The Gladiator's Soul chapter 14

 Previous chapter: The Gladiator's Soul chapter 13

They were five, no less. Luckily I knew the address of almost all of them. That night I could hardly sleep a wink, but I did not feel tired. I got up at five in the morning with my blood frozen. Every step I took that day, every breath of air I had, would be for my Hime. For her future, for her freedom… and for my revenge.

I had to catch them unaware in the way to the school. I had to take into account several of them could go together; in such case I would have to separate them before facing each of them, in order to have some possibility of success. Moreover, to avoid rising suspicions, I would have to arrive in class before it started, I could not afford the luxury of being late even one minute. In this way I would get my alibi.

Of course, I had made a plan beforehand. I would lay in wait for each one outside their houses, by order of distance to school. I guessed the ones living further would leave earlier than the ones living closer. All seemed as simple as the advertisements of washing powder on television: ‘you pour a little of this product, and your laundry will be shiny and like new…’

Quietly I got up, had breakfast and dressed in a dark colour. At 6 in the morning I was observing the moon, from my wide-open door. I stared at it wide-eyed, as if murmuring inwards a desperate prayer.

The satellite was the only witness of my ritual: I took the weapon Ulysses lent me, a kind of small baton, and concealed it within my attire. 

The early morning was cold and clear, already threatening with the first frosts. The cool air in my lungs filled me with optimism. Although the world turned into the worst hell, although there were demons like those five, Hime existed. She alone made the whole universe redeem itself and be worthy.

I took a stroll of reconnaissance, going over the whole route through the key points (the houses of the five) up to the school. Fortunately there was nobody. Besides, the cold weather was a wonderful excuse to wear a balaclava. After this loop I arrived the house of the first of them. It was approximately 7 in the morning. 

School started around 9, so I had calculated the first one would leave his house at 8. And so I searched for the best spot to lay an ambush for an hour, waiting with goose flesh and my nerves on edge for the first bully to appear through the fence. It was a single family home, which would ease my duty and prevent other neighbours from seeing me.

….

….

7:58…

7:59…

….

….

The last minute before 8:00 seemed never-ending, the seconds refused to go and remained lingering in the screen of my digital watch.

….

….

A sound of a door. A door was open. A door was closed. Footsteps approaching. The latch of the gate is cranked. The gate opens with the squeal of some dying bird…

Runners, a tracksuit trouser. A sweater. A head, turning as the gate closes. Heartbeats hit my throat, which fought my hermetic mouth over the control of my voice. Still as a statue, with my skin frozen; my body was an igloo of ice,and inside was everything else. I saw his visage sideways as he closed the latch. It was him, without a doubt.

The next seconds (or tenths, who knows?) went by like a momentary dream, one of those you have when you fall asleep on the table after lunch. With the baton in my hand, and without making a sound, I leaped on him, his hand still on the latch. At the same time he turned his face towards me, and I followed the steps my master taught me. Blow with all my might to the solar plexus, or to one side. As he writhed confused I injured his neck before doing the same on one ankle. <<This one will surely be out of circulation for a good while>>, silently I headed jogging to the next house.

Each one would be worse than the previous, I had no doubt about that. As I approached the school the houses were giving way to few-storey buildings, and later to taller ones. Where there were so many neighbours I could have problems... and coincidentally the monster who gave Hime the beating was the last one. But since the first turned out so quick and clean, my spirit had arose. Maybe it was possible, after all.

The second one lived also in a house, but it was attached and had some neighbours living in the next doors. It was around 8:10 when I took the exact location I had planned. Seemingly I felt somewhat more relaxed than the first time, as well as steady. Again: Open the door, open the gate, close the gate... <<Wait. The door wasn't closed...>> Somebody must have been at the door, presumably his mother.

It closed. I quietly approached him from behind and carried out my work. Hard blow in the middle of his back stopping his breathing, and as he fought to catch it back I knocked him off, and injured his knee. Nobody could say I was fighting in a fair or honest fashion, but... <<IF IT'S FOR HIME, IT'S OK>>.

