"Come on, Issei! Feel the burn! Embrace it!"
I was humming/somewhat singing to myself as I ran on the track with a medium-sized boulder tied onto my shoulders, carrying out the routine(?) I had been doing with Gremory-senpai and Issei for the past few days, working on increasing my strength as a Devil.
"...S-Shut up…" Issei wheezed, trailing behind me even though he had no such handicap like a boulder on his shoulders. "...I'm not some kind of… monster like you…"
Really, the boulder part was my idea. That way, I could work on my speed, stamina, and strength all at the same time. Being a Devil was great because my original human strength ended up being modified. Now I was able to complete much more strenuous yet effective exercises that would've killed me as a human. If I was able to handle something far more strenuous than Issei, then that must mean I'm steadily increasing in strength.
We've been meeting up to train lately in order to help me increase my power as a Devil.
Gremory-senpai was surprisingly helpful despite the fact I wasn't her servant. When I train, she gives me tips on how to prevent from straining or injuring myself.
"You should take a page out of Haruto-kun's book, Issei." Gremory-senpai barked at my bro. "For my servant to be weak is something I can't forgive. Show your spirit and surpass Leviathan-sama's Queen."
I honestly believed Gremory-senpai's words even if the disheartened Issei didn't. Issei was steadily improving with each day.
Really, since I had been doing so good, she hadn't had much to say about me and ended up being more encouraging than anything. She tended to just repeat the same line over and over again because I was more than eager to complete any additional exercise she assigned me on behalf of Serafall.
My battle against Raynare had shown me I needed quite a bit of improvement if I wanted to be able to last in the world of Devils.
"That makes 182. I believe that's enough laps for now, Haruto. Take a break." She had told me and Issei to start running and not to stop until she said so. 182 was seven laps less than my all-time record. The lame stuff we do in PE was nothing compared to this. I was more amazed that she kept track of the number of laps even though she had been reading her book the entire time. "Issei, tomorrow you get fifty more laps. After that, double the number of usual push-ups."
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" Issei screamed, tears in his eyes. "Come oooooon!" He looked ready to drop dead already.
I untied the boulder from my shoulders and let it fall on the ground. I stretched my stiff muscles, a bit sore from carrying around my boulder. I released a sigh sitting down on the ground.
"I guess I should take it easy during the last few steps." I was admittedly somewhat tired. I had been carrying around that boulder since 4:45 this morning and it was now 6:57.
Gremory-senpai nodded, allowing it as a reward for all of my hard work.
Issei dropped to the ground, ready to carry out his push-ups. He got into push-up position and was about to start when Gremory-senpai sat down…On his back.
My crimson-haired senpai then made Issei get to it. I watched in amusement as my scrawny friend attempted to do push-ups. While he was doing that, Senpai and I just spoke casually, ignoring the fact that this was supposed to be training.
"I'm honestly surprised that Leviathan-sama isn't here to train you." Gremory-senpai noted, mentally keeping track of the number of push-ups Issei was doing to make sure he didn't cheat and lie about the number. "She seems so enthusiastic when it comes to your growth as a Devil."
I stretched my arms, sighing from the relief at the stiffness in my muscles slowly being relieved.
"Well, she offered, but I needed someone to stay home and watch Jack for me." I answered, avoiding direct eye-contact with my senpai.
Gremory-senpai raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Couldn't Jack have just come along? It's not like she hasn't already been exposed to the supernatural. She herself is an Evil Spirit. And it's just training, so why—"
I raised my hands in surrender. "Alright, I'll level with you. I didn't want Serafall here because she threaten—I mean OFFERED to train me in hand-to-hand combat personally…"
"Ah." Gremory-senpai said, understanding my reasoning.
"Yeah… I kinda value my life… She means well, but Serafall is horrible when it comes to self-restraint." I swallowed hard, imagining the possible consequences of letting one of the strongest Devils alive with no sense of control try to train me in hand-to-hand combat. "But yeah. I figured it was less harmful to leave her alone with Jack. I mean, Serafall would probably just spoil the girl and give her candy and stuff. I can't see anything bad happening. She seems to have forgiven her for kind of… trying to shank Sona…" I started to develop an uneasy feeling in my gut that I tried to ignore.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Senpai noted with a pleasant smile. See, why can't Sona smile like that? She smiles sometimes, but it's always small or more smirk-ish, something along those lines. She just needs to learn to smile more honestly and cutely like Gremory-senpai, Asia, or Serafall…
Huh?
"Something wrong, Haruto?" Gremory-senpai asked.
I shook my head. "No. No, it's fine." It's just kind of weird how I thought about Sitri-senpai all of a sudden. And yes, I do indeed realize that this is one of those general responses where the hero gradually begins to realize he's gaining feelings for the person he's thinking of, but it's not like that. I mean, it was natural to think of her since I was talking about mainly Pure-Blood Devils, right?
"Auu!" Issei let out a yelp as Gremory-senpai slapped his butt.
"You are having dirty thoughts. The movement of your hips is lecherous." For some odd reason—I don't know why—I was…envious of Issei. Not of him in general, but when he got slapped by Gremory-senpai, there was just that envious feeling… weird…
"…T-That's… 68… T-Thinking that you are horse riding on me…" Issei breathed out while still doing push-ups. "…69… is making my guts as a horse into the max gear… 70!"
"Talking while doing push-ups. You seem to have grown, Issei. Should I add another hundred?" It was hard to tell whether Senpai was joking, threatening him, or encouraging him.
Either way, it was funny. Hahahahaha!
"Stop laughing… you bastard…" Issei huffed at me. I grinned.
"Hmm, it should be about time that she gets here…"
Both Issei and I were confused.
""Who's 'she'?""
"Haruto-san, Issei-san, Buchou-san! I'm sorry for being late-!"
"Careful, Asia!"
Asia, who had been running towards us, had ended up tripping over who-knows-what, but was caught by another familiar girl before she could hit the ground.
"Ah, thank you, Mittelt-san!" Asia smiled at the blonde-haired girl who had caught her. Mittelt nodded, smiling brightly.
"You okay, Asia?" I instinctively shot to my feet, ready to help the almost downed sister.
Asia smiled politely. "Yes. I'm fine thanks to Mittelt-san."
Mittelt turned away, scoffing at Asia's thanks. "Please, the only reason I saved you was because Haruto would feel sad if you got hurt." But she was blushing… Wait…
I went wide-eyed. "Oh my Satan…"
I lunged forward, ensnaring Mittelt in my arms. I nuzzled my face against her adorable face.
"OHMYGOODNESS! SO ADORABLE TSUNDERE DELICIOUSNESS! I CAN'T RESIST IT! AWWWWW!" I hugged Mittelt tightly, showering her with affection for her adorableness.
"H-Hey! L-Lemme go! Lemme go!" Of course, Mittelt was smiling adorably while her face was flushed red so I knew her words didn't express her true thoughts.
She really is a cute tsundere.