Capoeira background music:
( https://krushandkill. webcindario. com/sounds/Zum. mp3 — Zum Zum Zum, Capoeira mata um! )
Before Hangaku could ask what he meant by that, she saw Sakamo deeply concentrated on the movements of the two men in the middle of the circle. They were making a weird movement while following the music, facing each other and moving back and forth, alternating both legs, shoulder-width apart, creating a triangular shape. The hands were moving with the body, aiming to protect the parts that were exposed and easily attacked, like the chin and the chest.
Hangaku found herself, in a matter of seconds, moving her head to the rhythm of the music even without understanding the lyrics.
“Zum, zum, zum, Capoeira mata um! Zum, zum, zum, Capoeira mata um!”
“Onde tem marimbondo?”
“É zum zum zum!”
“Onde tem marimbondo?”
“É zum zum zum!”
Hangaku sensed a movement near her and saw Sakamo slowly making the same movements as the guys in the circle were doing. She frowned and looked at the men again, and saw one of them doing a cartwheel, but it differed from the cartwheel she learned in School, because the man started with the toes pointing forward and the body performing the cartwheel to the side. The head stood in line with the shoulders, looking forward towards the other man, that tried to hit him by using a rotative downward kick.
She slowly nodded, because she understood why the man did that weird cartwheel. It was a good way to avoid that kick. As she turned to ask Sakamo if he saw that, she tilted her head to look at him because he was doing the same cartwheel, followed by the weird downward kick.
Hangaku looked at the men in the circle again, and they were doing the swinging movement they began with, and Sakamo was imitating them. They changed the swing by interrupting some movements midway and going to the other side, like if they were trying to fool the other one.
Hangaku kept on looking at the men that were dancing or fighting, and the only proof that it was a fight, was the kicks and the acrobatic jumps the other one had to do, to avoid being hit. She glanced at Sakamo, and he kept on imitating them, slowly at first but increasing the speed when he repeated a movement like if the first two tries were just a warm-up and the third or fourth attempt, were done at full speed. Then, a man in the circle changed places with one that was fighting in the middle, and he signalled Sakamo to join him, while he was doing the preparation swing.
Sakamo ran to the middle of the circle and gave a handshake to the man while crouching. Hangaku had her mouth wide open, realising that Sakamo was doing the same movements of swing and breaking the movement to fool his opponent, and in between the swings, he would either try an acrobatic kick or make one of those weird rotatory movements to avoid being hit.
Hangaku heard the man speaking in English, “Can we go fast and fight seriously?”
And Sakamo answered with a smile in the middle of the swing, also in English, “Ok, but this is my first time. Be careful, because if you hurt me, I might knock you out as revenge.”
The man laughed and increased the speed of his movements. Jump after jump, he went for Sakamo, who skilfully avoided every hit, either with a crouch, rolling on the ground, or doing a somersault while throwing a kick in the air against his opponent.
Then, the man seemed to surprise Sakamo, and he made a downward kick with each foot, and Sakamo avoided the first one, but he was almost hit by the second kick. Sakamo reacted in the last second by head-butting the solar plexus of the man who was kneeling on the ground, gasping for air. The music didn’t stop, but the men playing the instruments cheered for Sakamo, and another man took the panting one from the circle. Sakamo kept on swinging, mixing a few acrobatic jumps, elbow strikes, and air slaps against an invisible opponent, but at such a speed that Hangaku was sure that if someone was fighting against Sakamo, he would be hurt.
He then made one last roll on the ground and left the circle, gathering a bunch of applause from the crowd that was watching and cheering from the fighters in that unknown language.
Sakamo joined the dumbfounded Hangaku with a big smile on his face. “That was fun! I may need to try this a few more times to learn all the movements, but I think I got the hang of it!”
“You think? Sakamo-kun, that was amazing! You said you never learned that, but you could fool me!”
A voice in English made Sakamo look behind him to see who was calling, “Yoh, Japanese boy! That was very good! Where did you learn ‘Capoeira’?”
