Glass Jaw

Chapter 2

"Who the fuck are you three?"

Nanbu flinched at the woman's accusatory tone, frantically looking back and forth between her and Sachio. "I-It's not what it looks like!" He exclaimed, waving at Sachio to put away his tablet.

Naoko carefully observed the three people in front of her gym. It was an odd group, although she probably shouldn't say that considering the peculiarity of her own group. There was the man who just spoke, a small child, and another man who seemed about her age. She frowned at them. "It looks like you're trying to break into my gym."

This wouldn't have been the first time. There were several homeless people that had tried to break in before. The gym looked closed and abandoned. Being on the outskirts of the city, it would have been the perfect shelter for the homeless looking for a place to sleep for the night. Not only that, but other shady figures attempted to break in to see if there was anything left over to loot. After she had dealt with many of them, word had spread to not mess with this area.

Although the three people in front of her could be considered to be a little shabby looking, they definitely weren't like the homeless that she's had to deal with before. Nor did they seem like experienced thieves. Nevertheless, one could never be certain.

Nanbu flinched again. "N-No! Of course not! We're sorry for the misunderstanding!" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he gave a slight bow. He motioned for the others to show some respect as well. Sachio hesitantly followed suit, bowing awkwardly.

Joe, however, kept his eyes trained on the young woman. She had dark blue, almost black hair. The blue tint to it could be seen when the moonlight shone on it in specific places. It was somewhat short with the left side being partially shaved. The rest of her hair was cut with an angled shave, slightly sweeping over to the other side of her head with a longer layered side bang cut.

Her face was sharp, and not just from her encountering potential burglars. She had piercing blue eyes that met his with a glare. He could see that there was some discoloring of her skin from a scar that started beneath her left jaw and reached up her cheek, stopping at the same level as her lips.

The young woman was wearing a black, form-fitting, sleeveless turtleneck paired with a midnight blue zip-up hoodie that was zipped only half way, stopping at her upper torso. The hoodie seemed a tad bit large for her. The right side of it dropped below her shoulder to her bicep, revealing the same skin discoloring from another scar. It was similar to his own scars.

On the same scarred shoulder hung a grey duffel bag. She wore skinny, black pants with blue lines on either outside seam. The pants tucked into black combat boots. Despite the loose hoodie, Joe could tell that she had a fit and well-toned body.

It was the body of a boxer.

His eyes flashed with curiosity and a bit of excitement. You didn't see many female Megalo Boxers, if at all, for obvious reasons. The sport was dominated by males, and even of the women who attempted to make it big, they didn't get very far.

Nanbu interrupted his thoughts. "We were just visiting and it looked like the place had closed down. Would you happen to be the owner, Raika Naoko?" He asked, speaking in a more formal manner than usual.

The woman narrowed her eyes at them, the frown still prominent on her lips. "Who's asking?"

"O-Oh, yes, of course! How rude of me!" Nanbu laughed awkwardly, removing his hat as he bowed. "Let me introduce ourselves. My name is Nanbu Gansaku." He gestured to the child next to him. "This is Sachio." He then gestured to the last man. "And this is Joe."

Her hand twitched at the name. Joe...? Was it...

"We had heard that the Raika Boxing Gym focuses on traditional boxing. You might have heard about 'Gearless' Joe. We were hoping to get some coaching insight before our next fight." Nanbu laughed awkwardly again. "I just wasn't expecting such a young and beautiful woman."