John's serious misadventure

The broken fence was at the back of the school, a place where not many students frequent. Hence, our fight would not be interrupted, and I would have to face this bully alone. And so, without any words, he had already rushed at me.

The bully initiated with a light jab, which I backed away to dodge. Then, a circle punch that I evaded by ducking and rolling back. Before I could set my vision upon him again, a quick step could be heard, and I blocked my upper body defensively. Despite having guarded myself, I was still blown back. Hurriedly, I got back on my feet, though midway I realized that he could have hit me once more. Baffled, I set my eyes on my target again, only to find him standing still and looking at me, on his face a scrutinizing look.

“Why are you even doing this?”, he asked.

“What?”

“I mean, you’re not very good at fighting, and still you decided to be here right now. For what? Winning your crush’s favor?”

Yeah, how selfish of you.

“Don’t put me down to the likes of you.”

Taking the initiative, I dashed toward the bully and gave him a punch he could remember. Well, could have, if he hadn’t caught it with his palm. Without lenience, he gave me a side smack, and I lost my stance. Though, my back didn’t hit the ground, for he reached out and grabbed my collar.

“The likes of me? You’ve got no idea what I’m like bud, all I’m doing is helping my friend get a girl he likes. He leads a pretty miserable life you know, let him have this one.”, as he spoke, an irritating tick echoed inside me. So, I grabbed hold of the hand that was pulling my collar.

“At the expense of harassing her. Do you really think that’s okay? You’re nothing but his meat rider.”

Shaking off my grip, he reposted.

“Don’t act like your intentions are pure here too, hero. I know you’ve been watching us messing with the girl from afar, just like everyone else. I’m guessing that the guilt has finally got to you? That you’re doing this to ease the self-deprecation for being such a pussy?”

Bingo. He’s right, isn’t he?

What? No.

You know most of this only happened because I’m here, you wanted me gone so bad that you’ve been putting yourself in physical danger all day. It really is like that.

And who’s fault is that?

Could it be Kiri, perhaps? You certainly don’t want her to look at you like she did last night, right? Not after she praised Stan for his bravery.

Shut up.

Oh, or could it be because of that high schooler Stan himself? You did only start doing all this heroic stuff after he had done it for you beforehand. You’re irritated by the fact that you lost to him, right? That’s why you needed to do something to convince yourself that you’re not a coward, that you don’t need his help, right?

…

Suddenly a violent shake broke me out of my trance.

“What’s taking you so long to answer? Did I hit the nail on the spot there?”

Answer him. Tell him all about your impure motives.

Having backed into a corner, I really had no other choice but to confess. All the expectations, all the anxiety of confrontation were gnawing at me. Despite that, I laid it all away, all with an overlong inhale of breath.

To my surprise, my hands moved faster than I was even aware, and my collar was now vacant from contact. Unhesitatingly, I strike a front punch toward his face, only for his palm to catch it once again. With a circle strike, he mercilessly countered me, though it only managed to scratch the top of my head. With a clear opening, I gripped my toes to the ground, then released them to lunge my whole body at his chest.

He and I were now both on the ground, but since I was the top, I continued thrusting, this time with my fists. One after the other, I could feel my knuckles aching harder.

“What’s with all this philosophical bullshit? I’m only helping because it also helps myself? I’m only helping because the girl I’ll save will like me back? What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

In an instant, the bully used his forearms to parry one of my punches, and I was taken aback.

“That means you don’t have any right to call yourself the hero, dumbass. You’re just like us, and the stronger wins it all.”, the bully shouted.

With the impact pushing me away from my advantage, I almost fell back. However, his wrists made contact with my grasp, and I used my body weight to hold him back down.

“Have I ever said that I needed to be one? You’re harassing a girl that I like so I’m trying to stop it.”, I landed a punch on his block.

“I don’t fucking care if you’re just helping a friend or if he has a sad life, you’re fucking assholes for messing with her.”, and another strike.

“All this meaningless justification and for what? Your actions are enough to tell me who you are, so stop all this nonsense about both sides being selfish.”, and another.

“The stronger wins it all, right? Fine, I’ll continue punching you until you regret saying that.”, I threw another punch, however, his palm had caught it. And I was thrown back to the ground on his side.

I speedily turned back into my stance, expecting his next attack. Yet, he just stood there, idly, with a convoluted face. We stayed motionless, looking, or observing the other. It was kind of awkward, to say the least. And it stayed like that for a prolonged amount of time, until a voice could be heard.

“Hey, it’s you!”, looked like his comrade had finally come.

Terrified of that fact, I started sprinting toward the broken fence and managed to climb it before they could reach me. Landing on the pavement, I suddenly caught a glimpse of the bully whom I just fought. He was still unmoving, with his eyes focused on me. I gave him a strange look, before putting all the energy I had left to escape.

***

Once I had returned to my apartment complex, I checked behind to ascertain that I was safe. However, when I entered the gateless entrance, there were two familiar faces waiting for me.

“What took you so long, John?”, it was Kiri. It was no question that I was baffled by why was she standing here with Stan instead of inside my home. Consequently, I questioned.

“Why are you-“

“We know what are you going to ask, so we’ll just answer you.”, Stan interrupted me.

“To make it simple, Kiri and I had decided to help you with your situation. No need to thank us, we have our own benefits as well.”

Somehow, my assumptions were on the same line, thinking back on what Kiri sent me just then.

“So that’s why you distracted them for me to escape. I guess I should thank you for that.”

“Wait, you’re not going to be a brat and say that you don’t need our help?”, Stan asked in shock.

Now, was I really like that in his eyes?

“No, that would only be stupidly selfish of me. What am I going to do, fight six guys all by myself? I know that you guys want to help, and I couldn’t be happier to accept.”

Both Kiri and Stan were flabbergasted, and without words, they turned toward each other and smiled warmly.

Kiri then joined the conversation again, with a cheerful demeanor.

“Now that’s a huge obstacle already passed.”

C’mon, do you guys really think of me that way?

“Yeah, guess all that’s left is the physical part. All right, good news or bad news, which one do you want to hear first, John.”

“Um, bad.”, thinking that it wouldn’t matter either way, I spoke instinctively.

“How pessimistic, I like it. The bad news is that there is no good news. And the real bad news is that you’re going to have to find it out yourself.”

Right after speaking, Stan formed a stance, as if prepared for battle. Confused by his actions, I inquired.

“What are you doing?”

“Every time you’re able to hit me, you’ll get one answer. And it won’t count if I block your attack, and of course, I’ll be assaulting you back as well.”

Before I could even mutter my doubts, Stan had already taken a step toward me and struck a jab. Having not assembled my stance yet, I lost my footing and fell to the ground.

“C’mon, you fell already?”

“Give me a break already.”

Fights after fights. Now that I thought about it, everything that was crazy or abnormal to me had happened only in the span of today. And still, I have to brawl with a guy that took on six boys to have even more questions that are probably going to confuse me more.

Just give me a break already.

I thought to myself as I struggled to get back on my feet. Knowing that this hellish day was far from over.