Another update. I hope I am not giving too much details regarding gym. While I want Hachiman to get "bigger" it doesn't mean he will be a sex-god :D If you've got any ideas and suggestions, feel free to write a review.

Very important thing! This whole series is set before the events of infirmary scene and penguins. There is no Yukinoshita's request and their relationship is less deep than it was in the end of the second season. This way it's easier for me to introduce my ideas.


A (not so) small change in one's life.

Chapter 2


"And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."

Now that my sister has made me go to a gym I have no option left but to find a decent one in my neighborhood. To be honest I don't have any idea about the gym regarding crap. I always labeled it as the Riajuu thing and therefore evaded it. The only image of a gym I have is a lot of big muscled thugs doing some exercises, though I don't even know what these exercises are. I guess I need to do some research first.

If one were a loner one would know that it's recommendable to first gather all the important information and only then go outside of his zone. Zone is quite a nice name, actually it's just my room. I mean every expedition out of it needs to be planned carefully. Otherwise it might bring only calamities and disasters. If you wonder what these calamities are I can tell you. It's quite amazing how just a few letters in a correct order might make me shiver. Haruno Yukinoshita. In fact Haruno as a word is powerful enough there is no need for the Yukinoshita add-on.

I might digress. The thing is I've got a list of gyms that aren't far from my house. Let's see...

"GymHeaven 24/7" Nah this sounds so stupid. Who would give a name like that?

"Good'Ol Gym" This one sounds decent, but I am afraid the good'ol sounds a little bit too... I don't know how to put it. I think there will be those "true" gym "warriors" and I'll feel even more out of place. The next one.

"Chiba MaxGym" I wouldn't be able to think of a better name. Not only is there Chiba in its name, but also the great and amazing prefix of the best coffee ever! I didn't even know that such a combination could be possible. Well done. Let's look at their website.

I scroll down their page. There is a lot of information I can't really comprehend, but I guess that's not important. What's important is the price list. Now that is really nice. It seems the first entry is free. Oh.. There is this funny feature too. You can go through the gym virtually. Something like Google Street View, but this time Chiba MaxGym view. Let's see what we've got here in store.

A lot of benches, boxes and these little things. How do they call it? Kettles. Though they're not exactly small. My god. I think this gym is designed just for me. In the corner there is the most splendid thing one could ever think of. A VENDING MACHINE. But that's not that great. In fact there are a lot of these on the streets. BUT! This one has got two rows of MaxCoffee cans. Simply amazing.

I guess it won't hurt me to go there tomorrow. It's just a few hundreds meters from me. It won't hurt to try? Yeah... It's not like I am going into a totally new environment... Okay. I guess I am scared a tiny bit. I feel so stupid. I think I haven't really changed from my middle school years. I was so excited and scared before the school trip that I couldn't really sleep. I am a man. I do not fear anything. Well.. maybe both of the Yukinoshita's, but that's a different race or something. I guess Miura is quite scary too. Ugh. It's not like I'll have to go there more than once. Komachi made me go there just tomorrow. The entry is free and at last I can simply buy there just MaxCoffee and drink it on the way home.

I guess tomorrow in the morning is a good time. It won't be hot and there won't be many people outside. The other side of this coin is that it means I'll have to wake up early. I guess I'll just go to sleep a tiny bit sooner.


Here I am standing right in front of the front doors. Be a man Hachiman! You already have the phone number of Totsuka. Not only that! You've got photos with Totsuka. Don't you remember that you've slept right beside him? You saw his smile... Yes... His smile was superb. There is nothing I would want to do that I haven't already done! Well... Maybe there are a few things. Doesn't matter! Be a MAN!

I walk into the gym. I know perfectly the layout. I could walk here with my eyes closed, but I didn't expect this. When I was walking virtually in this club there weren't any people! None. Right now there are about 20 of them. I am starting to tremble.

I've realized I am standing idly like an idiot in the entrance. The receptionist is giving me weird looks. In fact I feel as if everybody was giving me disgusted looks. I might be exaggerating. Time to step forward.

