Akira had no idea, what she was doing in the gym. It was filled with people who tried hard to achieve greatness, she had no such ambitions. She stood at the threshold, peering inside, a stability ball piqued her interest. She sauntered towards it, while scanning the gym. Sweaty people, with that crazed look in their eyes... Why did everyone want to be better? Couldn't they just make peace with who they were? Akira sure had, well... only sort of. She was here today, because her partner dragged her out. After receiving his new sword, he was greeted with this sense of purpose, that Akira couldn't fathom. As a joke, she recommended that he go to a gym, to get strong, unfortunately he took that a little too seriously.

Lazily, she sat on a stability ball, bouncing on it from time to time. She was a gun wielder, life was easier, all she had to do was pull the trigger and work on keeping her hands steady while doing so, she didn't need to work on her strength... Plus, if the darkness inside her, stopped being so reluctant to participate in her ventures, perhaps it would aid her in getting stronger once again. In the past, when she really needed it... That was before she found the light within, now there was an eternal conflict... She tore her mind away from that and turned towards Tsuru.

With a little bounce, which made her smirk with glee, she asked him simply. 'Now that you're here, what're you gonna do? I'd recommend finding someone who knows what they're doing to help you out, Tsuru.' she suggested. Stilling herself for a second, she noticed the man who had just stopped doing his push-ups. 'Go go, that guy seems free!' she said, jerking her chin towards the man was cooling himself down. Aki's smirk widened to a grin, she was taking some sort of pleasure in directing her partner, while having no inclinations to join him, plus the sight wasn't too bad, maybe Tsuru's appeal would rise too... Her eyes flitted away from the man, as he guzzled water. A gentle redness claimed her cheeks...

The way he reacted to her scrutiny, made her snicker, mostly out of empathy. Usually, if she caught someone staring at her, she too would swiftly avert her gaze, even turn away if the intent of the person seemed to engage in some conversation... It was too late to stop Tsuru from bothering the man. He was well on his way and Aki wasn't about to race past the gym to get to him. If the bald man she'd spotted didn't want to help, he could always just say so. She rolled on the ball after her friend, taking it much slower, clearly not as interested in what the gym had to offer.

As the distance between the duo and her decreased, she found herself within earshot of the conversation. It was surprising to see Tsuru stutter too, he was usually much better equipped to handle social situations. She reserved judgement, but made a mental note, so she could keep track of other situations that caused him to react this way and corroborate to find his triggers. Aki's idle mind, was definitely the devil's workshop, she relied on her keen observations to create wild theories about people around her...

When she closed in, she heard the tail end of what the bald man said. Perhaps out of pity, he'd decided to help Tsuru after all. Feeling a bit more confident since she wasn't the one who needed his help, she decided to introduce herself and Tsuru too. 'I'm Akira Shimada, he's Tsuru... Well that is what I call him anyways... Are you going to help him buff up?' she asked teasingly, relishing to moment and choosing to mock Tsuru a little in this venture. She let the ball rest against a wall, which helped her sit more comfortably on it. 'I can keep count or something...' she muttered. 'Or if either of you are up for a challenge, I could sit on your back while you do the push ups...' she added, mostly as a joke, but she wouldn't mind if either of them took her up on it.

Haru’s shoulders tensed and he smiled awkwardly when Kee asked him if he wanted his help. The ‘oh’ at the end of the sentence made him wonder if he was going to deny, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. He relaxed visibly when the bald man began with the instructions. So, that wasn’t a denial. He listened to the man carefully and nodded sincerely for the hundred push-ups. The newbie was not daunted by the number because he had no clue how difficult it was. In fact, he had never done it before. All his training time was spent running and stretching. So, the young man was flexible and fast, but that’s all he had going for him.

The healer was about to thank the man when he offered to do the push-ups with him; that was when Akira chimed in. He rolled his eyes at his partner when she introduced him as ‘Tsuru’. “It’s Hatsuharu!” he said bluntly, turning towards Kee. Having been with Akira for so long, it was apparent that she was jesting about sitting on top of them while they worked out. So, he simply shook his head and went down to begin the work out.

