Knock Knock

"Who is it?" I asked as I was awoken by the knocking on the bedroom door.

"It's Hayaska, Garetty-sensei. Shinomiya-sama is asking if you are going to join him for breakfast?"

"Yeah, I will, just give me a few minutes to wash up beforehand. And also, call me Matt, drop the formality." I said as I stood up off the bed and stretched.

"Very well, Matt-san. Breakfast will not be ready for another half-hour, but whenever you are ready, please make your way to the same place as yesterday's dinner."

"Alright, thanks." I said before I heard him walk away.

'Okay, let me review the memories of the martial arts from Cyberpunk now that I have the time.' I thought, before sitting down cross-legged and meditating.

"Ah, every time I see this sight I get awestruck." I said admiring the castle for a few moments before making my way to the library.

"Let's see combat memories are over there." I mumbled as I made my way to one of the bookshelves. The bookshelves were more for aesthetic purposes because once I read my book of memories, the memories that have been built up there will never be forgotten. But, if I want to, I can sort my memories into specific instances that are turned into separate books.

For example, if I read a book about medicine and then read my book of memories, it won't ever be forgotten. But I can also duplicate that memory to recreate that same book and put it on the shelves of my library. I can also duplicate any of my memories to create a certain book, like a book about Dec. 25, 2000. I do this just to make the library look more like a library because the empty bookshelves bothered me.

Walking over to a bookshelf that had combat-related books, I picked up some of the techniques that I thought would be more useful to review, things like MMA, Wing Chun, and Aikido. After picking them up I decided to read and then test them out in the garden outside.

CREAK

"I opened a new door?" I said before quickly checking the corridor to see that no door was opened. Realizing it was probably one of the two doors from the main hall, I made my way there to see that one of them was indeed open. Descending the stairs and entering the door, I was now looking at another corridor but with no doors. At the end of the corridor was another set of doors that were wide open, showing me the sight of the outside.

"Is this just another way to go outside? What's the point of that?" I said as I walked through the door before I realized I had never seen this area of the outside before. In front of me was a dirt field with wooden dummies and a rack of wooden weapons.

"A training field. It must've opened after I had the intention of trying out the martial arts here. So, that means some of the rooms are conditional. Interesting. But, I'll think about it later. For now, let me test out these martial arts."

~~

'Almost over did it there. I still feel a slight headache.' I thought after exiting my mind palace.

'But a training field, huh? Now I really feel like a Chinese novel protagonist with their time-dilation spaces. Wait, I have a cursed item, a spirit beast, time-dilation, and I'm secretly rich. I just need the harem of women who all blend together after the first two. No, thank you. Sounds like a pain in the ass. One is enough for me. Anyways, let me get ready.'

~~

"Good morning, Shinomiya-san." I said as I entered the same room from dinner while Hayasaka-san entered as well.

"Good morning, sensei. How was your rest?" he asked sipping the same tea from yesterday.

"Good, thank you. This hotel of yours really is something."

"I'm glad you like it. Consider the suite yours, a little token of my appreciation for diagnosing me and coming all the way out here."

"Uhh, that's too much, Shinomiya-san. It's no bother for me to come out here, really."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Consider it done. Do what you will with it. Sell it, rent it, destroy it, it's yours. Masato, ask the chef to bring out the food."

"Hai." bowed Hayasaka-san, entering the kitchen before shortly after coming out with the chef in tow. He set down the food, and by the aroma alone I could tell he was nowhere near on part with Joichiro, but better than a normal chef. Most likely a graduate of Totsuki.

"Leave us." said the geezer after the food was set, before both the chef and Hayaska-san bowed and left the room.

"So, did you find a fighter for tomorrow?" he asked as soon as they were out of the room.

"No. But I'll do it." I said while eating the food which was a very common Japanese breakfast, okayu and tamago gohan.

"Enough messing around. We'll deal with it in other ways."

"I'm not lying Geezer. What would it take for me to convince you? You want me to show you some moves?"

"Yes. If you can convince me with your showing, we'll do your plan. But any fallout is on your head." he said, seriously.

"Don't worry. If I lose after convincing you, I'll give you my shares."

"No need. If you do manage to convince, and you lose, you'll accept my daughter's hand in marriage."

