Chapter 11

After working at the cafe, I went to the small playground where i sat yesterday to train with Suzuha. I spontaneously agreed to meet this morning and was a little excited about our training session. After all Suzuha was a trained resistance fighter so she must be knowledgeable about matters regarding physical training. In my hand i have a bag with two large water bottles and some rice balls that we could eat after our training. When i arrive at the park Suzuha was already there sitting on the slide with her sports clothes and rocking her legs impatiently.

"There you are last, Rintarou!" She called out to me and quickly slid down. She stood in front of me, put one hand on her hip and held out a red bundle with the other, like an oversized pair slippers.

"I borrowed this from the dojo earlier so we could practice punching." she grinned while pulling one of the cushions over her hand and giving it some test punch.

"Shouldn't we start with something easier?"

"Of course, we will first have warm up exercises." Said Suzuha after removing the red cushions. "We will start with some running exercise."

I sighed, what have i gotten myself into? After i put down my brown leather jacket on the swing, we started to do some lap on the small park at a moderate pace. Suzuha seemed to enjoy jogging while i was sweating after five laps.

"I thought you would be jogging with Yukitaka tomorrow?" She asked me.

"Yes.. haa... haa.. this is a good practice for that." I gasped out of breath although I find this hard i know i must continue if i want to improve my physical capabilities.

After ten more laps, Finally made me stop and proceeded to the next part.

"You really need to improve your physical fitness, Rintarou. If we want to survive against the organization, we need to have indomitable will.

"Haa..haa.. Right, I will do my best.."

"Now we're going to do a few strength exercise." continues Suzu and went to the little climbing frame, where she pulled herself up with both arms.

"Try to see if you can do this."

I dragged myself to the rack and clung to it, but i couldn't even pull myself halfway up. Suzuha grabbed my hip and pushed me up a bit.

"Hey, let go! i want to do it myself!" i complained.

But the brown haired girl just said, "Hold it like that for ten seconds until you can do it alone. That's the only way you can learn pull ups."

I tensed my muscles until i trembled but i held out. Then i let go and landed shakily on the ground. The last thing i exerted myself physically like this was on physical education class and i always feel unwell afterwards.

"See? it can be done." Suzuha praised me. "Do that ten more times, you can jump if you don't want me to help you."

While i was training my hold, Suzuha was skillfully shuffling along the climbing frame and every now and then does a few pull ups. I admired her for her physical strength and stamina. Then she made me do twenty push ups where i almost collapsed and fifty squats that pushed my exhausted legs to the limit. I was really not used to exerting myself like this i feel like I am going to die.

"Very good Rin, next time I'll teach you more strengthening exercise, Now let's train you in punching."

I have almost forgotten that. While the part time soldier cheerfully put on her red slipper gloves, I struggled to stand on my feet and was sweating non stop, I don't think i have the strength to keep going, but i willed myself to continue.

"Now attack me with all you've got!" Suzu called positioning the cushions in front of her body.

I stumbled a bit and lamely slapped my opponents gloves.

"Was that all? try harder!"

I focused and stuck with all my strength. Suzu parried my blow with ease but nodded approvingly.

"That's better."

We spent half an hour doing punching exercise, i also took on the defensive role and had to wince with every strong punch of Suzuha. So this is what it felt like to train physically. It was painful and I am sure that if this happened during normal times i would not be able to persist and would quit after this one session.

After the strenuous exercise, Suzu and i sat on the stairs of the playground, we drank from our water bottles and ate some onigiri.

"If we do this everyday, you will soon become a real fighter, Rintarou." said the brown haired girl with a smile while patting me on my shoulder.

"Urggh.. it's going to be tough. And tomorrow i still have to keep my promise to jog with Yukitaka." I said resignedly while stuffing my mouth with onigiri.

"All the better, With Yukitaka you can improve your stamina while i will train you with everything you need to know to be an efficient fighter."

After we had eaten our rice balls, we got up and walked towards Akihabara main station, Suzuha walked lightly while i half dragged myself. I urgently need to rest my body to recover for tomorrow's run.

The next morning my whole body hurts like hell, My limbs ached and i struggled to rise on my feet while freeing myself from the blanket. Suzu was already awake and standing at the kitchen, where she was cooking something. I glanced at the clock and it shows a quarter past ten. My appointment with Yukitaka was 11 am, so i still have some time for a quick breakfast. I jumped in the shower and put on the yellow sports suit i bought a few days ago with the matching shoes.

"How was your sleep?" Asked my roommate while putting a bowl of rice and some meat on the table.

"It was fine although my body hurts like hell, anyway thanks for the meal."

"Dig in, you need the energy for today." said Suzuha while shoving a spoonful of rice on her mouth.

I tried it and was surprised of how well it tastes, I emptied the bowl very quickly because i was very hungry and the put my running shoes.

"See you later, Suzu." I called while leaving the apartment with a bottle of water in my hand.

When i got to the main station, i leaned against the wall and waited for my colleague who appeared in the crowd after a short time. I saw him walking towards me in his red sportswear

"Good morning, kyouma." we greeted each other. "It's nice that you made it."

"Yeah, i myself wonder how i managed to stand up today, yesterday Suzu and me did some of the most exhausting exercises i did in a long time and my body still aches because of it."

"I wish Chikane will also do those kinds of things with me but she does not like tiring physical activities." said my friend regretfully. "At least you can run with me, should we start?"

We started jogging at a leisurely pace through the busy streets of Akihabara. Under various steel bridges, over small paths, past the shrine between cherry blossoms, crossing the Kanda river and passing more streets. It was an experience that i probably would never have had in 2010. The cool air blew around my face, causing my sweat to evaporate as the morning rays of the sun shone on my face and forced me to close my eyes a bit. After a short while i felt my aching legs again, but i endured with some effort. From time to time i exchanged small talks with Yukitaka about this and that, but we were mostly focused on the run.

"Kyouma, should we sprint a little let's see how fast you can go." Asked my partner.

"Huff.. we can try."

"3..2..1.. go!" The young man dashed off and i followed behind him. after 50 meters of running we stopped and i was panting hard next to him.

"Not bad for a beginner." he laughed, pressing his clenched fist to my chest.

We took a small break to drink some water and continued jogging immediately. During our jog we did two more Sprints and i was so exhausted after our run. We arrived back at the train station after almost an hour, where we said our goodbyes.

"I'll see you at Yoshino's next week. I'll have a chat with you in the evening. Are you up for another round on Tuesday after your shift?"

"Sure, I need to continue training to improve my stamina." i said as my parting words to my friend.