It was now 15 minutes before the next fight in which Koji would be fighting Ecchi, and in which the person who receives head pats from Cecilia would be decided.
"Ecchi? He got this far too?"
Koji wasn't too surprised--though, at the same time--Ecchi, a nine year old; just like him, winning up to this point; impressive, indeed it was--especially due to Koji's preconceived knowledge of the world, and even his own ego; combining these two, they both led him to assume that there was no way a nine year old on this world would be comparable to him--yet, here he was; a nine year old, who in many ways was much similar to him, was now his last opponent--and possibly, his strongest one.
Cecilia, who's displeasure of Koji's attitude--and well, his newfound disregard for the earlier sequence of actions--in which he himself took part in, well she was also surprised; though, one may add her conception of this situation was not limited to simple surprise, but also a warranted sense of worry--in her mind, both respective kids--being Ecchi and Koji, while she knew kids such as them, who indeed were both only nine years old, yet already at such a point in their journey--she knew they would be dedicated to winning, however she--in no way, expected the two of them to proceed all the way to the last match without losing, because now, well no matter the outcome--she would be made to fulfill her previous promise; her promise of head pats to the victor.
"Yes, Ecchi will be your next opponent Koji. However, after the fight--if you could, please say sorry to the boy you hurt so badly. Okay?"
Cecilia sighed as she spoke, and truthfully--deep down, she was rooting for Koji in this situation, as Ecchi would no doubt--for sure, be more reactive than Koji by utter miles!
"Yes Ms. Cecilia, I will; really, I am sorry..."
Koji's gaze shifted downwards, right to the grass below him; expectedly, his apology was not entirely sincere, and he for the most part--simply did it to get Cecilia off of him, although to say it was entirely just a ploy, and that absolutely zero sincerity was explored in his words, would not fit the case at all; in reality, Koji indeed was sorrowful for his actions, just of course--currently, his mind was more focused on what was to come soon; where he would be fighting Ecchi, who admittedly, in Koji's mind--was much more unpredictable, and due to this--much more terrifying than his last opponents.
'Ecchi, ugh! He is going to be problematic--though, wait... I should be thinking of learning from these fights, yet currently--although I am learning, I am just focusing on winning still! No, no I need to stop, winning is not the most important; truly, learning is what I need--winning these meaningless duels is useless, I must lose--over and over again, until I can win consistently; what do you learn from winning? Although mistakes made be made, you still won! Ultimately, they mattered not, and I will learn less from such a thing. Fuck, but my body craves it; it's like my very being craves the taste of it, like it's the only cure to my hunger.'
Currently, although a beautiful day it was--and at the same time, a brutal one, Koji was stuck in his mind for the time--in which, admittedly was all to little--the person to say so being Cecilia herself; although the sun shined bright, and even though the grass around him flourished, and the flowers bloomed anew--Koji, had yet to appreciate just how peaceful the nature around him was; the most vile part of nature, the most torturous and worst part of nature--that's what he was concerning himself with, his mind.
'Heh, this really is funny; this reminds me of my previous life! Combat, damn--I really was horrible at it, and hated it; haha, if only my old self saw me now! Getting all worked up over winning a sword duel, and at that--a sword duel that held absolutely no meaning.'
Koji repeated his own words to himself in his head; words that he had conceived in his past life.
'All combat, no matter with guns, swords, or fists--it is horrible! Fighting is the ultimate evil, as evil and good are thrown away within a fight.... Such a situation, it is so hard to judge, because morality itself can barely grasp it! If someone kills another without sufficient reason, they are a bad person; this, there is no doubt for debate! If someone kills someone who had already killed, they in no way should be considered bad; however, what if someone kills when being attacked? Of course, one may say they are in the right--except, the attacker may not be aiming to kill--just to hurt. If an attacker is using his fists to beat you, and you take out a gun to shoot him in the head--is it justified? Now many, they would automatically say it is simply self defense; though, things can get complicated with fights. What if the attacker defends himself from being shot and kills you before he is shot? Is he in the wrong, or is it simple self defense? At first, his aim was not to kill, but simply to hurt you; you posed a bigger threat, and almost took his life; was it wrong for him to defend against it? One may say that it's the attackers fault for starting the fight, and that yes--indeed, he is in the wrong; however, it's not that simple! Self preservation, preserving your life is a key factor to life! How could you blame someone for killing when being threatened with death?'
'Truly, it gets even harder when you consider mutually accepted fights; all in all, fights are just unexplainably horrible--simply because explaining them is near impossible!'
Koji smiled upon recalling his old thoughts, and slightly laughed at himself; back then, the main reasoning for his hatred upon fights, was that morality ceased to explain them half of the time, and for the other half it was rather difficult; to put it shortly, it was because fights explored the unknown--explored an area that transcended morality, an area that put to the test self preservation, and ones own very being.
