Shirahama Kenichi

At four in the morning, Shinnosuke crawled out of bed and washed his face to wake himself up. Looking at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror, he slapped his cheeks hard with both hands.

"To stay alive! Let's go!"

He put on his workout clothes, went downstairs, and took two slices of toast from the fridge before heading outside with them in his mouth.

He retied the rope attached to the worn-out tire in the yard around his waist and began his early-morning training. Shinnosuke had discovered that he recovered quickly. Although he had been exhausted after yesterday's special training, he had been full of energy again after a bath.

When he woke up, his muscles weren't sore either. It was as if he hadn't done any special training the night before...

Shinnosuke ran four kilometers in one go, wearing two layers off the tire he dragged behind him.

Just then, Shinnosuke ran into the boy in training clothes from yesterday again.

The boy was also dragging a worn-out tire behind him, but a man in a judo uniform sat on top of it, lashing the boy's back with a whip over and over.

Shinnosuke could hear the screams from far away...

Shinnosuke looked back at the tire behind him, then at the boy. The corner of his mouth twitched...

Is he really doing special training... or is this some kind of weird play...

Just then, Kōetsuji Akisame noticed Shinnosuke and stopped what he was doing.

"Kenichi, isn't that the person you met yesterday?"

Kenichi lay on the ground, panting heavily. Hearing his master Akisame's words, he turned toward Shinnosuke, and the lifeless look in his eyes made Shinnosuke's skin crawl.

"Oh, it's you. We meet again... Looks like I'm not the only one suffering so early in the morning... Thank God for giving me a comrade!! Sob..."

Shinnosuke looked at the baffling fellow in front of him, thought for a moment, and stepped forward to greet him.

"Good morning..."

Kōetsuji Akisame suddenly appeared behind Shinnosuke and squeezed his shoulder, startling him. Shinnosuke tried to break free, only to find he couldn't move at all!

The man's hand was like an iron clamp. He clearly wasn't using any force, yet Shinnosuke couldn't break free!!!

Kōetsuji Akisame stroked the whiskers beside his lips and said,

"Your body is much sturdier than those of others your age... You've even trained a small amount of pink muscle. Looks like you've been training for quite some time."

Shinnosuke's gaze flickered, but he said nothing.

Beside them, Kenkuyakuichi Shirahama looked horrified. His karate teacher, Sakaki Shio, had once told him that there were three kinds of muscle in the human body.

White muscle, which had explosive power but lacked endurance. Red muscle, which had endurance but lacked strength. Pink muscle, which possessed the advantages of both.

The distribution of these muscles never changed throughout a person's life. Only Kōetsuji Akisame had defied common sense and trained every muscle in his body into "pink muscle." That was why Kōetsuji Akisame could unleash such tremendous power despite his less-than-bulky physique.

When Shirahama Kenichi heard Kōetsuji Akisame say that Shinnosuke had trained pink muscle, his heart churned like stormy seas. This somewhat gloomy-looking guy was actually so strong!

"Young man, what's your name? Are you interested in learning martial arts?"

Shinnosuke was taken aback. He shook his head and said,

"My name is Shinnosuke Nohara. As for martial arts, I'm not very interested for now... Thank you for the offer."

Kōetsuji Akisame was a little disappointed. He then pulled his disciple over and said to Shinnosuke,

"To each their own. This is my disciple, Shirahama Kenichi. You two should be about the same age, so you could be friends. It's nice to have a partner when it comes to training."

Shirahama Kenichi was momentarily stunned, then came to his senses. He held out his right hand to Shinnosuke and said,

"Ah... I'm Shirahama Kenichi. Let's do our best together from now on!"

Shinnosuke grinned and took Kenichi's right hand.

"Yeah... Let's do our best together!"

Shinnosuke waved goodbye to Shirahama Kenichi and Kōetsuji Akisame, then dragged the heavy old tire away, slowly disappearing from their sight...

That evening, Kōetsuji Akisame returned to Ryozanpaku, dragging the limp Shirahama Kenichi behind him.

He casually tossed Shirahama Kenichi to the side, then knelt beside the others.

Miu Furinji handed Kōetsuji Akisame a cup of tea. He thanked her, took a sip, and set it aside before addressing everyone.

"Everyone, I met an interesting young man today..."

"..."