On the wall of a dangerously cluttered bedroom where various vinyl covers were attached, but these covers seemed out of place they weren't the usual things you would expect a Japanese man to listen to. The vinyls were all of Western music and there was a clear lean towards rap. Albums like Ready to Die by The Notorious Big, Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A, Get Rich or Die Trying by 50 Cent, and numerous other iconic albums of the genre, but that wasn't all there was there were albums from the great Michael Jackson, a cover from the hit band Nirvana and even more niche artists like The Circle Jerks and Sade. This wall was everything you needed to see to know that the young man inhabiting this room was a full-on Western fanboy at least when it came to music. Soon he would begin to stir awake, emerging from the bed would be a lanky teenager who definitely wasn't happy to be awake but sadly he had to push on. He would be wearing nothing but a pair of gray boxers but before putting on anything to cover himself he would grab his wireless headphones and cell phone.
"Hey Siri play The World is Yours by Nas" Now he had the perfect soundtrack to begin his day, he would stumble out of his room nearly tripping on the various piles he had on the floor. Once he made it out of the room safely he would make a beeline to the bathroom to do his business once he had finished and washed his hands he would look into the mirror and notice a slight bruise underneath his "goddamit." he would let out an audible sigh to no one in particular. Once he was all done in the bathroom he would run back to his room and grab some generic sportswear he could already tell today was going to be hot as hell so he made sure to avoid any dark colors. He opted for a plain sleeveless white t-shirt and teal above-the-knee shorts. On his right shoulder was a tattoo of a dragon, on his right bicep would be a dagger he probably had more all over his body but currently those were all that were exposed. Before leaving his room he would look for his house keys he would find them in his dresser but right next to them would be a pack of cigarettes.
"Hello old friends it's been a while but I think we've passed that little phase of life." He would soon tear apart the box before tossing it in the trash. Finally, he would make his leave from his apartment and make his way to his destination.
"Smoking with my young mind killing through the night, hope I live to see the sunshine." The young man would soon open the door to the Godai Boxing Gym, a bustling place filled with many other young men pounding away on heavy bags, some sparing in the ring while others were taking intimate instructions from the vast number of coaches there but soon once voice would pierce the airwaves."
"NOUNEN! On me right now!" Soon an older shorter gentleman would call out to his student, and like the obedient student he was he would quickly rush to the man's side. "Listen I want you warmed up and changed on the double I want you in there with Iketani we're gonna be working more of what we did yesterday I want you light on your feet circling and he better not catch you do you understand me!"
"Yes Chief Misawa sir!" And with that, he was off, he would arrive back with his headgear, boxing shoes, gloves, and finally his mouthpiece. He would practically sprint into the ring before waiting for further instruction from his coach.
"Now listen it's just like I said I want constant movement out of you, you should be a blur in there, circle use your jab and straight keep him at the end of your punches. Alright, let's get started you two, and remember no quirks just straight-up boxing nothing funny." Soon the bell would ring and Nonen would drop into his stance, his legs were spread more than shoulder length and his left hand was stretched at an angle out in front of his face while his right hand was glued to his chin, Iketani would have both his hands glued to his chin, his stance was crouched opposite to Nounen's high upright stance. Iketani was the shorter man and had the unfortunate task of trying to keep up with the faster taller man. It would be Iketani to make the first move he used a quick first step to try and close the distance between the two men but this attempt was welcomed with a quick left jab, with his left arm cocked like that it made Nounen's jab even faster. Nounen would give his opponent two more jabs before circling out and away from Iketani. Iketani wouldn't be deterred however he would move quickly once again this time moving his head bobbing off the center and burrowing into Nounen's chest, Iketani had managed to trap Nonen in the corner this was bad Nounen had already failed his objective but it didn't stop there Iketani was now throwing mean hooks into Nounen's body. Finally, Nounen would evade Iketani enough to get out of the corner but the look in his eyes had changed they were now wide up and his mouth curled upwards taking the form of a demented smile, he was enjoying this and now he completely ignored his chief's instructions and decided to press the issue but something else changed Nounen's hands were now completely at his side he was ignoring all defense or so everyone thought, Iketani couldn't resist the opportunity so he would swing but this would result in him eating a nasty counter right hook. The reason the hook was able to be set up so perfectly was due to a masterful sway by Nounen. The punch caused Iketani's teeth to rattle that grin would grow as he began to throw flurries of punches that would finally result in Iketani falling to the mat. Nounen would smile before taking a look at his coach who was far from happy.
"What the hell did I tell you to do? Movement, circling, evasion, yet you're too damn stubborn to follow simple directions, and now you have the nerve to look at me all satisfied with yourself. So you must think you know better than me right?!" His face was now turning red with anger he was completely livid at his student but his student wasn't one to take the scolding lightly
"What are you talking about old man, I got the knockdown that's all that matters so maybe I do know more than you do, running around like a clown isn't my style that wasn't why you wanted to recruit me here in the first place, you told me you would make me a fighter but it turns out all you're doing is making me a massive pussy! Fighting is about seeing who's the toughest and there is nothing tough about running around!" Nounen would toss his headgear to the ground and look down at the man he just talked back to, and soon he would be filled with immense regret. "Listen I didn't mean it like that I lost my temper and I'm sorry."
