Chapter 6:The Mechanics of a Shield

  The front door of the Sato residence slid open with a heavy thud.Rei stood at the door,drenched in rainwater.

  “Rei!What happened to your umbrella? I checked the satellite data and the precipitation index was at 90%!” Kenji came out of the kitchen,holding a bowl of ramen.He stopped mid-sentence,his widening.”Did you decide to take a shower in the rain?!”

  “I gave it away,” Rei muttered,taking off his wet shoes.

  Ryuji walked out from the living room and threw a towel over Rei’s head. “Get changed before you catch a cold.Your father always tells me you were too stubborn to come in from the rain. I see he wasn’t lying.”

  The mention of his late father made Rei’s heart sting,but the warmth of the towel was a distraction.

  “Tomorrow morning,” Rei said,his voice muffled by the cloth. “Five a.m . No excuses,Kenji.”

  The morning air at the ruins was breezing,Kenji stood shivering in an oversized tracksuit while Rei stood across from him,wearing a plain white t-shirt

  “In Traditional Taekwondo,” Rei started,his voice sharp,”We don’t just ‘hit’ people.We use the Theory of Power. You’re weak,Kenji. If you try to punch like a brawler,you’ll just end up with a broken wrist and a trip to the hospital.”

  Rei stepped into a Stance.He moved with a slight rhythm of a wave,down,up then crashing down as he threw a Reverse Punch.The air around him cracked with the sound of his shirt snapping.

  “The downward motion at the end… you’re using your total body mass and acceleration to maximize the force,” Kenji whispered while mesmerized by the power of the punch.

  “Exactly. But for you,we start with the Yop Chagi or Side Kick.It is the most basic but effective weapon in your arsenal.If they can’t get close,they can’t hurt you.”

  An hour later,they were walking toward Inuyama Academy.As they turned the corner toward the main gate,the atmosphere around them changed.A group of four men in their late twenties,wearing tracksuits and heavy gold chains were blocking the sidewalk. They were harassing a group of younger students, demanding “Protection Fees” for entering the street.

  “Hey,kids. This road belongs to the local association,” one of the men said. “Pay up or take the long way around.”

  Rei didn’t stop.He walked straight into the center of the group.One of the thugs,a thick-necked man with a cigarette hanging from his lip,stepped into Rei’s path.

  “You are brave aren’t you?walking down the path when seeing us?” The thug said.

  Kenji froze,his hand trembling on his bag strap.”Rei,those are… those aren’t students. Those are adults.”

  Rei looked at the man’s hands. He could see the rough skin and scars in the thug’s arm.These weren’t school bullies,these were men who had been in real brawls.

  “Pay up kid!” The thug yelled at Rei.

  “I don’t have money.” Rei said , his voice dropping low. “But I have a lesson in physics. It's free.”

  “Funny kid,” the man barked, swinging a heavy,hooked punch at Rei’s temple.

Time seemed to slow down,Rei didn’t retreat. He used a Traditional Inner Forearm Block or An Palmok Makgi,slamming his bone into the man’s bicep to deaden the limb.Before the man could recoil,Rei shifted his weight to rhythm similar to a wave.

  He dropped his center of mass and exploded forward with a Reverse Punch to the man’s solar plexus,followed by a barrage of punches from Rei. The man went down like a felled tree.

  The other three rushed him.

  Rei moved like a machine.He caught a thug's kick and swept the supporting leg with a Balmok Chagi or Sweep Kick,slamming him into the concrete.He then lifted up his rear leg.

  The other thug predicted it would be a roundhouse kick and tries to block on his left but Rei puts down his rear leg then uses another leg to perform Dollyeo Chagi or Roundhouse kick (feint variation), his kick slams the thug’s jaw.

  It was a solo performance of pure efficiency. But as he finished the fourth man with a Khao Loi or Flying Knee, a technique often shown in Muay Thai,he felt the sting in his own knuckles.Adults really are built differently,he thought to himself.Their bones are denser. That actually hurt him,something that has never occurred since his former dojo.

