𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 ᵃˣᵉˡ ᵏᵒᵛᵃᶜᵉᵛⁱᶜ

07

-🥋-

chapter seven

AXEL

My sensei pushes me to be the best I can be, but sometimes, I wish he wasn't my sensei.

I stand in the bathroom, looking over my shoulder in the mirror at the three red marks on my back, where my sensei stuck me. They look like four red circles, yet the skin is red and raw. Ever since he first hit me, it never stopped. Every time I make a small mistake, I face the wrath of his knuckles. It encourages me to not make those mistakes again out of fear.

I learned not to cry about it anymore.

If I ever become a sensei for a world class team, I would never hit my students. I wouldn't do it anyway, but knowing the damage it's done to me, I especially wouldn't do it. After being hit for years over small mistakes, when something isn't perfect it makes me feel like I'm not in control and I'm going to mess everything up. This is why I'm awkward, I don't want to mess things up.

I finish rubbing cream on the gashes, throwing a workout shirt over my chest. I grab my runners, moving towards the door of my hotel room. Zara's got her own in the room next door, and sensei is the one beside mine. Zara left to go out about an hour ago, while I'm leaving to train on the beach.

I throw on a black zip up jumper, my earbuds and phone as I make my way out of the door. Just as I lock it behind me, sensei walks down the hall towards his room.

"Where are you going?" he asks me. I'm taller than him, yet it feels like I he's towering over me. "Zara left to go clubbing, I presume you are doing the same. Even though you should be training."

"I'm going to train on the beach," I tell him, shoving my hands into my pockets.

He nods, before turning his head towards me with a raised eyebrow. "Are you going off to see the Stone girl?"

I can feel my body tighten, knowing this was coming. Wolf told us at the start not to speak to our opponents, a rule I completely forgot as soon as I spoke to Maddie. He tells us speaking to our opponents makes us weaker because we become focused on them, not our fight.

After I spoke to Maddie today, he looked at me with a glare, but didn't say anything. I knew a lecture was coming, but I didn't know it was coming as I was trying to train on the beach. For him.

"I'm training alone," I reply, my fists clenching in my pockets.

"Good," Wolf replies, stepping closer to me. "Because I'd hate for you to be distracted from the tournament because of a pretty girl and a turtle hatch."

My gut tightens. I drag my eyes away from him and onto the ground.

"Yeah, I found her photos on her account after I searched her up because that girl is a powerhouse and some of your teammates have been slacking," he says, glaring up at me. "But I was surprised to see a photo of you smiling next to a baby turtle, with her sitting beside you. Or that she is the only girl in this tournament that you follow aside from Zara."