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Sethos threw a glance at his phone.The time was 14:24, his training session would start in a few minutes.Suddenly, dread pulled in his gut. He really wished he was home.Why does he even stay back for 2 practises nowadays? The notification that popped up on his phone quickly distracted him from his lamentations.
Dehya:yo do you have any plans for today?
You:Yeah, 3 hours in the torture labyrinth
Dehya:ooooh yeah you had karate today
I forgot
beat everyones ass!!!!
You:Ofc Ofc
I gtg now ttyl!!!
Without waiting for a response, Sethos threw his phone into his bag and left the changing room.All the kids were lined up at the edge of the tatami, waiting for the last few to leave the changing room.One of his senseis, Bamoun, was waiting by the table near the entrance. Sethos, without showing his inner disdain for having to be there on a saturday in the first place, rushed to his place at the start of the line, as he was the tallest and had the highest ranking in the first practise group.
There were three groups, the first consisted of younger children and started at 14:30. The second had older kids and started at 16:00, accounting for the fact that most kids of that age finished their school lessons at a later time.The third harboured kindergarten age children and started at 17:30.Unlike the former two,it only last an hour.Sethos always attended 2 groups in a day, making his practise time 3 entire hours, but he couldn’t stay for the last one as he still had schoolwork to complete.
The clock hit half past two and practise started as usual
…………..
It was during mid-autumn. One of the many local tournaments was taking place. Sethos had taken second place in the kata category, losing only to Cyno. He wasn’t ever hoping to beat Cyno in kata, so he was happy with his result. He had only been a green belt back then, and Cyno only a rank higher, a blue belt. In a few moments, the kumite for older children would take place. Cyno and Sethos had to compete with older kids, since there was no one else in their age and belt category.
One of his senpais, a pleasant black belt girl come up to him to warn him. “Sethos! I’ve been searching for you everywhere! You know that you’re gonna be competing with older kids, right?”
Sethos nodded. “Of course I know, Nargiz Senpai! You don’t have to worry for me, I chose this myself”, and that had been true.
“Don’t be afraid of them just because they’re a few years older, Seth. This should be a piece of cake for you!”
“Of course! I won’t back down.” And with that, Sethos said his goodbyes and left to prepare for his upcoming match.
Sethos watched as Cyno won his first match. He was next. As he stepped onto the tatami, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it had been Cyno.
“You can do it, Sethos.”
Sethos smiled and nodded.
The main judges voice rang through the hall as he gestured at the two participants. “Aka, shiro, nagai.”
Sethos’ heart rate picked up as he walked forward. First he bowed to the judge, and then to his opponent, who had been an older looking boy of higher stature. An entire head taller than Sethos.. But that wouldn’t scare him off!
The match went by pretty fast. At first, his opponent received a warning for accidentally landing a punch on his throat. Sethos was able to snag a waza-ari before the match ended.
A few people came up to him to congratulate him, and Cyno gave him an affirming nod before stepping onto the tatami in preparation for his own match.
Cyno had lost the second match, which was a surprise to all.The person Cyno last to was a 2nd blue belt, bulky and unbelievably tall for his age. All in all, an unjust match in every way.
Next, Sethos was up against one of his groupmates, who was just a rank higher than him. This time, Sethos could hear far more voices cheering for him, calling his name, instructing him on what to do next. The praise motivated him in a way it had never been before, even if some of the instructions were.. Questionable.
Sethos won with 2 waza-aris. As he stepped off the mat, one of the judges who had trained with him before nudged him.”You’re doing great out there! Maybe you’ll even surprise us with a gold this time?”, to which Sethos smiled and nodded.
Soon came the time for the final match. Sethos was up against the person who had won over Cyno. Anxiety pooled in his gut, but he tried to not pay it any mind. The match had started.
Sethos lost 2:1. That means he would receive another silver medal. But Sethos didn’t seem to be bothered by that at all, as he stepped onto the podium with a smile. He was proud. Maybe he didn’t get the first place, but his loss wasn’t one to be ashamed of at all. He had performed better than he ever had before, hell, he had outperformed the majority of his peers! He had only lost to someone who outmatched him in every way possible! How could he ever win over someone who had defeated Cyno?
His train of thought was interrupted as the judge, the one who had praised him, had came over to hang the medals on his neck. “Our little champion”, he smiled and moved onto the next contestant. Pride bloomed in Sethos’ chest as he grinned for the picture. It was a genuine, toothy grin that made his cheeks ache. He had never felt this happy before.
…………..
His sorrowful reminiscing of the days past was cut off as his second sensei, Cyrus, came in. Cyno had arrived with him. Bamoun’s voice diverted everyones attention to him.”Alright, everybody! Put on your gloves and sit down by the wall.”
Ah. So it was that kind of day.
Sethos sat down by the wall in the seiza position, ignoring the worry that was starting to build up and weight down on his chest as Cyrus scanned the gym for who to call first. Sethos paled as the mans gaze landed on him. Why him? Was it because he was the older one out of the kids? But this was the second group, there were other kids his age. And Cyno was right there..
