Chapter 78: An Exercise-Filled Morning!
After passing the P.E. teacher, who stood at the school gate with the same stern expression as always, Luke walked into the school.
He passed around the tree planted in front of the entrance hall and headed up the stairs.
Knowing very little about plants, he only knew that once this large tree grew its leaves, its branches would become lush and full, making it a good place to enjoy the shade in the hot summer. Beyond that, he knew absolutely nothing.
Around the stairs, students in uniform chattered noisily as they laughed and played around. Wearing his [Inconspicuous Glasses], he moved through the crowd without drawing the slightest attention.
As long as he did not actively break the distance between them, he was basically like an invisible person.
"Sigh."
His tired body made him let out a soft sigh just from looking at the stairs. He had not expected his body to have declined this much…
"Why do I have no strength at all?"
He patted his own thigh and said that speechlessly.
Unfortunately, his thigh did not have a mouth. It could only keep sending back that soft, powerless feeling, telling him one thing—
He had overdone it a bit this morning.
"Hey!"
A sudden slap on his back made his slightly bent waist instantly straighten.
That nearly scared him to death.
He turned around and looked helplessly at Yuigahama Yui, then pushed up the glasses that had slipped slightly.
"What are you doing? You could seriously scare someone into trouble like that."
Yuigahama awkwardly touched the extra bit of hair tied into a bun on her head.
"S-sorry…"
She still had her dango hairstyle, wearing a short skirt and a school uniform jacket with a few buttons left open, a yellow schoolbag on her back. In front of him, she happily kept swaying her head, spreading the scent of shampoo through the air.
Looking at the girl brimming with energy, he turned away and prepared to head upstairs.
Yukinoshita definitely gave her too few math problems. He should let Yukinoshita tutor her a few more times…
"Eh, eh, eh?"
Yuigahama froze for a moment, and in that short time, he had already walked quite a distance. She hurriedly caught up.
"Why are you back to your old state today…? You look like a patient."
Following behind him, Yuigahama kept poking his lower back with one finger, as if trying to see whether she could topple him with the force of her finger.
He pushed away her mischievous hand and casually said, "Because I did some morning training. I'm a little tired."
When a body that had not exercised for a long time suddenly started training and resting again, it would become limp and listless.
Even though he had already chosen a gentler jog.
"Oh~ Morning training, huh…"
Yuigahama tightened the straps of her schoolbag, leaned forward slightly, and looked at him from the side.
"I sometimes take Sable around the park for a walk in the morning…"
Remembering how she had been bullied by puppies at the pet café, he could not help smiling.
"Are you really walking the dog? I feel like the dog is the one walking you."
"Ugh—no way!"
She hurriedly denied it, but the words stopped halfway.
Then, after thinking of the Dachshund at home who never listened to her, she could not help deflating.
"Sigh… It's basically the same thing~"
That's not the same thing, Yuigahama-san.
He did not continue that topic. Instead, he curiously asked about the math problems she had asked him about last night.
"By the way, how did the problems Yukinoshita gave you go?"
They were the homework Yukinoshita had left her after Yuigahama asked for tutoring.
"I did what you said on the phone and worked hard to solve the first question."
"What about the other questions? Did you look at them?"
"I did. Though I didn't really know how to do them…"
Yuigahama gave an embarrassed laugh and rubbed her head.
"But I did try solving them."
"Then it should be fine. Although Yukinoshita is an arbitrary, self-centered perfectionist, she isn't so hopeless that she'd ignore someone's ability and force them to death."
He said that.
"…Hehe."
Yuigahama laughed awkwardly.
"Is Yukinon's personality really that bad?"
"It's definitely not good."
He answered firmly.
When they reached the classroom entrance, the sound of chatter rushed toward them.
They were not exactly late, but the classroom was already full of lively conversations.
"U-um, do you want to keep eating together at lunch today…"
Yuigahama leaned against the door before him and asked.
"No. I'm planning to exercise a bit at noon."
He stood where he was and said that.
Before Yuigahama could continue, a certain reckless person forced her way between them without the slightest hesitation.
With that bulldozing, utterly self-centered way of moving, he did not even need to look to know who it was.
"What are you two doing here?"
Miura Yumiko swept her suspicious gaze over them from top to bottom.
"Discussing how to improve study performance."
He said that casually.
"Hah?"
Miura clearly did not believe him. Her eyes wandered over him, feeling that topic sounded completely mismatched coming from his mouth.
"Yumiko, let's go inside. We can still chat for a while before homeroom."
Yuigahama hurriedly grabbed the slightly offensive Miura and entered the classroom.
"Oh~ Fine, fine."
Miura withdrew her gaze and asked Yuigahama, "By the way, Yui, do you want to go play on the field together at lunch?"
"Sorry, Yumiko~ I already promised Yukinon I'd eat lunch with her again today…"
"Eh? Is that girl really that great? Lately, the time you spend acting with her has completely passed the time you spend with us."
Yuigahama hurriedly said, "It's just these couple of days! After this, I'll definitely go play with Yumiko too! We can go shopping together~"
"Then fine~"
Miura hummed with satisfaction and agreed.
After that lunch incident the other day, the friendship between these two seemed to have improved even more.
Everyone was absorbed in their own conversations, and no one noticed the people entering through the door.
The whole class had already split into several groups: the lively normies chatting enthusiastically, the otaku crowd discussing anime and games, the quieter middle group, and the lone wolves who loved no one.
As someone who also belonged to the lone-wolf category, Luke tossed his schoolbag onto his desk, then sat down in his chair as if his whole body had fallen apart. He rested both hands on his bag.
His nails were getting a little long.
After studying his nails for a moment, he made a mental note to cut them. Then he weakly collapsed onto his schoolbag and began thinking about tomorrow's exercise plan.
Judging from his current condition, since today's exercise had made him this tired, he should not maintain or increase the training volume.
He should first cut the amount of exercise in half, and also drink more water and eat more food…
Speaking of which, could the home economics classroom be used to heat food?
Although he had never observed it closely, there should be a microwave, right?
While his thoughts wandered, he closed his eyes on top of his schoolbag. His body, already sleep-deprived, had become drowsy because he had gotten up early for morning training.
He did have a personal rule: he should take every role he occupied seriously.
But the overpowering sleepiness left him with no energy to listen to class at all. He could only say good night in his heart and start sleeping.
Exercise required long-term persistence, but it also required real rest.
…
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