[A/N: I have a question for y'all. What makes a wonderful author? Is it their skill in story-writing? Their grammars? The plot twist? Or the creative world-building? Maybe their skill in a specific genre?
I am genuinely curious because I want to be a better author and improve this world I am making. Since it looks like I am more suited to writing horror, fantasy, and mystery genres, a bit of romance too. Maybe fanfics too, dunno.]
"Nghhhhhhh..." Echo whined while lying flat to the ground, absorbing the cold temperature of the ground. Every part of her muscles was aching as sweat glistened on her skin. This was the first time Echo Eclipse had pushed every part of her body to its absolute limit!
Her chest heaved and sank repeatedly while staring hazily at the ceiling light. "Am I in heaven?" Echo whispered, currently not in the right state of mind.
"Like hell you are; now get back up," Kincsem said coldly while relaxing on her sofa, which she had imported from her mansion. Both of them were currently in a private gym owned by Kincsem, and why was Kincsem forcing Echo to undergo intense physical evaluation?
Well, she once remarked, "How the hell am I supposed to train you if I have no idea what your limit is?" and proceeded to push Echo into a wringer.
For 5 entire hours.
Echo Eclipse shuddered and whimpered, "Nooooooo... I can't even move..." Her tail weakly thumps against the floor in protest, with her ears pinned flat to her skull. She can still feel the pulse of each of her aching muscles.
She wants her old trainer back! She wants to run around the track with Rudolf! Yet she is stuck here with this old, stinking, mean grandma-
Kincsem stood from her sofa and chopped Echo's head, causing her to cry out. "What was that for?!"
"You were thinking smack about me, weren't you?" Kincsem scoffed as she grabbed the back of Echo's neck, pulling her up like a kitty. Echo was staring at her with big, wide puppy eyes. Asking for forgiveness.
"C-C-Can't I have a break? A-At least 10 minutes?"
Too bad, she isn't Rudolf.
"Since you can still speak, another hour of physical examination. Come on. On with it," she throws Echo back into hell once again.
"Noooooo-"
.
.
.
An hour later, what remains of Echo Eclipse is a blob that is incapable of thinking anymore, intense steam leaving her body as she is cooled down by the coolness of the floor.
"Beeeeeh..." A weak groan escaped Echo's mouth as she chewed on nothing and gulped.
"Nom... Nom... Nom..."
It is unclear what is going on in Echo's mind now; maybe she is missing the taste of lunch, or maybe she is imagining she is in the land of tasty food. Who knows?
The purpose of this physical examination is to stress test Echo's muscles, connective tissue, joint range of motion, and her bone density.
She will later test her natural gait at multiple speeds at 800m, 1200m, and 1600m to measure her energy expenditure in two days. She would need to give Echo's body a break to relax and soothe her soreness before forcing her to suffer once again.
Plus, this is also a good way to prevent or reduce Echo Eclipse's arrogance, even if Echo doesn't know she is arrogant.
"Phew, but still... Still lasting this long is impressive at her age. I'll send the recording to my team of scientists and trainers to summarise everything." She stretched lazily while lounging on her sofa; there's no way she's going to spend her valuable time and energy on such a meaningless thing.
"Mh..." She stretched before her butler, István, arrived beside her. Carrying a tray with a luxurious glass cup of water. This water was special because it was imported from her hometown; she refused to drink any other water besides this water.
"Good, now pick that duckling up and toss her to that girl, Rudolf." Her fingers grasped around the thin handle of the glass cup, and she elegantly sipped.
Her butler nodded and efficiently put away the tray, lifting the blob named Echo Eclipse, and walking out of the private gym.
Meanwhile, Rudolf was suffering from Echo deficiency. She hadn't seen Echo for the entire day, ever since Kincsem just barged into their dorm and took Echo away.
"Aah..." she sighed for the fifth time in the last 3 minutes while dully gazing at the wall, resting her cheek on her table. It was almost evening, and the others just stared at Rudolf before shaking their heads; they were all currently in Kazuo's clubroom, watching the TV of today's comedy show.
They understood what got Rudolf sighing, and yet both of them are still dense. Nishiki just wants to barge in and make them kiss, but her girlfriend Gold Way will prevent that from happening. They even noticed that Echo Eclipse would blush sometimes because of Rudolf, yet Rudolf is blind to it!
Suzu Mach wondered when Echo fell in love with Rudolf? They all knew that Rudolf was the first, but when did Echo fall in love?
At the same time, everybody sighed all together before the clubroom door opened. A certain weak groan could be heard before anybody turned their head. Rudolf was the quickest to check the doorway; she knew the voice which is making that sound.
"Echo!" she said happily, her eyes shining, her tail thumping against the sofa. The others just stared deadpan at Rudolf; the difference between normal Rudolf and Echo-deficient Rudolf is shocking.
The usual cold, dominant Rudolf which they know during the race, and the silent, polite student during school. But now, they have never seen Rudolf like this, as if she were seeing her best friend after a decade apart.
Rudolf jumped off the sofa and dashed toward the blob and hugged her tightly. Her tail swayed happily and excitedly, and Echo subconsciously made a soft, joyful noise once she realised Rudolf was here.
Their friends just stared at them and thought of the same thing: 'Go marry already.'
The butler had already left and informed Kincsem of what happened, causing Kincsem to smirk with glee. Maybe she could play as a wing woman between those two; she always wanted to play cupid!
"Hmm... I'll just see how it will go without interfering, how fun~."