21 -  Interview and trip

Author Notes:

I'm really sorry for the lack of updating. This week I really needed to work on something, and finally yesterday I fulfilled it. I made a Taekwondo Tournament; the logistics were demonic all these past days. I coordinated with almost 34 taekwondo schools about the time, the pairings, the time, the money, the people on staff, and the ones that needed to take care of every match. It was Chaotic.

Image of the Tournament.

It was a huge success that means two things.

First I can finally relax.

Two I can finally continue with this fanfic that I enjoy a lot.

So with no more to add, I hope you enjoy the chapter. I love the comments!

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Fujii POV

"I'll start with Miyata, as he is the oldest in the gym"

Miyata went and sit at the side of the gym, near the boxing bags.

"Miyata, I have heard a lot of you, the son of the former OPBF champion and also one of the promising stars in the gym"

Miyata nodded

"Tell me, why do you box?" I said it without fanfare

Miyata raised his head and said, "To let the world know, my Dad's boxing style is the best of them all"

I just smiled. "Yes, a noble goal. Do you know someone in your preferred weight class you want to fight?"

Miyata pondered some seconds and said "I heard Hayami is going pro; there are also some Russian that were in the amateur league, but the one I want to fight the most is the Speed Star."

I admired the answer, "I'm glad you know some of them; it means you have what it takes. Tell me, I just heard you are going to leave the gym. Why?"

Miyata did a cocky grin and said, "These two idiots…"

"Hey!" Sora said

Ippo just shrugged his shoulders.

Miyata continued, "They have been only here a week, and I saw their potential; I want to be able to fight them at the pro ring"

I touched my notepad and said, "But you can only fight one; as I recall, both of them are going to be in a different weight class"

Ichiro chuckled. "Then I will just fight Ippo first, and then I will go to his weight class, conquering two or three classes"

I opened my eyes in astonishment. "You sure talk big; do you have an inspiration aside from your dad in the box ring?"

Ichiro said honestly "Takamura… The guy is a genius, and just like him, I want to reach the world ring"

I nodded and said, "Thank you. Now you. The short one, tell me your name"

Ippo fidgeted with his shirt and said bashfully "Makunouchi Ippo, I'm 16 years old"

I asked, "Why did you start boxing?"

Ippo went silent, and he kept on thinking why. Finally, he answered, "I want to know what it is to be strong"

I whistled and said,. "Well, that's a hard path, Makunouchi, it may be harder than being a national champion, so why did you decide to enter the gym?"

Ippo looked at the one that just fought him and said, "Well, I had a problem with some friends, and I met Sora this Monday; actually, I just followed him, but when I came here, I enjoyed it a lot and want to keep trying. I may be just tagging along, but I want to continue and become better and stronger. I'm going to defeat Miyata-San and Sora"

The other kid entered the conversation and said, "So your goal is me?, You know we can't fight in the pro ring, right?, And I don't plan to abandon the gym!"

Ippo looked down and continued "I can always fight you here when we are both champions"

I was laughing and teased him, "Your first goal is Date Eiji, then? He is the current champion in the featherweight; you're entering the feathers, right?"

Ippo said "Yes, I'm going to the feather weight class, the coach told me that would be for the best"

I smiled and continued the interview. "For that, you have to win a lot of matches. You should ask your coach for the way to the top. Tell me, tell me, Ippo can I call you Ippo? Do you have an inspiration for boxing?"

Ippo rapidly answered, "Yes, you can call me Ippo, and inspiration? I like boxing"

"Let me rephrase my question: Do you have someone to inspire you to your goal, you told me you want to be strong, why is that?"

He let some seconds pass while he was thinking, and then he said, "My dad… he… he was a strong man; he saved his crew, and he came back to me. I want to be strong because I want to feel what he was seeing while being the strongest"

I opened my mouth and became silent. Ichiro also made an astonished face, the other kid also opened his mouth.

The coach was near, and he joined the conversation: "Kid, what happened?"

Ippo was looking down. "He left his body in the sea, there was a storm and the boat didn't reach the shore, but all his crew came back, after some days, he promised me to come back and his cap reached my hands, from that point I knew he trusted me to take charge of the boat business with my mom and that's why I'm helping her" he became silent after telling this.

The coach put his hand in the head of Ippo and said, "Kid, your dad was the strongest. I also know another strong man who sacrificed all for someone, so I know your dad will be proud of what you would achieve here"

Ippo smiled and shouted, "Yes, sir"

I was happy for this interview, and concluded with another question, "Do you like boxing?"

Ippo answered truthfully, "I love it"

"Thank you for your time, Ippo. Now for the last one, What's your name, kid?"

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I was still a little dazed by Ippo's answer. If memory doesn't fail me, It was until the submarine arc with Ikebukuro… no, no that's a city. Shimabukuro was his name; his mom told someone the history, was it kumi? Damn, Ippo's manga is way too long.

"Hey!" I was interrupted by Fujii, "Hey kid, can you answer the question?"

I stammered and quickly composed myself "Yeah sure, ahm, excuse me, what was the question? Sorry"

He laughed. "Don't be nervous; what is your name?"

"Oh, sorry, my name is Tsuyoshi Sora; my family has the habit of using elemental ones in our names; I'm sky, my sister is water, and my brother is wind. I'm pretty sure if mom decides to have another brother, he would be named something like Tsuchi, but we're already tsuyoshi, so maybe Hitoshi or Hanabi, and I'm rambling sorry reporter-san"

He laughed loudly this time: "I already got more words from you than both of them; same question: why boxing?"