At 8:20 I had arrived the third one's house. Things were changing quite a lot here, there were no longer houses but about 5-storey buildings. Although I had already decided a place where I could lay lurking, the dangers there were many more and worse. Already the sun was appearing in the horizon, there was too much light. A businessman dressed in a suit leaving from here, a well-dressed girl from there... Meanwhile I lied hidden. In this case I did not find a safe place near the doorway so I was staring from a distance.

Now his gate was opening... What a letdown, it was not him, but a labourer. And after that one... <<Bingo!>> I could see my target going out. At this time there was already too many people in the streets, attacking him in public view in such an open place was not an option... So clad in my 'clothes for cold weather' I trailed him from afar. He turned a couple of corners, arrived another doorway and... horror. He had gone to collect another of the bullies. I could not take them on one by one any more... <<can I...?>>

By chance there was a providential void in the street at that instant, and without a second thought, I made a detour to approach him from his back. Hard blow on the nape and two injuries, and left him sitting at the door of some nearby premises, on the side of the other one's doorway. I hid in a door on the other side of it.

In few instants the fourth was leaving from his building. He called his minion: “Hey! Where are you?” Next he looked at the pavement and saw the legs extended in one side. He came closer: “Come on, don't be lazy, buddy... Hey! Are you OK? Is anything wrong...?” Before he could say anything else he was already breathless from my unexpected blow. I injured his neck and knee, whatever could take him away from the school. I left just there the two bodies laying and withdrew through the closest corner, running along a route of little-traffic alleys towards the last house.

<<Four out of five. It's already four out of five...>> I could barely believe it. My watch displayed 8:45, and maybe I would not arrive in time to surprise the last one. I felt somewhat tired from the other four, and my night awake was starting to take its toll on me...

<<... And what if he has already left for school...?>> That was a risk I had to take. I could not rush to school and come back to run into him. That could be more dangerous. <<If I don't catch him today, there'll be more days...>>

I was about to place myself in the previously planned spot, when:

“Aaaahhh!” An old woman fell, just in front of the doorway, and seemed to be seriously injured. Helping her was really risky, but... there was no one else, and... if Hime knew I had not helped her, she would not feel proud of me, all the contrary. Finally I went out of my hideout and helped the lady.

“Are you ok...?”

“Auch, auch, auch... Thank you, youngster. I am already very old and my body is not up to this things...”

…

…

The gate opened.

The gate closed.

A demented, bloodshot glare trained on me. His face was covered except for his eyes, but I felt he could recognize me. The bully who did that to Hime, the worst of all them, there he was gutting me with those piercing pupils, as if seeing even inside of my bones. Smiling with a terrifying face he punched my stomach, the lady and I fell to the ground. He stepped on me, kicked me, following took me, shook me, threw me like a rag... 

Everything was lost already. My strength was failing. I was not strong enough to protect her. Why... why did she have to suffer, such a beautiful being... why... tears murky with rage stained my clothes, the ground, marked the territory of the massacre.

As I was being stripped of my last hopes a thud was heard, and the bully turned back. The lady had hit him with her cane! Without a second thought, he went after her like a blind, enraged gorilla, and drawing strength from... (I will never know where I drew it from) I took my baton and hit him, with all my might, straight on the nape. 

When he came down unconscious there was no longer hatred in me, nor thirst for revenge, nor anything. I felt ashamed by the fact that only the fear of death had overwhelmed me at the end. I was not who she deserved, I was not who could look after her. I injured his body hard and my knees gave in, falling to the ground with tears of impotence.

“Madam, are you ok...?”

“Yes, boy, thanks a lot for protecting me.”

“But I can't... I can't protect anybody.”

And in my mind echoed Ulysses' words: <<You must be cold, ruthless and methodical,, you mustn't get distracted from your target for any reason, or it could cost you dearly>>.

A bitter lesson, matched with a sweeter one. Because I helped the lady the bully had caught me unaware, but but in exchange she had helped me... and as a result, I was now with my body wrecked, full of wounds and bruises. But... <<But... Hime would be proud that I helped the lady...>>

No. Nothing worked. Helping the lady at that moment and place had been an error. I did not seek her being proud of me... whatsoever, I could become the most despicable being in the universe, only for her sake.

