Bloodied Noses, Beaming Smiles

His purgatory was interrupted by a knock on the window. 

Even with his headphones on, he always kept one ear out in the event something started. The last time he hadn't been paying attention, a fight broke out between some of the undesirables and a knife had ended up embedded in his door. This time, it was not anything so violent. Glancing towards the window, what he found was even worse - depending on how you viewed it. 

There was Riku, with a waving hand and a shit-eating grin on his face. Sota knew that Riku couldn't see him through the window, so he decided it best to do nothing. Riku had other friends in the household, after all. Maybe he would get bored and go visit them. Yeah, that's what Sota assured himself as he continued to ignore the knocking. 

Then, his phone began going off. It was Riku - calling him from just outside his bedroom. Sota sighed, there was no point in avoiding it.

"Girl, I know you're in there...Now open this window before I whip out a foot key."

Sota hung up and tossed the phone to his bed. Reluctantly, he rose from his chair, unlatched the windows and slid them open. 

"How's it hanging!" Riku exclaimed, immediately letting himself in and hopping through the window. "Good thing I'm here. This place definitely needed some air."

"What are you doing here?"

"What, I can't stop by and visit my favorite decade-long friend every now and again?"

He stood there, awaiting some witty comeback or response. What he received instead was a sulking silence. He simply sighed, knowing how dense Sota would be when he was in this mode. 

"Look," Riku finally spoke with seriousness. "I know that skank didn't show up, but you can't just hide in here forever. You haven't been to class in over a week, and everyone is asking about you!"

"Yeah, I'm sure...Honestly, I'm thinking about dropping it."

"Don't be like that!" Riku scolded. "We've been doing class together since we met. Sometimes, I've fallen off and you've had to pull me back to it. Today, however, is Riku's day to shine!"

Without another word, he darted his way over to Sota's closet. After a moment of standing there, Sota found himself covered in different pieces of his martial arts uniform. Riku didn't stop until he had cleared through the entire mess and found every piece. 

"Right, then...let's get to it! Humor me, and we can go get some food afterwards to give you some extra time away from the crazy-house."

Sota sighed. "Fine, let's get this over with."

The drive to class was exactly what Sota expected. Riku began rambling about his boyfriend, his hairdressing, and all the other things that were going on his life. Sota was smart enough to give basic replies, but he didn't really tune into the conversation. He was mentally preparing himself for the two hours of class that were to come, as well as the earful he expected to get for not being there in over a week. 

***

"Sota, come over here!"

He had barely finished bowing in the room when his attention was pulled. Over in the corner was his Sensei, who stood with his arms folded and his expression stern. Sota looked over to Riku for some form of support, but he was already gone. 

"Not getting involved in that!" he could already hear from the changing room. 

Sota rolled his eyes and made his way over to the corner of the dojo. Standing with Sensei was Natsu, another student who had been enrolled as long as he had. Natsu and Sota were on good terms with each other, but Natsu was definitely everything Sota wasn't. He was reasonably athletic, kept himself decently put together, and was definitely the "fan favorite" assistant. Natsu was always kind to Sota, so it wasn't as if Sota hated him. If anything, it only made him hate himself more...

"You weren't at class last week or the tournament last weekend. What gives?"

"Sorry, Sensei," Sota's response was clearly half-hearted. "Just got tied up with stuff..."

Sensei's eyes narrowed as he examined Sota's expression. "Very well. That's not the point right now. Two new students are starting today, and I'm going to have you both working with them periodically. Just do as you always do and follow instructions. Once class is over, I'll decide who's going to be handling who."

Sota nodded in acknowledgement. Being one of the two assistants, Sota knew how things would go. After their class, Sensei would assign each of them to either Natsu or himself. From that point, they would be responsible for teaching the basics to the newbies. It was imperative that their first few months of basics training go well, so they could learn more advanced material later on. 

"Alright then, they should be out in the hall now. Let's go greet them."

Sensei then headed for the door, with Natsu close behind. Sota lumbered along after them, preparing himself for what was to come. He had a particular persona he did his best to wear in martial arts - a facade that made him seem far more put-together than he actually was. It may have been a complete lie, but it was not the fault of any student that he was in the situation he was in. For their sake, he tried to do the best he could when he was there. 

As Sensei had predicted, the two of them were in the hall already - and they couldn't have been more different. 

One was a teenage boy with a stockier build and short brown hair. He fidgeted endlessly and his eyes darted around from place to place like a frightened animal. They only briefly locked with Natsu, before giving a nod of acknowledgement. Perhaps they knew each other?

The other one was a teenage girl - with red hair and red eyes - standing stoic and statue-like. Her stare was intense and her focus locked-in, but it wasn't in a negative or serious way. Her bubbly excitement was palpable even from down the hallway.

"Welcome to your first official day of class!" Sensei greeted in his usual 'beginner-friendly' tone. "These two are Natsu and Sota, my two assistant instructors. They will be playing a big role in the start of your training, so feel free to ask them any questions as they come to mind."

"H...Hi," the shaky boy greeted. "I'm Shinji."

"My name is Ren!" the girl exclaimed, waving at them and breaking character. Once she realized her change, she snapped back to focus immediately. 