Cyrus called over Sethos and Hoarus, who was an orange belt but also extremely talented in kumite, and also an entire head taller than him, damn his wretched genetics. Sethos stood up and walked towards the center of the mat. Bamoun handed Cyno his phone, saying, “ Record in case anything worthwhile happens.”, wow. If he had a shovel he’d dig a hole and stay there until next practise. Or better yet, forever.
Wait, what was he even thinking? Is he really scared? There’s no way. Is it because the boy had defeated him once before? Suddenly Sethos felt ashamed. Where’d all his pride go?
And once again his thoughts were cut off by Cyrus. ”Aka, shiro, jiyu-ippon kumite. Jime!”
……………….
It was summer. One of those scorching hot summers Sumeru was famous for. It was also the first national tournament Sethos has participated in. He was given the right to compete after his success in the aforementioned local tournament. Usually, only people who had received a gold medal were allowed to participate, but the two senseis had deemed Sethos’ performance impressive enough to grant him the permission.
There were only 2 people in his kata category, him and Cyno, who he had lost to. Nevertheless, sensei had told him he did well, so it wasn’t that bad. He’d never been good at kata anyway. What he really relied on was his kumite.
Speaking of which, his first kumite match was going to start in a few moments. The voice coming from the speaker had called him and some ‘Suren’ to the second tatami. No one he had heard of.
As Sethos approached the mat, it had turned out the ‘no one he had heard of’ in question was a brown belt, a head and a half taller than him. Why do they always have to be so much taller than him!? And why was he up against a brown belt? He himself was merely a green belt!
But Sethos had to suppress his outrage and concern as the judge announced the start of the match. Immediately, Sethos attempted to close the distance and land a gyako and an uraken, with a desperate haito uchi added at the end. All were evaded and countered with a mae geri, which he luckily was able to dodge. Is opponent followed through with a mawashi geri, which hit Sethos in the elbow.
“Yame!”
Sethos was very lucky it hit his elbow. If it got through the opponent would surely receive a waza-ari.
“Aka,”
Futeki toronai.
The judge pointed to his stomach, and immediately dread flooded over Sethos.
No.
“Chudan geri,”
There’s no way.
“waza-ari!”
“But it hit me in the elbow!”
“I know where it hit you.” the judge retorted.
Sethos was in complete disbelief. He knows it hit him in the elbow. That it shouldn’t count. He still felt the pain in his elbow, damn it! Why were there no cameras around to confirm it?
“Jime!”
Sethos couldn’t think straight, much less fight. The sheer outrage clouded his mind. Tears obstructed his vision. All he could do was walk backwards as the opponent rained down his wrath.
Soon he heard, “Aka nokachi.”
He couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. He tried his best to collect himself as Cyno lost his match to Suren. No. That would mean he’s up against Cyno next
He tried to collect his thoughts while he stepped onto the tatami. He knows how to fight Cyno. Cynos too fast for him to dodge or block his shots, so he has to always push his front hand out of the way before attacking. Cynos also very susceptible to ashi barai.
Evidently, crying his eyes out made him forget all about it as he ate a kizami tsuki to the nose, then a mae geri and lost 2:0. Wow. He didn’t even want to step on to the podium anymore.
……………………..
Sethos attempted to land a gyako-tsuki, which his opponent evaded and answered with a mae geri that he barely dodged.
Sethos really, genuinely, truthfully did not know how he was supposed to land anything on this person. He always stood so far away and never allowed Sethos to close the distance. Still, he decided trying is better than just standing still so he tried to get closer. Sethos ate a swift mae geri to the stomach, which he didn’t evade or block because... He doesn’t know why.
“Yame!”, Cyrus’ voice was heard.
“Shiro, chudan geri, waza-ari!”, then the man turned to Sethos
“You’re just standing there like a punching bag, you’re not even blocking most of the hits. Sethos, attack, defend, do something! Jime!”
Any other day he would try to improve on what sensei had told him, try his best to get some points , but as Sethos took his stance, a single thought ran through his mind. Just beat my ass and get it over with already.
And so he worked as a punching bag, letting most hits go through , barely blocking anything. Not like he could if he tried. There’s no hope for him.
And so he ate a final kizami to the nose, lost and sat back down. He felt tears well up, but he didn’t even know why. All he felt at the moment was pure apathy. He had no will to win. No will to fight.
Maybe the passion that he still had somewhere deep down was calling out to him, grieving for him, for his loss. Maybe deep down, the part of him that didn’t want to back down is crying for him, and these tears belong to that fragment of him, not the Sethos who gave up before the fight even started.
Or maybe he just got hit in the nose and it triggered his tear ducts. That thought was far more comforting.
Sethos pondered as he watched the other fights. What has happened to him? Since when was he like this? So apathetic? So miserable? So hopeless? The Sethos from before would fight till the end, and lose with pride even if he lost.
The national tournament came to mind. More tears threatened to spill, and he used all his energy to prevent that. Maybe more energy than he used during the fight. Sethos still had enough shame left to not cry in front of his whole group, though that didn’t seem to stop him during the nationals.
Next to fight was Cyno. The fight started, and after a minute of rigorous fighting Cyno threw his opponent, who was a belt higher than him by the way, to the ground and punched him in the gut mid-air.
It was an ippon. A flawless victory.
Yeah. Sethos doesn’t want to train anymore.