"Ichi... (One...)"
As the judge started to count, the whole arena was quiet as the grave. In the middle of the arena, there were two fighters fighting for the title of Soshi, the supreme leader of Jutengai. One was still standing, while the other just fall under the other's attack. Has Kumatetsu lost the fight? Is Iozen the next Soshi? These thought kept occurring in everyone's mind, yet no one could be sure about the result before the judge finished his count.
Ever since the current Soshi announced his upcoming retirement eight years ago, the topic of who would be the next Soshi had never ceased in interesting the resident of Jutengai. Though many candidates were nominated throughout the years, there were two that were always mentioned. One of them was Iozen, the famous and respected boar fighter, and lovely father of two handsome youngsters, Ichirohiko and Jiromaru.
The other one was Kumatetsu, who was quiet the opposite of his opponent eight years ago. Kumatetsu was a self-training bear fighter, who was recognized as one of the most skillful and talented fighters in Jutengai, though not came from traditional martial sects like Iozen. However, Kumatetsu was also well known for his ill-temper and sloppy life style, and none in the Jutengai hoped for him to take the title in the beginning.
But it all changed when Kumatetsu brought a human boy into Jutengai one night. The Jutengai and the rest of beast world had been separated from the human kinds for thousands of years, and most of the beasts only knew the humans from the boogie man stories they heard when they were young. The shock that Kumatetsu was not only intentionally brought the boy, but took him in as the bear's only apprentice in many years was still fresh in the beasts' memory, regardless that eight years had passed.
If Kumatetsu was treated as an outcast before that, the boy and his new master were definitely isolated by the community afterward. Though in time the boy proved to be as sweet and innocent as the beast kids, and in these past years not only changed the neighbor's view on him, but turned Kumatetsu into a more mature beast in the eyes of Jutengai, though the bear certainly would deny it when asked about it.
"Ni... (Two...)"
The whole arena, as well as Iozen, were now looking at the motionless figure in the middle of the fighting area. They knew if Kumatetsu didn't move in the next eight seconds, the result would be decided. It might be surprising that the last beast who wanted to see Kumatetsu lose in Jutengai, was probably Iozen himself. Don't get me wrong, actually the boar was enjoying the fight with his opponent, as Kumatetsu's skills were ten times better and more unpredictable than eight years ago, thus turned the bear into a more difficult opponent.
It was just when Iozen thought about his own family recently, he found that as he was preparing for the contest today in the past years, he had neglected his family for long. Not only did his lovely mate had few wrinkles, he hadn't been spending times with his boys anymore. As a result, Ichirohiko had grew distance from him, did he secretly discover his origin? No, that wouldn't be possible, we had hid that from him well in the past years. Also Jiromaru seemed to spend more his time with Kumatetsu's boy and the rest of his friends these years.
If Iozen had less time to share with his family now, he really couldn't imagine how he could spare more times between his dojo and Jutengai. Iozen knew that just like Kumatetsu, the remain meaning of this contest to him was winning, and though the bear might not be the best choice of leader for the Jutengai, Kyuta certainly could fit in the role well. Not that his view on humans had changed, since he was among the few beasts that had real contact with human world in thousands of years, yet on Kyuta he saw not what he was, the boar saw who Kyuta was.
So that's why Iozen now had mixed feelings about his lying opponent in front of him, the part in him who wanted to win hoped Kumatetsu was still unconscious, the part in him that was thinking about his family, however, secretly wished the bear recovered from his last attack, and gave him a critical hit and defeated him. The question that was hanging in Iozen and the rest of Jutengai's mind was, is the fight over now? Or more specifically, will Kumatetsu stand up and fight back in few seconds?
"San... (Three...)"
In contrast to what the beasts thought, Kumatetsu was actually fully conscious lying on the ground, he was just losing the willing to fight back. If Iozen had changed his view on this contest from preventing Kumatetsu from the seat of power, to just enjoying the fight throughout the past years, Kumatetsu's goal must had shrunk from defeating Iozen, to just finishing an unpaid debt. To the bear, what's the meaning of winning, when you already lost the one you care the most?
