16 Chapter 15

"Haaa…haaa…" The only sound I could produce right now was the sound of rough breathing.

I thought I would die somewhere in the middle. It was a constant marathon of physical activities. Each and every one of them was easy if done separately. But when one was done after the other without any rest, I felt that something was off.

At first, I just felt my body warming up slightly. But after half an hour, my body was burning up. Every time I did a big movement, my sweat was scattering everywhere and dripping down along the bridge of my nose.

And the way Jessie mercilessly shouted "FASTER!" each time I was slowing down. Or how she shouted, "DO IT PROPERLY!" Whenever the way I did a particular repetition of exercise didn't match her standard. I think this will haunt me from now on.

I didn't even understand if the beating from the Reid was better or this trial. I wanted to just lie down on the mat in the middle of this brutal examination, but something deep down inside of me opposed this thought. And thus I preserved till the end.

I was lying on the mat as I managed to get some rest, and from the amount of sweat that flowed down from me, I think I got stuck to it.

"You know, you exceeded my expectations." I didn't see Jessie because I closed my eyes so that sweat won't flood them, but I heard how she placed a bottle of water near me.

She constantly brought water to me so that I would keep hydrated. But I didn't have any strength to sit up and drink.

"Haaa, can you…haaa…please pour some water haaa…over my head."

"You know we have a shower room here?"

"Please."

I felt a little splash and the saving chillness of water, yet a moment later, it was replaced by the scalding heat of my own body.

"I think I'm gonna throw up." I was feeling like shit. I don't know how the hell fighters can train like this every day.

"Yeah, that's one of the things that surprised me. After all, most of the guys that attend our trial vomit at least two times."

"Ugh."

"There was this one particular guy not so long ago. I think after everything that was in his stomach left his body, he started puking blood."

"Please stop this." The more she talked about it, the more my stomach churned.

"Oh, sorry, I just got too into this kind of talk." I couldn't see her, but at least she sounded apologetic.

"So, did I pass?" I didn't know what I wanted to hear more, that I passed or failed.

"Hm, you passed today's test and did it exceptionally well. Congratulations!"

I heard a soft clap. But there was something that bothered me.

"Wait, what do you mean by saying today's test?"

"You've got six more days to come here and attend…"

I sat up at the speed of lightning. There was a loud sound of the mat tearing away from my body. I peered at her with my eyes, which were the size of small bowls right now.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SIX MORE DAYS!?"

As I was lying motionlessly for almost ten minutes, my sudden outburst startled her.

"I mean, you passed the first test out of seven." As she regained her spirit, she answered me with a serious face.

"That's why we call it a trial."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" I plopped down and started rolling on the mat. The unpleasant stickiness, the pain in my body, my stomach's rumbling, the heat, everything didn't matter anymore.

Because what awaits me is six more days of hell.

I've felt that being the punching bag wasn't so bad.

After my hysteria finally finished, I went to the shower. Coldwater washed away some of the pain and fatigue, but I was still far from being in a good condition.

As I left the shower cubicle and changed into my uniform, I was met with a disappointed gaze of Jessie.

"Sorry, I… sorry." I hang my head down. I was too embarrassed to look her in the face.

"No worries, but you turned out to be a different person. I thought…"

"YES!" I interrupted her before she could continue talking, "I was just feeling unwell, that's why I did what I did. I will pass this trial without a hitch! You didn't misjudge me, and I will prove to you that I am worthy. I am different from how I was on the bridge!"

I wasn't accustomed to ruining other people's expectations. When my parents told me to do something, I did it. That's how I was. And I couldn't afford to disappoint Jessie.

To my fervent speech, she smiled awkwardly.

I clenched my teeth. "Listen, I may be a weak-willed guy, and that's why I act as I do. I want to change, I'm sincere. I've got a push from you that I needed. I might whine occasionally or complain, but that's how I handled my frustration until this point. But I promise you, I will remove this flaw."

I gave her my most sincere look so far and poured all my heart into this. As I was training, I felt something welling up. I couldn't grasp this feeling right now, but I felt that it was connected with how I wanted to change.

I was staring right into her eyes, and soon her eyebrows started trembling. A few seconds later, she started laughing.

"Pffffhahaha, stop it!" she held her stomach as she was laughing.

Her laugh sounded pleasant, and it would sound even better if she wasn't laughing at me.

"Aha, haha, sorry." she wiped the tears from the edges of her eyes. "It was all a joke, and you acted so seriously."

I couldn't stop my lips from puckering. What the hell? How can she joke like this? But, well, she was the one who wanted to help me so I couldn't complain.

"Look, you don't have to be so serious."

"But…" she placed her hand in front of my face and then slowly removed it.

"I know your situation. You need help, and I will be the one to help you. As for your reaction, you can't even imagine what I've seen people done while attending our trial."

"What?"

"Let's leave this untouched," she smiled gently, "I said this before. You are doing exceptionally well. Maybe you will even break a record."

A record? But I should thank this body for all of this. When I was doing calisthenics in the park, I was still feeling ephemeral. Only now I felt the taste of reality.

She walked to her bag, and after rummaging for a few seconds, she took out two small bottles filled with tiny tablets. "Catch."

As I caught it, I looked at the tablets. They didn't look like anything special, just simple white tablets.

"Is this steroids?" I didn't know a thing about training, so it was the only thing I've managed to think of. After all, I don't think she would offer me something more illegal than this.