It was 8:56, and I was dressed all in black, the balaclava and all messed up. It would be practically impossible not to be deemed suspicious with such an attire.

“Madam...”

“Yes, boy?”

“I need a very important favour.”

The old lady lent me clothes she had from her grandchildren, it was a casual outfit that would come in handy to disguise. Regarding the wounds in my face, she put some plasters on them, and since almost nobody talked to me at school surely I would not be asked what had happened.

When I left her house it was already past 9, I would not arrive in time. I ran with all my body aching, the sweat made my wounds sting even more.

I arrived school panting like a dog, but then inside I walked trying to pretend (as if I arrived late for laziness that day, or something like that...) I went quietly upstairs to my classroom, and when I entered I saw big letters on the blackboard: 'ABSENT TEACHER', and below: 'SELF-STUDY: READ PAGES 35 AND 36 OF THE BOOK'.I thanked god, in a sigh that made some classmates turn back to look at me, and I drew my book from my desk.

The rest of the classes were like always, or so they would had been if I had not been falling asleep for some whiles in them all. Anyway nobody paid attention to me, what played in my favour this time. When classes were over I went home to rest, I did not want anything but to sleep.

Yet Hime would want to see me, she would be worried because of what I told her the previous day, and how I acted. And how was I supposed to meet her, with my face bruised, with my hands full of wounds, drenched with hatred and revenge? I knew nothing... just collapsed on my bed seized by exhaustion. I could not think anymore. Lately I had not seen the butler much... I do not know why that idea came up to my cloudy mind. And following I fell asleep.

I woke up drooling, the pillow wet, and feeling disoriented. A mouth-watering smell floated in the air; my stomach roared, I had eaten nothing since breakfast. I went to the kitchen, and apparently the butler had made lunch. <<It's true, I get the feeling that this butler is here less and less...>>

Without musing longer over that subject I got down to eat like a starving animal. I had dreamed I was an apiarist looking after bees, and I put on some kind of space suit... And suddenly I recalled I had to go to visit Hime... But I could not go, I could not go unless... <<Of course! My dream!>> As soon as I finished eating I passed by a pharmacy and bought rubber gloves. Then by a shop of special work gear, and there I got a special mask for toxic gases and things alike.

I put everything on and entered the hospital in this fashion. I went up to Hime's floor, and the nurses in charge of her froze staring at me:

“Hey! Where do you think you're going?”

“Hello, I'm Kotaro, Hime's friend, and I'm coming to visit her...”

“But... what's with that look? This isn't the proper way to enter a hospital!”

“...”

“Please... I need to go in like this... understand...”

“No way, masks out!”

One of the nurses pulled it off me, and they saw my battered face.

“My god... what happened to you?”

“Please... don't tell her anything... I'm begging you...”

“You have some nerve, such a problem child... Alright, go in with the look you want. We'll play along, but don't mess it up too much.”

“Thanks!” I vowed showing extreme gratitude. In this posture one of the nurses spanked me: “Come on! Go in before I change my mind...” On my injured body that mild slap caused pain, but I concealed it in order not to worry them more and make a real problem.

With the momentum from that slap I reached Hime's room door and opened it. She looked at 'whatever was entering the room' with her eyes wide open, with a bewildered face.

“Help!”

“No, Hime, calm! It's me, Kota!”

“Ehhhh? And what's with that mask...? and with those gloves?”

“The thing is...”

“The thing is... what?”

“The thing is... I've caught a very contagious virus, and I have to use this mask and gloves not to pass it on to anybody.

“Ahhhhh!” She almost ran out of breath... “For real? And you are very sick? You aren't going to recover?”

“Yes, don't worry, the virus just lasts one day.”

<<What a whopper. I don't know if she's going to believe this...>>

The girl looked at me incredulous, winking one eye...

“Emergency...!” The nurses came in, with a perfect timing:

“Emergency! There's a very contagious virus in the city! Boy, don't even think about taking that mask off, we don't want more infected!”

I stood at attention and greeted: “Yes, ma'am!”

We exchanged brief winks before they left the room: “That's the way, soldier!”

Now she did seem to have believed it. We were some time talking, and played some games.

