Chapter 3

Shiritsu Zōshirushi High School was bustling with students getting ready for the morning classes. Raian walked down the hallway, carrying his bag and wearing his school uniform. A group of girls stopped conversing with each other and fell silent, eyes widening as they stepped out of the way as Raian walked passed them. Many other students either stepped out of the way or kept looking as their fellow student walked down the hall.

And for good reason.

Raian's face was covered in bruises and cuts. His right cheek had a large red bruise on it while his right eyebrow had a white gauze and bandage over it. His left cheek had a cut under his eye and his bottom lip had a cut on the left side and his left hand had bandages covering his knuckles.

Raian paid the students no mind as he boredly walked into his classroom and sat at his desk. Many of his classmates stopped talking and looked at Raian's injuries. "Oh no looks like Narushima got into another fight again" whispered a student to another. "Dang must have been rough… those cuts look like they hurt" whispered another.

Raian overheard them but paid them no mind and just got his papers out and got ready for class.

Lunch break came along and Raian ate his sandwich. Behind him two male classmates were practicing wrestling moves they saw on tv in front of two girls. He wasn't a huge fan of wrestling but even he could tell that there "moves" were fake. These guys didn't know the first thing about real combat sports. While he got some literal firsthand experience just yesterday if his wound were anything to go by. And starting today he would officially start his training to become a boxer.

A quiet chuckle escaped his lips at the thought, 'Boy… even after making the decision it still catches by surprise,' he took another bite of his sandwich, 'who would have thought my life would have ended at this point…'

"Hey Raian" said a female student. Raian turned and saw Aikawa sitting at her desk beside him. "Just what happened that you got all those bruises. Did you get into a fight again?"

Raian swallowed his last bite before answering, "What makes you think I got into a fight?" asked Raian while feigning ignorance.

"Well your face is covered in bruises and I saw Umezawa and his friends earlier and they were pretty beat up. Did you guys get into another fight?"

"Hey, those guys came to me looking for trouble. Not my fault they bit off more than they could chew. Besides," he pointed at his face, "these are from a guy who actually knew how to fight."

Raian left school later that day and made his way to the Kamogawa Gym. He stepped through the sliding doors and met with a spectacled man sweeping the floor, Mr. Yagi if he remembered right.

Yagi looked up and greeted Raian. "Oh, welcome back. It's good to see you again Mr. Narushima. I'm Mr. Yagi, the general manager."

Raian greeted him with a smile, "Well I can't really start as a boxer if I miss my first day of training, right?"

"You got that right" said another man who walked up to the pair. Aoki Masaru was a boxer in the lightweight division, and he held out his hand to shake the new comer, "name's Aoki, you must be the new face the Big Guy brought in yesterday."

"Yeah that's me. Nice to meet, name's Raian."

"Well welcome to the Kamogawa Gym. We've been hearing a lot of things about you, especially the spar against Miyata over there." Aoki pointed to Miyata, who was currently working on the speed bag.

He stopped and turned his head to look behind him. Miyata's and Raian's eyes met and both glared challenging daggers at the other.

Raian was snapped out of his glare by another gym member walking up to him. "Yeah that was pretty something. Not anyone can go against Miyata and stay conscious after getting hit with one of his counterpunches" said Kimura Tatsuya. "Especially considering what's coming up."

"Huh? What's coming up?" asked Raian.

Yagi answered, "Oh right, you didn't know. Well apparently, the Chief and Miyata's father have set up a rematch between you and Miyata three months from now. And the Chief wants to get you into fighting shape so you have a better chance going against Miyata."

Raian liked the sound of that, smiling with confidence as he imagined the outcome to be with him as the winner.

"But it's not gonna happen if you keep standing around" said Kamogawa in question as he cut in, "so get changed and grab some gloves. Are first exercise is gonna be in the ring."

Raian nodded his head and walked into the backroom. He later walked out in gym clothes and was wrapping his hands with white tape. He later put on some gloves and climbed into the ring where he saw Coach Kamogawa waiting. "Alright I'm ready" said Raian.

Kamogawa stepped up to him and began to pat him down. Checking his biceps, shoulders, and thighs before standing up and facing a very confused Raian, "You have some good upper body muscles. And your lower body is decent, have you played any sports before?"