Obviously, Haru was terrible at it. His knees and belly touched the ground when he went down, and he made large clumsy arc as he came up. In short, whatever he was doing was nothing close to a proper push up and someone had to tell him that quickly because the scarlet-haired Knight was under the assumption that he was doing great. “This is easy!” he said, grinning at the other two in the gym, while he continued to do the sloppy push-ups. While he may not realize it, it would be pretty hilarious for those watching.

She wasn't really expecting either of them to take her up on her offer. Yet, a slight downturn of her lips betrayed the disappointment she felt upon that particular derivation arriving at its assumed conclusion. The bald man seemed more than capable of handling it... She was almost maybe it was too intimate an offer... It was one of those rare times when she spoke out before she thought it through. Somehow, the fact that Tsuru was the one under scrutiny, gave her the confidence to be less prudent with her words. This was not a job she wasn't on a leash. So long as she kept her magic in check and no one around realized that she harbored darkness, she'd probably be fine, the freedom gave her the space to be a little sassy.

Her relentless grin stretched her lips. It remained plastered there, rather shamelessly as she watched her partner struggle with the exercise, while under the delusion that he was doing just fine, she wanted to pipe up and say something savage, but she swiftly curbed that desire. It wasn't right to berate Tsuru this way, especially while she sat like a queen, atop her makeshift gym throne. A glimmer of hope glinted in her eyes when she noticed the precarious concern with which the bald man handled Tsuru's incompetence. There was no mockery, and he maintained a gentle enthusiasm too. Aki raised her eyebrows as her smirk faded a grateful smile and then morphed into a soft chuckle.

'Listen to Kee, Tsuru...' she said, her tone while still chaffing, was a mark of the comfort that brewed between the two knights. Since Tsuru was busy figuring out what to do with his hips and back... She decided it was a good time to get to know the man a little more, she'd learned that people usually share what they're offered, as demonstrated by the exchange of their names. So the dark haired girl went to share their affiliation with the Rune Knights. 'We're both Knights by the way...' she started. 'Don't know if we fit the description of the ideal Rune Knights though.' she added in a self-effacing manner. 'And you?' she asked, finishing her part of the exchange while twirling a strand of hair around her finger as she scanned the gym yet again.

Whoever owned the gym, had picked a rather ripe location to construct it. It employed a partially ruined and now revamped portion of Domus Flau, an area beneath the stands. The large glass windows provided an uninterrupted view of the arena outside. The walls were decorated with vintage pictures of the famous gladiator combats, that took place in the arena. It was a good way to attract customers, although it left Akira feeling as though the patrons were lulled into the false idea, that they'd be heroes like that someday... She sighed and offered her attention towards the men again. 'Is he getting better?' she asked curiously, her eyes flitting between the two figures as they worked on their strength.

Their motivation had to be contagious, for now, it had plagued her. A sliver of guilt began slicing her up inside... It showed on the outside, as she nervously and impatiently, began gnawing at her lower lip. I too should be working on something... Brute strength was just not her forte, it seemed to be a waste of time to work on that, she would never be good enough. Speed, on the other hand, was something she'd been wanting to work on for a while, perhaps out of envy. On multiple occasions, her partner had proven to be much faster than her, it was time to even this out, perhaps even tip the scales in her favor, she did possess a petite and lithe figure after all, it'd take less effort to carry around her form, than it would to carry around theirs. Nonetheless, her legs perhaps could use some work then as could her stamina. 'So... What's after the push-ups?' she piped up, clearly lacking empathy and ignoring the fact that the two might need a breather...

Haru was unaware that Akira’s suggestion was actually a thing that was done and believed Kee was missing the joke there. However, after seeing how serious he was with his response and Akira’s reaction to it, he began to doubt the severity of the supposed silliness of the suggestion and couldn’t help but wonder if he was the one missing something. Nevertheless, there wasn’t much time to ponder over something as insignificant; his new work-out tutor was already set to begin the exercise and the healer went down to the ground to do it with him.

Although he had seen many people do the exercise over the time he spent at the Rune Knight barracks, he never really saw it in enough detail to know exactly how it was done. So, he began doing the reps as he thought they were done and barely noticed that whatever he was doing was so different from his partner’s. The healer couldn’t help but chuckle when Akira wondered out loud if they fit the description of Rune Knights. “Yeah! One would think the Knights would go to the gym regularly… Look at us,” he added, still oblivious to his wrong motion.

