The cafeteria had finally started to quiet down a bit. The buzz of the lunchtime talk was fading, and the loud chatter started to dim down, leaving behind the faint clatter of trays being stacked one by one.

Ryan and Maya, both of them together, finished eating together, as they were the last two students remaining in the cafeteria. Their empty plates were in front of their eyes as the sunlight streamed through the tall windows of the cafeteria, making shadows over the ground.

Ryan stretched his arms a bit, sore and stiff. "Man... I swear Arthur's training feels worse than getting hit by a truck or something."

Maya let out a small chuckle as she wiped her mouth with a tissue, which she picked up from the tissue rack. "Maybe that's why you fight like one, isn't it like that?"

Ryan raised one of his eyebrows. "Are you trying to call me fat and slow?"

"No, I'm not calling you slow or fat," Maya teased, grabbing her tray with her fingers. "Just... heavy-footed." She let out a chuckle as she looked towards the sink.

"Wow, thanks for such a nice compliment," he said, rolling his eyes as he stood up with his tray in his hands. "Such great motivation."

They both chuckled as they slowly made their way towards the sink where the trays were being washed, leaving their trays there stacked on top of the other ones.

The lunch crowd was gone now—just the sound of their shoes echoing in the wide corridor as they walked towards the gym hall where Arthur and Ryan were supposed to meet.

Sunlight poured inside of the hall through the windows, painting the walls with warm light and long shadows.

As they both walked near the main gate of the gym, Ryan rubbed the back of his neck. His ribs were still aching a bit, the pain from the last fight was still there, and there was a faint ache in his shoulders, which hadn't faded since the last session of Arthur's training.

But he didn't complain. Somewhere inside, he liked the pain—it was doing the work of motivation for him. It reminded him that he was getting better.

That he wasn't the usual Ryan West who would flinch if someone shouted his name; he was someone who now had made his own crew and reliable friends.

When they both reached the gym doors, Maya pushed one of them open. The moment it creaked, the familiar sound of the impact filled the air.

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

Arthur was already there, waiting for Ryan's arrival.

He stood there under the white lights, wearing a black tee and gray joggers. His back faced them as he hit the punching bag with a strong hook; it was precise—deadly. Each of his movements was efficient; each of them made a loud thud when they made the impact with the surface.

His stance was perfect, no wasted motion involved in his strikes, and no sound was present in the hall other than his fists landing in steady motion.

When Arthur slowly turned his head back to look towards them, his expression didn't change at all. His eyes flickered over Ryan and Maya once, then returned back to the bag.

Ryan raised a hand in greeting. "Uh... we're here, Arthur," he said with a low voice.

Arthur just gave a simple nod, no words but just the acknowledgment.

Even silence felt heavier when Arthur was in the room, but now Ryan was used to it—Arthur and Ryan were on good terms; slowly they were getting closer to the stage of being friends, and even Arthur had started showing a bit of emotion when he talked to Ryan.

Ryan looked at Maya as she was already looking at him; they both exchanged a quick look.

Maya's voice came out low. "Is he always like that? I have talked to him occasionally but never knew he was this close to even his friends." Maya whispered so that only Ryan could hear her words.

"Yeah," Ryan whispered. "He is mostly like that only; I don't know a lot about him, but with me he's like that, and with the others? He doesn't even talk to them."

Ryan took a small break as he looked towards Arthur. "That's just Arthur being Arthur," he said, voice low.

They both stepped forward, Ryan was a bit ahead of her—their shoes squeaking lightly against the cold floor of the gym hall. Arthur finally stopped hitting the bag, unwinding his wraps.

"What do you want to do today?" He asked Ryan flatly.

Before Ryan could answer him, he said quickly. "Actually, Arthur—can we have Maya join us too in our training session? She also wants to train with us; it'll be a bad gesture if we put her down, you know."

Arthur's hands paused mid-wrap. His gaze slowly drifted towards Maya. For a few seconds, the silence was so thick that Ryan could feel the tension develop between Maya and Arthur.

Finally, Arthur spoke, voice low yet firm. "If that's what you want, then I'm fine with it," he said as he looked Maya in the eye with no emotions on his face. "But if something happens between you and Leon because of you training with us, then I'll not be responsible for it."

Maya straightened her posture a bit, back tight, and a big smirk curled up on her lips. "Yes, sir! Yes!"

Arthur blinked, unimpressed. "Don't call me sir."

Ryan let out a small chuckle. "You're hopeless, Maya," he whispered to Maya. "He doesn't like formality at all."

Maya shrugged as her voice came low. "Too bad, I wanted a little fun to see how he'd react to it."

Arthur, ignoring both of them, grabbed a pair of black boxing pads from the equipment rack and tossed Ryan a set of gloves. "You'll be hitting. I'll block. If I counter, dodge."

Ryan's hand caught the gloves instinctively. "Wait, I'm sparring with you today again?"

Arthur slid his hands into the pads slowly as he said without looking at Ryan. "You said you wanted to get stronger for that purpose, didn't you?"

Ryan gulped. "Right."

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