he doesn't want trouble. Did you hear that, boys?" He turned back to Kenji, his grin widening. "Well, too bad."
With that, the leader lunged forward, his fist coming at Kenji's face. Kenji was barely fast enough to react.
He threw his hands up and was able to channel OFA into his fists just in time.
The leader's fist slammed into Kenji's forearms. He winced at the impact, but saw that it actually hurt the thug more than him.
The leader staggered back, shaking off the sting in his hand, "Think you're tough, huh?"
He moved to lunge at Kenji again, but this time he dodged and got up close.
Moving into the leader's guard, he clenched his fist and swung at the leader's ribs.
'Control it!'
"Agh!"
The punch connected cleanly, the force sending the thug flying back a few meters. The man clenched his side in pain, and shouted at his friends.
A sudden jolt went through Kenji's head, and he turned to the side to see another thug rushing at him.
At the same time, he was able to see a glint of metal in the thug's hand.
'Shit!'
Kenji moved to dodge the stab to his stomach, but wasn't fast enough to move away from the follow up, and the knife sliced across his forearm.
'Not good!' His heart raced as he stared at the blood. But he didn't have time to think when Danger Sense warned him of the other thug that came at him with a metal pipe.
He pushed off the alley wall to duck under the blow and moved away to gain some distance.
'I can't keep this up,' He was able to sense the attacks coming but he was still too fucking slow to do anything!
Things just kept getting worse as now the leader had recovered and rushed towards Kenji with a flurry of punches.
The first two hits he was able to block, but the third punch slipped past his guard and slammed into his gut.
The punch drove the air out of his lungs and he doubled over in pain.
"Not so tough now huh?" The leader grabbed him by the collar and yanked him upright. His other hand drawing back for another punch.
From pure panic, Kenji grabbed hold of the hand holding his collar. Channeling OFA into it and squeezed.
CRACK.
"FUCK—!" The leader shouted in pain and let go of his collar. And he didn't waste the chance and landed another OFA infused punch into the man's midsection, sending him away.
Seeing their leader losing, the second thug rushed in and drove his shoulder into Kenji's side, slamming him into the brick wall.
Kenji's head snapped back against the rough stone, and he shouted in pain when the thug's knee drove into his ribs.
Stars exploded in his vision and the taste of blood filled his mouth.
He was getting desperate, and he was reaching his limit with OFA. He needed to end this now.
The third thug swung the metal pipe, aiming for Kenji's ribs. He managed to twist at the last second, but the pipe still connected, slamming into his side with a sickening crunch.
Biting back a scream, he fought through the haze of pain and headbutted the man, dazing him and landing a clean uppercut to their jaw.
The thug with the knife came at him again, and in panic, Kenji channeled more OFA than he had intended into his arm.
Seeing his fist approach, the thug tried to slash it, only for the blade to break the moment it made contact with the OFA infused limb.
His fist made clean contact with the thug's body, and he was sent crashing into the wall, spitting blood from his mouth.
The sudden display of power startled the other two, but they still rushed to attack.
One tackled him, but Kenji kept hold of the man. Forcing OFA through his body for a split second, enough to lift the thug and throw him away.
With one left standing, Kenji went on the offensive this time.
He saw the leader's eyes widen as he tried to block, anticipating a punch.
But instead, Kenji grabbed the man's arm and held on tightly.
"Haah!" He swung the leader into the alley wall, then again to the other side, and again, and again—
"Stop please!"
The shout snapped Kenji out of his frenzy, and he threw the leader away, into the two other thugs who started to inch away from him.
Now the tables have turned, and it was them who stared at him in fear.
Kenji's eyes didn't leave the trio as he walked forward as calmly as he could.
He couldn't force OFA out anymore, but he had the upper hand now. All he needed to do is make the thugs go away.
"You still wanna do this?" He asked, but inside he was praying to every single god in existence that they would take his bluff and leave.
Slowly, they walked backward and out the alleyway, before turning into a sprint as their footsteps quickly disappeared.
'It's over…' Kenji panted, feeling the tension leave his body.
He turned to the shopkeeper, who was staring at him with a mix of awe and relief.
"You… you saved me," the guy stammered, "Thank you."
Kenji forced a smile, though his legs felt like they might give out at any second. "No problem," he said, trying to keep his voice light. "Just… be careful, alright?"
The shopkeeper nodded and hurried off, glancing over his shoulder as if to make sure the thugs weren't coming back.
Once he was gone, Kenji leaned against the wall to catch his breath.
"Okay… that was… fucking embarrassing," he muttered.
The 'fight,' if it could even be called that, was absolutely humbling.
Here he was thinking that the only thing he needed to worry about was Honkai Beasts.
But the world sent him a reminder and made him nearly die to a pack of thugs.
'If those guys had been any tougher… I would've died.'
He took a deep breath, straightening as he gathered his thoughts. "This sucks..." With one last look down the alley, Kenji turned and made his way home.
The encounter was a wake-up call. He had more power than those guys, but no control and absolutely no fighting skills.
He had nothing to support his strength and that nearly cost him his life.
'Looks like I know what I need to do next. Learning how to actually fight.'