Chapter 27 - Operation Start!

(Ichiro POV)

We arrived outside of the stadium.

''So what we will do now?'' I heard Lucas ask, I turned and looked towards his blue eyes and said. ''I don't know.''

Lucas' eyes twitched and asked with anger. ''Then why did we leave so early!''

I shrugged my shoulders and said. ''Not sure about that, but we already left and we aren't going back to the stadium, because it's boring there.''

''You are very unreliable,'' Lucas said with annoyance.

''Well more time to think about our next course of actions,'' Slych said, I looked at him and nodded, I said. ''Alright, I am starting to have a plan forming in my mind.''

''I highly doubt that.'' Lucas said and I only showed him the middle finger and started talking. ''We can try to get referees to confess everything, so we can record their voices with our phones, Lucas I will leave that to you.'' Lucas nodded.

I looked at Slych and asked .''Will that referee, be a referee in other matches anymore?''

Slych shook his head and said. ''No, there are many different referees and since he was allowed to be a referee in the center arena, his job is over for today, even if they are ''mere'' referees as many say that about them, they are still referees who get to be referring one of the tournaments and that job is in high demand so there are over 30 referees alone.''

''Well then boys, let's find out where he is and Lucas, keep that recording going,'' I said, Slych and Lucas nodded and we started walking back towards Stadium sneakily.

*Pfft*

I heard laughter behind me and it was from Lucas, I asked with annoyance. ''Why are you laughing dumbass?''

''Because you said we won't be going back towards the stadium and here we are, back in the stadium,'' Lucas smirked.

''Ohoho, I almost died laughing, now shut the fuck up you big head.'' I gave sarcastic laugh and Lucas clicked his tongue and followed behind grudgingly while Slych followed with a small smile.

I looked towards Slych and mentioned him to talk and he understood what I meant. ''Changing room for referees should be in the basement area.''

''How do you know so much?'' Lucas asked and even I was curious.

''My father is a janitor at the stadium in Armya, so I have visited his workplace many times and followed behind my father while he showed me around, my father told me that usually changing rooms are in basement for workers, like referees.''

Lucas and I nodded and I said with surprise. ''Surprising that your father is a janitor, I imagined them to be some soldiers or mercenaries.''

''Then how do you feel about knowing my background? Some people try to get close to me because they think I am from a rich household and since I am the greatest genius in Armya, they think that way even more strongly, but when they find out the truth, they look at me in disgust.'' Slych asked with sadness.

Lucas and I looked at him in surprise, I patted him on his shoulder and said. ''Honestly, I can't care less what your parents do, even if their jobs isn't flashiest, they still managed to raise genius only seen in 50 years and that is in my opinion, quite of a feat,'' I said with a laugh and Slych looked at me with widened eyes and then shortly after also chuckled.

''What do your parents do Ichiro?'' Slych asked me with a whisper while we were walking through the dark hallway, getting closer to the basement area.

''My mother is a shop keeper and my father is Electrical Engineer,'' I told.

Slych looked at me in surprise and said with a slight smile. ''Your family is quite ordinary too.''

''Yeah, but I like it.'' I said and I started sneaking towards stairs leading towards the basement.

Slych and Lucas also sneaked quietly with some distance away from me.

''So, how long have you known Ichiro?'' Slych asked Lucas.

''Not long.. about 4 weeks ago or so, the day when he joined Martial Arts Club.'' Lucas told and Slych widened his eyes and asked. ''He has been part of your club for about a month?!''

''Yeah..'' Lucas said quietly.

''Why didn't he join earlier if he is that strong,'' Slych asked.

''No idea.. he has been very low-key in middle school, I never heard about him during my 3 years and then he one day showed up in the club,'' Lucas told and Slych was looking with surprise.

''But.. weirder thing is that..'' Lucas trailed off and Slych was waiting for him to continue. Lucas stayed quiet for a few moments longer and said. ''I think he was barely Martial Soldier level when he first joined, I am not sure.'' Slych widened his eyes in shock.

''You must be mistaken!'' Slych asked in shock.

Lucas shook his head and said. ''I thought so too, but when I was fighting him the first time, he wasn't Martial Leader level, not even close, but look at him now.'' Lucas looked at the figure of Ichiro who was descending the stairs in front of him.

