Going back to the Akira house after just refusing their generosity was a weird experience.

First, there was the moving truck. Tom and his guys came again. The man himself just said a polite, “Hello, Mr. Mitchel, Mr. Kells.” His helpers, however, were very vocal about moving the armchair from the third floor apartment—in a building that had no elevator—right after putting it there not long ago.

Then there was the cab. It was the same as before too, which would be normal if not for Luke noticing the overly-polite driver was of Asian descent. He suspected him to be another employee of the Akiras.

And finally, came Mr. Akira. He wasn’t one to show his emotions. He usually had a non-committal smile when waving to Luke, and the tears he had shown last time they had seen each other had been a very rare, albeit understandable exception. To see him almost rush to his granddad and hug the man tightly was unexpected to say the least.

Sakura, who had come receive Luke back too, outright stared with eyes and mouth open wide.

Luke’s granddad’s reaction made things awkward. He didn’t return the hug, only stood still then whispered something that made Mr. Akira step back and bow his head a little.

After that, the man turned to Luke and bowed so low his back made a perfect parallel with the ground. He also clasped his hands before him in traditional martial arts manner and said, “Thank you, Mr. Kells. Today, I owe you my happiness.”

“Elder!” Sakura yelled, incapable of containing her shock. Luke remember that in some Asian cultures, an older man of higher status bowing to a younger of lower status was a great show of courtesy, to say the least, if not outright humiliating.

Luke felt very uncomfortable, but didn’t know what to do. Mr. Akira ignored his niece and kept bowing in silence.

“What are you waiting for?!” Sakura yelled in anger and urgency. “Tell him to stand up! Help him to it! Say you don’t deserve such honor!”

Luke complied at once. “Mr. Akira, please stand up. I’m the one who should be thanking you. If it weren’t for you, it would’ve been too late for my granddad. Please take good care of him for me, and I’ll be forever grateful.” He bowed back. He wasn’t used to it, so it felt very awkward.

“Let’s say we’re even, then,” Mr. Akira said while straightening up. He patted Luke’s shoulder and pulled the boy to also stand up. His dark eyes bore into Luke’s. “You made him ask for the best doctors, and that requires more than money and a call. We’ll have to go to them. Today might be the last day you see Arthur until your final exams are over and you can go to him. Don’t worry, now that he gave me his approval, I won’t let him die before you come. Rest well this night, and you can say your goodbyes tomorrow at breakfast.”

Luke nodded seriously. He had no plans of going back to school, but it was for the best to stay away from his grandfather, or he wouldn't stop worrying for long enough to focus on building his mana channels.

Mr. Akira then turned to Arthur and gestured for the latter to walk ahead. Slowly, Luke’s granddad complied, followed by his friend. They entered the house and disappeared inside.

“Well,” the Akira girl said when her uncle was out of sight. “Time to fight.”

Luke smiled self-deprecatingly. He had so much to do and so little time, yet the bullies of his life still demanded his attention.

“Lead the way,” he said.

She did so. Luke followed, mentally preparing himself for the beating he would take. Though he was sure he could win in a fight against her, he had learned that the less he resisted, the quicker the beating. If he won though, who knows what could happen? Better the devil he knew.

Akira Sakura led him into the house. He had to take off his shoes again, though this time she gave him a geta of his own. It felt very weird on his feet, but he managed not to fall on his face while walking on it.

They went through the living room into a sliding door at the back, entering the walled backyard, and Luke was once more awed by Mr. Akira's house. It was a perfect Japanese style garden with a pond, rocks, and everything. There was a building to the side, and she brought him there.

The building was a large dojo. It had a bunch of practice weapons on a side wall, a door leading to a changing room on another, and a small altar with the picture of a dashing young Japanese man at the back.

The girl took off her geta, walked to the dojo's center, bowed to the picture, turned to Luke, and put both hands before her in a martial arts stance. "Come," she said. She was still in her uniform too. Luke could bet he had seen this scene on an anime somewhere.

Luke walked into the dojo, closed the door, took his geta off, and raised his fists half-heartedly. He just stayed there, waiting for her to be done with it.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked. "I told you to come."

