Fighting Spirit Burst

Kure Fusui pursed her lips apologetically. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. It's been so long since I saw such an interesting expert."

Hearing that, Kure Karura was puzzled. "Why? I haven't told you about Arisa's brother yet, have I?"

Kure Fusui nodded. "Actually, I saw this on my way here—look!"

The motorcycle took another turn, still staying near Shiraki Uke's house.

Following Kure Fusui's pointing finger, Karura saw a freestanding punching bag lying in the roadside weeds, separated from the dojo's open lot by a single wall. Its canvas covering had been torn apart, and its stuffing was scattered across the ground.

"This is..."

Kure Karura examined its trajectory. There was no doubt that the punching bag had flown out of Shiraki Uke's property.

Aside from the wild guess that Arisa was also a top-tier expert, there was only one possibility—

Shiraki Uke had punched the bag apart and sent it flying over the wall!

"That's a punching technique I've never seen before!" Karura grew even more curious. "It's not just karate. What style does Arisa's brother actually practice?"

"No idea..."

Kure Fusui put on her sunglasses and grinned. "Your exams are coming up soon, aren't they? I don't have many assassination jobs lately, so leave the investigation to me. I quite like this kind of leisurely activity."

Even after the Wu sisters left, Arisa still hadn't recovered from her delight.

Finally, Shiraki Uke patted his sister on the shoulder. "This is a rare opportunity, so I'll cook tonight. What vegetables are left in the fridge?"

"Ah... oh." Arisa paused. "Onions, potatoes, and carrots."

"All right, curry tonight!"

Shiraki Uke nodded, then looked at the dojo, which was now in danger of collapse. "There's still a lot to deal with. The match in three days, the debt to the Teiai Group, rehabilitation training, repairs to the dojo, how to make money afterward... Oh, right, I still need to bring the punching bag back. It'll still be usable with a few patches. That thing was pretty expensive..."

Sakurai Arisa simply listened in silence.

Ever since Shiraki Uke fell ill, Arisa hadn't seen her brother like this!

After muttering to himself a little longer, Shiraki Uke looked at his sister again. He felt like he had a lot to say, but couldn't find a way to say it all.

"Thanks for everything you've done these past few years."

"Mm."

"You can take it easier from now on. It'd be good to go out and have fun with your classmates, and make more friends."

"Mm!"

"And don't worry about me anymore."

"...Hm?"

Arisa's last response was a question, full of distrust. Shiraki Uke was taken aback, but then realized that, as expected of his sister, she knew he wasn't the type to settle down.

Just like the "Baki" Kozue Matsumoto talked about, Shiraki Uke was bound to give Arisa cause to worry—especially with a massive debt of thirty million hanging over him!

"Brother, for example," Arisa said quietly, "what did you mean just now by 'the match in three days'?"

Three days later, evening.

The underground fight against a Kengan fighter was about to begin.

The Teiai Group's men in black and a Sanjigumi underboss drove over together.

Chapter 4: Fighting Spirit Burst

To prevent the siblings from running away, the Sanjigumi's underlings had also kept watch nearby for three days.

A pleasant breeze had picked up that evening.

The Sanjigumi underboss, Inoue Sugaya, arrived at the Shiraki family's open lot as agreed, accompanied by two of Teiai Group's debt collectors in black.

Shiraki Uke was standing in the lot, facing a punching bag that had been patched up many times.

The underboss was about to raise a hand in greeting when Arisa suddenly emerged from the prefabricated metal house and interrupted him. "It's still early, isn't it? My brother is warming up, so please don't disturb him."

"What a hassle."

The underboss glanced at his watch but didn't object, though he was a little annoyed.

He paced back and forth on the grass, lit a cigarette, and muttered, "A brain-damaged cripple should just go and take his beating. What's he putting on airs here for..."

As he spoke, the underboss suddenly noticed that the two Teiai men in black had frozen in place, both wearing looks of disbelief.

"Huh?"

He turned to look at Shiraki Uke, who was warming up.

