Chapter 9: Rising Dragon
The man named Akagi Shigeru had said something bizarre.
"'Winning after successfully dodging' can't beat 'winning directly'? But if you could win cleanly, who would bother trying to dodge?
The strange question flooded his mind, sending Shiraki Kei's consciousness into overdrive. He thought of a thousand things in an instant.
Drawing on the memories in his head, if this really was that Akagi Shigeru, he wouldn't have spoken without reason. He must have sensed something.
The "deep-seated error" that he himself hadn't been able to grasp?
"..."
Shiraki Kei was lost in thought, vaguely grasping at some crucial point. His breathing grew heavier.
Suddenly, Arisa's shout from the sidelines snapped him out of it.
"Bro!"
Shiraki Kei's eyes flicked, catching Komada's movement. He quickly dashed back, dodging Komada's middle kick.
The steel-plated boot whistled as it cut through the air.
The attack missed, leaving Komada slightly off-balance. It was the perfect moment to counter, but Shiraki Kei just stood there, gasping for breath, momentarily dazed.
...
...
"What are you doing? Fight already!"
"Hey! Are you stalling? Kill him!"
"Komada, destroy him!"
The stalemate was making the spectators restless, and a barrage of insults came from the crowd.
Seeing the action stall, the referee waved his hands, urging, "Continue!"
"..."
Seeing Shiraki Kei remain motionless, Komada finally grew irritated.
"All this dodging... it's boring. Hey! How long are you going to run and hide?"
"I'll end this with one punch! Come on and face me—!!"
Swish!
Komada slid forward, throwing a feint with his left straight. The wind from the punch washed over Shiraki Kei's face.
But Shiraki Kei just let his arms hang, his eyes opening wearily, his expression one of sudden clarity.
"...I get it."
A trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, he suddenly smiled. "That's right. What Ryu wanted to teach me, and what Akagi said... I know where I went wrong."
"I forgot... a 'feeling' I was supposed to have."
"In any fight, you're supposed to have that feeling, but I kept trying to run from it. That's where I was wrong. Even if I got the first hit, I could never win. I would just keep retreating."
"A style that needs to 'win after dodging'... how could that ever beat 'winning directly'?"
"..."
Hearing Shiraki Kei muttering to himself, Komada felt a baseless panic. He wasn't going to waste any more words.
He planted his feet and threw a heavy right straight, planning to crush this madman once and for all.
The next instant—
CRACK!
A sickening, crunching sound echoed. Drops of blood splattered onto the ring.
The spectators' eyes went wide, staring in disbelief at the scene, unable to understand what had just happened.
Komada was still in the pose of having thrown his right straight. His fist hadn't missed—it had connected squarely with Shiraki Kei's forehead.
But both bones in Komada's right forearm—the ulna and the radius—were shattered. The jagged spikes of broken bone had pierced through the skin, visible for all to see, making his entire forearm look half as long!
"—Ugh?!"
Agony shot up Komada's arm. His pupils trembled, and a cold sweat broke out over his entire body.
Shiraki Kei's forehead was split open, and from the heavy impact, blood even trickled from the corner of his eye, mixing with the blood from his forehead to draw horrifying red lines down his face.
"Komada... Does it hurt?"
"I just... almost forgot this feeling. The feeling of pain."
Shiraki Kei grinned, his mouth bloody. "I was always trying to 'dodge'—dodge Ryu's fist, dodge your attacks, dodge the pain. Even when I couldn't, I still wanted to. And because of that, I lost my chance to win."
"In the end... if you're not willing to take even a little pain... how can you ever hope to win?"
...
...
Such a bloody scene stunned Arisa. She couldn't understand. "What... what did Bro do?"
"It's a 'counter-punch'."
Karura answered. "It's a boxing technique. You use prediction, and the instant your opponent throws, you launch your own punch, using the time difference to strike first."
"The force of both punches combines. In addition to your own power, you're also turning your opponent's power back against them, amplifying the impact."
"..."
On the other side, veins bulged around Kure Fusu's eyes as she used the Kure Clan's special technique—[Release]—to dramatically enhance her vision.
She added, "In boxing, there's also a tactic of 'blocking' a punch with your forehead."
"Shiraki-chin combined the two. The instant Komada threw his all-out punch, he dashed into it, striking Komada's fist with his forehead."
"The two forces met, creating a massive impact that finally snapped Komada's arm."
As she said this, Fusu couldn't hide her excitement, licking her lips. "That said, from his 'stance' to his 'dash,' Shiraki-chin's techniques are fascinating..."
...
...
The three girls were chatting excitedly.
Meanwhile, the two adults—Katahara Metsudo and Akagi Shigeru—were discussing it from a different perspective.
"Hoh hoh hoh! I wasn't wrong, was I?"
"Mm. That was beautiful." Akagi said, a faint smile on his lips as he held his cigarette. "I think I'm starting to understand the appeal of watching these 'Kengan matches'."
Metsudo quickly asked, "And what is that?"
"...The 'taste'."
Akagi used a strange word, then asked Metsudo, "When you think of the most delicious food, what comes to mind?"
Metsudo chuckled. "If this old man had to answer, it would be meat, of course. And sweets."
"Heh. True enough."
Akagi took a drag. "But for me, there's a flavor I like even more."
"Take mahjong. There are crazy people in this world, obsessed with the game, who put their entire fortunes, even their lives, on the table..."
"Whether they're smart or stupid, their desire to win is just as pure, just as intense."
"And so, on the crucial discard that decides the game, someone will bet it all, wringing out every last drop of brainpower to make a decision... they hesitate, they waver, and finally, they think, 'This is the one'..."
"When they discard that tile, it's like they're discarding their very soul."
"—It's like... eating a person's heart."
"Perhaps a punch in this ring, at the moment it's thrown, can give off that same 'taste'..."
Akagi Shigeru finished his cigarette, looked back at the ring, and murmured, "It's over."
...
...
Komada's right arm was useless. Driven by agony and rage, veins popping on his forehead, he lunged forward, throwing his left fist with the intent to kill.
But it was true—it was already over.
Komada's movement was completely off-balance and broken. Shiraki Kei, on the other hand, though his stamina was nearly gone and his face was streaked with blood, his stance and breathing were stable.
In Shiraki Kei's eyes, once again, the fists of Ryu and Komada attacked as one!
And after "correctly facing" Ryu's lesson, in order to "correctly respond," Shiraki Kei's movements naturally changed. A new technique formed in his mind.
"Hoo..."
He sank into a low crouch, his legs in a lunge, left arm extended for balance, right fist drawn back to his waist.
The instant Komada (and Ryu) entered his attack range—
Shiraki Kei's legs exploded off the ground. His body shot up like a spring as he threw a powerful, rising right uppercut.
[Ryu • Shoryuken]!
The fist bypassed Komada's arm and smashed into his chest, erupting with a heavy, dull thud.
THUD!