"One, two. Now, your left!"
Along with my voice, the sounds of gloves hitting the mitts continued to ring out. In front of me was a sweating Sena as she continued to follow my instruction.
Unlike her lovely demeanor earlier, she's now glaring at the mitts worn by my hands as if it's her long time enemies. Each of her punches was powerful enough to push me away if I didn't anchor myself to the ground.
Though she's accurately hitting with sufficient power where I put my mitts, she's using too much strength even to her non-dominant fist. She's a Southpaw so I had her train her right arm before but now, she's putting more focus to it than her left where she could exert more strength with less effort.
"You're still this aggressive Sena, I already taught you how to calm down, right?"
I commented when we took a short break. I helped her remove her gloves and handed her a drink. Amidst her gasps for breath, her sweat kept on gushing out of her.
Seeing that, I got the towel and wiped her off it. I knew that it was not a coach's job but yeah, I couldn't help it. During all that, she's staring at me with that satisfied smile on her face.
"See that. Even Onoda-kun is saying the same thing. You started becoming hard-headed when he stopped coming to the gym. If you compete again, you'll exhaust yourself in the first round."
Coach Ayu that was watching from the side commented as well which Sena responded with a pout as she sneakily looked at me to see my reaction to her coach's words.
"Uhm… I'll do better. He's back now so…"
"Really? Then show me what I taught you before."
I said as I put back her gloves on. This girl. She was really affected when I cut her off that even the boxing she loved suffered.
"Go spar with him, Sena. But Onoda-kun, you can only dodge or block. I bet you also don't want to hit your girlfriend, right?"
Coach Ayu suggested to us.
"Un. I can do that. But you're wrong, coach. I can throw a punch to her if necessary, especially in a match. Her opponent won't always block or dodge. She also needs to practice on that. Predicting her opponent's move."
I shook my head to her. When she had me teach Sena back then, I didn't hold back like that and Sena also liked that kind of method, of course, my hits didn't have any power behind it.
Ah. Back then, when I still hadn't conquered her, every hit I managed to land on her was equivalent to 5 minutes of her time. That way, after every training session, she would spend the time with me, alone.
"Ugh. I don't think you're this heartless."
Coach Ayu shook her head. She wasn't always watching back then so she didn't really know how I changed her.
"I like that coach! Ruki's right. Don't hesitate if you see an opening, okay?"
Sena interjected as she also urged me to do it.
I handed her a head guard. Though I didn't really plan to put strength with my punches, it's better to be safe
Sena nodded and wore it on her head as she started warming up while I put on the gloves. Read full story at NoveI★Fire.net
"Here, let me help you tighten your gloves."
Coach Ayu went forward to tie the gloves in place.
After that, we chose the nearest ring. With the gym already almost devoid of people, those who remained became interested in our sparring match.
Well, we're still kids in their eyes but with Sena as the main attraction, these spectators found it interesting. There were also other female boxers who were close to Coach Ayu.
It would just be a one-round sparring, to see if what I taught her was still there.
With Coach Ayu's voice as the signal, Sena immediately rushed forward and invaded the area where my arms could reach. Doing a one-two combination, I parried them easily.
Unlike Sena who's a full-fledged boxer, I'm just someone who trained my body, I didn't even have polished footwork for this sport but I have experience receiving frontal attacks so parrying them was easy.
Sena stepped back and went behind me, I immediately turned around and took a step back, avoiding a hook from her left.
At least she still remembered to go to her opponent's blind spot. Her previous style was just attack and defend without utilizing the footwork she always practiced. That's why it always turned into a brawl, I didn't teach her how to do that but I polished it during the time that I was teaching her.
As time passed, I haven't moved as much from where I was standing but Sena has already circled around me for a few times. Each time there was an opening I would lightly send a jab towards her that was unavoidable, there was even a time where she was knocked down by it.
From all the moving around she was doing, her stamina kept dropping in at a faster rate. Though she still remembered what I taught her to be calm and wait for an opportune moment, fighting a passive opponent like me would really be hard for her. I guess I have to teach her how to agitate a passive opponent or bait them to lower their guard.
