章 26: Forward [5]
"Is there anyone absent today?"
Just like yesterday, we had all gathered in our homeroom with Mr. Folm currently taking attendance for the day.
After that, he would inform us about the day, and if there had been no changes or sudden issues arising, it wasn't going to take long.
'This sucks...'
Today was by far the worst day that I had had in this world as even after forcing myself to jog in the morning, every single muscle in my body was still sore to the point where even breathing hurt.
Not that it mattered much as I would still have to carry on while trying my best even if it was painful. Because it wasn't like I thought my dear teacher would let me off the hook if I told him.
"Everyone seems to be present. Then, as I have nothing more to say during homeroom, you guys are free to do whatever you want until your first lecture. Class dismissed."
Funnily enough, despite telling us that we, the students, were dismissed, Mr. Folm was still the first person to leave the classroom.
Then again, it also didn't take long for movement to occur amongst my classmates either, with some standing up to do a few light stretches before being on their merry way.
One of these people was Celine who had some pretty big bags underneath her eyes, an obvious sign of having a rough night without enough sleep. A fact that neither Cerus, Jacob or Rose mentioned as they walked together with her out of the room.
'...is it because of me? Surely not, right?'
As I also struggled to get up on my feet, I did feel a bit compelled to entertain the thought that maybe I was at least partly responsible for her exhausted state, but at the same time, I wasn't about to continue to feel guilty about her. Especially not when it was something related to sleep.
This was because...
'Nutrition, sleep, and training are all sacred! And it is up to each individual person to be in charge of these things themselves!'
There were no excuses for anyone to fail to fulfill these basic requirements of improvement, no matter what! Sadly, that also went for me, therefore I forced myself to move to the dressing room inside the sports center in order to prepare for another session of the CQC course.
-------
"Why are you guys slacking off?! Ten more reps it will be then then!"
My feet felt like they hardly left the ground during our jumping jacks, a sensation similar to trying to move while waist-deep in a puddle of mud. Just like yesterday, we had spent the whole session doing conditioning work, with Mr. Folm very excitedly spurring us on with harsh words.
Unfortunately, it only got more and more apparent that my body was just not on the same level as many of the people around me as they kept flying high up in the air with seemingly very little strain.
Unlike yesterday, however, I was now getting quite a lot of looks from several different students, all of which had for some reason decided that it was now interesting to inspect how I was doing. Both Cerus was looking at me with the same investigative look that he had ever since yesterday, while Wyll's look was one of gloat and superiority. A look that I thought would be mimicked by a certain girl with brown hair who yesterday had looked at me with similar eyes.
Surprisingly, she wasn't. It wasn't that she wasn't looking at me every now and then, but her eyes were nothing like Wyll's. But I also couldn't quite understand what her eyes entailed as she wore a very complicated expression.
'Shit! Focus! Breathe!'
Getting lost for a second, I quickly regained focus on the matter at hand, doing my best to supply all of my muscles with enough oxygen to make them able to bear the inhuman burden that I was exposing them to.
But everything was so slow. A single jumping jack felt like it took literal minutes to perform and during every rep, the pain was also stretched through time to me, which made it more or less into pure torture at some point.
Even then, I still recited the words that had somehow become like a mantra to me in my head, repeating them over and over as a way of dealing with, and shutting out the pain.
'One more step... just one more step...'
-------
'I'm starving..!'
"Munch!"
The food at the school restaurant was as delicious as ever, with them today serving some sort of chicken stew with rice. Needless to say, it didn't take long before I was once again stuffing my mouth with food, once again to replenish my energy before the theoretical classes would begin.
Wednesday and Thursday were both days that would end with two theoretical lectures that were aimed at more traditional subjects, like Mrs. Lugh's social studies and... the old man's technical studies. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays were different, however, as those were days were we would be having lectures belonging to the secondary courses that we had picked.
So while it felt bad that I would have to listen to a teacher doing nothing but talking for the whole afternoon, it was a bit of a blessing in disguise as I doubted that my body was in good enough form to learn anything practical right now.
"...you look like shit today too."
A fact that Zoe also didn't hesitate to point out as she nibbled on some rice.
"Thank you... Munch... munch..."
-------
"...and that's the reason why hero-licensed individuals are not allowed to participate in normal sports competitions. That's all for today, I hope that you all have a pleasant evening and I will see you tomorrow."
'It's finally over...'
Today had felt even longer than yesterday, but now I would finally have some time to rest before going to the gym in the evening, which would then be followed by another meal at the dinner hall and sleep.
So, I went home, ignoring all the looks that I got from my classmates.
'I'm so tired...'
Funnily enough, despite having moved so insanely slowly the entire day, time now appeared to pass by in the blink of an eye as it was somehow already time for me to get to the gym after what felt like seconds of resting on my bed.
'...I don't want to. I really don't want to go...'
Weak thoughts quickly filled my head as the soft sensation of the bed underneath me was more than enough to weaken my willpower. But somehow, I forced myself off the bed, repeating the mantra once again.
'One more step...'
****
[Celine's POV]
"Huff!"
*Bang!*
A loud sound was made as I let go of the bar that I had been deadlifting and the weights hit the soft, rubbery platform beneath.
Before I had gotten to the academy, I hadn't been going to the gym more than two or three times a week as I hadn't found it necessary. After a certain incident, however, I was now feeling a lot more inclined to spend more time increasing my strength and stamina.
Naturally, that didn't mean that I skimped out on mana circulation to increase the amount of mana I had, but right now it felt a lot more important to increase my physical abilities.
It was a bit funny, the fact that although I had thought of myself as hardworking and diligent, there had been a person who had forced me to realize that there was still a lot more that I could have been doing to become stronger.
A person who...
'Ray?'
...was just now dragging his legs into the gym? Wearing a black tank top and a pair of sweatpants just like yesterday, I was having trouble believing my eyes. Because I had seen the state he was in during and after our morning training session in the CQC course, and that wasn't a physical state that someone could just ignore.
Yet, here he was, slowly making his way to the dumbbell rack and grabbing two, although very light, dumbbells to use for his training. And absurdly enough, that was what he did. Getting down on the ground, he began to perform pushups, while alternatively doing one-armed dumbbell rows in between the pushups.
At this point, there was no question in my mind that he wasn't someone who excelled physically, at least not compared to the students around him who had majored in close-quarters combat, making it hard for him to keep up during the lectures.
So how could it be that someone who had barely been able to stand a few hours ago was now in the gym while working out with very good form despite his legs trembling with every step?
And that's when I caught myself thinking of things that I had sworn not to care about.
'Damn it! I don't care! It's not my business what he is up to! I have my own training to focus on anyway.'
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