"What steroids?" She came back to me with her bag on her back. Pushing my forehead with her finger slightly. "It's vitamins."

"Vitamins?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, so you could recover more quickly."

"Are you sure it will help?" I was still feeling doubtful. Will plain vitamins help me?

"If you don't want to, you can give it back." she held her hand out.

But I quickly packed them deep enough so that she won't be able to take them. "No, I will take them."

She snorted. "Good, now listen to what you should do when you come home."

On our way back home, she told me what I should eat and when. That I should take a cold bath and other minor stuff like this.

"Wait, what about my attendance?" I didn't know how long I was in the gym, but I felt that it was still too early for me to leave the college's grounds.

"It's fine. The lectures are probably almost over," Jessie raised her eyebrow after glancing at me, "Don't you think that it would be difficult to sit through the classes after the trial?"

When she mentioned it, dull pain all over my body once again returned.

"Yeah, you're right."

I didn't notice how we arrived at the bus stop near the front gates as we talked.

"By the way, there is one thing I wanted to ask you."

"Hm?" Jessie scratched her temple.

"When you told Reid your name, he made a rather ugly face. Is there a reason for this?"

"So you're interested in this, huh," she pinched her chin with her slender fingers, "It's, probably, because he knows about my fighting style."

Huh? Fighting style?

"What do you mean by this?"

"Sigh, you can say that the way I fight is difficult for a fighter like him to overcome." As she looked at my face, she probably decided to give up on explaining everything to me. "You know, I will explain this to you later, all right?"

I nodded.

Her bus soon arrived, and she waved at me. "I would message you the details of tomorrow's examinations."

Just like that, I was once again left alone. I liked to be alone, but right now, I couldn't concentrate on enjoying this feeling. I hurried back home.

As I reached my home, almost an hour passed. I was tired and couldn't walk faster. Annie met me and took my bag while I went to wash my hands.

After this, I took a few pills and went to the kitchen. The food was ready and steaming hot. It looked tasty. Saying my thanks to my stepmother, I started eating.

"Annie, do we have any ice?" I remembered another recommendation from Jessie.

"Yes, why?" She gave me a troubled look.

I started explaining everything to her, how I trained, how Jessie told me to recover, and the ways to do it.

Soon, I've got a bathtub with chilled water and some ice cubes floating in there. It wasn't much, but Jessie said that even a little amount would be okay.

I carefully traced the water with my hand, and it felt alright. Sometimes I used even colder water in my previous life when I was washing my face.

But when I submerged into the water, I almost instantly stood up.

"AAARGH!!!" I screamed from the coldness. It was unbearable. I could handle standing with my legs in the icy water, but more than that was impossible. I heard a soft knock on the bath door.

"Erlig, are you alright?" Annie's concerned voice.

"I'm okay. It's simply too cold."

"If you can't handle this, you can just take a normal shower."

"Okay."

But even if it was bad I needed to take this bath.

"I can do it, I can do it. C'mon." My legs were feeling cold, but after a minute or so, I got used to it.

As I once again lied down in the bath, I felt like a million knives were piercing my body. I was fitfully counting how much longer I should stay like this. I clenched my teeth to the point that my gums started hurting. While my balls shrunk to the size of peanuts.

I felt the pain in my body subside a lot. However, because of this coldness, I couldn't understand if it would return. And as soon as I finished counting ten minutes, I jumped out of the bath at the speed of light.

After getting out of the bath, I put on warm clothes, drained the bathtub, and went to my room.

I was left with the question. Should I do the homework? Or not? But my reflection was interrupted by the ringtone of my phone.

Who was calling me?

It turned out to be Elle. Never thought that she would call me. She was the one I spent the least amount of time with. Still, I decided to answer her.

"Hello?"

"Erlig! Finally, you answered! I was getting tired of spamming messages."

"You did?"

"Damn right I did! What are you asking for, if you didn't look through your notifications?"

Ugh, now that I remember, Jessie told me that my phone vibrated a few times in the small amount of rest time. But I wasn't able to understand what she said.

"Sorry, I was kind of busy."

"M'kay, but you should answer me. What the hell happened in the morning?" There was some noise in the background.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean! How the hell did you get acquainted with Jessie? She is a little star of our school."

"Are you for real?"

"Duh, of course, I'm telling the truth. You know it as well…" She paused before continuing. Her lively voice now sounded a lot more toned down. "I'm sorry, I kind of forgot about your head and stuff."

I winced. Indeed, Elle was an airheaded, kind, tomboyish girl.

"No worries."

"Was she the help you talked about?"

"Yeah."

"So will she defend you from Reid, OH, by the way, why didn't you come to the classroom? Professor Rose was looking for you." A second later, she turned from feeling down to being cheerful.

"She won't protect me. She's not a bodyguard. She will help me train so that I will be able to defend myself. Right now, I'm in the middle of trying to join her team."

"Whaaaa???" the sounds of ruckus on her end grew louder.

"So if anyone would ask for me, just tell them that Jessie got everything covered."

"Uuuuh, hmm, ok-okay." Now she has started staggering. Whatever she did, I've got more important business to do.

"I will call you later if I need anything, see you later."

With this, I hang up.

Taking a deep breath, I sat in complete silence.

"Six more days."

Six more days that I need to preserve until I start to change. I slapped my cheeks lightly.

"No, I am changing right now."