Chapter 3

Kyoya held his breath. In his vision, Kenichi was holding a target pad, about to be raised any moment. Standing on the tip of his sneakers, he felt his bodyweight being evenly distributed on both legs, resulting in significantly faster movements. Suddenly, Kyoya noticed a shift in Kenichi`s center of mass.

Immediately he took a momentum step, with the stepping foot pointed backwards. Tucking his hips and chambering his leg, Kyoya turned his head around to spot the target. His pupils expanded right as they saw the pad, and Kyoya shot out his leg. The spinning hook kick drew a beautiful parabola across the air, but it was a bit too low, as his feet only grazed the pad.

Kenichi felt a gust of wind brushed his face, before Kyoya`s leg landed. Returning to the neutral position, he let out a sigh.

“Your hips are too stiff. You need to bend backwards more as you shoot out your leg, or best align it with your thigh. That allows more flexibility in your kick.”

“Hai”- Kyoya answered with a long face.

“Hey don`t worry, fighting isn`t all about high kicks. Low kicks are very effective too. And I plan to teach you just that today: the leg kick!”

Sparing a moment to look at Kyoya`s surprised eyes, he continued

“Even though they are not available in official WF Taekwondo, leg kicks are very effective attacks. Their main use is to deal stacking damage to the opponent`s leg. Over the course of a fight, if you repeatedly strike their leg, your opponent would, legitimately, just fall down. This technique is extra effective in fighting bigger opponents, however you shouldn`t when you are against gangs.”

“Sou![Right] since they are heavier their weight will put a lot more pressure on their leg! So if you weaken those, the gravity of their torso will exceed the load that their leg can hold and…”

“Yea yea I get it. Let`s get to practice.”

After a while of explaining, Kenichi tied 3 shield pads onto a tree. As Kyoya hit the target, he was taught to either use the recoil to snap his leg back or folding his leg and follow through for spinning combos.

“Another thing is, when you miss you definitely need to follow through, and remember to check as soon as you see your opponent.”

They continued their training in the scarlet dusk. The sun was blood red. Once again.

Kyoya was walking towards a luxurious looking house. The brick walls stood six times taller than him, making this place seem impregnable, and also inescapable. With each step, he felt as if he was bringing himself closer to the beast`s den. Taking the final step, Kyoya was in front of the door, rooted. He hesitated, as an invisible pressure built up inside his chest. He pressed the bell. The camera threw him a gaze, before a cheery voice answered his call.

“Haaii~ coming~”

The door swung opened, revealing an elegant girl. With a gleeful voice, she greeted Kyoya. Avoiding her gaze, he went inside, and was told to do various chores like dishes and cooking. As he was nodding submissively, in his mind he prayed that Emiko wouldn`t say those words.

(Please don`t mention it… Please don`t mention it… Please don`t…)

“And since our parents won`t be home tonight, let`s have some fun hehe”

Her voice was like that of the judge declaring a death sentence for him. Losing all will to resist, Kyoya proceed to take a shower and do what he was told. Meanwhile, Emiko was upstairs preparing whatever treatments Kyoya would receive later. Every single noise he heard from that room sent chills down his spine. He felt as if he was a pig, waiting to be butchered. After they have finished dinner, Emiko ordered him to wash himself again, and go to her room afterwards.

Behind him, the door was shut then locked with a click. The only way in and out was cut off. As Emiko drawn closer and closer, Kyoya felt the slightly aromatic air became thicker and thicker, to the point that he could not breathe. She was smiling, crookedly.