No Worries

Monika began walking towards me. My eyes darted around the room awkwardly while the tips of my fingers pressed against each other.

W-What was Monika doing?

She pulled out a handkerchief and slowly raised it up. Every time I heard Monika's footsteps echo across the locker room, my heart seemed to beat with it. There was a sweet smile on Monika's face.

But to me, it felt knowing. As though she knew everything I was thinking.

I couldn't do anything but watch her slowly approach. A few beads of sweat formed on my forehead.

Monika raised the handkerchief...

...and dabbed the underside of my nose with it. She gently wiped my face. Her fingers... were so warm.

Monika pulled back the handkerchief and smiled sadly.

"Are you sure you're not sick? Bleeding from your nose isn't the most common thing for a healthy person to do."

I blinked a few times. Then, my eyes darted to Monika's handkerchief. It was dirtied by my blood...

I clenched my fists and brought them to just above my lips.

"Uwahhhh! Your handkerchief is all dirty because of me!"

Monika tilted her head to the side and smiled bitterly.

"Is that not what a handkerchief is for?"

I looked at the floor.

"B-But..."

Monika let out a soft sigh.

"Well, if you're this lively you probably aren't sick."

An awkward smile emerged on my face.

"Ehehe..."

Monika tucked away the handkerchief in her pocket, as though she didn't mind my blood dirtying it. Then, she took my hand.

"Come on, at this rate we will seriously be late!"

I gasped.

"Ah, right!"

Monika briskly walked forward with my hand in hers. I matched her pace while trying my best to not blush.

I failed.

The locker room had a door that directly led into the gym. Monika pushed that door open and led me through it.

We stepped into the gymnasium. It was quite spacious, to say the least. The roof seemed higher than my own house and was wide enough to fit several classrooms. There were various metal beams near the ceiling that held spotlights. This was because the gym doubled as a theatre for school.

As for the walls, they were made of large bricks and painted over with a coat of white paint. They were smooth and cool to the touch. As for the floors, they were made of laminated wood. Our shoes would make squeaky sounds if we pushed against it hard enough.

As for what I've been stalling to describe...

It was our gym teacher and the rest of our classmates. Currently, they were looking at me and Monika curiously. It was only now I realized we were still holding hands.

I tried to pull my hand away from Monika's grasp...

But then she tightened her grip, preventing me from doing so.

She slowly walked up with a casual smile, making me follow along as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't match Monika's calm demeanour as much as that was my desire. In the end, my eyes remained glued to the floor, trying to avoid those curious looks.

Our gym teacher was currently standing in place with a light blue whistle in her hand. She had blonde hair that went just past her shoulder and dark blue eyes. There was a gentle smile on her face, as though she didn't mind how long we took.

The gym teacher wore a dark green tracksuit, which seemed a little overboard to me, but maybe it was just for her to get into the mood.

The rest of the students were sitting cross-legged next to the teacher, all in their loose-fitting gym clothes.

"Eh..."

Yuri squirmed around uncomfortably.

...Let me make a correction. Most of the students were in their loose-fitting gym clothes. For Yuri, the situation was a little different. I was fairly certain Yuri chose the largest size of gym clothes we had.

...Ahem.

Yet her chest stretched the shirt tightly against her body, making her figure very clear. It was as though Yuri was actually wearing skin-tight clothes. I ended up staring for a little bit longer than I should have.

Once we reached the students, Monika let my hand go and sat down. With a bit of disappointment, I did as well. Hehe, at least I was really close to Monika.

The gym teacher perked up once everyone was staring at her. A cheerful smile appeared on her face.

"Alright! Now that everyone is here, we will begin. For today, I will show you some of the different stretches you can do!"

The gym teacher put her hands on her hips and stuck out her elbows confidently.

"Stretching is important for your muscles to stay strong and healthy! They will also let your muscles loosen up and take on intense exercise afterward!"

She cleared her throat.

"To start, everyone stand up and do a calf stretch with me!"

I stood up as did the rest of the students. The gym teacher turned to the side to clearly display her actions. She bent one knee and stretched her other leg taut behind her. She had an encouraging smile.

"Just follow me!"

We did as the teacher said, and it was simple enough. Honestly, I wasn't used to doing exercise, so the back of my lower leg started to burn, like it was a workout on its own. On the other hand, Monika had a satisfied smile on her face, like it was really comfortable for her.

I guess that was to be expected since Monika was always the top athletics student. After going through this stretch for both legs, the gym teacher stood back up.

"And now for some quad stretches!"

She lifted her foot behind her and grabbed her ankle. The rest of us followed.

While the gym teacher had impeccable balance, like she was standing on two feet, that wasn't the case for most of us. Many of us began stumbling around, accidentally hitting each other.

As for me, I felt myself tipping and could not help but hop around to keep my balance. However, hopping seemed to be a bad idea, as I was rapidly losing what little was left of my balance.

In the end, I tripped.

"Waaah!"

My shoulder collided with someone's shoulder, then an arm wrapped around my waist. It gave me a strong feeling of stability.

I opened my eyes to see Monika holding onto me securely. She caught me after I hit her shoulder, holding me in place.

...Her face was really close right now, and her hand was so gentle.

I giggled awkwardly.

"Thank you, Monika!"

Monika smiled sweetly.

"No worries."