FAMILY GROUNDS
COLOSSEUM, 11:45AM
“Hey…did that really just happen?”
“It…sure did.”
“Then…doesn’t that mean…?!”
The trainees had still been in bewilderment, not long after Tarik’s victory. As they watched the two fighters leave the ring with the crowd cheering on, they could only arrive at one question:
“THOSE TWO MADE IT TO THE SEMI-FINALS???”
Witnessing this, Satoru didn’t show much expression; only leaning back in his seat with his arms folded,
*sigh*
“Whatever...let’s just get this over with,” he muttered in his mind, as he watched Saki return with his brother.
“Ahaha…I’m sorry, sister...” Saki apologized to Maki with a nervous laugh, having Tarik’s arm slung over her shoulder.
The look that Maki gave both of them was severely incomparable to the words she actually used:
“Tch. What a waste,” she remarked with a facepalm.
“Um…are you ok to walk now, Tarik-kun?” – Saki had pretty much walked Tarik from the ring all the way back to the Waiting Area.
“About that…I might have to visit the nurse,” he responded with a nervous smile.
“Eh?”
“I thought it would’ve went away by now, but my whole body still feels really numb…was it because of Body Reinforcement?” he wondered to himself.
“Ah, I could take him to the med-chamber,” Galib chimed in. He and Genki had been taking it easy, watching the matches unfold. “Let’s go then, Tarik.”
“Oh, ok. Thanks, Galib.”
“I’ll come too brother!” Genki volunteered.
While they were busy escorting Tarik, Katashi went ahead to address the audience:
“What an amazing turn of events! With this match, we’ve now concluded the Quarter- Finals of this Hunter Tournament! I hope you’ve all enjoyed the day’s events thus far, and as we take a short break to prepare for the Semi-Finals, please have a look at the current standings-”
WEST SECTION
Jamal Sanjuro Vs. Ilmar Sanjuro
EAST SECTION
Tarik Yamaguchi Vs. Satoru Yamaguchi
“I still can’t believe this, to be honest,” Fudo remarked among the Heads and his associates.
“Well, this is as far as my faith in my student goes,” Steffan remarked as he exited their room, stretching his arms.
“I hate to admit it, but that’s wise of you,” Emir responded. “It’s amazing how far they’ve come, but their brothers are still like the Great Walls in front of them. They’ll have to climb a lot higher to overcome them.”
“Well, we can only wait to see what unfolds,” Gado added “You’re all hungry, right? Our food should be ready by now, Fudo.”
“Got it. I’ll be right back.”
“We commence the Semi-Finals in the next 30 minutes!” Katashi announced as the music started blasting once again.
Not much had transpired within this timeframe. Thirty minutes had passed by without much activity, except for Tarik being visited by his fellow classmates.
“What a familiar sight this is,” Ilmar remarked as he entered the room, along with Akiro and of course, Jamal. Tarik sat up in his bed, and surrounding him were Galib, Genki, and a doctor. “We can come in, right?”
“Yes, no worries. Come on in,” the doctor responded.
“Jamal!” Tarik exclaimed at the sight of his friend. “You were really awesome in that last match!”
“You too…but, are you ok?” he asked in response.
Tarik didn’t have much signs of injury on his body; he had a small bandage wrapped around his right hand, which his clone used to throw the connector. The strain it suffered had returned to his real body. Besides this, and the few rips on his garments from his match with Haruo, he looked completely fine.
“Well, I still feel pooped out from using Body Reinforcement, but that’s about it…right?” he ended off with a question directed to the doctor, who cleared his throat as he began to respond:
“You won’t suffer any long-lasting effects from your actions, since you have the skills to regulate your use of Body Reinforcement, but…more than likely, you won’t be able to continue this tournament.”
Tarik’s face went blank, and unresponsive.
“…huh?” he finally asked.
“See for yourself…try to move,” he instructed.
Tarik then tried to move his legs on the bed, but it felt as if he were trying to move 50 pounds of lead. There was stiffness, and his lower body was numb.
“…eh??!!” he spat out in confusion.
“You were using that technique just fine, until the very last moment where you amplified it slightly. That was the key moment…it wasn’t a tremendous boost, so you wouldn’t have started feeling much of the effects until now. Your legs, torso, and right arm underwent extreme stress in that moment.”
“So…he can’t move?” Akiro asked.
“For now,” the doctor responded. “Not long enough to be a serious burden, but long enough to restrain him until the end of the Tournament.”
Tarik was distraught…it wasn’t as if he was intending on winning his match with his brother, but the fact that he couldn’t even participate made him feel worthless. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists as anger and frustration welled up inside him, with the icing on the cake being the words which he could vividly hear his brother saying to him, had he been present in the room:
“You didn’t stand a chance anyway.”
