After being out for around five minutes, Magatsu slowly opens his eyes while looking around alarmed in search of his father. The siblings were next to him while Juno and Disarm were at a fair distance. No one else in the dojo was allowed to keep their training before Magatsu woke up.

– Where is he? Where's... – Magatsu asks but fails to pronounce his name.

To be fair, he always hated his father, even though he didn't even know how the damn guy looked like. His mom always told him how bad of a person Yinsak was back in the day, and after this first experience he was sure the man was downright evil.

– That Yinsak guy left after knocking you out. – Ramon fills him in. – It would be dumb to go after him, especially after seeing you fight him and lose like that.

Immediately after saying that, Vanessa elbows him, forcing an oof from him. Magatsu, meanwhile, remembered the beating his father gave him and how humiliating it was with furrowed eyebrows.

– So – Disarm, now closer, addresses Magatsu. – , how was that?

A short silence followed as Magatsu struggled to find the words before standing up, no trace of his smile anywhere to be seen as he gave everyone a disappointed look.

– Overwhelmingly disappointing. I need more training, much more. – He closes and opens his hands as he looks to them. – And I need it as soon as possible.

– No – Disarm disagrees. – , what you need is a day off of rest. I smell vengeance in your intentions and I'm not teaching you squat until you calm down. Go home and only come back when you clear your mind.

Magatsu had a lot of things racing inside his head, but he nods and thanks him for today's class. As he was about to leave, he noticed Juno there in the background just staring at him. When she realized he was seeing her, she looked somewhere else with an embarrassed face.

Not minding that, Magatsu left everyone behind as they were already preparing themselves to keep going with the training to go home. Juno went back into staring at the door for a few more minutes. She had a lot of things going inside her mind as well.

Back at his house, Magatsu sees Sasha and some of his other neighbors in his yard, the door to his house slightly open. His mind immediately screams Yinsak as he now power walks through everyone, only stopping when Sasha tightly held him back by his wrist.

As he looks at her, she merely shakes her head with a sad face. The message was clear: don't enter or you won't like what you'll see in.

That only made his worries increase as he begged with his face for her to let him go. She took an extra second to do so as he internally thanked her while nodding with a weak smile.

Once actually in the house, he notices that lots of objects, mainly fragile ones, were flung against the wall and were in pieces on the floor. Some pieces of furniture weren't in their best state either. The living room was, to put it short, a complete mess.

Agatha wasn't anywhere to be seen as he looks around in search of his mother. He then hears sobbing coming from her bedroom and immediately dashes to it.

Not wanting to wait, he bursts through the door and...

...

Magatsu hears the police car sirens loudly announcing their arrival outside as he freezes to the sight in front of him.

A man he never saw before was lifeless on the floor with his neck twisted in 180 degrees. Agatha was holding his still somewhat warm hand against her face with one hand as she cried her soul out, her other hand struggling to grasp her chest.

She looked up, immediately letting the unknown man go as she rushed to Magatsu's legs with a desperate hug. He naturally kneeled and hugged her, both of them with their eyes closed. In a whisper, he asks her.

– Mom, what... what happened? – Between barely controlled sobs, she answers.

– It was him... Your father, he came in and... And then John stood for me, but your father, he... With just one move, he...

The words fail to come out as she loses herself in another burst of tears and sobbing. Magatsu doesn't dare to move an inch as he stays there for her.

Two police officers soon enter the room but don't do anything, giving mother and son their time to sort this out the best way they currently can. One of them goes for his radio.

– Central? We have a case of murder, if not manslaughter, in our hands...

Magatsu didn't pay attention to what he said next as he focused all of his into comforting his mother.

That afternoon was a long and tense one.

After about an hour, Agatha finally calmed down enough to talk about everything that happened to the police, or almost.

She refused to describe Yinsak. The words simply wouldn't leave her mouth, so it was up to Magatsu to do so. He had the image of his father fresh in his mind, but nothing about him was found in their recordings, meaning he wasn't from that city or maybe even state.

After the whole procedure went about, Agatha, Magatsu, Sasha, and Dedalus were all outside the police station in the evening while waiting for their ride home.

– I must say – Dedalus speaks. – , I knew Astarosa had some issues as a teen, but I never took him for a killer. Looks like twenty years changed him for the worst.