He suppressed a sigh. A fake fight was a waste of time. Still, he obeyed. He walked to her and punched her slowly and disinterestedly.

She didn't even defend herself. His fist connected with her shoulder and it didn't bulge in the slightest. They looked at each other in silence for a while. Luke, for all his battle experience, hadn't expected her to just let him land the hit. That didn't fit the patterns of his bullying sessions.

The fire in her eyes turned into deep, deep disappointment.

"So you're a liar on top of a coward."

"What?" He wasn't expecting those words either.

"We had an agreement. I would let your grandfather go, and you would do anything I asked. I'm asking for a fight. A proper, true fight, not whatever farce you've gotten used to in your years." She pushed him with both hands. "I told you that you'll have to fight to go back from being an animal. I'll teach you what that means."

Luke felt... torn. He wasn't too much against lying, he had done so when the teachers asked what happened to him after his beatings. But he had made a promise putting his grandfather's life on the line, and she had agreed to it.

Winning against her would lead to unexpected consequences, and nothing good could come of it. Jackson had promised to break his limbs after Luke won; what would she do after she beat her?

"I see the fear in your eyes," she said and stepped forth to shove him back again, this time harder. "Fight against your fear, cattle." She shoved him again. "Be human." She pushed. "Be free."

She stepped closer to push him once more, but he slapped her hands away.

"Stop," he said, annoyed. "You released my granddad, I'll fight you. Just... stop pretending, alright?"

"Pretending?" she asked. He didn't reply. "Answer me!"

"This isn't about helping me, it's about you becoming the new school boss or whatever. It's about sating your thirst for humiliating others. It's about you, not me."

She looked awestruck for a moment. "How... How the hell would you get this ridiculous idea?"

This time, Luke didn't reply despite her insistence. He knew better than to show a bully the cracks in their facade. That had made Jackson correct his mistakes and become an even better psychopath.

After failing to get her answer from him, she tsked, "So be it. I'll beat the truth out of you."

He was going to get beaten later anyway, so he let himself give a victorious smile and say, "Spoken like a true bully."

Her eyes widened for a moment of surprise, and then, like a true bully that could only talk with their fists, she attacked.

As for Luke...

He would let himself get beaten later because he knew his place. But now? Now, he would give her the fight she so wanted.

His smile and snark comment made her angry enough to attack first. She started with a jab, and it said a lot about her agility that he barely had time to protect himself. Her strength was lacking though, not even double his by his estimations. He blocked it and counter-attacked.

He jabbed back, testing her reactions. They were good enough that he would have a hard time winning without a feint.

Further exchanges followed, punches and kicks that would put Jackson and his goons to shame, but none was enough to end the fight. Luke quickly ascertained she had been trained in at least a couple martial arts and should be black belt in at least one. She lacked real combat experience though, her movements too rigid and predictable.

She was also holding her punches back. Her defense was way faster than her attack, and her strength was greater at some attacks than others. Just like a bully who wanted to savour the moment before ending it.

Luke kept it going for a few minutes. He could win at any moment even if she hadn't been holding back, but found it wise to know the extent of his new bully's abilities, as it might help him in the future. He was impressed, but she was still just a teenager.

After he was sure he had her measure, he pretended to go for a hook and, when she defended, he modified his balance and attack to a leg sweep.

She fell sideways, her eyes wide in surprise. When she was still halfway to the ground, he knew he could kick and break her neck, but he didn't give in to his instincts. Instead, he took one of her arms and pulled it hard, forcing her to fall on the ground face-first. When she was on the tatami, he twisted the arm and sat on her back, completely dominating her.

"Do you yield?" he asked.

A long silence followed. Luke took care not to hurt her, but was also prepared when she relaxed to pretend to submit, then tried to break free the next instant. In the end, she had no choice but to say, "Yes."

He let go at once, and to no one's surprise, she sweep her own legs to make him fall. He saw it coming from a mile away, but the fight was over. He had kept his word, now it was back to the bottom for him.

Time to get beaten.

Luke didn't even control his fall and hurt his hand as he fell over it. Akira wasn't done though, as she stood up and soon had her foot on his neck. He didn't react, but held his hurt hand close to him and avoided her gaze.

