"Huff… Huff…"

Jock breathed heavily, wiped sweat off his forehead, and as he turned to look at unconscious Oritori, he finally realized what he did.

He… won?

It was a scenario that shouldn't have happened, as all he had to do was make sure that he wasn't going to lose.

But he went further and beyond.

"…Uh."

The physical education teacher, who was acting as the referee, looked stunned as well and forgot to do his refereeing job for a moment.

He knew Jock very well.

He was one of the students who never gave their all during physical education classes.

Whenever he gave the order to run at full speed around the track, Jock was jogging. Whenever they played Punch Ball or any other sport, he was making minimal effort.

The teacher didn't think that he was lazy but just lacked motivation and self-esteem to try his best.

It was because he was always the weakest, and he was certainly thinking that even if he gave it his all, he would still lose.

So what was the point?

Now that young man was standing in the ring, victorious.

"Good job, Jock!"

At that moment, Cleo disturbed the silence and excitedly clapped her hands together with a big smile on her face.

The crowd reacted and started clapping as well.

"The winner is Jock! He will go to the next round alongside Cleo!"

The physical education teacher shouted.

"Yes!"

Jock's parents were excitedly clapping their hands, extremely proud, and relieved that it went hundred times better than they expected.

Cleo's parents were very surprised.

"…Whoo."

Kiernan let out the breath that he had been holding in all this time.

If he said that he wasn't feeling nervous, he was lying. He was extremely nervous, and it did go better than he expected.

He almost didn't teach Jock that defensive counter yesterday, as he didn't think that Jock would need it.

In the end, he thought that defensive counter had its own risks included.

If he missed and failed the knee-kick, he was definitely going to lose the match, and perhaps it would've been better to just dodge the tackles.

However, in the end, he decided on teaching him the defensive counter, believing that it was worth the risk.

'…I won?'

Jock looked surprised and left the ring—still with the same look of surprise in his face—and at that moment, Cleo excitedly ran to him.

"You did amazingly! What a perfect counter at the end. It was perfectly timed. I didn't know you were that good of a fighter!"

Cleo's eyes were literally sparkling with pride and admiration.

"…Me neither."

Jock mumbled under his breath.

It was such a quiet whisper that Cleo didn't hear him, and they then made their way back to their bench.

Every student was looking at them with serious expressions.

They thought they would be easy opponents because of Jock, but now it wasn't the case, as he was actually quite skilled.

"Good job."

In that moment, Lumian walked over with a smile on his face.

His partner, Della, didn't come, as she was still sulking over in the locker room, as the match didn't end as she liked.

"T-Thanks…"

Jock said awkwardly.

"That was Iron Style, wasn't it?"

Lumian asked.

"…You know of it?"

Jock said in surprise.

'Iron Style?'

Cleo tilted her head, crossed her arms, and then had a look of realization as she suddenly remembered that style's name.

She remembered Kiernan Hunter's information shown during the tournament against Animal Kingdom.

She was pretty certain that his martial art was Iron Style.

'Does that mean Jock is his student? Kiernan was able to teach him to this extent in only a week? Unbelievable…'

Cleo's heart started racing with excitement.

"I am familiar with it. Your counter at the end was pretty beautiful. However, Master Kiernan hasn't taught you to attack, isn't that right?"

Lumian asked.

"…"

Jock stayed quiet.

"What do you mean, Lumian? He attacked at the end."

Cleo said with a raised eyebrow.

"That wasn't an attack. It was a defensive counter."

Lumian said and then turned back to Jock, seeing his complex expression.

"Your hands hurt, don't they? You aren't conditioned well enough to parry the attacks of a vastly stronger opponent."

Jock's hands were indeed trembling. The adrenaline hadn't run out completely, so he didn't know the extent of it just yet.

Oritori was a High Stage Martial Recruit, and while the gap between ranks wasn't that enormous during the early martial ranks, there was still a difference.

Whenever Jock smacked his fists aside, it felt the same as smacking his hands against a steel pipe.

Therefore, he wasn't quite able to escape the first match without any injuries.

"I hope you make it to the finals. I'd love to test myself against your defense."

Lumian said, and headed back to Della, his tall back looming over Jock with overwhelming presence.

"You alright?"

Cleo asked with a worry in her tone.

"Yeah…"

Jock formed a fist with his trembling hand and took a deep breath.

…

An hour later, the Block B matches also concluded, and the semi-finals started.

The history teacher of the school rolled the updated whiteboard to the gymnasium. It had the new matches written down.

The number of the teams participating was cut in half.

***

[BLOCK A]

[Caitlin + Peter vs. Lumian + Della]

[Ethan + Kitty vs. Cleo + Jock]

***

[BLOCK B]

[Daggan + Snow vs. Toshiro + Meiyun]

[Sophie + Rickord vs. Minnie + Markus]

***

"Here. I saw that you weren't wearing any white tape. It could help you to avoid getting your hands hurt."

Cleo said, handing Jock some white tape, and he accepted it with a grateful nod.

He didn't quite know how to wrap his hands with the white tape, so it looked quite awkward, but then Cleo grabbed his hands, making him blush, and tightly wrapped the tape around them.

"There~"

Cleo said with a smile.

"…Thank you."

Jock nodded, and tested forming fists with his taped hands. It was slightly more difficult, but it was fine.

"…How many students does your master have?"

Cleo asked curiously.

"Only me."

Jock said with a wry smile.

"…Is he looking for more students?"

Cleo asked shyly, side-glancing at him with a nervous look.

"Yes, he is… Are you…"

Jock heard the second meaning of her words and turned to look at her in surprise.

She nodded with a smile.

"What about the Ok Family dojo?"

"That place is not for me. In martial arts, you must follow your heart, and I feel so stuck with the Ok Family style.

"I want to try something different."

Cleo said.

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