Uke stood sideways as before, his left shoulder raised and arm held defensively, his right arm bent and raised, his weight balanced between the ball of his front foot and the heel of his rear foot.

It was "Ryu's" fighting stance, built around combining offense and defense.

Moving forward, he could throw a lead-hand jab or a powerful rear-hand strike; retreating, he could protect his chin and most of his body; in motion, he could quickly slide forward or backward.

Though it had only been three days, Shiraki Uke had a foundation to build on. With Ryu's phantom available for reference at every moment of his training, he had already grasped most of the basics of Ryu's fighting stance.

"Hah!"

After taking a deep breath, Shiraki Uke pulled back his left hand and threw an uppercut, twisting his whole body with the motion. His right leg swept out in a mid-level kick, and finally he returned to his stance.

It was an utterly ordinary combination of movements, but the key was that Shiraki Uke moved extremely slowly, without the slightest deviation.

At every instant, he looked like an ancient Greek statue, his entire body frozen in place. The definition of his bare upper-body muscles was clearly visible, so much so that one could see exactly which muscle was exerting force!

"Inhale! Exhale..."

With each breath, everything around him seemed to pulse in rhythm with Shiraki Uke's concentration.

He stared straight ahead.

For a moment, the underboss and the two men in black all widened their eyes, mistakenly believing that Shiraki Uke was facing not a punching bag, but some hulking opponent!

"Here I come!"

Shiraki Uke let out a low shout and drove his rear foot hard against the ground. His front foot followed a fraction later, turning his whole body and propelling him forward in a swift sliding step.

Whoosh!

This footwork pushed explosive power to its limit, allowing for a high-speed burst over a short distance. It had originally been intended to evade Kure Fusui's gunfire, then finally began to take shape under the pressure of Ryu's straight punches.

It was called [Fighting Spirit Burst]!

But just as the underboss and the men in black were staring in shock, something unexpected happened again—

Bang!

Something went flying backward, but it wasn't the punching bag. It was Shiraki Uke, who had charged forward!

As if something had knocked him flying, Shiraki Uke hit the ground and rolled several times before slamming heavily into the wall and finally coming to a stop.

The punching bag, meanwhile, merely swayed gently back and forth, without shifting an inch from its position.

"What happened?!"

The underboss and the men in black were all dumbstruck, unable to make sense of what had happened.

A man had actually been sent flying by a punching bag!?

It was the sort of claim even a science fiction novel wouldn't make lightly!

Shiraki Uke spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and sprang to his feet with a kip-up. Only then did he notice the people who had been waiting for some time.

"Sorry for the wait. I'll change my clothes."

He blew the remaining blood from his nose, wiped his face clean with a towel, and changed into a clean set of clothes, ready to leave.

The underboss and the men in black exchanged glances, utterly baffled by what they had just seen. But it was nearly time, so they could only set off first and ask about it later.

After Shiraki Uke got into the car, his sister Sakurai Arisa tried to follow, but he stopped her.

"We had an agreement."

Shiraki Uke rubbed Arisa's head. "You can't come this time. Besides, it's only my comeback match. There's nothing much to see, right?"

Arisa was worried, but she nodded all the same.

Shiraki Uke breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn't a rigid person. If tonight really had been a "Kengan match," most of the spectators would have been members of financial conglomerates or even government dignitaries. In that case, there would have been no harm in letting Arisa come along, since her safety would have had some guarantee.

But tonight's event was an "underground fight against a Kengan fighter," with yakuza involved, and the level of danger was unknown.

"Exactly. We're not responsible for babysitting!"

The underboss sat in the front passenger seat, curled his lip, and signaled for the man in black to drive.

On the road, the other man in black, seated beside Shiraki Uke in the back, found himself glancing at his face.

Faint bruises were visible on it to the naked eye, marks from a beating.

"Hey..."

The man in black asked, puzzled, "Don't tell me you went looking for someone to spar with during these three days?"

Shiraki Uke thought for a moment and shook his head. "Looking for someone... I don't think that counts. I just did some simulated practice, like the shadowboxing used in boxing training."