Kiro took a deep breath, as he stood in a hallway of his school, standing just in front of a wooden door with a sign posted on it, reading: "Karate Club". 'This is it.' He thought to himself, as he reached out for the doorknob. 'Today is a new day! After all these years of being picked on, I'm going to finally learn how to defend myself! Stand up to the bullies! Protect the little guys!' He couldn't help but grin ear to ear at the thought, as he turned the knob, and opened the door. It was a giant open space, with an enormous green mat in the middle, several punching bags off to the side, and kids in white karate gis training in every corner. Kiro was blown away by the atmosphere, as he could sense everyone in the working their hardest, pushing themselves to become better fighters. He could smell it too. There seemed to be a match going on within the mat, as two smaller guys took on one enormous fighter. The guy had to be about 300 pounds of pure muscle! The two smaller guys struggled to keep up with his fury of punches and kicks. Just as Kiro started to turn away, one of the smaller guys went flying out the ring, as he hit the wall with a thud. Kiro slowly made his way over to one of the students on the punching bag, as he raised his finger up to him, standing on the other side of the punched bag.
"Uh, e-excuse me..." Kiro mumbled awkwardly, as sweat poured down from his forehead.
The man simply casted an intimidating glare in Kiro's direction, as he shot a powerful straight at the bag, causing it to fly right into Kiro.
Kiro was hit by the bag, as he stumbled backwards, right into something solid.
"What're you doing here, kid?" A very deep, intimidating voice questioned, as he began to chuckle quietly.
Kiro slowly turned around, as he came face-to-face with the hunk of muscle that was just in the ring with the two smaller guys. The boy gulped, as he began to awkwardly laugh. "Sorry about that! I was just kind of wondering if perhaps you'd consider letting me join the club! Potentially." He continued to laugh, as he rubbed the back of his head.
"You? Join the karate club?" The muscular man laughed. A group started to form around Kiro, as everyone seemed to have stopped to watch the interaction. Many of the other students started to laugh as well, as Kiro's words seemed to have tickled them. "Get out of here, Twig." The man ordered, as he shoved Kiro backwards, causing the boy to stumble onto his butt.
Kiro slowly made his way back to his feet, his legs shaking uncontrollably, as he tried to keep eye contact with the man in front of him. Up close, a guy so big, it was very intimidating for Kiro, as the muscular man towered over him. If he really desired it, he could probably kill Kiro in a single punch! At least, that was Kiro's mentality. "No, please!" Kiro exclaimed, as he clenched his fists. "I really want to learn! I'll do whatever it takes, I swear!" He assured the muscle man, as Kiro grabbed onto his lapel, practically begging him to take him in.
"Karate is for the strong! If we let a weakling like you come in and train with us, what do you think that'll do to our reputation, huh!?" The bully explained to him, as he pushed the pathetic freshman off of him once more.
Weakling. That's what Kiro had been called all of his life. If he were in this same situation before, he probably would just walk away, forget that the idea ever existed in his head. But this was something he was determined to do! Nothing was going to stop him this time! "I am strong!" He shouted at the bully, sounding quite confident. He didn't quite believe the statement himself, but he wanted to prove that he wasn't a weakling. Not anymore! At least, not in spirit!
The bully chuckled, as he thought for a moment. His eyes drifted over to the door Kiro had walked in, as he watched several shadows walk by through the door's window. "You're strong, huh? Alright, we'll test that, then." He laughed. "Meet me behind the school in a few hours, after karate club's over with. I'll test you to see if you're really fighter material."
"Really!?" Kiro excitedly exclaimed, as he began to grin ear to ear again. "I won't let you down, then! I'll show you!" He assured the man.
"Yeah, yeah. See you then, don't be late." The bully continued to chuckle, as he walked off, back to his regular training. His goons followed him, as Kiro was left alone once more.
"R-Right! Don't worry!" Kiro assured him, as he too ran off. The freshman turned the knob of the door, and left back out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(later...)
Kiro stood just outside of an alleyway, created by two buildings of the school. He checked his watch once more, trying to keep track of the time. "Where is he? I thought he'd be here by now..." He mumbled to himself, as he kicked pebble across the concrete in front of him.
Suddenly, a group of kids from the karate club flooded out through a back door a little ways away from Kiro, as the muscular man was easy to spot out, as he hover above the rest. He saw Kiro through his peripheral vision, as he quickly turned his head. "I'll catch up with you guys later." The man told them quite seriously, as he began to approach Kiro.
"Nah, man. I wanna see this!" One of his friends laughed, as two of the muscular man's goons trailed behind him.
"So, you actually decided to show up, huh, twig?" The man laughed, as he dropped his duffel bag on the floor in front of Kiro.
"Y-Yeah, I did. I told, I'm serious about this. I want to learn karate." Kiro assured the man, as he tried to keep his legs from shaking. He wouldn't let himself be intimidated!
"We'll see." He laughed, as he got into a very defensive stance. "Here's what's going to go down," He paused, as he stared Kiro up and down once more. "If you can manage to get a single, clean hit on me. I'll let you join the karate club. If you can't, then you're nothing but a weak loser, just like I said. Deal?" He offered.
Kiro thought it seemed almost too easy. He had never really been in an actual fight before, but a single hit? It sounded too easy. "Deal." Kiro nodded, as he tried to copy the bully's style of fighting. Not really knowing any other sort of stance to try.
"I'll even let you throw the first punch! Show me what you got, weakling!" He screamed at Kiro, as he started to bounce a bit on the balls of his feet.
"You asked for it!" Kiro screamed, as he charged at the bully. He threw a straight right towards the center of the man's face.
The bully easily dodged the slow punch, as he faded to the right, things seemed to move in slow motion, as he charged a powerful blow to the gut.
Kiro gasped, as the wind was knocked right out of him, he stumbled backwards, as he held his stomach in pain, completely losing his guard.
"You idiot!" The bully exclaimed, as he a quick roundhouse came flying at Kiro's unguarded head.
The kick was too fast for Kiro to react, as it hit him hard in the side of the head, blood flew everywhere, as he was knocked into the side of the building beside him. Kiro fell to the ground, as he gasped for air.
"I told you! You're too weak for the karate club! No matter how hard you work, people like you will always be under people like me!" The bully assured him.
Kiro clenched the dirt beneath him, as the bully's words echoed in his head. "I'm not weak! I'll show you, I am strong!" He screamed, as he closed his eyes tightly, throwing another punch, aimlessly, at the bully.
Member