Thankfully, Kee stopped him soon after and Haru sat up looking surprised. “Oh!” he said, looking at how Kee did the push-ups and finally realizing how terribly silly he must have looked doing it they way he did. He shook his head, smiling and nodded when the bald man asked him to mimic how he did it. “Thanks!” he said, as he observed Kee’s push-ups carefully. After watching him do a few, he went back to position and attempted doing it right this time.

Not so surprisingly, the scarlet-haired Knight couldn’t do even one properly. Thanks to gravity, going down was easy; but coming up was near impossible with his super weak muscles. However, Haru wasn’t one to give up. Every time he fell on his chest, he got back up and tried again. It took him several tries, but he finally got the hang of it. In the end, he managed to do about five decent ones without falling and went down with a thud on his sixth. “Okay… This isn’t easy,” he corrected himself, panting heavily.

His arms already began to feel heavy, but his determination hadn’t waned yet. He picked himself up and began trying again, pushing himself harder. He remembered Kee mentioning a rep of hundred. If he couldn’t even achieve half of it, then there would be no point to having started this whole ordeal. Hearing Akira ask what was after the push-ups, he turned to Kee and spoke with gritted teeth as he continued attempting the push-ups. “I’ll keep trying… Help her too, please,” he said.

As Kee divulged that he too was a Rune Knight, momentarily, Aki's expression soured. She wondered if he too had been party to rumors about her dark magic, her prickly demeanor and her quick rise... The latter being something that she hadn't' really asked for. If he had and yet he'd refrained from showing any malice towards the dark haired girl, perhaps she ought to give him credit for that. Since he was new, it was also likely that no one had filled him in. She wiped the crease that had formed between her brows and hummed softly.

'We've been with the knights since we started working, not too long ago though...' she mentioned, refusing to bring up her rank because it would definitely sound like she was showing off, in her head she didn't even deserve it. 'Congratulations on doing well in your entrance test...' she added, once again, her tone perhaps betrayed a slight bit of bitterness, since her own orientation and test hadn't gone so well and while she had made peace with it, ever so often it caused a sting when she found herself thinking about it.

Tsuru had started doing them better, but it was apparent he was struggling. If it had been a stranger, maybe Aki would've found herself snickering, but she knew her partner had been a pacifist all this time, upper body strength wasn't something he could just conjure in a day, unless he could. 'You could probably just increase the density of your muscles using your magic or something...' she piped up, directing her statement towards the scarlet-haired man, who was still struggling to finish up.

A run was next, on the bald man's to-do list and he offered to have Aki come along, probably because Tsuru asked Kee to help her too. 'I could probably keep up.' she said nonchalantly, revealing her habit of leaving everything up to a probability... Like certainty was her enemy. She didn't care to mention the fact that she had been working a little bit on her speed ever since she noticed Tsuru being much faster than she was. 'If you're slow, we're both going to work hard to keep up with him... What he lacks in strength, he more than makes up for in speed.' she said angling her chin towards the healer. cocking her eyebrow. The two hadn't had a chance to go toe to toe for a while, she wondered if perhaps she'd be able to best him if she really put her will power to the test. 'We best get a head start...' she said, sliding off the stability ball, leaving it bouncing and rolling gingerly against the wall. She sauntered towards the door that led to the outside. She wondered if they'll be taking laps around the arena... Even the idea sounded exhausting.

Haru was impressed that Kee was allowed to join the ranks as an apprentice directly. He thought he and Akira rose the ranks fast, but this was a step beyond that. “That’s really impressive,” he added after Akira congratulated him.

It would seem he was on the right track with the push-ups. Even if he was struggling, he didn’t try to sneak in any shoddy ones the middle. He went all the way down, pushed himself up and continued to repeat it until his arms could take it. Kee must have seen the difficulty he was having and suggested that he doesn’t stop breathing while doing it. While the suggestion sounded silly at first, Haru quickly realized how valuable an advice it was. He had indeed forgotten to breathe as he was most focused on getting the exercise done right. Once he began making a deliberate effort to take deep breaths, it seemed a fair bit easier than before. “Woah… That does make it better! Thanks a ton,” he said, as he started another set.

