Shishio waited for Ritsu to change her clothes for a while before they went out together to start their morning workout. He walked out of Sakurasou, and instantly, a cold temperature swept his body.
The morning in this country has always been cold.
However, it wasn't a comfortable cold. Instead, it was a dry cold, which was quite uncomfortable.
Still, Shishio had gotten used to this cold temperature, especially when he had always woken up in the early morning to work out. He took a deep breath before he breathed out. The warmth of his breath caused steam to come out of his mouth before he observed the surrounding area.
The sun hadn't fully risen, and the area was still dark.
However, it didn't bother his vision.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see a morning dew from the leaves of the plants planted at the entrance of Sakurasou, dancing slightly because of the wind.
While his expression was subtle by Ritsu's words, Shishio was as calm as ever. When talking with a woman, one should be calm and not be nervous. It might be even better to treat them like your male friend instead of someone special.
It might be weird, but when you chased someone, that someone would run away. However, if you just teased them, like someone who played a cat with catnip, those women would move by themselves and chase after you.
Still, in the mouth, it might be easy, but it was hard to do it in reality.
The reality was different from imagination, so one had to train until they had enough flight hours, which would give you enough experience to talk calmly to someone. Still, what was more important was to become your true self, be yourself, since no matter how you acted, in the end, it was just acting, so instead of acting, or changing, be the better yourself.
Shishio waited for a while before Ritsu walked to his side.
"I am ready. Do you want to start now, Shishio-kun?" Ritsu asked.
Shishio looked at Ritsu silently, and he must admit this girl was cute.
Ritsu didn't wear anything spectacular or anything. She only wore a t-shirt, short pants, and shoes she usually wore during her physical education class. However, what made her special was the fact she tied her hair in a ponytail.
Ritsu might have short hair, but it was long enough for her to make a small ponytail, showing her slender and white neck, giving her a cute yet boyish image.
Still...
"Are you sure that you want to run with me?" Shishio asked. Frankly, he didn't mind taking her running since being accompanied by a cute girl was a good thing. However, when he thought about her physical ability...
Ritsu felt she was being insulted, so she asked, "What do you mean?"
"I mean... you're not the type of person who is good at physical education, right?" Shishio tried to be as polite as possible, but in the end, what he wanted to say was Ritsu was terrible at exercise. He could even see how weak her body was, but since what she did was just reading and studying, whether it was necessary for her to follow him.
Well, Shishio, of course, wouldn't say an exercise was useless.
However, Shishio wondered whether Ritsu could stick to his regime.
If Ritsu was his girlfriend, Shishio could teach her a more fun exercise, but she wasn't. He was afraid she would report him for sexual harassment, so he didn't say anything.
Still, being provoked by Shishio ignited the flame inside her heart!
"Don't underestimate me, Shishio-kun. I have read a book about running, exercise, and various things." Ritsu pointed at her brain and said, "I have memorized everything. So I should be as good as those first-class running athletes in theory."
"...."
Shishio looked at Ritsu and thought this girl was cute. "Well, how about we start to run? It's quite chilly, but if we start exercising now, we can warm our body up." He also wanted to teach this girl that a theory was useful, but in this matter, it was useless, especially when she didn't have a strong body enough to support her theory.
Shishio shook his head, and it was better to teach her with her body since words alone were useless.
Ritsu only realized it was quite chilly, especially on her thighs and arms part. She nodded without hesitation and agreed. "Okay." She had crammed the theory of running, exercise, and many others in her head, believing she could finish this jogging easily.
However, the reality said otherwise.
Ritsu panted and could only look at the ground. Beads of sweat kept dripping from her temple, and she just felt her entire body was so weak. She looked up and saw Shishio, who looked at her with an "as expected" expression, but she didn't even have time to get angry since she was just dead tired!
"The... the theory is useless..." Ritsu regretted that she only found out about this fact.
"...." Shishio didn't know how to console Ritsu at that moment.
After all, Ritsu's physical ability was too rubbish. Even Shiina might be several times better than her. However, it was normal since Shiina often exercised and got a daily protein consumption.
After Shiina came to this country, her physical ability increased several times!
On the other hand, Ritsu just ran for ten minutes, but she was like swimming in the pool. Everything about her was drenched wet because of her sweat. Her head was dizzy, and she felt she could pass out at anytime.
Ritsu felt regret for joining him on morning jogging and wanted to tell him to leave her, but who would have thought she would be piggybacked so suddenly.
"Huh?!"
