four

man alive!

"Let's see what you've got, Nerd Girl."

"Should I be filming this?" The older man chuckled "Is she about to mop the floor with you?"

"Shut up Seki!" Murayama fired back

I grinned, taking off my jacket "I should remind you that I'm a four time national champion."

"Oh, I'm well aware."

I pointed at my Docs. "Should I take these off? They're steel toed and would probably hurt like hell."

"If he got a concussion, it wouldn't be anything new." Furuya chuckled as I changed my shoes.

Murayama scowled at his companions before he began to stretch. It looked like overkill to me, but I was really out of shape and hadn't really trained properly in a while. This could go either way for me.

We stood in the center of the mat, facing each other. I thought back to my fighting days: my slightly bloodstained white gi, sweaty locker rooms, continental breakfast and celebrity guests to open tournaments. I met Kento Yamazaki at a tournament once. It was pretty cool. All of us standing in our undergarments waiting to get on a scale for weigh ins. The later days when I used to fold in on myself to hide the extra skin I thought I had on my stomach, to make my boobs look smaller.

I subtly jerked my head to one side, trying to shake away the bad memories invading my mind. Instead I tired to think about all the better fights from my high school days. I'd almost made it to Top, but I just couldn't beat the guy. I thought it was laughable that I was the only girl to bother getting involved, but whatever.

We didn't wait for anybody to tell us to start, Murayama throwing the first punch. I blocked it, delivering a swift kick to the stomach. He didn't double over, so he must have had abs of steel or something. I wasted no time trying to land a few more punches, most of which he ended up blocking.

I roundhoused the side of his head, both of us toppling to the ground. Seki and Furuya sprung out of their seats, anxious to see what was going on. I was more interested in getting a choke hold, but Murayama still wanted to punch his way out of this. With a few quick movements, I was on my back, legs on either side of his arm, pulling back into an arm bar i learned when I was like twelve.

"You've gotta surrender, Hot Shot." I grinned "You'll break your arm if you keep this up."

"Fine." The boy said, pausing his writhing movements on the floor. "You win this one, Nerd Girl."

We got back up, immediately springing back into sparring. We were starting to attract attention, a steady stream of Oya students filing into the mat room to see us. I'm sure they found it amusing that I, a girl they'd never seen before, was beating their precious Murayama Yoshiki.

He ended up winning the second round, but I got the other two.

"I haven't been in a fight like this since I was eighteen." I breathed in between one of our rounds.

"Doesn't feel like it." Murayama panted

Behind us, two first years in Hawaiian shirts were sitting on an overturned filing cabinet, staring intensely.

"She's incredible." the dark haired one spoke first

The blonde shook his head "I feel like I know her from somewhere."

Murayama and I launched back into our full-scale brawl, and I was finally gaining the upper hand. For a little man, he sure could fight. Yesterday's sparring was light compared to this. I spun quickly on my heel to avoid a punch, bringing up my knee to catch Murayama in the stomach. He fought back quickly, with a punch to the jaw that sent me straight to the floor with a sickening thump.

I cursed, wheezing as I tired to get my breath back. My back hurt like hell.

"Alright, show's over!" Seki shouted, moving over to where I was lying on the mat.

Todoroki herded some of the first years out, looking back over at me hesitantly. Hell, I was the only other nerd in the building so he probably just wanted to make sure Murayama hadn't killed me.

"You alright, kid?" Furuya asked, extending a hand to help me up.

"Yeah." I winced, sitting up. "It's been a while, I'm probably just out of shape."

The mat room cleared almost as fast as it had originally filled up, the two mystery first years the last to file out. I guess now that nobody was getting beat up, there was no point in sticking around.

I got to my feet, Murayama and his two closet friends crowding around me to make sure I was okay to stand.

Honestly, it was the last thing I expected from Oya Kokoh guys.

"That was incredible seeing as how you haven't fought in.." Furuya paused, trying to do the math in his head

Murayama started counting on his fingers, Seki mumbling numbers under his breath. I laughed, quickly supplying them with the answer. "Six years. I quit judo when I was eighteen, stopped getting into fist fights a few weeks later when I had to start looking good for college back in Okinawa."

I sat down on an overturned bookshelf draped in one of the many Oya high flags and dug around in my bag for the Corningware dish my lunch was in. I hadn't had a chance to eat yet, and since Daichi went on a mystery lunch date, it looked like I had two Corningware bowls to empty.

