Kenichi shifted nervously on his feet as he waited for his cue to enter. The past three years, his body filled out. He had finally developed that broad back only a fully-grown man could have, making the small man a little bit bigger. Even though his suit was hiding it, his body was more defined and toned. His eyes glance over at the crowd that was sitting a few meters away. Miu noticed his look and gave him a reassuring smile, her bangs framing her face wonderfully. The three years since the last fight against Yami had done his already beautiful wife some good. Her curves had developed a little bit more, accentuating her figure and her face became a little bit more defined. His attention was caught once against when his young daughter of two years gave him a wave, her brown eyes shining brightly at the sight of her father. Kenichi smiled at the sight of his beautiful wife and child, his courage bubbling up in him. If he could suffer through years of training with his masters, he could suffer through a measly interview…right?
"And here is our guest, Shirahama Kenichi, the award-winning novelist!" Kenichi snapped to attention as he heard his name being called out. He almost forgot he was there to be a guest on the show. They were all surprised when he first got the call. Kenichi walked out with a smile on his face and in a random burst of inspiration, his eyes drifted upward towards the rafters. He almost paused in his stride. Shigure was hanging off the bottom of a rafter as she looked down at him. She gave him the smallest of waves and an even smaller smile before pointing towards the floor. A silent gesture for him to pay attention, which he did. Kenichi gave the host, Mr. Sato, a handshake before sitting down. His nerves calming down as the crowd quieted down. And now that he looks around, he can see his masters scattered around the rafters, even Master Sakaki, who had sworn that he wasn't going to waste his time on something like this, was sitting next to Master Akisame with a giddy smile on his face.
"How are you Shirahama-san?" Kenichi focused back on Sato-san before answering his question with a smile, all nervousness gone.
"I'm doing fine, and, how are you?" Sato-san nodded his head and gave a smile of his own.
"I'm doing just fine as well, tell me Shirahama-san," Sato-san shifted in his seat as he leaned slightly forward in his seat, his arm motioning towards the crowd," Do you have any loved ones in the crowd?" Kenichi smiled widely, the fond smile on his face catching the attention of nearly everyone in the room.
"Ah, yes, my wife and my daughter are here today." Miu gave a small polite smile and a wave as the spotlight momentarily shown on her. Just long enough for people to see her before the light turned off. Sato-san whistled quietly at the sight of her.
"Wow, your family is beautiful Shirahama-san," Kenichi beamed at this, "Yes, I am very lucky to know even her!" This caught Sato-sans attention and he rose an eyebrow.
"Oh? And how did you meet her?" Kenichi blushed at the memory and the situation while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Ah, we met back in high school, she actually threw me over her shoulder when we were walking to school." Kenichi laughed at the fond memory, while Sato-san blinked in surprise at the sentence. Trying to figure out if he heard his guest right.
"Wait, did you just say that your wife, threw you over her shoulder when you first met?" Kenichi nodded his head with a smile on his face as if there was nothing wrong with it.
"Yes, Miu was raised as a martial artist and over time, she developed reflexes, one of them being throwing people when they sneak up on her. It took me a while to get used to it but it doesn't happen as much anymore." The entire audience and a half were in a state of shock, the host included, but they all focused the ending statement. Sato-san tilted his head in confusion before asking the question that was on all of their minds.
"What, as much? Are you telling me that she still does that to you?" again, Kenichi nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! It makes our house a little bit more exciting." Sato-san stared at him but shook his head as he realized that they were going off topic. He leaned forward again, this time, a spark of curiosity appearing in his eyes.
"So," Kenichi looked at his with a slight tilt to his head," Tell me about your novel, what was your inspiration?" Everyone who was involved in his adventures, frowned at that. What do they mean inspiration? its his life experience. Kenichi frowned at the term, his nose slightly scrunching up
"I'm sorry." Kenichi licked his lips before getting to the point, "What do you mean inspiration?" Sato-san frowned as well as the crowd fell silent, all of them getting confused.
"Ah, you know." Sato-san waved his hand around," What gave you the ideas to write your novel? Where did you get all of these ideas from?" Kenichi blinked in surprise.
"I…didn't get any inspiration, it all really happened. I didn't make anything up." Anyone who had read Kenichi's novel had immediately called bullshit, including the host himself. Sato-san had read the novel and the events were so crazy, there was no way that all really happened.
"Are-are you telling me that your novel is your autobiography?"
"Yes, everyone in my novel are real living people that I still talk to today." Sato-san started stammering.
"But, but, your main character is trained in multiple disciplines, surely that's not true as well?" Kenichi shook his head with an upset look on his face. He wasn't exactly happy that they were doubting him. He still had the scars to prove it.
"No, I'm trained in Karate, Jujutsu, Chinese Kenpo, Muay Thai and Weapons as well. I'm not exactly a master yet but I'm not a novice." At this point, people were starting to think that Kenichi was a pathological liar. Kenichi, noticed their looks and pulled out his cell phone to show him pictures.
"I'm not lying, I have five different masters, all of them teaching me something different, here," Kenichi handed him his phone, his phone opened on the album that showed his journey as a martial artist. Sato-san took the phone and looked through the photos before connecting it to a special wire that allowed the photos to be seen by the audience as well. He paused at a picture of Kenichi standing next to Sakaki, going through their forms.
"That's my Master Sakaki, he's one of the strongest Karate Masters in the world." The next swipe led to a video of the same man punching Kenichi out of the building and onto the dirt. The entire time, scolding his student. Up in the rafters, everyone looked at Sakaki and his rough teaching style.
"Dear lord!" Mummers went through the crowd as he moved on. Landing on picture and videos that had each of his masters beating him into shape. The crowd became more and more horrified as they moved on. Sato-san looked at Kenichi with a look of surprise and horror on his face.
"How did you survive this?" Kenichi gave them a shy smile and kinda shrugged his shoulders as he answered.
"Sometimes I ask myself that, but I would have to say that my worse Master would be my Muay Thai master," He looked around the room as he realized that everyone paled before frantically waving his hands through the air. Even more so when he saw the sad look of Apachai up in the rafters.
"Nonono, Master Apachai is a good person, he…just isn't the best at holding back, he's a gentle giant when it comes to anything other than martial arts. He doesn't like to hurt me that much." Sato-san was surprised as he realized that Kenichi was talking in present tense.
"Do-do you still train under them?" Kenichi smiled brightly at this, he liked (loved) talking about his family at the dojo.
"Yeah! Its going to be a long time before I master anything." Sato-san scratched his head while looking down.
"You know," His hand slid down to his neck as he rubbed it before looking up at Kenichi," I'm not sure I believe you." And that was the snapping point for the masters of Ryōzanpaku got sick of this man questioning and doubting their student.
"Hey!" Everyone stiffed up as they saw the large man appear behind Sato-san, with his hand on the smaller mans shoulder. Kenichi sighed heavily at his actions, "I don't appreciate you talking to my student like that." Sato-san slowly turned around to look up at the tall, tanned, intimidating man with his hand on his shoulder.
"Now now Sakaki," Akisame was standing next to the karate master, his hand on his forearm," There's no need to scare the poor man, leave him alone." Sakaki clicked his tongue before letting go of the man, not feeling like getting into an argument at the moment.
"fine fine, I'll leave him alone," They all watched as he jumped back into the rafters, Akisame close behind him, right after he gave the host his apology."
"Did…did that really just happen?" Kenichi who was banging his head lightly against the table, turned his head.
"Yeah sorry about that, I didn't know they were coming." The host slumped against his chair, his hand on his forehead.
"I don't think I can do this."
"How do you think I feel?"