章節 13: Where We Begin

On the morning several days after their spar, Gaara and Lee were walking quietly, heading towards the gym where they would be taking their Martial Arts classes in, carrying their own bags filled with extra clothes, medical supplies, a water bottle, and their phones.

Both Irinaka and grandma Maki had fussed over them before leaving, insisting they carry with them everything they could possibly need since both boys decided to walk towards the gym on their own instead of taking the train.

It was still early anyways and Lee wanted to get some extra exercise to burn off his excess energy. Gaara could never fathom where Lee got all his energy from. As of now, Gaara was just running on two cups of coffee and sheer determination, having just finished speed-running through his study materials for the final grade year the night before.

And for that, he was now paying for it.

"Gaara, watch out!" Suddenly, Lee took hold of Gaara's arm and pulled him back, just in time to avoid a car rushing past. "You have to stop when the streetlight is green. You can only cross when the light turns red so you don't get hit by a car."

It was only now that Gaara realized that they were at a crossroad. Fortunately, Lee had good reflexes and managed to pull him back in time or else he might have really gotten hit.

"Oh, um... Thanks." Gaara muttered, his face growing warm all of a sudden. Gradually, he began to feel conscious of Lee's hand on his arm.

"No problem! Just be careful next time." Lee smiled brightly, not realizing Gaara's mental state, and instead, he just patted the boy's back good-naturedly and looked towards the street lights, waiting for the right time to cross the road.

When Lee let go of Gaara's arm, the red haired boy couldn't help but feel an inexplicable loss.

Soon enough, the street lights turned red and they were free to cross, with Lee leading the way and Gaara absentmindedly following along. In that form of silence, they quickly arrived at the gym with a few minutes to spare, which they used to wear their practice-appropriate clothing and conduct some basic stretches.

"Hey, how come I never knew how flexible you were?" Lee suddenly asked, watching how Gaara had bent down towards the ground from a standing position, placing his palms flat on the floor.

"Because it never came up during a conversation?" Gaara said, perplexed. "People don't just talk about their body's flexibility in a normal conversation."

"Oh yeah." Lee smiled humorously, his mind thinking of something funny which only he knew.

In the gym, separate training rooms were allocated for each class, ranging from the more mainstream ones like boxing, kick boxing, karate, judo, and taekwondo, to the lesser studied aikido, muay thai, capoeira, and MMA.

MMA being a class most casual students didn't know existed in the gym since it just taught a mixture of all martial arts that could be learned.

Both of them had signed up for MMA classes in order to learn the most amount in a short time which would be practical in real battle scenarios.

Inside the training room allocated for MMA, Lee and Gaara surveyed the room, finding the floor to be covered in durable mats, several punching bags hanging from the ceiling towards the far right, and a fighting ring towards the back.

Instantly, Lee's interest had been ignited. Perhaps he could find some worthy opponents in this place.

Several minutes later, people began appearing one after another inside the training room, waiting for the instructor to arrive.

Fortunately, the didn't wait too long since the exact moment the clock struck 8, the door was pushed open and a stern woman entered the room, emitting a cold aura.

"Ya'll had better done your warm ups already." The woman said, eyeing each of the students carefully, the scar on her right eye adding to her intimidating persona. "We're going straight to sparring today since we have two new students."

Immediately, all sound disappeared from the room.

"New students can introduce themselves after the spar or during the break. I don't really care. I just need those two to spar first so I get to know what level they're at and what I need to teach." The woman informed in disinterest. "Older students, you know the drill. I'll be checking your improvements after the newbies spar so prepare yourselves."

"Yes, ma'am!" The ten other students chorused, surprising Gaara and Lee of their discipline.

"And for the two who don't know me, you can call me Miko-sensei. Retired underground hero, Satin." The woman looked towards Gaara and Lee, throwing two sets of protective gear towards them. "Now, wear those and come up the ring."

...

"Now, remember. Within this ring, you are absolutely not allowed to use your quirks. Using excessive force or purposely injuring your opponent more than necessary is also prohibited. Just spar using only your own body's capability." Miko-sensei said sternly, allowing no room for disagreements. "Understood?"

"Yes, sensei." Both Lee and Gaara nodded seriously, both wearing their protective gear as they stood on opposite sides of the ring.

It was a pure physical fight where all they could use were their Taijutsu. Lee couldn't use his quirk and his Eight Gates but, neither can Gaara use his sand and his Rinne Sharingan.

"Fight!"

And in a fight like this, Lee was far ahead of Gaara in terms of experience and raw power.

