Chapter 3 - The Ring and the Missing Student
Hayate walked down that street again in the direction he had already memorized. Although he was still slightly nervous, he was slowly getting used to coming to this place.
As he entered through the rusty door, he heard the sounds from the ring, some applause, some betting, and the smell of sweat, blood, and money. Kanzaki, who was sitting in a chair watching the fight, noticed when he arrived and greeted him with the same smile as always. Nene was almost next to him, sitting cross-legged with a first aid kit in her hand, waiting for the fight to end. She looked at him silently for a moment before looking away again while smoking a little.
"Welcome back," said Kanzaki. "If you want, you can quickly look around before we get you settled in for training."
"Sure, although I already saw some parts the previous times I came," Hayate nodded, quickly scanning the place.
The place wasn't paradise, but it wasn't a sewer either. They had a makeshift kitchen in one corner where they served rice, carrots, meat, and other things. You could see that there were several chefs, which was understandable given the number of people.
«Although it would be a shame if someone came to eat and turned out to be a bottomless pit» he thought, remembering how some people ate so much that he wondered if they were spending all their family's money, although he was almost the same.
He stared at the board reserved for fights or important news, and on the other side in a corner there were some clean bandages, neatly arranged gloves, and a first aid kit that seemed to survive everything in this place.
"Watch first," said Kanzaki, getting up and walking over to him. "See how they move, kid. Learn how to hurt them, learn not to repeat the mistakes of others, and learn how to take a punch properly."
Hayate stood next to Kanzaki, both watching a fight between two humans in the ring, how one managed to deflect his opponent's blow to counterattack with a strong blow to the chest.
"For humans, they sure know how to hit."
"Jojojo, kid, if you saw the real masters, you'd doubt that an uma could beat them."
Hayate raised an eyebrow curiously at the comment. He had already seen the difference in strength between an Umamusume and a human. Even the smallest ones could easily dominate a human, so it was difficult for him to imagine one winning against them in a fight.
"I see. I'd like to see that sometime," Hayate said, to which Kanzaki just smiled a little and shook his head.
"Maybe in the future you'll get to see a fight like that, young Hayate. Although I've seen some who manage to fight against umas, there are also those who think they can fight against them and end up in a wheelchair."
Hayate was confused by that last comment. He knew that wheelchairs were popular among uma trainers for some reason, but did they fight with their umas often?
Kanzaki spoke again as he continued to watch the ring. "Train as if your life didn't depend on it, fight as if it really did, and don't forget, well-managed pain isn't what defeats you, but the pride that grows in your head after winning a couple of times does."
Nene, who had just finished smoking his cigarette and left it in the ashtray, showed him where he could practice. Further back in another room, there were several posts with punching bags, jump ropes, and even a tatami mat for learning how to fall correctly. He put bandages on his hands as he walked over to test how well they worked.
He started with the basics he knew, such as jumping rope, controlled punches to the bag, and above all, working on his feet, how to step, turn, or reset to move correctly in the ring.
When he tried to speed up his breathing, it became more precise for a few moments, remembering the training he did to get into Tracen, the measured strides that had helped him run without getting too exhausted. Although this wasn't a race, the basics still mattered: the heart kept the rhythm, and the rhythm dictated the pauses where the body could relax.
"Relax a little," Kanzaki said, watching from the side. "Don't tense up so much, you could cause your muscles to lock up before the blow."
Hayate practiced this until his body began to get used to it. Repetition after repetition, the day quickly passed as he lost track of time, sweat dripping down his temples and his heart beating with exhaustion. When he took a break, he sat down for a moment to drink some water.
The night progressed as the fights continued, and Hayate continued training. He learned to roll without bending his leg in the process. He also learned to fall and get back up when knocked to the ground, and to take a blow that throws you off balance without falling. With considerable persistence on his part, he also managed to get Nene to teach him, with a serious look on her face, how to quickly bandage his hands and minor injuries.
At one point, Kanzaki asked him if he would like to try out what he had learned in a practice fight. Although he felt somewhat exhausted, Hayate had a smile on his face when he accepted without hesitation.
"Come up for a couple of rounds, but don't worry, it's just practice," said Kanzaki.
The ring beneath his feet felt different from the dirt or grass of the track. It didn't bother him, but the unusual sensation was strange. His ears moved as he listened to the noise of the crowd in the nearby seats.
"Who do you think will land the first blow?"
"Probably him, although they said it was just a practice fight, so it won't be very interesting."
"I see... 30 bucks she makes him bleed."
"Pff, please... 40 bucks she's the one who bleeds."
"You're on."
He rolled his eyes as he stopped listening to their conversation and focused on watching the Umamusume climb into the ring as his opponent.
The fight was a mild exchange of blows, with him learning how to throw them and her taking advantage of the opportunity to hit him repeatedly.
Although there was no knockout in this fight, they did take several blows, and he also ended up bleeding a little from his lip when one of her blows hit him in the mouth. The blood tasted metallic as it went down his throat.
When the bell finally rang, he thanked Uma and climbed out of the ring with bruises but no serious injuries beyond that broken lip. Nene expressionlessly made him sit down while she cleaned the wound with a dry towel and helped him with his lip.
"I warned you," she said. "It's not pretty, but at least you learned."
Hayate sat down on a chair and stared at the ceiling. The lights above the ring were too bright, the heat rose up his back, and he had a strange feeling growing in his chest, a kind of small relief, the kind he felt when he pushed himself hard in a race.
Kanzaki approached him and, without saying much, handed him a small wad of bills.
"Here, take your share," he said. "It won't be much the first time since it was a practice fight, but people enjoyed watching them use you as a punching bag."
Hayate, unsure of how much it was, grabbed the money and quickly counted it. He had received a total of 7,400 yen.
