The next morning.
I roughly stopped the annoying phone alarm that started ringing while I was fast asleep.
I usually sleep through one or two or three alarms. Sometimes ten…
Today was different.
“Hnugh!”
I got up and jumped out of bed. The bedsprings gave me extra momentum for a tidy landing on the floor.
One slap to the cheek. That woke me up completely.
The clock showed five AM. I still had plenty of time before classes started, but thinking about everything I had to do between now and then made me realize I didn’t have much time at all.
After listening to Tatsuki Ootsuka’s explanation yesterday, I’d learned a thing or two about dancing.
For example, strength training is also important.
When I still hadn’t known anything about dance, I’d thought of it as a joke and that I should give up, as there was nothing I could teach.
But if muscle training was a fundamental aspect of it, that changed things somewhat.
I have no talent for music, and my scholastic skills and my reflexes are both trash, but even I, a person devoid of the kind of talent Ryouran High School was supposed to foster, had a few special skills.
I had some know-how and achievements under my belt in the fields of muscle training and self-taught martial arts.
Thanks to my experiences with self-training during my shut-in period in order to learn how to protect Shiika as her older brother, I felt confident I could help both Shiika and Akiba gain the necessary muscle needed to dance.
That was the plan, so starting today, I intended to take the two of them out for morning training every day.
After sending a message to pressure Akiba and make sure she didn’t oversleep, I changed into workout clothes and left my room.
My destination was, of course, my beloved sister’s room.
“I’m coming in.”
I announced my arrival with a knock, but I entered the room without waiting for a response. I knew that at this hour of the day, Shiika would be neither conscious nor capable of communicating normally.
“Zzz… Zzz…”
Sure enough, Shiika was curled up in bed, asleep.
I shook her shoulder, but she just made an adorable noise and showed no sign of waking.
I rolled Shiika onto her back and dragged her body to the edge of her bed so that only her head dangled off.
“Ung… Huh?”
“Good morning, Shiika. It’s time for morning practice, as we agreed.”
“Agreed…? Did I?”
“Yes, last night. But you were exhausted, and you only seemed to be half-listening.”
“It can’t be done.”
“It can indeed be done.”
“Hmph. Gak, you’re mean.”
“Nonsense. This is love of the highest order.”
“By the way, Gak…”
“What?”
“Why are you upside down?”
“It’s not me who’s upside down—it’s you. It’s your head.”
“Oh… Come to think of it, my neck does feel kinda weird.”
Her long hair hung loosely down to the floor.
Sloppy, but I hadn’t put her in this position to tease her.
“It’s one of the best ways to straighten your back. Ootsuka said yesterday that you should do it regularly, right?”
“Did she?”
“Try to remember stuff better.”
It was a bad habit of Shiika’s to erase inconvenient memories from her mind in an attempt to escape from reality.
She takes music so, so seriously. It’s not like she’s weak-minded. But for some reason she can’t put the same passion into other things. If only she could diversify some of that effort, she’d be able to easily surpass the other talented candidates.
But I shrugged. It couldn’t be helped. I’ve known Shiika for a long time. Geniuses are just kinda like this.
Anyway, having Shiika’s head hanging off the bed like this is a legit technique to fix her hunchback.
People who are addicted to their computers and phones tend to bend forward on a daily basis, which causes the bones in their neck to warp inward.
As a result, the individual gets used to being bent over, and such a position starts to feel natural. Then their posture becomes more and more stooped.
Even if you want to fix it, it can be dangerous to have an amateur fiddling with your neck, and it’s nearly impossible to correct your own form once it’s gone wrong.
So we have this method.
Lie on your back on the bed, stick your head out, and allow gravity to pull your head down. Then, gradually, your body will be doing the exact opposite of hunching over, and the stoop will slowly be corrected.
“…How long do I have to stay like this?”
“All done. Now, we’re gonna go jogging. Once we return, we’ll start the muscle training.”
“Gak, that’s too strict. You’re like a demon.”
“Guh… That hurts. But no! This time, I won’t indulge you.”
“Tch.”
Shiika’s so cute when she’s annoyed.
After I had Shiika change into a tracksuit, we left the house and headed to the nearby park.
This was where Shiika was scouted by Kei Tennouzu and where she accepted Shibuya’s challenge. It’s kind of a desolate place, with only one slide, so not many children come here to play.
But since we didn’t have any need for playground equipment, it was the perfect workout environment for us today.
Akiba was already there, and when she spotted us arriving late, she snarled at us like a rottweiler baring its fangs.
“You’re LATE, you two! I came by train, and I got here before you, even though this is literally your neighborhood!”
“Well, I gave you a time that was half an hour before the actual meeting time.”
“Huh?!”