"Still with that, Geezer? I already told you, I don't want to be betrothed to a kid."

"Then consider it even more of an incentive to win. Let's finish breakfast before you attempt to convince me."

~~

"Here is the mask you asked for." said the geezer.

We are currently in the car on our way to the arena where the Kengan match would be held, and suffice to say I had been able to convince the geezer. But I told him I would need a mask to hide my identity so there wouldn't be any problems in the future.

The mask he handed me is something reminiscent of Japanese culture and weebdom, the Oni mask. And inspecting the mask he had handed over, it was easy to tell it was of the highest quality.

"This is a good mask." I said before putting it on.

"Mm, it's an ancient relic crafted by a master for an ancient warrior who was said to roam the lands, warding off the Mongols. I hope you return it once you are done, undamaged of course." he said with a side-eye and a small smile.

"No problem."

"We are here, Shinomiya-sama." said Hayasaka-san as he parked the car, got out, and opened the door for the geezer while I opened my own.

"Ah, Shinomiya, you've come." said an old man with a four-pronged goatee.

'For him to call the geezer with no honorifics means this geezer must be ancient, or at least slightly important.'

"Katahara Metsudo, Chairman of the Kengan Association. Let's get this over with. I've better things to do tonight." said the geezer before walking into the warehouse. It seems the upstart CEO wanted to embarrass the geezer as much as possible, seeing as he chose an abandoned warehouse for the venue.

As we approached the door, two guards opened them only for us to see that the warehouse was jam-packed.

"This match has garnered quite an audience." said the chairman with clear schadenfreude.

"Mm." was all the geezer said as he continued to walk, unbothered by the audience.

Making our way to the area designated for the participants, I noticed there were more CEOs present than fighters. Ants that wanted to see the elephant brought to its knees. Focusing to my front once more, I could see a short man with a big smile that let me know that was the upstart CEO.

"Ah, Shinomiya-sama! I'm sorry to do this, but business is business." he said while exaggeratedly bowing.

"Indeed. Let's not delay this any longer. Jin." said the geezer looking at me. That was the name the old man had decided to use for a codename, I think it's related to the supposed owner of the mask.

"Mm." was all I said as I made my way to the center of the fighting ring. Before the fight, I had debated whether or not to use Perspective Minimum but decided I would only use it if I had to. I wanted to have some fun, as much as I could anyways.

"Oh, your usual fighter is indisposed so who is that, Shinomiya-sama?" asked the short man.

"Jin." said the geezer which caused a blood vessel to almost pop on the short man's face, but he managed to keep his composure.

"I see, I see. Such a shame. I hope he can keep up with my fighter. Kenta." said the man before the crowd parted and a giant of a man came lumbering out before he made his way into the ring.

'Jesus, I thought I was tall. This guy is like 7 feet and he's built like a bear too. No wonder he had confidence in winning.'

"Fighters, ready?" said the referee, before he looked at both of us for confirmation, "Start!" he yelled before getting the hell out of dodge.

Meanwhile, Kenta the giant, who had been waiting in a sumo stance, rushed me faster than someone his size should be able to move.

Seeing this, I waited until he was nearly going to collide with me before I jumped, landed on his back, and pushed off to land back on the ground. The force of the rush plus the strength with which I jumped off him was enough to cause him to fall over and land on his face.

"AHH!" yelled the giant before turning back around and rushing me to try to grab me this time.

Thinking back on the martial arts I had practiced, I decided using Wing Chun was a good choice here. So, as Kenta rushed me I waited until right before he was about to hit me before stepping into his space, grabbing his outstretched arm, and using his force against him to flip him over on his back.

BANG

On the floor, Kenta looked a little dazed so I took the opportunity to strike him right in the temple with enough force to knock him out.

"T-the fight is over! Jin is the winner. Shinomiya Zaibatsu is the winner!" said the referee, before some of the audience clapped while most of the others looked a little pissed that they couldn't see us lose.

"Oh, it seems Jin won. What a surprise. Well, now that that's over, I'll be on my way. You know what to do." said the geezer to the short man, who looked like he was about to pop before I followed him and Hayasaka-san to the car.

"To think you were such a good fighter and a good doctor. A healer and a destroyer, haha." chuckled the geezer.