Despite being able to mimic certain movements from the various fighting videos through the internet, that was the only thing he could do; mimic. He had yet to learn how to apply them in a real battle and could only plan out his actions three steps ahead.

Unfortunately, Lee was far too fast. And when Gaara found himself laying on his back, face up on the ring and staring at Lee's victorious grin, everything was over far too quickly.

"I won." Lee said, putting his hand out for Gaara to hold.

"Yeah. You won." Gaara smiled, whole-heartedly accepting his defeat. The realm of Taijutsu was Lee's domain. It was only natural for Gaara to lose to him.

"Alright. I think I know what to do with both of you now." Miko-sensei clapped her hands and said, looking at Lee thoughtfully.

Seeing this, Gaara smiled secretly.

...

On the nineteenth of January, Gaara woke up after a rare full sleep of more than 8 hours, feeling completely energized.

Looking at the sun peering through the snow bearing canopies of the trees from his window, he couldn't help but smile a little as he slowly extricated himself from the warmth of his blankets.

As he got up and headed towards the bathroom, he had the faint inkling that he seemed to be forgetting something.

It was only after he had finished bathing and changing his clothes that he realized what day it was.

Instantly, he had the urge to hit his head on a wall.

It was his birthday!

Who even forgets their own birthday?

Gaara, apparently. Well, to be fair, his birthday used to be a day that was never really that different from any other day to him since he had no one to celebrate it with. All it served was to remind him of his ill birth.

But, now, there were people who were glad of his existence and were willing to celebrate with him. They even purposely reminded him to go to the lounge at 8 in the morning since they were going to prepare a special breakfast for him...

Uh-oh.

Hurriedly, Gaara checked the time and immediately sighed in relief. Fortunately, he didn't wake up late and he still had some time to spare but he best be heading to lounge now in case Nemoto or Irinaka scold him for lateness.

So, in a relaxed mood, he made his way out of his room, stopping by the garden to check on his cacti before heading towards the lounge.

Along the way, he seemed to hear a cacophony of crashing sounds coming from the kitchen but decided not to interfere with it for his own personal safety.

Unfortunately, Kurono couldn't spend the day together with him as he had to return to his studies as a medical student in Kyoto Medical University but, he did greet Gaara at exactly midnight to let him know that he remembered.

"Gaara!"

Suddenly, the front door burst open and boy wearing a green jumpsuit burst through, catching Gaara by surprise.

"Happy birthday!"

Immediately, a large and heavy paper bag was stuffed into his arms as Lee grinned at him eagerly. "Be careful of the thing inside. It's a bit prickly!"

Feeling intrigued, Gaara took a peek inside the paper bag and was left stunned. Right at the paper bag's opening, a bright red flower glistened, vibrant and beautiful.

It was a Schlumbergera, a flowering cactus which also had the name of Christmas cactus.

Where had Lee even gotten it from? Even the plant shop he visited didn't have these.

"Do you like it?" Lee asked, anxious to know Gaara's thoughts. "I remembered you saying you liked taking care of cacti so I got you one."

"Yes, I like it very much." Gaara smiled, holding the bag even more carefully now. "Thank you, Lee."

Seemingly relieved, Lee clutched his chest and sighed. "You know, I actually bought it immediately the moment I saw it. The flower on it just reminded me of you."

Suddenly, Gaara fumbled, his eyes widening slightly as his face began to grow warm.

"The flower's red color is the exact same shade as your hair." Lee said with a straight face.

"Oh." Somehow, Gaara felt a bit lost.

"Your breakfast is here, birthday boy! Come and eat your fucking Pasta a'la Explosion!" Nemoto shouted and suddenly, Gaara felt as though he were back to being kidnapped by Deidara.

...

"I'll be honest with you, kid. I don't have much to teach you in terms of combat knowledge. The most I can do is probably expose you to some grappling techniques to add some variety in your attacks. Punches and kicks won't always be enough." Miko-sensei suddenly called Lee out to talk to him alone one day after their training. "Although I have a better idea if you're up for it."

Truthfully, teaching Lee had been something that gave the ex-pro hero a challenge. But not in a bad way. In actuality, Lee's fighting knowledge and instincts could already outclass many pro heroes today, and that didn't even include his ability to make split second decisions mid-fight.

That's why, after thinking about it for several nights, she had finally decided to impart Lee with her own special lifesaving tricks which she had learned from her years of being an underground hero. But, first, she had to make sure Lee was aware of what he would be learning from her.

