“Oh…”
“Hmm…”
The gym is built better than I thought.
Honestly, I didn’t think it would be worth checking out since it was taking so long to be completed, and this is my first time coming to see it in person.
I saw the workers from headquarters completely finish the gym, and only now, on the weekend, could I finally step inside.
It was already completed during the week, but since the Commander had the highest rank, it made sense for him to check it out first.
It was rumored that it would be more appropriate for the Commander to try it first, so the two of us came together.
“It’s better built than I expected.”
“It’s bigger than I anticipated…”
“…You’re right.”
When I heard “gym,” I only imagined a moderate space, but this size easily passed six private rooms.
They probably combined some of the larger rooms that were left in the ship.
Considering it’s not just for the average person but also for the agents, I guess it’s built to accommodate them too.
In the game, it was just designed with a standard avatar, so I was a bit surprised by the reality.
If I was surprised, the Commander must have been even more astonished.
“There’s a lot here.”
“…Do you know any of the names?”
“…Treadmill?”
“That’s about all I know too.”
Neither the Commander nor I were particularly interested in working out, so it wasn’t surprising we didn’t know anything.
During the weekend, I just laid in bed, and the Commander was busy gaming.
“…Should we at least try running on the treadmill?”
“…Me first?”
“You’re the Commander. You should go first.”
“No way, lady first after all.”
“……..”
It was pretty clear neither of us particularly liked exercising… that much was obvious.
Just looking at how we were pushing the responsibility onto each other made it clear.
“…Alright. I’ll go first this time.”
“Really?”
“…Aren’t you showing too much enthusiasm?”
“…Not particularly.”
What do you mean “not particularly”?
Anyone could see how much you wanted to go!
Anyway, I decided to let the Commander go first this time and that I’d work out before returning the favor.
Yeah, we agreed to work out for our health… right?
It wasn’t a firm commitment, but we kinda fell into it.
“Ah…”
Anyway, I decided to give it a go.
I mean, it wasn’t like I had never used a treadmill before… well, maybe I hadn’t, but it couldn’t be that hard, right?
I just had to run.
I wouldn’t start with a high setting; I’d just run at a slow pace.
-Beep!
“But thinking about it, shouldn’t the Commander be the one who needs to exercise more than me?”
“Why do you think that?”
“I just think it fits better. I don’t need to get in shape to be of use, right? I’m not even squishy like you, Commander.”
I actually had hugged the Commander before, so I knew it wasn’t all that squishy.
Not to say he wasn’t fit, but it wasn’t like he had a body sculpted from muscle either.
“…Not squishy at all.”
“Anyway, I’m not exactly fat, so do I really need to do this exercise?”
While walking slowly on the treadmill, I was chatting with the Commander.
Since the speed was still low, it truly wasn’t tiring.
And we were still in the startup phase, right?
“You’ve got a decent core.”
“…Then why are we here?”
“I’m just sitting a lot lately, and my back is starting to hurt.”
Honestly, my back was hurting.
Since that incident, my shoulders and back have been one of the most painful areas for me.
Especially with all the shoulder pain from my chest and having sat for a long time, my back was killing me too.
The problem was that those two areas connected, making the pain feel worse… it was genuinely exhausting.
“This isn’t cardio… I need back exercises…? Things like that would help, and I think the Commander should be doing this kind of workout.”
“…That’s true.”
“Even you must think I don’t really need to lose any weight, right?”
“…….”
It was true; I really had no need to lose weight.
The clothes I wore fit well, and I definitely wasn’t overweight.
But there was that downside where my bigger chest could make me look heavier than I actually was.
“Phew…”
But one thing I knew for sure was that I was lucky to be wearing a sports bra.
If I had been wearing any other kind of bra while running, it would’ve been a nightmare.
With a bigger chest, there was naturally quite a bit of movement while running.
And nothing held things better than a sports bra.
If it had been some other kind of underwear, I might’ve been in real pain right now.
“Ha… Haa… Hah…”
“…….”
“It feels like the speed is… increasing… huh?”
“Seems so. Just take it easy and hop off.”
“I can still do a bit more… Hah… I can handle it. After all, didn’t you tell me to do this? Hah…”
As if I’d just stop when he told me to!
Does he not want to see me doing better than him?
Well, I wasn’t exactly thinking he’d do better since he spent all day gaming anyway.
He might be stronger than me since he’s a guy, but in terms of stamina, I might have him beat.
Honestly, considering how much I move in a day, I feel like I’m certainly more active than the Commander.
