HA1 11.1 - Armed Opponent


    Time flew fast, and the day where Hide had to go to make his second ID finally arrived. He didn’t have to go to school today and Aizawa also slept at Kitaro last night, but Coach Kotaro wanted to have a spar with him, so he woke up as usual like any Friday morning.


    After taking a bath, doing his daily chores, and packed change clothes for today unscheduled MMA class, Hide went to have small bowl of oatmeal as his breakfast. Then, he just calmly enjoyed the oatmeal when his father suddenly came out of his room. His hair was messy, but he wore his pajamas and not his working clothes. He also didn’t have smell of alcohol.


    “I read the message you put in the fridge,” Hide’s father said as he passed Hide. “Are you sure it’s fine to let Aizawa stays in her school for a whole week?”


    ‘Well, right now it’s the best option I have. I have no confidence to put her in your watch yet,’ Hide casually muttered. “It’s perfectly fine.”


    Then, while making a cup of tea for himself he continued, “Is the part-time job pay you properly?”


    “Yeah,” Hide casually replied.


    “Good.” Hide’s father then took the seat in front of Hide. “If they dare to ask you to leave your school for a week, they better pay you properly.”


    “They do. You don’t have to worry about it.”


    After giving his tea a sip Hide’s father said, “If you have interest in programing industry, I can put you as part timer in my company. I can make it that you work directly under my supervision. That way, I can pass down my knowledge to you.”


    Question mark instantly popped up in Hide’s forehead. “You are not project manager anymore. Are you sure you have the influence to put me as part-timer under your direct supervision?”


    “If I agree to become project manager again,” Hide’s father confidently said. “Letting me to exert a bit of nepotism is small price the board have to pay. They will agree right away.”


    “I see.”


    “After you complete your current contract, just give me your CV. I will take care of the rest.”


    After a moment of silence, Hide said in serious manner, “Dad, I appreciate it, but after completing my current contract, I don’t think I will take another part-time in programing industry.”


    “Why?” Hide’s father asked while giving Hide a casual glance.


    “I plan to enter medical school. It will absorb most of my mind and attention. I can’t take part-time that require heavy thinking and attention,” Hide explained, still in serious manner.


    “I see.”


    “In that case, do your best,” Hide’s father said while got up to his feet. “I will support whatever path you want to take, but I will beat you into pulp if you do it half-baked.”


    “Okay.”


    Hide’s father then returned to his room, while Hide fell into ponder. From their conversation just now, Hide could see that his father started returning to his old self. It was so sudden, so it gave him a mix filing, but at the same time hope and happiness grew in his heart. They day where his family would become a whole again finally emerged in the horizon.


    ---


    Today, Hayashida had no sparring schedule with Hide, but he decided to pause his training and went to watch Hide’s sparring with Coach Kotaro. When he saw Hide was doing pre-sparring warm up, he immediately walked over to him.


    “Little Rascal,” Hayashida said as soon as he arrived before Hide. “Do you know why the Old Fart wants to have unscheduled sparring with you?”


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    “I have no idea,” Hide gave Hayashida an honest reply.


    “It’s because he want to give you a traumatic experience.”


    “Why does Coach Kotaro want to do such thing?” Hide curiously asked.


    “From the spar with me, you suffer almost no set back,” Hayashida said. “So, he wants to give you some, and usually it will take a whole week before anyone who receives set back from him regain their confidence to resume their training.”


    “I see,” Hide casually said. “As I will skip the training for the whole week, Coach Kotaro want to use it as a chance to shape my mentality.”


    “Exactly,” Hayashida said before grinning from ear to ear.


    “Well, I need every bit of Coach Kotaro’s wisdom. I will gladly take this traumatic spar.”


    After a moment of silence Hayashida said, “You are a really brave kid.”


    Then, Coach Kotaro suddenly signaled Hide to come to him, and as soon as Hide arrived before him he immediately said, “Don’t listen to Hayashida’s rubbish.”


    “Yes, coach,” Hide calmly replied.


    “In today sparring, I will introduce you to the fight against armed-opponent.” Coach Kotaro then took a rubber sushi knife from table in front of him and continued, “What do you say about this knife?”


