The clock struck the top of the hour. The bell rang, thus signaling the dismissal of the last class. The classmates piled out of Maguro High’s Boxing Gym, all except one. This one had a sweat towel hung around her neck, briefly using it to dab her face.

“Bye guys!” she said, smiling and waving.

“Bye Red! See you tomorrow! Have fun with the Gym!” Her friends answered back, then shut the door behind them.

Red, her true name ‘Akane’, leaned against the ring. She couldn’t believe it. The silence. Not a voice could be heard, not even a squeak of a mouse, nor the caw of a bird. There were rare phenomena in this world: The chance of phasing through a wall just by running into it, the chance of a pig flying, and the chance of Maguro High being in utter silence.

It was nice. Though she preferred being around people, everyone needed a chance to just… getaway. “Finally…” She eventually sighed, at last slamming her gloved cherry red fists together, and walked into the training ring. “I got this place to myself! I waited a week for this!”

Quickly she threw quick and focused blows, the wind rushing past her face as her powerful strikes forced the air to brace the side of the ropes opposite of her. She kept up a single and strict pattern of blows. Left, right, an uppercut. Left, right, an uppercut. Left, right, an uppercut. On cycle she repeated this until her brain was in full focus.

Her focus did not last long when a girl blew through the door. Akane thought she herself was working hard, but this girl was drenched in sweat head to toe! Worse yet, she wasn’t in her PE clothes but her school uniform!

The emerald haired girl took exasperated breaths, holding herself up against the wall. Her right hand sat down her violin case on a bench.

Akane took notice of this girl, stopping her practice to hang her arms over the ropes and strike up a conversation with the odd girl.

“Quite the workout, huh? Not talkin’ about me, by the way. What did you do? Participate in a triathlon?”

“Heeh… n-no…” The girl shook her head. “I- I was… wondering if the Boxing Club was open for members… Where is everyone?”

Akane’s eyes widened and she scoffed. “Eh? You’re here for the Girl’s Boxing Club? Sorry to break it to you, but you just missed the club. Everyone’s gone for the day, except me, I’m renting this place for personal usage.”

“I… oh…” the girl sighed. “Forgive me, I just saw a flier up and I was wanting to join…” She sorrowfully replied. She hid her face so as to not look at Akane.

“Are you in Orchestra?” Akane asked. “That violin had me wondering…”

“Y-yeah… the Orchestra room is so far away…”

“I heard the director was pretty strict. Sucks to hear you missed it. I would have told you to go meet up with the club leader, but she’s gone.”

“Mmmm… okay…” The girl sorrowfully grabbed her violin case. Without a second thought, she quickly walked out of the room.

There was an odd period of silence. Akane watched this girl walk away, and it too made her heart feel sour. It didn’t feel right to turn this girl away, but here she was.

A pair of gloves hit the girl in the back of her head, which then fell to her feet. Akane stood a few feet away from the girl, giving a sheepish smile. “If you want to join the club, why don’t I see what you got, if you have time?”

“See what I have? Wouldn’t I be cutting into your own training time?”

“Baaagh! Don’t worry, I rented this gym to practice alone, but I don’t mind helping new members too. Besides, you went through all of that work to get here, I’d hate being late to my first club meeting too and feel like my time was wasted.”

“R-right-”

“My name is Akane, by the way. What about you?”

The girl’s face started to lighten up during this conversation. By the time she reached her introduction, the girl’s face was back to being full of energy like it normally was. “Omo! Omo Haruna! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Akane!”

“Great! Let’s get to work, then! I hope you’re ready for some tough practice, because I warn you our club leader is pretty tough.”

-_-

Akane and Haruna stood in the middle of the ring. Akane had her arms folded, looking down at the newbie who was still fumbling with her gloves. “Ready to go?”

“Uhhhhh- not yet!” Omo shook her head. “--there!”

Akane gazed at the curious Omo, spreading a soft smirk on her face. Akane bent forward, pointing a finger at her cheek. “Let’s see how good you are. One clean, free shot. Punch me.”

“Wh-what?!” Haruna exclaimed. “I-I can’t do that- wouldn’t you get hurt?!”

“Bruh- have you forgotten that this is Boxing? Boxing is a combat sport, not a tea ceremony.”

Omo nervously gulped, raising her fist. Her eyes shut tightly, pulling back a fist, then yelling: “HIIIYAH!”

