Perseverance

The intermittent bell ringing noise of his alarm woke Yashiro up. He hated the sound, but then again, that was the whole point.

He checked the time, 6:30 am, then stretched into a yawn before he deactivated the alarm. Each movement he made sent a symphony of aches to different parts of his body, but that wasn't going to stop him. 

After brushing his teeth, he put on some clothes and decided to go for a morning jog.

Some of the new security staff members were already out jogging too. One of them ran past him, nodded and said, "Good Morning, Yashiro". 

He nodded in response, but was not sure they had met before. [How does she know my name?] he asked himself before turning around to look at her again and noticed a holstered pistol at her side.

[I guess this is their way of being more efficient with security around here]

He took a deep breath and started his jog, doing his best to avoid the other members of staff.

Feeling the cool morning breeze on his face as he ran was relaxing, it allowed him to get into a nice rhythm. He focused on the sounds of his footsteps as they pounded against the ground. This enabled him to get lost in his thoughts. 

His mind drifted to the conversation he had with his mother the night before, especially when she talked about what else he could do with his abilities. He also remembered the conclusion he came to right before he slept [Can I really enlarge my muscles further while in that form?] he asked himself.

A knot formed in his stomach as he doubted himself again. He brushed it from his mind as another soft breeze caressed his face.

[I can do it] he told himself again as he increased the pace of his run. 

The run lasted 40 minutes. His shirt was completely soaked in sweat by the time he got back to his room. He lay on the ground sand stayed there for a few minutes, breathing heavily.

[I can do this] he continued to tell himself as he lay there.

[It's a good thing today is Thursday, I can still avoid everyone and focus on this task. Okay, enough procrastination. Time to start this]

He stood up and headed to the bathroom.

After showering, he brought out some of the textbooks Ichisuda had recommended to him and decided he'd understand a little bit more about the human body before attempting what he had in mind.

There was something bugging him, so he decided to address it before beginning his studies.

He texted both Rani and Rando saying, "I'll be okay, I've figured something out"

He didn't wait for a response before putting his phone down.

[Okay, let's begin]

The first book he picked was titled "The complete anatomy of humans"

Each page was filled with intricate illustrations, and highly detailed descriptions of the human body. Yashiro was completely lost in his own world of discovery.

His room was completely silent. Except for his near quiet mutterings as he committed scientific names to memory, and the occasional rustling of pages.

He finally reached the section of muscles and tendons. Though he had read some of this before, he was still slightly fascinated at how intricate everything was.

Looking specifically for the section on arms and legs, he skipped over a page focused on the heart and was excited to find what he was looking for.

He looked at each label of the arm, from the deltoids to the extensor muscles. He committed them to memory once again.

Looking at the diagram allowed him to visualise each respective part in his own body. He strained slightly as he attempted to isolate and enlarge his deltoids.

After 10 minutes, he succeeded and moved on to the next part of his arm.

90 minutes later, he was able to isolate and enlarge the muscles in both his arms at will. After this, he said to himself [I'll focus on my legs another day. For now, I'll focus on applying what I've just learnt to combat]

He picked up the next book, "The biology of Combat". He grinned because he knew it was going to be an enjoyable read.

He skipped straight ahead to the section about the different types of punches and the muscles used the most. He had already memorised the various muscles in the human arm, his aim was to find out what muscles were used so he could make it more efficient.

The book specified the legs and hips were vital for generating power but he wasn't interested in that he skim read till he found a section that explained that the 4 main muscles used when punching were the biceps, triceps, deltoids and Trapezius.

He smiled and closed the book.

[Got it] he said to himself, as he headed to the gym to try to improve his technique.

A few minutes minutes later, Yashiro stood in front of one of the heaviest punching bags as sand pooled out of it.

He looked at his wrapped fists in awe and thought, [One Punch]

He laughed in utter disbelief. "unreal" he said, to himself, before unhooking the punching bag and carrying it in such a way that the sand stopped pouring out.

In the Monitoring room, Hirowa smiled as he witnessed this.

"Well done, Yashiro. It seems you've figured something out" he said quietly, before deciding to turn off the monitor.

After cleaning up the sand from the punching bag, Yashiro spent the rest of the day training, trying to improve the time it took him to enlarge the specific muscles in his arm.

After getting to his room at 8pm, the plan was to rest for a few minutes before going to shower.

He was surprised to be woken up by his alarm.

*

The students were all gathered in the skyline arena as Hirowa announced the events of the day. All the support specialists, Tsuramitsu Koyaro, Takumi Shisashi, Mimori Yuhi, and Okimiya Minegi were with the other teachers, spectating. They had been informed of the change in schedule ahead of time.

The format was student Vs student combat training. The rules were kept the same as last time, "As you're already familiar with, the rules are the same." Izume explained, " You win by getting your opponents off the ring, making them surrender, or by knockout but these are your fellow classmates, so, don't go too crazy.

