Chapter 21 - Till Someone Drops

"Kyaaaa!!"

The girl crouched down, trying to cover herself up and hide her face from us.

The guy, on the other hand, turned red from anger and clicked his tongue; blaming everything on us for ruining his fun time.

「Oi! Beat it! Have you ever heard of privacy!? 」 The shirtless guy barked out in a fit of rage, talking as if the boys' locker room was his property.

「…Alright, I'll just get my stuff and we'll be out of your hair」 Monoa gave him a weird stare and calmly walked in while ignoring the two of them and looked for his locker.

「Bastard! What part of 'beat it' do you not understand!?」 The shirtless guy screeched and angrily walked up to Monoa, trying to grab at his shirt collar.

Seeing this happen, Akirou went pale and was frozen in place. He didn't know what to do right now about this exhibitionist trying to grab his friend; he thought it would just end without incident after Monoa got his gym clothes and all of them would pretend like nothing happened, but reality betrayed his pacifist thoughts.

Times seemed to slow down for both Akirou and the half-naked girl; she stared wide-eyed at the guy she was about to give her first time to and what he was about to do.

「I wouldn't do that if I were you」 I caught the guy's hand and gripped it firmly with a bit of strength.

「!!!」 The shirtless guy was startled by my sudden appearance, so was everyone else. I had completely erased my presence so them not perceiving me was normal.

「Get your hands off me!」 He tried to yank his hand back by force but couldn't so he started spouting out orders in a commanding tone. So that's what I did…

*Crash* 「Agh!」

I let him go just when he was pulling back again and he crashed into the row of lockers behind him, hitting his head first before dropping to the ground.

「Oh, are you okay? Looks like you slipped a little there, you need to be more careful these floors are slippery」 I spoke with fake concern in my tone and an innocent smile on my face.

「Grrrr…Hmph!」 The shirtless guy grumbled angrily and glared at me with hatred before lunging at my legs without thinking.

*Crash* 「Ugh!」

I agilely side-stepped and he crashed face-first into the row of lockers behind me, he's lucky that these lockers are bolted down to the ground; otherwise, they would've fallen on top of him.

"And, he's out cold" I tried shaking his body forcefully and he didn't show any reaction.

"I-i-is h-he-?" The girl, who still has her shirt unbuttoned, started trembling; she thought the worst when she saw he had no reaction.

"Relax, he's not dead, I checked already; though he might have a concussion" I cut off her dark train of thoughts and turned to Monoa.

"Find your locker and get your gym clothes, I'll take him to the infirmary so change and go on first with Akirou-kun" I rolled the shirtless guy over before picking him up and carried him over my shoulder like a potato sack.

"Ah, yeah, see you out in the field" Monoa replied absentmindedly.

"See you on the field, no running away, alright?" I patted Akirou's shoulder to snap him out of his daze before walking out the door.

----------------------

(Third person POV)

"Ah, found it!" Iniji unlocked his locker once he found it; he took one set of gym clothes that were left in there.

"Sigh…Why did I have to get slapped?" Hiro complained while rubbing his left cheek that was red from the slap he received.

"Beats me, she was bold enough to do the deed on school ground yet freaked out from being seen" Iniji shrugged and started changing into gym clothes.

"That's another thing I need to learn about, girls" Hiro felt tired all of a sudden from thinking about the things he needed to do.

"Hey man, don't stress too much about it. Baby steps" Iniji comforted Hiro while still changing.

"You're right; we get there when we get there" Hiro tossed those thoughts aside for later and also started change into gym clothes.

Silence reigned for a minute as the two focused on changing; after they were done, they shuffled out and headed to the track field.

"Hey Akirou-kun, did you see Ishia-kun move? It felt like he just appeared next to me all of a sudden at that moment" Iniji turned to Hiro, asking for confirmation.

"I'm not really sure, I also didn't see Ishia-san moving but I might just have missed it" Hiro rubbed his chin while trying to remember, his mind blanked when he tried to recall the events after that shirtless guy rushed to Iniji and before hearing him crashing into the lockers.

"Well that's strange, but whatever. Let's get to the field and do some warm-ups, Ishia-kun said there's gonna be someone joining us too" Iniji smiled, completely wiping the incident from his mind and focused on the training they'll be doing soon.

Hiro just nodded at him, he thought it would be nice to be able to switch gears so quickly like that.

----------------------

(Ren's POV)

After dropping Exhibitionist-san off in the infirmary and talking with the nurse for a bit, I left and found a secluded place before using space magic to instantly change into the gym clothes in my [Personal Box].

While making my way outside, I thought about the many complaints of the nurse. Yeah, when I said "talking", what I really meant was I listened to her complaining.

I've done a lot of listening over the past 10 years in Mirkaz so it didn't bother me much; being an adventurer kinda gets you a lot of people skills.

Anyway, what stood out among her many complaints was that quite a few students have come to her infirmary alone, a total of 15 students excluding Monoa, Alice, and Exhibitionist-san. Now, I don't know about you, but that is quite a lot of students going to one infirmary in a day.

