6 6 - Intership in the ship
We were running to the house of Ippo, it must be 5 o'clock still with daylight, I notices then that Ippo stopped running and wanted to talk.
"Hey Tsuyoshi-kun I..." I interrumpted him
"Hey call me Sora, without honorifics, you know we're friends and I don't actually like honorifics you know" A little of myself, I was mexican in my past life, so I always called my friend by their name... or their nickname in most of the cases, so I didn't actually have a knack for the honorifics in the japanese people, I like -senshu, -shishou, -sensei and -dono tho.
"Ah... that is going to need some work from me, but I'm glad" He made a face as if he understood something and then smiled at me.
"So what was your question?"
"It doesn't matter actually haha, so We're friends?"
"Of course Ippo, the best!, but I want to make a lot of friends, you know I want to be like my brother and he shines the best when people support him, so... are you not mad at me?"
"huh?, why would I be mad?"
"Well... I don't know if you have noticed but we are registered in a Gym... and actual boxing gym, you know... we're going to be pro boxers, you know what that means right?"
The color drained out of him. "Tsu-tsu-tsuyoshi! omg, what am I going to do, I-" he calmed himself, and made a deep breath, "He... he said my punch was Dynamite, that my strength was amazing, no... I'm not mad, actually thank you, can I tell you something?"
"Sure go ahead, should we sit?"
"Yeah, lets"
We sat in a park near his house, it was a chilly April, just the beggining of spring. My attention moved to him when he started talking.
"I've always wondered what is the meaning of being strong!, my... my Dad died in an accident at the sea, and my mom inherited all the business, she struggled a lot to achieve a good spot on the business, and I don't want her to have more worries, I'm actually scared of start this boxing and left my mom to her stuff alone, but at the same time, I want to be strong, strong enough to protect what I love the most, but... just What is strength?"
"Are you retoric or you really want an answer?, because I know my answer but you may reach a different one!, and with your family business why don't you get a worker?, you know we are going to get money out of the boxing competitions right?, maybe not at the beggining but if we go trough the rankings and we have a good fan base we can get a good income, also I have good ideas of merchandise jeje"
"How much is the prize money?"
"Well for 4-rounders not much actually, something about 40k to 50k yens, 6-rounders maybe 80k-100k, Ranking fights are 200k and Title fights are 500k, more or less, and that is just the money if you win, in the national class, if we want to go World we can get a hundred million easily, but that depends on the popularity, also traveling expenses, gym cut, promotion advertise, and everything we have to invest, also the pay to the loser, the losers also get money but less than the winner"
"A HUNDRED... cof cof a hundred million?"
"Calm Down thats a World Title match, do you really think we can get a WT right now?, maybe in 3 to 4 years but not right now, also you need to be popular, hold your horses, we can get a fine 50k per event right now"
"That's still a lot, it's like a two month salary of the boat"
"Yeah, but if you get injured remember you can't have continous fights, it depends of the damage and the opponent but I want to have bi-monthly fights, I can get 6 fights in a year, more if the coach let met, but he seems like a conservative one, and he really liked us, I'm going to be honest, I really think he loved you more than me!"
"hahaha do you really think so?, you were amazing, your punches were like lighting, I don't think I can do that..."
"And I don't think I'm able to destroy the punching bag just as you did, man I've never even in videos see someone elevate the bag in one punch, your hands are literal Canons, aaaand!!! You're not even trained, I pity your opponents, one of those punches can invalidate any strategy, if you train your defense to the max, and with a great dodging practice, you will be a monster, maybe more than Tyson, or Chavez, Vaca and..."
'Holy shit!!! Omg, I can fight Oscar de la hoya if I reach title matches by the time he was a world class, damn!!! Oscar is my favorite boxer, I want to fight him'
"and? who else"
"Oh right sorry, well I couldn't think of another one, but am... Marciano, or Foreman, Muhammad Ali, there are a lot of strong boxers in history, and we can reach that place, you just need to train a lot Ippo, help me, and I will help you"
"right... I'm scared but at the same time, I want to see how far I can reach"
"Yeah man, lets imprint our feet in the boxing history, jaja in your case, "One step at the time" right" I said with a grin in my face.
"One st... oh my name yeah, well you can fly high "sky ahmm.." sorry couldn't think of something cool"
"The sky above the sky"
"ahm sorry?"
