บท 19: 19. Kotaro: I Have to Exercise!
Kotaro looked at his reflection in the mirror with shocked eyes. Damn! Where is that young man brimming with vitality?!
All he could see was a pale man drained of all his essence, akin to a mummy. His entire body was aching, especially his waist.
It was barely hanging on!
"8x density… I was underestimating it!"
The tightness...
It indeed felt amazing, but does he have to endure this pain afterwards?
"There is no other way… I have to exercise!"
Without hesitation, Kotaro decided to include exercise in his daily routine. As for why he wasn't doing it before...
Was he supposed to do it?
Many protagonists reincarnate and start exercising daily to become stronger, lose weight, and build muscle. When Kotaro saw those individuals, he always thought, "Damn! These are some disciplined guys!"
Before reincarnation, he was a person corrupted by modern times—fast food, anime, novels… How could he find time to exercise?
Unless he became extremely obese, "Meh~ Who exercises?"
No matter how much influencers motivated him, that motivation vanished with a single step of exercise. A lazy person like Kotaro would never exercise after reincarnation, especially without any catalyst to motivate him like superpowers.
[A/N: In case you're confused, Kotaro has the cheat, but doesn't know yet.]
But now, he was in crisis.
The lack of exercise... It could kill him! After just one night of activity, look at him. He couldn't even stand properly. This couldn't keep happening!
"Thank God I initially took some days off."
Originally, Kotaro planned to resume his classes after the marriage, but he thought it would be a good time to spend with Mitsuri and do this and that.
Forget "do this and that," Kotaro was going to use these days for exercise!
Grr...
His stomach rumbled, and Kotaro patted his poor stomach. He had spent all his energy on piercing that 8x density, so his energy levels were quite low.
"I should make breakfast."
He got out of the futon with the intention of preparing breakfast. Though he looked like a mummy, it was indeed him who had tormented Mitsuri last night.
To make up for it, Kotaro decided to cook something warm for Mitsuri, and while he was at it, make something for himself too.
...
Kitchen.
"There aren't any ingredients…"
It wasn't surprising. Kotaro rarely ate at home. Aunt Aiko and his neighbors brought him meals, saving him time, labor, and money.
But now that he was married, it was doubtful that neighbors would bring him meals, especially Aunt Aiko. He could already predict what she would say:
"Aren't you married?! Why should I cook your meals when you have a wife?!"
Hmm. That's what she would say.
Speaking of Aunt Aiko...
"Why isn't she here?"
Kotaro pondered deeply. It might seem trivial, but Kotaro knew her well. There was no way she wouldn't come early in the morning, especially after his first night. According to her behavior, shouldn't she come and tease him?
If she saw his sorry state, she definitely wouldn't miss the chance to tease him. But she wasn't here.
"Hmm... Am I missing something?"
He felt something was amiss but soon decided not to think more about it. For now, he needed to buy ingredients.
Since Mitsuri would be cooking from now on, he needed to stock up. Moreover, he needed a lot, as Mitsuri was a big—no, a monster eater.
For her appetite, he needed to bring a lot.
"I should ask Aunt Aiko to accompany me."
There was no way he could carry it all. Aunt Aiko would help him, not only with carrying stuff but also with haggling with the shopkeepers.
Kotaro had to admit, if there was one thing he was really impressed by Aunt Aiko, it was her haggling skills! The way she lowered the price... He also wanted to learn that!
But what could he do?
It's a universal disadvantage for men. Men can't haggle at all! No matter how he tried, he couldn't match Aunt Aiko in terms of haggling. He could lower prices, but she made them the lowest!
He had seen the helpless eyes of shopkeepers who, in the end, just gave the ingredients for free to her.
Now that Kotaro needed to save money for his wife's appetite, he needed this skill. And if he couldn't learn it, he'd have to beg Aunt Aiko to teach Mitsuri.
"Hmm. Let's go to her place. I'll ask her to accompany me and check if she's alright."
The fact that she didn't come to visit him made him a bit worried, so Kotaro decided to check if she was okay while inviting her for shopping.
Holding a bag, Kotaro opened the door and faced the morning rays. The sudden bright light made him squint his eyes. But after a few seconds, he adjusted and could finally open his eyes.
Without further delay, he started his walk toward Aunt Aiko's residence. But...
'Why are they looking at me with those eyes?'
As he walked down the road, he noticed people looking at him with strange expressions, especially women. The women glanced at him, then turned their heads and blushed.
This was weird. This was too weird!
'Is it about the kiss?'
Kotaro remembered the kiss in the shrine. He thought maybe that was the reason, but it still seemed too exaggerated.
Then he felt a slap on his back. But this time, it wasn't Aunt Aiko; it was another woman, someone Kotaro was very familiar with.
"Kiyo-san."
She was the neighbor who brought his meals. Kotaro was quite grateful to her.
"Kotaro-chan! I heard about it from Aiko-san!"
"Heard about what?"
Kotaro looked puzzled, not understanding what she was talking about.
"Don't try to act innocent, you beast!"
"B-Beast?"
What the hell is this "beast"?!
===
A/N:
Well, it was destined to happen. After all, we are talking about Aiko. How could she not spread around the sight of what she and her band of friends peeked at that night?
One more thing I wanted to say is, aren't reincarnators Otaku? How the f*ck are they even exercising?! Exercise in an Otaku's dictionary doesn't exist!!!
And mad respect to Kotaro for enduring the 8x density!
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