Heartbeat [Closed]

[Tsukasa]

Tsukasa decided to train his endurance and speed. He felt like as if he was neglecting to take care of his body lately. Aside from regular workouts, he hadn’t been working on his cardio. If he didn’t regularly exercise, there was no doubt that his physical prowess would slowly fade away. School was still going on, so he would have to arrange the time schedule a certain way. He would wake up slightly earlier in the morning to go on a light jog to get his day started. Afterwards, he would have to attend school, or not on the weekends. After school, sprinting for as long as possible was the way to go. Well, he would actually have to do his homework first, but that wouldn’t take too long. With a schedule in mind, Tsukasa decided to put it into action the very next day. He had been saving up his allowance, since he had nothing to spend it on, until recently. Deciding to challenge himself a little, he bought ankle weights to wear while doing all of the exercises. He would keep them on all the time except when showering to have his body get used to it as the ‘norm’ speed.

The day after planning it all out, Tsukasa woke up at six in the morning. He was close to his school so there was no need to worry about the time it takes. He would simply jog until seven, take a shower, and go to school. Throwing on some comfortable clothes, Tsukasa headed out, being quiet to make sure not to wake his mother up. Heading out, Tsukasa made sure that the ankle weights were secure. Each one was about ten pounds for the time being. It was a little old fashioned, but it was a lot better than just sprinting. He needed a way to effectively increase his endurance, he didn’t really care too much for the speed part, although running with weights would probably lead to a slight increase should the weights be taken off. Assuming he used them for that long, anyway.

As he ran around the block, several times, Tsukasa kept it up at a slow pace. He wasn’t quite used to having weights on, so suddenly running would be a little foolish. He would probably try it later for the hell of it, but for now, it wasn’t going to happen. Not this early, anyway. Continuing to just jog, Tsukasa noted that his breathing was starting to get heavy, perhaps around the one mile mark. A mile normally wasn’t much to him, but he hadn’t gone out to run or jog for quite awhile, so it wasn’t surprising that he was starting to lose his edge. After all, he decided to do this with the very purpose of improving his current endurance. He would try to surpass the endurance that he had perhaps one year ago when he was completely devoted to training himself, and if that meant putting in a little more time due to his negligence, then so be it.

He continued along for the remainder of the hour that he had, getting in a decent amount of exercise for morning. As the time was about to reach seven in the morning, Tsukasa headed off home to wash himself up before heading to school.

~~ Let’s not go to what he did during school and homework ~~

”Well…part two…” Tsukasa thought to himself as he headed out again. He had finished up his work and was ready to get this going. Stretching, Tsukasa yawned a little. Being cooped up at home to finish work was never fun and seemed to just enervate him. Hopping once or twice, Tsukasa noted that he still wasn’t used to having the weights on. It was still a little awkward to move around with them. There was no point in sweating it though. Looking straight ahead, Tsukasa ran over to the Yumisawa Playground. He just wanted to go to a quiet place and run without interference. Districts were a no go, Tsubakidai Park was too crowded, he didn’t want to be seen at school, and well, Yumisawa Playground just felt like a quiet place where he could do what he wanted.

Running was still not that easy. It felt odd, it just didn’t feel natural. However, it was already too late. He had already started and he wasn’t going to stop until his legs gave up on him. Turning the corners was difficult too. He would have to slow down to make the turn, but slowing down was weird too. Bearing with it for now, Tsukasa tried his best to slow down, which meant having shorter strides until he turned, and continued his full sprint again.

He continued on for at least an hour, taking one break at the fourty minute mark, working up a considerable sweat. As he came to a stop, Tsukasa could feel his heart beating and his legs aching from the long sprinting. He used to be able to run a little longer than this, but having some extra weight and not having done this kind of thing in a while sure did take its toll on him. Satisfied with what he had done for now, Tsukasa trudged back home. His legs were tired and he was breathing erratically, although he did control it by breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

[Tsukasa]

