Chapter Text
1. Kyle Allen
Kyle almost felt sorry for the kid.
Almost.
He had been walking back with his gaggle of fencers after watching what was probably one of the fastest and most pathetic matches in history when Seiji’s most recent victim had yelled a loud,
“Hey you! Seiji or whatever!”
Kyle immediately turned around. Seiji or whatever? Kyle knew fencers who fought Seiji liked to try and get in one last word, but Seiji or whatever? Did Mr Goodwill shoes realise who Seiji Katayama was? Who was he to be yelling like that to Seiji Katayama?
Kyle took in the scene. What’s-his-face had practically ripped off his fencing helmet, and begun yelling at Seiji, while Seiji stood in place with his usual air of nonchalance, looking bored. Served the kid right. The scoreboard taunted the amateur with his inevitable score, exactly how both Kyle and Seiji had predicted it.
15-0
Oh this was gonna be good.
“Are you just going to ignore me?” The guy spat out, straightening his posture, looking as if he was ready for a fight.
Seiji proceeded to ignore this, and responded with a swift “What do you want, Zero?”
Kyle let out a low whistle. Seiji was ruthless. Kyle had tried warning the guy, it wasn’t Kyle’s fault he didn’t listen. Did he really think he, a raggedy beginner, could win against Seiji Katayama? Not only that, what kind of a fencer was he to not know who Seiji was?
Seiji and Jesse fenced all the time, so Kyle had heard and seen firsthand how relentless Seiji was when it came to fencing. But even if he hadn’t had the privilege of being the Jesse Coste’s cousin (yes, you heard that right, he was Jesse Coste’s cousin), this kid should’ve at least heard of Seiji’s talents from the news, fencing awards, anything! Yet here this dumbass was, shouting and retorting about being called a “Zero.” Kyle didn’t know what he was so upset about, it’s not like it wasn’t true. This guy was all bark no bite, and lost horribly. Then Kyle heard the stupidest sentence come out of the haircut kid’s mouth.
“I’m going to beat you, and you’re going to know what if feels like to lose in front of everyone!”
Kyle scoffed. Seiji seemed to share the same sentiment as him, replying with his usual “Everyone says that.”
The crowd chimed in, agreeing, sharing their own experiences and matches against Seiji, all of which had ended in a similar manner. The other boy looked furious.
Kyle turned back around to head into the changing rooms. He didn’t want to hear the rest of the argument, and he didn’t need to. Seiji would just dish out his usual speech to sore losers just like the him.
Kyle knew Seiji just didn’t care for amateurs like him, and amateurs like him would always care too much, proclaiming that they were Seiji’s number one rival and vowing to beat Seiji one day, one day when they got better and stronger and faster. They ultimately, never succeeded. These two would remain pathetically one-sided rivals. This boy must be more of an idiot than Kyle initially thought, if he thought Seiji gave two shits about a guy like him.
This loser was just one of many.
2. Harvard Lee
Although Harvard had only just met Nicholas, he seemed like a decent kid.
From what he told him, Nicholas hadn’t come from a very well off family, which made Harvard understand why his eyes flickered around at the school in barely disguised awe and confusion. This kid was obviously new to the whole scene, and seemed nervous and determined to prove himself.
It’s why he felt kind of bad, leading Nicholas to his new roommate. Harvard only hoped he had the stamina to be able to keep with rooming with Seiji for the rest of his schooling career. After seeing Seiji’s matches (and loser speeches), in person and on video, along with the insight Coach had provided him with about Seiji’s character, Harvard felt that rooming with Seiji… well he didn’t want to judge too harshly before he got to know the guy, but with all the knowledge he’d been provided with, he couldn’t help but mentally wish Nicholas luck as as he grabbed the doorknob.
“Your roommate’s trying out for the team too, so you’ll have something in common.” Harvard smiled, trying to prepare Nicholas for the absolute bombshell that would be Seiji Katayama.
Lo and behold, he opened the door to see Seiji, who was half putting on a white t-shirt, widen his eyes at the sight of Nicholas in their room.
“He’s my roommate?” Nicholas exclaimed, with a hateful bite in his voice that Harvard wasn’t expecting.
Harvard pointed at the two of them. “You two know each other?”
Several emotions seemed to flash through Nicholas’s face at once, while Seiji remained perfectly composed.
“No”
“Yes.”
Nicholas and Seiji responded at the same time. Harvard felt a bit startled at their responses.
“Huh? We fenced at Regionals!” Nicholas cried, exasperated. “You were the favourite and I was the up-and-comer and I came this close to—“
He stopped, and sheepishly continued his sentence in a small voice.
“…one point.”
Harvard looked at him.