“Ah, by the way...” Hime seemed to remember something.

“Yes...?”

“How did the exam go?”

<<Damn it! I had totally forgotten I told her that about the exam...>> I was dazed and happy spending my time with her, and had lowered my guard.

“The thing is... it was suspended...”

“What? You failed it?”

“No, it was postponed, due to the virus' outbreak.”

“And talking about that virus, is it serious?

“No, nothing to worry about. It just causes some symptoms like, suddenly, you feel an irremediable desire to hug and kiss...”

“How's that?! And you go around hugging and kissing everyone? Even that old teacher you like touching her ass?”

“No, there's a medicine they delivered this morning at school, that quells the symptoms. That's true, it's time to take it...”

I had everything planned beforehand, so I had brought a caramel tablet pretending it was the medicine. I dug it from my pocket so that she saw it, before taking it.

Hime's gaze drifted from side to side, like a bit nervous, and then fixed it on me, as if she could read me like an open book.

“And, apart from those symptoms, it has some more serious one...?”

“No, none else...”

“Then...” She blushed slightly.

“Eh...?”

“Then... don't take it.”

“But, the virus...”

“You can take it when you leave, right?”

“Ah, right...”

“So don't take it now.”

She seemed to have gained confidence, she was not so ashamed. She won, so I put the sweet away back into my pocket.

I do not know if Hime really has the ability to read my thoughts, or what, but I thanked heaven thousands of times for that. Without having to contain my feelings I jumped on her, hugged her really tight and kissed her on the forehead with my mask, next she lifted her head all of a sudden and my kiss landed on her lips.

That looked really comical, kissing her with my mask as if I were some kind of alien, ha, ha, ha... Well, technically, rather than kissing her 'I scrubbed my mask against her face', like a pig seeking truffles, ha, ha, ha...

I could not tell her what had happened that day, but at last... at last she comforted me.

“Why are you crying...?”

“Don't worry, it's just another symptom of the virus I forgot to tell you about...”

It got late, and I had to go.

“Kotarooooo!”

“Yes, ma'am!”

“Don't forget to take the medicine before leaving...”

“At your service!”

I drew the tablet from my pocket, lifted slightly the mask and put it in my mouth.

The girl really had now a good face, and I must say, behind the mask I was the same. When I left the room I thanked the nurses appropriately.

“Not at all, but take care of those injuries.”

The story continues here: The Gladiator's Soul chapter 15

The Gladiator's Soul chapter 13

Previous chapter: The Gladiator's Soul chapter 12

“Ulysses! Are you there…?”

“Yes, I am.”

The same as a dog curses the leash pulling it, I curse the fate which dragged my Hime and me. And curse the author who gives me life on a whim, in an irregular, erratic manner…

“…”

“If you have so much money… have you thought about hiring a bodyguard?”

“Yes, I thought of it. But I won’t leave her in any other’s hands. Something as valuable as my Hime… I wouldn’t be able to sleep thinking that a stranger is watching, following her, who doesn’t care about her and protects her only as part of their job. If something ever happened to Hime, the bodyguard could simply think ‘what a mess, I’ll look for another job’ or something like that.”

“What you’re asking can change totally your life… you know you can take it easy and live pretending you know nothing…”

“Shit!” tears burned on my cheeks: “¡The best part of me is dying! If you can’t understand it then sorry for the trouble, I’ll find another person and no hard feelings… But please don’t say that…”

“…”

“I must say I look up to your determination” <<or your despair>>, he must have been thinking. “Are you sure that’s what you want? I have a dark past, and I’m not precisely trustworthy. If you get involved with me you could have trouble, and once you start there’ll be no turning back. Ever.”

The way he said it was threatening. Maybe he was trying to dissuade me from a path in his opinion all too rough for my short age. But for me it was not like that. I felt nervous and accelerated, as if I were going to be born anew, as if I were going to break the iron bars of my safety cage and show myself naked before the world.