Meanwhile, in the entrance area of the gym, Gaara was sitting on a chair by himself, playing with his phone with his headphones on as he waited for Lee to emerge.

As of now, he was playing a game which Nemoto had suggested to him, saying that it might help him understand the concept of heroes and villains faster. And, truthfully, it was more fun than he had expected. He might have gotten addicted.

At this moment, towards the staircase, a blonde boy stomped down heavily, his expression hard and lips strained in a thin line, making his angry mood clear to everyone.

"Monoma, you know you can't just do that! You even walked out on the instructor!" An auburn-haired girl said as she followed behind the blonde boy worriedly.

"He had been taunting me and insulting my quirk for two weeks now, Saraba! Two weeks! I have every right to get angry!" The blonde boy shouted angrily, causing the ire of the other people nearby. "Not everyone can continue smiling while being insulted like you can!"

"But you just can't hit Roku-kun in the face like that! You should have just told the instructor!" The girl adviced, looking at the boy with concern. "Look, we still have time left. You could still return and apologize to them."

The boy sneered, looking as though he couldn't believe the girl would even suggest something like that.

"And who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do?!" The boy growled, snapping at the girl. "You aren't class representative in this place, Saraba! So, you better mind your own business!"

The boy turned around and walked away.

"Monoma, wait-" The girl tried to reach for the blonde boy's arm but the boy quickly jumped out of her reach.

Unfortunately for him, there was a chair jutting out on his path, causing him to trip and lose his footing, falling straight towards an unsuspecting boy who had no idea what was coming.

"Wah-"

"Monoma!!-"

...

"Underhanded techniques?" Lee felt a bit hesitant when he first heard it. His whole fighting style revolved around youth and passion! Why would there be a need for him to learn those kinds of fighting methods? "It's a bit dishonorable, isn't it?"

To his words, Miko-sensei snorted in irritation.

"Villains don't fight honorably and sometimes, having a few hidden tricks in your sleeve is enough to save your life." Miko-sensei spoke coldly, muscled arms crossing over her chest. "Between honor and your life, you should know which one is more important."

"I see." Lee lowered his head thoughtfully, inwardly disagreeing with Miko-sensei's words but promising to think about it more.

As he exited the training room, he began to think of all the things he knew about this world.

Surely, in this world where countless strange powers existed, things weren't as peaceful as it seemed on the surface.

Society was mostly divided into three categories; The Heroes, the Civilians, and the Villains.

It was a monochromatic world where people were forcefully divided into either black or white.

And if color didn't exist in this world, then Lee would like to stay a pure white if possible.

Upon entering the entrance area, Lee was suddenly drawn to a small commotion happening at one side but, upon seeing the cause, a faint red light seemed to flash from somewhere within his eyes.

Or perhaps he could do with some delving on the grey side.

There, on the floor, Gaara was being held down by an unknown yellow-haired assailant. Instantly, Lee was filled with an unknown feeling of irritation. All he wanted at that moment was to get the boy as far away from Gaara as possible.

And so, he did just that.

Instantly disappearing from where he stood, he arrived behind the boy in a split second, looking as though he had teleported and roughly grabbed the collar of the boy's shirt. With one swift motion, he pulled the boy up and threw him to the side, not bothering to care for the boy's well being as all of his concern went solely to Gaara at this moment.

"Gaara, are you alright?" Lee asked, his voice ominously calm, but Gaara was distracted by the strange red light that was dancing within Lee's dark eyes.

"Oh- yes..." Gaara nodded slowly as he picked up his phone which had fallen to the ground. Fortunately, it didn't seem to have been damaged. "My sand managed to catch me before I hit the floor."

"Hmm, that's good." Lee smiled in relief, gazing at Gaara softly as he pulled him up. "I would be really worried if you were hurt."

"Damn it! Who the-" Towards the side, the blonde boy who had regained his senses began to get up, rearing to fight but was frozen on his spot when a pair of dark eyes settled on him, daring him to move.

The red light was flashing brighter now, emitting a blood scented chill which only Monoma seemed to feel. It felt like he was being stared at by a vicious snake, it's giant maw gaping open to swallow him whole. And, for a long time, Monoma was stuck in a frozen daze, unable to move in fear.

By the time Monoma regained his senses, Gaara and Lee had already left, leaving him alone with Saraba who was waving her hand in front of Monoma's eyes, trying to get him to respond.

Slapping Saraba's hand away, Monoma quickly got up and ran out of the gym.

...

