The calm before the storm

I blocked one of the attacks of Tatsu with my forearm and then he started to let out smoke from his hand to block my vision from close, I inhaled and exhaled wind to make it be thrown to his face and grab them and shout.

“HAH!”

I didn’t do anything, he took the arm out of my hands and sighed.

“Another point to Ren!”

“Damn, you really have imagination, kid, this is your 10th point”

“Thanks, you really put me on edge thought, my heart is beating so fast and all my body feels electrified”

I was smiling and Tatsu moved his head from left to ride with his head while stretching his neck.

“Hope that smile can preserve, I still don’t like the idea of you joining the championships”

“I cannot do anything about that”

We sit down for a moment and saw outside the window, there were some people gathering around already, they were looking at the sunset, we went and sit down with them just to enjoy the moment, people around had already noticed us, this was my 3rd session with Tatsu, they didn’t ask for details but just say to keep it as quiet as possible.

In this calm the phone rang, not my personal phone but the one that Yoru had given it to us, I took the phone and answered.

“Ren speaking”

“Ah, Ren, perfect, just the guy I wanted to talk with, prepare yourself, kid, you have a fight for tomorrow, I will send you the address for it along with the time, I’m busy right so that’s all, prepare yourself kid”

Yoru hangout and I look at the sea, I was excited but for this moment, I couldn’t be feeling more relaxed.

“Is this what they called the calm before the storm?”

“What did Yoru want?” —Yuki asked me.

“I have a fight tomorrow”

“Yoru? Is that guy who tricks everyone at poker?”

“Yeah that one, he is his manager”

“Huh… you kids better know what you are doing… in any case, if that bastard tries something I’ll be by your side, I don’t really like him so I’ll do it for myself, don’t get the wrong idea.

“Thanks, Tatsu”

My eyes were locked at the sun until it was eaten by the ocean, I sighed and I looked at the phone, the address was in another city, and the time was around this hour.

“We better stop trying right now, kid, you need to rest for that fight, where is the address?”

“Here”

I passed my phone to Tatsu and he gave it back after he read the address.

“You are coming, Tatsu?”

“Yeah, I want to see how you perform, perfect, I’ll be there, you know how to get there?”

“I’ve been there a couple of times; I’ll make sure we get there”

“Then I’m counting on you, Yuki”

“Are you… nervous, Ren?”

“Yeah, a lot… but I am not showing anything right now, I believe I will freak out once we start to get close, so I’m counting on you, Yuki”

“Leave it to me, bro, I got your back”

I nodded and we said goodbye to Tatsu, I sighed and I saw how smoke came out of my mouth.

“It’s freezing…”

“Yeah, I believe we are almost in autumn, have you studied? Hope my sessions have helped you out too, do you remember what we study? We start our exams tomorrow”

“Yeah, I think I’m good, at the very least I will not fail, how about you?”

“I’ve been good, just the lack of sleep is killing me sometimes but I’ll be fine”

“Sorry”

“Don’t give me that now, I choose this, you have nothing to be sorry for, come on, we can still catch the last train, is not that late”

I nodded and we ran towards the train station. It really felt like everything was calm, I felt like my life was about to change, so I wanted to give it a last look, because perhaps tomorrow I’ll be a different person.

We arrived home and studied a bit more. How much time has passed since the last time I went to sleep this early, it felt strange, to be honest, I really couldn’t fall asleep.

I felt both dread and excitement, every time I closed my eyes it felt like I spend hours trying to get to sleep but when I looked at my phone, it only passed around five minutes, it was a strange sensation, this never happened to me before, my whole body was tense, I could feel numbness in my body and I felt tired.

Anxiety may be, I couldn’t stop shaking my leg, I felt chills, this was a new sensation, it wasn’t even that cold and I had two sheets over me, if I put another, I felt hot and had to remove it, I change positions, I try to control my breath and try to get my mind busy counting numbers.

But all that was in vain, I rolled around the bed and stayed staring at the ceiling, until at some point, it was already morning, I stared at the ceiling for quite some time, until I heard Yuki coming to the room.

“Hey, are you awake, man?”

“Yeah… I think…”

Yuki entered the room and saw me and he sat down at the edge of the bed.

“What happened?”

“I couldn’t bring myself to sleep, I’ve been staring at the ceiling for quite some time… I think I slept but I don’t know how much…”

“Dude, you are made a mess”

“You tell me”

I stand up and hold my abdomen, then I move my head and rest my back on the wall.

“Ren?”

“Ah hahaha…”

I laughed nervously and looked at my hand, my head was spinning and I tried to look at some place to stare at but all I was doing was increasing my pulse and breathing heavily.

“REN!”

I saw Yuki and I put my hand in my mouth, I stood up falling on my knees and running towards the bathroom and I started puking.

I was shaking, tears were coming down my cheeks and a hot feeling in my throat was making me feel even sicker, Yuki went behind me and took a piece of plastic out of the shelf upside down and put it in my head.

“You have normal temperature…”

I was trying to get catch my breath and all I could do was having failed intents to speak up, Yuki went took hand me over a glass of water and I took small sips until I was calm down.

“Dude, you are way too nervous, has anxiety hit you?”

“I believe… yeah… I… I…”

“Calm down man… jeez… you cannot fight in that state…”

“All my body is shaking for anticipation and I am feeling fear too, is like when I try to ask that girl out”

“Yeah but you didn’t get this bad, there is some time before we're going to school so mentalize yourself, I’m going to get change, this is something that you need to do alone, I cannot help you other than calming you down”

“I know, I know… thanks. Even if it was only that, it helped me a lot…”

Yuki petted my back and I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror, I was a mess. I could notice how tired my eyes were and how bad puking had left me, my hair was a mess and my whole body was shaking.

“Pathetic… isn’t this what you want it so bad? Is right there… then… come on… come on…”

I looked directly at my eyes and saw something reflecting on them for a bit. It made me flinch. It was like if they had a strange glow on them, I wash my head and my hair and clean myself with a towel.

“I better go eat something…”

I went downstairs with my uniform and Yuki already made breakfast, he made me something light, simple white rice and a few steamed vegetables.

“Thanks man…”

“Don’t mention it”

I drank my tea along with the food slowly until I finished and extended my arms across the table while my head rested on the table.

“You feel better”

“Yeah, thanks… I might need to take a nap at break”

“That’s fine, the rooftop is always empty anyway”

I took my backpack and waited for Yuki, we got out of the house and walked towards school, I was still trying to calm myself down and Yuki noticed it.

“Drinking water always help, make sure to have a bottle with you and take small sips”

“Thanks…”

“You better buy the light sandwich this time, anything that makes you go down will be bad if you really want to go to that fight”

I nodded and took deep breaths. We were already in front of the school. I knew this was going to be a long day.