“Do you look up to me? I’m so afraid… and so selfish… I only want to guard her because I need her for living, because if her light fades there will be no future for me. I’m just a coward in need of a weapon. If in order to obtain it I have to get involved wherever I’ll do it, but I’ll never involve her. It’s really what I want; no, it’s really what I need. As I told you, money’s no problem…”

“I don’t want your money. If I ever decided to train you, it’d be something purely vocational. I’m asking the last time. Are you totally sure to abandon your normal life at your 7 years of age and turn into a ‘killing machine’?” He emphasised notably the words ‘killing machine’.

“Killing? But I thought you taught to fight, to defend oneself, to…”

“Don’t get misled, boy. I only teach to fight… to death.”

I was surprised, that was not what I had thought.

“…”

“…”

“But…”

“Please I ask you, turn me into whatever can protect her. A killing machine? Even that will do, I’ll commit my life and future, I’ll do whatever you ask me without complain…”

“Alright, I won’t insist on it anymore. Tomorrow come to my home after classes. If at five in the evening you’re not here, I’ll assume you backed out. I’ll let you try a little of what you’ve chosen.

After hanging up the phone I remained pensive. That was a big mess, too big for such a young child. So big that now indeed, I should really keep my distance from Hime not to get her involved in it. It was something I, and only I, had chosen… and would choose again six more times for her, if I were a cat.

But I had kissed her. But her face full of tears, her concern about looking beautiful before me, was breaking my heart. Would I leave her alone after seeing her like that, with her sorrow, with the obvious dependence she had toward me? (by the way mine toward her could be even worse…)

My chest was tight, as if I were going to vomit my heart at any moment. I felt things were beginning to spin in a whirlpool sucking me in.

Next day was unexpectedly normal, taking into account Hime was no longer in my classroom. I was lucky enough not to run into the bullies neither at the beginning nor at the end of classes, what was appreciated for me; I was in such an unstable situation I could not even suspect what would happen if we met face to face. I felt regret, for not being able to go to visit Hime at the hospital that evening, even more so as I knew she would be awaiting me. <<Who knows, maybe later, after being with Ulysses, I can go see her.>>

There were just a few minutes left until five in the evening, and there I was, beside Ulysses’ main gate, biting my lower lip. He had said ‘if at five in the evening you are not here it will be like you backed out’, or something like that. Ringing the intercom would mean taking the step, leaving all behind… would I really kill anybody? A rich, idle boy like me, a weakling that had never lifted a finger, and had no remarkable skills? <<except for being bullied by others, of course… Ah, and… MAKE HIME HAPPY. THAT’S MY SKILL.>> Her image gave me a flash, about all what had happened, about all she had suffered. And about all she was going to suffer if nobody saved her. <<My Hime turned into a vegetal, her smile gone, her eyes lifeless…>>

I rang. I pressed hard the button, as if sealing my fate precisely in that instant. <<Whatever I have to do, IF IT’S FOR HIME, IT’S ALRIGHT.>>

“Yes?”

“Hello Ulysses, I’m Kotaro.”

“I see. Wait a moment, I’m on my way.”

In few moments he was coming out the main gate. He brought a German shepherd dog with a leash, what surprised me since I did not know he had pets; but I did not say anything about it.

“So you decided to come. Ok, I won’t try to dissuade you anymore, but you’ll have to overcome some tests if you want me to train you.”

“Tests? But I didn’t know that…”

“You weren’t supposed to know. These are surprise tests, they wouldn’t make sense if you had trained for them. Come with me, we’ll go to a place to do them.”

I thought it must not have been a faraway place, taking into account his limping. And indeed, it was a meadow hidden among the bushes, really close to the building but well protected from others’ looks. Ulysses sat down heavily on a rock: “Aaayy. They’re going to be three tests: Determination, cold blood and murderous instinct.”

“…”

“First test:  Give that rock a punch, with all your might.”

“But if I do that I’ll break my hand… and won’t be able to fight or do anything…”

“Well, if you don’t feel happy with this we can leave it here…”

He bewildered me with such a request. Maybe he was testing me, or maybe trying to make me give up on it, or… <<Hime…>> I gained momentum and went again the rock:

“Aaaaahhhhh!”, I threw the strongest punch I could ever have. <<Goodbye to my hand, to my arm, to everything…>> When: ‘crackksss!’ the rock shattered and was pierced by my blow. A lot of small balls floated in the air… There was only one explanation: The rock was made of Styrofoam!