“I was expecting you to be, like, twenty minutes late. Groaning and complaining about having to do morning training.”
“Ugh… Well, okay, so I arrived about ten minutes ago…”
Akiba’s eyes were narrowed, as if she was wondering how I’d known. I gave her a smug grin as I responded.
“I understand the mentality of a slacker! As I, too, am a slacker.”
“Don’t be so arrogant… But, Gakuto, er, what’s that?”
Akiba was pointing to the bicycle I had brought with me.
“What do you mean? It’s a bicycle.”
“But we’re jogging. What’s the bicycle for? We don’t need that. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Oh, you see, it’s just you two who’ll be running.”
“Huh?! You’re going to make us run while you cycle in comfort?!”
“Of course. After all, I’m not the one dancing. And I don’t want to tire myself out.”
“Guh, this is beyond the pale! Don’t you have a conscience?!”
“That’s rude. You’re hurting my feelings. I just don’t want to wear myself out and get my legs all tired.”
“Wow…”
She could look disgusted all she liked, but I wasn’t about to change my mind.
After all, just like Shiika, I, too, am a genuine shut-in at heart. Sure, I’m good at muscle training and martial arts, so you might get the wrong idea and think I’m a jock, but there are various categories of athletic ability.
In my case, I have strength, technique, and explosive power, but my stamina is trash. I was confident I’d be out of breath after just five minutes of jogging.
“But we don’t even know if we’re going to be part of the music video yet,” Akiba said.
The top three students would win the right to appear on the special stage at the Ryouran Summer Festival. In the Shibuya Gang, we had Shiika, Shibuya, Komae, and Akiba, so that was one more than we needed. In fact, considering the ability levels of those involved, it seemed reasonable to expect Akiba to be the one who got dropped.
“However, something could happen, so it’d be better if everyone’s trained and able to dance. Someone might get injured or fall sick suddenly. And three girls might be a better balance than two girls and one guy. Three girls might draw in bigger viewing figures. Summer festival aside, we need the best possible response,” I said.
“Guh… Well, I guess you’re right.”
“Of course I am. So don’t just stand there complaining. Get your butt in gear.”
“Tch… Fine.” Akiba nodded reluctantly, still looking displeased.
“Come on—no time for grumbling. Do some warm-up exercises and then get running!”
“Guhhh… You dirty, underhanded bastard…”
“Gak, no fair…”
“Don’t glower. I’ve prepared a nice reward for afterward.”
“…Reward?”
Shiika’s eyes lit up in response to that sweet, sweet word.
Always in it for personal gain, I thought wryly, giving Shiika an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“You can eat some delicious, tasty meat.”
“Meat… Droool…”
“Can you do your best?”
“I can. I will!”
Shiika clenched her small fists. Ah, finally, some gumption.
Since she’s my sister, knowing exactly how to motivate her sure comes in handy sometimes.
After that, Shiika and Akiba followed the jogging and muscle-training workout plan I’d devised.
I say devised, but really, I just copied the regime from a video I found on WayTube. As for muscle training, I carefully selected the things I’d done myself and found effective, so I was sure it would help. What do you mean, none of this was original? Say that to the select shops of the world!
Incidentally, here’s a snapshot from the training montage:
““Huff! Haaah! Hyuh! Guh!””
“You look grim, Akiba. Can’t you work out a little bit more attractively?”
“How dare you say that while you leisurely pedal on a bicycle, you jeeerk!!!”
“Huff! Hah! Ugh… Can’t…go on…”
“It’s okay, Shiika. It’s almost over.”
“Your treatment of her is nothing like your treatment toward me!”
Akiba’s tongue was as sharp as ever. Apparently, jogging hadn’t tired that part of her body.
“My abs are burning. I feel like my stomach is about to burst.”
“Yes, yes, you want that crease line. Keep up the good work, Shiika!”
“Guh… Guhhh! Huff, puff!”
“Don’t groan and moan like that while doing ab training, Akiba. Can’t you be quieter?”
“Sh-shut up! Th-this hurts, you know! You think you can do it better, huh?!”
“I can do it easily. See? Hup, hup, hup.”
“Darn it! The one thing you’re good at! Guhhh!!!”
Akiba screamed, bestial, as she pushed through the pain.
And so, as you see, time passed, and now the hour was growing late. We needed to get to school.
After clapping my hands to signal the end of practice, I took the sweaty and exhausted twosome back to our house. I let Shiika and Akiba shower (Akiba also cleaned the bath afterward) while I finished preparing breakfast.
When Shiika and Akiba came out of the bath, I held two plates steaming with the fragrant smell of black pepper.
“Meat…!”
“Wow!”
“Steak, cooked rare. If you want to build muscle, you need to eat good-quality protein after your workout.”
The muscle-training WayTubers all say so, after all.