Akira kept quiet for a long while. She was breathing haggard from both the effort and the anger. Luke was getting tired of her long silences since he had so much to do, but just took it in stride. Each bully had their own flavor, it seemed.

After she thought about whatever she had been thinking, she took her foot off his neck, stepped back, put both hands in front of her and bowed. "I have acted dishonorably. I apologize."

Luke suppressed a sigh. So she was one of those. Now she would pretend to be a nice person until he lowered his guard and she could "surprise" him with a knife on the back again. Been there, done that.

Well, at least it would give him some reprieve at a time he needed to focus on saving his grandfather, so he would play her little game.

"It's alright." He still didn't stand up or look her in the face though.

She straightened up. "I... Where did you... If you can fight like this, why the hell would you bow to some weaklings?"

Luke snorted. If she wanted to play demure, he would at least slap some truths in her face in the meanwhile. Her attitude was getting to his nerves in a way even Jackson couldn't.

"Everything is so easy for you people, isn't it?" he said. "If you want something, you go and take it, and you don't have to worry about the consequences. Papa and mama will take care of everything if things spiral out of control, right? Well, surprise surprise, some people are poor and their families are weak, and if they mess with the wrong people, they soon find out the only way to protect those they care about is fucking suicide."

"Bullshit," Akira replied immediately. "Even if you wouldn't fight back, you could leave the school, go away with your grandfather, you only had to tell him the truth. Some people's families suck, but that's not your case. You chose to submit. Why?"

"Why indeed? Why would a poor guy do whatever it takes to keep having the best education around for free? Why would I bet on my future when my present life sucks so much even without daily beatings? We barely have enough to eat." Luke laughed with teary eyes. "You live in a world where everything is always perfect, Akira. When things go wrong for you, they are setbacks, not insurmountable obstacles. Your present and future are guaranteed to be good as long as you don't mess up. I have nothing but hope even if I do everything perfectly."

That had been the case in the past, and after today, it couldn't be truer; Luke had nothing but the hope that he could save his granddad in time.

"How well can you learn at school when you spend more time in bed recovering from a beating than on the books studying? I checked your grades, they aren't much."

He laughed dryly. "Of course they aren't. Do you think I would stand out even more for Jackson to get more upset? That I would compete with rich geniuses so they would also make my life harder? I keep my grades to the minimum required to keep the scholarship."

He wasn't a genius, but he could certainly do better than B- if he tried.

Akira's hostility turned into disgust. "What a pathetic personality. You claim you have no money for food? In a cheaper city, you would have, so you only had to tell your grandfather the truth and move out. You claim you can't compete with geniuses? With better grades, you would be more valuable to the powerful, and you would gain protection, not enemies. You claim that the bully boy is untouchable? The recording of a beating and an email to enough news agencies would be the end of it, especially with his parents being public figures."

She started walking toward the exit. "I was wrong about you. You're no cattle; you're a cockroach, surviving on the scraps dropped by those you consider above you. Even cattle run away when they find the doors open, yet you look for excuses to stay. It's all in your mind." She arrived at her geta and put them on. "But then again, I said you wouldn't revert to humanity in a day, didn't I?" She looked at him. "I promised I would do anything you want if you beat me, and you did. I owe you one. Pick your reward well. I can even get rid of the untouchable guy for you if my elder doesn't do it first out of sheer pity. You came home looking like shit today, after all." She left.

Luke smiled self-deprecatingly. His new bully got off on showing her moral superiority when she realized she couldn't beat him in a proper fight. He had heard Japanese schools could be hardcore, but he had to admit she was better than he had thought because she had poked right where it hurt.

He wasn't dumb enough not to see what she was doing, but he had no arguments against her. He felt like a random piece of trash she had left behind.

Luke knew she just wanted him to hope things could be better so she could crush his hope. Yet, he couldn't deny that somewhere inside him, something was sparking. Something he had buried so deep for so long that he almost didn't even recognize it. It was a desire to fight back, not for his granddad, not for revenge, but for simple justice.

And as he had learned to do many times before, he quickly quelled the flame. Maybe he could come back to it another day. However, as nice as justice was, he couldn't heal the sick with it.

His priority wasn't fixing the world.

It was saving the one he loved.