“Hahahaha…!” Ulysses hollered with a dement smile: “Very good, boy, very good…”

“You tricked me! I was prepared to become one-handed!”

“THAT is determination, boy. Don’t forget it.”

“Second test: Stand still here in front of me, and don’t move one millimetre. If you move you’ll have failed the test.”

I went where he told me and stayed there. “Only that? So easy?”

“No, wait. You must remain still, remember.”

He took a stick he had at hand and hit the dog. I thought he was heartless, poor animal, it had not done anything. He struck it several times and, gradually, the hound was getting angrier and angrier. Soon it was showing its fangs, growling and foaming through its mouth. It was really threatening, but I did not close my eyes. I could not even move a little bit.

He handled the leash and tangled it around me, making the beast place itself behind me. From one side he kept on hitting it with the stick.

I was afraid. And I could not run, I could not get away. It was going to bite me, sure it was going to bite me, and I should not make the slightest sound or move. I had to endure it…

It bit me. Several times on the back of my legs, some times on the buttock. I felt how the throbbing blood soaked my trousers in a blend with saliva.

Finally he took the dog away from me: “Good, boy. You’re doing good. There’s just one test left.”

After hearing that I exhaled at once and broke down, touching my calf and thighs in pain, breathing as quickly as a steam train at full throttle.

The last test was something about ‘killing’, <<He won’t ask me to…>> Yes, he asked me to do what I feared most.

“Third test: Kill the dog.”

“But… What bad did the dog do? What has it to do in all of this?”

“Shut up! This is what you’ve chosen, you’ll have to kill many people, no dogs, that didn’t do any bad. If you can’t do it, we finish just here.”

I swallowed my complaints and my excuses not to face the angry animal: <<IF IT’S FOR HIME, IT’S ALRIGHT.>>

“Ok, I’ll do it.” As I replied I thought that man was much worse than I had imagined, someone who had lived a hell and was going to make me live it as well.

“Alright, let’s start. Get ready.” Ulysses grabbed the dog from the collar and loosened the karabiner of the leash.

“I can use weapons, right?”

“That’s it.”

Without further talk I took a medium-sized stone I could throw fast enough, also quite heavy to have some effect on the victim.

“There it goes!” He set the animal free and hit it twice; there it came, towards me, like a fiend. With all my might I threw the stone against its head, aiming to its nose. A high-pitched whimper drilled through my eardrums, and the dog went back some metres. Following it rushed towards me, with even more rage, but I already had another projectile in my hand and repeated the same. This time it fell to the ground.

After the second hit it appeared to be badly injured, and did not come after me anymore. It stood with a certain difficulty and turned back, running away clumsily from me. With tears in my eyes and a spear of guilt piercing my chest I chased after it, with a third stone, and hit its head until it ceased to move. <<IF IT’S FOR HIME IT’S ALRIGHT>>, I repeated to myself, as I wielded up and down the tool of my murder. At the end I could only break into tears like a young child, like the first and last time I could save Hime from the bullies, but in this occasion there was no relief. There was no good reason to do what I did, I just had to do it.

“Congratulations, kid. You did it. How do you feel, ‘killing machine’?”

To top it all he joked… I realised, definitively, Ulysses was totally crazy.

“How do I feel? Ehh… Arrggghhhh…!” I vomited right there, before him, for his amusement.

He was having a good time: “Ok, don’t say it, hahahaha…!”

“Come on boy. Come to my home, I’ll heal your wounds. Tomorrow we’ll start with your training.”

When I left his house it was little after seven in the evening. I would have had enough time to visit Hime in the hospital, but I had no courage. After what I had just done, seeing her, looking at her face… I felt unable. I feared if at that moment I came close to her I would tarnish her purity; with my hands dirty of blood… and with my eyes dirty of death.

The next day my ‘teacher’ was waiting for me in the meadow, after school. I was impatient to learn to fight, but met my first disappointment.