I did it. Now the trickier part. I need to start the conversation with the beautiful lady that is supposed to sell me membership or simply just give me the keys to the locker-room. Why did they have to hire such a well shaped girl? She might not look as elegant and beautiful as Yukinoshita, but she's got a good size of... Keep calm Hachiman. You need to talk not stare at her 'attributes', even if they're quite nice to look at.

"Good morning" I start politely. Way to go Hachiman! You always use "yo" and now you're too afraid to?

"Good morning, how can I help you?" replied the girl. She's got a badge with her name. Hm... Hinami? Her short black hair surely suits her. Her voice is nice too. Her eyes are black, but it works out just fine. I mean black hair, black eyes and white shirt. She looks really good. Shit! I should be talking right now not contemplating her.

"Well I've heard that the first entry is free, so I'd like to give it a try and do some workouts." That sounded hilarious. Don't know why I used it. It sounds so stupid.

Hinami smiled gently. Now that I think she might be as old as I am. Maybe a part-job?

"I see. I need your ID card and you'll have to sign up here." She tells me while pulling out a sheet of paper with a lot of text in it. I guess it's the rules that I must agree to. If she thinks I haven't read them yet then she's wrong! I read every possible form that was on their website.

"Right. Here is my ID card and here is my sign." I try to smile. Not sure though if it turned out to be a smile or just a grimace. Either way she gives me the keys of the locker and instructs me where to go. Not that I didn't know any of this!

"I hope you'll enjoy your 'workouts' here." says Hinami with a little hint of causticity. I just try to smile back and head to the locker-room.


I go out of the locker-room. I am dressed in a plain black t-shirt and black shorts. I've also got some unused PE shoes. What do I do now? As I've read it seems I first need a warm-up. I decide for a bicycle. After some 15 minutes of 'workout' it's time for the main course.

I turn right and go to the 'lifting area'. As far as I know the most important exercise is bench press. I see one bench that is not being used. Okay, let's start. I do around 10 reps with a low weight and then I hear someone making a noise hard to describe. It clearly shows annoyance and disapproval. I am a well known or rather not known, but still I am an experienced veteran of being the victim of remarks, so I decide to ignore it. I do another set of 10 reps. I hear it again. Whoever is making this noise really annoys me. Who are you?

"Em... You're doing it wrong. Just stop it, please." says a lad around my age with a rather coarse voice.

"You'll get hurt and your gains will be none."

I stand up. I survey his looks. He's rather tall, taller than me – I guess around 180 cm. His eyes are blue. No, they're green or maybe blue? I notice that he's apparently got heterochromia. Both of his eyes are silver green with an slight addition to blue. But there's is something more to his eyes. I don't know. His hair is rather brown than black. He is definitely well build up. He's wearing a black tank with gray shorts and red shoes. He looks much more of a 'gym' member than me.

I decide to be rather nice than harsh. Who knows what kind of hierarchy does this place has.

"I can imagine. It's my first time here and I guess I might not have the perfect technique." I say wryly.

"Not perfect technique? I would rather say you've got no technique. Eh..." The way he talks resemble a tired old man. I've finally noticed something. His eyes are special in a different way. They're similar to mine, but while mine are simply put rotten his are just... tired. Not tired as if he didn't sleep last night, but tired of his life. Maybe melancholic even?

"Well, I am sorry for my 'lack of 'technique'." I say slightly showing my annoyance.

"Okay, I can't just stand and see you getting hurt. I'll show you how to do some basic exercises here and you'll listen carefully, so I wouldn't have to repeat myself. Is it clear?"

"Yes."

"Oh and by the way my name is Reiji." - Reiji huh?

"Ah.. Don't add any stupid suffixes to my name. I mean as long as you're working out here we're 'gymbros' no need for such a formality. What's your name by the way?"

"Hikigaya Hachiman." I say rapidly.

"Hachiman, huh?" Do I have to say something?

"Okay listen, I am not gonna repeat myself..."


My new 'gymbro' has shown me the basics of a workout. He called it a Whole Body Workout and said it was a good startup for me. I don't have a knowledge in this field, so I couldn't argue. He decided to guide me today and we've made a 'workout' together. I was fucking exhausted after all of these exercises. He on the other hand didn't seem to be tired at all. His eyes only rarely show the tiredness I've mentioned before. I guess I've noticed it only thanks to my perfect vision and years of training.

