sweets ✧ r.kaji ˣ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

31: another's strength

"hello!" you shouted as you slammed the sliding door open, revealing the startled first years.

"heyy," kiryu said, smiling lazily. he seemed to be about to open the door from the inside, but you beat him to it. "nice to see you, l/n-chan-senpai."

"oh, kiryu! nice to see you too!!" your grin became shinier when you saw the pinkette, and you hugged him lightly. the stares enomoto and kusumi gave you were ignored.

kiryu didn't resist at all, lying limp in your hold. he made eye contact with enomoto, who was directly behind you. "hi, senpais."

"...hi. anyway, move yerr ass out of my way, l/n," he said, walking past you and kiryu. "everybody, pay attention!"

his loud voice stole the eyes of the first-years in the room, also making nirei jump. you let go of kiryu and walked in as well to your position at the other side of the room, next to the window.

"so umemiya-san told some of you what's happening, rrright? we'rre gonna be trraining," enomoto announced as kaji and kusumi slunk to the side. "let's move to the gym!"

୨୧

the gym was incredibly large—an area enclosed in a large triangular roof and airy windows. it fit four whole basketball courts in it and was an ideal spot for gatherings and stuff of the sort with its big interior that didn't get too noisy even with many people. when your group arrived, some others led by the other second-year classes were already there.

"okay, now get in a line and we're gonna assess you and pick out opponents!" enomoto shouted. a loud volume was needed for the entire classes of sakura and yours to hear what he was saying.

"hey, kiryu! wanna be partners?" you asked, smiling at the boy as you tilted your head slightly."

"ah, sure. here's to a good fight, then!" he replied, bowing a little.

while finding a spot, you overheard kaji telling kusumi to pick nirei for the practice since he was more jumpy than the average student and might require a less rash instructor. it was known that nirei wasn't much of a fighter, but umemiya had told you that in a worst-case scenario, everyone would need to fight. kusumi would be the one to jump start nirei's training by teaching him the basics. (just wanted to clear it up cause in the manga, kusumi is with kiryu and nirei doesn't train!)

"let's go, let's go!" you exclaimed, eager to fight kiryu. not in a way just for fun. as a senpai, you thought responsibly and wanted to challenge the boy with a fighting style that didn't fall straight into his trap. also, you needed a distraction.

kiryu nodded, signaling the spar's start. you both started to run towards each other, quick green and e/c eyes darting all over their opponent's stance. how will he start, defensive or offensive? if offensive, then how can i counter that? if defensive, then how can i take advantage of that? these are questions that a fighter constantly asks themselves.

kiryu's style consists of more deflecting moves, and his defensive capability is high. you're going to use my force against me, right? you spoke to yourself.

his motions screamed "offensive," but their undertones whispered something else. before you launched a punch to his face, you froze abruptly to catch him red-handed.

his green eyes widened, seeing your figure through pink hair strands waver for a split second, but just enough to throw his attack off the planning board. his gravitational center pulled him down.

you struck—a swift movement crouching down into a calf kick to take advantage of his unbalanced form. when he stumbled back, you unleashed a flurry of punches only to be blocked by his two forearms.