He looked up at the roof of the school and thought, over there.
Yui swung his fist and ordered, "Take it. Do you think you can win if you keep dodging forever, or are you just not able to do anything any more?"
Naritu frowned and thought, is he getting tired? His punches seem lighter than I expected. I'd rather not keep taking them.
Yui started attacking again, but Naritu blocked every punch.
He does that so easily with his bare hands, Yui thought. Why? If he can do this, why did he keep dodging?
He turned to Naritu and said that he had dodged at the last second on purpose, to make him throw more punches. He's infuriating me. This is the first time I've been treated like a jerk. He may be skilful, and the type who wins by thinking in the ring. But I'm a knockout master.
He swung, and thought, I can do it. He just dodges without landing the finishing throw. So I'll punch until he's exhausted. If I can land one powerful punch at the end, then I win.
Naritu dodged and thought, what? He missed on purpose? Or are his legs giving out? What was that? What if he had hit me just now? If he had hit me—
Yui screamed, "Hey! What's going on? What did your master teach you, for you to do nothing but run away?"
Naritu asked, "What did you say?" He had always followed his father's lessons.
Yui asked again, "Your father's lessons?"
Eight years earlier, a voice was heard in Naritu's house. "Yes, the key is to keep your body's axis stable. You need to extend your leg more."
"Like this?" Naritu asked.
Hanamichi laughed. "Great. That's just great. Then you throw your fist forward."
Mom was watching them from the window and ordered them not to teach him anything dangerous.
Father smiled and said, "This is karate training."
"Really?" Mom asked.
Hanamichi screamed, "Really! Really!"
"Well, okay then," she replied. "But you don't need to teach him to fight."
"Okay," Father replied. "I know."
Naritu asked, "Am I not allowed to fight?"
Hanamichi replied, "No, it's not that you can't. Mom just doesn't want you getting into fights. So maybe it's better not to do it in front of her. But you have to be able to protect yourself and the people you care about. Don't you think so?"
"I think so," Naritu replied.
His father cried out happily, "Oh yeah. That's the mood."
Naritu said he wanted to get stronger. He would protect Mom and Dad.
Hanamichi said, "Okay, I get it. Well, as a father, I can't refuse my son when he asks me. The most important thing is to keep improving, constantly. Make it a habit, okay? After all, the one who continues the longest will become the strongest. Can you do it?"
"I can!" Naritu shouted. "I can!"
His father held out his little finger and said, "Okay." And he asked him to swear on it.
Yui asked again, "You're just following your father's instructions?" He laughed and asked, "Are you stupid or what? So it turns out you've just been your parents' puppet all your life."
Naritu frowned and replied that he did not think he had said anything deserving of ridicule.
Yui grabbed his own head and said, "This is hilarious. Just ridiculous. So you're a good boy and a nerd after all." He clenched his fist and rushed to attack.
Naritu dodged and thought, what? His speed, suddenly—
Yui swung his fists, but Naritu dodged.
A man seemed to stand behind Yui and say it. Dad's puppet. Yes. When he gets angry, he immediately starts swinging indiscriminately.
Yui clicked his tongue in displeasure and shouted, "I won't forgive him. I can't lose to him. There's no way I'll lose to a trained dog that obediently followed its old man."
What's this? Naritu thought. All of a sudden his movements were becoming wider than before. But if I keep dodging, my stamina will only go down. I wonder if Kiritani has already found him.
At that moment Inui and Onodera were standing on the roof of Shaon High School.
Inui said, "Yes. The outcome of this fight is already a foregone conclusion. As I said, this Naritu is really good. It was worth coming again to see everything with my own eyes."
Onodera said, "As for Ikada, something is clearly wrong with that guy. His incomprehensible pride and lack of skill make him a simple opponent. He'd be a burden inside the organisation."
Inui said, "He's no good even as cannon fodder. There's no way he'd obediently submit. Well. I've seen enough."
Suddenly they both stopped, because they had seen Kiritani.
At that time Yui swung his fist and cried out, "He—"
Someone asked, "Shouldn't Tada win if his opponent just runs away?"
"He isn't just dodging."
"This isn't child's play."
"Let him do it like that time when Miyamoto won."
Matsuda turned around and said, "Maybe he should finish it already."
Tada grabbed his head and ordered him to shut up. "Naritu has his own plan of action." Although they won't achieve anything like this. What is he going to do? Naritu.
Naritu frowned and said, "The audience is getting louder." Enough time should have passed by now. I did my job. Holding him back any longer is dangerous. I just have to attack him.
He mentally apologised to Kiritani, but he had to end the fight now.
Yui chuckled and said that Naritu should be taking part in the pissing-people-off championship, not the Freshman War. "Seriously. But he's finally really got down to business. Well then, I'll drive even harder than before. Besides, I can only prove my point by defeating him."
Naritu said he wanted to ask him something. Why prove that you're the strongest, instead of properly honing your skills and helping others?
Yui froze at the unexpected answer, and Naritu said it seemed as if he was desperately doing all this for something.