The Next Day
Yuuji was back.
Same battered jeans. Same crooked grin. Same eyes that refused to break.
Reina stared at him from the dojo steps, arms crossed. "You got knocked out cold yesterday."
"Yep."
"Most people would take the hint."
"Good thing I'm not most people."
She exhaled hard through her nose, like trying not to laugh. "You're an idiot."
'Life gave me a redo. I'm not wasting it.'
She opened the door.
Inside Ryuken Dojo
Master Genzou didn't speak at first. Just stared at Yuuji, like reading the contents of his soul in kanji.
Then, with an almost invisible nod, he spoke.
"Spar one round with Reina. If you last longer than yesterday, I'll consider it."
Yuuji's smile twitched.
"Deal."
The Fight Begins
The second punch didn't knock me down.
It should have. It was a clean hook. Sharp. Brutal. The kind of punch that rattles teeth and rewrites regrets. But I stood there, wobbling on shaky knees, eyes wide open, because for the first time in two lifetimes—
I felt alive.
"You're tough," she said flatly, shaking out her fist.
Her name was Reina. Nineteen. Ryuken Dojo's apprentice and guard dog. She hit harder than some of the bouncers I fought during my last life.
And now, she was scowling at me like I was some weird bug that refused to die.
"Why are you even doing this?" she asked.
"Because I wasted my first life watching from the sidelines."
She blinked, confused.
I stepped forward, each movement screaming protest. Bruises bloomed under my shirt like ugly badges.
She kicked.
This time, I dodged.
Barely.
Her heel sliced the air where my head had been. I felt the breeze and the weight of death pass me by.
'Close. Closer than last time.'
We went again. And again. And again.
Ten minutes passed. Maybe twenty.
I stopped counting after the third fall.
Pain blurred into numbness. But inside? My chest burned. Not from injury.
Reina finally stepped back, panting slightly. "You're not strong. But you're too damn stubborn. You're like a cockroach."
"So what's the verdict?"
A voice interrupted.
The old man was watching from the hallway. Same slippers. Same eyes. Like he could see into my soul and judge every inch of it.
"His form is garbage," Reina said. "But his spine is made of iron."
The old man nodded. "Then we will temper it."
He walked up to me, poked my chest with that damn bamboo stick.
"Five a.m. tomorrow. Don't be late."
I tried to smile.
My lip split open.
The Next Morning
The world at 5 a.m. is a different creature.
Cold. Quiet. Honest.
It doesn't care about your excuses.
It just exists. And you meet it with either fire or failure.
I stood outside Ryuken Dojo, fists bandaged, sweat already dripping.
Reina was inside, already doing pushups with one hand. Show-off.
The old man, who finally gave me his name—Master Genzou—barely glanced at me.
"You'll clean. You'll stretch. You'll copy forms. You won't fight for a month."
"What? Why?"
"You're not a fighter. Not yet. You're like a blade still being forged."
He handed me a mop.
Reina smirked. "Welcome to martial arts, newbie."
One Week Later
My hands were blistered. My back ached. My legs felt like rubber.
I hadn't thrown a single punch in seven days.
But I had learned more about my body in that week than in twenty-seven years of existence.
Where my balance failed. Where my core was weak. How my breath scattered when I moved too fast.
Genzou taught with silence and eyes. Reina taught by bullying. And every night I returned to my apartment, half-dead.
"Dude," Kai said, watching me crawl through the door. "Did they mug you or train you?"
"Both."
He tossed me a sports drink. "You're glowing, by the way. Like, freaky cult-member glowing."
I laughed. Then groaned.
The Challenge
It came on a Thursday.
Just past sunset, Reina pulled me aside.
"There's a guy who comes here sometimes. He's an underground fighter. He calls himself Koji the Crusher."
"Subtle."
"He heard about a new student, and he wants to spar."
"You sure it's not a blood sacrifice?"
Reina smirked. "It could be both. He fights tomorrow night. Master Genzou said it's up to you."
I paused.
I'd barely learned proper stances.
But something in me craved it.
The danger. The pressure.
The test.
"I'll fight."
Reina's eyes gleamed. "Try not to die."