“Hah… Hah…”
“Hah…”
“Phew… surprisingly… Hah… it’s not that difficult.”
Running on the treadmill was new for me, so I felt a bit awkward, but it turned out to be manageable.
Sure, I was out of breath, and it was harder than I expected, but…
It was surprisingly enjoyable.
“Hah… Ha…”
“…How was it?”
“It’s fun… more than I thought… but… I can’t do it anymore, I’m exhausted.”
“…Didn’t you only do it for like 5 minutes?”
Had it really only been 5 minutes?
To be honest, I hadn’t been paying attention to how long it had been.
I was just running until I got tired and answered based on that.
In fact, I didn’t care much after getting off because my breath was heavy, and my legs and chest hurt.
“It’s tiring…”
“…Just sit for a bit.”
“How about you try it too, Commander? It’s actually… fun.”
“…Next time.”
“But why are you just sitting again, Commander?”
Someone was putting in the effort, and here he was resting.
Of course, I did sit next to the Commander after getting off the treadmill, but still, it was a bit ridiculous.
“Hah… Haa…”
“…Why don’t you drink some water?”
“The fridge is over there, so I can’t go get it.”
Even though I really did want water, it was a hassle to go all the way to the fridge.
There were surely cold drinks inside, but it felt too tough to get there.
Maybe running for a little bit was more challenging than I thought.
I couldn’t help it.
After all, I don’t usually work out!
But honestly, I thought I was better than the Commander, who was just sitting there doing nothing.
At least I had exercised a bit!
“Ugh… this is tough…”
“…Then why didn’t you just stop halfway?”
“Come on, I’ve got my pride. It’s only been a little while since I started; stopping right away feels too much like being a coward, right?”
“…Aren’t you a girl?”
“…That’s… my point.”
That “coward” label didn’t really fit me.
Physically, I was undoubtedly a woman.
Of course, I’m biologically male, but I wasn’t crazy enough to argue that I had a feminine body.
Disappointing as it was, that was just a fact.
“Commander, could you bring me some water?”
“…You should do it yourself.”
“What kind of nonsense is that…? I’m already exhausted; just hand me the water already.”
“Going over there is the real workout.”
“……..”
All I could do was glare at the Commander.
He was seriously saying some absurd things!
I just couldn’t wrap my head around why he wouldn’t bring me water while sitting there!
“Hah… Phew…”
In the end, I had no choice but to get up and move.
Thanks to the lazy Commander, I was back in motion after just finishing a tiring run.
While the gym was spacious, thankfully there were several fridges, so I only needed to walk a mere ten steps.
Still, I had just been sitting down, barely able to catch my breath, but I had to slowly drink water now.
“Seriously… what’s so hard about this?”
“…Normally, part of working out includes drinking water and protein as well.”
“Don’t say weird things.”
“Sorry.”
Sigh.
In the end, all I could do was sigh inside while looking at the Commander.
Now that I had finally gotten water, I felt a bit bad about complaining more.
“Anyway… the gym seems well-built. I’ve only tried one machine, but the equipment seems decent too.”
“That’s good to hear. Next… how about we bring Dolores along…”
“…Sure. That could work.”
“Since neither of us is very into exercise, bringing Dolores along sounds like a good idea.”
“Didn’t we already discuss this a while back?”
It was sudden, but it was a conversation we’d had previously.
But did we really need to bring it up now?
We had talked about it ages ago.
I felt a bit sour about it, but knowing Dolores is kind and would likely help anyway was reassuring.
“Finally up, I see. When I asked if you wanted water a moment ago…”
“I was really trying to get you to exercise, so don’t worry too much.”
“……”
“Sorry.”
The Commander really… just kept making things difficult for me.
I was sure that wasn’t my fault.
“Commander, enough with the nonsense. Let’s just head out. We won’t exercise any further today anyway, right?”
“That’s true. Neither of us knows what we’re doing.”
“So… let’s get going. I don’t know what we’ll do, but let’s leave.”
Thinking back on the treadmill, it was quite fun, but that aside, there was no need to work out more.
I decided it was best to leave with the Commander.
Now, if we just let the other agents know they could use this space, they’d probably be happy about it.
We…
“Let’s just go to your room and play some games. Working out has made me tired.”
“You seriously just want to do that?”
“Is that a problem?”
“…I didn’t say anything about it.”
With a Commander who couldn’t even fetch me the water while just sitting there, it was a bit annoying to add even more comments.
Regardless, it felt like heading out to play some games with the Commander would be a good plan.
Even though I didn’t game excessively, playing games with the Commander occasionally was still enjoyable!
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