Most of them have said that they feel weak, sick, very emotional, or their focus wavering. Okay, I don't want to point any fingers here, alright? But, I have a hunch it has something to do with my main body trying to integrate mana into every living creature without giving any noticeable changes to their mind and body.

Well, I guess just having a few people feeling a bit under the weather is a good sign, there hasn't been anyone blacking out yet, which is the worst that could happen.

"Hmm…I wonder if Exhibitionist-san was also affected by it"

Pondering over it a bit while stepping outside the main school building, I decided to pull up his record from the new skill I got from being a Ruler, [World Archive].

"Let's see here. Uh…raised in a rich family, active playboy since middle school, spoiled by both his parents…ah, here it is, tend to lash out and threaten people if things don't go his way. So he was like this before today too, good to know"

I swiped away the [World Archive] window, and yes, I made it look like a status window from RPG games. It just looks more pleasant to my eyes.

Getting closer to the track field, I saw Monoa and Akirou doing some warm-ups with the Track Club members and also someone I had invited to join us sitting on a bench off to the side already in gym clothes.

「Keirou, glad you could make it」 I called out to Keirou, the person who I invited, when I got closer to the track field.

「Well, I wasn't gonna not show up after agreeing」 Keirou didn't turn to look at me and replied while observing the Track Team, who were practicing.

「So, what excuse did you give Namaii-san?」 I sat next to him and laid my bag down before turning to see him with his face twitching.

「…I just told her the truth and she said I could come because she need to do something with Asa-san」 Keirou showed a defeated look while answering.

「Yeah, I guess there wouldn't be any excuse good enough for not wanting to be with your cute girlfriend」 I nodded knowingly with a calm smile.

「Btw, did you do something? When I mentioned hanging out with you, Suika sighed and started to complain about how irritating you were」 Keirou raised his eyebrow.

「I confessed and Hina's brain short-circuited」 I flatly without breaking eye contact.

「Yup, that'll do it. No wonder she felt the need to stay with Asa-san right now」 Keirou nodded his head in understanding.

「I wonder how long it'll take Hina to answer, not that it matters since I'll just keep attacking until she says how she feels about me」 I stretched my legs before standing up from the bench doing some warm-ups.

「Don't you know her feelings already?」 Keirou also stood up and did warm-ups next to me.

「Yeah, but I want to hear it clearly straight from her mouth. Why should I be the only one who has poured their heart out?」 I spoke with a smirk on my face.

「I should've seen that coming」 Keirou sighed while shaking his head in defeat.

「There must always be balance in this world, for without balance, the world will be bathed in chaos」 I declared like an old wise sage who has lived for hundreds of years alone in seclusion.

「Yes, yes, and when all hope is lost, a hero shall rise to restore balance to the world」 Keirou added on with the same tone of voice.

「As it was foretold by the ancients」 I finished off with a thoughtful expression.

Keirou just copied my expression and nodded along.

"Umm…Are we interrupting something here?" Monoa had noticed me and came with Akirou.

"Nope, we were just finishing off. Anyway, Let me introduce you, Monoa-kun, Akirou-kun, this here is Keirou, my best friend" I smiled and gestured to Keirou.

"The name's Nijima Keirou, nice to meet you two" Keirou sported his ikemen smile that charmed the girls from the Track Club and held out his hand for a handshake.

"Monoa Iniji, nice to meet you" Monoa shook his hand enthusiastically with a contagious smile that made others around us smile as well.

"A-Akirou Hiro, pleased to meet you" Akirou nervously shook Keirou's hand, it seems being in the center of attention made him tense up.

"Hahaha, it seems you're quite similar to Ren before" Keirou commented with a chuckle.

"Like how he didn't like being in the center of attention?" Monoa tilted his head questioningly. I could hear some girly squeals from the background, let's tune those out.

"You told them?" Keirou raised his brow.

"I let Namaii-san do it, they were gonna hear about it eventually so I thought might as well get it over with" I waved my hand dismissively; it wasn't that big a deal.

"Hmm, well it's your secret to tell" Keirou dropped the subject immediately.

"So, what are we doing? I only heard something about training, I'm guessing we're going to be running" Keirou looked at where we are then back at us.

"Yup, it's endurance training. We're gonna be running till one of us drops" I declared with a clenched fist.

"Uhh…I didn't sign up for this"

"Too bad, Monoa-kun, we're doing this. But first, I have some gifts" I went over to my bag and took some enchanted headbands and some sports bottles filled with potions.

"Here you go, I got these off of Shipless and I also cooked up some energy drinks this morning" I handed over the headbands and sports bottles.

I made the headbands with some crystal cotton I have in my [Item Box], stuffs made from crystal cotton are super durable and very hard to stain, because they have good mana conductivity they're used to make clothes and enchanted for some defensive properties. I, of course, ditched the idea of defensive enchantments and gave them a magic circle with [Increased Natural Regeneration] and [Increased Stamina Regeneration] along with another magic circle to suck in mana to fuel the other one.

