“Wait! Katja! I need to take a break! I can’t run anymore!”

Here I am once again being forced by Katja to run. I don’t get what the big idea of making me run in the woods is. This place sucks! The terrain is all uneven, and there are bushes and branches everywhere that I have to avoid. It’s crazy! I get that the difficulty is part of the training, but I really don’t like it.

It also doesn’t help that Katja doesn’t stop when I ask her to. She only stops after I start begging and panting. Sure, I could keep going a little longer, but I don’t want to, so I have to pretend like I’m at my limit just to get her to stop.

I think we haven’t reached the five minutes we reached last time just yet, but that’s good enough for me. I’m only here to get some cool skills, not to run a marathon.

“Sorry, but we’ve barely just started. Are you already at your limit?”

“*Pant pant* Yes! *Pant* This is too much! Please stop!” I’m not a great actor, but since I was actually tired, it wasn’t necessary to put up that much of an act.

“*Sigh…* Alright, I guess we can stop running for now.” Katja slowed down and I caught up to her. Even after she stopped running, she continued to walk without turning around.

I finally got her to stop! Whew, I guess I can endure running if it’s only this much. I really want to move on to training with a sword. It better be worth putting up with the running. I would also like it if she was nicer to me. She became kinda cold out of nowhere. Can’t we just be friends? Do we have to go through all this? She doesn’t seem like the most sociable person, but then again, neither am I, but I would still like to get along with her. She’s very pretty, and her pink hair is so pleasant to look at. Her figure is really stylish too, how could I not want to be friends? And who knows, maybe something more?

“Uhmm… Katja… We’re going the wrong way.” We’re not running anymore, so why aren’t we heading back to the dorm?

“It’s fine, we’re not done yet.” Wait, what? “We’re going to walk for five minutes, then we’re going to run again. I’m sure you can run some more after a short rest, right?”She didn’t look my way, but I bet she was enjoying tormenting me.

“R- right…” I’m not happy with the way this turned out, but the malice I felt from her made it hard for me to refuse.

My five minutes of rest quickly came to an end. “We’re starting again. Let’s go.” Katja gave the signal, and we both started running again. I have no choice but to follow her, otherwise, I’d get lost in this forest.

We ended up running even less this time. I managed to get her to stop after we ran for two or three minutes. I had to ask her a few times, but she eventually caved. I think she kinda knows what I’m doing. She probably thinks I’m being lazy. It’s true that I’m not at my limit, but I am tired. I don’t want to run until I’m at my limit. I heard that pushing yourself to the limit isn’t even good for you. So please don’t make that part of my training, Katja.

Now we’re actually on the way back to the dorm. Seems like we’re done running for the day. Finally! It’s gonna take a while before we get there. Is it my chance to get close to her?

It’s kinda awkward to be walking like this without saying anything. I should talk to her, but what do I say? It would be nice if we could be friends, so I want to say something that will make her like me. Ideally, she would fall in love with me, but that’s too big of an ask. I have no clue how I’d get there. I guess the only way to start would be to ask more about her. I need to know more about her, whether I want to be friends with her or something else. But what do I ask?

I should ask her what her interests are. If she’s into games or anime, we’d have something to talk about, but… Yeah right, there’s no way she’s the kind of girl who’s into that. I don’t know what else to ask, though.

Maybe it’s better to just skip that step. I may be able to impress if I just choose my words right. That’s what guys do… I think… She seems to like training. Should I praise her strength? Maybe showing my appreciation for her will open the way into her heart.

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Alright stop! I’m officially revoking my right to think. What the hell am I going on about? There’s no way either of those things are going to come off as anything other than just super weird. Forget about it, Iroha. I’m absolutely going to screw something up if I try to open my mouth here. I don’t have to say anything. I’ll just stay quiet.

I made my decision not to start any weird attempts at seducing Katja and walked quietly behind her. Nothing could be heard but the sound of our footsteps and foliage being pushed around by the wind. It’s surprisingly calming to be walking like this, but also super awkward! Seriously! I can’t even enjoy this peaceful moment! The silence is making my skin crawl!

“A- Are you fine with your legs?” Hmm…? I have the feeling that came out slightly wrong.

“Huh!?” Katja stopped and turned around with a scary look on her face.

“Ah! No! What I meant was, are you fine running in a place like this with your legs exposed?” Her face scared me so much, I thought I was gonna die! I can’t believe I made a mistake like that! “There are so many bushes and stuff… Aren’t you scared you’ll get scratched?” Please don’t think I’m weird! I wasn’t trying to make a weird pass at you or anything!

Seeing her run with bloomers in a place like this both times just made me wonder what she was thinking. I just wanted to say something to break up the silence! How did I screw up so badly?

“Hm. It’s alright. I’m not careless enough to get hurt like that.” Katja shrugged and resumed walking. I think I saved it! She doesn’t seem too weirded out. I’m so glad. “Besides, it’s no big deal, even if I get scratched.”

