| abstract | - Gai Nagareboshi lay on a couch, gripping into a small cushion, snoring as usual. His face appeared as if he was wearing something resembling a smile as drool slowly trailed down his slowly open lip. Gai felt as if he was having both the best and worst dream; it was actually quite good in the beginning- his wedding with Mitsuru, whom was the only person to actually show him empathy and compassion these days. It was good until then, but after that, his heart began to thump fast. Anyone would if they had the same dream, though. He was also breathing fast as he jerked up, as if yanked by a puppeteer's string, wiping the sweat on his forehead with his hand, which astonished him from the sheer amount of sweat there was. At the same time, he realized that he used his left arm, which was scaly and deformed to wipe it. The last scene…That being inside of him, the Envoy of Destruction. It was like a fantasy story ripped straight from a storybook or a manga, which confused him the most. At the end of the dream, his left arm turned into that of that form's, but now there was nothing wrong with it…well, it was back to its demonic form. However, Gai did realize from that dream that the Envoy of Destruction was still dormant in his soul. Gazing at the clock as his eyes snapped open; he noticed it was 1:30 am in the morning; too early for his tastes, to be honest. As he took a deep breath, he fell back down on the couch, before he quickly remembered. He needed to get ready post-haste. As he gazed out the window, he noticed that Mitsuru was waiting for him, tapping his foot as if he was impatient. Mitsuru glanced at him after he realized that Gai was looking at him. 'Hurry up.' He moved his lips while smiling. "Tch! Give me a moment!" Quickly, Gai changed into his usual attire from his pajamas, sprinting out of the room to start training. "Haaa…haaaa…haaaaa…" Gai was breathing heavily, as Mitsuru shouted, "Don't run so half-assed like that! If you keep that up, I'm gonna make you do twenty more laps of running from Rukongai to Seireitei!" Losing his breath, Gai stumbled about in the park of Rukongai, as Mitsuru ran behind him, paradoxically encouraging him while taking the piss out of him without mercy. "W-Why do you need to act like such an asshole…!" Gai was genuinely afraid of Mitsuru acting so strict. Of course, deep down he realized that such strenuous work was necessary if he wanted to take down those mysterious guys, Chira Tendou and Masato Nagareboshi. "I…I want to defeat them…I want to become stronger…haaaa…" Those words slipped as he was running. "That's correct. But to defeat such foes, you're gonna have to do this training every day. Becoming strong takes a lot of time and effort, Gai." "Thank you, Captain Obvious." Gai snarked to himself. In order to prove those guys wrong and make his current desire become realized, he needed to get stronger. While strength isn't absolute in any spiritual realm, the stronger one is, the easier it is to handle things, rising up to become something resembling an authority. Well, one could rise up with knowledge, manipulation, and other, passive skills but Gai had no talent in those things. Hell, all he could do was swing an enormous sword beam at his opponents until they went down and tie a knot of a cherry stem with his tongue. That was why, he needed to increase his stamina; on top of that, he moved fast and he hit hard, though several particularly powerful hits could knock him out for the count; that was one of the reasons he was determined to become stronger. However, Mitsuru was a fierce instructor who wouldn't be out of place in Ancient Sparta. "I won't forgive you for being weak, got that?" Mitsuru showed Gai no mercy in regards to his morning training. The Mototsu-Seishin hybrid was made to run for two hundred kilometers, and after that, sprint from Rukongai to Seireitei and back one hundred times. Mitsuru also forced him to do various random training, to the point that he lost count of them, in addition to various other types of training. Gai began to think that either Mototsu or Seishin were beings of the night that were at their most powerful at night; and training in the morning which he was supposedly weak against made him mentally stronger as well as physically stronger. Either that, or Mitsuru was being even harsher. If that was possible. Gai had been suffering from chest cramps every day since the training began- getting used to it scared the crap out of him him, though it didn't hurt as much as it did on the first day; he had been able to do such routines quite easily- proof that he had been improving little by little each day. "Haa…haa…" As Gai reached the peak of the small hill at the top of the park, he ceased running; sweat was dripping down his body. "…Excellent work. Now, run from Rukongai to Seireitei." Gai's eyes widened and his pupils contracted, as Mitsuru smiled. Damn! He seemed so sadistic. "….N-Nine-hundred and…ninety…f-five…" After Gai had finished the two hundred kilometer run in addition to running from Rukongai to Seireitei one hundred times, Gai began to perform push-ups in the park, as Mitsuru sat on his back. For one reason or another, it felt as if Mitsuru was groping his rear end- Gai didn't really care; his arms were becoming unfeeling and he had no time to do anything about it, though his snow-white skin became a flushed red in embarrassment. SMACK! "D-Dammit…!" As Gai paused for a moment, Mitsuru slapped him in the butt, causing the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid to let out a sound, which he wasn't too sure about. "Stop having dirty thoughts. While you may think this seems suggestive, it's not." Great. Just great. Mitsuru was essentially polishing feces right in front of Gai's nose. "…Tch! That's…n-nine hundred and…ninety…eight…because if I think you're one of those bastards who race horses…n-nine hundred and…ninety…nine…you're turning me into your goddamn horse…One-thousand!" Mitsuru responded with something impossible while smiling. "Tsk, tsk…Talking, while doing push-ups? You've grown. I may add another thousand if you keep this up." Gai thought to himself as he almost collapsed, "I-I swear…I'm gonna die…I'll be dead by tomorrow…dammit…" The feeling in his body began to slip away from him as he moaned in pain. Even though he felt like he was getting stronger, it was a given that his physique wouldn't change a bit, eternally remaining in his stunning form. "G-Gah…!" Releasing a sigh of exhaustion, Gai Nagareboshi collapsed to the ground in agony; he felt numb all over to the point that he was beginning to think he was a doll; motionless and still, unfeeling above all. "M-Mitsu…ru…g-gimme a break, will ya?" Gai panted heavily; he didn't think his consciousness could hold for another moment as Mitsuru checked the stopwatch he was grasping. "Hm…You've been exercising for nine hours straight already. I guess…Now you can have a five minute break." Such words almost caused Gai to lose his already fragile composure. "W-What…!? Y-You can't be serious…!" Ten minutes would garner him the time to walk over to that bench, rest for two minutes, and then walk back; not much at all, obviously. Gai immediately knew what to do; forcibly, he widened his eyes and put on his saddest face to appear as if he were a kicked puppy, staring straight into Mitsuru's eyes. "B-But…I-I'm tired and cold…And hungry." His lip was quivering, and he put on the façade of being absolutely terrified and vulnerable; as if anyone could manipulate him, while in reality, it was the exact opposite- nobody could say no to Gai Nagareboshi when he put on the 'scared puppy' act. Mitsuru became a flushed red as he responded, "Agh. Alright, then. But no more than two hours. "…Heh. All part of my plan." Gai said such words with a smirk, as he stood to his feet weakly, wandering off. Mitsuru's eyes widened; dammit, why did that strategy work every single time?! He thought, was he really that easy to manipulate? He touched his forehead with the tips of his fingers, growling at his own gullibility. "…I really need to develop a defense mechanism against those godforsaken puppy dog eyes."
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