34 Work Ou

'Uuuh... It's too early... The sun hasn't come out yet...'

I'm walking to the bathroom in zombie mode to shower.

'Hm? The light is on…'

*knock knock*

...

'I think there's nobody-'

*Bam!* Kuno opens the door.

"Alex! Ready to exercise?"

'Aaaah-!'

...

"Alex?"

He moves his hands in front of me, trying to make me react.

"Hm! Oh, sorry, I was screaming inside. How can you have so much energy at this time?" *yawn*

"It's one of the advantages of being fit"

"Even so…"

"I'll wait for you downstairs"

Kuno goes downstairs.

*yawn*

I enter the bathroom and take a shower, although it takes me longer than usual because I fell asleep while the water relaxed me more.

*chirp*

I get out of the shower and put on clothes that I bought at the mall.

'This will be comfortable'

I look at myself in the mirror.

'At least I look like a person'

I go downstairs and the front door is open.

'Hm?'

I go to the door to see what there is-

*Bam!*

"Alex!" Kuno opens the door.

"Aah! You're going to kill me of a heart attack!" I say angrily.

"Ehehe... sorry. Hm? I've never seen you angry" Kuno apologizes.

"Sorry for yelling..."

Kuno looks at me.

"Kuno?"

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. Your food is already served at the table. I will be warming up here"

He turns around and starts exercising.

I go to the kitchen and eat what Kuno prepared:

'A vegetable salad...'

Even though it's not my favorite food, I can eat it.

I finish eating and I grab some vegetables from the fridge.

I go to the living room to see Andrew, Alyse and Athena.

"Hello little ones! Here's your food"

I put the vegetables on the plate inside their house and they start eating it.

"I'll be back in a moment, don't worry. Kuno will make me exercise, I hope he doesn't kill me. Wish me luck!"

*cluck*

I go out of the house.

"I'm ready. The food wasn't bad, but why a vegetable salad?"

"Starting today you will also be on a diet"

"I imagined... Today wasn't Dai's turn to cook?"

"Yes, but he won't wake up so early and never cook something with vegetables"

"I get it. Well, what do I have to do?"

"Let's go"

"Let's go?"

"We will go to the park"

"What! A park? There will be many people!"

"But at this hour there aren't many people"

"Even so, I will not exercise in a park-"

Kuno puts his arm around me and lifts me to carry me on his shoulder.

"He- hey! What are you doing!"

"Let's go to the park"

He starts walking down the street.

'He really has strength...'

"Okay! Put me down! It's embarrassing…"

He puts me down.

"Great, the exercise starts now"

"Why are you red?"

"For nothing! Come on, let's walk to the park"

We walk down the streets between the neighborhood.

"This is the exercise?"

"You said that walking thirty minutes made you almost faint. The park isn't as far as the bookstore, so we will also jog and run a little"

"Okay…"

We walk a little more...

"Ready? Let's jog"

"Yes…"

Kuno starts jogging and I just walk faster behind him.

But he realizes and stops.

"You're good?"

"You lied... there are people..."

I start to tremble.

"Alex, you can't hide from people forever. They may judge you, but you should only worry about what the people you love most think. Also, there's no reason to be seen, you're just working out"

"You were not with us at the mall..."

"Hm? Something happened?"

"Everyone was watching me..."

"Well, your hair is half white and your scar is very striking"

"They didn't just see that part..."

"Hm? Oh, I understand. Yes you are very... pretty... but... Aaah, I'm sorry, I have no advice for that... Just concentrate on the exercise and don't see anyone"

"Okay"

We go back to jogging and this time we go together.

'Even him...'

We move a little.

'Ugh, I'm already... getting tired...'

"As soon as I tell you, we start running"

"What? Run?"

"Three, two…"

"Wait!"

"One... Now!"

Kuno takes off like a rocket and I try to follow him.

'How is he so fast?'

"Come on Alex! Don't stay behind!"

"You're going too fast!"

We keep running.

"A little more Alex!"

"I can't anymore-!"

When trying to lift my leg to take the next step, fatigue makes me unable to move it fast enough and my foot hits the floor.

*chirp*

"Ugk-!"

*pam*

"Aaahh..." I sigh as I get up.

But I turn up and people are watching me.

'T- this is very uncomfortable...'

Kuno comes back and offers his hand to help me.

"You're good?"

"Y- yes..."

I grab his hand and he lifts me up like a feather.

"Sorry to force you so much, but I want you to get better as fast as possible"

"Is it necessary?"

"We can't be sure. Come on, the park is over there"

We arrive at the park and Kuno explains to me the first exercises I will do.

"First you will warm up five minutes, you will stretch and then you will start with the real work out"

"But my legs are already numb..."

"We will focus on your arms, that will give more power to your magic"

"More power?"

"Yes. Let us begin!"

We spend the next hour doing different exercises for the arms and some for the abdomen.

*breathing* *breathing*

I'm lying on the lawn of the park, trying to live and not throw up.

"That's all"

"At last…"

"Cheer up, it's just the first day"

"Yes…"

"Ready? Let's go home running!"

"Please no…"

And this was repeated for a full week.

Wake up in zombie mode.

Not being able to move because of the pain of the muscles.

Run towards the park.

Abdominals, push ups, squats.

Run back.

Vomit the breakfast.

Have nightmares.

Wake…

Pain…

Run…

I'm lying on the grass, I see the sky starting to lit by the sun.

'I've been thinking about the university all week... and I think I finally decided-'

"How do you feel?" Kuno asks me.

"As if I had fallen from the sky and a rock crushed me..."

"You're fine, you can still make jokes"

He gives me a hand to get up.

"Kuno! How are you!" someone greets Kuno from the distance.

"Hm? Frank, Rio! What are you doing here?"

"They told us to go to the restaurant earlier" one of them responds.

"I'll go later today" Kuno responds.

"I hate that our schedules are so unstable. Hm?" one of them looks at me.

I was trying to camouflage myself behind Kuno.

"Who is she?" he asks.

"Eeeh! I am- my name is-!" the combination of tiredness and shyness is deadly to my mind.

"Her name is Alexandria"

"Oooh! You finally got a girlfriend! We were sure you were-"

"She- she's not my girlfriend! She's like my sister…"

"Seriously? Then she is available?"

"Huh?" I say in surprise.

"No! I mean... she doesn't want a relationship now!" Kuno responds.

"Oh? I understand, that's sad. We'd better leave or we'll be late"

"Sure. See you later" Kuno says goodbye.

"See you soon! It was nice to meet you, Alexandria!" they say goodbye.

"Y- yes..."

...

"Let's run home!" Kuno says and prepares to do so.

"Wait"

"Hm?"

"What did he mean with available?"

"Ah, well... that you are single"

"Seriously? But he doesn't know me..."

"You are very attractive and many men only see the body, but he wasn't serious"

"You do that?"

"I would lie to you if I say I don't care about it, but it's not what matters most to me"

"All right…"

...

"By the way, I think I've already decided what I'll do with school..."

"Finally?"

"Yes, but let's go back to-"

"Whoever arrives last will buy an ice cream for the first place!" Kuno takes off.

"Hey! I don't even have money!"