Okay, you have 5 minutes to warm up everyone. Get prepared."

Yashiro removed his jacket, revealing a black vest that stuck to his skin as he made various movements. He loved how it looked on him. He was wearing black baggy shorts too so his movements were not restricted too much, and his hands were also wrapped.

He started shadow boxing, moving his head side to side as he threw various punches and kicks, bouncing on his toes at every point.

He was muttering again, recalling each of the arm muscles he had committed to memory the day before.

As each second passed, his punches became faster, his movement speed increased, his breathing was in sync too.

However, this was all disrupted by a soft tap on his shoulder

"Hi, Yashiro" Rani said with a soft but nervous smile.

He stopped bouncing on his toes and as he turned around, his face was expressionless. He looked at Rani, she had dyed her hair brown and it was tied into a long braided ponytail which sat on her shoulder, falling off to the side.

She stood sheepishly with her hands by her side, and one leg in front of the other, looking up at Yashiro.

"Wow" he blurted out. [ah, crap]. "Your hair looks great" he immediately added, in an attempt to cover his tracks.

Her smile widened. "Thank you, Yashiro but more importantly, are you okay?"

He paused for a few seconds, "Everything is fine. Sorry I've been distant"

"It's okay" she responded immediately "You don't have to apologise, I just wanted to make sure you're alright"

The soft smile on his face caused her to blush temporarily. "Thank you for understanding, I'll explain everything soon enough"

She nodded, and after two seconds of silence, said, "good luck with your fight"

"Thanks, you too" As she walked away, he added, "And by the way, that hair style really suits you"

She laughed and thanked him again before returning to Rando's side.

"I told you he wasn't fully back yet" Rando said, as she returned.

"It was still good to talk to him" her expression changed slightly, "but I think he'll go distant again if he loses"

"Yeah" Rando said in agreement.

A few minutes later, Izume's voice rang through the speakers.

"Okay, I hope everyone is warmed up? It's time to begin the advanced combat training."

The students cheered, Yashiro remained quiet.

Izume continued after the cheers subsided, "the first fighters are, Minako and Yashiro. Please get on ring A"

Yashiro walked confidently towards the circular ring and climbed the steps slowly, his mind racing as he figured out a game plan against the "Ice Queen".

His mind raced back to the feelings of inadequacy he felt when he witnessed her battle with Sando. Specifically the move she used when she lost her temper.

He mentally shrugged it off, thinking, [I have come a long way since then. I can win. I can beat her]

He looked up to see Minako create her own ice staircase to climb the ring. Some of her friends cheered as they witnessed this.

Up in the spectator stands, Yahara said to Tokiho, "The battle has already begun. If he loses the mental battle, he loses the fight, and probably his will to become a guardian"

"He looks determined; that didn't seem to faze him. Let's see how this plays out." Tokiho added

Yashiro stood facing his opponent, with his hands bunched into fists, staring intently at her. Then, Izume spoke again. "Guys, stances" Yashiro didn't move, while Minako put her fists up. "Ready?…Begin"

Still standing with his fists at his side, his muscles began expanding all over his body, from his neck to his toes, until they were twice their normal size.

The both of them stood still, waiting for the other to make the first move.

An icy mist swirled around Minako's fingers as the two students continued to stare down each other. The arena was completely silent.

Yashiro tapped the tip of his big toe against the floor and Minako continued to swirl ice between her fingers.

Suddenly, with her arm loose and relaxed, she pulled it back and swung downwards from her shoulder to her waist, then slightly extending past it. As she reached the crux of the motion, she flicked her wrist.

A wave of ice emerged from her hand, released from her finger tips as she flicked her wrist.

Her follow through was excellent, her hand rose as if she had just completed a dance.

The ice initially travelled low and fast, but because of Minako's follow through, the front end began to rise as the distance increased.

Yashiro only had a second to react before it reached him, but that was more than enough. He leapt and flipped forward over the ice wave.

Immediately both feet were planted on the floor, he squatted, leaned forward and shot himself towards Minako.

As soon as his feet were planted on the ground, she erected a thick wall of Ice in front of herself but much wider then necessary and pushed it forward towards Yashiro.

He crashed through it as easily as a glass cup hitting the floor. However, she wasn't where Yashiro was expecting her to be.

As he broke through the ice wall, she wasted no time.

From beside him, she released a large and loud blast that entrapped him in Ice mid air. He was completely entombed.

[is it over? Did I win?] Minako thought to herself.

Trapped in Ice, he thought to himself, [Minako, you are absolutely one of the few people I can never make the mistake of underestimating.]

The ice began to crack from multiple places, causing Minako to step back.

In a second, the Ice that had him trapped shattered outwards.

As he emerged, Minako noticed he was even bigger than before.

[Did he anticipate me trapping him in ice?] she thought, as she began taking a few steps back. [I might be in trouble here. Wait.] she stopped moving back as she noticed something.

[he is breathing heavily. He can't last in that form!]