I peeled off the lid, taking away the extra layer of tinfoil that I had included to hold in the warmth. Inside the bowl, I had made my own variation on chicken noodle soup: pasta shells with fried chicken strips in chicken broth with chunks of ham and oregano. It was one of my favourite things to make, especially back on the Island.

I started eating, completely unaware of the stares I was receiving. I paused, spoon halfway to my mouth when I turned to look at Seki and Murayama.

"What?"

"That smells amazing." Muaryama remarked "Can't remember the last time I had a decent meal."

"Does nobody cook for you guys?"

"I'll barbecue." Seki said "But that's like once a month. What even is that?" He gestured to the pastel colored dish.

I told them what it was and could see them start drooling at the corners of their mouths.

Men.

"Do you guys want some? My roommate didn't take his, he was goign out for lunch so I brought it to class for a friend of mine but he had a lunch date so I have an extra dish."

Murayama lunged fro my bag. "I was literally waiting for you to ask."

I chuckled as the guys picked apart the bucket that had all my cutlery in it before fighting to try and open the container.

"This is phenomenal." Furuya remarked

"Can you cook for us all the time?" Murayama pleaded

"You guys are like overgrown children." I laughed "But, clearly I'm going to be here a lot more, so I can bring leftovers when I come to spar."

"You're literally an angel." Muryama grinned

"Don't I know it."

Once the four of us had finished eating, Murayma decided to give me a formal tour of Oya. It wasn't really anything special: poor lighting, every wall was covered in graffiti, things were broken from where fights had broken out.

I genuinely had a hard time believing that he lived there full time.

I saw those same two kids from earlier sitting in an empty classroom, deep in conversation. the blonde one squinted in concentration when he laid eyes on me. He looked a little familiar, like maybe I knew a sibling of his or something.

I followed Muryaama up yet another flight of stairs. This stairwell looked less used. It was darker and not covered in nearly as much graffiti.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I asked nervously, on edge from my previous experiences with S.W.O.R.D "I'm not gonna get murdered today, right?"

Murayama laughed. "No, baka. I want to show you something." He pushed a door open, motioning for me to go first.

I headed through the doorway, the edge of my once pristine white vans dipping into a muddy puddle. I looked around, my breath catching in my throat as I realized where we were.

"Murayama, I'm not great with heights."

"You'll be fine." He laughed, grabbing my hand and pulling me further along the rooftop to where a couch had been set up, the wooden spool from a coil of wire posing as a makeshift coffee table.

It brought back some of my own memories of high school: how the school's top fighter would skive off all his classes to sit on his stupid futon on the stupid roof to wait for challengers. He was a coward and an asshole, but he was good fighter, I'd give him that. I must have fought him at least three times a week trying to get that top spot, but ultimately I knew my place.

"The view up here is amazing." I mused, standing on top of the wire spool coffee table to get a better look. "Must be incredible when it's all lit up at night."

Murayama chuckled, pulling two cans of beer out from the pockets of his blue bomber jacket. He offered me one with a smile. "It's better from the edge."

I laughed, popping the can open. "Not a chance."

"What, are you scared?" He mocked as I jumped down from the table with a laugh

"Come on." He pressed "I'll let you hold my hand."

"Well," I grinned "when you put it like that."

I wrapped my arm around the shorter boy's free arm, and we walked closer to the edge of the rooftop. We could see almost all the way to Sannoh from up here.

I sat down next to the concrete block that was stopping people from falling off the edge, sinking as far down as I could to possibly shield myself from falling over the edge. But Murayama was right: the view was definitely better when I was closer.

"You're an incredible fighter." Murayama said quietly. "You really gave me a run for my money back there."

I chuckled, kicking him in the ankle to try and getting him to sit down. "Thanks. Now sit, I don't want you falling over the side."

"And what you said earlier about dressing to try and impress people?" Murayama shook his head. "You don't need to do that here. You've earned your spot. Oya High is your second home now. I'm looking forward to seeing more of you, Nerd Girl."

NOTES!

so that was long as hell-

so I finally finalized the plot for 'if you think this is real life'!

here we go:

'following her step father's death, gillian wagner sets off fro japan with only two clues in mind: letters from a man named tatsuya and a jacket with the logo for the mugen racing team on the back. still grieving and struggling with her sobriety, gilly is on a mission to find out what exactly her step father was hiding, and the kind of person he truly was.'

anyways, i should be editing other stuff but this is my comfort bok so expect more updates on this.