Special Property (BxB)

Chapter 45. Concern

A wounded animal is much more dangerous than a healthy animal. This is simply because the wounded animal is in trouble and they are aware of it. They consider themselves an easy target to any predators and will attempt to flee if possible. If they are backed into a corner, they will have no choice but to fight as violently as possible until they either successfully drive off the predator, become incapacitated, or dead.

A wounded animal isn't rational or moral. Their only goal is survival at all costs. They can be extremely unpredictable and should be only handled with the utmost care, if handled at all. In many cases, the only recourse is to euthanize.

—Fight or Flight Response, Borem, F. (1992). Best Vet Quarterly, Issue 3, p. 14.

The boys went into the locker room. Takahashi opened his locker and grabbed an extra pair of swim trucks and a towel and gave it to Kato.

"Thank you," Kato said.

"Keep them. That will give you two pairs." Takahashi said with a smile.

There were many boys in the locker room, all changing for class. Kato thought he might be more embarrassed at the idea of changing but he told himself it wasn't any different that the showers. He knew one thing, he was not going to look at Takahashi.

Takahashi turned his side toward Kato and started undressing. Kato did the same. After a minute, he could see out of the corner of his eye that Takahashi was done, and so was he.

"Ready?" Kato asked quietly.

"Yeah," Takahashi replied. Kato turned to look at Takahashi, who was walking away. Kato could see the large bruises on his back. Kato immediately choked up. It was as ghastly as Takahashi said it would be. He scampered after him to the pool.

A Grade 12 student, who apparently was the leader, had the three new boys jump in the pool first. He had each demonstrate their ability with different strokes. Kato was familiar with all of them as were the rest of the boys.

Kato watched Takahashi walk down the steps and into the pool. When the water level reached his back, he cringed a little. Kato knew it probably hurt worse than he led on.

Kato waded over to Takahashi. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Takahashi replied with a hint of annoyance.

The leader had the students swim warm-up laps. Kato really did love the water. Every now and again, he would peek over at Takahashi. When they started, Takahashi struggled a little. No doubt those bruises hurt. After the warm-up laps were over, Takahashi was swimming effortlessly. Then the leader had them swim with fins and paddle boards. Kato loved this. It felt like he was practically flying through the water.

At the 45-minute mark, the students were broken up into teams and given a ball and they played water polo. Kato had a blast. He wasn't on Takahashi's team, but it was still lots of fun.

After the chime rang, the class had ended. Kato watched all the boys get out of the pool except Takahashi, who had swum over and sat on the steps, the water reaching just below his shoulders. Kato swam over and sat next to him, the water reaching up to his chin.

After a couple minutes passed, Kato looked at Takahashi and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Let's go then," Kato said encouragingly. As he was about to stand, Takahashi reached over and grabbed his hand.

"Wait, please," Takahashi spoke softly.

Kato didn't know what to do so he sat there, letting Takahashi hold his hand. He was glad, at least, that nobody was around, and their hands were underwater so nobody could see anyways.