After the fight ended, Jin Haru sat on the bench beside the school gym. His body felt tired, but his mind was calm. He looked down at his hands. They didn't shake. He remembered the fight with Baek Jinho—how his body moved without thinking.
He copied Jinho's moves. Not all of them, but enough to keep up.
"Hey," a voice called out.
Jin Haru looked up. Baek Jinho stood in front of him, holding two sports drinks. His face had a small bruise under his eye, but he was smiling.
"You fought pretty well," Jinho said, handing him one drink.
Jin Haru took it and nodded. "You too."
There was a short silence. The air between them felt a little awkward, but not cold.
Jinho sat beside him and opened his drink. "Honestly, I thought you'd get destroyed," he said with a small laugh.
"I thought the same," Haru replied, and both of them laughed together for the first time.
Jinho leaned back, looking up at the sky. "Your kicks were sharp. You even used one of my combos… How did you learn that so fast?"
Haru thought for a moment. "I guess I just... saw it and moved."
"Seriously? You're a monster," Jinho said, laughing. "Are you some kind of genius?"
Haru shook his head. "No. Just lucky, I think."
Jinho stared at him for a few seconds. "You're strange, you know that? But… I like it."
That made Haru pause. He looked at Jinho, surprised.
"I've been training Muay Thai since I was eight," Jinho said, his voice softer now. "My dad was a fighter. He wanted me to be strong. But I lost a big match two years ago… and he never looked at me the same again."
Haru listened quietly.
"I stopped going to tournaments after that," Jinho continued. "Everyone started looking down on me. Even my friends left."
Haru's hands slowly tightened around the bottle.
"But today…" Jinho looked at him. "You stood up to me without fear. You didn't look down on me. And you fought fair. That was fun."
He smiled, and for the first time, it looked real.
Haru didn't know what to say. His chest felt warm. Strange. New.
He opened his mouth. "I didn't have any friends before," he said quietly.
"Huh?"
"I was… always alone. This school thing… it's all new to me."
Jinho blinked. Then he grinned and stood up. "Then let's be friends."
He held out his fist.
Haru stared at it, then slowly raised his own.
Fist bump.
In that small moment, something changed.
"By the way," Jinho said as they started walking back to class, "there's someone I like. A girl. But she doesn't even look at me."
"Oh?"
"She's in Class 1-A. Long black hair. Sharp eyes. Kinda scary."
Haru raised an eyebrow. "…You mean Love Interest 1?"
"Yeah. Her name's Seo Yuna," Jinho said with a sigh. "You probably don't know her, right?"
Haru paused. "…I might."
They both laughed again.
As they walked together through the school hallway, students stared at them. Two boys—one quiet and mysterious, the other loud and bright. A strange pair, but somehow, they looked right together.
And from the second-floor window, Seo Yuna watched them with unreadable eyes.