My Pro Boxer System

The two of us lay quietly in an awkward silence. She had laid out some clothes on the bed to sleep on.

"What are you going to do?" she suddenly asked. "If you have to fight that guy again, I mean."

"The only thing I can do: get better."

She turned to look at me and frowned.

"That's it? Aren't you terrified of going back?"

"I am. Contrary to how I made it look, getting hit isn't fun."

She stared at me silently, then sighed.

"You are far different from what I first thought. I thought you were a spoiled kid who never had to struggle a day in his life. I thought it would make me happy seeing someone like you endure hardship for the first time. All because I envied you."

"But why? What's there to envy? The things I have are pretty normal."

"Not for me," she replied with a hint of sadness in her voice. "I never had normal stuff."

I didn't say anything after that. I just listened. She was deciding whether she wanted to tell me more about herself. I was curious whether she trusted me enough to reveal more about her life, but I didn't want to force her, so instead I lay quietly.

"When I was little, my family used to be better off. We were dirt poor, but still we were happy. My dad was at the center of it all. He was responsible for me and my mother's happiness. He was the light."

A faint smile flickered on her lips as she spoke.

"But he wasn't who we thought he was. He wasn't who I thought he was. Instead, he was a gambler who buried our family in debts, and when it got too high, he took off without a trace. The gang would come and harass my mother; sometimes they would enter the house and smash our things until they started hitting her. I was nine years old when I saw that, and that was also when I stopped going to school. After that, my mother started going out in flimsy clothes and a lot of makeup. Whenever she came back, she was always covered in bruises and too drunk to walk. But she always had a lot of money when she came back."

"It wasn't until I was much older that I realized… I realized what my mother was really doing. When I did, I got dressed up just like her and went to confront them. I told them I wanted to work just like my mother so I could help clear the debts. They laughed me off and tried to send me away, but that's when Faye saw me and took pity on me. She gave me a different job instead." Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

"What kind of job?" I asked.

"Mostly just selling drugs and stuff."

"How generous of her," I said sarcastically. "You're being used."

"It's the only way to pay off my father's debt."

"How much did your father owe?"

"I don't know. Faye told me she would tell me whenever the debt was paid."

It sounded like they were just stringing her along for as long as they could. I didn't trust that Faye girl; she seemed like the cunning type. My deal with her wasn't that bad considering I got paid for boxing, but for Yuki… she was being exploited, plain and simple.

Her story explained a lot about her character—why she got resentful and angry when she saw how I was living, to the point where she was nearly brought to tears. But before she could cry, she wiped them away. The same thing had just happened when she told me her story. It seemed like she was holding back her emotions, afraid to let go. I wondered when the last time she truly cried was.

Though I was still weak, I summoned my strength and crawled over to her. She saw what I was doing and looked at me, a little surprised.

"What are you doing?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I pulled her into me and gave her a tight hug.

"It's okay to cry," I whispered into her ear. "You've been through a lot, and it's not fair. It's only natural. You can cry on me—I'll hold you tightly."

"Dummy," she muttered softly, but then it was like a dam broke. All the emotions she had shoved away for years bubbled up to the surface. She clung to me, and I hugged her tighter, feeling her warmth and seeing how fragile she really was.

She fell asleep under my embrace, and soon I fell asleep with her.

...

The next morning, as if by instinct, I woke up early. Yuki was curled up beside me, sleeping with a smile on her face. I got up, did some stretches, and realized that my body had completely healed.

Now it was time for my morning exercises. I left her apartment shortly after. There were a few missed calls from my sister. My mother didn't seem worried since I had messaged her before and told her I would be staying at a friend's house.

I aimed to do my usual 15-mile run but ended up running 17 miles. There was a lot on my mind, so I didn't realize I had passed the 15-mile mark. The streets of the Firefly district were filled with drunk people staggering back home after a night of partying.

Afterwards, I did some light stretches and shadow boxing. I completed 200 push-ups, 150 sit-ups, and 10 minutes of planks before deciding to go home. But it didn't feel right to leave Yuki like that, so instead, I went to a supermarket.

I used the money I had on me to pick up some ingredients, then went back to Yuki's apartment. When I returned, she was still sleeping, so I went to the kitchen and tried to make some breakfast for us with the ingredients I had just bought.

Midway through cooking, she got up and entered the kitchen with sleepy eyes. She seemed almost rejuvenated. Her face was much more colorful, with a light blush dancing on her cheeks.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a tone meant to be serious, but she ended up giggling.

"I'm making breakfast for us."

"Where did you get the stuff?"

"I bought it while coming back from my jog."

"Oh," she replied.

It was just then that I noticed the funny little bedhead on the top of her head.

"Are you building a nest?" I teased, pointing to her hair.

She frowned at me, then delivered a light tap to my side.

"You jerk," she snapped, then flushed and stormed out of the kitchen toward the bathroom.

When she emerged, I was just about finished making breakfast. I had prepared a simple bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich for us, coupled with some orange juice that I had also bought.

There were no tables or chairs, so we sat on the pile of cushions where we had slept together.

She looked at the meal in front of her with sparkling eyes, then immediately took a bite. As she ate, her entire face turned red, and she began wolfing down her meal.

The two of us talked and engaged in casual banter as we ate. Most of it was me teasing her and her getting embarrassed. When I first met her, she was a bit intimidating, and I thought the two of us could never be friends. But now that she was showing her cute side, how could I not tease her?

After we finished eating, we washed the dishes together, and then it was time for me to leave. She was pouting and acting a bit indifferent as I was leaving, but all of that faded when I patted her on the head and told her I might visit her soon. She seemed happy about that because she immediately started bobbing her head up and down.

I rushed to get home since it was a bit late. When I arrived, I was greeted by my angry sister Thalia, who had made breakfast for me. Even though I was full from eating breakfast with Yuki, I still ate with Thalia, not wanting to upset her any further.

After that, I got ready, and the two of us headed to school together. As we walked, Thalia mumbled something.

"Kei's big sister came by this morning."

"Ivy?"

It was then that I realized I had completely missed my training with Ivy this morning.

"She didn't say anything, but when I told her you didn't come home last night, I got a subtle chill from her. That reminds me, how close are the two of you exactly?"

"Oh, Ivy? The two of us are just friends."

Thalia looked at me suspiciously before sighing.

"All right, if you say so. Just don't be an idiot."

For the rest of the way, the two us us walked quietly until I saw her off at her middle school and I arrived at my high school.