17 Coward

"COME ON! GIVE ME FIFTY MORE!" An intense scream could be heard in the furthest place of the island, "COUNT!" Another spiritful scream came from Jabberwock Park located at the central island.

"Ninety one!" Kaito was desperately trying to reach one hundred push-ups as he screamed with all the air his lungs could take in.

"DON'T GIVE UP ON ME KAITO!" This series of screams came from the Ultimate Team Manager, Nekomaru Nidai, also Kaito's tutor.

"One hundred!!" As Kaito pushed his weight up one last time he dropped in the floor face first, not having the strength or energy to stop his fall.

"Great! Now let's rest for a bit, it is always important to rest your muscles after a workout" Nekomaru pulled out a bottle of water for Kaito, but could not hand it over to him since he was unable to move a single muscle.

"Would you mind giving me a hand…?" Nekomaru lifted Kaito as if he was a ragdoll just laying on the floor, he grabbed him with one hand by the back of his shirt and carried him all the way to the nearest bench. Kaito's face was turning purple considering he was being strangled by his own shirt. Just after he found himself sitting on that bench without anyone restricting him of oxygen, he took a deep breath to make up for all the air his body needed. Nekomaru handed him the bottle of water, Kaito could barely lift his hands to grab it and drink just a few sips from it.

"I thought this was going to be more like a one on one talking session, not an intensive training session!" Kaito thought while making an angry gesture.

"Tell me Kaito-kun, is something troubling you?" Nekomaru's attitude took a 180 degrees turn, a few seconds ago he looked all worked up, and now he looks as if he was chatting with a friend at a coffee shop.

"Huh? Why you ask?" Kaito was taken slightly surprised by how Nekomaru figured his thoughts out.

"Maybe your words don't express it, but your body does. I have trained several teams and players, and I could easily tell if something was afflicting them by the way their body exercised. It has been quite a long time since I have seen it in someone, but I trust my instincts." Kaito evaded Nekomaru's gaze, trying to prevent being read any further.

"That explains the pushups…" A hurt Kaito thought, but he did not mutter a single word about it.

"You know these lessons are for that, don't you? So, come on just spill it out already, the faster you do, the faster I can help you with it." Nekomaru was being very insisting on Kaito, and he definitely felt it that way.

"It's something between Maki and me…" A slightly bashful tone could be heard in Kaito's words.

"Mhm, your girlfriend, so you made her mad or something?" Nekomaru's lack of tact was enormous, his brain did not possess a filter that analyzed his thoughts, he just says whatever comes to his mind without thinking about it for a second.

"She is not my girlfriend! Or at least… yet… I think…" Kaito's voice diminished as he tried to clear up the misunderstanding.

"So, what happened with this girl?" Nekomaru completely ignored Kaito's line and just wanted to get straight to the point.

"The thing is I think I made her angry, with all the co-ed rooms and everything I got paired up with another girl and I think she is kind of jealous, which led her to be mad at me, or at least that is what I think" Kaito finally opened up to Nekomaru, he listened to everything and made a small silence between Kaito's words and his next ones.

"So basically, you are just a coward who can't set things straight?" Kaito felt a sting as he heard these words, pissing him off the instant Nekomaru finished speaking.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A COWARD?!" Kaito responded to Nekomaru's statement with hostility and a huge amount of anger as he stood up and almost screamed in front of Nekomaru's face.

"You wouldn't get this mad if it wasn't true" Nekomaru stood up, as Kaito watched him get up, he realized of the height difference, and he was definitely at a disadvantage. "NOW LISTEN TO ME!" Nekomaru's attitude suddenly changed to training mode, as he was about to lecture his student. Kaito fell back into his seat at the bench when he noticed he rubbed him the wrong way.

"It takes to be a man to apologize to a woman, and that Kaito-kun is exactly what you need to be in this moment" Nekomaru's eyes switched again to serious mode as he lectured Kaito. He was quite confused about how much did this guy's personality could change in a split second.

"What do you mean?" Kaito asked quite confused about it. "I am saying that you should go to her and apologize right now!" Nekomaru's aim was for Kaito to set things straight at that very moment.

"You mean like right now?! I don't know if she would even like to see me…" Unsureness was filling Kaito's mind and he did not feel he had the guts to go straight to Maki and apologize. He was afraid of what would happen afterward, maybe Maki just wasn't interested in him anymore, even though they had a type of romantic reencounter just the day before.

"So, you are going to sit there and do nothing?" Nekomaru looked at the depressed Kaito and took him by the collar. "If you just sit on your ass all day, nothing's gonna change! Everything will be the same!" Nekomaru tried to drill some sense into Kaito's mind. "You are okay if things stay this way? Then do nothing and keep acting like a coward" Nekomaru loosen his grip from Kaito's collar.

"Session is over, you can go back to sit on your ass if you want to" Nekomaru walked away from where Kaito was standing.

"I..am..not… a coward…" A low voice came from Kaito's direction, which attracted Nekomaru's attention.

"Huh? I couldn't hear a single word you said" Nekomaru teased Kaito slowly to lift up his spirit.

"I said I am not a coward" Kaito's voice was a little louder than last time, his words could be easily heard by anyone nearby.

"HUH? If you want to say something. SAY IT LOUDER!" Nekomaru once again teased Kaito with his screaming.

"I SAID, I AM NOT A COWARD!" Kaito screamed at the top of his lungs.

"GOOD! THEN WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO NOW?" Nekomaru asked Kaito as if he was a drill sergeant in a boot camp.

"I AM GOING TO SET THINGS STRAIGHT!" Kaito's determination was easily detectable in his voice and Nekomaru knew it.

"THEN GO GET HER!" Nekomaru gave Kaito his last daily assignment.

The moment Nekomaru said this Kaito ran off to the hotel, hoping to find Maki nearby, to finally set things straight between the two.

"I am sorry if I was rude kid, but sometimes everyone needs one rough push" Nekomaru muttered to himself as he watched his student running away from the park.