Seen Through the Eyes of Goodwill

Chasing the shadows

Chasing the shadow (Honami's POV)

(A/N: Just a reminder these all chapters of 3.5 are happening in the semester break the students got.)

Out of many things I learned in the first semester, one of them highlights my physical limits.

On the island, I was leading the search crew looking for the spots. At that time more than a help I was a burden on the team, both Ayanokouji-kun and Horikita-san possessed seemingly never ending stamina.

Even when I was dropping dead from exhaustion, those two were completely fine. I was confident in my running but now I know that I must improve myself further, so that I am never a burden again.

On cruise ships I used to do steady treadmill runs, but once I was back to school I started studying about athletics and the ways to improve it.

After studying it for a few hours I deduced that in order to improve athletics; progressive overload is going to be the key. I must increase the stress on my body and gradually adapt to it in order to enhance my performance.

Nods cheerfully

That is how I decided on my routine to go on a three miles run every morning before sunrise.

It was the second day. After waking up I changed to my jersey and left my room. It was 5:00 AM in the morning.

The faint light of the sun began to appear and the cloudless sky was slowly waking up. The sound of this world is peaceful during these times.

I walked across the corridor and reached the elevator, there I found someone familiar.

"Horikita-san!" I whispered enthusiastically. She was also dressed in a jersey, we both might've same goal.

We both went into the elevator and stood beside each other.

"Why are you up so early in the morning?" She asked.

"Out for a jog, what about you?"

"Same."

"Oh then let's jog-"

"Don't think about that."

"Eh .. . why?"

"You will just slow me down."

"Hmm, that is true." I will follow along anyways, looking at her I can get a grasp at how much I still need to progress.

Both of us got off the elevator, we made our way through the lobby out to the campus. Except for a few workers the campus was almost empty.

As we strolled towards the park silently , Horikita jogged slowly. I did the same. By the time we reached the park we were warmed up.

It was a square shaped park with each side of nearly 200 metres. Once the actual training started she picked up the pace and left me behind. I think I could catch up to the pace she is running if I go faster.

But, neither of us were running at top speed. As I have read, if you want to run for a longer period of time then you shouldn't pick up your top speed too soon, it is better to operate at your comfortable pace.

This fact made me realize her comfortable pace is faster than mine. By the time I started my second round Horikita had already crossed me once, after the second round I started slowing down. It was getting hard to breathe, more like it hurt in my chest with every breath.

I slowed down and started walking but Horikita kept running. Everytime crossed me I thought I would say (On your left!)

'Do your best Horikita-san!'

But I can guess she would lose focus if I did something like that. So I just sipped some water and sat on the nearby bench once I was done with my share of three miles.