Dinner with Friends

'I want to die...'

Lying down on the rubber floor, which we had returned to after our strength training to stretch, I was soaking the ground beneath me with my sweat. At my side, James was energetically bending his limbs with a smile on his face.

*17:34*

Checking the time on my DAD, I realized I had been thinking too naively. Our strength training had continued for three and a half hours. More than three hours filled with embarrassment at not being able to lift the minimum weights, as well as incredible pain having to activate my Battle Art to do so.

Even only overclocking for brief moments, right before lifting and canceling it right after completing the lift, had led me to feel like I was dying.

Between my struggles, James had also trained as I was resting. Lifting five to ten times the weight I was, he still looked like he was, as he said, "Just going through the motions".

Suddenly James started to talk. He had been stretching his body in silence, most likely showing some understanding of my current state.

"Oh, we need to hit the showers if we are going to be on time for dinner with the others."

"Yea..."

With the resolve of a god, I stood up. Weakly, I followed James to the locker rooms where the showers were.

Finding the locker I had chosen, I started to take off my black tracksuit, which was my go-to wear during training.

I covered my tiny and skinny, but still athletic, body with a towel and staggered to the shower room. In there, I was met with James who also just arrived, also with a towel covering his little golden boy.

Without clothes, James was even more impressive. Broad and rounded shoulders, a perfect V-taper, and incredibly defined arms. He did, indeed, have the perfect body.

'Don't be jealous, I will get there one day too!'

As I was thinking about my future progress we both hung our towels at the side and made our way towards one stall each, which had, for average height people, chest leveled walls between each other. For me? They were pretty much the same height as me, just a bit shorter.

During our few steps forward, I couldn't help but sneak a peek towards James's little buddy.

'Seems like I'm not losing in this department at least...'

*Shhshhshh*

With vibrating legs and cramping arms, I leaned towards one of the sidewalls and let the cold water cleanse me.

****

Me and James had arrived first to the cafeteria. To be polite, we were currently sitting at my usual table, and waited for our two friends without getting out food.

"It always feels good to have finished a workout, right?"

I blurted out a lie, hiding my inner thoughts. byt plats hlrsjsjsj

"Sure..."

'My legs are dying, my arms are cramping and I feel like I'm about to throw up."

He was shining with a sickeningly bright smile and started to talk about our training.

"But you must have some amazing resolve! Even after failing a lift, you always tried again and managed to do. That mentality will surely be great to have in the future!"

'Mentality my ass... That was just me abusing my body by overclocking myself.'

"Yea, I can be a bit stubborn at times."

Although I didn't tell him about my Art, it was still partly true. If I wasn't headstrong enough, I would've never been able to bear the pain of [Overclock].

"There they are, over here guys!"

A curvy girl and a huge man started to walk towards us. As I got a closer look I could see the energetic and cheerful Sarah, as well as the pouting Brad.

'Seems like things didn't work out for him yesterday.'

"Sorry! Brad was dragging his feet on his way here. Moping about how he couldn't commit his disgusting acts yesterday."

"What do you mean disgusting act?! It's perfectly normal for a man and a woman to have s.."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear you say those words!"

Another fiery discussion had started between the duo, and as per usual, the mediator stepped up.

"Guys calm down. Let's get our food and sit down before you get going at least. Miren, you can stay and I will get your food for you."

I looked up at his benevolent smile with some tears forming in my eyes.

"Thank you!"

Nodding, he acknowledged my appreciation and the three of them went away to get our food.

Sitting alone, I got lost in some comforting thoughts.

'Seems like yesterday blew away all of Sarah's and Brad's apprehension towards me.'

Even if I still hadn't gotten a clear answer as to what exactly happened during the recording, I was happy that they didn't care about my weak status.

'Being around people I like is fun after all.'

I truly enjoyed their company, and even with the fact that I barely knew them, I would probably still call them friends if asked.

My bubble of pondering got broken by a tray with a mountain of food landing in front of me. The shining knight, the succubus, and the rock were back.

"I told them I would bring food for you, and for some reason, they gave you a double serving. Do you always eat that much?

"No, they just think I should eat more so I can grow up..."

*Pffft*

As I explained the circumstances to James, Sarah had been unable to contain her laughter.

"I'm sorry! It's just so cute that they try to force you to eat in order to grow."

"Didn't I tell you yesterday to try to not call me cute? I'm a man, you know?"

"Oh right! It's just hard because you are so... erm... because you are a little short."

*Haaa*

With a sigh, I gave up on trying to mediate with Sarah and focused on eating the excellent grilled chicken in front of me.

James initiated a different conversation.

"So what were you guys up to today?"

Brad answered first, with a solemn tone.

"I have just been sitting in a gravity room, training my endurance. Alone..."

Sarah went after, not minding the downer in front of her.

"I have been to the library, fixed my nails, practiced...."

'She really likes her own voice I guess. Or maybe she is trying to convey to Jamea how much she has going on."

When Sarah finally finished her presentation about what she had been up to, the rest of us were all kind of out of it.

"So, Miren what were you up to?"

"Me? I have just been training the whole day. First in a time capsule and then with James."

Her eyes lit up a little.

"You were training with this monster? What kind of workout did you do? Sparring or?"

Before I managed to respond, James had already started to speak.

"We hit the gym! It was great, you should have been there!."

'Please stop talking...'

"Even after he failed at lifting even the bar he somehow always tries again and succeeded!"

He didn't stop.

Sarah's and Brad's eyes had changed again. Not back into yesterday's looks of caution, but of immense pity. Though, Sarah's eyes also contained a glimpse of interest, knowing I really was like a little hare.

With my reputation destroyed, we continued eating and then we split up doing our own things again.

****

Lying on my bed, I was making plans for tomorrow.

'I need to make sure I practice my [Lightning Step] tomorrow as well as try to get used to my new weapons.'

Having two hours remaining to spend in the time capsule, translating to ten hours of practice, I had to try and make use of my time to the best of my ability.

Even if it had been interesting to see the limits of my strength with James today, it had been a bit of a waste of time. As useful as it was knowing that I got a tiny bit stronger while emulating the M.G II [Higher], I could've used my time more wisely.

Adding on to that, my body was now in such a horrible state that further training would not only be reckless but also incredibly stupid.

This had also led me to accept a proposal Sarah had made during dinner. To attend a duel between two third years at the arena, as I couldn't train more anyway.

Most academies had a dueling system, where two students would fight with their rankings on the line.

This meant that a rank 10 student could challenge a rank 9 student to gain their rank, as long as the teachers permitted it.

All students had to accept at least one duel a month, if they had any challenges, to keep their rankings.

What about the A- and B-class students then? Simple, the A-class would automatically get the higher ranks after the first ranking battles. The reason being the first ranking battles for the freshmen were only with one's classmates.

So I would at worst, but also most likely, get the ranking 9 of the freshmen, as were only 9 students in the A-class.

So, to stimulate growth, the academies promoted the duel system, to make sure the rankings wouldn't only be based on a tournament occurring on a half-year basis.

Most of these would be in an isolated area, with only one or two teachers as the witnesses, but some more exciting matches were fought in the arena.

The arena was just that, an arena where other students could spectate while having a drink and enjoying themselves.

Because the duel would start at 8 pm, I had about an hour to get ready.