"Very well, then," Sensei looked to Natsu. "Why don't you go get the warmup started and we'll reconvene later."

From there, class started in earnest. For Sota, it was an ordeal that was only exacerbated by his current mood. He forced himself through the motions and completed each workout, but he did so with no emotion or motivation. When it was his turn to lead, he spoke with a short and blunt tone. His goal was to get things done and make sure they were done well. 

"Alright, it's time to get into some sparring!" Sensei called out after the drink break finished up. "Shinji and Ren - you'll be working with Natsu and Sota, since you've not done this before."

The students gave acknowledgement, then paired off. Shinji immediately made his way over to Natsu - it was clear that they knew each other before today. That left Sota to pair up with Ren - a noteworthy height disparity given his stature. 

"Don't worry, he's one of my most well-trained students," Sensei assured Ren. "When everyone's ready, you may begin!"

And everyone was off. Sota watched as Ren, hands up and eyes gleaming in excitement, hopped around like an ecstatic schoolgirl. In doing so, she was full of openings - particularly her face. 

"Keep your hands up," Sota noted, tapping her on top of the head like a child. 

"Right!"

A few minutes went by. Ren's hands had lowered for a second time. 

"Up...keep them up!"

"Sorry!"

Once again, moments later, her hands had dropped. She was doing her best, but she wasn't understanding the lesson. Tapping her on the head wasn't enough - Sota decided that the best bet was to go in with a punch and tap her on the forehead instead. He would throw it fast and snappy, but would stop just before impact. That should shake her nerves enough to get the message across. 

Sota wound up and sent his hand flying - just as Ren decided to charge in. 

He had no time to pull back his punch as it landed square in her face, drilling into her nose and sending her back onto her butt. The room fell quiet almost immediately. One second it was loud and full of training noise, the next it was so quiet that Sota could almost hear Sensei face-palm in the back of the room. 

"What the hell, Sota?" Sensei called out as he ran up. "I just got done telling her she was in good hands! Don't just stand there - help her up!"

Sota shook his head and sighed. He made his way over and held a hand out. 

"Sorry about that," Sota apologized. "I was telling you that you've got to keep yours hands up. I wasn't kidding."

When she got up, he was expecting to see tears or shock. Something negative that he was going to have to hear about later. Maybe she'd complain, or be incredibly uncomfortable around him going forward? Maybe she's just drop out entirely - wouldn't be the first time someone did that. 

Her response was none of the above. 

"Makes total sense now!" she exclaimed, popping up to her feet with a smile beaming from ear to ear. "Hands down is a face punched...thanks for the lesson!"

Both Sota and Sensei shared a similar expression - something between disbelief and concern. It was only made worse by the trickle of blood making its way out of her nose and towards her smile. 

"Glad you're okay," Sensei sighed, directing her towards the bathroom. "Let's get you cleaned up real quick..."

Five minutes later, Ren was back in class and chugging away like the canister of energy she was. Sota wasn't sure whether to be impressed by her optimism, or concerned that there was something hidden underneath.

"Alright, you two," Sensei spoke quietly to Natsu and Sota, having just turned the class over to Riku for cooldown stretching. "I've thought about it a bit. Natsu, you're going to take Shinji. Sota, you get Ren."

Sota, midway through taking advantage of the free drink break, almost spat out his water.

"Me?" he questioned. "I just socked her in the nose! She's probably already nervous around me."

"Not any more nervous than Shinji - that kid is wired. Natsu knows him outside of the dojo, so having them work together will provide him some calmness. Besides, you're always mopey and just going through the motions. Maybe having a spunky student with a boatload of promise will put a pep in your step."

Sota motioned to protest - giving him a promising student was a surefire way to end up with them gone. Sensei held up his hand, clearly intending to speak no further on the subject. 

"You both know the drill. When they train, you train. If they come to the dojo to learn, you're here to help them. Now let's bow them out and head home."

Class wrapped up as it usually did. Sensei spoke about the lesson of the class, and everyone bowed to show that class was over. Everyone began packing up their things and getting ready to depart for the night. Sota took the moment to examine his uniform and rank. It was a reminder of the one thing he had left, the one place where he still had a presence and some commitment. It gave him an anchor, but he simultaneously wanted to be done with it as soon as possible.

As if sensing his brooding from a distance, an unwanted visitor appeared like a shark smelling blood in the water. 

"Smooth moves, Romeo," Riku teased, throwing his stuff in his bag. "Sensei said she got assigned to you! That man has got a sense of humor."

"Something like that."

Sota stood, throwing his bag over his shoulder. He turned to get ready to leave, but almost came crashing into a head full of red hair. 

"Thank you for working with me today, Senpai!" she bowed her head. "I'm excited to get to work with you more!"

With that, she was out the door. Off to whatever whimsical land she had spawned from. 

"Or maybe I'm a bad judge of character," Riku admitted. "Jeez, maybe there's is hope for you with her."

"Shut up," Sota sighed. "She's just some eager new kid excited to kick and punch stuff. I'll do what I have to do to get through it like everyone else."

With that, he said his farewells to Sensei and Natsu, who were still conversing. He then proceeded with Riku to go get some food before returning to his purgatory at home.