It's been 3 days ever since those men in black came to our house. I'm currently in a wide room, the walls were lined with mirrors, the floor had soft rubber mats laid over it.
"Shit, it's so dark in here" I muttered to while myself gently patting one of the walls, it didn't take too long before I finally found it, the switch for the lights. I turned it on, then made my way to a desk attached to one of the walls at the back. "Let's see..." I uttered as I grabbed a thick notebook and went through the pages.
'No newcomers..' I thought as I looked at blank page, I took a peek at the pages before it and every single one of them were blank too, except for the first three.
"Welp, Less kids, Less stress" I said to myself. My grandpa had been running a martial arts gym for the past 16 years, I take over and teach the kids from time to time whenever gramps can't. It was overwhelming at first but I slowly got used to the students, even becoming friends with some of them. Most of our clients are kids, most people nowadays don't really want to learn any type of hand to hand combat, they think the only thing they need are their gifts, but awakening a gift isn't even guaranteed, so I guess they're just lazy.
'That or they go learn at better gyms' I thought. I sat on my seat, patiently waiting for one of the students to arrive, I kept fidgeting with a pen as I sat laid back on the office chair, even spinning occasionally.
"Who were those guys..." I muttered as I kept spinning on the chair. I couldn't help but think of the men that came to our house, ever since then gramps has been acting kinda weird, he doesn't let me go outside at night, occasionally checks up on me in my room, the list goes on.
'It's like he's worried or something' I thought. I kept spinning and thinking of reasons why he would be worried, it's not like they have any reason to go after us, I'm just an orphan living with my grandpa.
Maybe I was too immersed, or too dizzy from the spinning but just now did I realize that someone was knocking on the door.
'Shit!' I cursed myself inside as I quickly ran to the door and opened it. On the other side was a tall guy, brown hair, green eyes, I don't swing the other way, but I could tell if a guy was handsome, and this guy, he was handsome, beside him was a little boy, about 12 years old, he looked like a miniature version of the tall guy.
"Umm..This is the Clover Gym right?" The tall guy asked. "That's right! Are you planning on enrolling sir?" I replied with my best 'Hotel Receptionist' smile. He looked relieved, almost as if he was trying to find the right place for a long time. "Ah no, I'm here to let my brother enroll" he said with a smile as big as mine, though his felt a lot more genuine, I then looked at the little boy beside him, 'His brother huh..' he looked nervous, "Then please follow me!" I said as I walked inside, the two then followed me to the desk.
"So, what's your name?" I asked as I looked at little boy. "Uhh.." the poor guy stuttered, it seemed like he was really nervous. "I'm Jacob Hall, this is James my little brother." Before I could apologize and console the little guy, his brother, Jacob, answered for him. "Ah right, then Jacob can you write your name, and phone number here"
Jacob quickly listed down his personal information on the record book and handed it back to me. "So uhh, it'll be 500 lens a month, you can pay either right now, or at the end of the month." Jacob pulled out his wallet with no hesitation and handed me the money, "This should be enough right?" He said. 'That was fast..' I thought as I took the bills and put it in a drawer under the desk.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"So, do we come back tomorrow?" Jacob asked. "You can start right now, if you want that is" I replied as I knelt down in front of the James. "Do you want to start now?" I asked, he looked hesitant but he ultimately said yes, even giving me a little nod in the process. I made my way to a room in the back of the gym, inside was a little box taped shut, using some scissors I opened it, and grabbed one of the things inside.
'This will do..' I thought as I made my way out of the room, I quickly went over to James who was talking to his big brother. He noticed me and immediately made his way towards me, he stood there with his chin up and his arms behind his back in a militaristic fashion, "I-I'm ready!" He said in a determined voice.
'Looks like he did something to cheer him up' I thought as I took a glance at Jacob, he was standing behind James with a big smile on his face. I knelt down in front of the boy, and handed him the white uniform that all the students wore. He looked at it in awe before going up to his brother, it seemed like he was really excited.
"Alright, it's time for our first lesson" clapping my hands, I called for James.
He was already wearing the uniform I gave him, "Looking good buddy" I said, to which he nodded in reply.
"Now, James, before we start I have a question for you." I looked down at him, he seemed to be getting a little nervous. "Y-Yes!" He replied, "In hand to hand combat, what do you think matters most?" I asked as I looked at him, he thought for a while before looking at his brother behind him, finally he answered, "Is it s-strength?"
he answered.
"Good answer, but to us in the Clover Gym, strength, doesn't really matter." He looked scared, it was as if he thought I was gonna scold him for answering wrong. 'We wouldn't be teaching kids, if we prioritized strength' I thought to myself.
"My grandpa taught me that a fight couldn't be won with raw strength alone." I told him as I paced around the room. "Let me ask you this James, if I were to fight Jacob right now who do you think would win?" looking at Jacob, he was a lot taller than me, a lot more muscular too, compared to him I looked like a scrawny kid, the question wasn't that hard to answer. Though that would be a different for James, to him who loved his brother and respected his new teacher, he couldn't help but hesitate, but I guess he doesn't respect me that much, because he ended up pointing at Jacob.
...
Jacob was proud of his little brother, for the first time in life he was standing tall, in front of someone he just met. Ever since James told him about those bullies at school, he'd always wanted to atleast teach him how to fight back, as a means of self defense. Their parents on the other hand, didn't quite like the idea. They didn't want their son going around beating other kids up, so they dismissed it.
Their family was well off, rich enough to send Jacob to a big cadet academy, he fought well, even to the point where he graduated ranked 1 in the whole school.
Even then he felt that he didn't have the qualification to teach anyone, even his little brother.
Day by day the bullying got worse and he decided to take it upon himself to enroll his brother into a place where he could properly learn. Even going out of his way to accompany him there. He wanted to find a place far from their home, where their parents couldn't find them.
That's when he found it, a run down building with a big Clover symbol on one of it's windows, under it were the words 'Clover Gym & Martial arts' , he knew he found the right place.
He was hesitant at first, as the 'teacher' looked young and frail, but the prices were low, and he seemed to know what he was doing.
Now Jacob was standing in the middle of the room, in front of him was the teacher, who hasn't even introduced himself yet, he asked James a weird question, something about who would win in a fight, who knew it would've ended up like this, they were in a mat that the 'teacher' laid in the middle of the room, both wore protective gear in their head, and boxing gloves.
He looked to the side only to find his brother, standing there with a worried look in his face, only then did he finally realize that they were gonna fight. He looked at the man in front of him, he was almost twice the man's size. Jacob knew that he had to try his best to hold back, but he didn't want to lose in front of his little brother either. He straightened himself up and got into a stance.
'He knows what he's doing, he wouldn't break if I punch him too hard right?' he thought.