His classmates could only watch as he sat in silent anger.
“Is…there really no way he can participate? Can’t you do something?” Genki asked the doctor.
“Sadly, the most I could do is restore his depleted energy. His body won’t be cooperating until it’s ready to,” the doctor explained. “Disregarding these circumstances, he’ll be just fine.”
“Well, I suppose I should give you all some alone time to discuss things,” he said to them as he exited the room.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Well…this sucks,” Ilmar let out with a sigh.
“Having to forfeit without even fighting…and it’s not like with Maki and Saki, who are roughly equals,” Akiro added.
Jamal was silent. He felt bad for his friend, but he had no idea what to say to him. As he was about to open his mouth, not knowing what he would have even said, Tarik spoke as he looked down on his lap:
“Ilmar…can you…” he trailed off.
“Hm? What is it?” he asked.
“Please…”
“…let Jamal win the match.”
They all stared at him in utter shock. Jamal’s face was beyond confused.
“Excuse me, what?” Akiro asked.
“That’s probably the bravest thing I’ve heard…asking someone to throw their match,” Galib added.
“I know how it sounds…but, please, Ilmar!” he begged.
“Tarik…” Jamal was utterly speechless.
“Try to be reasonable, Tarik…do you realize the kind of situation you’d be putting your friend in?” Akiro asked once again.
Tarik stopped after hearing this. He then looked at Jamal, who had an uneasy look on his face. Tarik frowned and was about to speak again when Ilmar finally responded.
“Alright.”
“See? Even Ilmar himself rejects that idea-”
Akiro looked at Ilmar with widened eyes as he stopped himself from speaking.
“…are you serious?” Akiro asked him in disbelief.
“Frankly, I was intending on letting Jamal win from the start.”
“Y-YOU WHAT?” – at this point, Akiro was questioning Ilmar’s sanity. Jamal was also bewildered.
“I mean, how else will I know how strong he’s become? He dominated his matches so far. Besides, I fight Sato all the time, we can always have a real fight in the next tournament,” Ilmar expounded.
Akiro couldn’t believe his ears.
“…what about how Jamal feels about all this?” he asked, desperately searching for the faintest hint of sanity within this discussion. They all looked at him, and his brother said to him:
“The rest is up to you…if you’re not up for this, I won’t force you, J.”
The room was silent for a moment, and Jamal then opened his mouth…
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15 MINUTES LATER
At the end of 30 minutes, the Semi-Finals were now scheduled to commence. Katashi gathered the attention of all by welcoming them once more, and introducing yet another play format:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re now about to commence the Semi-Finals of this tournament! I hope you’re all ready, because once again, the format will change.”
“As you might’ve noticed, the ring no longer extends to the wall, and the ring is empty…well, not for long.” – as he said this, a single connector appeared in the ring, levitating right next to him.
“The rules of the next two matches are quite simple: each match will last for one minute, and the winner of the match is whoever touches this connector by the end of that minute!”
The rules were that simple. Considering the spectators would have all witnessed the capabilities of the trainees from the first round, there would be no need for the following rounds to be in the format of long, drawn-out matches.
“That’s…it?” some of the audience asked among themselves.
“Well, it feels quite similar to the last tournament. It’s not too surprising.”
Amidst all this, as Satoru sat in the waiting area with the twins and Haruo, he was wondering why his brother hadn’t shown up yet.
“...is he actually still in the Medical area? I didn’t think he suffered that much in his fight...”
No sooner after that thought, Genki returned.
“Genki, where’s Tarik?” Satoru asked him.
“Sorry Satoru, you’ll find out in a bit!” he responded as he hurriedly ran through the entrance, to the fighting area.
“…so, he can’t fight then,” Satoru concluded in his mind.
“Now, without further ado, let’s begin with our first match, which will be -”
Katashi was cut off by Genki, who ran up on the ring to inform him of something.
“Wow…really? That’s unfortunate,” he responded as Genki spoke to him silently.
“Alright, thanks Genki.” - He then ran to the opposite Waiting Area.
Addressing the audience once more,
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just received news that due to certain circumstances, Tarik Yamaguchi has forfeited his match!” Katashi announced.
This unsettled most spectators. No one had thought Tarik would have simply given up on a match, without even participating. Did something happen? Or did he lose the will to go toe-to-toe with the biggest wolf in the woods, Satoru?
“Tarik-kun?...” Saki wondered to herself.
“Well…I certainly didn’t expect this,” Gado commented. “Even if it is Satoru.”
“That boy…I hope he’s alright,” Lady Yura, Tenchi’s wife, added.
“I wonder how Steffan would react to this…” Tenchi asked himself.
