Stealing Spree

Another half an hour eventfully passed as the sparring matches started. With Ayu taking the role of the referee, everything went smoothly.

As for me, I left Kujou-senpai to Sena again who, instead of watching the matches, took the girl to where she was doing her exercises and started teaching her, or rather, she let her watch and copy what she was doing.

Surprisingly, the girl was intrigued enough to be occupied by it. Our conversation earlier got thrown to the back of her head.

Also, before I left to return to my job, Sena whispered her findings to me.

“Ruki, from what I can see, she’s not acting at all. But she does and says things without giving them much thought. She maybe got too used to people saying only ‘yes’ to her every whim. Let me try if I can learn more about her.”

Sena’s evaluation was probably not wrong. That’s also what I felt from that conversation I had with her. But that’s still not enough. I needed more interaction with her before I could come to a conclusion on how I should treat her in the days to come.

Anyway, even though I wasn’t the one in the ring to facilitate the matches, I went around everyone to check on them.

Though most of them were excited to get up in the ring and experience being a boxer, some also started to become nervous as their turn approached. That’s why they needed my presence and my encouragement.

Well, some were also afraid to get hurt. The advice I gave them was to give up before their turn. That was why I made the sparring optional. They didn’t really need to get up and fight up there. Even as a sport, boxing will always be painful. Even with the soft gloves acting as padding, the impact of a strong punch was enough to create bruises or even cuts; like most professionals do.

“Sensei, can I talk to you again later?” When I approached Ichihara-san and her daughter, the charming mother cautiously whispered that. Most likely, this was about her plan to hire me.

I honestly hadn’t come to a decision yet. Furthermore, with Kujou Marika finding out about my job here, she would definitely tell Ichihara Jun about it. If that guy truly started antagonizing me, that kind of information will be akin to gold for him.

But what he can do about it is still up in the air. If he comes here to mess with me, I can easily kick his ass out and even if his parents stepped in, I have my own backing…

Uh… Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that. I will be relying on my parents again if that’s the case.

“Sure. I promised that we’ll talk about that again today. I’ll tell you my decision.”

Upon hearing my answer, Ichihara-san’s eyes visibly lit up as though her hope to hire me as her daughter's personal instructor was rekindled.

As time continued to pass, more and more matches ended. Those who won all came to me to get my praise while those who lost also went to me to be comforted.

It’s fine if they're younger than me. However, when even the mothers came to me for either praise or comfort, I found it a little embarrassing.

Nonetheless, I didn’t reject any of them… This might be the last day I would be seeing them, might as well be a little more accommodating than the usual stone-faced instructor.

They’re my source of income as well anyway. Besides, I haven’t thanked those who gave those bonuses to me yesterday and like Ayu said, there would probably be more today… I’d be loaded to take my girls on a date again.

Soon enough, the time for me to get up on the ring arrived. Out of the sixty enrollees, ten of them chose me as their partner and five of those are the five idiots.

Apparently, they wanted to show respect to me by fighting me in the ring. They became delusional again. But since they decided on that, I’d give them an experience of a lifetime.

As for the other five, they’re the kids closer to my age. Among them was Ichihara-san’s daughter and the rest were those who would probably continue delving into the sports.

Fortunately, the mothers who picked me opted out after I told them to think carefully.

As I stepped inside the ring, Ayu who was acting as the referee immediately went to my side, grabbed my wrist and checked on the gloves that I put on. “Ru-kun. Let me help you with this.”

This girl… Yesterday, she’s too embarrassed to come out and see me but now… she’s boldly approaching me like this. Does she not care about the eyes watching us anymore?

Although what she was doing wasn’t really something that would invite suspicion about our relationship, her action was still unusual. Furthermore, I could easily pick up her affection from the gentle movements as she tightened the strings of the gloves.

And once she was done with it, she raised her head to look at me before smiling in satisfaction.

“There. Go easy on them, alright?”

“Mhm. Thank you.” I returned a smile before walking to the middle of the ring, facing the first of the five idiots. It’s the guy who kept on talking in an archaic way, Kinjo.

After Ayu explained the rules of this match to him, the idiot respectfully bowed to me before saying, “This is an honor, Master Onoda. I implore you to not hold back and impart more of your teachings.”

Haa… When did I become a master?

“Sure, if that’s what you want, you better strengthen your knees,” I answered him before Ayu separated us for a bit.

The idiot lifted his arms and took the most basic orthodox stance as he cautiously waited for the bell to ring as a signal to the start of the match.

Likewise, I got into the same stance to answer his determination.

As soon as Ayu waved her arm down between us and the ringing of the bell reached our ears, I immediately made a move.

In one step, even before he could react, my left threw a jab straight at his guard. I intentionally aimed there rather than the numerous openings in his defense. Furthermore, there’s not much strength to it.

However, even a simple jab like was enough to blow his guard open. With the loud thumping sound created from the impact, the somewhat noisy crowd quietened down as they all looked at what was happening in the ring.

Seeing that the guy would probably go down if I followed up with another jab, I pulled my hand back and raised my guard.

There’s no need for me to show off, after all. And besides this match was for them to showcase what they learned. Even if he asked me to go all out, I would never do that against a complete beginner whose knees already started shaking seconds into the match.

Just like this, I spent the next half an hour sparring with all ten of them. Each time, I would only attack at the first instance before going on full-defensive.

In the end, while none of them managed to land a hit on me, they were all satisfied with the outcome; especially the kids who got praises from their guardians who came here to spectate. They got their money’s worth, as they say.

By the time I went down the ring to end the lesson and close the program, I was met with the sixty enrollees as well as the spectators who started applauding. Sena and Kujou-senpai, who also came to watch my matches, joined them.

… Really, they’re praising me too much, aren’t they? I only did my job.