The fist made contact!

Or… did it?

She couldn’t tell, because Akane’s face didn’t even flinch. She just stood there, smiling. “Pretty good. You may be a natural.”

“B-But- I didn’t do anything to you!”

“If you punched a kid of your caliber, they’d be in for a rough time.” She chuckled. “That clean shot is what you have to aim for in every match though. Remember, we’re fighting for self defense and sport, not to kill someone, so do be careful with these concussive blows.”

“R-right…” Omo quietly nodded, her face turning a shade whiter. This Akane did not notice, for she was too busy focusing on getting into a defensive boxing stance.

“Next up, I wanna see how well you can handle dishing out multiple attacks. Try and break my guard with your punches.”

Haruna hesitated to react, lifting a shaky fist. “I-I-... okay…”

“Don’t be shy, now.” Akane smirked. “Take your time, we have an hour in here.”

Omo’s right collided into the middle of Akane’s guard, followed by a hard left. They weren’t exactly polished; and the punches still barely moved her towering ‘mentor’, yet Akane kept firm and patient.

Haruna threw more punches, each one being a bit stronger than the last. Her face started to pucker and turn pale, the harsh burn of lactic acid flooding her arms and causing her to fatigue. In this moment of fatigue, Haruna failed to notice Akane’s flat hand pushing against her gut and throwing her across the ring and flat onto her bottom, all with just a single hand.

“You got sloppy.” Akane stated, “But not bad, not bad, first year. You’re surely no professional, but that’s kinda the whole point of practicin’ anyways.”

“Mmmm…” Haruna stared at Akane with shiny eyes. “Ow… that hurt…”

“Didn’t mean for it to hurt,” Akane chuckled. “I guess sometimes I don’t even know my own strength.” She walked over to Haruna, offering a hand. “C’mon first year, we got a bit more testing to do.”

The hour rolled by. Akane and Haruna took turns demonstrating their striking and defense capabilities, a dance between a newbie and a professional who was willing enough to lend her a hand. Once all was said and done, Haruna was left beat, sore, and tired. Akane was too, but much less.

Akane took a sip of her water bottle, wiping her face off with her sweat towel, then faced Haruna. “Had fun? You look beat.”

Haruna’s arms, legs, and stomach ached. Her hands grabbed her knees, taking long pants, but she could say no words without exhausting herself more.

“I remember my first time.” Akane giggled. “Man I hated exercising,” She walked past Omo and over to her gym bag to pack her equipment up.

“Akane…” Haruna finally spoke in between tired breaths. “Th-thanks…”

“Huh?” She stopped. “N-no problem… I’m just doing what any person would.”

“I’m kinda surprised you’re not the club leader, you’re good at teaching.”

“I’m… really not.” Akane dismissed her compliment.

“Really! I learned a lot!” She smiled.

“Omo.” Akane started, her tone turning sharper. “What I ‘taught’ you was just me testing your skill, I didn’t ‘teach you’. Anyone who has spent two weeks in this sport could teach what I ‘taught’ you today.”

“R-right… sorry…” Haruna shied away. “I wasn’t thinking…”

“Bah! I appreciate the thoughtfulness though.” Akane gave a thumbs up. She slung her fully packed exercise bag over her shoulders, heading for the door. Before she exited, she stopped at the doorway and faced back at Omo to ask one more question: “Think you’re ready to go to the club tomorrow?”

“Uhhhhh…” Haruna fumbled her fingers, puzzling how she was going to answer this. It’s like she didn’t know what to say. Her thoughts crowded into her head and her heart pounded against her chest. “Y-yeah…”

“Well, see you tomorrow, then! Remember, practice doesn’t make perfect, but it makes you better than you were yesterday, and tomorrow’s gonna make you a LOT better. Welcome to the Girl’s Boxing Club, Haruna Omo! From this day forward, I’m not your ‘trainer’, but a student just like you are. So, don’t expect me to go easy on you. Ciao!” Akane dismissively waved, leaving the gym at last.

Haruna stood there, watching her instructor leaving her behind. The sores on her body were toned out by the ache in her head. It felt like she had a migraine, a throbbing pain that constantly crippled her. In this case, it was a migraine full of worries… this pain she hated. This fear, she hated. The whole idea of fighting, she hated. But it was this, or she was forced to be abandoned…