Waking up, Tsukasa sat up, looking around until he spotted the clock on the wall. He was still a little groggy, his whole running thing from the day before had tired him out. Getting out of his bed, Tsukasa noted that he was sore, primarily the calves. The weights seemed to be working, but it seemed that sprinting wouldn’t exactly be easy to do today. He needed some sort of alternative. There were a few options, such as biking, but he didn’t really enjoy cycling around places. He’d much rather prefer running with his sore legs if it came down to those two choices. That was when he remembered: swimming. It was widely considered the best form of cardio that a person could do, and while it did require him to use his legs, it was also dependent on his quads and arms more, which was good for him. Now the only problem was where he would find a swimming pool. There was bound to be a gym somewhere and signing up shouldn’t be a problem at all. His mother was never too concerned with Tsukasa’s grades since he seemed to be able to manage himself, so she had always let him do whatever he wanted.

Soon enough, Tsukasa had found a gym, gotten his mother’s permission to sign up, and had done so. It was a little awkward since he didn’t really like going to places like these; he liked to keep to himself and do things on his own, but there were times when that wasn’t enough, this being one of them. Deciding to just deal with it, Tsukasa made his way to the changing room. Changing into a swimsuit, Tsukasa put on a set of goggles and headed toward the pool. The goggles were a little childish to have, but there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. He had hair that was too long to squeeze into a cap and even tying it would still prove to be troublesome. He would need them to protect his eyes so that his wet hair wouldn’t stab him, which could cause a lot of trouble and result in an embarrassing time for him. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry. There were a few people around but not too many, so it was good for him. Students were busy with school and most adults didn’t seem to care too much for staying fit. It was better for him anyway.

His weights were still on, which was a bit of a safety hazard, but there was nobody around to actually supervise the people so he would be fine. If he took them off sporadically then he feared it might not have any results. He needed his body to get accustomed to the weight, as if he actually was twenty pounds heavier. Holding his arms out above his head, Tsukasa dived into the pool, going seemingly straight down, soon rising as he rhythmically brought his arms up and over, swimming in freestyle. Kicking his legs proved to be a little odd with the weights, but the fact that he was in water didn’t make it too difficult. It made him feel his quads actually building up that lactic acid as he continued to kick away. Although he probably should, Tsukasa paid no attention to how many laps he was swimming. At first, he did it just to pass the time and because there was nothing else to do, but he eventually gave up counting. When he did things like exercise, unless it had to do with calisthenics and the like, he simply did as much as he could until he was on the brink of passing out. That was just his style.

The time seemed to pass very slowly and although it wasn’t noticeable at first, every lap drained him of his energy. Every handful of laps that were completed started to take a noticeable toll on Tsukasa. He began to see that he was slowing down, his heart was pounding, his legs sore, his arms starting to feel it too. It was inevitable and while he didn’t actually enjoy the state of being in pain, Tsukasa was satisfied knowing that there were some results. He continued to swim for awhile, water splashing everywhere as he frantically swung around his arms and kicked his legs as fast as he could. He continued on for maybe half an hour longer, swimming for quite awhile. Eventually though, he knew he had reached his limits. When he could barely raise his arms above his head to continue his strokes, it was time to call it quits. If he was dumb enough to actually wait until his body could take no more, he would pass out in the pool and possibly drown to death. Swimming to the end of the pool, completing his final lap, Tsukasa rested for a bit.

Arms hanging on the edge of the pool, Tsukasa took deep breaths and made sure to breathe in through his nose and out his mouth. Being the water was actually pretty relaxing and he wanted to at least calm his heart down before going to change. Maybe after a minute or two of resting, Tsukasa decided to get out. Placing his palms on the side of the poolside, Tsukasa pulled himself up and out of the water by pressing his palms down. It was a little difficult due to the fact that he still had his leg weights on, but it wasn’t too difficult. Standing up, Tsukasa made his way out to take a quick shower, change, and head home. His business here was done for the time being. The next day he would focus on training his muscles with calisthenics, perhaps doing a bit of sprinting too. Working every muscle wasn’t good but it was okay to do cardio all the time.