Fighting, though Koji may have already had a preconceived--and slightly reasonable hatred for it, currently his mind was in a much different state, and his thoughts upon the topic had shifted; that's because he felt fighting was absolutely exhilarating!
"Koji, get ready--fights starting in eight minutes!"
Cecilia trotted over--her expression being that of seriousness, and slight anticipation of the fight that was going to insinuate between Ecchi and Koji; at this moment, Cecilia felt Koji would win--simply because he seemed more resilient than Ecchi; however, she had yet to seen Ecchi experience much difficulty, unlike Koji who had been fighting for his spot of victor desperately throughout the last two rounds--despite this, Cecilia felt Koji would still reign supreme in the duel; and of course, she also wanted him to do so.
"Yes Ms. Cecilia, I'm ready!"
Koji responded confidently; though inside, he was anything but--while yes, he may have been exploring a newfound comfort within himself, due to the funny memory of his past life; for the fight--his confidence was rather low, and he knew it was warranted due to Ecchi's unpredictability, and his very own inexperience; admittedly, Koji had much talent--despite this, one must realize that Ecchi indeed, also held this talent. Not only that, but Ecchi in no doubt had been more experienced with a sword than Koji was.
Koji watched as Cecilia walked off in the direction of the sunset; to where Ecchi was standing confidently, his red eyes bursting with arrogance; his red hair slightly flowing in the wind, and his short stature standing tall due to him for some reason standing on a box...
Ecchi--with all of his arrogance, drifted his red eyes up the the bright sun above him; his stature radiated confidence as he held his gaze upon the bright orb.
"Ouch! Ouch!"
Ecchi slightly whimpered and wiped his eyes as he instantly looked away from the sun; obviously, his confidence became a bit too much...
Koji snickered as he watched this, because he knew Ecchi would be embarrassed that Cecilia saw such an action be done by him; Koji, who had formed a friendship with Ecchi, it would be difficult indeed for him to try his hardest against him--especially due to Ecchi's "extra" nature; without a sliver of consideration, or doubt--Koji already knew, he was sure Ecchi would be doing erratic things during their fight.
But now, time was up; the fight that Koji had been awaiting for the last couple minutes--the last couple of minutes in which he underwent many varying emotions: such as shame, guilt, joy, doubt, and happiness, this was coming to a close; because at this moment, Koji would be fighting his last meaningless duel of the day--the meaningless duel in which he would try his hardest despite it's value being of next to nothing; who cared if it was meaningless? Some people perceived everything as meaningless, yet they still indulge in the pleasures of life--currently, Koji was no different from them; he was simply appreciating something meaningless. This of course meant it wasn't meaningless, maybe overall it was; except for Koji, it did have a meaning--this meaning, he still tried to deny it.
The meaning was for him to win, not to learn; deep down, he didn't want to learn no matter how hard he convinced himself--all he wanted to do, was win.
He knew this of course, but he didn't want to admit it; although Koji was mostly okay with his thoughts, for some reason this is something he felt the need to avoid--and that was because it was mostly based on pride, which is something he strived to get rid of for the most part if not completely.
Koji walked upon the field in which his battle with Ecchi would be held, and the grass upon where he would fight for a single reason--to win; opposite of him, stood his opponent Ecchi.
For this fight, Cecilia decided to let the other students watch; of course, some were very interested, some not so much--the crowd was not large, but some may still get social anxiety, or stage fright as they call it; however, neither Koji nor Ecchi were the types to bow down to this feeling, or even experience it in the first place.
At this point, the sun was setting and in the field lived no animals; the only living beings that resided on the field of grass was everyone that was about to watch the nearly occurring fight, and then Koji and Ecchi--the fighters.
Cecilia once again stuck her arm out between the two; unlike the last fight, Koji could now not see his opponents eyes--only Cecilia's slender arm and her pale, skinny hand that looked extremely soft... Especially to Ecchi, who was ready for his head pats!
"5..."
The kids in the audience focused, and were now not talking as the fight was about to start between the two nine year old's; of course, some still tried to disrupt the others--mainly the ones who were upset about losing.
"Ecchi, I hope that weirdo loses!"
A kid, who had lost in the first round against Ecchi spoke up to the others, and every single one of them nodded in agreement of his statement; not a single person in the crowd liked Ecchi, and Koji stood there listening to each one of them spouting their own insults about Ecchi just as he did when he first arrived.
By now, only three seconds remained; Koji was out in space; well, his mind for two seconds that quickly flew by, and were now lost.
"2..."
This fight, though of not much importance--for some reason, Koji felt it would be a big change in his life; this fight, he felt it would change the course of his life based on whether he won or he lost.
"1.."
"Start!"