Caleb was engaged in conversation with a few younger boys in front of the cafeteria, their agreed meeting location. The boys were a mixture of first and second years, and they seemed to be hanging on to every word he said.
Aida stopped a fair distance away from the group, unwilling to disturb their conversation. Caleb saw her and extricated himself, patting the underclassmen on their backs as he passed them. “Hi Caleb, I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“It’s all right. Shall we?”
Caleb led Aida to the boys’ wing, where the school had set up a quaint little gym. Unlike the gym Annie worked part-time nights in, this gym had a lot of equipment she didn’t recognize; they looked more like farming or gardening tools. Wheelbarrows, buckets and rods, sleds, and boulders of varying sizes littered the edges of the room.
“I take it you don’t come here often?” Caleb asked, seeing Aida’s curious glances around the room. There were surprisingly no students in the room.
“Consider me as if I’ve never stepped foot in here,” Aida replied apologetically.
“That’s okay. Nobody seems to think they need to work their physical body just because we’re all mana practitioners.” Caleb turned to face her, folding his arms across his broad chest. Even though Caleb was wearing a loose-fitting tracksuit, the fabric still seemed to be straining over his muscles. Caleb had always seemed so shy and soft-spoken every other time they had crossed paths, but being in the gym seemed to give Caleb a confidence she had never seen in him before. He was like a completely different person.
“While you were fighting Dev, it looked like you had an idea of what you wanted your body to do - dodging or moving to a more strategic position - but you couldn’t get to where you wanted to go without overcorrecting and taking another step, correct?”
“I suppose,” Aida said slowly.
“Let me demonstrate.” Caleb reached down and grabbed a small pebble, tossing it over his shoulder. He pointed to where it landed. “Let’s say you were trying to go there. This is what you do.” He dashed towards the pebble, his long strides covering ground quickly. His last stride landed right next to the pebble, and he skidded to a stop. He gestured at the skid marks in the dirt floor. “Look at this overshoot. By reading your body language, most people would expect you to stop here, where I am right now, and aim a shot at this location, which would force me to have to dodge the attack at this location.”
Aida nodded slowly, agreeing with his breakdown. Caleb retreated back to where Aida was standing. “Now, this is where it gets difficult. I’m going to stop at the pebble, but notice how I won’t give any indication that I will stop at the pebble.” Caleb stood next to Aida, rotating towards the pebble marker with his arms at his sides so that he looked like he was waiting for something to happen. After a moment, Caleb exploded forward. She blinked, and he was already in motion, striding towards the marker. She blinked again, and he was standing still at the pebble, as if he had never moved at all, and not looking the least winded.
Caleb turned around, a small smile playing about his lips. “Did you get that?” Aida worked her jaw, finding her face slack. She settled for a mute nod.
“I think…I didn’t notice before, but…your mana disappeared.”
Caleb cocked his head at her observation. “Really? I haven’t noticed that before. I suppose that makes sense. I do have to draw more mana into my muscles in order to move like that - it’s about making efficient use of your body, which means your mana has to be flowing optimally within your muscles, which means your body has to be in good form…” Caleb gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I know this is getting a bit jumbled. I say this to the other guys, and they get it…”
“I think I understand,” Aida assured him. “You’re saying the normal way someone moves doesn’t depend so much on mana support, and is primarily driven by the body’s natural mechanics. But with training, utilizing proper form in conjunction with mana support, you can achieve superhuman levels of speed.”
“And strength and endurance,” Caleb added, smiling. “Thank you, I haven’t heard it phrased that way before, but it sounds completely correct.”
Who knew meatheads actually had logic behind their broscience? Aida thought to herself, amused. She deflated as she looked down at herself. Aida’s body was slim, but had no muscle tone. Maybe she could achieve a stronger and more efficient physique by the end of the year, but from watching the patrons at the gym she knew it would take much longer than a single academic year to achieve something impressive.
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“People think physical training is easy compared to mana and focused skills, but they don’t realize how much mana and focus is required in order to optimize physical performance,” Caleb said, looking at her with serious indigo eyes. “Physical training must be done with intention. You have to pay attention to how your body feels and what it’s doing. You can’t just train mindlessly.”
Aida flushed, thinking about how in her previous life she would go on mindless runs. No wonder running never really got easier.