"Well, I played soccer back in elementary and middle school" answered Raian.

"Hmm. Well that's good, you already have decent leg muscles, so we'll keep working and build up your lower body. You gotta have legs of steel if you wanna keep from getting knocked on your ass, but we'll work on that later. Right now," Kamogawa pulled out a pair of boxing mitts, "we're gonna do some mitt punching, so get into your stance put your guard up."

"Yes sir" answered Raian. He put his left leg back and right leg forward and put up his guard, right arm in front of his stomach and his left arm in front of his chest.

"Alright first do a straight punch with your right." Raian punched the mitt with his right and quickly pulled back. "That was called a jab. It's a punch that's light and fast and should always be the first punch you throw out."

"Now punch with your left." Raian threw out his left and struck the mitt, causing a harder sound to ring. "Good. That was called a straight, and you throw with your dominant hand. Remember you can generate more power with left, but that also means it's slower. So use your right to set up your left and combine the two. Now give it try. Right-left!"

Raian jabbed with his right before following up with his left. "That was called one-two. You better remember it."

"Yes sir" answered Raian and got back into his stance.

Kamogawa raised his mitts, "Now one-two!" Raian struck right and then left. "Again!" one-two. "Again!" one-two. "Again!" one-two. Kamogawa and Raian continued like that for a few more minutes before ending.

"Alright you got the technique down. Now were gonna focus on power shots," explained Kamogawa, "these are techniques that are strong and powerful but leave you open for attack, which means you should use them when your opponent is already hit and are normally the finishing blow in a combination."

"I want you to throw a hook with your right hand, keep it short and rotate your lead foot sideways when you follow through. Ready?" asked Kamogawa.

"Yes sir" answered Raian. He got into his stance and the Coach raised his right mitt. Raian curved his right punch and had it bent at an angle while he twisted his right foot sideways and punched the mitt.

"That was way too obvious!" shouted Kamogawa. Raian looked puzzled as he wandered what he did wrong, "You need to keep your fist close to your body, it's a short-range punch and if you throw it too wide, you're just asking for a counter. Try again and this time, twist your hips instead of your shoulders. Go!"

Raian did as he was told and punched the mitt with right hook. "Good. Now put al three together. Do a one-two and finish with a hook." said Kamogawa.

Raian followed the Chief's orders and though a jab-cross-hook combo. Coach and student continued the drills for a good while before the Chief stopped and spoke again. "Alright you got the basic combination down, now we're going to try another technique."

"It's called an uppercut. To do it you first need to step back." Raian backed up a step and turned his attention back to the Chief. "First you need to drop your power hand and turn your fist where the back is facing the ground and you hold don't at your waist. Then you step forward and launch your fist up in an arc. Ready?"

"Yes sir!" answered Raian before getting into his stance. The Chief lifted his left mitt and faced it downward. Raian stepped forward and launched his left fist upward. An arc soared through the air and prepared to land… only to miss the mitt completely.

Everyone in the gym was watching but the Chief, Miyata, and Takamura's eyes all widened at the sight.

Raian pulled back his fist before saying, "Dammit I missed, can we try again?"

The Chief was still in shock but quickly regained himself before answering, "Uh no no, let's end there for now." The Coach removed his mitts and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Raian. "That's a map of your roadwork. I want you run that entire course and don't come back until you do."

"Alright, I'll get right to it." Raian removed his gloves and walked out the door to begin his roadwork.

Kamogawa stayed behind and his gaze lingered on the door before being approached by Yagi, "Well he seems to be doing pretty well. But don't go too hard on him Chief, I'm sure he'll get that punch down soon."

Without looking at Yagi, the Chief answered, "You didn't notice it did you?" Yagi seemed confused. "The kid's uppercut may not have landed, but he executed it perfectly. Both his hands, body, and legs were in the perfect position."

Raian's training quickly went underway. During the day he would go to school and do all his schoolwork. Then came the afternoon, which obviously came with the arrival of Umezawa and his gang of punks. As per the Chief's orders, Raian only avoided and ran from his bullies, of course he didn't like running away he had to agree with the Coach saying he had better things to do.