The days afterwards passed without a hitch, and soon, it was already the day that Lee's whole neighborhood had been anticipating the most.

The Chinese New Year was here!

The whole street was covered in red and gold colors as specially crafted festival lanterns were hung on both sides of the street. Children were running around, playfully throwing child-safe fireworks towards the street as the elderly gave free fortune cookies and coin shaped biscuits to their friends and neighbors. The youth had banded together and made their own makeshift dragon dance crew, making the visitors amused by their antics.

With the sounds of joy and laughter, all of a sudden, everything was alive, as if a previously dead neighborhood was injected with life.

On top of the hill, within the temple, Lee was happily gorging himself with New Year snacks while also making sure Gaara's arms were filled with snacks of his own.

Looking down towards the pile of food that he now had, Gaara felt helpless. He might not finish everything even if he were given a month's time.

"Silly boy! If you continue eating like that, you won't have any room left for dumplings, ah!" Lao Hu grumbled as he exited from the kitchen, carrying a bamboo steamer filled with intricately made dumplings.

"I'll always have more room for food, grandpa!" Lee exclaimed through a mouthful of food.

"Let them be, Hu'ah. The Chinese New Year only comes once a year." Grandma Maki said with a doting smile as she handed a red envelope to both Lee and Gaara. "Here you go! May your year be full of prosperity."

Gaara was surprised. At first sight, he already knew that the envelope contained money. He just didn't expect to recieve one as well.

"I'm not sure I can accept this... I am already imposing on you so frequently." Gaara frowned, trying to return the envelope, to which, grandma Maki retreated out of his reach, shaking her head.

"No, no! Take it! It is the Chinese New Year tradition for the older generation to give money to the younger generation. We are blessing you to stay healthy and have a year filled with wealth." Grandma Maki insisted.

"Oh, I see." Gaara said, still feeling hesitant but knowing it would be impolite to refuse twice. "Then, I shall gratefully accept your blessing."

While this was taking place, something else was happening within the city that would soon shake the entire country.

A few days before, a certain pro hero who was forced to retire recently due to losing both of his hands in a work accident suddenly posted a video on his social media.

In this video, it could be seen that the pro hero was testing out his new prosthetic hands which, aside from the line which showed where the prosthetic connected to his arms, looked no different from normal hands.

As the video progressed, it could be seen that the pro hero was gradually getting used to his prosthetics, going from doing simple motions like grabbing, to more complex ones such as writing. He was even able to open his phone which had a fingerprint lock!

Thought that wasn't what caught the public's attention.

Towards the middle of the video, the pro hero could be seen appearing in a different location which looked like an open training area.

At first, everyone was confused but, the moment the pro hero touched the ground, their mouths all fell open.

From the screen, they could see the ground beneath the hero shift subtly before forming a wall of soil in front of him. Suddenly, there was a brief moment of silence before the hero suddenly burst into tears.

The Earth Hero: Continent, was known as a rising star in the hero world before he lost his hands. His quirk, Soil Manipulation, allowed him to freely mold soil to his will as long as he had his palms flat on the ground.

After he lost both hands, he also lost his ability to use his quirk, forcing him to retire so early on his career.

But now, through this video, it was shown that he could still use his quirk and might make a heroic comeback soon. All of this was thanks to the powerful prosthetics which he now wore.

It all made everyone curious about the mysterious origin of the prosthetics. So, several days later, a certain news agency recieved a tip about this piece of news and who the manufacturers were.

Needless to say, they immediately sent a team of reporters to the Hatsume Industries, eager to be the first to acquire this news.

Towards these overly eager reporters, the workers of the Hatsume's just sighed tiredly, having already expected such a thing to occur.

When the head researcher of the project was asked about the origin of this idea, he actually said that it came from an outside source and their team was only in charge of manufacturing and testing it! After further investigating, the reporter finally managed to reach the truth.

The true creator of the initial blueprint was actually the 18 years old CEO of the newly founded Shie Hassaikai Business Group which now had ownership of 55 percent of the Hatsume Industry's shares.

Everyone was shocked.

That night, as the news was broadcasted all over Japan, the Hatsume Industries, the Shie Hassaikai Group, and even Chisaki himself recieved widescale praise and popularity, paving the way for the Shie Hassaikai's advancement towards conquering the business world.

Now, they just had to patiently wait and gradually amass their fortune, taking over society little by little.

In order to convince the public that the Shie Hassaikai has pure intentions, they must first win the hearts of the common people, and the easiest way to achieve that is through donations and charity fairs.