The eve of the Competition

Yet again, another week went by. Zayd's training intensity increased as Mr Kaiju had managed to enter him into an Amateur Boxing Competition.

The Competition hosted by the Japan Boxing Association's Youth Department was starting very soon.

In the morning, Zayd ate a simple breakfast consisting of some bananas and some other fruits as he drank a large glass of water.

The way the Competition was going to work was that it was in a knockout fashion. By this, the winner will continue to fight against other winners, and the loser may have a chance to redeem themselves.

So there would be two brackets, the Losers' Bracket and the Winners' Bracket.

To be out of the Competition, you must lose both fights.

It was simple other than that.

The preliminary round that was today and tomorrow would split people into two brackets.

Essentially, the same amount of people remained in the Competition, but there was a clear divide.

After this divide, the two champions of each bracket will face one another in the final.

As he had to go to School, Zayd felt he could not focus on anything. Zayd's mind felt filled with thoughts related to the Competition.

Things like, 'What will my opponent be like?' Along with many other factors about the Competition composed his every thought.

Watching the clock, Zayd felt as though time was not moving fast enough. The lessons made him feel as though every second was a minute.

Zayd still sat next to Minoru after Kai had returned to School.

It was better this way so that the two could avoid one another.

Zayd's excitement practically spilt out of his body as he began speaking to Himari about it at Lunch.

"I can't wait. I get to fight so many people! Just thinking about it makes my heart beat so fast!" For Himari, this was her first time seeing Zayd filled with so much emotion.

"Are you not nervous?" Himari inquired as she took a bite of her food.

"Nervous? Not at all. Plus, so far, I have either sparred with people worse than me and a monster of a man multiple weight classes more than me. I'd like to see how even the fights are going to be. Also, the other contenders have been doing Boxing longer than me, so I'm sure they'll have some tricks I can learn. I'm so excited!" Zayd let out a barrage of sentences with a wide grin upon his face.

Himari felt infected by Zayd's emotions as she listened to Zayd carry on. She smiled warmly at Zayd's enthusiasm.

Having been his homeroom teacher throughout Middle School, Himari knew that Zayd had never done anything apart from fighting other students in his spare time.

"Zayd, do you remember what you said in Middle School in the second year? When I asked why you always fight with other students?" Himari remembered this moment very clearly.

"Nope." Zayd, on the other hand, did not remember.

"You said, 'Whenever I have a disagreement with someone, and they don't listen to me, I get annoyed. So if you can't reason with someone, just beat that guy up until they can't say no.' Word for word. Do you remember yet?" Himari raised an eyebrow as she peered into Zayd's eyes.

"I do... oh god, that was so cringy. What was I thinking? Does that even make sense? Was I a retard, Himari?" Zayd had an embarrassed expression on his face.

Himari laughed, seeing Zayd acting this way. Recently it felt like he had opened up more. He became more expressive and showed many sides of him that she had never seen before.

"No, you were more of a little brother that can be annoying. Considering I never had a younger sibling, you were a cute brat if I had to describe you in two words." Giggling once again, Himari enjoyed Zayd's confused expression as he doubted himself.

"Zayd, what time is your match today?" Himari changed the topic away from Zayd in his youth to the match once more.

"I'm not sure. It should be at around Five PM. A few other matches are going on at the same time. I can't stop myself from feeling excited. It's too much for me. I feel so light-headed right now- at the same time, I don't feel like I'll faint. It's a weird feeling to describe. I think I may be too excited. Can I lay down?"

"Yeah, go for it. You can stay here if you want. I can go and let the School know you need to rest for a bit if that helps." Himari suggested.

"That'd be perfect. I couldn't sleep all night nearly." Zayd replied as he laid down on the small couch. As he closed his eyes, Zayd was still smiling. Within seconds, his breathing changed as he'd fallen asleep nearly instantly. His body relaxed as his face became blank.

'He looks so peaceful when he sleeps.' Himari thought to herself as she watched over Zayd.

Luckily for Himari, the rest of her day was empty after Lunch.

Waking Zayd up later, Himari watched as the boy stretched his limbs and his eyes opened. Within a few seconds, he was wide awake.

"Is School over yet?" Zayd asked as he yawned, causing Himari to do the same.

"Almost. Are you going to your Boxing club today or straight home?"

"I'm going to go home and rest for a little longer. I want to relax for a bit and hopefully win the match." Zayd said with conviction in his voice. His confidence was not misplaced. Zayd was right to be confident in his abilities. Mr Kaiju had trained him insanely well so far, and Zayd believed in both himself and Mr Kaiju.

"Alright, Zayd. Good luck." Himari said as she gave Zayd a goodbye hug. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"There's no need to worry about me. I would be worried for the other guy. I want to show everyone how much I've practised, and I will be using him to do it."