6 Chapter 6

Sweat glistened from my skin. Forming rivers along the contours of my muscles as they run down the length of my arm, as I stand, upside down, vertically, doing pushups on one arm, I lower my head, facing the floor directly lest my horns, the length of my palms, hit the floor, I see my long, grey/white hair, pooling on the floor, annoyingly close to my hand, I swat it away with my other, my entire body shifting to balance the move, before lifting the full weight of my body, as well as 100kg of extra weight strapped along my body in such a way that it does not interfere with my bodies natural ballance.

The entirety of my focus held by the extreme concentration required to balance my form, my tail swinging through the air to aid my ballance, my body does not require exercise to build muscle, I had adapted it to grow muscle as long as it has available nutrients, however exercise was still important, it told me the limits of my muscles, and what to strengthen next, some people may think that more muscle is always better, but that is not always true, different muscles do different things, If I just flat out grew every muscle in my arm at once I would find myself incapable of doing certain actions, and certain muscles would give out long before others, exercise told me which muscles needed changes.

I lower and raise again, a tally at the back of my mind telling me this was my 1000th push up for this set, yet my muscles showed no signs of deterioration, it seemed it was time to up the weight, I lower myself again, still on one hand, then shoot up in one quick motion, launching 3 meters into the air, I flip around and land gracefully on my feet, running my hands over the sides of my face to gather loose strands of hair behind my ears again, as a small portal drops my water bottle in my hand, while technically not legal, this gym allowed its members to use their quirks so long as it does not interfere with others pulling my water bottle to my face, I ignore the stares I receive, many coming from other gym members looking at me with distinct jealousy and hatred, as I pull on my shirt, my right ear flicks to the side, as I hear an annoyed huff.

"Showoff" my head turns, as I move to look at the source, a disconcerting view considering the bandana covering my eyes, my senses had evolved in the years since my birth, to the point that taking in all the information around me could sometimes be overwhelming despite my mental strength, the bandana worked as a stopgap solution, despite my strange senses, my eyes seem to have a strange importance placed on them, however despite the bandana I was perfectly capable of seeing the world around me, just in less detail than without, with the bandana I see the world like I have the best vision in the world, without I can see the the world down to the very quarks that make up all physical mass.

Standing there, just a few feet away from me is Nier, we had grown close over the years, despite my antisocial nature, her persistence and the fact that she was the only person "my age" I ever really interacted with had forged a friendship between us, as I stared at her, wearing a sports bra, and workout gear, I noticed the many lecherous eyes around the gym directing their focus towards her form, the seed of an unfamiliar feeling worming its way into my heart, but I simply ignored it.

I feigned hurt, my face remaining completely unchanged despite. "Ouch, and here I thought you were enjoying the view."

"Oh you bet I was, but that doesn't mean you have to go and show off like that, like come on man, who does a three meter flip from a vertical push up and then acts like it's a regular tuesday?" I notice the small blush forming on her face as she spoke, almost imperceptible, I was no dense anime protagonist, I had long noticed her developing feelings for me, but I wasn't really sure how I felt about it, we were both 14, but we both acted and looked like young adults, living as an important figure in one of the most influential companies in the world, she developed her maturity early. So even considering my previous life, a relationship with her wouldn't feel strange, but I still wasn't sure how to feel about her.

I had never loved anyone before, and even if I were to blame my incapability to feel much of anything in my previous world, it was not solely due to that, even before I had lost my feelings I had never loved anyone, physical attraction yes, but romantic attraction? Never. I cared little for looks, although it was a plus, what was important to me was trustworthiness, and a good personality that meshed well with mine, as well as shared similar interests, and was similarly capable and academically inclined as myself, high standards, I was aware, but I was content with living my life alone, so I never bothered lowering them. Nier met all requirements.

Due to my high standards, I was distinctly inexperienced in the subject of love. But just as I was not dense enough to miss her developing feelings, neither was I too dense to miss my own. I had grown fond of her, as evident by the strange feeling of jealousy, and anger I had felt just moments ago seeing men look at her with lust, but I was unsure if I wanted to build our relationship further than it currently was. And I was unsure if my feelings were simply that of a protective brother, friend, or aspiring lover, as I was not simply inexperienced with love, but emotions as a whole.

"Well since I just did it, I'd say I'm that person." I was also incredibly thick skinned. "And don't lie, I know you enjoyed it." a small chuckle escaping my lips as I watched her face flush, she was not some damsel heroine from an anime, she rarely got embarrassed or flustered, so it was all the more rewarding when I managed to make her flustered, and a small, but genuine smile began to play at my lips.

Her mouth opened, likely searching for a retort, before snapping shut as she turned and walked away, well aware I would turn any retort against her, and I laughed, watching as her tail flicked with annoyance, which only served to increase the volume of my laughter.

One thing I did know at least, was that even if our relationship never evolved any further, I was perfectly content with the way things were.

S̸̢̻͔̬̿ò̸̱̮̀̅̓̈́ ̶̺̗͍̝̉͋̓̓̀I̷͖̖̮̓͜ͅ ̷̺̪͌̓̆͝h̷̯̟̙̻̝̓͘o̶̭͍͂͂̽p̷̫̓́̾e̷̛͈̣̥̮̺͐̑̀ ̶̡̨̢͌̓͋i̷̥̊̚͠ͅt̷̮̼̓ ̷̰̦̙͓̰̅͌l̸̛̰͍̓̌̓ͅä̴̩́s̶̨͈͉̍̈̀̾̀t̶̬̜̼͌̅̾͋s̴̛͚̻͑ ̵̡͙̬̬̲̓͆̎͝f̸̖̳̻̗̾ò̷͜r̸̜̬̓̉̔e̶̢̮̖͒̏v̸̧̢̡͈̌̈̒̐ḛ̴̘̩̘̓̾͘ŗ̷͔̯̓͘ͅ.̵̣̲̮̆

(an, hope y'all enjoyed this chapter, I think it turned out well, I meant to have another scene of importance in this chapter, but I got sucked into the gym scene and went into way more detail than I expected, so I'll save that scene for the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed.

Btw here's an image of how I imagine Nier.)