When I woke up in my room on the sixth floor, my first thought was about how alone I was. Sure, the MEW girls were still somewhere in the building, but the residential floor was entirely abandoned and it felt wrong. Ever since I'd arrived, the one thing I could count on was the presence of my new friends. Now that comfort was gone too. I forced myself out of bed and ate a quick breakfast. Now that my body clock had adjusted to Japan time, I was waking up consistently around 8, which made falling into routine easy.
Once I'd eaten I pulled on exercise clothes – for me, a singlet, short shorts and runners – and headed down to the fourth floor, where the gym was. If Shirogane wanted me to train, I planned to at least start on my own terms. I walked around the gym, glancing at the various equipment. I'd never been much of a gym person. How do people start off a work-out?
Warm-ups, I recalled from painful school sport lessons. Maybe a few laps around the oval and then some stretches. I ran around the perimeter of the gym a couple of times, not even breaking a sweat despite my speed, then pulled out a mat and began performing some stretches I remembered. I was fairly flexible before, but now I could touch my toes without straining.
As I was balancing on one leg to stretch the quadriceps of the other leg, the door of the gym burst open. I gasped into surprise, lost my balance, and fell into a heap on the mat. I landed on my butt and tried to make it look like I'd done it intentionally. I turned around with a sheepish grin, only to see Shirogane standing in the doorway. My grin quickly disappeared.
"You don't know much about training, huh?" he smirked. "It's smarter to start off with dynamic stretches which involve movement, then do the static stretches at the end of the workout. Then again, since it's the smarter option, it's not a surprise that you're not doing it."
"There are so many ways you could've told me that without being a dick," I sighed. "Then again, since that's the 'decent human being' option, it's not a surprise that you're not doing it."
He laughed off the insult and walked over to me. He paused thoughtfully, then grabbed two cones and placed them a relatively short distance apart.
"Alright, so you're going to do the exercises I tell you on your way to that cone," he said, pointing at the further one, "then jog on the way back."
He made me go through a huge range of movements, most of which I'd never heard of. The ones like butt-kicks and lunges I knew of course, but there were more confusing ones too. Still, I managed to complete all of them with ease. The gap between my endurance as a human and as whatever the hell I am now astounded me. I knew I could've finished all this before I got MEW'd, but I would've been tired afterwards. Now I was still raring to go.
Next Shirogane taught me some basic things about martial arts. The base stance, with left foot forwards and right foot back, balanced on the ball of the foot, was meant to increase balance. Then, both fists up, level with the jaw and the left slightly forwards, was best for going from punching to defending. Shirogane had me throw sharp punches and kicks into a protective shield-mat-thing until my upper arms and thighs were crying out in protest. Finally he was satisfied and I was allowed to collapse onto the bench on the gym wall and have a cooling drink. Even with all my added strength, I was nowhere close to invincible.
Once I'd caught my breath, it was onto the treadmill to test my endurance. I'd run a long distance to fight that Chimera yesterday, so I agreed to the treadmill if only so I knew my own limits and didn't tire myself out unnecessarily in a future battle.
Running was so simple that my mind wandered as I ran. I wondered why Shirogane was teaching me martial arts techniques which were clearly meant for use on a human. I mean, fighting Chimeras is different to fighting people, so it only makes sense that there'd be an entirely different strategy. Just as I was thinking this, Shirogane increased the treadmill's intensity and soon I was actually fighting for breath. I kept running until finally it got to be too much and I hastily stepped off. While my muscles felt tired, it wasn't the jelly sensation that I usually felt after running too far. That was somewhat of a relief.
"Not bad," he nodded. I shrugged, still too out of breath to bother replying.
Once I'd recovered slightly, I decided to ask him about the difference in fighting techniques. "What's up with the martial arts? It seems like the stuff I'd use on a human, not a giant space monster."
"It is," he agreed. "The basics are still helpful though. More importantly, I want you to be prepared for the next time you run into that Alien. He's humanoid, and, really, a punch in the face is enough to stop anyone for a few moments."
I nodded slowly. That made sense – Kish was a dangerous opponent, and knowing how to fight him even without weapons would be an advantage. Having gotten my answer, I returned to the bench and waited for my energy to return. While I was resting, Shirogane was scribbling on a clipboard and glancing at the various pieces of equipment around the room. Like he was making some sort of horrible, tortuous training plan.
It didn't take long for my body to recover. I'd always been quite fast at catching my breath and recovering, but my MEW body took it to a whole new level. That was good, because it wasn't long before Shirogane swaggered over with the list he'd been writing. As I'd suspected, it was a training plan, one focused on strength which used weights and core training. He ran me through each of the exercises then left me to complete the list in full.
By the time I'd completed all of the exercises on Shirogane's list, it was already afternoon. I showered, had a short swim in the pool as a cool down, then showered again and returned to the residential floor. I was absolutely starving from all of the strenuous activity that I'd performed today. In fact, I was quite sure that my additional strength and fast healing came with the drawback of a much larger appetite. Still, I'd always been a fan of food, so I wasn't too upset with an excuse to eat more.
When the elevator stopped and I stepped onto the sixth floor, I discovered, much to my delight, that dinner had already been prepared for me. I guess all the scientists on the lower floors have to eat something, so it makes sense that there'd be a kitchen somewhere else in MEW HQ aside from our own private one.
Once I'd eaten, I realised that I had the rest of my evening free. I returned to the fourth floor to grab an armful of books and manga, then spent my night reading in my room. I was so tired that I only managed to finish one book before I was asleep.
The rest of my week continued in the same manner. Get up alone, eat breakfast, train under Shirogane's watchful eye, then eat dinner and spend the evening relaxing. It was a nice routine that certainly filled up my entire day, but without the companionship of my friends, I found myself quickly becoming bored. Although I saw Shirogane during the day, it was a lonely lifestyle. I was impatiently waiting for the other MEWs to wake up, even though I had no idea how long it would be.
Then, finally, the day came. I was waiting for Shirogane to show up in the gym, having just completed my warm-up. He peeked inside the door of the gym and greeted me with a smile. Instead of proceeding to teach me a new fighting technique, however, he beckoned for me to follow him. I walked after him to the elevator and we dropped to the third floor.
"Does this mean the other girls are waking up?" I asked excitedly. If I'd managed to gain cognitive control of my tail yet I'd probably have been wagging it.
"Zakuro and Mint are due to wake up today," he nodded. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I was finally going to have my friends – well, at least some of them. I was sure that they'd both be surprised with how much progress I'd made since they'd last seen me. Then again, they were probably going to be more preoccupied with the new changes that had occurred to them. Even though it had been a week now, I still caught glimpses of myself in a mirror and jumped at the strange, yellow predator's eyes, or the fluffy ears and tail.
Shirogane and I walked down a new corridor. I'd never get over my hatred of the buzzing fluorescent lights or the harsh chemical reek of this place. We stopped outside a door and I strained to hear what was inside. I could hear hushed whispers and the sound of the heart rate monitor, the same as the one that I'd been plugged into, and suddenly it all stopped and a line of scientists came streaming out of the door. Inside, I could see black hair splayed across a pillow and figured that this must be Zakuro's room. The door closed and still Shirogane and I waited.
Shirogane glanced at his watch. "She'll be awake in about four minutes now." I nodded, and fidgeted. This was going to be a long four minutes.
A.N: Apologies for the filler-ness of this chapter, I had to give Ichigo something of a training montage… Anyway, soon the other MEWs will be back in action and the real ass-kicking can begin!