“Before anything else you must learn to perceive the world surrounding you, with all your senses…”

I did not even know such a thing could be done. It took me longer than expected, since I thought it would be something really simple and without importance. But I was mistaken. My master would diligently give me ‘homework’ for home. And warn me, “If you don’t do your homework don’t bother to come back, I won’t continue to teach you until you’ve finished it.”

At least the training allowed me enough free time to go to see my Hime. Her wounds were already improving, little by little. She had not put makeup on her again, since I ‘caught’ her. I recall the day after the tests I went to visit her…

“Helloooo… How is my favourite patient?” <<Oh god, what big cheeks… this is going to be complex…>>

“Ugu! Why didn’t you come yesterday? You left me here alone, left out and forsaken…!”

“Well, I had to do something…”

“Ah, yes? And what was such an important thing for you to forget about me?”

“Eh… er… I had to…”

“you had to…?” She tilted slightly her head and raised her gaze, in a meaningful gesture inquiring my excuses. In no way I could tell her what had happened the previous day, let alone my plans to look after her ‘in the shadows’… And what was I going to say? I needed to make something up; something good enough for her not to suspect…

“Eh… do you remember the punishment of sweeping the whole classroom? Yesterday I made the teacher angry, and had to stay cleaning until night.”

“And… what did you do?”

That was the worst part. I had to come up with something at least moderately coherent. That punishment was special, they would not use it on you for something mild like falling asleep in class.

“Well…”

“And so?”

“I touched the teacher’s bottom.”

“WHAAAAAAT? But how could you do such a thing?

“So I leave you alone for two days and you turn into the worst of the worst pervert? And to top it all off you like grandmas!”

“No, I didn’t do it on purpose…”

“Ah, no? And then what happened, your hand moved on its own?”

“Not quite… The thing is, she had a fly.”

“A fly?”

“Yes, she had a fly on her bottom and I tried to kill it.”

Even I could realise nobody would believe such a story. It was absurd… My face reflected despair, I was not good at lying but I could not let her know either…. I neither knew what to say, nor where to look. I knew I could not deceive her. Not her; she knew me all too well.

“Ah, I see. And you managed to kill the fly?”

I could see a shade of understanding in her gaze. She was ‘sparing my life’, pretending she had believed the enormous fairy tale…

 “Not only that, but it got away, and all the class burst in laughs saying that ‘the teacher and I were a couple’, that we were going to marry and so on… Please, when you come back to school don’t say anything about the topic or I’ll die of shame.”

Suddenly, an enraged glare…

“It’s not true that you like that grandma, right…? Marry her…?”

For sure she was playing along with me.

“Don’t dwell on it, that was only said in class…”

“Yes, of course, but you touched that grandma’s bottom and with me you haven’t even tried…”

“What are you muttering? Did you say anything? I couldn’t hear you well…”

‘Knock, knock!’ The door of the room was knocked:

“Time for visits is over, you have to go already.”

“Understood, I leave soon.”

“Ugu, Kota, don’t go…”

“I’ll come again tomorrow, I promise.”

“But why do you come so late? You used to come just after classes!”

“That’s… I’ll explain you that tomorrow, there’s no time now.”

Her cheeks were again like two balloons about to explode.

“By the way… what’s that you have there?”

“What? Where?”

“Ah! What an ugly bug! It’s the first time I see something like that!”

“Ehhh? No! Get rid of it! Hurry up! Get rid of it now!”

“Hold on, I’ll kill it…”

“There!”

‘Slap!!’ I gave her a spank on her bottom… still today I cannot forget, hahaha…

“Ahhh! It was true! You are a damned pervert! And you don’t care if they’re old or young! Every woman is in danger!”

“Ok, ok. I’ll see you tomorrow, then…”

As I was about to leave through the door, there were the nurses again.

“Watch out! He’s a pervert! He’ll touch all of your bottoms!”

“Don’t say that… Ah, it’s true, this nurse has a really big bug on…”

“Nooo! Perveeeert!”

“Hahaha…!” As if by magic I forgot the bitter gulp I had during the tests, and recalled what I had sworn to protect. <<IF IT’S FOR HIME IT’S ALRIGHT>>, those words gained a renewed meaning in my mind.

