Chapter 382 - Sparring (Checks and Christina Bg, can skip)

"What?!" asked Checks with a frown on his. "What do you mean school for assassins?"

But it did not look like Christina was still listening because at the sound of the whistle, she tilted her head and stared far and long like she could see something else from the distance.

"What are you talking about?" he tried again.

"Keep quiet and follow our lead. I'll explain everything later."

Annoyed, Checks tried his best to imitate the position of the people in front of him. They moved according to the whistle, huffing and shouting out their breaths just like how he saw people do in movies. He thought that it was ridiculous so he kept his voice low as much as possible.

He lagged of course. Most of the time, the others were already in the next position before he could even correct the previous one before that. It irritated the life out of him and he could feel his temperature rising with his emotions. It did not help that the sun was beating down on their faces that even he was not moving that much, sweat slid down the side of his face.

After that, they were tasked to ran around—no, it was called marching. They alternated from walking to running to jogging then the process would restart. He felt like his legs would fall off by the time that they got back to the front of the house.

"You better stretch again," said Christina who dropped down on the grass and started reaching for her toes. "It's going to be hard."

"What is?"

"Sparring."

"What sparring?"

She smiled. "This would be the only time you are allowed to hit another person here."

"Who are we sparring against?"

"The a.d.u.l.ts. Don't worry, they have bags and everything. You're not really harming anyone… yet."

Check's forehead creased. Maybe he had to talk to strange man from last night. When he said that he would work, he did not think that it would involve ending a person's life. If he had known…

What? his mind dared. Are you going to say that you wouldn't have come along despite not having anything?

He shook his head. He had to be here. He wanted to survive. He was tired of the streets. After enjoying a few hours in this place, he had already slept and ate more than he had for the past months that he was homeless.

This was a blessing. It was a gift that he should not waste. Besides, what would the man do to him if Checks told him that he wanted to learn being an assassin because he didn't like killing people? If Checks had money, he would put it in the option that the man would kill him.

Why wouldn't he? He already knew about them. He already knew where the place was. He was a loose end that they could easily tie and silence.

It was not like they were going to lose anyone if he leaves. There were already plentiful kids in this place.

"If you want to get to the next program, you better start training with all you have or else you'd be left behind with the kids," said Christina doing an impressive stretch of her spine by dropping to her hands then back to her feet in a beautiful arc.

"What program?"

"The one for a.d.u.l.ts of course. You don't get to be an assassin with just a few years of training. It's going to be a long and difficult path."

Christina was not joking. Only when he saw the toddlers hit the bags that he realized that he did not even know what he was getting into. "You'll keep up. Let Christina teach you, she's a good student," said the man whose name was Jaws. "You'll learn a lot from her."

Then he was gone before the sun was starting to set.

"He's on his way to the teens," said a voice from behind Checks. "If you want to go there, then you're going to have to listen to me."

"I hear you," he answered Christina.

**

Christina covered the basics with him. She told him that they had to do this for a year but she was giving him a crash course and told him that he should be able to master it by the end of the month. That way they could advance to the other lessons.

Checks was always hungry and he ate a lot. There was an abundance of food in the house. His skeleton-like physique started filling up and he could feel his muscles growing. After training and the additional lessons from Christina, Checks had no time for the other hobbies come nightime. He had always plopped down asleep after a shower and woke up early the next day, starting it with a built workout plan for him.

Day by day he felt himself get stronger. He imagined himself as a sponge just taking in all the information that was being given to him. After a few months, he had gained weight and sooner than later, he was finally sparring with Christina.

He had always lost, dropping down on his hands or his knees, on his stomach, or on his back. One way or the other she had always found a way to bring him down despite him being slightly taller and heavier.

Nevertheless, he had always picked himself back up, placing his fists in front of him. When they started, he could barely hit her, but from time to time, he was finally seeing her blindspots and able to land some punches with his glove covered hands.

The first time he had been able to take her down, they were already both running out of breath. He faked an attack to her face and she positioned for defense then he swept his feet under her, pining her to the ground.

"I guess we will be seeing each other in the next school."

"We sure are," he replied.