Standing there, Yinsak thought about if he should knock the door. Agatha was in, but he didn't know or care enough. He was more worried about how she would react to suddenly seeing him after over 15 years.

Luckily, he didn't have to. A rather short girl, for someone her age at least, approached him from the other side of the fence while holding a training sword.

– Excuse me, are you looking for someone? – Sasha asks while analyzing the man before her. Yinsak takes the opportunity while hiding as much as possible, not knowing if she knows who he really is.

– I'm looking for a boy named Magatsu. I heard he lived here and figured I would drop by to... – he thinks about a lie as fast as he can, but still stutters for a second too long. – thank him for something he did for me a good while ago. Is he home?

She tells him where Magatsu went to, not seeing why that would be a problem. Yinsak nods with a smirk and thanks her before turning back to the street. Before he has the opportunity to actually leave though, she calls him.

– It would be a tad too rude to not introduce yourself, don't you think? My name's Sasha Ashlair, by the way.

He looks over his shoulder back to her while grinning with his eyebrows together.

– Yes, it would. I owe you no more than my thanks, so don't bother me again.

He wanted her to fall for the taunt.

She did.

After leaping over her fence, she now stands in front of him while smirking herself, her training sword over her shoulder.

– I'm sorry, but I'm not letting that one slide. Besides, why are you looking after Magatsu again? Something about that explanation of yours sounded fishy.

– Ah, don't think too hard on it. I'm just someone that wants to thank a friend. – Yinsak playfully says while opening his arms. She had skeptical eyes while tightening the grip around her handle.

– Still, I'm not letting you go unless you apologize. – She now points the sword against him. – I'm not fond of disrespectful morons like you and by the looks of it, you don't have much of a choice.

Right after stating that, Yinsak yanks her wooden sword with a blinding hand swing. She almost trips forward while realizing what just happened, looking to her hand in disbelief.

– You mean this? – With that, he tightens his grip so hard the sword crashes in two. – Not anymore.

Laughing and satisfied, he walks between the small fence that decorated Magatsu's yard. Sasha looks to her now destroyed sword laying on the floor, not even bothering with following someone that could move that fast.

At least now she had an excuse not to keep training.

The class was close to ending. Good grief, Magatsu thought as he did his final push-up after doing around 500 as Disarm's challenge.

He changed his mind about this being relative to Dedalus'. This was notoriously harder in almost all regards.

Now sitting down, he hard breathes while looking to Ramon next to him, who was forced to do 700. Vanessa had an easier time and only did 400. Everyone else did between 50 ~ 100.

– Why he went harder on us? – Magatsu asks Ramon, who raises an open palm.

– Most of the others are here to just learn martial arts or get fit and will leave after one or two years. We're here to stay for as long as we need, and you're a special case for him. Now knowing that you're a dormant Adept, he'll do anything to trigger it again as soon as possible. At least that's what I think.

Pondering on the answer, Magatsu doesn't notice the man that just entered the dojo while looking around. He was too busy focusing to do that.

Disarm, on the other hand, stopped what he was doing right away as he scowled at the sight of Yinsak, with said man grinning at his reaction.

– Yo, Diz. Long time no see. – Yinsak waves two fingers at Disarm while walking towards him with one of his hands inside his pocket. Aliodi dismisses his students.

– Why are you here? And don't "Yo" me. I'm older than you, so show some respect.

– Yeah, yeah. – He disdainfully waves his hand at Disarm while still looking around. More times than one, he laid his eyes on Magatsu but didn't recognize him at first. – To cut the story short, I'm after a person and heard he could be here. Name's Magatsu. Could I have a quick word with him?

Inside Disarm's head, something lingered but he didn't know what it was exactly. It was a funny feeling scratching the corner of his head that he couldn't fully grasp.

– When you of all people look after someone, things usually end badly for the other guy. You honestly think I'll just let you "talk" with one of my students?

– As if I needed your permission. – His eyes were now locked on Magatsu as he rubbed his lips with his index. – He kind of looks like me, if you look hard enough.

That sentence immediately made whatever was inside Disarm's head ring like a bell as he finally pieced everything together. Magatsu Astarosa. Yinsak Astarosa. How didn't he notice that earlier?

– Is he your... – But before he could ask, Yinsak places a finger over his lip.

– Shh. I have a strong feeling that he doesn't know who I am because he looked at me a few times and didn't react in any way. Let's keep it that way, for now at least. It'll be a good joke.

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Disarm knew Yinsak wasn't necessarily a bad guy but also knew how dangerous he could be when fighting. Still, this would be a good opportunity for Magatsu to experience a real fight. And if things got out of hand, he could always jump in the middle.

Twenty years might be a long time, but the gap between them should still be relatively small.

Now standing next to him, Yinsak helps him up while smirking. Not knowing what's really happening, Magatsu takes his extended hand and wipes himself with his hand.

– Yes?

– Hello, Magatsu. – Said boy widens his eyes a bit at the fact that a man he never saw before knows who he is. Yinsak continues. – I'm here to ask you something.

Weirded out by all of this, Magatsu scratches the top of his head as he thinks about who this random is and why is he asking him something like they were acquaintances.

– I mean, why though? Do I even know you?

– I think you do but also don't. Either way, will you?

After a few seconds of thinking, Magatsu shrugs his shoulders.

– Whatever. What is it?

Without warning, Yinsak swings his leg against his son's head, who manages to dodge it by crouching. He then takes a leap back and readies his stance.

– What was that for?! – He yells. Yinsak grins smugly.

– That was a test. Your reflexes are something, but you could have blocked that if your timing was better. – Yinsak now cracks his knuckles while approaching, only to be stopped by Ramon and Vanessa standing in his way.