Sasha was looking at Magatsu with sad eyes while he lingered inside his head. She has apologized to him a few times for not being strong nor fast enough to protect his mother from Yinsak, but he dismissed her with a hug as he told her what happened a few minutes prior. During the explanation, Dedalus was already there and was impressed at the fact.

Still, looking at Agatha's heavy eyes meeting the ground made Sasha feel like that was her fault, like she could have done something to prevent it from happening. Noticing her friend's expression, Magatsu snaps from his trance and holds her hand reassuringly with a timid smile, giving her shy light red cheeks as she gave another smile back.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Despite that, Magatsu still didn't want to leave his mother's side and Sasha was ok with that and let his hand go with an encouraging expression.

The rest of the wait was silent among them, the sounds of some cars and their horns and mild footsteps in the distance filling the rather awkward monotony.

It took around a week for things to start going back to normal.

Agatha was still struggling over her boyfriend's death, naturally, but having her son there to support her made everything much easier. She would enjoy seeing Yinsak choke in his own tongue when the day came.

Shinda was now training full time, with or without his father's help, skipping his homeschool classes and sometimes even eating or sleeping. He was getting obsessed with Yinsak, yet, didn't know said man was his best friend's father. Dedalus figured it would be for the best not telling him that.

Sasha was aware that her cousin would show up at any point up until the end of the month, so she was alert and ready for any surprises. Still, she had been thinking a lot about Magatsu lately, more than she would want to openly admit. Some guilt still weighed on her, which made her extra supportive when it came to anything him related.

Yinsak himself was nowhere to be found despite the police's efforts. It was almost as if he had just disappeared from the world. Magatsu figured it would be for the best if they didn't find him.

He wanted to take care of his old man himself. Now, it was beyond personal.

But naturally, he himself had to grow stronger. Once he heard from Dedalus that Shinda was training like crazy, he decided to do a little daily training of his own and started wearing weighted pieces of equipment scattered across his limbs and torso, totalling an extra 30 Kg to his weight. It wasn't easy, but it sure would be worth it.

That wasn't what his new friends thought of it.

– I don't think doing that will do you any good, Mag. – Ramon says with a puzzled face as he hears Magatsu's plan to get both stronger and faster. Vanessa agrees with a nod and a hum.

– If anything – She says. – , it'll only get in your way.

– Are you 100% sure of what you're saying? – Magatsu was skeptical about what they were saying. Truly, he wanted to hear Disarm's word on the matter, but he was working outside with something, apparently important. After a mild grunt, Vanessa says a bit annoyed.

– Of course I am... – She stops to think about something for a few seconds with furrowed eyebrows. – Wait, actually I'm not entirely sure. – She looks to her brother, looking for help. He shrugs with a nonchalant hum.

– I myself never heard of something like this before, but again, I could be wrong. In any case, don't do anything dumb before consulting Mr. Aliodi, Mag.

The boy copied his friend's previous response and asked for them to keep going with the class. That afternoon, everyone had a quick spar with a colleague. No one wanted to go up against Magatsu for obvious reasons, so Ramon volunteered to be his partner.

With both of them now standing in the middle of the dojo, those who have ended their matches were with expectancy in their expressions as they waited for either Ramon or Magatsu to pull the first move. Those who didn't were stopping what they were doing to give this its fair share of attention, only to be severely scolded by Vanessa, who threatened to punch their heads if they stopped again.

Now standing in front of his new friend, Magatsu spreads his legs and pulls his pose as he watches Ramon do the same. His, however, was way different.

He, like Magatsu, had his legs spread, but his upper torso was leaning forward and his hands were slightly open and in front of him, moving back and forth rhythmically. He kind of looked like a sumo wrestler.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Magatsu takes the first step by leaping forward with his right arm ready to throw a hook. Stopping right in front of Ramon, he swings it, only to have it deflected by Ramon's open palms to the side. As Mag keeps going with his momentum, Ramon grabs him near his shoulder and kneels him hard on the gut.

Taking a step back, Magatsu grins excitedly as he checks the hit with his hand, realizing Ramon is way stronger than what he looks.

