Chapter 14: No regrets
''Young man, where have you been! We were very worried!'' My mother said with an angry look on her face.
''I was at the police station,'' I replied
''But why were you there! What did you do?'' My mother said and dad looked at the scene with a worried face.
I told them everything that happened since I left school, except things Lucas and I did - I only told everything about what happened since we went towards the Police station and nothing after that.
''You could have died!'' My dad suddenly said loudly which made me flinch.
My mother and father never has been this angry before after looking at the memories of the previous Ichiro.
''Eiji is right, even though you did admirably saving that little girl, it still doesn't change the fact that you could have died, it wasn't your job to save her!'' My mom said
''Then whose is it?!'' I roared which made my parents flinch and then I continued.''If I didn't save her, then she would have died! I don't regret doing that - I am aware that you guys were worried, and I am grateful, but I don't regret saving her when it was within my capabilities.''
'I already died once… I doubt dying second time would be worse…' I thought, but then I exclaimed. 'Where the fuck do these suicidal thoughts come from?!'
I widened my eyes, I knew that if I can't defeat Irkum, I would manage to escape, but doing that; I would have failed my quest…
I never planned to escape anyway… So my thought process was indeed quite suicidal…
'I should treasure my life more… What the fuck Ichiro!' I tried to control myself so I don't start hitting my head to get these suicidal thoughts out of my mind.
My words made my parents quiet while looking at me in surprise.
But I decided to say the rest of my thoughts.
''She was as young as Ayako! How could I live with myself knowing that I let someone's daughter or little sister die without doing anything, I would never improve my Martial Arts with that mindset!'' I took a deep breath and continued.''I am sorry I made you guys worry, but I couldn't just sit on the sidelines and watch that monster kill her.''
I finished, even though I first ran after Irkum because of the quest, and I would have lost my arm if I failed the Quest, but I would have tried to save that little girl even without the quest.
I still treasure my life, of course, I already died once and I don't want to die twice.
But I can't live with myself if I let her die and I probably couldn't look Ayako in the eye without remembering what I did.
A certain mindset is important for martial arts practitioners.
This is my mindset and I probably would limit my growth by a lot if I do something against my principles.
My words made my parents silent and they started thinking deeply while Ayako was having tears in her eyes seeing our fight.
''I will go to bed, I am tired,'' I said and started walking out of the living room, I patted Ayako's head while passing by her and took stairs towards my room.
I opened the door to my room and took my shoes off and my school outfit and jumped towards my bed.
I lay there quietly looking at the ceiling.
'That's right, my quest reward.' I thought to myself and finally remembered getting the Technique recreation token.
I started remembering the fight I had against Irkum and thinking about what could have helped me to defeat him better.
My defense is good enough for now, but I need movement technique.
I need a technique that doesn't cost too much stamina and a technique that I could use as much as possible, like Ironic Edge.
Iron Rapidity is a good technique, but it has great flaws.
I need to misdirect a person's point of view, but fights which are usually in the arena, make it harder to use.
It is harder to use when your opponent is fully focused on you.
Iron Purgatory is a better version of Rapidity, but the cost of stamina is way too great.
'I need to improve my stamina.' I thought to myself, I need movement techniques, but my current stamina is holding me back.
I made a slight mistake in stats points, but it doesn't matter.
Since I can't use properly any movement techniques… attack technique then it is.
Those I have plenty.
I need to choose one attack technique that perfectly combines with Ironic Edge.
And I know the perfect technique for it.
I used my Technique recreation token and familiar text appeared in front of me.
[Technique Recreation Token used!]
[Choose the Technique!]
'Iron Style: Iron Lance!'
Iron Lance: It allows a person's hand to turn as solid as a real spear.
[Iron Style: Iron Lance recreated and all backlash has been removed!]
That was the move I chose and it is one of the deadliest attacks in my arsenal, but it can also be perfectly used with Ironic Edge.
While I am parrying attacks with Ironic Edge, I can quickly use a weakness detection eye to see the weak points in my opponent's attack and quickly use Iron Lance to win the battle.
Without Weakness Detection Eye, I probably wouldn't have chosen Iron Lance.
