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"I'm a killa', who will break you.
You're still hiding and hallucinating
Beat you up, we holler
I'm not afraid of you, hit you harder."
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Tomi skipped the rest of her school period that day. With her blazer dirty and uniform torn, she didn't have anything else to wear. How could she even show her face again? Everyone must've heard about the incident by now.
Their words still rang in her mind. Devil Gene. Curse. What does all of that even mean? And Ryohei said the Nakamoto and Kazama have one thing in common?
She sat on her study table and stared at her arms. There were bruises on her wrists and arms where they had gripped on her harshly. She hated NPS. She wanted to go home. Everyone here was crazy. All she wanted was to study martial arts and go to an actual school. But the rules and the people here were too much for her.
The day turned to nighttime. When it was past midnight, she grabbed her jacket and headed off to the garden to clear out her mind.
Though it was cold, there wasn't anyone around. She went over a small pagoda and sat there.
Her peace lasted only for a few moments, until someone called her.
"Hey, Tomi."
It was Lee Juyeon.
"Mind if I join?"
Tomi only glanced at him for a second and looked away. She wasn't sure if she should answer yeah sure I don't really care, or no leave me alone.
Juyeon carefully sat on the entrance of the pagoda, not going in yet. Tomi wiped her tear quickly before Juyeon could've seen it.
"I was looking for you earlier today." Juyeon said. "I heard you made it and wanted to say hi."
Tomi was still looking away, and remained silent.
"I heard what happened between you and Ryohei, I—"
"What are you doing?" Tomi shot him a glare.
"Join our club," Juyeon blurted out.
It caught Tomi's attention and she shot him a confused look.
"If you don't belong in any club more people are just going to pick on you. And since we are small in number and need more people, it's a win-win situation for the both of us." Juyeon said. Then he held up his hands, "it's nothing personal, really."
Tomi raised her eyebrow at him. "Is it Karate?"
"Nope. It's the Lee Martial Art Club. Lee Style Traditional Martial Art users." Juyeon chuckled. "We're new and right now we are still looking for an instructor, but Taeyong and I are handling it."
Tomi didn't know who Taeyong was, but she was curious about how good Juyeon was. Considering that he's a third year, his rank is only Mentor. Most of the third years were Grand Masters and Warriors. To think that he could start his own club with his current rank...
"Why did you want me to go here?" Tomi asked.
"Huh? I— I was— I didn't know you were going to be here I was just passing by—"
"Why did you offer me to go to NPS?" Tomi shot him a serious look, and his eyes slightly widened a bit.
"Like I said, when I saw you fight Jinyoung, I could see your passion. You love fighting. No freestylers move like you do. Your moves— they're almost like a whole new martial art. Like a new system that you created yourself." Juyeon stopped before continuing, "it's very... acrobatic."
Tomi could feel her cheeks heating up. No one had ever complimented her like that. Every word he said made Tomi want to jump in joy. She didn't know what to say. When Juyeon realized she was speechless, he cleared his throat and Tomi could see hints of pink shades forming on his cheeks.
"Yeah, that's what I saw," he chuckled nervously. "So I immediately thought you could win the scholarship. And you did!"
Tomi stared at the floor, "so... you didn't tell me about the NPS because I am a Kazama?" She glanced at him to see his reaction.
Juyeon's mouth slightly gaped open, then he breathed in, "what they did to you, Ryohei and the others, was disgusting. They're just a bunch of sick fuckers and I promise you not everyone in NPS is like them."
"But did you?"
"What?"
"Did you know that I was a Kazama? That's why you led me here?" She asked again.
"No," he immediately answered. "I didn't even know what your name was until your friend said it. I really meant what I said about your skills."
Tomi gave him a small smile and decided to let it go, "thanks."
"So meet you at dojang 11 tomorrow first thing in the morning?" Juyeon said.
Tomi pressed her lips at him and nodded a yes.
Juyeon hoped she believed everything he'd say. If she knew the truth she would never forgive him. But it's not like he had any other choice either.
~
Tomi went to school the next morning in a white shirt instead of the NPS uniform. She couldn't use her mother's savings to buy another uniform, not until at least she gets paid by the end of this month. She was thinking of going back to Unholy Pit too to make money.
She just hoped no one would notice the white shirt under her blazer.
Like the previous day, the main school building was packed with students. As she went upstairs, she passed the leaderboards on the third floor and everyone was still crowding over it.
She walked past the other club's training halls on her way to the 11th hall. Some of the doors were slightly opened, revealing students who were stretching and warming up. She wondered if anyone would be in the 11th hall. That is besides Juyeon who will be there.
She opened the door slowly and put her head inside to take a peak, and spotted Juyeon who gave her a smile and waved his hand signaling her to come to him.
"Good morning," Juyeon greeted, still with a warm smile as she got to the middle of the hall. "Just write your name here and sign there," he pointed his fingers at the sections she had to fill up.