The sports bottles are filled with Lesser Energy Restoration Potion, if you drink the entire bottle and you're not planning on running a marathon or two, good luck getting any sleep for the next two days or so. So, to deter them from drinking the entire thing in one gulp, I made it taste sour like lemon juice with a citrusy smell to go with it.

"There's energy drinks in here?" Monoa looked at the bottle dubiously before uncapping it and taking a sip.

"Ugh, so sour and tastes like lemon juice" Monoa squinted his eyes from the sour taste.

"Yup, I came up with the recipe on the spot so it isn't perfect. But, it's really effective isn't it?"

"Hmm, I do feel quite hyped and full of energy, what's in this thing?" Monoa realized that he feels hyper like he could run a few kilometers without getting tired.

"That's a secret~" I smiled playfully while putting on a finger on my lips.

"Fine, keep your secret" Monoa pouted before putting on the headband. Everyone followed his action too.

"It's soft and comfortable" Keirou commented.

"And it fits very snuggly" Akirou added.

*Sniff* *Sniff*

"It smells pretty nice too" Monoa gave it a few whiffs.

"You're right, the scent's even sticking to my hands. What's it made of? I'm kinda curious now" Keirou rubbed his hands together before checking the smell again and it's still there.

"It says they were made from cotton, I only gave them a wash and they came out like this" I also put on my headband, it has the same effect as theirs except there's an auto-clean function on it that uses water magic; it's super easy to clean stuff made of crystal cotton, you only need water to get all the filth off.

"Huh, neat. So, what's the plan? Like I know we're running, but where are we running to?"

"As I said, we're running until one of us drops. And for where, well…" I gestured to the giant track field we're standing in.

"I feel dumb for asking"

"Wait! We're really going until one of us drops?" Monoa exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, you thought I was joking? Sorry, but we are going this" I smiled evilly.

Monoa trembled seeing my expression, he turned to Akirou but immediately turn away from his spirited and determined eyes, then he seek help from the last person in this group.

But, his face darkened looking at a bright smile he received from Keirou that's filled with mischief. Keirou gave Monoa a thumbs-up for good luck before turning away and started casually jogging.

Monoa dropped to his hands and knees before looking up and seeing Akirou followed after Keirou before catching up.

"Come on, you better hurry up or we're gonna lap you" I gave him a teasing smile before catching up to the others.

"*Life is so not fair for short people*" I heard Monoa complaining before the sound of running steps came from behind. I smiled; despite his complaining, he's not the kind of person to give up before even trying.

I picked up the pace and joined Akirou and Keirou, who were hitting it off because Keirou is also a person of culture. The two of us wouldn't be so close otherwise.

Eventually, Monoa managed to catch and we maintained that pace for a minute before cranking up our speeds little by little. I made sure to match their pace so we all can talk while we run. Remember, this is endurance training, not a race; I want to see where they are on the athleticism scale first before I can form the most optimal way to train.

Monoa said that he lacks stamina so we're gonna bring him up to speed first. Despite how Akirou's body looks, I can tell he has a ton of stamina so this is just to get his body familiar with moving a lot.

Keirou's just tagging along for the fun of it; I wanted to hang out with him after so long, that's why I invited him.

Looking at them interact puts a smile on my face and gives me one more reason to get stronger so I can protect this world, where all my friends and family members live.

'I should bring the others to visit once the time ratio hits 1:1 in a few years so they can relax, but maybe only sometime after I've unlocked my full legacy'

----------------------

After running for close an hour straight without break, we decided to stop because it was getting quite late. None of them dropped because of their legs hurting or feeling exhausted because of the effects of the headbands.

Any muscle they rip or any bruises they got on their feet healed quickly, the stamina they consumed was recovered fast, and the energy need for those two processes was being supplemented by the potion I gave them.

Yeah, I planned everything out so they didn't drop to the ground or passed out from lack of energy.

After we took a little break then took a shower, we headed out before going our separate ways at the gate. Akirou and Monoa walked home together, Keirou and I walked together for a bit before splitting off.

I walked at a leisure pace, not really in a hurry. While walking, I checked my phone and saw that I have some PMs on Red-Bird and Door-Way so I quickly dealt with it before putting my phone away.

Looking at the children having fun, the elderly talking to each other, customers going in and out of stores, and some students hanging around places; I started to think about how fragile this peace was.

This peace can be easily disrupted by a single person who has nothing to lose; they can't defend themselves if some crazy guy were to pull out a gun and fired it indiscriminately. All they can do is…run, and some unlucky few could end up dead.

Thinking about how this could happen to my friends and family members, got me thinking that I should really start making those Charms of Protection.

I've got the perfect magic circle layout in mind for it so all that's left is to make them.

Yeah, I'll do that when I get home.

----------------------

And now, we're here.

'Sigh, guess I'll have to deal with this first'