[Tsukasa]

It was day three. He had already done tons of sprinting on the day before and had swum until his legs were about to give away. Waking up today, his legs were sore. His calves were still feeling it a little from the day before and now his quads were feeling it too. Everything else was fine though. It wouldn’t matter anyway. He planned on just sprinting for an hour today and focusing more on calisthenics. Stamina was much more than being able to run a long distance without burdening the heart too much. There was also muscle stamina. In a fight, it’s not an uncommon occurrence where the body just aches from exhaustion. Not just of the heart, but of the muscles themselves. The running and swimming helped his legs with this, but calisthenics would be required for everything else. Abs, arms, back, there were a lot of important ones. Heading down towards the dojo area, Tsukasa took in a deep breath as he exhaled, preparing to get started. He wasn’t the type of person to delay things; the sooner he could finish a task, the sooner he would do so.

First thing was pushups. A classic form of exercise, and a pretty effective one at that. The muscle mass that he currently had would become stronger if he consistently did his pushups, refining them and giving them strength as opposed to size. A year or so back, he would’ve been able to do two hundred pushups. Now he estimated around one hundred and fifty at the most. The plan was simple though. First set of pushups would be his max, and from there on, ten less per set until he hit zero. Would be good enough and he would just move on from there afterwards. Laying down on the floor, Tsukasa laid on his belly as he placed his palms against the floor at his sides. He was doing the military pushup, which completely isolated his triceps for the workout. He didn’t need to develop pecs, which were more or less useless. Tsukasa was less of an aesthetics guy and more of an efficiency lover. Placing pressure with his palms, Tsukasa lifted his body and started to push himself up and let himself down to form ninety degree bends.

”…150…”

Tsukasa had been able to do one hundred and fifty pushups, as he had expected. Needless to say, it took an effort to do it; he had started struggling at around the thirties and forced himself to do the last twenty pushups. There was no reward to be reaped if there wasn’t any effort put in. Laying on his stomach again, Tsukasa took a thirty second break before continuing again. This time, his goal was one fourty. He continued at this for quite awhile, diligently sticking to his set number. Several minutes would pass before he completely finished, but soon enough, he was on his last set. ”1...2…3…4…5…” he thought to himself, keeping count. He was really starting to struggle, grunting as he forced himself upward. He only had five more left to do now, but it was increasingly difficult. ”…6…7…8…!” he continued to count as he did his pushups. Two more left. He went down again and tried to push himself back up. With an odd straining expression, Tsukasa tried to push himself up, his arms shaking frantically as he did so. It took a few seconds, but soon enough the number escaped from his lips, ”9…” Last one. Going back down, Tsukasa went up again, putting in as much effort as he could muster.

”10.” he said as he eased back, bending his arms to ninety degrees, and then letting himself collapse onto the floor. His triceps were hurting all over but it was evidence that he had worked hard.

Now it was time for the next exercise though. This was more or less simple. Just squatting. He didn’t have any weights or a bar bell at home and he didn’t want to head to the gym, so he figured he would just keep doing squats until his thighs were killing him. Standing up, Tsukasa kept his back straight and had his legs apart at around shoulder length. His thighs were a little sore from the swimming but it wasn’t enough. He had to do them until it felt like they were being torn apart. Lowering himself, Tsukasa went down until his knees were bent a little under ninety degrees and came back up. Simple for now but if he kept doing it, it would eventually become harder. The minutes flew by as he continued to do so. After all, without weights to make it much harder, he would have to keep doing them until he was feeling worn out, which, regardless of thigh condition, still took a lot to do. Well, there were no other options. It was monotonous as hell and Tsukasa was starting to regret it about halfway in, but he knew that exercises were often like this, so he just contained his boredom and continued.

It took what felt like forever to keep going at the squatting but he still hadn’t reached that point yet. That was when, mid-squat, Tsukasa had an epiphany. Duck-walking! A rather embarrassing exercise that effectively used the quads. Crouching down, Tsukasa started to walk around with his hands behind his head. Each step was a little awkward, moving the leg forward and dragging the other one too. It was good though, he could really feel it working. The route was simple. He would duck-walk within the perimeter of the room. It didn’t even taking too long for him to feel the pain his legs, but he continued on for awhile more, waiting to reach the point where he felt like he would no longer be able to duck-walk. Tsukasa wasn’t really counting the minutes anymore, but he knew for sure that not too much time had passed once he had finished this final exercise. He felt sufficiently tired and drained and decided to go take a nap.