What do you mean it’s not a big deal? You’re a girl, you’ve gotta take care of your legs and your skin. Especially when you’ve got such nice legs. I wish I could tell her to treasure herself more, but I have the feeling she would actually kill me, so I’ll have to refrain.

“D- do you run through here a lot? Is that why you don’t run into anything?”

“More or less. I’m also nimble enough that I can adjust my movements so as not to hit anything.”

“Ehh… Is that so?” So it’s a combination of knowledge of the terrain and physical ability. That makes sense.

…

Silence! Why are we back to silence? I mean, I don’t really know what else to say, but she didn’t even try to keep the conversation going! She’s still being cold for no reason. Now it feels even more awkward than before! It’s like I called attention to the fact that it was awkward by trying to fix the problem, and now that it’s awkward again, it’s more obvious than before!

If I had known this was gonna happen, I wouldn’t have said anything in the first place! It’s impressive how consistently I manage to always pick the wrong choices. Even in the dialogue in my games, it happens more often than it should, even when I’m not trying to. I really should have stayed quiet.

What do I do now? Do I speak up again? I can’t take this silence anymore. I know I should just stay quiet, since I’m just gonna make it worse, but I don’t know if I can hold back.

“D- do you like training?” Oh… there I go again…

“Hm? I do exercise a lot, but I only do it because I must. Whether or not I enjoy it has nothing to do with it. But don’t get confused, what I do is not training.”

Hmm? That doesn’t make much sense. She’s not training? How can that be? Hasn’t she been training with me? “It’s not training?”

“That’s right. What I do is more like maintenance than training.”

“B- but, weren’t we training together?”

“You were training. Training requires you to improve. I’m not improving, so I’m just exercising. It’s just maintenance.”

“You get better with practice and exercise. Aren’t you improving even if you don’t want to?” What she’s saying doesn’t make sense. She’s always going to improve if she does something. Even if it’s small, it’s still gonna be an improvement.

“That’s not always the case. Not for me. I’m not someone who can improve.” I had so many questions, but her voice sounded a little sad at the end, so I decided not to probe any further.

We went back to walking in silence, but somehow it didn’t feel as awkward as before. I could feel the calm, relaxing feeling of the woods once again. I wonder why that is. I’m glad I ended up trying to talk again. I think I managed to turn the situation around, even if just a little bit. I mean, it’s a little less awkward, but it’s still awkward as hell! I can’t wait until we get back to the dorm. I can relax a little if I focus on the sound of the wind, but that’s about it.

It’s a nice sound. The wind, the foliage, and the… buzzing? Hmm… Strange… I think I’m hearing something buzz.

“Hm?! Iroha, watch out!”

Watch out? What does she mean by that? I turned in the direction of the buzzing and saw one of those large beetle monsters that Katja told me about flying towards me.

I instinctively activated Agility Burst and jumped back to get out of the way of its charge. My skill made it easier for me to stick the landing, and I almost nailed it, but my foot got caught in a root, and I ended up falling on my butt.

Katja pulled out her retractable sword and shot out towards the beetle. Her sword finished extending just as she blocked the monster’s attack. Katja didn’t budge, and the monster got pushed back.

Katja stepped up to the dazed monster and gripped her sword with both her hands over her head. “I’ll finish you quickly.” With a single motion, the monster was sliced in half.

Wow, that was quick… She really is strong. I still haven’t wrapped my head around what has happened. So that’s a real fight… Not as scary as being chased by dozens of armed demons.

As she turned around, Katja swung her blade through the air and retracted it back to its more compact shape. Her movements are sooo cool! What the hell? She looks really cool fighting!

“Are you hurt, Iroha?” She said as she got close to me.

“N- no, I’m alright.” She’s sooo cool! I’m getting nervous again!

“Can you stand?” Katja extended her hand with a reassuring smile and helped me get up. I’m getting a weird sense of déjà vu here.

“T- thanks.” She really saved me. She told me there were monsters in this forest, but I wasn’t expecting we’d attacked by one today. That was really surprising. Almost as scary as Katja when I asked her about her legs.

“It was nothing. That was a surprisingly good move, Iroha. I didn’t know you could dodge like that.” It was good, wasn’t it? All credit goes to Agility Burst. Couldn’t have done it without my lovely skill. “Especially surprising coming from someone who was about to die from exhaustion when we were running.” Katja looked at me with suspicion. She doesn’t know about the VISS Driver, so me pulling a stunt like this is bound to raise some suspicion.

“T- that’s different! It- it wasn’t like running! It was just for a moment, and… well… my life was in danger!” Everything changes if my life is in danger. I could run a marathon if it’s in a life-or-death situation. In fact, I did! Not too long ago, might I add.

“It’s alright. I understand that very well. Let’s go. I want to get you back to the dorm quickly.” I was fine with that, and we both started heading back to the dorm. She walked by my side and asked me again if anything hurt, to which I replied that I was fine.