At first Kumatetsu just pretended that he could just went back to his life before Kyuta came into the picture. First he had tried to sleep in, the bear soon found himself wide awake even before the chicken started to crow; Then he started to make himself breakfast, and found himself eating alone in silence. Kumatetsu still went to work like the past eight years, though the bear didn't even need the money anymore. And when Kumatetsu practiced his skills for the first time after Kyuta left, he reluctantly admitted to himself that he really missed the boy.
Though Kumatetsu's house was the biggest in Jutengai, it was actually a small room built on the top of Tatara's apartment, it still felt eerily empty despite Hyakushubo and Tatara's constantly presence. He was so used to challenge Kyuta for who woke the earliest, for who ate the fastest, and for who could break the biggest clay pot when practicing, and it really felt weird to not having someone welcoming him home after a day of hard works, arguing with him in a shouting contest, and checking Kyuta's bed to see if the boy was warm enough before going to his.
If someone in the past told Kumatetsu that the skinny boy he and Tatara found in Shibuya that night, would one day change his life style, he might just laugh at his or her face. The bear was so used to his bachelor and solitude life that he found it handful to deal with a little human boy, who unfortunately was almost as stubborn as he was. Kumatetsu even thought about asking his arch-enemy for help, considered that Iozen already had two kids himself, but the bear was simply too proud to go to the door of his nemesis.
Yet in the end the master and disciple finally found a way to live with each other, whether it was because of Hyakushubo's help, the journey that forcefully offered by Soshi, or Tatara's words about how the boy resembled Kumatetsu himself when he was young. The changing of relationship was so slowly yet swiftly that Kumatetsu didn't even realize the days of his bachelor life were gone until now, after he tried as hard as he could be to live a life without Kyuta, and failed miserably in the end.
The realization sent Kumatetsu into a sour mood, and those who were around would soon found themselves facing the rage of the bear, if they uttered a single wrong words. Those youngsters that came to Kumatetsu's door and asked to be the bear's apprentices, after seeing Kyuta's success were the first to be affected, since Kumatetsu was still not a good teacher after all, and in the eyes of Tatara and Hyakushubo, none of them had possessed one tenth of the determination of Kyuta after Kumatetsu's first lesson turned into a total disaster.
Since Tatara was known for his big mouth in Jutengai, the monkey was the next to suffer. A cup almost hit directly on his head when he was talking with Hyakushubo, only because Kumatetsu heard him talking about how the bear had turned back into the loser he was before Kyuta. On the contrast of Kumatetsu's expect or other's view on him, the bear was actually turned into a much worse version of himself eight years ago.
Yes Kumatetsu's temper never improved in the past years, and even a single thing could set the bear into furious stage, but to those who knew him well like Tatara and Hyakushubo, they could found a way to avoid the enraged bear just by looking his face. To these days, however, Kumatetsu could switched from a delightful mood into a living fury in less a second, just at the mention of Kyuta's name, or encountering something that reminded him the human boy. So one could imagine how the boy'name had turned into a taboo around Kumatetsu.
When Kumatetsu was surrounded by his friends or disciples, he could occasionally forgot the human boy, but when he was alone in the night, he longed for the missing part in his heart, though again, he would admitted it. Since there were no one to be angry with when he was by himself, he blamed the boy for his now bitter mood. Kumatetsu just couldn't figure why the human world was so important to the boy, from his point of view, the boy was in an awful state when he and Tatara found him. When Kumatetsu lost his parents when he was little, the cub blamed the world for taking away his family, and if the boy was really similar to his younger self like Tatara claimed, Kyu... the boy shouldn't want to go back to the human world but, alas, here we were.
Oh yeah, although Kumatetsu didn't know about the boy's mother, it seemed that his father was still there, and by some cruel chance, the father and son did reunite with each other, and the bear hated the man he had never met so much for that. When the boy wandered in the street of Shibuya alone eight years ago, Kumatetsu didn't see the man showing up and keeping the boy out of danger, otherwise how two hooded and suspect stranger could lured him into Jutengai. Kumatetsu even found himself a little jealous of the man, for the man was the 'father' even though he had never showed his damned face in the past eight years, and Kumatetsu, who filled the father figure in the boy's life as the role of master, was nothing after all.
