72 At the Arena

"Gulp!" Haruki choked on his coffee.

Daisuke helped him clean up before the hot liquid burned his skin. The singer thanked him for his kindness, 'Daisuke must be sorry he was immoral with me,' Haruki concluded as the only possible response to the digital influencer's change in attitude.

Daisuke resumed the conversation,

"I'm sure I will suffer for having opened my mouth. Yes, dude, he is going to come at me when he finds out that I spilled the beans."

The singer shook his head, nodding that he was understanding Daisuke's conflict. Knowing that he knew Jun so well filled Haruki with gloomy feelings, like jealousy and envy at that relationship. The singer didn't know what to do to stop this flood of feelings that had been plaguing him since he met Jun.

"Jun and I grew up in the same neighborhood. The same street, in fact. He's a year younger than me, a fact that I used to play him."

"Seriously? You are the older one?" Haruki couldn't understand, Jun looked at least two years older than Daisuke. The digital influencer nodded, smiling as if he had received a compliment.

"At that time, he was a gullible kid, and he trusted anyone. Our fathers worked as blue collars. My father was an electrician and Jun's was a plumber. They worked together several times until Mr. Shinichi's death, hit by an imported SUV."

Daisuke let it sink in Haruki's mind, then continued, "Many people in the neighborhood helped Jun's mother after the tragedy. She did cleaning services and Jun spent the day with us - they were friends and my mother didn't care about having other children around. Until Sayuri-san started dating a well-heeled guy. Every time he showed up on the street to pick her up or leave her, he was driving a new luxury car. We children used to notice those things… Anyway... She married this man, and took Jun away," Daisuke stopped the narrative, his face was sullen.

The singer noticed the soft vibration in the influencer's voice and his eyes changing color, turning red.

"My father found out that Sayuri-san had delivered Jun for adoption. He was living in the city's orphanage. When he drank, my father regretted not being able to adopt Jun - we were many in the house, and we were poor. And whenever he scolded us, my father remembered how he worked hard to keep with us all. In fact, using Jun's fate to threaten the bad behaving children became a common practice in the neighborhood."

The influencer finished his narrative by swallowing his coffee, staring at the emptiness.

"She never came back?" Haruki wanted more details, wanted a plot twist in history, saving Jun from abandonment. He wanted something to justify Mrs. Sayuri's cruel act. Having received so much love from his mother, he couldn't conceive Jun's mother didn't care about her son the slightest.

"No, Haruki. My mother found out that Sayuri-san had married the man who ran over and killed Jun's father. She left her son for this man and abandoned him." Reliving those days in his mind had touched Daisuke, and his choked voice and watery eyes betrayed his feelings.

Haruki was devastated to learn of Jun's suffering on the streets in the early evening. Now, the singer just discovered that Jun had lost his father so tragically. And then he was abandoned by his mother, who married his father's murderer, no less! It was a lot of bad things for a child at the same time.

But there were still important parts of the story that Haruki was unaware of and he asked, "Do you know how Jun left the orphanage to live on the streets? And how did he become Lovebread?"

"Yes, I know, but I've already said too much. That part of his life, you're going to have to ask Jun," Daisuke apologized in a dragged, tired voice. "I need a rest."

Daisuke for a moment seemed to want to say something more, but he gave up and just said goodbye, leaving Haruki at the table.

******

Mini drones hovered like robotic fireflies across the Coliseum Arena's aerial space.

They flew over with spotlights and video cameras, at the same time providing a stunning light spectacle for the event, while producing and sending aerial images to the screens.

The original fantastic construction was made almost 100 years before the common era, for the entertainment of up to 80,000.

And, according to Takashi, who had visited the original ancient building in Rome, the Colosseum mini replica had been exquisite in every detail of its architecture, going beyond what existed today. Only in smaller proportions.

Inside Neona, anything was possible. In this building, there were no cracks or destroyed parts. The replica was like the original Colosseum should have been in the past.

Jun's fight had taken on giant proportions. Advertising videos and banners pictures could be seen everywhere on the TMD decks, and now at the Colosseum. His search for diamonds had become a great event, with a light show before the match. During the whole day, they streamed interviews with the contendents and official sports experts analyzed the stats.

Daisuke interviewed Hinata as Jun's supporter, and his report highlighted Jun's 'good guy' persona. They measured the forecast and support for each of the contendents in real-time as if the audience were real and were voting live. It seems Daisuke was good to influence the AI voters, too.