“Boy, I don’t know what you do, but when you leave she’s always all lively…” One of the nurses said. In response I just smiled: <<Indeed, it’s better if they don’t know ‘what I do’, or I’ll be in trouble.>> I took advantage of the occasion to ask to one of them:

“Will Hime take long to come back to school?”

“No, perhaps around two weeks… Don’t be impatient, she must recover properly from her wounds.”

“Ok, I’ll try…”

I headed towards the exit of the hospital, and following to my house.

I had at most two weeks. That is what the nurse said.  Two weeks to turn that school into a safe place for Hime, where she had nothing to fear. And how was I going to erase the terror from her gaze? How was I going to erase the terror she felt inside?

The only capable of helping me was Ulysses, for better or worse.

The next day I did not waste time: I brought up the topic as soon as I saw him:

“Ulysses…!”

He must have suspected something, since he looked me aside, with a gesture of mistrust:

“Yes?”

“I need to get rid of those bullies, the ones I talked you about, within two weeks. Or scare them for good, or whatever. Something that makes them not get near Hime ever again.”

“Eh?” Just now, if I think of the face he pulled, I would say it was of ‘fake surprise’: “Two weeks? But you think that in two weeks…? This doesn’t work like that, boy.”

“I’ll pay you…”

All of a sudden he put on a really serious expression:

“You’d better not talk about money again. I think I made it clear already.”

“Yes, but…”

It looked like he was holding inside a stronger reply.

“We can make a deal: If you teach me now a technique to give them a real beating, later I’ll learn whatever and however you tell me to.”

“No, boy. The problem is not only the technique. You lack strength, and that for sure cannot be trained in a mere two weeks.”

“But then Hime…”

“Well, there’s still a way…”

“Yes? What way?”

“I can train you on close combat and give you a weapon. But you must take care to attack them one by one. If some time you come across two of them together, you’ll be done.”

“And with that you think they won’t disturb Hime anymore?”

“Just with a beating? Ah boy. I’m afraid not. You’ll have to injure them so that they’re some months out of school. In that way, when they’re back from the hospital you’ll be already better prepared to face them.”

I loved the idea: “Ok! When are we starting?”

“Just now.”

“Goood!”

“But remember, when this issue is over you’ll have to retake your ‘sensitive training’ where you left it, build the house from the foundation.”

“Ok, understood.”

And so Ulysses began my instruction in close combat techniques, which according to his own words, were almost all of them ‘sportingly illegal’ or something like that.

Every day I visited Hime she was a little better. That encouraged me. But at the bottom of her eyes still laid fear; I knew that, I could see it. Like a flower in the storm, she would become the most beautiful. And I would make sure she were well. The accelerated training was indeed tough, and I would end up exhausted. The calendar drew on relentlessly, and only a few days were left until she were discharged from the hospital.

“Tomorrow don’t come to train. Go hunting. Don’t forget, cover your face with a black balaclava; and wear little flashy clothes, that you’ve never used, and will never use again.

Later I was with Hime…

“Kota, is anything wrong?”

“No, why do you think that?”

“You’re nervous…”

“Nervous? No, I’m not nervous, hehe”

“Yes, of course; that’s why your hands are shivering and you’re sweating.”

“It’s just that tomorrow there’s a very difficult exam…”

“Ugu! And you don’t tell me anything? I can help you with whatever you don’t understand…”

“Ok, but only when you’re healthy again. For now just rest.”

‘Muacks’

“Ehh? What are you doing?” Hime blushed when I kissed her forehead.

“You’re weird…”

“Don’t say that… It’s to make it heal sooner.”

Then I hugged her tightly.

“Kota…?”

“Is it also bad if I hug you?”

“No, but… Tomorrow you’ll come to see me, right?”

“Of course, like always, you know that.”

It seems she had understood my attitude as a ‘possible farewell’, and looked worried. Hime returned my hug with sincere energy, as though she wanted to soothe my nervousness.

As I opened the door to leave the room I stared at her. That could be the last time I saw her. And recited, in my mind: <<IF IT’S FOR HIME, IT’S ALRIGHT.>>   The story continues here: The Gladiator's Soul chapter 14