In the training hall/dojo located at the back of the Yaoyorozu Estate, Yuuichi and Rumi were grunting and sweating.
"One...more...time." said Rumi who was lying on her back, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily from exhaustion, but even though she was exhausted, the smile on her face was shining brighter than ever.
"Are you sure?" asked Yuuichi, a grin on his face and who unlike Rumi was standing but was similarly drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
"Just...do...it." she said as she stood up, her face full of determination and clearly unwilling to back down from the challenge.
"You asked for it." said Yuuichi before snapping his fingers.
The next moment, a purple dome appeared around the two of them, causing both of them to groan from the increased gravity.
"That's...more...like...it." said Rumi through gritted teeth as the both of them stood still in the increased gravity for a minute so they could get used to it.
"Now the...hard part." said Yuuichi, who wasn't struggling as much as Rumi.
"Piece...of...cake." said Rumi as the both of them started a set of exercises designed to work out every part of the body with Rumi's having more focus on her lower body.
Using his Stellar Constructs to increase the gravity for his exercises was something that Yuuichi had thought of since the very first day he found out about the effects of his Stellar Constructs.
Unfortunately, the initial gravitational effect that his Stellar Constructs had was nowhere near enough for him to use in his exercise. It wasn't until the Spring Break before his second year that Yuuichi was able to use his Stellar Constructs to affect gravity to the point where it would be beneficial to use in his exercises.
Unlike his Solar and Lunar Constructs which were much easier to train, Stellar Constructs were a lot harder and took up more energy for a similar construct than one of its counterparts. For that reason, along with the fact that he rarely ever used Stellar Constructs, it took a lot longer to train to the point of using them during his exercise.
But after experiencing the effects of training under increased gravity for so long, he realized he had wasted a lot of potential and made training his Stellar Constructs a priority. He wanted to get his Stellar Constructs to the level that he had gotten Solar and Lunar but would keep it in his back pocket for an ace in the hole.
And thanks to his previous experience with both his Solar and Lunar Constructs, he was able to train his Stellar Constructs to nearly the same level of proficiency, so all's well that ends well.
PLOP
"You...okay?" asked Yuuichi, undoing the dome instantly after seeing Rumi hit the ground before checking up on her.
"F...fine...just...need...to...rest." she said, trying to catch her breath.
"Rest as much as you want, we're done for the day." said Yuuichi, constructing hands to grab some towels and bottles of water before bringing them over to his body, handing one of each to Rumi.
"Thanks." she said before chugging the whole water bottle in an instant.
"So, what'd you think?" asked Yuuichi as he sat down next to her.
"Awesome." she said with a smile.
"Haha, I thought you'd say that."
"No wonder you're so strong."
"Nope, that's all hard work and dedication. I've only trained like this for a year, give or take." said Yuuichi while using the towel to wipe himself off.
"I'm coming over every day from now on." she said, shakily sitting up before using the towel to wipe herself off.
"I only do this type of exercise once a week. It's not super healthy to do more than that." said Yuuichi.
"Why?" she asked.
"Even though we are the textbook definition of superhuman and our bodies have more strength and durability than people from before the Quirk-Era, that type of gravity is not healthy. Gravity affects more than just weight, it also affects our blood, bones, organs, etc. so exercising in that type of gravitational field is still not 100% safe to do.
If either of us had a Regeneration Quirk or a Healing Quirk, it wouldn't be that big of a deal but since our healing factor is only somewhat abnormal, we can't do it that often. Which is why I limit myself to once a week." explained Yuuichi.
"Ugh, that blows." said Rumi.
"It does, but you can still come over once a week. I usually do the exercise on Sunday so you should be free."
"Sweet." she said, her ears twitching with joy, but whether it was at the prospect of training or something else is unknown.
"And if it makes you feel any better, I'll probably have to increase the gravity for you since you have a Mutant Quirk."
"Since I have a Mutant Quirk, which is more geared towards my physique, it means I can take more gravity. Unlike you who has an Emitter Quirk that still improves your body but nowhere near the levels of a Mutant Quirk." she said, instantly understanding why.
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"You know sometimes I forget that you're smart." said Yuuichi, teasing Rumi who is written off as a muscle brain thanks to her rash nature.
"Tch." she said clicking her tongue before tackling Yuuichi onto the ground where they rolled around for a few seconds before they ended up in a position with Yuuichi's head locked in between Rumi's thighs.
"Hahaha, I win!" said Rumi, laughing at her victory while poking Yuuichi's face.
"I'm pretty sure I'm winning." said Yuuichi, a blissful look on his face.
"Perv." said Rumi, realizing what his words meant but seeing him so happy, she didn't move and instead just stayed like that while stroking his hair.
After a few minutes of just being in each other's presence and relaxing, Rumi's ears twitched from hearing someone approaching.
"Momo's coming." said Rumi.
"Too bad, a little more and I would've fallen asleep." said Yuuichi, yawning as he removed himself from in between Rumi's thighs before standing up and stretching.
And just in time too, as a few moments later, Momo entered the training hall with Nagant following behind.
"Kaina-nee, I thought today was your day off?" asked Yuuichi, surprised to see Nagant who he called by her given name and adding -nee since he saw her as an older sister figure, something he and Momo did only in private.
"I was bored so I came over to play with Momo. And to meet your girlfriend." she said before looking at Rumi and giving her a once-over.
"Kaine-nee, Rumi-nee is nice. I like her a lot." said Momo, defending Rumi who really liked Momo because she was an only child and Momo was the perfect little sister.