  “Koga?!”

  Rei froze. He turned his head slowly.

  Hiyori was standing five meters away,her camera clutched to her chest.She had seen the whole thing,the clinical,brutal way he had dismantled four grown men. Her face was pale,her eyes stared at the unconscious thugs and the “Ghost of 1C” standing in the middle of the carnage.

  “I.. I was just taking photos of the morning light,” she stammered,looking at the man groaning on the ground. “Are they… are they dead?”

  “They’re fine,” Rei muttered, shaking the tension out of his hand. “They just had a sudden encounter at my physics lessons.”

  Kenji looked at Hiyori,then at Rei,then at the thugs. “Rei.. we should probably run before the ‘association’ they said sends backup.”

  The adrenaline from the fight with the adults hadn’t even cooled before Rei felt a heavy gaze from Hiyori.She wasn’t running this time. Instead,she was looking down at the digital screen of her camera,her thumb scrolling through the shots she had taken.

  “Looking for these?” Hiyori said ,her voice small but surprisingly firm.”The sweep kick,punching and injuring.You don't just ‘stop’ people,Koga. You break them.”

  Rei stepped toward her,his shadow falling over her. “Give me the memory card,Hiyori.Those men were harassing those kids.”

  “Im not giving them to the police,” Hiyori interrupted,clutching the camera.”At least.. not if you make a promise. A Promise.. that you won't use that strength to ‘break’ people anymore. If you have to defend yourself,you have to do it gently. No more hospital visits.No weird cracking noises.”

  Rei looked confused,”Gently? In a fight? That's not how physics works.”

  “Then find another way,”she insisted.”Use your ‘physics’ to move them,not crush them.Until I see that you can control yourself,I'm keeping these photos as insurance.”

  Rei stared at her for a long time.The “Ghost of 1C” was being blackmailed by a girl who looked like she would faint if a breeze blew her too hard. But there was a sincerity in her eyes that reminded him of how his mother wanted him to change for his better future.

  “Fine,” Rei grunted.

  Kenji who was with Rei all of this said “You realize what she just did,right? She just gave you the hardest training mission of your life.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rei muttered.

  “Think about it! In Traditional Taekwondo,we focus on the ‘One Hit,One Kill’ philosophy.To win without causing damage means you have to have absolute control over your opponent’s center of gravity.You can’t just impact them,you have to redirect to them.”

  Rei giggled,”The next training,we will be learning about Kinetic Impact  to Fluid Dynamics.”

  “And one more thing,” Hiyori added,her voice gaining a bit of a mischievous spark now that she held the winning hand.

  Rei stopped,his hand already on the school gate. “There’s more?”

  "The Cultural Festival is next month," she said, tapping her chin. "Our class is short on volunteers for the planning committee because everyone is... well, everyone is a little bit intimidated by the new student. You're going to join the committee. And you’re going to help me with the 'Inuyama History' photo exhibition.”

  Rei felt a cold sweat that had nothing to do with his training.”I don’t do ‘events’.Im a librarian.”

  “Not anymore,” Hiyori countered,holding up her camera.You’re going to be in where I want to see you.If you skip a single meeting… I might accidentally hit ‘send’ the photos to the Disciplinary Committee.”

  Kenji let out a muffled snicker.”The social physics of this is fascinating,Rei.You’ve moved from a ‘Closed System’ to an ‘Open System’. You are being integrated into the local ecology!”

 Rei just stared at the building.He had faced gangs,survived a car wreck, and could break a concrete wall with his knuckles but the thought of the school festival planning committee was the first time someone made him want to run.

Author's note:

✍️ Fun Fact:

Reizen's Traditional Taekwondo is a combination of ATA (American Taekwondo Association),WT (World Taekwondo),ITF (International Taekwondo Federation) but mostly focused on ITF which is the first martial art I learned!