The two students moved towards each other simultaneously. Minako quickly created a fist made of ice as large as her head and fired it, and as Yashiro grabbed her by her shirt it slammed into his face, causing him to drop to his knees, his fist on the floor and his other hand covering his now bloodied nose.

When he looked up, there were 8 more fists rotating around Minako vertically.

She gathered ice in her hands and stretched it, forming a pole.

Okimiya, the specialist training her, grinned as she witnessed this.

Minako smiled, and rotated the pole in her fingers then pointed it at Yashiro.

[Three things to look out for. Interesting] he thought to himself.

She ran at him again, causing him to adopt a defensive stance. She swung the pole in a wide arc, the force, causing it to whistle through the air.

Yashiro raised his arm to block. He was confident his muscles would absorb most of the impact.

A blast of ice was released at the point of contact, freezing his right arm.

She immediately fired one of the rotating fists as this happened, and with his free arm, Yashiro punched it but was surprised when it froze his arm instead of shattering.

It extended to his shoulders, completely restricting movement of that arm.

She stepped forward again, spinning gracefully, then swung the pole in another wide arc.

Yashiro scoffed then lunged at her, kicking her in the chest with the sole of his foot.

She coughed and flew backwards.

He jumped several metres into the air, flipped several times, then as he landed, slammed both arms into the ground where Minako was.

She rolled out of the way and got up just in time for his shin to slam into her face. Yet again, she flew backwards, nearly falling off the ring this time.

[Once more] he said to himself, as he dusted off the last bits of ice from his arms.

He sprinted at her again, covering a lot of distance in one stride. As Minako stood up, he stopped sprinting.

Her eyes glowed blue again, and ice was being gathered in her hands.

She took a deep breath right before she released it, her eyes stopped glowing.

The resultant blast was tremendous.

Each distance it traveled, it grew in size, length, and density.

It moved towards him at a speed that didn't allow him room to think.

All that was in his head was all the content he stored in his brain the night before.

[Deltoids, biceps, triceps, trapezius] he recalled, right before he squatted and threw a punch, instinctively enlarging the specific muscles he had just been thinking about.

As his fist connected, there was a loud breaking sound. The force he was able to generate from the punch completely shattered Minsko's ice. The resultant wind pressure sent the shards flying everywhere and also caused minako to create a shield of ice in front of herself so she wouldn't be pushed off the ring.

As everything settled, the arena fell silent again. Yashiro was breathing heavily, like he just finished a marathon. His muscles began shrinking as he returned to his normal size.

[I can still win] he told himself, before he started moving again.

Minako emerged from behind the ice, just in time to see Yashiro sprinting full speed at her.

He lunged, both feet in the air.

The instant he made contact with her chest, she did two things.

With one hand, she released yet another ice blast in front of her, and with the other hand created a platform directly behind her so she wouldn't be knocked off the stage.

Her back smacked hard into the platform she created, causing her to slump to the ground, gasping and heaving.

She looked up, and breathed a sigh of relief as she realised Yashiro was once again entombed in Ice.

A few seconds later, Izume announced, "Yashiro incapacitated, Minako wins"

Minako made the ice crumble, causing Yashiro to fall to the floor, breathing heavily and still bleeding from his nose.

She hunched over and extended her hand to him. His eyes darted to her, he smiled and accepted her hand and she pulled him to his feet.

He hugged her and said quietly, "Thanks for not holding back"

She nodded and smiled happily, then said, "Great fight."

He nodded in agreement and they walked off the ring separately to a round of applause from everyone in the Skyline Arena, including the specialists.

Through the speakers, Izume's voice interrupted the sounds of clapping, saying, "Yashiro, please see Dr Hirime about that nose."

Yashiro wiped his nose and nodded, then walked out of the Arena, keeping his gaze low.

He had enough time to think as he walked slowly through the acedemy grounds towards Hirime's office.

[Minako is amazing] he thought, [but who would've thought I'd be able to let off such a powerful punch.] he looked at his fist and smiled, [it reminded me of Mr Ichsuda's punches]

He smiled even more as he realised something. [The gap is closing! With more training I can become even stronger and throw punches like that regularly. I can do this. I will prove Mr Akanori wrong]

He knocked on Dr Hirime's door and walked in.

"That was an incredible battle Yashiro, you did well"

"Thank you Dr H"

"You're welcome. Shall I fix your nose then?" She asked

Yashiro responded immediately, with a smile on his face. "I don't want it healed, but I'd like it reset and the bleeding to stop"

"Any reason?"

"None in particular. It's my way of showing respect to Minako. She's made amazing progress and put up quite a fight"

"So have you, young man. That punch was practically on par with Mr Ichisuda's"

Yashiro smiled again.

He thanked Hirime after she had manually realigned his nose and put a plaster over the cut on it from where the ice had hit him.

He did a light jog back to the Arena, he was excited to see the rest of his classmates battle each other.