"that's going to be my mote, The sky above the sky, I will reign at the top, no one will touch what I'm going to achive, and you my friend will depict the same path as me"
"That's a cool name I hope I can get or think of something as cool as that"
"I sure hope so Ippo" 'it's ok Wind God, you will get your ringname at the time'
"well, lets go to your house, do your mom is in?"
"Oh yeah lets!"
We stood up, and reach his house in a jiffy, Ippo knocked at announced himself and me, when we enter the house his mom was with some papers in the desk, that she was moving.
"Good evening Makunouchi-san" I said politely
"Oh what a great boy, who is this Ippo?"
"His name is Sora-" she interrupted "Oh my, first name basis, are you guys close?"
"I just became his friend today ma'am but I told him honorifics are a no go for me, I want to be in a friendship without them, we meet today and also had an amazing adventure, we fight some thugs, 3 ninjas, we rescued a princess, ran after a monster, meet a wizard, punch the walls of the..."
"We did nothing like that!!!" Ippo yelled at me.
"Hahahaha, sorry sorry" I looked at his mom. "Well we do had a problems with some thugs, but a boxer helped us, and he recomend us to his gym, and the coach loved the potential of both of us, let me tell you the coach liked your son more than me, talk about favoritism haha, and well, he offered to train us and pay him when we got money out of our matches"
Ippo's mom looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Did all of that happened?"
He sighed and looked at her "Yes mom, all of that happened, did... Can I enter the Gym?, I really want to do this, I know the words of the coach are not empty, everyone saw what I can do, and mom... It felt amazing"
"Oh dear boy" he hugged him, and Ippo blushed a lot "Moooom, not in front of Sora"
I changed my semblance and said "Let your mom hug you, it's a blessing that you have your mom, and she's a loving mother like her, always accept her hugs, it is no shame"
Ippo and her mother looked at me and blinked. "did you los... sorry that was insensitive" said Ippo.
"No... my mom is alive and kicking but I know some friends that would have loved to have what we both have" I said and then smile.
"Well I don't have a lot of food right now for you, but Ippo can share, do you want to eat with us?"
"Sure ma'am I would love to"
We sat, at the floor, let me tell you seiza is hard... anyway we talked and eat, it was time to go to the boats and I asked his mother if I could help them out, she tried to tell me not to, but I insisted.
"Holy hell Ippo, how in the name of everything can you carry all of that!, I barely can with three of them and you are carrying like seven"
"No, no it is amazing you can carry three of them Kiddo!" The regulars told me.
"Really?"
"Kid, I can't even carry one, once I told mother that I would help and my hip was hurt for two weeks, mother and son are amazing at this job"
"Oh, thanks man, this seems like a good excersice, Hey Ippo, do you think I can help you once in a while with this?, we could train together and then go to the Gym, do you also do this in the mornings?"
"Yeah at 5 o'clock we do a run, then at the afternoon, and one more at nights, or if people make a reservation other times"
"Ma'am I want to come tomorrow at the dawn one, and I want to help in this one the afternoon, i don't think I could do the night one, because I still have homework, but can I help?, I don't really need the money and I promise not to be a burden"
"I can't accept your help without paying, and we don't really-" I said intrerrupting her
"Well how about I eat with Ippo in the mornings, with your cooking?"
"I... Ippo help me"
"actually mom, I ask you too, can he come?, we could have time to train and if he help we can do faster"
"Oh dear, you too! Ok, you can help"
"Yahoooo!" I High-five Ippo but he didn't knew what to do... "ahm Ippo that's a highfive, clap my hand with yours, its a greeting for success"
He threw his hand with mine and the sound was amazing CLAAAAP.
"Ouch!!!!!, Dude not so strong, your hands are canons remember that"
Everyone started to laugh and when we finished uploading the boat they left.
"Well Ippo see you tomorrow at 5, remember to pack sports clothes for the gym" I said while waving and turning to jog to my house.
--------------------------------------------------------
Ippo's POV
This day was fantastic, I made a friend, Umezawa didn't fight with me, and someone praised me. Man I hope I'm not dreaming, I went into the house and started to prepare the cooler with the baits and the ice for the next boat trip.
"I want to reach as far as him too"
Without the knowledge of Ippo, Sora heard another 'BING'
--------------------------------------------------------
I made another chapter today, because I jumped from 80 collections to 115, Thanks a lot guys!
I may try to do a double chapter if you comment, but no pressure ;)