Unfortunately, Haru couldn’t reach the soft goal that he set in his head and had to stop after the twenty as Kee advised. He rolled on his back after reaching twenty and panted heavily. He looked up at Akira as she suggested he tweak his muscle density to increase his strength. “That’s actually not a bad idea… But it would be temporary. I want to get stronger for real,” he said, breathing heavily between words. It really was a very good suggestion however; one he could employ to boost his strength when the time comes.

Seeing the two were ready to go for a run, Haru sat up and nodded towards the exit. “Yeah… You guys go on ahead and start the laps. I’ll catch up after I drink some water,” he said, getting off the floor and walking towards the racks of water bottles. If the two went on ahead, Haru would quickly gulp down the water, rest for a few seconds to recover his energy, and jog out towards to the two, catching up to them as quickly as he could.

Aki was a bit irked by the way he said he joined the Rune Knights for fun. The feeling surprised her since she'd joined the faction in a spur of the moment situation too. She had never really taken her being a Knight seriously, but somehow, hearing someone else utter those words... felt funny. She didn't harbor any malice towards Kee or anything, just wasn't sure how she felt about his tinged tone. Perhaps it was because it reflected her own feelings and she wasn't expecting that. The Knights were often the butt of jokes, about corruption, laziness and general lack of awareness about the meshwork of society. She sighed shaking her head, as her thoughts plagued the perfectly light-hearted moment and conversation.

Aki was left quite bewildered, as he suddenly cut their meeting short, using his dog as an excuse. Now, to someone who wasn't as pessimistic as her, perhaps they'd have considered offering the man the benefit of the doubt. But Aki was easily convinced that something went wrong. She didn't really attempt reading his face or anything, but the friendly attitude he'd maintained, felt like it had been replaced by something that lacked the same purity. She didn't say anything argumentative. It wasn't like she was going to pick a fight over the validity of his excuse right here, right now... He had a right to leave regardless of the reason he gave. The trust that she was willing to extend towards the bald man, recoiled instantly... It no longer disappointed her when such a thing took place. Perhaps, this was because people often didn't reveal their true feelings and perhaps also because Akira was oversensitive about such things and she'd much sooner withdraw trust than extend it, such was the curse of pessimism.

Upon the apprentice taking his leave and being out of earshot, Aki sighed deeply again. 'Did I do something?' she asked softly. Running her fingers through her hair, she avoided eye contact with her partner, although she hoped he'd be able to offer reassuring words. 'Guess we can just do the laps ourselves, eh Tsuru...? And then just call it a day...' she said simply, before trudging towards the tracks.

~Exit~

Haru was usually a very observant and compassionate man. But that day, he was most focused on his training that he barely noticed the subtle changes in Kee’s behaviour. He had just finished the twenty push-ups and was on his way to grab the water bottle when the bald man told them he had forgotten to feed his dog. The healer, still lost in his worry about getting strong, saw nothing wrong about his excuse and simply nodded at the man while he gulped down the water he poured into his mouth. Once he swallowed all the water, he spoke loudly so that Kee, who was almost at the exit, could hear him. “No problem! Thanks a lot for helping us. See you later,” he said, before going for another swig of the elixir of life.

Akira’s question got him confused. He shook his head dismissively and looked at his partner, realizing what was bothering her. “Hey… Maybe he really did forget to feed his dog. Stop being so hard on yourself. Enough people do that already,” he said, before returning to the bottle of water he held in his hand.

Once he was done drinking water and recovering from the exhaustion the push-ups put him through, he agreed with Akira’s suggestion partly. “Yes! We should do those laps. But I’m not calling it a day after that… Still got a lot of time in the day to train,” he said, grinning. Kee seemed pretty strong and he was only an apprentice. He would probably rank up and become a seated in no time. Akira had her intelligence and her crazy powerful magic going for her; so, her promotion was inevitable too. Haru wasn’t jealous nor did he care for promotions. However, at the same time, he did not wish to be so underpowered that he ends up being a burden on the Rune Knight squad. That would completely defeat the purpose of his original goal of defending others. So, he was determined to go at it as hard as he could so that he can be of some use to his comrades.

-Exit-