"Just rest."
"...."
Ritsu was dumbfounded, but she quickly realized one problem!
Ritsu was all sweaty!
Ritsu was afraid that she was smelly and didn't want him to get close to her!
However...
"Or do you hate me for being sweaty?" Shishio asked.
"Huh?" Ritsu was surprised before she shook her head. "No, no, no! I don't hate it."
Hearing that answer, Shishio looked at Ritsu with a subtle gaze. "Hmm... so you like my sweat?"
"...What's what that? Why did your words become so weird?"
"No, I just don't expect Ritsu-senpai to have a sweat fetish..." However, before he finished his words, he quickly tapped Ritsu's arm, which wrapped tightly around him. "Senpai! Senpai! Stop! I can't breathe!"
Ritsu's face turned crimson, and she was so embarrassed. However, she was also annoyed since this bastard teased her!
However, in the end, Ritsu gave up and let loose the arms around his neck. She was slightly nervous, but she leaned on his shoulders.
"........."
Shishio was silent since even if Ritsu's size wasn't big, they were a nice size.
"Is it alright?" Ritsu asked timidly.
"It's alright. Also, I can't leave you here."
"Won't I bother you with your morning workout?"
"You're not a bother, and it's also a good thing to relax once in a while," Shishio said calmly while walking with Ritsu on his back.
Ritsu, who was nervous, also slowly calmed down, feeling comfortable on his back, and leaned into him more relaxedly.
Shishio felt something soft behind his back, but as a gentleman, it was better not to say anything, but frankly, he loved it.
The two continued to walk while talking to each other.
Frankly, it was easy for him to talk with Ritsu even if she was known as a quiet type of person.
The key to having small talk was to find an interest.
Whether it was a job, life, living place, hobby, or many others, there were many things that one could talk about with someone as long as they were interested in that person, and from that one topic, it could continue to many things.
As they continued to talk, they arrived at the riverbank.
Shishio somehow smiled when he saw this riverbank since it gave him many memories. "Do you remember this riverbank?"
"...Ugh..." Ritsu's expression was quite complex, but she nodded. "There's no way I can forget about this place."
It was the place where they met Mayumi Nishikino, who just happened to find out her boyfriend had cheated on her, so she spent her entire day sitting on the riverbank, drinking a lot of alcohol. Then, she met Shishio and tried to seduce him before she was stopped by Ritsu, who happened to walk nearby.
A lot of things happened, and in the end, Mayumi and Ritsu slipped from the handrail, and they hit Shishio at the same time.
When Ritsu thought of his brushed face and his nosebleed, she felt so guilty. However, she must admit, it was also the reason why she started to get conscious of him. "Can we move on?" Still, she felt so awkward staying in this place, and she wanted to continue to walk.
"Don't be in a hurry. Let's stay here for a moment. You can see something interesting here."
"Something interesting?" Ritsu was confused, but she listened to him.
The two stood on the concrete bridge on the riverbank.
Ritsu followed Shishio's gaze, wondering what he wanted to show here.
They waited for a while before Shishio said," Ritsu-senpai, it's here."
Ritsu was confused, but then she gasped when she saw the scene before her.
The sun rose, and the darkness slowly disappeared because of its light.
Whether it was a building, tree, bridge, or even benches on the side were clearly visible because of this light.
Everything was enveloped by the orange-colored illumination.
The river even showed the reflection of the sun, making an illusion there were two suns right in front of them.
It was just so beautiful that it took her breath away.
The cold slowly disappeared because of the warmth from the light, making her body so comfortable.
"It's beautiful, right?"
Ritsu, who enjoyed this moment, turned and looked at the young man who had brought her to this place. She could see he just enjoyed this moment with a gentle yet lazy expression on his face. She couldn't see his face fully. Only his side profile could be seen, covered by the morning sunshine.
Ritsu took a deep breath and knew there was doubt about her feelings at that moment.
'I love him.'
Ritsu thought at this moment, but she couldn't utter those words out of her mouth. Instead, her mouth squirmed several times before closing them, then said, "Yes, it's beautiful." She moved closer to him and wanted to lean on him, but she gave up since she was embarrassed. However, even so, she treasured this moment so much and was glad to meet him.
Shishio looked at Ritsu for a while, but he didn't say anything.
Neither of them talked to each other again, and they just stayed side by side, feeling each other's warmth and watching the sunrise together.
They might not voice their feelings into shape, but somehow, at that moment, they were sure they had become closer.