Sakamo smiled at the big and muscular black man with long curly black hair, that had a Berimbau on his hands, a one-string instrument that was used to make the rhythm of the ‘Capoeira’. “I never did. I only saw on the internet and this was my first time trying the movements.”
“You never learn? Man, that is sick! You did all those advanced movements flawlessly! For sure, you practise something else, because you move like a fighter!”
“Yes, I started to do Martial Arts when I was four years old. I learned Judo, Karate, Muay Thai, Wushu, Tai chi, and several others.”
The man took a card from his pocket and handed it to Sakamo. “Here, this is my card. I have a small Gym outside Tokyo if you ever want to learn some more.”
Sakamo looked at the card and read it aloud, “Mestre Manuel Machado. Funny name, it tickles the tongue! I am Sakamo Ryu. Maybe I will visit your Gym one of these days, and perhaps you can also learn a thing or two from me.”
Mestre Machado laughed, “Ahahah! I am not sure if you can teach me all those Martial Arts, because you are very young. I am a ‘Mestre Capoeira’ and I have been doing it since I was four as well!”
“I am a Master in all the Martial Arts I practice. You have no idea what I had to do to own my skills…”
The man stopped laughing and made a slight smile. “I believe in you. I can judge how good a fighter is by his movements, and you were amazing in the ‘Roda’. If that was really your first time, it’s even more amazing. It was a pleasure, Sakamo Ryu. See you next time.”
He gave Sakamo a firm handshake, and left to the circle again, to continue the demonstration. Sakamo fixed his clothes and Hangaku asked while taking care of his hair, “I more or less understood what he said, because his accent was a little difficult for me, but it seems he is as surprised as I am. Are you sure you never did that… ‘Capoeira’?”
“Never. This is one of my secrets. I was born with what I like to call ‘photographic reflexes’. It grants me the ability to learn a movement just by seeing it and trying it a couple of times. By the third or fourth time, I can use that movement as if I practised it my entire life. I also learned, amongst my Martial Arts training, to predict my opponent’s attacks just by observation of his body language and shape of the body.”
As they continued their walk in the park, Hangaku asked, “Is it also because of that skill that you got a perfect score on the admission tests? And the need for your bodyguards?”
“Not really. I also have an excellent memory, and I was always good with numbers. One of my oldest memories is of my mother teaching me how to do some arithmetics. I am not sure how old I was, maybe three.”
“You… still remember her? Because you were so young when she died, right?”
“I do. You didn’t see, but I have some drawings and paintings in my office that I did about my mother. I don’t have a picture of her, so the best I could do was learn how to draw so that I could draw her face to never forget.”
Hangaku bit her lower lip and looked at him from the corner of her eyes, and she noticed a sad glow in his eyes that he was trying to disguise. “I am sorry if I made you think about something sad…”
“Remembering or talking about my mother makes me sad, but it’s a good way to think of her from time to time. I have one or two happy memories with her, but sometimes remembering that I found her dead on her bed on my four-year-old birthday is too painful, and that sad memory overlaps the happy ones.”
Hangaku stopped and caressed his right cheek. “I am sorry… You were rather unlucky, weren’t you?”
“Yeah… The worst part was that I escaped from the social workers the police called for, and I lived in the streets of Nakanojo for one year, all alone, until I gave up on a cold night and knocked at the door of my Shrine. If I had gone with the social worker, I would have been raised in an orphanage, and we probably would have never met. It’s funny how things work, right?”
Hangaku slowly approached Sakamo’s face and gave him a long kiss while caressing the back of his neck. After some seconds, she backed her head a little, barely touching his lips, and said, “You know, probably destiny intervened and made you run from those social workers. You turned out alright for a guy raised by Monks. You are kind, wise, and friendly, but you can also be violent when the situation calls for it, like what you did to those bullies that were messing with Takechi-sama. Yeah, I know what you did. Some students saw you, and they told me. Well, they actually came to me to warn me you could be a bad boy pretending to be a good one.”
