"Here you go." The Waitress says with a smile as she places the cup of tea on the table. "Do you want anything else?"
"Um, just a second." I frantically pick up the menu in front of me and look for something that sounds appetizing. "I'll take the honeyed pecan scone."
"Coming right up."
Being knocked out of my train of thought, I look around the small shop. I don't see anyone I recognize here, and none of them notices me. I pick up my cup of tea and take a sip. The warm sweetness covers my tongue. As I put my cup down, I see Shinobu from the corner of my eye. I can see her holding her arms and muttering to herself. I try to ignore her, but her odd behavior keeps drawing my attention.
"Here you go."
"Thank you. Can I pay now?"
"Of course. That'll be twelve Denarii."
[That's more than I thought it'd be. I'll have to avoid going to places like this too often.]
I pay the waiter, and we exchange smiles. The air in the room seems to grow a bit thicker, and I start to get uncomfortable. I decide to finish off my tea quickly and walk away with my scone. Just as I raise the cup to my lips, someone sits down in the chair across from me. I finish my tea and place it on the table. What meets my eyes is a beautiful woman with purple hair. She's sitting with her right arm resting on the table to support her chin. Her eyelids are half-closed, and she wears a knowing smile.
[Oh my god. I do not want to deal with this right now.]
I sigh and cover my face with my hand.
"Hey there, big boy."
"Don't call me that."
"You look a little lonely. Do you want some company?" She raises her free hand and draws circles on the table with her finger.
"No, and don't touch me." I can almost feel cold fingers running up the back of my neck. All I want to do is run away as fast as I can.
"What the hell? I'm not touching you; I'm just talking."
"I don't care. Don't touch me. Please leave."
"Ugchk." She drops her smile and looks at me with disgust. "I grace you with my presence, and you treat me like this?"
"…"
"Fine, go fuck yourself, kid." She stomps off, and all the tension drops from my shoulders. I close my eyes for a second to collect myself. When I open them again, I see people looking at me while muttering. Feeling embarrassed, I grab my scone and hurry out of the store. The discomfort quickly leaves my body as I walk to the front gate.
[The kids aren't here yet, so I might as well get some exercise.]
There's still an hour or so until they arrive. I say hello to the guards, drop my gear, and start my first lap. The various emotions I've accumulated still weigh on me. I take a few deep breaths and try to clear my mind. Thinking of the training we had yesterday, I up my pace. A couple of laps later and I'm exhausted. I keep pushing just like I did yesterday, burning everything. As I finish my fifth lap, the kids walk up while chatting giddily.
"I didn't think you would start without us?"
"I had to work some shit out."
"You had to poop?" Josh asks me while looking confused.
"No, I… Never mind. How was lunch?"
"It was the best! Josh was the perfect gentleman. He pulled my seat out for me, even though I had to ask him to, and we talked about our day, and we had some warm pasties with tea, and it was delicious!"
I try to imagine how their lunch went, and the only thing I can imagine is that she talked his ear off the whole time.
[Well, better him than me.]
"That's good. Proper communication is important."
"You're right. I just need to tell him what I want more often."
"That's fine and all, but you need to think of what Josh wants as well. I think he is quick to do what other people want if he thinks it will make them happy." Josh nods his head at my words. Sakura sees this, and panic flashes across her face.
"Did you only go to lunch because I asked you to?! Do you not like me!?!" She runs over and grabs his shirt. Josh just seems confused as he tilts his head to the side.
"Of course, I like you, Sakura." She perks up at his answer.
"Really?"
"Yes. We're friends." Her shoulders drop again.
"Oh, okay. T-that's fine, I guess." I struggle not to start laughing at how dejected she looks. "I'm glad we're friends."
"Me too." Josh smiles as he looks her in the eyes. I've noticed that he has gotten a lot better at making eye contact recently.
"Oooooo! Josh, you're so cute I just want to eat you up."
"No! Don't eat me! We just ate food; how are you still hungry?" Josh runs away, and Sakura chases him around while laughing. Watching the newlyweds fool around really warms my heart. I look on with a smile. Eventually, Sakura catches up to him and starts chewing on his arm.
"I told ya I was gonna eat ya! Om nom nom."
"Ahhhh, that tickles!"
"Alright, you two. Stop flirting in public." I pull the two apart, and Josh hides behind me.
"I'm sorry, Josh. I won't try to eat you anymore."
"Really?"
"Yup." Sakura smiles as she holds her arm behind her back.
"Can we get back to training now?" I ask, exasperated.
"Yeah, let's get our run in. Josh, I'll race you."
"Okay." Josh's patented serious expression returns at the first hint of competition. I walk back to my gear as the kids take off around the palisade. My head still feels a little foggy, so I do some yoga and stretch until they're finished. It's already mid-afternoon, so we decide to skip hunting and focus on lifting weights. Woohee is there to greet us today, and Sakura shows off her new equipment. I ask Josh to quickly make some smaller bars to use for ancillary exercises. I show the kids some movements focusing on upper body strength and explain that we will only be doing one major lift daily. Doing all three lifts every day isn't very efficient, but I just wanted us to get used to the training. Now that we are, we can move to a more traditional format. We do curls, rows, overhead presses, front and lateral shoulder raises, and bench presses. I want to avoid working our legs too hard after all the running we did today, so I figured this would be a good time to transition. We work out for a couple of hours and then head home for the night.