ANYTHING TO DO!

12 DAYS!

12 DAYS!

GODDAMNIT!

I've barely made any progress. I have been able to grasp the basics and correct my mistakes. But that's it. Occasionally I was able to exhibit moments of brilliance but that's it. I'm stuck. I want to level up. I want to rise. I want to surpass myself. I want to surpass my limits. But what am I doing here now?!

It's neither a vacation nor a training camp. Why? Why can't I just train well?

I had a deep train of thoughts. But they were not that desperate. I was prepared for this moment. I just sat on the ground with my back laying on the tree bark. It was late in the evening. Day by day, my stamina had increased. So, I was able to spend more time perfecting my foundation. I wasn't in despair. By no means did I stoop so low. Like I mentioned before, if it ain't happening then I'm gonna switch gears and focus on my endurance. That wasn't a bad idea. In fact, in the long run, even apart from fights and other physical activities, that would be good for my body. Endurance is something that I must never overlook.

By the way, when I mentioned other physical activities, I meant sporting events like rock climbing, hiking, swimming, football, and other stuff. I hope I've made it clear. These days it's very easy to take the wrong meaning for things. But I guess, if you're interested, you can try building up your endurance for whatever purpose you like. I'm not hinting at anything. I'm just telling that it will be useful to you in the long run.

Now then, time to put all my resources and focus on my endurance. My upper body reflexes are better than before, but I'm still not that strong as when compared to my lower body. Maybe, I am Hitmonlee.

Hitmonlee!

Hit-mon-lee!

I think that's how it talks.

Yes. I had even improved on my agility by some margin. But these are all minor improvements. Ah yes, I did forget to mention. I guess I can hold onto my breath underwater for more than a minute. Well, I feel it was worth mentioning it. Though, would it actually help me now? I don't think so.

But I think it could help me if I had a beach episode like the ones in anime and manga in the near future...Oh, that's right, how can I forget. At this point that was impossible. Man! What a bummer! Anyway, let's stop dreaming before I sleep, and get the chores done. Then I shall peacefully relax and think about stuff. I don't want to waste my time on these worthless thoughts.

With that being said, I got back up, freshened myself, and finished the chores.

I finished my chores. I think it's around 8 PM now. Or maybe 9 PM? I don't know. Nor do I care about it. This isolation, this was so peaceful. I haven't switched on my phone for around 10 days now I guess. I called in explained to my dear mother about my case but hid the details about my current whereabouts. That's the last thing I would need to inform her about right now.

I got out of the treehouse, and I boarded the roof and sat down.

Man! Staying out of touch with civilization is hampering my vocabulary skills! I'm speaking in such a simple way compared to the sophisticated way I used to. At this rate, I shall be 'TARZAN' or even worse, a stone age man, when it comes to communicating with people.

Noo!!! What can I do? I don't want to end up like that. Or so it is. Maybe that would be better. If I was below the level of holding a decent human conversation, then it means I would have to deal with other pesky humans less often than not. Well, this was not a bad idea. That being said, I would have to be stuck up with the same set of people for the rest of my life, since I wouldn't be capable of being independent anymore. Tch!

Anyway, what do I do now?

I was wondering about whatever I could do while gazing at the stars. This is bad. Up until a few days ago, I would either binge some anime shows, read some light novels or manga or just go for a night walk and even sometimes job to kill the boredom during my leisure time. But now, I have to keep thinking about something or the other to keep myself sane. I've become a slave to the internet and to commercial life. Leaving my comfort zone and staying here has proved that I, the whole have always acknowledged myself as a nomad cannot be a true nomad, as I have understood that I am an imbecile and can't lead my life without banking on modern science for a while.

What shall become of me? Agh! SHMACKS!

Nevermind. I'll do what I can. This is a way to keep myself away from temptations.

The only thing I missed is listening to OSTs.

Also known as Original Sound Tracks.

Bleach has some killer OSTs. But more importantly, the fact that I, who wouldn't consider myself an audiophile, was missing listening to music tells you a lot about how worse off I am at the moment. This training unknowingly is impounding some mental and psychological battles along witj physical pain.

I'm just blabbering stuff to myself in my head to keep myself occupied. The thing with sleeping early is, I will be destined to wake up early, and since it's a small town, there's little to do by getting by early in the morning, and also, due to low visibility, my mortality rate will be high, since there might be nocturnal predators running around.

As I was wondering about what to do, an unexpected name rang in my head.

Yuki-nee!

Why did you have to do that?