Kick Back [Hanma Shuji]

1. Honoka Hanma

As soon as she saw her friend walking through the classroom door wearing a long-sleeved sweater, for which it was already too hot, Honoka frowned. This time it didn't seem like Kaya had put on any makeup, but her hair was pulled back in a loose braid that covered part of her face, and her hands moved rather awkwardly and stiffly, as if every gesture took more effort than usual. There was no doubt she had hurt herself again during one of her sparring sessions.

“Again?” she asked when Kaya sat down next to her. Her tone of voice reflected a strange mixture of concern and complaint.

Upon listening to her, Kaya looked up and saw that Honoka was pointing to the bandages that were covering her hands. The night before, during one of her fights in ‘The Basement’, she had to face a huge man who seemed to be made of concrete or iron. As much as she had tried to punch him repeatedly in the neck and jaw, the guy hadn't flinched at all. He had stood his ground, his back straight, and a little smirk of complacency on his face as he let Kaya keep trying to knock him down. With each blow, Kaya had the feeling that the only one getting hurt was her, so it was quite a surprise when he finally started to stagger, disoriented. Taking advantage of his moment of surprise, Kaya punched his stomach at the same time as a sudden sharp pain spread up her arm, leaving her numb from wrist to elbow. At some point, she had injured herself, and she hadn't noticed it until her body began to cool down.

Luckily, she didn't break anything, but her left wrist was somewhat swollen, and she had several wounds on the knuckles of her right hand where the bandages had not properly cushioned the impact. Being right-handed, it was too difficult for her to bandage her right hand, so it was either Chōji or Benkei who helped her do it, and although Benkei did it expertly, Chōji lacked quite a bit of practice.

With a smile, Kaya shrugged and tried to play it down so Honoka wouldn't worry.

“It’s part of the job, I guess”.

“I still don't understand why you put so much effort into training if you don't apply it in a real fight,” Honoka didn't seem too convinced with her answer. As much as she tried to understand Kaya, she couldn't figure out how she could like something that hurt her so much. “What's the point of training so hard? Why don't you join a competition? I think the seniors wanted to organize something against the Nakano.”

“I would if it weren't for the fact that I don't meet the main requirement,” Kaya snorted indignantly, “being a member of the ‘men's’ boxing club. They must be afraid of being embarrassed if I beat them or something, and the women's boxing club hasn't had enough members for the last two years. Last time they didn't even bother to send us the ‘We regret to inform you that the club has not reached the minimum number of members to be constituted’ letter.” Just remembering it made her blood boil. “They just put the red ‘Denied’ stamp on it as soon as we turned in the signature sheet and told us to try again next year.”

It had been only her and one other third-year girl who had shown interest in the now disbanded girls' boxing club. It had always been a club with very few members, but when she and Honoka entered high school, there were still several senior girls in it. Although there weren't enough of them to fight in any tournaments, at least they could practice two-on-two with each other in the gym on Thursday afternoons. But once they started graduating, the team began to dwindle until it disappeared altogether.

Dropping onto her desk dramatically, Kaya put her hands to her face and sighed, drawing a laugh from Honoka, who gave her a sympathetic look.

“There aren't many girls interested in fisticuffs after school. Haven't you thought about finding another sport that's a little less… aggressive?” She suggested. “I think it's been like two or three years since I last saw you without any bruises or some broken bones. No wonder the tutor thought you were being beaten at home.”