"Did you weigh yourself already?" He then asked while we were stretching up.

"Why would I? I mean I know my weight." I replied honestly.

He smiled.

"It's not just about knowing your weight. It will tell you your body fat percentage and some funny other infos too. We should actually do it before the workout, but well it won't hurt us to do it now."

He said and than stood up.

"Shall we?"

I've nodded my head and followed him. We walked almost back to the place where Hinami-chan was siting idly.

"So, what's your age?"

"17 – why would ask?"

"I don't need it, it's just required to weigh you correctly. What's your height?

I told him my height and then he told me to stand up at the weight at grip two funny thingies. Not sure what they were for. After a few second the weight did make a weird noise and started to print out a receipt as it seemed. What? I'll have to pay for it? Reiji took the receipt and started reading it, while nodding from time to time.

"I see. Well, you're not that bad. If you work hard you'll look decent in a few weeks. That's not important though. You'll be stronger. At least you should, you know I can't exercise with you if you're going to just lift around 50 kg. It's pointless for me. I set a goal for you. You'll have to lift 70 kg in 2 weeks from now. Ok?"

"Ok..." I don't know what I was supposed to say.

"Your body fat is not that bad, that's what I meant. I guess you do exercise a bit. Let me guess. You go to school at foot?"

"Not exactly, I use bike for that."

"Yeah, that's what I meant." You didn't mean that at all!

"So, what is my BF?" I asked slightly irritated. He just kept talking and didn't even show me my results.

"Ah.. Sorry I guess you should look at it first. Your bf is 12%. That's actually quite good, but you're still too small. Remember to eat a lot. Here is your receipt. To be honest I don't know how to call it. It's just a printout of your parameters."

He gave me my 'receipt' and I've read it. Not that I understood it. It was in English and I am not that good at it. I put it to my pocket.

"Hey, Reiji how is our little newbie doing?" said Hinami out of nowhere. She seemed to be having fun.

"I guess not bad. Though his eyes are somewhat making me think he's not gonna last long."

My eyes, look at your eyes. My eyes might be rotten, but they're not as tired as your. Wait... Rotten is worse than tired I guess.

I look at him. He seems to be much happier now. He is smiling brightly while talking with Hinami. That's weird. His eyes are now sparking with energy. I don't get it. Does he has a crush on her?

As they keep talking about some gym regarded nonsense I register that his eyes from time to time show the tiredness. I know. I've got a feeling just like with Haruno. He's putting a masc. It's just a facade, but he can't keep it up perfectly like Haruno does. They've ended chatting. Hinami has got to talk to a new client. It's weird, because Reiji seems to breathe out. If you didn't enjoy that chit-chat why were you acting so happy in the first place?

He turns his eyes to me. I look deep in his eyes and then I realize something. It's not a tiredness that's in his eyes. It's darkness. It's an abyss. Suddenly Nietsche's words appear before me. "And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." I feel shivers down my spine. I turn my eyes down.

"Why were you looking at me as if you saw a ghost or something?"

"Eh.. It's nothing."

"If you say so. Anyways. I'll be here the next week, so I am expecting to see you here next weekend."

"Well. Maybe." it almost always works. You say maybe and then nobody feels disappointed that you don't do something, because you did use this magic word!

"Not maybe, but you will." he said calmly.

"Ok." I don't know him very well, but I guess I didn't dislike the workout with him. I guess I might come as well next week.

"Oh and don't forget to buy your membeship. Just go to Hinami and she will register you."

"Right, right."

"Cya bro."

"Yo."

I walk back to the locker-room and he walks back to the 'lifting zone' it seems he was not done with his workout yet. Well, it wasn't that bad. Now I am gonna buy a MaxCoffee and then head home. My bed awaits me after all.


As you might have guessed Reiji is based *partially* on me. Not entirely, in fact it's just his eyes that we share, nothing else. Introducing new character was harder than I expected, but I hope it did go well.