As more time passed her aggressive nature revealed itself as she continued to attack without putting her guard up. Due to that, it started to look like I was bullying her whenever my gloves would hit her. She even had to clutch on me to recover some of her stamina.
By the time the round ended, Sena was gasping for her breath while I stood still in the middle of the ring. With something like that happening, those watching for Sena called me out for bullying her.
Well, I didn't mind them as I moved over to Sena to help her out of the ring. Despite what happened, she still had a smile on her face as she had me support her up.
"Are you sure you don't want a career in boxing, Onoda-kun?"
We're now sitting on a bench with Sena's head using my lap as a pillow to rest. There was a satisfied smile on her face as she took my hand and put it on her face, rubbing her cheeks on my palm. Looks like she got rewarded instead of thinking over her loss.
"I'm not a boxer, coach. You saw it, right? I didn't have any polished footwork and I only used Sena's strength on hers. Plus I don't think I will have the time to focus on it."
A career here is uncertain, apart from training, I'm not that confident to always prevail on my opponent. There will be certain hazards as well. I'd rather coach Sena than step in the ring myself.
"It's a shame, really. What about that offer I told you before? It still stands. I see that you still have it in you."
Ah. I knew this would be coming. She kept repeating it before but every time she did, I would decline.
"If it's only once or twice a week, I could do it but Coach, I'm not a boxer and I'm still a kid. Do you think they will trust me?"
Usually, professionals do it but there's probably merit to have someone your age to teach those. It's like seeing what they will become if they really learned something. Though I'm not really confident in my teaching skills.
"Well, there's your walking promotional ad. Sena's popular, you know? Especially to those of your age and lower. Ah. Of course, it will also include those who wanted to woo her. There's a lot of those who wanted to join the gym just to see her. Also, if you ask me, you can box just as well or even better than those who join the school competitions and amateur matches."
"I see, thanks for the flattery, coach. But I think I found a more valid reason to take it, I just have to beat their ass out to stop their thoughts about wooing her. Is that good enough?"
It will be good to reform them to stop their thoughts on eyeing my Sena. I'll work them good. All that they will think about is how to become better at boxing.
"What a protective boyfriend. You're really lucky, Sena. If they can learn to box and be satisfied with their pay through that then feel free."
Surprisingly, Coach Ayu didn't see any problem with it. Now, I feel like those kids will be ripped off their money. In any case, it's a chance to see my skill in teaching or training someone. Since I still can't decide what career I will pursue, using every opportunity to test something will be helpful.
"What do you think, Sena?"
I asked Sena who's still getting comfortable with my hand. Looking at her , I really want to take her home and pamper her in bed.
"I'd like that, I can see you more if you take the offer. Also, I will help you."
Sena nodded and smiled. Even if she's busy with my hand, she's still listening to our conversation.
"No, you don't need to help, you want to become a pro or become an olympic-level athlete like Coach Ayu, right? Focus on that."
"Uhh… As long as you continue to teach me."
"Of course, that's a given. You're the reason I'm here after all."
I wouldn't be here if not for her. So I guess, this opportunity that I got could be attributed to her.
Before we could even turn the place into a fluffy mood, Coach Ayu grumbled and continued our conversation.
"Alright, stop flirting in front of me. So do you accept, Onoda-kun? Your pay will be based on how many will enroll in that program. Every lesson you'll immediately receive your payment after it. And don't worry since it will be labeled as a part-time job, your request of only 2 times per week will be granted."
"Sounds good to me. Do I need to do anything?"
"Just come back here next week with the necessary papers. The lessons will start next month."
Next week and next month. There's still time to prepare for it.
After clarifying more details about that part-time job, Coach Ayu left me and Sena alone.
It's already dark outside but we still have time. I'll be staying with her until 7:30 pm after all.
We still could continue her training or just spend the time with her . With fewer and fewer people left in the gym, the place we were in was already devoid of people.