"Don't rush to use everything you know in your first fight. Even if you don't know much, sometimes you have to take your opponents by surprise. Besides, you still have a lot to learn."
"Heh, I realized that, ahu," Hayate nodded, still feeling the wound on his lip.
________________________________
That morning, when the last attendees had left and the lights had been partially turned off, Nene invited him into the small office for a quick checkup. His movements were quick and professional. He cleaned my lip, looked at the wound, and checked my wrists.
"Be very careful with your wrists," he said, reapplying the medicine to my lip. "If you strain them, not only could you lose a fight, but you could also lose their use for a few weeks."
Hayate nodded slightly at the warning. "Sure, I'll make sure I don't break anything by accident."
"I hope so. I don't want to see you in my office too often." Nene, for her part, stood for a moment looking at her notebook where she wrote down her observations. Something in her gaze changed for a fraction of a second.
"You know, you have a good foundation," she murmured. "It's not natural for someone who doesn't come from a school. Did you train before?" she asked.
Hayate thought about how he had spent his time training before so he could improve by the time he could enter a school. "Not exactly. I trained a lot, but I also ran in some informal races, although in the end they didn't accept me when I tried to enter Tracen."
Nene's face remained neutral, although she felt a spark of curiosity.
"Well, then you have to improve even more, and if you're going to compete for the first time in official fights with the performance you showed in practice, I wish you luck," he finished applying the medicine and finally let him go. "Don't go throwing yourself like a fool into the lion's den, don't waste an opportunity because of stupidity, okay?"
"Sure, thanks, Nene," Hayate said, getting up and gathering his things to leave.
"Yeah, yeah, now get out of here, I have to close up."
Hayate went out into the night with his backpack slung over his shoulder. He barely noticed the time when he turned on his phone, realizing how late it was and seeing several notifications that he decided to ignore for the moment.
He went home with his legs heavy with fatigue, but with one idea in mind. He had already thought about his next fight. The rent payment still hung over him, but for the first time, he had something real to fall back on.
_______________________________
Meanwhile, in the principal's office at Tracen Academy, the sound of papers being shuffled and two voices chatting filled the room.
The large windows cast moonlight on the face of Yayoi Akikawa, the director, who kept her hand resting on her chin as she looked at her computer screen and fanned herself a little.
Next to her, Tazuna Hayakawa, the secretary in the green suit feared by several Umamusumes, had laid out a list of printed admissions, resulting in a rather tall stack of paperwork that they unfortunately had to review. The two calmly went over the names, emails, and certificates.
"Applications keep coming in," Tazuna murmured, more as a comment than an alarm. "The number is high this year."
"I know," Akikawa replied. "It's a good sign, and I'm glad so many Umamusumes want to enter the academy, but check this out, Tazuna."
Tazuna leaned in slightly to get a better look. On the screen was a field that didn't add up, a partially empty duplicate. "What is this?"
Akikawa frowned. It wasn't the first time the systems had acted up, but something about that entry wasn't normal. There was a space that appeared twice in the list, marked as incomplete and accepted. The algorithm had marked the entry as ambiguous and, through an automatic process, had deleted both versions.
"Did they delete both records for those umas?" said Tazuna, glancing at Akikawa.
"It seems so," replied Akikawa, whose calmness was professional in nature. "The system detected an inconsistency and executed the rule to avoid duplication, 'Delete conflicting entries and notify manually,' although it did not notify us or send any alerts."
Tazuna's face twitched slightly when he heard Akikawa's words. "How many similar cases are there?"
"It seems that this is the only one at the moment, although there is nothing to prevent it from happening again," said Akikawa, typing a few things. "But we must confirm it. Search the backups. I want to know the name, date of birth, contact information. If there is anyone affected by this error, we have to fix it. We cannot allow their dream to be frustrated by something like this."
Tazuna worked steadily, browsing through the documents and searching through previous copies with Akikawa's help. After a few hours, they managed to find a concrete result.
"Hayate Kurogane."
"Here's something," said Tazuna, drawing Akikawa's attention and showing him the name in the records. "He submitted everything in a timely manner, and it looks like his name is on both the approved and rejected entries."
Akikawa left her hand on the table, staring at the screen as if it were a puzzle, looking at the available information on Hayate.
"Umashonen... Was the applicant notified of the problem?" she asked, turning her attention back to Tazuna.
"No," said Tazuna. "There is no record of an email or notification, only the initial confirmation email. It seems that the deletion occurred before the official letter was generated."
Both remained silent for a moment, realizing the problem.
"Call admissions," Akikawa ordered. "And also uma resources. I want you to locate the applicant, if it's still possible. If not, even though this error occurred in the system, we'll see how we can fix it."
Tazuna already had the phone in his hand. "If that Hayate lives in the city, there's a chance he can still be located."
Akikawa nodded. "Also, prepare an official letter explaining the error. I won't sugarcoat it, but he deserves to know the reason."
This was not a minor mistake. It was a student who might now have taken another path or enrolled in another academy.
"If we find him, what do we do?" Tazuna said in a low voice.
Akikawa thought for a moment, fanning himself more quickly before closing his fan with a snap and tapping it on his hand.
"We'll bring him back, if necessary, offer him a place, and if he doesn't want it, we'll give him options."
Tazuna nodded and wrote down the instructions.
"Ah, who was the idiot who created this?" Akikawa said, lamenting the whole problem as she rubbed her temple.
"It was you, Director."
"Oh... I see. Well, Tazuna, fire someone."
"I don't think that will solve the problem. Speaking of which, shouldn't you start fixing the flaw in the system?"
Akikawa just smiled defeatedly, as it meant no sleep, and Tazuna's smile showed that he wouldn't let her off the hook anytime soon.