HORIZON | Sahyo

Where can your dreams lead you? (Prologue)

"Coach Minatozaki, am I doing well?" a kid comes running to the said woman to ask such a question. The woman carefully kneels to the kid's level and warmly smiles, "still a long way to be the grand champion. Go and train more, little buddy."

With an encouraging face, the kid nods and runs back to his place where he continues to do his routines with the batch. Sana stands back up, only to be caught in her friend's arm - the long, buffed arms around Sana's shoulder, and they both gaze at the whole gym.

"It's been years since your last tournament, Coach Minatozaki. Any plans to join and let the kids know that you WERE the grand champion?" asks Miki, a friend of Sana since she started training mixed martial arts when she was in middle school.

Sana lets out a scoff and unwraps her friend's arms around her before facing her. "It's been years, I know you know. Even if the whole world would tell me to represent our gym in that tournament, there's still no way I would approve," she states and walks past the friend. Miki heaves a sigh and follows her from behind, still eager to encourage the friend to join the most important tournament they could ever join.

"Believe me, Sana. After this tournament, I wouldn't bother you anymore like what I'm doing right now. I'd let you be with the kids, let you train them," states Miki, persistent.

"Then it would look like we have ended our friendship. Neither of us would like that."

Miki thinks and blurts out, "then we can still be friends and...," she ends up trailing off as she realizes her words. Sana giggles at her friend's words, "see? So what's the point of joining when in the end none of us would benefit from it?"

"The team and the gym would! After you win in your category, ONE championship will notice Paraestra, and they can promote it around Asia! Imagine the title we'd get... and wherever you go, you'll get noticed by the crowd," the friend dictates, and if Sana could only say it, but sparkles are everywhere in the friend's eyes as she proceeds to imagine their future after Sana joins and wins the tournament.

Sana remains uninterested. "Fame? I'm not into that. I'd rather sit together with the kids and watch them grow than spraining myself for the hundredth time to master the technique I've always been doing back in the days just to get known by people."

"Scratch that. Get a title and develop yourself, you're going to become a better coach to the kids when you get to experience fighting in a tournament again with the kids watching you. Stop thinking of the bad stuff and look into the good side of the world," Miki says with an awkward smile and gesture. Sana stares at her with an unsatisfied look and shakes her head as she goes on her way.

"You won't convince me with any of those, Miki," Sana says, her back facing Miki already.

Miki yells, in hopes of convincing Sana at the last minute, "I'll do whatever you want me to do, Sana!" But the back of Sana disappearing from her sight is already the answer she got.

"Minatozaki Sana, just this time, please," she begs under her breath, knowing for a fact that no one would hear her. She stands near the gym's door where she had her conversation with Sana before she walks away and goes on to finish her business with the trainees.

On the other hand, Sana is on her way to the nearest convenience store where she decides to buy some cold drink to calm herself down. She almost loses it when the friend pursues her when she had already answered their head coach which is a big no.

Thoughts fill her head while she lines up at the counter. 'I mean out of all competitors, why would they insist me to play for them? It's not like I was a big of a deal. I WAS a grand champion back then, but that was from the past. I'm not even sure if I can do the same attack I did to knock out that opponent of mine four years ago. Why-'

"Lost in deep thoughts, young lady?" the cashier inquires, completely waking Sana up in her senses. "O-oh, I'm sorry," she apologizes and puts down her cold drink on the counter. The cashier makes it quickly and charges her for the drink. Sana is relieved she could get a sip from a soda as soon as possible.

'I just don't see the point,' Sana says and takes a sip from her drink.

It has been hours since the start of the training. The gym starts to get deserted as the trainees have showered and went home after their training for the weekend. Sana is preparing to leave, packing up her things inside the locker room when Miki enters and informs her that the head coach was calling her in the office.

She didn't waste any time and follows Miki to the office without any idea of the head coach's intention of calling her at this hour - the time when she usually leaves the gym.

"Yes, sir? I'm here," she greets the middle-aged man to acknowledge her presence inside the office.

The man shifts to her direction with a wide smile and nears her, keeping a noticeable distance between the two of them as they converse near the doorway.

"Miss Minatozaki, this is your last chance to change your decision. Are you sure–"

Sana does not let the man finish and bluntly answers him, "no."

Miki, who stood next to Sana, sighs and scratches her nape as Sana has once again failed the head coach.

"Why can't you understand that I refuse to take the offer? You've been trying to persuade me since you have been invited to the championship. Please, you already know that I'm not that of a big deal," Sana pleads and goes away. Miki, a staff, and the head coach are left inside the office as their eyes follow and halt at the sight of the closed wooden door where Sana had exited.

"She's our only fighter in the team," the head coach says in a low tone. Miki nodded, agreeing at the man's statement that Sana is indeed their only fighter in the team who is capable of stepping in the ring in that tournament.

At the same time, Sana is walking out of the gym already and is on her way back home. She reaches her apartment building as it is just a few blocks away from her workplace and directly proceeds to her unit. Upon removing her shoes, she dives onto her soft sofa and closes her eyes until she falls into a deep slumber in exhaustion after using all her energy in the whole-day of training.

***

Sana and Miki were back on their high school campus. She looked at her surroundings and noticed that it was the campus years ago. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked the very excited friend, pulling her along the hallway.

"It's a secret, Sana."

The only response she got from her friend. She sighed and let go of Miki when she was starting to feel uneasy about where the friend was bringing her. "I'll not go wherever you'll lead me to," she said and ran back to where they came from. Sana heard no footsteps behind her and when she paused to look back, Miki was nowhere in the hallway. Her heartbeat grew faster, and she knew it was a dream. Even the issue between the Paraestra and Sana haunted her in her dream, and she wanted to end it as quickly as possible - it was a nightmare. When she realized that she was not waking up, she became more nervous than ever.

A glow at the end of the hallway caught her attention. Suddenly, the worry and anxiety she was feeling over her body vanished, and she slowly approached the glowing item. Sana squinted her eyes and concluded that the glowing item was an old scroll!

Sana picked it up and looked around the place. She was starting to wonder where in the world she went. 'First, I time traveled and came back to my high school campus. It looked exactly like the place I'm studying at six years ago! Now, I found an old scroll in the middle of the hallway? How strange! This is such a random dream,' she pondered quietly, standing in the middle of silence.

***

"Hey, hey! Wake up!" a feminine voice rings inside Sana's ears. Sana wakes up and gasps for breath for a whole minute. After getting conscious of her weird dream, the realization comes upon her. 'I don't have a companion in my unit,' she tells herself and finally gets the chance to look around her - her eyes widen in surprise. She is lying down near a wooden cabin located near a dock. People are either rolling or carrying the barrels out and in the ship by the dock. Sana looks up, only to be greeted by the deadly glares of a young woman with brown, shoulder-length hair. She is wearing a leather vest over her white cotton long-sleeved top, partnered with torn-up pants, and a pair of leather boots.

"What are you waiting for? Get up and stop being lazy! Get yourself hopping on the ship before we leave you behind. Captain Jihyo is waiting for us in the Horizon," she says and continues to guide the workmen to the ship.

Sana is still registering everything. "Jihyo? Horizon?"