@oddy I wanted to kinda leave the two with the problems, only adds intrigue to the story
[17]
The three months after her retirement gave Maimi a little time to herself and her new girlfriend. Chinami was aware that she wanted to follow her partner’s footsteps but the image of her being on top seemed so far away. Maimi’s father allowed her to train under her supervision however he was cautious to allow her to compete especially with Maimi on the sidelines.
The former champion was comfortable with her father’s decision but it lead to a tear in the relationship as Chii wanted to at least have one fight within six months of joining. She had improved with her punching but overall performance was the key to determining if a fight could happen and she lacked the instinct to stay in a fight.
Yajima was confident that Chii could fight but someone had to prove that she lacked the skills to last and her father grew impatient that she was slowly improving. Maimi acknowledged that sparring would only improve her readiness and since they were of similar size, she would have to jump in without remorse.
“Maimi, you have to train her for now.” Her father’s words admitting defeat as she stood in her corner while she was prepping for a match.
She stepped inside to observe Chinami’s movements and tried to build her with her own insight. Maimi lifted up her guard as she watched Chinami sway back and forth waiting for an attack. Maimi grew irritated with her defensive posture that she threw a right straight to her cheek, grazing it as her partner took a step back. Chinami went forward with a left jab that barely reached out and she could see the fear in her eyes.
“You have to attack, Chii.” Maimi instructed as she did the same punch to no effect towards her.
She grew furious over the fear that she connected with a left hook and caused her to wobble. Her father watched Chinami tripping over herself and let her recover as Chinami kept her guard up. However, she didn’t expect a sweep of her feet and landed hard on the mat. Maimi threw her equipment onto the ground and grabbed her.
“I did this because I wanted to make you better but if you are going to be weak, we can break everything off now.” She scolded her as Chii slowly got off the ground.
“Then why are you afraid?” She said under voice causing Maimi to rush up to her looking into her eyes.
“You are the one afraid.” She replied back as Chinami exerted a punch to the midsection as Maimi took half a step back and loaded up a punch.
She stood there thinking about her words. She was right about being afraid, everything before didn’t matter to her, but to watch her get pummel was something she didn’t want to see, and lowered her fist.
Maimi didn’t have to say anything and put her equipment back on and worked on everything she needed to improve but the attitude weighed heavily into going back to sparring. Chinami allowed herself to take on more abuse at the hands of Maimi until she finally got one punch to the midsection with all her might; she connected sending Maimi onto one knee.
The former champion knew it was a good shot and her gasping for breath gave her partner confidence but she wouldn’t give in easily and stood up to get an uppercut nailing her on the chin. Chii took a few steps back, seeing the stars from the punch, and shook off the cobwebs from the perfect shot.
Maimi saw the confidence grow within her and her father put a timely stop to the action as took off their protective equipment and sat in the middle of the ring with her father exiting from the room.
“Yajima-chan, tell me why you are being soft on me? I can handle everything you come at me with.” Chinami blurted out as Maimi smirked at her.
“I love you and I cannot hurt you like I hurt my opponents. You were the one to take on this challenge so I just…”
“…wanted to test me out first. I understand but train me so I can be better. You were motivated to attack your opponents despite not listening to your father.” Maimi grinned.
Chinami hit the cord that had haunted her. She was hardheaded to listen to her father and the matches were a big indication of her lack of discipline. However, she knew that the grit and determination would put her over the top and that was the top qualities that attracted Chinami to her. Still, she had to weigh certain aspects as she faced her girlfriend and grabbed her stuff to go to the locker room.
Maimi thought that she couldn’t make her as powerful as she wanted her to be until Chinami walked into the locker and saw her father looking at the trophies Maimi had won over the past few years.
“I want to fight Yajima-san.” He chuckled at the statement and never looked in her direction.
She repeated the same sentiment and delivered a punched to his hip. He turned towards her and nodded his head.
“Tomorrow, you shall fight her. I will coach you to develop your skills and a lost will only make it worst for you.” Chinami nodded which shocked her girlfriend.
This will not go my way.The next day, both went to school as usual but visibly their kinship was on hold. Rumors flew across like paper airplanes and soon the air was thick with the talk of breakup.
Momo, who would spread the rumors, was the first to kill it off as she saw Maimi’s face change when she started to glare at her. She could sense a rift between them and decided to ask Chinami but something came over her to halt her progress.
Maimi walked into class with the infinite amount of eyes looking at her as she sat down but the chatter was getting the point of irritation that she stormed out and headed to the infirmary.
Niigaki Risa was on duty taking care of the sick students but it was empty for the morning. Maimi walked in and slammed the door to wake up the bean from her nap. She looked around the room seeing a girl lying on the bed with her arm over her head.
Maimi had tears flowing out from her eyes as Risa drew back the curtain seeing her pale. The bean grabbed a chair and sat next to her as she watched her for a moment.
“Is there something I can do?” She shook her head.
“You cannot run away…” Maimi turned her head.
“If you have a problem, you should be upfront with them. I cannot say I always do it.” Maimi sat up to break her line of thought.
“If it were that easy, I would do so but… I mean my friend has been weighing about the situation.” Risa smiled.
“So what about your friend?” She asked cunningly.
“She wants to help her girlfriend out but she feels that it might to be rough to take on her own battles.”
“Why does your friend fear that she cannot, maybe she can but doesn’t want your friend to worry?” Maimi bent her neck as her chin touched her collarbone.
“Because she… I mean her girlfriend is not as strong as she thinks she is and if she gets hurt my friend will take the the blame for not protecting her.” Risa’s smile grew as big as it could.
“Maybe you should let her guide your way to happiness, she can only see it if you have confidence in her.” Risa said in a low voice.
“It doesn’t help that I gave away that I am in trouble but I need to rest.” Maimi’s final words deter the conversation and she decided to nap until lunch or at least she could get home without any more trouble from other students.
Despite her attempts to sleep, she couldn’t get the match off her mind and tossed and turned in the bed causing Risa to unfortunately let her return back to class. Maimi could only imagine that Chinami had the advantage because she was hungry to prove her wrong but she knew skill would go to her. That thought spiraled out of control until she finally concluded that she may have to put her into a dreamland.
The final bell rang and she headed to the gym to prepare for the fight with all the eyes of the student body observing her movements. The fight was now a personal battle to teach a fellow fighter that this isn’t a game.