    “Size of knife gives presence and intimidation,” Hide calmly said. “The user usually take it out before the fight either to stop the fight from occur, or to paralyze their opponent and end the fight as quickly as possible.


    But the bigger the knife, the more the user has to follow certain body mechanic when using it, or it won’t be effective. Ineffective use of big knife work well against amateur, but will get you killed in split second if your opponent know how to counter armed-opponent.”


    Coach Kotaro immediately nodded his head. “It seems you are not fully clueless about armed-opponent.”


    “I know about them to some extent.”


    “Well, I will use this sushi knife then,” Chief Kotaro said as he used his finger to swirl the sushi knife’s handle, as if it was just a small and light ballpoint. “Let’s see how far you can put your knowledge about armed-opponent to the fight.”


    Wasting no time, Hide and Coach Kotaro went to the fighting mat and stood face to face. A moment later, the sparring began.


    Swish!


    In a casual manner, Coach Kotaro made a swing to Hide’s throat. It was beautiful and lightning speed swing, but Hide managed to avoid it by stepping back right before the knife touched his throat.


    “Good reflex without unnecessary movement, you really have the knack to become a fighter,” Coach Kotaro happily gave Hide a praise. “It seems you can also see my hand.”


    “Yeah,” Hide casually replied, but at the same time cold sweats drenched his forehead.


    Coach Kotaro’s swing was faster than his estimation. Most of all, his swing also showed that he was an excellent knife user. He trained in way of knife not just a mere hobby. He deeply fell in love with it.


    At the same time, Coach Kotaro got impression Hide didn’t understand that the evasive step he just made was a master piece. His face showed no sign of shock nor panic even after seeing is lightning speed swing.


    “Hide, if you know that only a handful people managed to avoid the swing I just threw at you, you won’t take it lightly.”


    “Coach, I don’t take it lightly,” Hide firmly replied.


    “Good, let’s see how long you can keep avoiding my swing.”


    Wasting no time, Coach Kotaro launched a series of swing, a swift and flowing swing that went straight at Hide’ thigh, belly, chest, or throat. However, Hide managed to avoid it by making side step and circular step and the sparring continued in this manner for two minutes straight. In the end, Coach Kotaro started losing his patience.


    He suddenly made a big step forward while making a backhand swing at Hide’s throat. His intention was simple. His big step would accommodate Hide’s back step. He did indeed had to sacrifice his footing to make this step, but his knife would definitely make solid connection to Hide’ throat.


    However, Hide didn’t take a step back to avoid his swing. He took a step forward instead, while raising his right arm to block his swing.


    Pak!


    Coach Kotaro felt an impact in his right arm just below his wrist. It was solid block to his swing, follow by strong push. Unfortunately, he already lost his footing so he couldn’t generate enough power to hold the push back. With ease, Hide pushed his arm until it was pressing his chest, and then a small but swift sweep hit his legs.


    Baam!


    With a loud thud, Coach Kotaro’s back hit the matt. At the same time, Hide already gripped his wrist and put the knife in his hand right at his throat. It took time to explain, but everything happened in split second.


    While Coach Kotaro was still trying to figure out what had happened Hide casually said to him, “It seems I bag this round, Coach.”


    “Yeah,” Coach Kotaro calmly replied, but the shock in his face was still clearly visible.


    At the same time, Hayashida went over to Coach Kotaro and kneeled next to him. “Old Fart, how the fuck a newbie can put you down in the mat when you hold a knife?”


    “It’s beginner luck.” Coach Kotaro tried to treat Hide’s victory as a fluke, but his expression showed that he didn’t really belief it.


    “No one in this gym has done such feat,” Hayashida mockingly said. “If it’s beginner luck, then Hide’s luck must be bigger than this world.”


    Coach Kotaro said nothing to reply Hayashida. He just got up to his feet with Hide’s help. Then, he deeply looked at Hide straight in the eyes.


    “It seems I underestimate you too match.”


    Seeing the cold gleam in Coach Kotaro’s eyes, Hide instantly got a chill. “Coach, it’s just a fluke. Don’t treat it too seriously.”


    “Let’s start the second round and see about that,” Coach Kotaro said in determined tone.


    *****