“Weird… Why would some students warn you about me?”
“Did I forget to say they were all boys? You know, it’s not only you with fans in our School. A lot of boys are crazy about me. I am not sure why, considering that I was once called a bitch. Perhaps it has something to do with my tendency to get bored with a boy and to dump him at the first opportunity, even with him crying his eyes out.”
“And then you find it weird when I resist your advances with all my strength! I don’t want to be discarded like that!”
Hangaku gave him a light kiss and asked, “You think I want to discard you? I don’t know if I could, even if I tried! You still have a lot of secrets for me to find out. No way I am going to dump you without knowing it all! And… even if I find out everything that there is to know about you, you are way too mesmerising for me to let you go and some random girl snatches you. I also have a few secrets that will puzzle you for sure.”
“Really? Like what? Something juicy?”
Hangaku walked while holding his hand. “Well, you said you have work to do after lunch, right? I have an important meeting to attend, with Tomoe-chan’s agent. It seems he liked my voice and my looks, and he asked her to arrange a meeting with me because he wants to convince me to be my agent. Maybe I get my opportunity to become a singer. Who knows?”
“Are you going to meet him all alone? If you go, it’s better if you take with you a baseball bat. I don’t like that guy.”
Hangaku laughed at the annoyed look on Sakamo’s face, “Ahahah! Are we jealous, Sakamo-kun? Don’t worry, I am going with Tomoe-chan. She told me you scared her agent on the first day you went with her to meet him, because he looked at her mischievously. You broke his middle finger and told him that next time he looked at her like that, you would break his hand! He almost gave up on being her agent!”
“Yeah, but he knew Tomoe-chan could bring a lot of money for him if he learned how to behave. She told me that after that episode, he was always sure that no one abused Tomoe-chan’s trust and kindness, but with a new target, I am not sure if he is trustworthy.”
“Well, Tomoe-chan warned him I was your girlfriend. It seems he screamed in surprise and swore to take good care of me and that you didn’t need to worry.”
Sakamo raised one eyebrow. “Since when were you introduced as my girlfriend? That’s kind of abusive, no?”
“Perhaps, but you would be a fool if you didn’t want me as your girlfriend. I can be an amazing one, you know?”
“I bet you would. I am the one that is not so sure if I would be a good boyfriend, considering my excessive work and secrets.”
Hangaku giggled and put her head on his shoulder, “Hihihi! I guess we need to find out who is the best, won’t we?”
They continued their walk in the park, teasing each other, and when it was nearly noon, Sakamo took her to a restaurant a few metres to the right of the main entrance.
He was a perfect gentleman. He opened the door for her, pulled a chair, let her sit, and adjusted the chair, chose the food with her and listened to her stories about the adventures she had with Tomiko Hari while growing up. After desserts, they split the bill, because Hangaku told him she was used to always paying her share of everything, even on a date.
They walked to the train station, talking about School, friends, and what they were supposed to do during the week. They bid their farewells for the day in the train station because Hangaku was going to catch a train in the direction of the City centre, and Sakamo was to the other way, to his house.
After a long and tender kiss, Hangaku spoke right before entering the train. “I had a lot of fun, Sakamo-kun. I hope we can do this more often, and maybe catch a movie on our next date.”
“A movie? In a theatre full of people? I would rather see a movie in my house, considering the size of my television!”
Hangaku made a kinky smile. “Just the two of us? I don’t know if we would see the end of the movie… Hihihi!”
Sakamo wondered what she meant by that, and when he understood, he gulped. She threw a kiss at him from the windowed door, and Sakamo pretended to catch it and put it in his pocket. As the train left, he mumbled, “Yeah, she really got me… No wonder, with all her teasing and flirting, she made my head turn. She is also beautiful, a good talker and listener, and she is fun to be with. Not bad Ryu my man, not bad at all! But don’t let her get into your head so quickly. You need to be sure she won’t discard you when she gets bored!”