“You might become efficient at the one thing you’re training, but you won’t be able to apply the skill elsewhere, to another technique or activity,” Caleb continued. “I know I have the reputation of only being gifted in the physical realm, and everyone else assumes I have some natural reservoir of mana power. But that’s not the case.” He leaned towards her, towering over her. Aida had to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact with him. Caleb was massive, both taller and broader than Levi and Ezra, looking more like one of the well-respected gym regulars she was familiar with than the high school boys with aspirations to become gym regulars themselves. Is he really supposed to be seventeen? “My mana and my physical strength are directly related to each other. If my physical condition isn’t good one day, I won’t be able to channel my mana efficiently. If my mana levels aren’t maintained, even if my body is in good condition I won’t be able to maximize my output. The two disciplines are intertwined.”
Aida nodded, trying to identify the scent wafting from Caleb. Earthy, musky, but not BO. A small, suppressed part of Aida wondered if Caleb’s scent would change if she wrapped her arms around his torso right now. Fortunately, he stepped back before she could contemplate acting on her fleeting urge more seriously.
“Let’s start with some basic movements, to see if you are in tune with the larger muscles of your body,” Caleb said, gesturing Aida to mirror him.
“Right, mind-muscle connection,” Aida said automatically. Caleb tilted his head thoughtfully, before nodding in approval.
“That’s a catchy phrase.”
Stretching her arms above her head, Aida planted her feet, emulating Caleb’s stance. He had her squat a few times, observing her first visually, and offering advice to modify her posture and form. Then he had her get down in a pushup position, where fortunately he didn’t ask her to actually do any pushups. Finally, he had her grab onto a bar and hang, and instructed her through various muscle activation exercises.
“Come down from there.” Relieved, Aida dropped down. Caleb looked at her thoughtfully. “You’re not connecting with your body very much, are you?”
“I don’t really know what I should be feeling,” Aida confessed. “I just focus on doing what you tell me to do.”
He nodded slowly. “Are you okay with me channeling some of my mana through you? To guide you on your mana flow and muscle connection?”
Aida shrugged. “Can’t get worse than what’s happening right now,” she sighed.
Caleb gave a lopsided smile, finally generating a few sparkles floating around his face. He moved her in front of him, with her arms extended straight out in front of her. He placed his palms below her flattened hands, barely touching. Her hands looked so small and fragile on top of his.
“I’m going to start channeling my mana through you; you’ll feel your muscles contract, but just go along with it,” Caleb warned. “You don’t need to do anything else.”
Aida nodded, staring straight forward, focusing on her hands. She felt Caleb’s foreign mana enter through her palms: the same golden-brown color as before, but unlike when she was met by him outside the arena, the aura was bolder, more confident than when he was among Sue and Levi’s auras. Clearly, the gym and working out was Caleb’s happy place.
Aida’s legs contracted, dropping her torso. She shrieked, surprised by the sudden displacement, and Caleb’s large hands engulfed hers immediately. Her little blue aura was immediately washed away by Caleb’s, and almost just as immediately swept into Caleb’s own body.
Immersed in Caleb’s mana, the only thing she could take in was how intense his mana was. It was like being caught in a waterspout, where she couldn’t extricate herself even if she wanted to. Helpless, she allowed herself to be carried along by his mana.
When she finally relaxed her control, she noticed a fundamental difference between her own mana circulation and Caleb’s. She had finally improved her control to the point that she could visualize her mana as flowing languidly through her body in neat little tubes, but Caleb’s mana, though still orderly, seemed to seep into his torso and limbs. Curious, she observed the offshoots in his arm, seeing how the tendrils of mana directly fed his shoulders, bicep, and forearm; there seemed to be a lot of activity, the tendrils pulsing softly as they pushed mana through—
Aida pulled back into her own body, aghast. Caleb’s arm, the one she had been so ardently observing a moment before, was flexed because he was holding onto something…onto her shoulder. Somehow, she was laying on him, her cheek resting on his chest. Pushing herself up hastily, she backed away, feeling her face burn. Caleb slowly sat up, keeping his head lowered as he avoided her eyes.
“Sorry,” Aida squeaked. “I don’t know what happened.”
“That was my fault,” Caleb mumbled. The shy, quiet Caleb Aida knew from regular classroom and school interactions was back. He was no longer the confident master of his domain. “I didn’t realize your mana could be so easily penetrated, so I went overboard, and then when I tried to pull back, I accidentally pulled you in with me…”
“Um,” Aida floundered, trying to get her thoughts in order. “Well, I think I understand mana-mind connection now, and how to use your muscle to enhance body performance…” she trailed off, before pulling herself together enough to form a more coherent sentence. “I think I need to go think a bit of a lot.”
Leaving Caleb behind her with a hand partly raised in farewell, Aida tried to scrub the memory of the gently sloping fabric underneath her fingers from her mind: warm and firm, but pliable.