OVERPOPULAS

Chapter 5

We got back to our apartment and Eric was nowhere to be found. My mother said he probably wandered off somewhere, maybe to the store?

I didn't think about it much or worry for him, afterall he was one tough motherfucker. Any person that picked a fight with him would certainly regret it. My mother put my graduation certificate and my graduation photo next to Eric's. You can obviously see the difference between the two pictures, I actually smiled while Eric didn't. Thinking of Eric made me think about the things he said. Weak, useless, and not worthy. It made me want to change that, but how?

After an hour Eric came back home.

"Where in the world were you!?" My mother shouted.

"None of your business." Eric snapped back. I noticed he had a piece of paper in his hand. I could make out that it was actually a flier with a blue background and yellow text. I could make out the words.

"Yutinami fig-" The words were cut off by Eric's hand as he kept arguing with mother.

"Next time when you go out, tell us! I'm sick and tired of you always doing that shit!" My mother yelled. Eric ignored her and came straight towards me and handed the flier out to me. I took it from his hand.

"Read it." He demanded. I looked down at the flier and read it.

YURINAMI FIGHT SCHOOL FOR AFTER SCHOOL GRADUATES. COME JOIN NOW. CLASSES START ON 6/1/2127. 8923 MULTIN DRIVE (Entirely Government owned and controlled no admission fee is required)

The flier had a government symbol on it with a man in a colorful blue and red mask waving. Is that Yurinami? Who was Yurinami?

"You should take it." Eric suggested. "It'll help you."

I stood there not giving an answer, only contemplating what I should do. More importantly, Eric was actually trying to help me out. Is that the sole reason he left the house?

Alice looked away from her book and ran up to me and took the flier straight out of my hands.

"What is this?" She asked as she read through it.

"A fighting school?" Alice questioned. "For free!?"

"Let me see that!" My mother demanded. She yanked the flier out of my sister's hand and read it herself.

"A fighting school for after school graduates? Where did you find this?" My mother questioned Eric as she put her hands on her hips.

"It was just hung up on a wall in an alleyway, so I took it." Eric explained. "I figured that Lee should take them. He does need to improve his fighting skills."

"Aw! You actually DO care for him" My sister said as she leaned up against him.

"It's not like that!" He exclaimed as he pushed Alice off of him. "I just want to beat him without it being so easy."

Eric was hiding his face from everyone as he went into the bathroom.

"You don't need to do it if you don't want to." My mother said, putting the flier on the kitchen counter.

"If you do decide to take it, that's ok with me and your father. Right?" My mother looked over at my dad who was lying on the couch sleeping. "Right!" My mother enthusiastically yelled.

"But, if you don't want to, that's completely understandable."

. "I'll think about it" I said back as I sat at the kitchen counter looking at the flier. I wanted to get stronger, yes. But this was all coming way too fast for me. I wasn't expecting this on the day of my graduation. I'd had to think about this long and hard.

That night I couldn't get any sleep. I just kept thinking about the fight school and if I should take it. The thought pondered in my mind for so long. Then I started to think. If you were gonna start getting stronger, what's not a better time than now? I sat up from my sleeping bag and walked to the kitchen counter and picked up the flier again. I looked at it thoroughly, analyzing every single detail. Making sure this wasn't like a weirdo or anything trying to trick people so that he could kill them. After looking through it hundreds and hundreds of times I was more confident than ever that I was gonna take this class.

The next morning I immediately went to Eric who was doing his morning routine of punching the punching bag and told him I was gonna do the fight school. All he did was give me a smile. A smile that I haven't seen in a long time, a smile of pure happiness.