Leaving the room, he staggered over to the nearest sofa and dropped down upon it, face first. Turning his head to the side so that he could breathe, Tsukasa closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep. This was the last day of his weekend; school would resume starting tomorrow. What a pain.

[Tsukasa]

Tsukasa had woken up once again, his eyes opening to the sight of fluffy white as his thoughts were all jumbled. ”…? My blanket…?” he wondered as he reached his arm up, feeling the blanket. Grasping it within his hands, he pulled it off of him as he sat up, bringing about quite a bit of soreness all around his body. He had done quite a bit of calisthenics the day before, resulting in pain in his arms and legs. His deltoids and abs were a little sore, but not as much since those had been the result of the swimming he had done he day before. Jumping out of bed, Tsukasa felt heavier than usual. Looking down, he saw that he still had his leg weights on. ”Still not used to it yet…” he thought to himself as he trudged along to his bathroom. It was day four since he began training himself again but it was also a day of school. This would be a hassle, taking away much time he could be spending working on himself. Brushing his teeth, combing his hair, and getting dressed, Tsukasa headed downstairs and put on his shoes as he left his house. ”I’ll be back later.” he said to his mother as he left for school.

School eventually ended though, and Tsukasa had returned to his house in order to change. The school uniform wasn’t one that he could exactly sprint in comfortably. Changing into a pair of shorts and putting on a hoodie, Tsukasa left his home again to prepare for his cardio session. Today’s goal was to go a full mile with the added weights on without stopping. His overall goal was to sprint at least three miles with as little rest as possible. He had had about twenty extra pounds from the last session…so now it was time to double that. It was best to take things slowly and carefully, but Tsukasa didn’t really have the luxury to do that. If anything, he could abuse his Bestial Takeover to lighten the load if it proved to be too much. Twenty pounds extra on each leg, Tsukasa headed over to the playground to begin his sprinting once more. Being after school, there were quite an amount of children and their parents in the playground, but he paid no attention to them. What they viewed him as was of little to no importance so long as he could accomplish what he set out to do.

Lowering his stance by slouching over, chest on his knee, right leg stepping forward, Tsukasa kicked off as he started to run as fast as he could. This was pretty difficult. From the getgo, Tsukasa was already feeling uncomfortable. Three days wasn’t enough to readjust to the twenty pounds of weight on his legs, so putting on forty was even worse. He could visibly see that he wasn’t moving as fast as he could be and his legs felt very heavy. Every step he took felt like he was smashing his feet into the floor. Just pulling them up was putting a fair amount of strain on his leg muscles. His heart was fine though. Tsukasa made sure to keep a steady rhythm of breathing, inhaling through his nose, exhaling out his mouth. He lost count of how many blocks he had gone around, but he had been sprinting for at least ten minutes before he started to feel the strain on his legs. His heart was also starting to feel heavy; beating faster with every step that he took.

”A mile…?” Tsukasa guessed as he finished another lap. He wasn’t actually too sure how many laps would be the equivalent of a mile, but he had gone around at least five times. This much wasn’t too hard for him. He had to take a rest now though; that lap he had just completed was mostly will power. His legs and heart were getting worn from this. He wasn’t done yet though. He decided to take a one minute break to cool off a little and then he would proceed again, of course with one mile being his goal. Standing still, Tsukasa tried his best to regulate his breathing, although it was a bit difficult to do so. ”Not as easy as I thought it would be…” Tsukasa thought to himself as he sighed, counting the seconds until he reached sixty.

It was time to start part two, the continuation. He got into the same stance as last time and kicked off again, starting off as fast as he could. It was harder than when he did it the first time, which was expected since running those five or so blocks had taken its toll on him. Didn’t matter though; he wasn’t going to ease up just because he was starting to feel tired. It was by pushing ones limits and going through this kind of exhaustion that allowed people to grow stronger.