Haruki saw Daisuke interviewing Jun, after physical training at the gym with directions of an android coach. The baker-turned-amateur-boxer gave short answers without revealing his strategy. He just said he was ready to face his opponent, being modest.

'He's not sure he will win,' the singer had concluded. Haruki saw Daisuke telling Jun about the bets, and that he himself had bet everything on Jun. This fact made the baker lower his face, embarrassed.

Then, Jun smiled shyly, committing himself to Daisuki to do his best in the fight.

Haruki really wanted to be with him right now, supporting him.

'I hope Daisuke managed to get him to buy the kit.'

The interview with Rocky Lamotta was funnier than the singer could have imagined. The android spoke with a funny over dragged American accent. And he was talkative, making fun of how there was no opponent he didn't beat. With that, he increases the number of his fans.

And there were stratospheric win bets that Daisuke told Jun. The score was 30 to 1. Haruki wondered how different it would have been in a real environment.

Takashi had explained that if Jun won, whoever bet on him would make a surreal profit. This was an opportunity to win diamonds!

And Haruki had taken all the opportunities he had to work and get some, to bet on Jun. In this eagerness to do a nest egg he discovered that the system only allowed to perform the same activity up to three times a day.

But luckily having done the disastrous show, it opened up opportunities for him to make other presentations, and teach singing lessons that paid better than Zumba classes.

Haruki managed enough with his activities to buy his place in the VIP wing, where Takashi and Hinata had already bought their seats.

And the surprises didn't stop.

As they arrived at the Colosseum, the trio saw the full-wall banners arriving at the entrance gates of the arena.

One from Jun, wearing only shorts, gloves, and sneakers in an aggressive pose that made Haruki's heart beat fast. He sighed when he saw the luminous golden skin and his six-pack and broad shoulders! The singer felt a tingling sensation down his private parts because it made him remember to feel Jun's body when they're making out in the jacuzzi. Haruki swallowed,

'Sucker, why are you so frigging sexy?'

On the opposite side was the banner of the veteran boxer sporting his belts, and in the center of the gates were beautiful ring girls welcoming visitors, and distributing phosphorescent blue and red bracelets for the fans.

Haruki got two red bracelets by placing his on Mimi's neck, who was also part of Jun's supporters.

In fact, Haruki didn't want to leave the cat alone again and took Mimi everywhere, so he had brought it. Even though he knew that cats, in general, didn't like noisy places like that.

Inside the Colosseum, due to the thematic scenario, holograms of huge cats appeared and walked randomly. Even Haruki was startled to see a tiger by his side!

And without any surprises, as soon as Mimi saw the big cat, it squeaked and shivered, disappearing under the seats.

The singer ran after the kitten, trying to rescue it before it got lost. Haruki stopped running when standing in front of Jun.

Jun held Mimi in his arms. The baker was dressed for the fight, that is, with the shorts and with a red robe open, exposing his shirtless torso. And hanging from his backpack were the equipable gloves.

Haruki had to press his lips together to keep from smiling with joy. Everything had been worth it. He would use the items.

"Hm, my fan wants to wish me luck?" Jun asked Mimi and scratched the cat's head with an amused look. Haruki stared in disbelief.

"Autographs only after the show, guys." Jun approached the singer and held out Mimi to him, and stared at him intensely.

Haruki stammered a 'thanks'.

Unexpectedly, Jun took the collar of the singer's hooded sweatshirt. Haruki jutted forward slightly, thinking Jun was going to kiss him.

In anticipation, Haruki parted his lips.

Jun arched an eyebrow at the string visible on the collar of the singer's hood.

Disappointed and embarrassed, Haruki closed his mouth and watched Jun pull the cord, understanding what he was going to do. The baker tied one end of the string to Mimi's collar.

Jun demanded, "Give me your wrist."

His voice was icy, and the singer complied. The baker tied the loose end to Haruki's wrist. "You need to learn to take better care of whoever you say you are going to take care of." Jun now had a low voice, and Haruki thought he was also excited to have touched him by tying the cord, and to be very close. The singer glanced at Jun's shorts to be sure, but he couldn't see because of the jocks.

"Good luck, Jun." Haruki wanted to say many things, but that only came out under the intense gaze of the man in front of him.

An android came to pick up the fighter of the night.

The fight countdown had started and Jun had to run to the ring in the center of the arena.