After Tomi wrote everything down, she looked up to him. "What else?"
"That's it."
"That's it?"
"That's it." He repeated. "What else were you expecting? A blood oath?"
"How would people know I'm in a club now?"
She watched as he put down the paper on the long table in the corner of the hall. No one was here except the both of them. The air was still filled with dust. She felt like opening up the small windows to let fresh air get in.
"We'll train together on the fifth period, and people will see that you're with us. That's how everyone knows which club everyone belongs to." He said as he glanced back at me. "Also, when they watch you fight."
"When they watch me fight?"
"I don't know if you noticed, but everytime we are on break, free periods, or after the class ends, ranked matches will go on everywhere. The garden, the courtyard, in front of the school, the training halls— pretty much everywhere." Juyeon explained as he walked back to me.
Tomi recalled her class rep explanation of ranked match. A match where you can get promoted to a higher rank if you successfully meet the different requirements of each rank.
"So I have to participate in ranked matches in order to get promoted right?"
"Yup." Juyeon said. "I'll get going, see you in fifth period."
~
Tomi left the dojang after opening a window to let fresh air in. When she exited the hall she was surprised to see a familiar figure who she had trouble remembering. She was sure she met him somewhere but couldn't put her finger on it.
He offered her a fresh new female uniform. She stared at it, completely confused about why the guy was giving her a new uniform.
"Take it," he said.
Tomi glanced back at him but this time she checked his name tag,
N. YUTA. Golden name tag. Then she remembered the people who ripped her uniform were calling the guy who stood up for her Yuta.
"Why?" She asked him in a calm manner.
Why is he being so nice to me?
"It's nothing personal and I don't wanna talk about it." Then he shoved the uniform to her and let go. Tomi watched the uniform fell to the floor. Yuta sighed, "just take it." Then he walked away.
"Wait!" She said as she ran to catch up. "I can afford it myself later, thanks, but I don't need your pity." She shoved it back to him. But he just stared at it. She hadn't let go yet, waiting for him to hold it.
He pushed it back to her. "Don't flatter yourself. Like I said, it's nothing personal. I would pity anyone who got into that ridiculous situation. So just accept it." He then glanced at the expensive-looking watch on his wrist. "I'm late for class."
He was right. No one else was in the hallways.
She couldn't find any other way to refuse and he was already walking upstairs. So she changed into the uniform.
~
After the first class ended, they had an hour break and as Juyeon had said, everyone was either participating in ranked matches or was watching one.
Tomi thought maybe she should try and participate. Maybe if she got promoted to higher ranks they would respect her. So she made my way to the second floor, where the training halls were located.
She saw a lineup where people were signing down their names. The sign said MENTOR. That's Juyeon's and Yeonjun's current rank, and like most of her classmates' rank. It was a second year's requirement too. So she decided to try to participate.
"Next!" One of the guys guarding the table spoke up.
Tomi took the pen and was about to write her name down, then one of them put their hand on the paper blocking her from writing.
"Excuse me?" She frowned at them.
"Wrong match, lady." He forced a smile, like he was trying to be polite.
"Why? It says Mentor ranked match and that is exactly what I wanna gain." She explained. "I'm a second year."
"Not with that name tag," he pointed to his own name tag which was bronze, L. YANGYANG, while eyeing her wooden name tag. "You need one of these in order for you to participate in a Mentor match." He pointed a basket full of bronze tags next to the paper.
"It doesn't matter. I can fight—"
"Of course you do," the guy next to him said, another bronze tag, H. Renjun, "we all do, that's why we're here. But you got to follow the rules. Bronze tag for blue tag. To get a bronze tag, Dan ranked match is at the end of the hall." He pointed out to his right. "Now please step aside because you're holding up the line."
"That is ridiculous, I—"
Suddenly she was being pulled aside by a strong, yet gentle grip on her right hand.
"What are you doing?"
It was Park Seonghwa. Still with a bandage covering his entire left arm. His name tag silver, which Tomi already knew because she found his name on the Grand Master leaderboard.
"They won't let me participate."
"Of course they won't. You're a Kyu applying for a Mentor rank. You need to get to Dan first before you could do that." Seonghwa said with a light chuckle.
"Well I just don't want to waste time. If I can take Mentor ranks why would I bother to get Dan rank?"
Seonghwa snickered and folded his arms in a taunting manner. "That's a pretty bold statement, Kazama." He smirked.
There was something charming about his smirk. It wasn't the first time she thought about him that way, because now she could finally admit he was one of the prettiest boys in school so far. That was other than the class president her class, Yeonjun, and Juyeon.
The fact that he seemed to know her last name and wasn't bothered by it, made her feel relieved.
"You want to get promoted?" Seonghwa said, still locking his gaze with hers. "Let's get you promoted."
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