”There’s one lap…” Tsukasa thought to himself as he ran back to the starting point. Running around corners was very annoying, especially with the added weights. He had to slow down, watch his awkward steps, change the direction, and then expend energy to start running again. If only there was a straight and endless road that he could just run on… Leaving the wishful thinking aside, Tsukasa continued along his course, staying faithful to it and making sure he didn’t stop. His breathing was getting noticeably heavier, his heart was racing and aching, his legs were too. All signs of work being done, but also signs that he was approaching his limit. That wasn’t good; Tsukasa still had quite a bit of time left to go. Although his goal was to go at least three miles, he was still going to run at least an hour or two…maybe even three if his body allowed it.

Tsukasa needed to take breaks at regular intervals though. He stopped to rest for a minute after running around for at least a mile, which took about ten minutes for him due to the weights. That was a little over two times as slow as he normally would be able to.

Tsukasa continued on until he ran for about two hours. He would have continued on a third hour, but he could feel about two hours and forty minutes in that he wouldn’t be able to run for even another lap. By this time, his heart felt like it would explode and his legs were extremely fatigued. Stretching, Tsukasa headed back home to sleep. He was sweating profusely and was in need of food and rest. Especially the rest part. Today was good though; added weight and even got a lot of cardio done. Tomorrow would be another continuation of working his heart.

[Tsukasa]

Several days had gone by and Tsukasa had awoken in the morning, feeling as sore as ever. It was slightly less this time, perhaps his body was finally starting to get acclimated to the amount of training he was doing. Who knows? What Tsukasa did know, however, was that today was a continuation of working on his stamina via cardio. For the time being, however, he would have to go to school first. Jumping out of his bed, Tsukasa prepared himself for school, brushing his hair, brushing his teeth, washing his face, getting dressed. Leaving his room, he ran down the stairs as he went into the dining room, where his mother had prepared breakfast for him. Sitting down, he quickly ate the rice and few side dishes before walking out. He didn’t want to be late and didn’t like to squander time. It was better to be early than it was to be late.

~ After School ~

Now that school was over, Tsukasa left immediately for the gym. That was the only place where there was a gym it was a little unsanitary, but he didn’t really care. Heading into the gym, Tsukasa showed his membership pass as he headed over to the locker room. Tsukasa changed, putting on the swimming trunks as he removed the rest of his clothing, placing them inside a locker. Taking out a lock, he placed it into the hole as he closed it, ensuring the safety of his possessions. With that out of the way, Tsukasa headed over to the gym. His ankle weights were still on, and they were a lot heavier too. Walking over to the perimeter of the pool itself, Tsukasa eyed the areas, noting that there were more people than the last few times he had come here, but still not too many. It was fine though, he preferred to think of himself as alone when doing these things anyway.

Placing himself so that he would be able to dive into the water and begin swimming right away, Tsukasa shifted his feet a few steps to the side. Arms high above his head, Tsukasa aligned his hands together as he leaned a little forward, jumping off as he felt the coolness of the water embracing his body. He had dived maybe six feet or so into the pool and he immediately turned his body so that his stomach was facing the bottom of the pool. Swinging his arms up and over his head, Tsukasa began to utilize the freestyle in order to move himself up, breaching the surface of the water as the air bubbles streamed. His head arose from the water as he inhaled, turning his head to the side as he continued. Arching his arms over his head, he continued to do so in a rhythmic fashion, left and right, breathing whenever he had to, as well as kicking his legs in order to propel himself.

It didn’t take too long before he had finished a few laps. His leg weights made it harder on his legs, and they sure did feel sore after just a few laps, but Tsukasa would have to keep going until his heart couldn’t take it any longer. Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it used to be when he first started his little training menu, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt at all. He had continued to increase his weights at a rather irregular rate; a regular person would probably not be able to hand it all too well. But Tsukasa had persevered. As his legs and arms splashed water, Tsukasa to go at it. “How many laps is it now…?” Tsukasa wondered. He had stopped counting how many laps he had done after awhile, musing himself with other random thoughts instead. It didn’t matter to him how many laps he was actually doing, so long as he kept going until his body reached its limit.