"Well, I feel like I was a boxer in another life, jaja," I started, but made it sound like a joke. "No, really, I want to be a sports oriented man, ahm… before I started to be serious about entering boxing, I used to hate everything about them, sports I mean, my brother is superb at his competitions, and I felt that I could never reach him, but I saw some videos that my dad left at home from some boxers, and I tried to copy them, care to say that I really enjoyed them, and I started to see that I could be someone here." I lied…

Fujii said, "You talk a lot, man. That's good and bad for an interview. Just so you know, I will cut down on some stuff. Tell me, are you interested in fighting someone?"

I smiled. "Of course Marlon Starling, Mike Tyson, Ricardo Martinez, I know all of them are from different weight classes, but I really want to fight some World Class fighter, I don't really know who's at the top right now, but I want to fight them, also from the locals, I heard the feather weight has so many interesting fighters, but If I need to choose one, I would love to fight Ippo when he is at his best, Oh and Takamura but maybe in 10 years when he is old enough so I can win" I joked at the end.

Fujii noted everything, and we waited for him. "I guess I got almost everything from you. Last question: Is there anything you can tell me for inspiration? Is it your brother?"

I went silent and tried to remember some cool phrases I could use, and I remember one, my mind cleared, and I could actually picture word by word, I looked at Fujii and said "Can I tell a full phrase?"

Fujii chuckled. "Kid, you ramble a lot; just go ahead"

I smiled and told everyone Darrel's royal letter: "You should all ask yourself what do you feel when you are defeated. Are you blaming others, feeling depressed, or are you feel with passion, ready to take the challenge again.

All those of you who has fought on the ring will have tasted defeat, there's no challenger who has not lost before, however the best boxers, as a tribute to all their efforts, will give everything they've got to stand up again, the ordinary players will take a while to get back on their feet, while the losers will remain flat on the canvas.

Do not be ashamed about being defeated. To be defeated and to not stand up is what you should be ashamed of."

Fujii took his time, and told me to say it again to write everything. Finally, he said, "Where did you read this, kid?"

I shrugged. "I don't remember if I read it somewhere or if it's something I wrote, sorry." As I can tell it was Darrel's Letter I wasn't really sure when he said this or even if he existed in this world.

Fujii added "Agh it's frustrating, but I can't post this interview yet, Yagi-san told me to wait until you guys are really listed as Kamogawa's boxers"

I raised my eyebrows and said, "Oh, well, don't worry; just tell us when you are going to post it, so I can but 10 magazines"

Fujii actually snorted, "You are a funny kid," then he shouted, "Hey Yagi, can I post an anonymous interview? I really liked his last answer"

I didn't let Yagi answer and told him, "You can post the last phrase; you can call it the Boxer letter. Not only that, but I know people will love it"

Fujii said, "I will take your word; I am hyped for my next column"

With that Fujii said his goodbyes and left the gym, it was a little late, so we excused ourselves, tomorrow was the last time I told Ippo I would help him on the boat business so we needed to go to work today too, next week Kazeo told me he would let the guys take care of it, as a training purpose.

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Things happened as usual and the next day Ippo and I, along with all our classmates, went into the Karaoke session, Ippo was too shy but at the middle he finally let himself enjoy, but he didn't sing good, he was a real amateur.

I tried some songs, but past me didn't listen to a lot of music, so I couldn't really sing something in tune, but I tried my best. Everyone was super cool with us, and I actually knew by name some of them; I don't think those guys had a name in the manga.

We left the meeting as some of them needed to go to cram school. I didn't need it in my last life; I was not an intelligent one, but in this one it seemed easier. I didn't know why, but the stuff just seemed to be faster to recall and understand.

We went to the boat business helped as usual and then I went home.

Dad was already there and told me that if I was truthfully honest with the thing I told him to do to meet the programmer, then I was to join him tomorrow on a business trip to Osaka.

The next day, I joined him on the train and we talked about my week and he told me about his work. Apparently, apparently the new programmer succeeded this week in his attempt to automatize the led he wanted, dad talked with some programmer lingo, truthfully I understood shit, but some things jumped at me, and those were.

One he can make numbers with the LED, and two, with the same push, he can make the machine do different commands.

We reached the office of the programmer he introduced himself as Sawada Nomura.

He presented his work and while I didn't understood the technical path, I wanted some stuff and told him my ideas, for a treadmill, I told him to make the motor reach some velocity when you press the button, and also about the key to shut it down if it was not connected to the metal, to make many speeds, and if he could do some circuits preprogrammed.

The guy was happy with the insight, because he only thought this thing would work with lights, or some electro domestics, but he wanted to program the treadmill.

My dad was also interested in it, and he told to Sawada to work on it and that he would talk with his boss to see if there was any problem.

After that meeting, which lasted some 3 to 4 hours, we went to eat. Dad decided to look for a Takoyaki stand to get the family a present, and we ate some Okonomiyaki.

When we were eating, we saw a disturbance in the food market, Some guy stumbled and hit another one while walking; he was apologizing, but the other kid just kicked his head, the friends of the guy were angry, but they took the other guy and told the bully to be careful, because they were friends of the Tiger.

The bully just spit on the floor and made an angry face. "Stupid ones," he mumbled.

He continued walking, and I saw his face.

The Owari Dragon was visiting Osaka too…

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Author notes.

Thanks a lot, people, for continuing to read my fanfic.

I love the comments, and some of them gave me great ideas. Continue with them.

Two more chapters for the Time skip and then the License exam.