At the end, Kumatetsu was not even blaming the boy, or hating the man, he was scolding himself for ever taking the boy in, and even feeling attach to him. When Kumatetsu was dwelling in the dark corner of Jutengai in the young age, he soon learned the lesson that by keeping your friend close, you kept your enemy closer, a relationship usually ended up in a betrayal, Hyakushubo and Tatara were among the few exceptions, of course, but they were never as close as he and the boy, a relationship only a real family could top. And now the boy was gone, their little 'family' was no more, leaving poor old Kumatetsu alone in his small corner.
It was only when the date of contest was decided and announced that Kumatetsu found himself was not angry anymore, he was missing the boy so much that he could literally do anything if it could bring back the boy. The boy was initially a result from the request of Soshi, who asked him to at least take in one apprentice if the bear was willing to participate. In Kumatetsu's imagine, maybe the boy had heard about the news and would show himself at the arena, just like he did when he first ran from his master.
It was the day after Kumatetsu brought the boy into Jutengai, and while pursuing his new apprentice, the bear met his opponent, Iozen. A fight soon broke out after the latter learned about the boy's presence. Though the two challengers were well-matched, Iozen still found a way to punch into Kumatetsu's muzzle, prompting the bear to fight in a more savage form. Since when comparing with brawn, Kumatetsu was slightly more stronger than his rival, the bear successfully turned the table against his match. But Iozen always fought with his brain, and the boar soon found a weakness to fight back, not to mention all of the crowd were in team Iozen, not that Kumatetsu cared about it, the table was soon turned again.
Don't lose!
Kumatetsu was so used to hear everyone hissing at him that he was so shock to hear someone who was cheering for him, as well as the rest of Jutengai. The bear stopped his attack to find the voice coming from his runaway disciple, and Iozen, like always, didn't miss this chance and gave the bear the final blow, knocked down the fierce fighter. However in that day it was not the losing that was really matter to Kumatetsu, no, it was the conversation he shared with the boy that night, when he was so sure the boy would not want to be his apprentice anymore, not that the bear blamed him for that. To his surprise, the boy chose to remain with him afterward.
So that was what Kumatetsu thinking about when he was lying in the middle of arena, that if he could recreated the fight, maybe, just maybe, he could hear the voice he missed the most...
"Hachi... (Eight...)"
Instead of Kyuta's, it was the judge's voice that Kumatetsu heard, brutally reminded the bear his pathetic state. Finally he saw that the boy was not going to come back, no matter what he did. Maybe the close relationship he thought they shared had no meaning to the boy, maybe the gods separated the beasts from humans for good reasons, and who was him to deny the great wisdom of them? To foolishly believe that the humans had emotions like the rest of his beast fellows? Despite this, Kumatetsu found himself not regret ever meeting the boy after all.
Kumatetsu still remembered the lost expression on the boy's face when the bear found him, and the determination he saw on the boy's face when the latter told him, if being your apprentice can make me becoming stronger, then I'll stay. He still felt the concern he felt when he notice the bruise on the boy's face, and the pride he possessed after the boy successfully beating him with a broom. Every time the bear walked into his tiny house, passed the clearing where they started their first lesson, and the crossroad the boy always managed losing him in, Kumatetsu swore he could still see the boy like he had never left.
These memories might meant nothing to the boy as the bear had figured out earlier, but Kumatetsu would always carry them in his heart to the day he died. In Kumatetsu's mind, he decided that after the fight was over, he would go home and pack, set foot on another journey like he had years ago, to see the whole beast world; And when he was back to Jutengai, maybe he could go to the human world for the last time, to where he found the boy all these years ago, took the last glimpse and left. If he was lucky enough, maybe he could find the boy there, and if he did, he wouldn't approach the boy, for the latter might have his new life in human world.
No, Kumatetsu would just watch him from distance, just to know that the boy was safe and sound was enough, then he would leave, went back to Jutengai to start his new life without the boy, while still having the last piece of bittersweet memories from the past. Kumatetsu hadn't figure out how he could manage it, but he only knew he could find a way in the end, now if only the judge could count more faster...
"Kyu... Kyuta!"
At the mention of his pupil's name, the lying figure in the middle of arena moved, thus ended the counting.