An eternity seemed to pass by as Tsukasa patiently continued. He didn’t have too much to think about so it eventually came down to just focusing on the next stop as he continued to swim. The pain in his legs was growing greater, but Tsukasa could ignore it. He would have to, otherwise there would be no progress. As the saying went, no pain no gain. With that in mind, Tsukasa simply gave out a burst of air from underneath the water as he ignored the pain in his legs, continuing to kick away as his body continued to move back and forth. After awhile, Tsukasa began to feel his heart beating frantically and he began to feel the aching pain as he continued. He realized that he was nearing the end of today’s session, but he would continue for now. He couldn’t stop just because it started to hurt a little.

As he finished up a few more laps, Tsukasa eventually felt it: that feeling in his chest and legs that signified that he was done, the kind of feeling one only received after having thoroughly worked out a muscle. With that, Tsukasa immediately turned around, back on the water as he drifting along the surface of the pool. His chest was expanding and contracting at a rapid rate as he quickly exhaled and inhaled. He closed his eyes as he waited for the pain to subside. After that, he trudged along to the edge of the pool, pulling himself up as he left to the locker room. Sloppily, Tsukasa changed back into his clothes after taking a shower, making sure he cleaned out his body of the pool water. He left the gym as he slowly walked back home, prepared to rest after such a good workout.

[Tsukasa]

Eyes opening, his crimson red orbs were immediately filled with light as Tsukasa put his arm over his face. “Ugh…what the hell…” he muttered as he slowly got out of his bed. His legs weren’t that sore. After awhile of working out, people just stop getting sore, and Tsukasa had managed to reach that level at this point. Changing out of his comfort wear, Tsukasa changed into regular clothing, just a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants as he headed outside for a morning jog, just a mile around the neighborhood to get his day started. Today was a weekend so there was no school or any of that interfering with his desires. Heading outside, Tsukasa began to sprint as he quickly dashed around the area, legs pounding against the floor as his weights no longer seemed to really hold him down. He had been able to get accustomed to this weight.

He quickly finished up effortlessly as he headed back inside, going into his training room. It was a nice and empty room so he could easily do whatever calisthenics he wanted without worry. Of course, the first exercise of choice was the pushups. Over the past few days and weeks, Tsukasa had managed to easily build up the amount of pushups he could do. After all, they were really easy to increase so long as they were done on a daily basis. Placing his palms onto the floor, Tsukasa laid out his body on the floor as he made sure his arms were out perfectly to the side. After he was sure his form was correct, Tsukasa placed the pressure on the floor as he pushed up himself up off the ground. His triceps were rather refined by now, anybody who felt that particular part of his arm would notice that it was incredibly tough, evidence that his training was working.

Muscle training was particular though. If it wasn’t done consistently, then the strength would drop. Therefore, working out like this was a necessity. With that in mind, Tsukasa would have no qualms about doing this. Lowering himself so that his arm was bent ninety degrees, Tsukasa pushed up back, continuing this for awhile, counting steadily in order to make sure he was doing a proper amount. He was going to superset, start off at a higher number and then go down by ten pushups every time until he hit zero, so it was vital that he did not completely burn himself out in one go. The goal was simple: two-hundred pushups would suffice. It didn’t take too much effort to keep going. Before he knew it, he was already at the halfway mark of a hundred. However, that was when things got a little harder. He began to slow down a little as he approached one-fifty, but he was able to keep pushing.

“200…”

Tsukasa had finished and he took a break, for a minute, before continuing again. This continued on for awhile as Tsukasa continued to go down, doing 190, then 180, then 170, so on and so forth. It was incredibly hard to do, especially with the amount he had, and Tsukasa could feel the soreness overcoming his muscle with every pushup, although he struggled and made sure not to succumb to the pain. Eventually, he was finally down to the last ten, and at this point, it was so hard for him to continue. Every pushup took a great deal of strength, grunting, and exhalation of breath in order to force him to finish just one. It was even harder to maintain proper form, although he did that. As he finished the last one, Tsukasa made sure his arms were straight up before collapsing onto the floor. “That was…hard…” Tsukasa thought to himself as he felt relieved.

