Chapter 13

  It was surprisingly easy to masquerade as a boy with Mr. Touma, the owner of the old, forgotten gym Danuja found herself in.

Mr. Touma, has been his tales were right,  one of those million of boys that though having a boxing carrier was easy just because their father owned a gym. So Mr. Touma become an aspiring young boxer and twenty some years later was nothing more but a man owning a gym that no one, beside bullied desperate boys, stepped in.

And at the end, when the two hours Danuja paid for were finished, she learned enough to not rely on Dad fangs and weigh. She also learned that if she continued working like that, then her leg kicks can be monstruous.

'' Here.''  Mr. Touma said before she could leave, her hands unwrapped, coat on. Between Mr. Touma fingers, a small note was hold carelessly  '' You are pretty good kid. Get yourself a hair cut from this guy, bet you can get pretty good money on that hair. Come back when your hair doesn't make you mistaken as a girl.''  he said amused before shoving Danuja out of the dirty gym

Sighing Danuja looked down at the note, the name of some man salon on it before she touched  her long hair carefully.

'' Huh.''  Danuja said licking her lips before stuffing the note in her pocked, beginning to jog back home.  Some time later she lightly scratched her own door before opening the door carefully, not wanting to scare Dad if he was around the said door.

'' I'm home.'' she said taking her worn out shoes off before smiling when Dad bundled towards her wagging her tail, tongue lolled out.  '' Yes, I'm happy to see you too.'' she said huffing a laugh before taking her coat off, walking towards the small kitchen  and taking out his own food first

'' I learned how to hit today.'' she begin just to feel the silence, not just Dad breathing beside her  '' It was better than I though.'' she said taking out his bowl from the drawer  '' But then I got mistaken as a boy by some old man.'' she said putting the bowl with food down

'' I'm gonna go with it however long I can. It's cheap as fuck and I get a free haircut too.''  she said petting his neck before walking to the fridge, the cold air making her shiver slightly  '' A blessing and a curse indeed.'' she commented before closing the fridge, finding it empty

Right. Groceries.

---

'' Higher!''  Mr. Touma yelled from his bench  '' Higher Danuja! ''  he yelled before praising her when she hit the high point on the wall with her leg  '' That's better boyo.''  he said 

A day after Danuja meet Mr. Touma, the exact next morning she showed up at the salon written on the note given be the man and after a small battle with herself that finished with her hair getting chopped off almost at her shoulders. She got a surprising amount of 10.000 yen for all of it.

And not actually wanting a specific male hairstyle, Danuja tried to go to a newer and more genderless style much like her own name.

That's how she got a crudely done wolf cut and still got called by her own name by Mr. Touma that still believed her a boy. It wasn't like Danuja even tried to deny it, binding her own chest before arriving, making her small bust nonexistent. Her voice, always on a more deeper side helped as well, together with her tall height and board shoulders.

'' You think you are ready to beat up your bullies tomorrow?''  the man asked when they took a break, Danuja wiping off the sweat on her neck

'' Hope so.'' she said never mentioning that she will be the bully this time around  '' Say Mr. Touma if you live here why don't you clean a little bit?''  she said trying to distract him from the subject for the fifth time that day. It worked every single time even though she ended up running to the nearest convenience store to buy the man ramen as payment

'' If you get cornered raise your guard and just use your legs to get out of there. Then you run away before you get your scrawny ass beaten.'' Mr. Touma said making her narrow her eyes  '' Don't look at me like that kid. I want you here after your class ends and I'm not training you if you get a swollen eye or a split lip.''  he said 

It's not like there would be suddenly a bunch of boxers in school that would  try to deal with her    Danuja though but nodded nonetheless. Mr. Touma was a pretty supporting man when it didn't come to cleaning and eating healthy, always complaining about no one showing up for a second day.

'' Also stop trying to edge people like that.'' he scolded her for who knows how many times that day

'' I can't change my face Mr. Touma. It doesn't work like that.'' she said rolling her eyes, amused despite herself. It was so weird talking with someone that wasn't Dad.

'' To hell with it then.''  he said finally giving up  '' Better have eyes like those than look down all the time.'' 

'' What's wrong with my eyes? I though you didn't like my face.''  she said frowning surprised

'' I don't like that one either. You look too much like a girl but then you turn your head somehow and look normal again.'' he said throwing his hands in the air

'' It's called being androgynous.'' she said smoothly

'' Bah!''  he said waving a hand around grumbling about young people and their words  '' You got the eyes of a boxer boy. Eyes that make one nervous with just a glance, that make one raise their guard without thinking. Fierce eyes that make your opponents make mistakes.''  he said looking emptily at the side before nodding to himself  '' Good eyes.''

'' Thanks I guess.''  Danuja said blinking surprised

Later that night, Danuja would stare at her room ceiling, with Dad head on her belly before looking down at him.

'' You actually have gentle eyes Dad.'' she said in the quiet room before snorting quietly  '' I suppose mine are fierce for the both of us.'' she said amused before closing her eyes.