"I can't believe you dragged me into this, Sota." Kagome said with a sigh. She found herself walking along her little brother through a lit hallway.
"But you did want to see Big Bro." the young boy replied to his older sister who was clad in her school uniform. He had a bucket of popcorn in his hands and munched on some.
"Still, boxing seems too brutal." The girl said, before turning to a trio behind her, "I can understand why they'd like it, though." She said in a deadpan.
Behind them, a certain banchou trio that Haruto had met and turned to the side of good by the use of charm and threats stood behind the Higurashi siblings. The three thugs had white headbands with the name Namikaze on it, carried large opened red kimonos with Haruto's name written on it in blazing orange, and the spectacled and masked banchou held up a banner to support the blond while the other had a large drum to cheer up the boxer. Kagome and Sota had to sweat-drop at the change the three punks had under Haruto's influence and fearsome discipline.
"We're here to cheer Namikaze-aniki up!" said the masked banchou, known as Tatsumi.
"And as men we're boxing fans!" said the spectacled banchou, Tomoki.
"And we can't let him down in enemy turf!" replied the pompadour banchou, Takeshi.
True, Haruto had invited Sota to see one of his matches at a school that housed the blond boxer's new opponent. Kagome had been forced to take her little brother there since her mother didn't want to see him hurt. Sota was just ecstatic to see his first boxing match in real life. The banchou trio, however, were more than ready to support the blond after he saved them from a yakuza even after they had threatened to torture a cat, Buyo, which now lived with Sota. It amazed the girl how Haruto changed people with his fighting. Or perhaps it was just a man thing that super macho badass wannabes understood.
The banchou took their separate way to their seats and the siblings soon entered a small changing room in which Haruto sat on a bench with a large white robe covering his body and his hands busy bandaging his own knuckles. His coach, the bald and rotund man with his mustache, turned to the guests, "Heh, giving free back-stage passes to friends is one thing, but to give one to a girl is a first for you."
Haruto turned and looked at Kagome, sending her a small grin, "Didn't expect you here. I only invited Sota."
"I had to bring him here." Kagome said with a sigh, "He's gotten into boxing far more than before thanks to you."
The boy lifted up his fists, "I just want to see you use another Dynamite Punch, Big Bro."
Haruto chuckled and raised his fist to the kid, "Sure, I'll give my opponent one for you." Sota put on a massive grin and bumped his knuckles into Haruto's bandaged ones, "See if you can cheer me up. I feel a bit nervous since this is my opponent's place. I'm sure his entire school must be ready to rip me to shreds."
Kagome replied, "How bad can it be? It's only boxing."
The three males in the room gave her deadpan stares, which unnerved her since even her little brother knew she had said something she shouldn't have, "We better get to our seats." He said and waved at the blond pugilist, "Good luck, Big Bro! You can win just with your punches, not our cheer!"
Haruto smiled at the kid, and to show he got the hint, he jabbed at the air, causing the air to ripple around his fist, creating sound from the speed of his punch. The coach smirked at this, "It seems having fans does give you focus, however, I still want to see you knocking teeth out there, kid." He slapped Haruto's back, rather hard, and grinned at seeing the blond pugilist didn't flinch from the strike. "Stand proud, kid."
Haruto nodded and stood up, letting the robe fall off and showing his black boxing trunks with an orange trim along his white boxing boots. He was getting a stronger and faster body, shown by the marks of his muscles on his skin. The blond grabbed a pair of red boxing gloves and slammed his knuckles together, giving a large grin matched by his coach. He entered the ring, hearing his friends' cheer, and went all out.
As Sota had come to expect, the match ended quickly with Haruto victorious and the blond boxer's opponent kissing the ground. Kagome was somewhere between shocked and amazed at seeing the blond use only his left hand to take down the other boxer without giving the supposed boxing prodigy react. The blond pugilist's followers weren't as surprised considering what they had gone through and seen with the blond. Haruto's opponent, a pretty boy that enjoyed his fan girls' cheers, thought he could take the blond out with one blow only to receive consecutive strikes from Haruto's left hand until the guy stopped moving, his face resembled mashed potatoes, and the girls that cheered for him got heart-eyed when Haruto raised his fists and grinned warmly with a loud victorious cry.
"That was… overwhelming." Kagome stated while Haruto fist-pumped with Sota who came to congratulate his hero now out of the school. The small group was walking back home with Haruto in a black tracksuit.
The blond chuckled, "Not all fights are easy, so if you think that was intense, you should see some matches for the championship."
The coach patted Haruto's back, hard, "Don't get cocky, kid!" The man said sternly, "The moment you lose your focus and your hunger for victory thinking it's all just easy, then I'll kick you into shape!"
Kagome gasped at the man's harshness, but Haruto chuckled, "I'll count on that, no way would I want to lose." He said with a smile, which the coach replied to with a smirk.
Kagome blinked, men were just so weird at times, "I don't think I will ever comprehend what is it about fighting being so… appealing to you, Haruto" Sota sighed, his sister was just so girly at times, "But… I won't deny that you looked good in that square."
"Ring." The men corrected her, though Haruto with a smile, "But how was your first boxing match like, Kagome-chan? Sure, you said it felt big, but what was it like?"
She stared at him, confused, and tried to figure out what to say, "It's… hard to put into words… It's like, for a moment, you had everyone against you until you won. It was… deafening, being at the stands and hearing everyone cheer for your opponent to defeat you. It also felt weird to hear them cheer for you after you won."
Widening his smile, Haruto replied, "That's why I enjoy boxing. There's something great boiling in me whenever I win a match and hear the cheers of others. It's kind of what I live for, listening to people cheer me up. I just… never liked people talking bad about others or being mean for no reason…" he looked up, deep in thought, "I certainly dislike that, people being cruel for no reason… As a kid I wanted to be strong to have people cheer me up, but I also feel that if I get strong, I may as well stop those who harm others for no reason… And… I sounded really cheesy there, huh?" he ended scratching the back of his head.
Sota grinned, "Then you can start with my sister, she can be so mean she turns into a real devil." He got hit on top of the head, "Ouch! See?!"
"You kind of earned it, but you're right. Punching him isn't going to do any good, Kagome-chan." He said, with his admirer trio inwardly groaning at the memory of Haruto's way of using punches for discipline. It seemed like punching little kids was something he kept out of the question for the boxer… or he simply allowed himself to punch everyone who intended to do bad things, like the three banchou before befriending the pugilist.
Haruto was just the kind of guy who saw things and took them in their simplest forms, and somehow that made him incredibly hard to describe. Kagome knew this, and thus sighed and gave him a small smile, "Fine, but next time he openly insults me I will do something."
Sota sighed, it seemed like his hero had that annoying gentleman side to him.