Masahiro feels it settle in his chest like a quiet weight. He has dealt with difficult fighters before, fighters with egos, impatience, and hunger. But this is different. This isn't something he can shut down with authority or correct with instruction.
Liam isn't challenging him emotionally. He's asserting reality. And Masahiro knows exactly how thin that line is.
Liam has never signed long-term, always only two-year contracts, every time, since he walked into Raging Fox at nineteen with clean fundamentals and eyes that didn't wander.
Nineteen to twenty-one. Twenty-one to twenty-three. Each renewal is short. Each one a reminder that this partnership continues only as long as it makes sense to Liam.
And the current contract has less than a year left. If he says the wrong thing here, dismiss the wrong warning, Liam could simply leave. Another gym would welcome him instantly. Not because Masahiro failed him, but because Liam has outgrown the need to tolerate blind spots.