For a month Raian trained relentlessly, doing push-ups, sit-ups, and running.

He was made to run alongside the Chief on his scooter and jump rope afterwards.

Running up and down hills. Doing sit-ups while the Chief repeatedly dropped a medicine ball in his abdomen. And made to pull two giant tires tied around his waist.

Mitt punching. Mitt punching. Mitt punching. And MORE mitt punching.

During one of his sessions, Kamogawa noticed Raian's feet kept going out of place every time he threw a punch.

"Alright stop. Stop." Said Kamogawa.

Raian stopped punching and looked at the Chief, confused. "What's going on, I was doing pretty good."

"'Good'?" said Kamogawa, "You wanna know what's 'good'? That footwork!" He pointed towards Raian's feet. "You're completely off balance. You get into the ring with that kind of balance and you're going to get knocked on your ass in the first five seconds."

Raian followed Kamogawa over and the Chief turned to him, "Have you ever heard of a boxer named Marciano?"

"Marciano?" said Raian. "Yeah Rocky Marciano. The Brockton Blockbuster."

"That's right. Marciano was the only Heavyweight boxer who ever finished his career undefeated. 49 fights, 49 wins, with 43 knockouts, and never once did he lose." Explained Kamogawa.

Raian wondered where the Coach was going with this but continued listening. "And just like you, he had terrible balance. But he found a way to fix it." The Coach reached into his pocket and pulled out some string. "He tied string around his ankles to keep his legs in place and gained better balance." The Chief then said, "Now we're going to do the same thing."

Raian got a bit skeptical at the whole idea, but then again, the Coach hasn't been wrong. Kamogawa tied the string around Raian's ankles. Raian tested the tension and thought, 'I don't know what's worse: The fact I can't move much anymore? Or if my punches will still sink in?'

Kamogawa put the punching mitts back on and turned to Raian, "Alright let's go. Gimme one-two."

Raian raised his gloves and threw out a jab and began to follow up with a left straight but his leg was held back by the strong and he tripped forward. He fell flat on the floor, earning a chorus of laughs from Takamura, Kimura, and Aoki who were watching the whole thing. Raian glared at them before picking himself up.

"Oh, come on. You can't honestly thing this string is gonna help get better balance, do you? I don't wanna have to keep falling down every time I go to throw a punch." Complained Raian.

"What are you idiots doing just standing around!? Get back to your own training!" yelled the Coach before turning back to Raian. "And you should quit complaining. You wanna beat Miyata? Well you're not gonna be able to even land a feint on him with that kind of balance! You get control of your center, and his counterpunches won't even be able shake you."

Kamogawa resumed his stance and said, "Now again. One-two."

Raian thought on his words and glanced towards Miyata, who was working on his shadowboxing before turning back to the Chief. Silently, he got back into his stance and followed through with his training.

Training continued for the next two months. Raian's training had been steadily growing tougher and tougher but never once did he complain.

He practiced his shadowboxing. Keeping the string tied around his ankles.

He pulled the massive tires, slowly but surely it was getting easier and could pull them better each time.

Runing with the Chief had also gotten better. Sun, wind, or rain, Raian ran. He ran so fast and far each time he passed the Chief on his scooter more than once. Even his bullies who chased him on a regular basis couldn't even keep up with him anymore.

Core training was brutal. Crossing his arms and stranding on his legs and head, he held the Chief sitting on his abdomen. Keeping his balance the whole time.

Later the Coach had him work on the medicine ball and sit-ups again. Slamming the heavy ball on his abdomen as Raian continued to do sit-ups. Never complaining even once.

"In an in-fight you can't throw out big punches like normal. You need to get inside and throw short, tight swings aimed at the ribs and lower body." Explained Kamogawa.

"Short, tight, and fast! Remember that." He said. Raian answered, "Yes sir!"

Running. Push-ups. Sit-ups. Jump rope. Squats. Tire pulling. All while keeping a balanced diet. For three months Raian kept up his brutal training regiment with diligence.

Raian was on the heavy bag. The string tied around his ankles, but he kept his feet in place. He had achieved balance.

He let out exhale as he threw one big left cross at the heavy bag. The sound ringing throughout the ring.