Now it was time to continue his next exercise, which was actually a combination of two. He recalled on the first day of his training, he had done body squats and then duck walking. Doing both of them together, Tsukasa had been able to make a systematic form of exercising: squat ten repetitions and then duck walk around the room five times, repeat and rinse until tired to death. Walking over to one corner of the room, Tsukasa placed his hands out as he lowered himself, bending his knees as he got into a crouch, immediately standing back up straight. He continued this ten times, going down an eleventh time as he began to walk around the room, hands behind his head as he took his awkward steps. It emphasized a lot on his legs, which was good since he needed to increase his muscle strength all around his body.

He continued this for awhile; the five laps around the room wasn’t too much. Afterward, he would continue again, standing back up as he proceeded with the ten body squats, lowering his body again to continue moving around. It was rather boring, but it was a lot less monotonous than doing body squats and duck walking separately. With the added challenge of duck walking, it made the squats feel a lot more difficult too, especially as he continued along. After maybe the tenth set, it started to wear down on him. His breathing became heavier and his legs became sore, particularly his quads, as he continued along, rigidly sticking to it as he squatted. “What a pain…” Tsukasa thought to himself as he persevered past the boredom and pain, eventually finishing up.

He couldn’t recall exactly how many sets he had done but he had done a lot, enough to cover his entire body with sweat, anyway. Legs pounding and arms stiff and tight from the workout, Tsukasa left the room as he went to his room to take a shower. He was done for the day, so he would have to find something else to do. For now, he was greatly satisfied.

[Tsukasa]

Tsukasa had waited a few hours to cool down before deciding to try out something. It had been quite awhile since he began training with weights and doing all sorts of exercises to help make himself stronger. But how was the progress going on that? Just exactly how much faster had he become? Tsukasa was confident that his stamina was far above that of regular people. All the calisthenics and running with weights as well as swimming had definitely helped out his endurance when it came to both muscle and cardio. Jumping up and down, Tsukasa could not help but grin a little as he became a little excited. He was about to find out exactly how much faster he had gotten during all this time. It was finally time to shed the ankle weights and experience the progress first-hand. Heading out to his front door, Tsukasa bent down as he put his shoes on. Placing his hand over the strap of the ankle weight, he peeled it off as the weight fell to the floor, making a loud clunk sound as it did so. Standing back up, Tsuaksa jumped up and down, confirming how light he felt.

Stretching before beginning his run, Tsukasa finished up as he started running as fast as he could. The wind slammed into his body the moment that he had started dashing around. His speed was incredible, especially by human standards. Soon enough, he found himself roaming around the districts of Karakura Town. He had been running past and inbetween people, past cars, inbetween cars, and just running around everywhere. His speed had increased by a lot, which astounded him. He didn’t realize just how drastic his speed was when he had the weights on as opposed to when he took them off. He felt extremely light. He could easily keep up with cars, if not exceeding them, but that was taking into account the fact that the cars weren’t allowed to move too quickly in the busy areas. “Let’s see how quickly I can run around everywhere and back home…” Tsukasa thought to himself as he continued to run around. He was easily surpassing bikers that could be found in the more obscure parts of the town, to his delight.

Luckily, Tsukasa’s stamina was able to allow him to enjoy his new speed as well. He didn’t feel as tired from all this running. His body had started to perspire from all the moving, and his breathing was a little heavier, but his heart was not feeling any strain, nor were his legs. “This is fantastic…” Tsukasa commented as he continued to sprint around the area. There were a few moments where he was about to bump into people, but he was able to avoid them with quick turns and sidesteps. It didn’t take too long before he reached his own home, coming to a stop as Tsukasa steadily slowed down. Noticeably, it was harder to stop himself from running due to the speed at which he was running. Even though he had intended to stop right in front of his house, he had gone several feet past that in an attempt to ease into walking speed. “That was fun…I’ll go enjoy myself a little later…” Tsuaksa thought to himself as he entered his own home.

Taking his shoes off, Tsukasa put his ankle weights back on as he decided to stay at a regular human pace until absolutely necessary. Nothing good ever came out of showing off too much.