At the same moment, inside Tarik’s room, as he watched the live footage from the monitor in the room, he was startled at his Sensei’s entrance:
“I didn’t get to congratulate you earlier…although, it looks like I’ll have to scold you as well.”
“Sensei!”
“So, can’t move, can you?” he knowingly asked.
“Yeah…but, good win, right?”
“Sure, 20 Points! Then again, not like I expected you to win this one.”
“wow, you’re just like him,” Tarik moped.
“But…it’s ok, Sensei. I might not have won…and he won’t either, but…”
“Hm?” Steffan picked up on ‘he’.
“Don’t worry, just watch and see, Sensei,” he responded. As Katashi then went ahead to announce:
“Anyway…due to this development, or rather, the opposite of ‘development’, it seems that Satoru Yamaguchi advances to the Finals by default!”
“With that, we’ll now move on to the second and final match of the round:”
“Ilmar Sanjuro, Jamal Sanjuro!”
As the two brothers stood up, inside their Waiting Areas, the elder asked the younger:
“Ready?”
“…yes.”
The audience cheered them on as they made their entrance to the ring. Upon arrival, Katashi repeated the rules, as they stood on opposite sides of the ring. They assumed battle stances while the connector materialized next to Katashi, and he jumped away, setting them off:
“BEGIN!”
They dashed at each other, and immediately began exchanging attacks. Light jabs, heavy hooks, low kicks, grapples, neither side let up on their onslaught of attacks…at least, this is how it seemed to the onlooking audience. In reality, this was just another day of training for the two brothers.
As they sparred with each other, Jamal recalled the words he left with his friend, before he sealed them with a fist bump…
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OVER 5 MINUTES AGO
The room was silent. All eyes were locked on Jamal, who stood speechless for a while, as he gathered the words within himself…and eventually started off:
“…Tarik and I were born on the same day. We’ve been friends for as long as I could remember, ever since we were little. When we got a little older, we found out that we both have a form of disability. Because of the very nature of mine, I didn’t show much care about it, but deep down…it hurt. But Tarik was different. He always carried a smile on his face, genuinely, even though we were in the same boat. That smile gave me hope…and I felt like…if that smile were to ever disappear, it would be the end of us. Tarik became much more than a friend to me.”
“Then one day, 2 years ago, we finally got the push we needed…and the two of us made a vow, to become the strongest. Whether it takes years, whether or not it even happens, I know I won’t stop. The two of us are halves of a whole. I need Tarik, and right now he needs me.”
As he said this, he then looked up at Tarik, and began saying to him as he took steps toward him:
“Tarik…you’re my friend…my best friend…more than that. I want you to know that no matter what situation we face, or how high the difficulty, or whoever it concerns…”
He was now right by his bedside, and he extended his fist to Tarik’s chest:
“I’ll do anything for you…brother.”
“Ja…mal…”
Tarik had no words…only rivers of tears flowing from his eyes.
“You cry a lot, y’know,” Jamal said as he wiped his friend’s tears.
Their classmates didn’t even know what to say at the moment…no…there was nothing they could have said. They couldn’t have interrupted that moment.
“If I hadn’t known these two, and someone told me they were just a pair of friends...I’d call them a liar...” Akiro thought to himself as he watched them.
Having given Tarik time to gather himself, Ilmar then went on to ask his brother,
“So, I take it that’ll be a yes?”
“Yes...” he responded. “...I’ll do it.”
Tarik then wiped his face, and a wide grin appeared, followed by the two friends fist-bumping each other.
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PRESENT
By this time, about 40 seconds had passed of nothing but pure Hand-to-Hand Combat. Naturally, Jamal was the inferior one, but Ilmar sparred with him at the level he could manage…which was still an amazing sight to behold. As the time winded down, Ilmar then said to him,
“Alright, let’s wrap things up here!”
“Yes!”
Ilmar then jumped away from him and grabbed the connector which levitated in the midst of the ring.
“10 Seconds remaining!” Katashi announced. This time was also displayed on the big screen.
Ilmar drew close to Jamal, fighting with the connector in hand. He was giving his brother an opportunity to make contact with it.
Jamal prepared himself. With 5 seconds remaining, he focused his energy as he fought, waiting for Ilmar’s signal…which he finally gave to him, using his connector to block a kick from Jamal.
“3!”
As he prepared his final move, Jamal lunged forward with the palm of his hand. Ilmar held the connector in front of him to block the attack.
“2!”
As his palm was inches away from making contact, his Mana flared up within him:
Body Reinforcement! · 身体強化 (Shin-tai Kyō-ka)
“1!”
When the timer had hit the 1-second mark, the connector was no longer within Ilmar’s possession; it was launched mid-air behind him, by his brother’s attack. Jamal was the last person to touch the connector.
“…”
“Winner: Jamal Sanjuro!!”