– Sorry – Vanessa starts. – , but we're not letting you hurt one of our friends just like that.

– Yeah. – Ramon continues. – And you owe us explanations.

– I owe you nothing. Move aside while I'm still feeling uninterested in you two. – He threatens a sudden step forward, starling the siblings, who take their own fighting stances. Magatsu, however, steps in without warning with a flying kick aimed at the man, going right between the two.

Yinsak merely tilts his upper torso to the side as Magatsu harmlessly flies by his side, soon falling crouched.

– You know – Yinsak doesn't look back to his son. – , I could have easily countered that move of yours because of how slow it was.

Slow?

Hearing someone call him slow irritates Magatsu, making any trace of his usual idle smile fade as he furrows his eyebrows together with annoyance.

– If that was slow – He says while standing up and readying a right punch. – , then how about this?

Without looking back, Yinsak sidesteps the attack while elbowing Magatsu's gut. He leans with a hand over the hit area.

– Yeah, that was also slow. But I'm feeling like giving you another free shot, so try again. – Now facing his son, Yinsak opens his arms while waiting for the next attempt, which comes rather soon.

Magatsu throws a flurry of punches against him, all either dodged or blocked. He then tries to swipe Yinsak's legs with a spinning motion, failing as the man leaps to dodge it. Magatsu then tries to fake a left hook and misses on purpose to spin kick him with the back of his right foot. Yinsak blocks it, holding his son on the spot for a few seconds before gripping his ankle and making him fall on his back.

While gasping for some air, Yinsak takes a step too far and forces his feet against Magatsu's chest, who was still on the ground, causing Disarm to lose his cool as he storms towards the fighters.

– That's enough, Yinsak!

...

Yinsak...

Yinsak Astarosa...?

...

Magatsu's mind went blank after hearing the name of the man that he was fighting.

His entire life he had been training for the day he would defeat his father, yet there he was, getting toyed with like a child.

Thinking about how utterly weak he was in comparison to his father made Magatsu, for a second, lose all hope and wish that everything just ended there and then, but it was all replaced with an inexplicable and uncontrollable rage as his eyes darted Yinsak so fiercely he got taken aback for a second, loosening his weight just enough for Magatsu to break free of it with a loud roar. Yinsak tripped but stayed on his foot.

Now standing and taking advantage of his father's distraction, Magatsu throws a straight punch against him. His father, however, already had his guard on and reacted to it with a jab of his own, sending a considerable shockwave across the entire building as their fists collide.

Yinsak is surprised yet again with how much power went into this punch Magatsu threw but kept focused and ready for anything he could do.

Sure enough, his son relentlessly assaults him with punches, kicks, highs and lows, evasive footwork and false swipes, all for thirty solid seconds until he eventually grew tired and couldn't keep up with his frenzy for longer.

Yinsak, during all this time, didn't throw a single punch against him, merely dodging and blocking all of his son's effortless attacks. Now, standing proud and smugly in front of him, Yinsak crosses his arms as Magatsu tries his best to both catch air and death glare his father.

– This isn't going anywhere, not like this – Yinsak says with a smug smirk. – , so I'll just call this a day. Still, I can't stop thinking about how mad you got from just figuring out I was me. What was that about?

Not giving him an answer, Magatsu keeps glaring him while recovering as much energy as fast as possible, all while thinking about all the things he did to his mom in the past.

– "When I got pregnant, he said he didn't want to raise a family and abandoned me, alone, unemployed, and with a child to raise."

– "I still remember how he would yell at me for not being a good woman, for not being the lover he wanted me to be. He would leave me all alone desiring him while he would enjoy himself with others, making my poor heart suffer so much..."

Not capable of thinking about all the terrible things Yinsak had the nerve to do with his mother, Magatsu shrugs the thoughts away and starts breathing through his teeth, his fists tightened and ready to punch. His father, however, had other plans.

– I believe I should pay your mother a visit. I got the feeling that...

– YOU WON'T TOUCH HER!! – Magatsu cuts his father with a yell as he dashes forward, ready to strike.

Unfortunately, his father had made up his mind and had made what he wanted here. Already with another place to go to, Yinsak sidesteps and chops Magatsu's back neck, dropping him unconscious. Ramon and Vanessa immediately run to his aid, only to be stopped by Yinsak's flying leg, almost hitting them.

– He isn't dead, geez. Give the boy some time to rest and cool his head. – He twists his neck with a hand over it, a cracking sound following it. – If anything, you should thank me for stopping when I did or he would have just kept coming for me.

Meanwhile, Disarm watched the whole ordeal with his arms crossed and a furrowed face. He really wanted to jump in but also realized it would be for the better to let Magatsu handle this on his own as part of the training.

He also figured that if he jumped in something bad would have happened to either him, his student or both. He wondered how much more powerful his former friend had become.

– Either way, you know I didn't do more than just give him a love tap, but now I couldn't care less. – Yinsak addresses Disarm with a forced yawn, showing how bored he was. – So I'll get going. If you're lucky, you won't see my face ever again, or in another twenty years.

And with that, Magatsu's father leaves everyone with a mix of feelings and expressions: fear, admiration, anger, as he walks through the front door without even looking back.

During all of that, Juno was still there, watching and secretly rooting for Magatsu during his training when Yinsak came and started fighting him. She was there when he did his best but failed miserably to hit his father even once. She was there when he lost control and went on a rampage.

Something she would never admit out loud is that she enjoyed herself while close to Magatsu, but that feeling went way up with Magatsu's rage, almost turning her on. Strong, fierce, handsome (in her opinion), and violent, at least when the situation called for it.

Yes, she thought, she would have fun with Magatsu, a lot of fun. She just had to make sure he wouldn't figure this side of hers out.