Chapter 983 - 983: Old Wounds

Meanwhile, Umemoto and Ishimaru, who had looked so eager only moments ago, now seem to have lost their appetite entirely the moment Kurogane's name comes up.

Sitting on the bench, Umemoto looks focused on wrapping the tape around his fists, but the familiar ritual suddenly brings back a bitter memory from the night after his loss to Ryohei.

And Kurogane's blunt words had done little to spare the pride of a man who had just lost his championship belt.

"You need to open your eyes, Umemoto. That wasn't luck. I warned you before, and Yamada's win in the Class-A tournament final wasn't luck either."

"Shut up and get the fuck out of here," Umemoto snapped back.

But Kurogane kept going at him, his chest heaving as his patience wore thin.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Boxing isn't a damn street fight. You can't just walk forward, impose your size, and expect raw power to solve every problem."

Kurogane reached into his bag and pulled out a flash drive, holding it up in front of Umemoto's face. His hand was trembling with frustration.

"I worked my ass off to collect all of this. All for you. I studied every fight Yamada had, every opponent, every pattern I could find. I even went through the fights from Nakahara Gym, every fighter where that prodigy Ryoma had worked the corner."

Umemoto's eyebrow twitched. The moment Kurogane mentioned Ryoma's name, the heat in his chest rose again.

"Ryoma this. Ryoma that. What the fuck does Ryoma have to do with any of this?"

Kurogane suddenly slammed the flash drive against the floor. The plastic casing cracked apart, sending the broken pieces skittering across the gym floor.

"You still don't fucking get it! Yamada's win in that Class-A tournament wasn't luck. That whole thing was a trap, and Ryoma was the one who helped build it. The same thing happened tonight. I told you to forget his record, forget what you thought you knew about Ryohei. The moment that prodigy brat was standing in Yamada's corner, this fight was never going to be as simple as you bullying some thug in a back alley!"

Ishimaru, who had been standing nearby throughout the argument, finally lost patience. As Umemoto's trainer and chief second, hearing Kurogane lecture him about tactics and technical preparation was beginning to sound less like advice and more like an insult to his own ability to do his job.

"Are you finished with all this bullshit, Kurogane?" he cut in.

"Bullshit?" Kurogane repeated, staring at him with a mixture of disbelief and frustration. "You told me to gather all that scouting material. You told me to study every damn thing I could find. And now you're calling all of it bullshit?"

"Yes, I told you to spy on them," Ishimaru replied. "I told you to collect everything you could find on Ryohei Yamada. And like Umemoto said, his opponent was Ryohei Yamada. So what the hell does that damn Ryoma Takeda have to do with any of this?"

"Because he's the reason Umemoto lost his title tonight," Kurogane shot back. "And the fact that you can't open your eyes enough to see that tells me… maybe I was wrong about you all along. You really think you can take Umemoto to a world championship when you can't even see what's happening right in front of you?"

That finally pushed Ishimaru past his limit, and his hand cracked across Kurogane's face, sending his head snapping to the side.

"That's fucking enough," Ishimaru snapped, pointing straight at him. "You compare me to some fucking kid who's barely been working as a second for a few months? Don't you fucking dare talk down to me like that. If you're so damn obsessed with that kid, then get the fuck out of here, go to Tokyo, and kiss his fucking ass!"

For a moment, Kurogane said nothing. He slowly rubbed his cheek, then straightened and looked at the two men in front of him as if committing the scene to memory.

Umemoto and Ishimaru stared back at him with undisguised disdain, neither showing the slightest hint of regret.

Then Kurogane turned toward the door. "Of course," he said without looking back. "I'll go to Tokyo. And I'll make that kid a world champion before you ever get there."

The door slammed shut behind Kurogane. For a few seconds, neither man said anything. Umemoto glanced toward the door, then looked back at Ishimaru with a dismissive chuckle, as if Kurogane's threat wasn't worth taking seriously.

"He really thinks that kid is going to become a world champion?"

Ishimaru scoffed. "Well... Tokyo is full of people who think they're smarter than everyone else."

Umemoto glanced toward the door Kurogane had disappeared through. "He'll be back once he realizes what he's dealing with."

Neither of them had any idea how badly those words would age. And, as it turned out, Kurogane had kept his word.

He had not only helped Ryoma become a world champion, but had gone on to become one of the founding figures behind Ronin Fight Management alongside Ryoma and Nakahara.

The small gym Kurogane had once joined grew into the most dominant boxing stable in Japan in barely two years.

The memory alone makes Umemoto's blood boil. His fingers pull the tape around his fist tighter, far harder than they need to.

Despite that, a bitter chuckle escapes his mouth.

"Funny... the bastard actually made it."

One of Ishimaru's eyebrows rises.

"What?"

"That Kurogane," Umemoto says with a bitter chuckle. "That bastard really did it... He actually made that kid a world champion, just like he said."

He shakes his head, letting out another quiet, humorless laugh. "I can already imagine it. The moment we step into their office, that damn Kurogane is going to sit there laughing at the two of us with that smug look on his face."

Hearing that, Ishimaru can't help but remember the slap and the harsh words he threw at Kurogane that night. And somehow, that old memory only makes him want to see Umemoto in the ring with Ryoma even more. The longer he thinks about it, the harder it becomes to wait.

"Let him laugh," Ishimaru says. "I've never led you this far just to watch you stop now. Whatever happens, I'll get you to that world title. Once you beat Ryoma Takeda, we'll see who gets the last laugh."