Slowly I started feeling sleepy; I slowly closed my eyes and started sleeping…
It has been a long day.
…
Next Day.
*Yawn*
I opened my eyes with a yawn and looked at the time from my phone.
4.50 am, still early, but I still woke up to do my morning routine.
I stood up from the bed and saw my school uniform and saw the ripped sleeve of my school jacket.
''Oh right, I had to rip it off to bind my wound.'' I sighed, I need to get a new uniform
Well good thing is that it can be easily bought from the shop in the mall near our home.
It will open at 7 am, so I have 2 hours to do my thing.
I opened my door and walked sloppily towards the bathroom and took my toothpaste and my toothbrush and brushed my teeth.
*Spat*
I spat the rest of the toothpaste with water and put my toothbrush and toothpaste back in the cabinet, where I took it from.
I walked back to my room and put on my running outfit, which consisted of a black t-shirt with white shorts.
I have noticed that I have already gotten visible abs after I ate body improvement pills and it won't take long before my body is in good shape.
And I wonder how much my strength improves when I start my growth spur at 18 years old…
But we will get there.
Now I have more important things to focus on.
I put on my running shoes and opened the door to leave the house and started running through the streets while feeling wind brushing through my hair.
My thoughts were still about yesterday's argument…
I feel Ichiro's love towards his parents, which also influences me.
But I got angry after my mother told me that I shouldn't have done that…
It made me think about my death… And my previous life's parents, who probably had similar thoughts after hearing how I died…
They never wanted me to get into trouble…
But trouble always found me.
And the things I did in my previous life…
Somethings I am not proud of…
But some things I had to do…
I never did anything against my morals…
But the body count I had in back life…
Was something hard to accept…
And killing the police officer yesterday; I only felt that it was necessary…
He might have had a family…
Parents, etc…
But I knew what would have happened if I let him live…
People close to me would have died if I didn't do anything…
Just like in my previous life, once I decided not to kill a man… Who should have been killed…
But I should apologize to my parents… Of course, they would care about their children more than others… I can understand their worry.
I jogged for 2 hours until the mall opened and I went there to get a new school uniform and I finally ran back to my home.
I opened the door and took my shoes off and started walking towards my room, but before I could get there, I was stopped by my mother.
''Ichiro, can we have a talk?'' She said, I nodded.
She led me to the sofa in the living room.
''What is it?'' I asked.
''I want to apologize about yesterday.'' My mother told and continued with slight fear on her face.''You are getting older and you are going a very dangerous path…''
''I am worried about you.'' My mother said with teary eyes, which made me guilty.
''I understand that you all are worried about me and I am grateful.'' I said and continued.''But this is the life I chose and I am going to face danger way worse than Irkum and I hope you will support me.'' I said with a determined look.
''I-I understand… my boy is growing too fast…'' she said while sobbing quietly and I sat next to her to hug her.
''This is my dream mother and I promise; I won't die,'' I said and mother looked at me with her teary eyes and saw my determined face.
We hugged for a minute until I saw my father walking from the upstairs towards the living room with Ayako; I looked at his face and I can guess that he heard what we talked about - I only nodded to him.
He nodded as well.
I had a small talk with them for few minutes and I went towards my room to put on my school uniform to start another school day.
I took my backpack and put all the books I needed for today - I opened my door's room and saw Ayako waiting for me to leave for school.
I patted her head and we went downstairs and put on our shoes and opened the door to leave towards school.
''…Brother,'' Ayako said quietly, but I heard it.
''What is it, Ayako?'' I asked her.
''…Nothing will happen to you right?'' Ayako said while looking at me with teary eyes.
I smiled gently and patted her head and said.''Nothing will happen to me, you will see that your big brother will bring peace for humanity.''
''Um.'' Ayako nodded cutely and I looked towards the sky which was bright blue.
I clenched my fist and made another promise…
I will keep my family safe…
The things that happened in my previous life… Should never happen again because I hesitated…
But to do that… I need strength…
I walked towards school with determination and just like that 3 weeks went by…
And now it was time for Middle School Tournament…