The gym floor was cold, carrying the faintly salty smell of sweat and the scorched odor of rubber friction.
For Lu Ren right now, it was the most comfortable bed in the world.
He lay sprawled near the baseline, arms and legs spread wide, his chest heaving like a battered bellows. Every breath felt as if sandpaper were scouring his lungs, the burning pain spreading up his windpipe and into his throat.
[Warning! Stamina depleted!] [Warning! Lactic acid is accumulating. Current concentration: lethal.] [Warning! Body overheating. Cooling system failure. Immediate forced shutdown recommended.]
"Lu Ren!"
An energetic voice came from above, like some kind of piercing, high-frequency noise.
An orange face suddenly appeared in his field of vision, blocking the lights on the ceiling. Hinata Shoyo stared down at the "corpse" on the floor with wide, curious eyes.
"Are you still alive? Can't move already?"
Lu Ren struggled to turn his eyes, as if rotating two rusty bearings. He looked at Hinata. The guy had just run the same number of laps and done the same shuttle runs, and had even squeezed in two more sets of spikes at the end.
But now, the orange-haired kid hadn't even broken much of a sweat. Heat was practically rising from his head, as if he were a perpetual-motion machine that had just finished warming up and was ready to run at full power.
"...Monster." Lu Ren's lips moved, but his voice was quieter than a mosquito's buzz.
"Huh? What did you say?" Hinata crouched down and leaned closer.
"I said..." Lu Ren took a deep breath and rolled his eyes with all the strength he could muster. "Could you stop shoving your max-level health bar... in the face of a level-one newbie like me? It's... it's going to lower my sanity."
Hinata tilted his head, evidently not understanding the anime slang in his complaint.
"I don't really get it, but you look so pale, Lu Ren. Like you've been poisoned."
"It's not poison." Lu Ren stared blankly at the ceiling. "It's the result of a huge level difference, causing continuous mental pollution and physical damage to the player. You freaks... your base stats are definitely cheating."
He glanced over to one side. Kageyama Tobio was tidying up the net, moving briskly and looking like he could play another ten rounds. Sawamura Daichi was discussing tactics with Sugawara Kōshi, full of energy.
Only him.
Lu Ren felt like a villager from Animal Crossing who'd wandered into the world of Dark Souls. They didn't even belong on the same visual layer.
"Don't just lie there. It's bad for your heart to lie down right after intense exercise."
A fair hand reached out toward him.
Lu Ren followed the hand with his gaze. Kiyosawa Mashiba stood backlit, her tracksuit zipped up to the top, her ponytail swaying gently as she moved. She wore that trademark "kind" smile that sent chills down Lu Ren's back.
"Come on. Let's revive at this save point."
Lu Ren stared at her hand for three seconds, then tried to engage his core and do a sit-up.
Failure.
His abs seemed to have left home.
"I... can't get up." Lu Ren gave up his dignity and told her honestly. "The modules below my waist seem to have lost their connection."
"Pathetic."
Mashiba chuckled. Not even minding his sweaty hand, she grabbed him by the wrist.
A force that refused to be reasoned with tugged at him. Lu Ren felt like a sack being hauled bodily off the ground.
"Hey, hey, hey! Easy! Fracture! I'm registering a fracture!"
Lu Ren staggered to his feet, his legs still shaking uncontrollably like a patient in the late stages of Parkinson's. He slumped most of his weight against Mashiba's shoulder like an accessory.
"Is it really that bad?" Mashiba steadied him and swung his backpack over her other shoulder. "We only ran a few laps. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi aren't acting nearly as dramatic as you."
"Them?" Lu Ren sneered. Though pale, he still wouldn't back down. "Tsukishima may look skinny, but he's tall with long legs. His stride is one and a half times mine. And Yamaguchi... he's the boss's companion monster. His stats must come with a bonus."
"Excuses."
"That's called reasonable data analysis."
The two of them slowly shuffled out of the gym. The sun had already sunk, and the cool night breeze brushed against their sweat-soaked clothes, raising goosebumps.
As they passed Sakashita Shopping Street, the aroma of those meat buns hooked Lu Ren by the nose like a tangible soul-snaring rope.
"Hungry," Lu Ren said succinctly.
"Weren't you just saying you were going to die?"
"In a near-death state, the desire to eat rises exponentially. It's a biological instinct."
Two minutes later.
Lu Ren sat on a roadside bench, holding a steaming meat bun in his hands. He took a bite, and scalding meat juices burst in his mouth. The happiness instantly eased the soreness in his muscles.
[System notification: Used item "Sakashita Store Special Meat Bun." HP restored: +15. Buff gained: Good mood.]
"I'm alive again..." Lu Ren let out a long breath and looked at Mashiba beside him, nibbling on a red bean bun.
The dim glow of the streetlamp fell across her profile, outlining its soft contours. She ate with such good manners that it was hard to believe she was the strongwoman who'd just lifted a grown man weighing over a hundred pounds with one hand.
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