''...'' Slych stayed quiet

''There is also another explanation,'' Lucas said suddenly. Slych looked at him with a questioning look.

''Maybe he hid his strength on purpose to make a huge impact on this tournament, you have seen how flashy he is and he probably got hit to the head when he was a kid; also making him stupid and unpredictable,'' Lucas said with crossed arms. Slych behind him nodded.

Slych then looked at Ichiro walking in front of him and said towards Lucas. ''Yeah, might be true, he is quite of a showoff.'' Lucas looked at him and scoffed. ''So are you.''

''Aha..'' Slych scratched his head awkwardly.

''Well doesn't matter, during the last 3 weeks he hasn't grown that greatly, so my assumption might be wrong, maybe he just hid his strength well,'' Lucas said and they continued following Ichiro in the basement area.

''Hurry up,'' I said quietly towards two gossiping aunts who kept whispering.

I saw Slych and Lucas nod and they arrived in front of me.

I was crouching while leaning towards the wall and kept taking glances towards the hallway, behind the wall.

''Found it,'' I said and Slych and Lucas took glances also towards the hallway and saw a few referees coming from one of the changing rooms.

''So what now?'' Lucas asked, I looked at them and shrugged my shoulders, making Lucas' and Slych's eyes twitch.

''You are very unreliable,'' Lucas said with anger.

''Indeed.'' Slych agreed.

''I do have a plan, but we would need to wait for all the referees to leave the changing room, but the danger is that referee with surname Ledorman might also be gone by then,'' I said, Lucas and Slych nodded with agreement.

''Well, I do have a secondary plan.'' I told, they quickly perked up their ears, waiting for my next words. ''Slych, you go find that Ledorman and send a text for me when you find him and his location.'' Slych nodded and I quickly gave him my phone number and he left afterward.

''What about us?'' Lucas asked, I looked at him and said. ''Go hide in the changing room while you record everyone's voices, alright?'' Lucas nodded.

We decided to wait until some of the referees will leave the changing room, so we can see if anyone is there.

After 5 minutes of waiting, finally; the duo of referees left the changing room and I quickly took look towards changing room when the door was opened and luckily found no one inside.

''Go now!'' I quickly said towards Lucas and he rushed quickly towards changing room, he opened the door and sneaked in, the door closed behind him.

'Wait.. maybe there are showers and people inside there.. oh well, Lucas will handle it and if he gets caught, he will be proclaimed as a peeping tom and also he will get a very bad reputation.' I thought to myself and stopped thinking about problems Lucas will face and maybe even going to get his reputation destroyed.

*Pfft*

I suddenly thought about something and started giggling towards myself like some kid who just did a prank.

'He will even have his phone in open, recording the voices, so if he gets caught with his phone open, then they might think that he was recording them with the camera.' I was losing my shit.

Calm down Ichiro!

*Slap*

I slapped my cheeks and started taking deep breaths, trying not to laugh.

I am sure, that I wasn't this playful in my last life, I was more of a serious type and I was 43 years old, but I feel like something is influencing my personality.

Might be previous Ichiro, who was more of a mischievous fellow, I have a memory of my 43 years of last life + 15 years of my current life, even though mentally I have lived close to 60 years - I still feel like 15 years old, but my serious side is still in me, but when it manifests are getting rarer - I feel like my personality is being affected slowly and soon I might be really 15 years old in mind.

But it isn't bad as it sounds, I am still Ichiro and it doesn't really sound bad for me being 15 years old in mind, it would make me feel young again.

But enough of that.

Well then what should I do in meantime~

'Oh yeah! I will follow Hiena members, especially the Ledorman members, if they meet the referee, I will record their voices.' I thought happily and started sneaking out of the basement area, with a few close calls, I managed to ascend the stairs leading towards the bottom of the stadium area.

'Well then. where could they be crying after their defeat..' I thought with narrowed eyes and then with the corner of my eye, I saw some people wearing red outfits, which I usually see at Christmas, but since it's only spring, it looked very weird.

'Found you~' I smirked and followed behind people wearing a red outfits with white spots while they were walking aimlessly somewhere.