“…okay but it was still somehow a big deal.” Nicholas defended himself, hiding a bit. Seiji’s expression didn’t change throughout the entire rant.
“So you actually lost 15-0?” Harvard asked Nicholas in a quiet voice, wanting confirmation but trying his best not to embarrass Nicholas further. Both he and Seiji ignored the question.
Seiji looked down at Nicholas. “We don’t know each other. He’s just some fencer I beat at Regionals.”
Nicholas looked offended. “I am not just some fencer. My names Nicholas Cox, and I’m going to make you remember it.” He stared at Seiji directly.
“It would be weird to not remember the name of your own roommate.” Harvard chimed in an effort to and dissipate some of the tension that had filled the room in the short time they’ve been in it. He could already sense that the two would be difficult to deal with during tryouts, and inwardly sighed.
Nicholas immediately shut down his remark with a snappy “That’s not what I meant.” He spoke directly to Seiji. “I’m coming for y—“
“I know what you meant.” Seiji cut in. “You’re one of those.”
“One of what?” Nicholas dared for him to elaborate. Harvard could tell the two had shut out his presence completely by that point.
Seiji proceeded to verbally tear Nicholas to shreds, having dealt with many more fencers with the same attitude towards him. Harvard had to admit, he’d also dealt with his fair share of passionate beginners and sore losers, but he wouldn’t have had the courage or bluntness to take them down like Seiji was doing now.
Nicholas also had ammo of his own, responding with a “It’s not like you won at Nationals. You lost.”
The two proceeded to fight like cat and dog with each other for a while longer, before turning their attention to Harvard and yelling,
“I’m not rooming with him!”
“Hey, hey,” Harvard started, hands up in a surrendering pose, “If you’ve got a problem with rooms, take it up with Coach in the morning. For tonight, make it work.” He gave them the same, unuseful speech he’d given a million times before. They’d leave him alone (for the time being), ask Coach Williams to switch rooms, and exit the gym with 200 suicides run and no new roommate.
And sure, Harvard felt a bit guilty. His roommate was Aiden after all. Aiden, who’d been his best friend since they were children, the person he shared everything with, the person he probably loved the most in the world.
But seeing Nicholas and Seiji, even though they were fighting over practically everything, they both had the same shared passion for fencing, the same determination, and the same love for it. Nicholas was obviously more relaxed in his ways, someone who could use some structure and stability in his life. Seiji was all about discipline, putting so much pressure on himself to be perfect. He could benefit from having someone casual, new, and so wildly different around.
Yeah, Harvard knew they would turn out alright, whether or not they wanted to be the reluctant friends they were destined to be.
3. Bobby Rodriguez
Now, Bobby wasn’t oblivious.
He knew he acted all blushy and shy around Seiji. He knew that having a celebrity crush on a 16 year old known for having a personality of a brick wall probably wasn’t healthy. He also knew that even though Nicholas tolerated Bobby’s awe at Seiji’s skill, beauty and wisdom, Nicholas really didn’t understand it.
No,like he really didn’t.
Nicholas despised Seiji. Despised him for getting him out of Nationals with a humiliating score. Despised him for acting so ice cold towards people. Despised him for calling him “Zero.” Everyone knew at this point, even if he tried to hide it for Bobby, that Nicholas Cox did not like Seiji Katayama.
And everyone thought they knew Seiji’s attitude towards Nicholas. But Bobby saw otherwise.
See, Bobby noticed that although Seiji acted like Nicholas was just one of the many losers he had created, Seiji held the same passionate dislike towards Nicholas. Seiji hid it somewhat well, Bobby had to admit. But every now and then, Seiji’s feelings towards Nicholas would slip through the cracks.
The first sign was when Seiji stayed to watch Nicholas’s match against Eugene.
There wasn’t really any reason for Seiji to do it, but he did. Bobby watched as Seiji joined the audience, judging from the frontlines, staying for most of it before huffily walking away, in the swift, confident walk that made Bobby swoon a little. Bobby dismissed it at the time, but after the match was over had quietly wondered.
Why did Seiji watch Nicholas’s match?
Seiji didn’t have real reason to. Nicholas was a good fencer by Bobby’s standards, but Seiji broke the standards completely. A fencer like Seiji didn’t stop to watch fencers like Bobby and Nicholas.
Unless…
Unless Seiji hated Nicholas just as much as Nicholas hated him?
Bobby wondered if Nicholas knew that his one-sided hatred may not be as one-sided as he initially thought. So after everyone had head out into the changing rooms, before Nicholas left Bobby asked him. “Hey Nicholas, did you know Seiji was watching your match?”
He watched as Nicholas stopped walking, clearly processing this newfound information. So apparently he hadn’t known.
Interesting.
Bobby hid a small smile.