Soon a demonic smirk would appear on the chief's face. "No no, you're not sorry I'm going to make you sorry." The man would check his watch before looking back and the teenage boy in the ring. "We have 4 hours left in the working day right, for those last 4 hours you're going to be doing roadwork, and don't worry that's not all, you'll be doing the roadwork in the weighted vest, and don't come back until the end of the day you got that!"
And with that, he was off, he had been running for about an hour, and he would have his earphones in and blasting his favorite music. Attacked to him was a weighted vest that weighed about 40 pounds. This was torture but he knew it was what he deserved, despite his outburst there was a very short list of people he respected more than the chief so he accepted his punishment and kept on running.
"I don't need no dreams when I'm by your side." He was starting to slow down a bit but would keep trudging along, his legs felt like jello and he was tired behind but he kept going and going. He finally reached the two-hour mark and then that's when it happened. Soon he was attacked from above by a pink-haired woman wearing a malfunctioning jetpack, she landed on him with so much force pushing him down to the ground, but at least he was able to break her fall. As he slowly realized what had happened he would spring up and look down at the girl who was still on the ground.
"What the hell you came completely out of nowhere." He would look down at the girl who seemed a bit shaken up, he would regret his somewhat harsh reaction, and he would reach down to her in an offer to help her out. She would look at his hand before simply popping up.
"Sorry about that citizen well I guess this baby still needs a little tinkering but that's none of your concern." She would look the man up and down before her face would go pale, she had heard about boys like this, she was told by her mother and father to avoid people like this, the tattoos were already a dead giveaway, but she also noticed that his ears were filled with holes. "Oh no, I'm so sorry please don't hurt me or my babies it won't happen again I swear!"
Nounen would look at her before barely containing his laughter at her over-the-top reaction, she wasn't exactly off the mark tho. He thought now would be a good chance to mess with the pink-haired stranger. He would cock an eyebrow before speaking in a tone that felt familiar to him "Oi you think you can just crash into me like that and get away with it! Empty their pockets right now before I do more than hurt those babies!" Before the girl could empty her pockets he would simply laugh and laugh. "Oh man I'm just joking it's fine, don't worry so much." He would notice that the vest he was wearing had some torn straps. "Ah, shit he's going to kill me for this." The joy on his face was replaced with dread, and that was seen by the stranger. She would quickly figure out the problem and she had just the fix.
"Here just use this, it's a special baby I came up with, a super strong and durable adhesive it should fix those straps in no time here let me show you." Soon she dropped a few drops of the adhesive and just like that the weighted vest was right back to normal, he had to admit she was amazed and thankful. "There see isn't it amazing."
Nounen would smile a genuine smile at the helpful girl, something he rarely did outside of when he was in the ring, it was a warm smile that might have been infectious. "Wow, thank you so much I would've been dead if it wasn't for you. What did you say your name was I want to properly thank you."
She felt that the smile was damn near blinding, but it was nice, despite the tattoos and the piercings that smile made it hard to believe that he was some delinquent, she kinda felt bad about her rash judgment of him. 'No one who can smile like that could be all that bad.' "My name is Hatsume Mei, you didn't have to thank me I was the one who messed it up in the first place so the least I could do was fix it up for you."
"I'm Nonen Kouskou, and nah the important thing is that you fixed it and I'm like hella grateful so yeah. I just wish I could fix that jetpack of yours, it's kinda crazy that you were able to make that yourself tho that's some crazy dedication and that's respectable, anyone willing to give all that time to their craft deserves praise." Kouskou would turn around and pick up his headphones that got displaced during their collision, he turned so quickly that he didn't see the slight blush that now covered Hatsume's cheeks. He was blunt and didn't feed around the bush the way he saw it life was way too damn short to waste time with words. He would soon find his earphones and turn back to Hatsume. "But thanks again Hatsume-San I'll be going now take care."
Before Hatsume could even get another word out there he was bolting out with the best back on his chest and his music still pumping in his ears, despite their short interaction he had left quite the impact on her, which in itself was quite odd usually most people didn't interest Hatsume not nearly as much as her babies, and for a girl as curious as she was she loved experiencing the unknown and the feeling that crossed her face when he offered his praises to her was something she never felt before.
And just like with anything she wasn't sure of she was desperate to dive headfirst and figure out exactly what was going on.
So it has been a long while since I've updated this I was so young back then and now I'm all old and washed lol. I was in the middle of making my own unique stories but I read somewhere that starting with fanfiction would help you become a better writer so I wanted to try giving this another shot with a whole rewrite. Hopefully, people like it. Also, the two songs that Nounen is singing are "Thug Til Its Over" by Freddie Gibbs and Cooking Soul and "Baby Be Mine" by Michael Jackson. Besides that, I hope you all are having a great day, and thank you for all the support this story gets.