6 - Family

Night fell and Jesse was laying in his bed, breathing heavily. His entire body felt like jelly, he was completely out of energy.

"Haa… Haaa… this is ridiculous…"

He murmured under his breath. He had spent the whole day training, trying to lift Orzo. But, he wasn't able to, not at all, and every time he failed, he had to do 100 push-ups. In the end, he ended doing at least 600 push-ups before falling over and being unable to continue. He could barely move, so Truffel carried him to his bed for him.

"Still… 600 push-ups would be insane back in my world, this place is nothing like it…"

He was so ridiculously tired though, he almost felt like leaving the dojo and just doing his own training. As he layed there thinking, he suddenly heard the door creak open.

"Hey… you awake in there?"

Truffel asked in a soft, quiet voice.

"Uh, yeah, im up."

Hearing his response, she went in, closing the door behind him.

"Grandpa was pretty hard on you there, I get it though, he's always been a strict trainer, he doesn't like seeing people waste their potential, so hes tough like that…"

He could definitely tell he was tough, he could tell with every aching muscle in his body.

"He's accepted you as his student, but he isn't sure you're really up for it yet, y'know? This isn't just training, he's testing you, he did it to me too when I started my training."

Yeah that made sense, both testing his will and training his body at once, but he could already tell that's what he was doing, I mean, carrying him around? It was pretty ridiculous.

"Yeah, I can tell… I guess."

"So I know he doesn't wanna do anything else with you til you pass this trial by yourself, but I can give you some pointers, help you train, maybe even get grandpa to go easier on you. We could even spar a bit!"

She said, some excitement in her voice. She'd been treating him like a little brother, and he'd already begun to think of her as a sister, though a younger sister, due to the age of his mind. Clearly she was worried about him, I mean he was totally immobilized from today's training. Jesse stared at her for a minute, and then sighed and rejected her offer.

"No, sorry but… I understand what he wants from me, and I wanna do this as he wants. By myself."

He said, some pride showing in his voice and his expression serious. He was actually a decently prideful person, especially with how he lived in his old world, it made him want less help from others, and to instead do things himself.

Truffel's face still held a smile, he was worried his response would upset her, so this was a good outcome.

"That's alright, once you pass the test we can spar and train together! I'll be waiting for you! Oh, and here's a little snack to help you get your energy back!"

She placed a small chocolate mini-cake right next to his head on his bed, covered in a blue solid frosting, it looked delicious. He smiled.

"Thanks, see ya tomorrow."

"Goodnight Jesse! Sweet dreams!"

She said as both of them smiled at eachother before she left the room, off to go to bed in her own room. After eating the delicious snack Truffel made for him, he fell right to sleep, mentally re-energized for another hard day of training.

And a hard day it was, just as hard as the last, only this time he had less energy and only did 100 push-ups. Again on the next day, barely able to do anything. But day after day, he put in all his effort.

Eventually, he could lift Orzo for a short while. Then later he could take a few steps with him. He could feel himself getting stronger, his pathetically weak state he came here in was changing fast, he was getting stronger already, until eventually…

"Ninety… Haa… Haaa… Nine…."

Lifted above Jesse's head was Orzo, eating one of Truffel's mini-cakes as he was held, wearing a casual expression on his face. Sweating heavily under him was of course Jesse, putting in every ounce of effort as he walked around the gym.

"Yayyy! You can do it Jesse!"

Truffel cheered him on as he made his final stretch, the 100th lap around the gym. Just a few more steps and he had finally made it.

"100!"

After 5 months of some of the most grueling pain, sweat and tears in either of his lives, he had finally beat Orzo's test, and gotten much stronger because of it. As he finished, he practically threw Orzo across the room, getting him off him.

"Hey! You're supposed to put me down gently!"

Orzo yelled angrily at Jesse. Jesse and Truffel just chuckled as he sat down, totally out of energy. Orzo quickly calmed down seeing their laughter and spoke out.

"Well, it seems after only 5 months you've completed my test, now I can finally take this thing off."

Jesse was confused for a second until Orzo reached into his shirt, seemingly unzipping something. A large thump could be heard as a weighted jacket labeled "20kg" fell down onto the floor.

"Wh-wha… WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Jesse yelled out in anger, no wonder this was so hard.

"What the hell geezer! You've been wearing a weighted jacket this whole time!?"

"Not only a weighted jacket, I've been increasing the weight slowly to 20kg as time went and you got stronger."

Jesse was both angry and annoyed. But when he thought about it, this was only a good thing, it meant he had gotten stronger than he thought. Sighing and calming himself down, he spoke again.

"Well, whatever I guess…"

"You may not be so happy with me tricking you now, but it was a great test of your will, plus it got you much stronger! Physically you should be about on par with my middle of the road students, and they're grown men. Plus… you should've seen the look on your face right there!"

Orzo replied with a heavy laugh and a sudden wide smile on his face. This old man was seriously mocking him! However, all Jesse did in response was grit his teeth angrily at him. Was this also why he wasn't letting him spar or do any other training? With a cough, Orzo's face returned to normal and he continued.

"Anyway, I'm seriously proud of you Jesse, I knew I saw potential in you, and it seems I was right… and so I hope you don't…"

Orzo sniveled.

"I hope you don't mind if I call you son..."

Jesse looked at him awkwardly.

'Damn this old man is emotional, just keeps swinging between emotions on a dime!'

Was what Jesse was thinking hearing him say this. But Jesse couldn't really lie to himself or anyone else, he looked at him like a grandpa already, and he was starting to truly love and care for him. Truffel too, they were good friends, ones he'd never had. In his old life, his parents had pretty much abandoned him to die alone in the hospital, which he ended up doing, unless you count the doctors that tried to save him. Changing from his awkward expression to a small smile, still mixed with an awkward look, he replied.

"Sure, gramps, you can call me son..."

Orzo upon hearing this teared up a bit, before calming himself down.

"Alright, both of you should get off to bed now, we're done for the day. Tomorrow we'll start your new training regimen, so you need to get some rest."

A little while later, Jesse was in his room, ready to sleep, before Truffel visited him again, she did that quite often, so it was no surprise. Sitting next to him, she spoke in a much more somber and serious tone then she usually did.

"Hey uh Jesse, I just wanna say… thanks."

"For what exactly?"

He wasn't sure what exactly she was talking about.

"For saying yes to letting grandpa call you son, it might seem silly but it means a lot to him… I think you remind him a lot of his son… and my dad..."

"A son? I didn't know gramps had a son?"

"He doesn't like to talk about it, he just suddenly… up and disappeared a little while after I was born, just leaving me and him alone, no calls, no notes, just gone, completely vanished… he blames himself."

She seemed to be tearing up a bit.

"So really, thanks… not just for him but from me too, thanks for being around…"

He just hugged the girl, comforting her and patting her back. Seems there was more to these people then he thought, but he'd gained people he cared about, and who care about him. The realization made him tear up a bit himself, as much as he didn't want to. He had hated everyone in his old life, and almost everyone just didn't care about him. The cynic him felt this was a sorta generic storyline, but he didn't care, he was just happy that now, he had a home, and he had a family.