Love and Red Coloured Ties

Chapter song: Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

Julius could feel Eden's heated gaze on him. The brunet was looking at the honey-blond as if he was the enemy he needed to defeat no matter what, but since he was already in the zone, the deadly looks that were thrown at him didn't faze him one bit. His mind was focused on winning and the ones who were watching him could see that. 

The two stood into position as the timer went off and once again, Julius' opponent striked first with a front kick and this time, the hit landed earning Eden one point for the clean strike to Julius' body. The cocky boy grinned as he briefly glanced at the score. 

This will be an easy win. He thought to himself. 

Now one minute into the spar, Julius counters the hit with a spinning back kick to Eden's midsection, surprising him. The grin that was once on his face, disappeared and was replaced with a scowl. That kick he received in the gut was a powerful one and had it been anyone else, they would've stumbled to the floor. 

The energy around Eden started to change and he was no longer in a playful mood. "Like hell I'm going to let someone like you win." He sneered. 

Eden tried to hit Julius with a side kick, but Julius anticipated this move and blocked it with ease. The two exchange a series of blows with neither scoring for a while until Julius lands a powerful head kick which ends up scoring him more points. 

The two minutes are over and Julius emerges victorious during the exchange, with an eight point lead. 

Eden is shocked once he hears the buzzer, and quickly looks at the scoreboard and sees he only managed to land two points. How was something like this even possible? 

"How the hell did I lose?!" He exclaimed. He turned his head to look at Julius who's face remained expressionless, even after having won the round. 

Who the hell is this guy? Eden couldn't help asking himself. 

"That's all for this round, thanks for doing this Eden." In-su said, bringing the boy out of his reverie.

The boy, still in a daze, walked out the dojo, a look of complete and utter defeat on his face. 

Silas watched Eden walk away and couldn't help but say in a bemused tone, "What's his problem." 

This comment got him a glare from the others. How could someone be so insensitive, they all wondered. 

In-su approached Agares and Epaphras with a look of exasperation on his face. "Um, he took down two members already," The captain said. 

In-su was already impressed with Julius' level of skill from the first match already. Julius was someone who was quick and efficient with his moves, never doing too little or too much. He could tell he was a careful player but he could also be calculating with his moves as well. This was already something that a lot of his teammates lacked, and it was a quality that In-su greatly admired. To him, Julius was the perfect person to replace Rowan. 

"Is it really necessary to keep going?" He asked them. 

Epaphras turned to look at Agares, and from the look on his face, it was obvious the dark haired boy was still hesitant which was an expected reaction from him. Julius might've been good, but Agares wasn't convinced he was good enough to face giants like Saint-Ambracia. Epaphras had been around Agares for a long time so he could tell what he was thinking without him having to say anything. He detected unease and uncertainty in his pale eyes, and there was also a hint of concern, which surprised Epaphras. 

Was Agares actually showing concern for another human being? 

"We'll have him go against one more player." Agares said. 

In-su sighed but nodded his head. He had expected Agares to be like this, so just in case he wasn't satisfied, In-su had asked his number three member to go up against Julius. If Julius was able to hold his own against him, then Julius would be set. 

"Robin," In-su called out to a tall boy with black hair and obsidian eyes. He had his arms crossed as he stood at the back of the dojo, silently observing the spar between Julius and Eden. 

"You will spar against him next." Was all he said before going back to the position he was in during the matches. 

"As the captain orders." He said with a sigh. 

Robin wasn't all that keen in fighting at the moment. He was a lazy guy in nature and only ever did the bare minimum in everything he did. The only reason why he made it so far in the team despite his lack of effort was because of how talented he was in the sport. It really was a shame since had he worked more into getting better, he might've even overcome In-su and possibly become captain if he wanted to. But Robin couldn't be bothered and so he settled for the position of number three despite his skills. 

As Robin faced Julius, he only had one thing in mind, ending this fight quickly so he could go back to sleep. 

Julius on the other hand was feeling a little nervous though it didn't show on the outside. When looking at Robin, he could tell that this guy wasn't at all like the others. He carried a certain sharpest to him though it was kind of dulled at the moment, and so Julius used that to his advantage. 

He executed a combination of punches and a front kick which seemed to startle Robin, but he quickly composed himself and evaded the attacks. He countered by landing a side kick which ended up causing Julius to stumble for the first time since he started his sparring. 

Silas watched on nervously, wondering if Julius was going to come out on top with this opponent. 

"Julius has fought pretty well thus far, but I don't think he's going to win this one." Kiyo commented. 

Both Silas and Artemus looked at him curiously wondering what he meant by that. 

Since Kiyo and In-su were the only members in the main house who did martial arts, the rest of the boys weren't able to decipher who had the advantage or disadvantage in these matches. Kiyo, who had been practicing judo since the moment he could walk had a lot of experience and had an eye for skilled players. From the moment he laid eyes on Julius he could tell he was a fellow practitioner and a skilled one at that, despite not having done it in a while. Unfortunately his opponent was Robin who was naturally gifted even if he didn't put in a lot of work. Kiyo wasn't a fan of Robin at all since he disliked the kind of people who got by only with their talent. Having talent at something was good but he believed it was important to cultivate that talent by working hard in order to produce good results. 

It's why he wanted to root for Julius since he could tell he was the kind of person who worked hard. 

"So you're basically saying he has no chance of winning." Reese said as he overheard their conversation. 

Kiyo frowned. "I think he'll be able to get some decent hits in, but this round might go to Robin." 

And surely enough, the round ended with Robin scoring eleven points while Julius earned six. Even if he lost, the others could tell that Julius held his own. Even Robin who was usually indifferent to everything could feel how talented Julius was. 

"Not bad blondie." Robin said, his voice tinged with slight amazement. 

Now that Julius had snapped out of the zone, he realized that the match was over, and a wave of relief washed over him. His eyes however couldn't help but wander towards Agares' direction. The two boys locked eyes with each other, and Julius felt like he was in a trance as he tried to decipher the emotions running through the dark haired boy's pale eyes.

Agares was like a blank canvas, unable to read nor understand the words written on the page since the was nothing for him to even read. The more he searched, the more disappointed he found himself being. 

All he could hope was that somehow, he had managed to impress Agares, even just a little.