Seiji Katayama may act like he’s untouchable, but Nicholas had clearly left an impression. And so Bobby decided he’d observe a bit closer. Not in a creepy way, of course not, but just enough to be able to make a little mental note of all the times Seiji showed that Nicholas bothered him more than he let on.
Oh yes, the hatred was definitely mutual.
4. Coach Williams
Coach Williams knew that Seiji didn’t give a fuck about his team.
Not currently.
Jesse’s recent arrival had solidified her knowledge of this fact. Having a team didn’t mean anything to Seiji. If anything, he probably felt that having a team weighed him down.
But it was also clear to Coach Williams that Seiji wanted to beat Exton. Really badly. And the only way to do that was to care about, encourage, and be a part of your team, all of which Seiji had to learn how to do before the big competition. You can’t get through to the finals if you’re the only valuable fencer on your team. Robert Coste was evidence of that, and this coach was not going to let Seiji make the same mistake.
It was a problem she had no idea how to even begin solving, but that was a problem for later. For now, there were bigger fish to fry.
“Nicholas!” She yelled, gesturing for him to come over.
For now, she needed to focus on Nicholas Cox.
“You’re not going to be working with the others,” she told him.
Nicholas tried protesting. “But Seiji and Jesse—“
“You’re with me for remedial training.” She continued, cutting him off. Nicholas looked as if he’d been punched.
Nicholas had potential. She saw it in him. His speed alone was something to be reckoned with. Now, she wasn’t aware of all the details about his home life or past before coming to King’s Row, but she knew enough to know that he was good. Really good, for someone who didn’t have access to proper training. Even better when you consider how much of a skill gap he’s closed in the extremely small time he’s been fencing.
But it was not enough to be good.
If they wanted to beat Exton, they needed to be great. All of them. She began to tell him so.
“You’ve done great work improving your basic stance. But there’s more to do. I saw you watching Seiji and Jesse. You know it too.” She saw his face morph from a struck expression to one of understanding.
Nicholas bowed his head. “My level and their level…” He paused. “It seems so different.” She could see his confidence faltering.
“At tryouts, you won a lot of matches because your speed, your left handed attacks, and aggressive style combined to bamboozle your opponents,” Coach Williams began, highlighting his strengths. “But fencers above a certain level can spot the holes in your technique and use them to score points against you easily.”
She let Nicholas digest this before continuing. “That’s why you sailed through most of your bouts in tryouts but lost badly to higher-level fencers like Seiji and Harvard.”
Nicholas turned his head to glance at Seiji and Jesse. Then, without looking back at Coach Williams, he replied with a newfound determination. “Tell me what I need to do.”
She was secretly pleased and proud at Nicholas’s willingness to accept he had strengths, accept he had a long way to go, and want to improve. Coach Williams wasted no time, assigned Nicholas the tennis ball task, and told him to get 50 touches in a row without fail.
Weeks passed. It was obvious Nicholas was trying hard, but he still missed the tennis ball half of the time. He was improving though, the match against MLC definitely showed that he was making progress. But he still hadn’t achieved the 50 touches.
Until one day, when she was outside of the gym, she heard Nicholas practicing with the tennis ball. This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, since Nicholas often tended to attempt succeeding the tennis ball task. No, what was weird was that she heard a second voice instructing Nicholas from inside the gymnasium.
Seiji’s voice.
Her eyes widened, and not daring to look inside, tried listening in to their conversation.
“Uh- what are you?” Nicholas asked, presumably in response to something Seiji was doing.
“Don’t turn sideways like this.” Seiji said, matter-of-factly.
“Are you helping me?” Nicholas asked incredulously.
“So what if I am?” Seiji huffed.
Nicholas then responded with something too quiet for Coach Williams to hear, but whatever it was, Seiji seemed to try defending himself with a “I just got tired of looking at your bad technique constantly.”
He then instructed Nicholas. “ Relax. Soft elbow. Hitting is just the smallest motion. Can you feel it?”
“Yeah it’s… that’s better!” Nicholas sounded surprised.
Seiji then asked Nicholas, “how many did Coach say you had to get in a row?”
Fifty.
“Fifty.” Nicholas replied.
“Then let’s do it. Together.” Seiji sounded determined.
Coach Williams moved away. Seems like near loss against MLC inspired Seiji to start helping out and bettering the team. She had to admit, she was surprised at Seiji’s actions. She was a coach herself, after all. She realised what Seiji was trying to do in his own, Seiji sort of way.
He was trying to act like a mentor. Nicholas’s mentor.
She couldn’t believe her luck. Two birds with one stone, improving Nicholas’s skill through Seiji learning how to be a part of a team. Coach Williams smiled.
If this was going to be their dynamic, she was looking forward to seeing more of it.