Now extra careful, Magatsu takes small steps forward with his fists ready to counter anything. Anything except Ramon's sudden scream and jump. Startled, Magatsu takes a second too long to react to Ramon's weird body slam as both of them crash on the ground, Ramon on top of his opponent. He then quickly stands up and grabs his friend by his gi and spins around with him, hurling him against a pillar with force. Said pillar shakes with the impact.

– What the hell is wrong with everyone I meet? – Magatsu complains as he, now standing, cracks his back with a pained face. – Don't anyone knows how to hold back?

– You really want me to hold back after seeing what you're capable of? – Ramon retorts while placing his hands on his hip. – Think again, wise guy. Now come, we're only starting.

Now leaning forward again, Ramon waits for the next move. Magatsu decides to run straight forward, leaping midway through. Still mid-air, he does a somersault kick aimed to Ramon's head, one said boy blocks with his crossed arms, not without struggle.

Magatsu takes the advantage and uses his friend as a platform to jump back a little, dashing forward as soon as his feet touch the ground. Still recovering from the previous impact, Ramon doesn't have time to block, so he tries to dodge the incoming tackle. Turns out Magatsu was faking it to see what he would do.

As Ramon tries to go to his left, Magatsu abruptly stops and spin kicks his legs in a sweep with the back of his foot, causing his partner to fall with his hands in front of his face. Already up and ready, Ramon keeps waiting for Magatsu's next move with an excited expression, both his eyes and teeth wide open. Magatsu is taken aback by his sudden expression change and starts laughing loudly.

– You won't come? – He asks smugly but doesn't gain a response. – Well then, block this!

Magatsu proceeds to run in circles at high speeds around Ramon, slowly approaching him with each lap. Now within punching distance, he tries to hit his friend from behind but is surprised when Ramon quickly turns around, grabs his incoming fist, and hurls him hard against the floor. He then holds his arm, slowly twisting it, gaining Magatsu's yelp as he twists himself to try to ease the pain.

A few more seconds pass before Magatsu glares his friend with a determined look. He then tries to use his free hand to do something, only to be stopped by Vanessa's foot over his hand. Confused, he looks at her.

– Quit it before he breaks your arm like the maniac he can be at times. – She says while looking at her brother with half-closed eyes. He nervously laughs but doesn't lose the grip on his friend's arm.

After resisting for a few seconds, Magatsu hits the floor three times. After being helped up by both siblings, Ramon pats him in the back with a reassuring smile while Vanessa claps her hands while shooing anyone too close.

– I don't remember the last time I had that much fun. You're the real deal, Mag.

– Still, I lost. – He says while pouting a bit. – Next time, I won't use the weights.

– As if it would make any difference. – Ramon jokingly punches his friend in the arm, gaining one in return before they do a manly handshake.

Truly, a friend Magatsu was proud of having. Speaking of friends, he wondered how Shinda was doing.

Meanwhile, somewhere far from there

– I'm pretty sure you won't be showing up in the city again for a very long time now that the cops have your face on their records. – Bruno, Yinsak's supposed friend, sarcastically tells the man, gaining a bark as a response.

– You really think I had the intention to kill that guy, don't you?

– Knowing you, probably not, but that won't matter much to them. What will is that you did, so you better watch yourself out when wandering around.

Now looking through the window of his apartment, Yinsak pockets his hands with a wild, excited grin.

– Oh ho ho! – Bruno forces a laugh as he rubs his chin. – Who's in your mind now?

Looking at him with the same expression, Yinsak smugly says. – Why do you believe I owe you explanations about everything me related? Shush before I kick you out through the window.

Curving his lower lip and raising his hands in defeat with his eyes closed, Bruno stays silent for the rest of his saying.

Yinsak, meanwhile, was wondering if his other children had as much potential as Magatsu, as well as about the discussion he had with his former lover.

Thinking about it, he never understood why she always treated their relationship as anything serious and stable back in the day when he very clearly didn't have intentions of raising a family, ever.

– Why do I always pick crazy women? – He asks himself but gains a response anyway.

– Maybe because you're crazy yourself?

Now looking at Bruno, Yinsak takes his hands out of his pockets and slowly approaches him. Bruno, not wanting to deal with his friend's shenanigans, ran through the white door without looking back.

Sighing with relief, Yinsak returns to linger inside his thoughts while looking through the window.