"Rumi, this is Kaina Tsutsumi more commonly known as Lady Nagant. Kaina-nee, this is Rumi Usagiyama, my girlfriend." said Yuuichi, introducing the two to one another.
"Awesome! Lady Nagant, I'm a huge fan!" said Rumi, shaking her hand enthusiastically, "Fight me!"
"Uhh..." said Nagant, confused at the sudden switch from fan to wanting to fight, causing both Momo and Yuuichi to laugh.
"Rumi likes to fight." explained Yuuichi.
"Maybe next time. This is my day off." said Nagant.
"I'll be waiting." said Rumi with a fierce smile while Yuuichi shook his head, knowing that Nagant had just signed up to be pestered with sparring requests by Rumi for the foreseeable future.
"Okay, now everyone follow me." said Momo.
"For what?" asked Yuuichi.
"A tea party." she said before her nose wrinkled while looking at Yuuichi, "Except you Nii-chan. You smell."
"Oh, I smell, do I? Come here!" said Yuuichi as he started chasing after Momo who ran off scream laughing.
~
Later that same day, after Momo's tea party where the three girls forced Yuuichi into a princess dress and made up his face in ridiculous make-up, Yuuichi was back in the training hall.
But unlike earlier when Yuuichi was exercising his body, this time he was doing his daily energy gathering/container expanding/energy compressing training under the night sky.
'13 years since I manifested my Quirk. Still feels like yesterday when I snuck out to test it.' thought Yuuichi to himself, smiling at the memory of him being caught by his mother because he was so eager to test his Quirk.
'Compared to when I first filled my container, it's like I have an ocean now. Or a lake. In a Chinese novel, the next step would be to compress the energy into a solid core. Too bad I can't do that. Almost killed myself trying it. Boy did that hurt.' he thought, grimacing at the memory of when he tried to create a solid core and almost crippled himself.
'Although, there is still one thing I haven't tried. Mostly because I didn't really see the need to, and also because that core incident scarred me a bit. But I might as well try it. Just have to be extra careful not to nearly cripple myself this time.' thought Yuuichi as he closed his eyes to focus.
The thing that Yuuichi was attempting was to circulate energy throughout his body just like the Cultivators in Chinese novels. But unlike the Cultivators who have instructions and meridians in which the energy flows, Yuuichi was, to put it simply, brute forcing it.
Turning his attention inward, Yuuichi felt the abundant energy that was within his container, which consisted of a 40/40/20 split with Stellar having the least amount in the container since he didn't use it all that much.
'Deep breath.'
Yuuichi then controlled a very minuscule amount of Solar Energy out of his container and into his bloodstream to circulate throughout his body.
As the energy entered his bloodstream, Yuuichi was tense and ready to respond to anything that may happen, but much to his surprise, the energy just flowed.
'Okay, that's a good start. I was honestly expecting my blood to evaporate so this is much better. Now I'll just observe the energy and see what happens. If nothing bad happens, I'll experiment some more.' thought Yuuichi before he put his focus back on sensing the energy in his bloodstream.
For the next few minutes, Yuuichi just focused on the path that the energy was taking. Starting from right next to his heart, the energy took a trip all around the body before ending up back in the heart only to start the journey again.
But Yuuichi did notice that as the energy traveled, the smaller it got until finally, it disappeared soon after starting its second go around.
'The energy loses energy until it disappears, makes sense. I also didn't feel any different from the energy probably because I didn't use a large amount. But I also don't want to use too much so I'll just increase it each time until I feel something. Or absolutely nothing will happen no matter how much energy I use and I'm just wasting my time. Eh, better to be sure than not.' he thought before using double the amount of energy.
And so it went for a while, Yuuichi using more energy than before, seeing it circulate throughout his body, and checking for any effects. Until finally, after increasing the energy to the same level he would use for one of his mid-level constructs, he felt something.
As soon as the energy hit his bloodstream, he felt his body heat up. His muscles tightened and strained with strength that wasn't there previously, and his body started shining a little.
"Sweet." said Yuuichi with a big smile on his face as he saw his shining body.
Clenching his fists, he felt stronger than before so he stood up and casually punched a training dummy to test his strength.
BANG
"Super sweet." he said as he saw the dummy pushed back as if he had used his full strength. And in addition to being easily pushed back, the dummy had a burned indentation of his fist on it.
"Can't wait to show this to Rumi." said Yuuichi.
KNOCK KNOCK
"Young Master, the Master, and Mistress are calling for you." said Ayako after knocking.
"Okay. I'll be there soon. Thank you." said Yuuichi as he saw her silhouette recede, "Better get rid of the energy before I go."
So, Yuuichi tried to remove the energy from his bloodstream but as he tried to move it out, he felt some pain that stopped him from trying any further.
'So I can't get rid of it once it enters my bloodstream, good to know. I'll just do some light exercise while I wait it out.' he thought before he started to shadow fight.
But as he shadow fought, he realized that his bloodstream moved faster the more active he was which meant the energy would deplete faster.
'Another thing that's good to know. Phew, today has been a very good day. Hope nothing ruins it.' he thought as he made his way to his parent's study.
Entering his parent's study and seeing their grave faces, he knew that he had jinxed himself.
"What happened?" he asked as he shut the door behind him before his parents activated the soundproofing.
"The former President of the Commission is dead." said Kiyomi.
"Oh." said Yuuichi, surprised.
"Murdered." said Ren.
"Oh."