Life Will Change

Chapter 44: Day at the Gym

Begin!

~Normal POV

7/19 - Tuesday

Whatever, or whoever, Medjed was, they were a crafty enemy. Akira and Ryuji tried asking Mishima if he knew anything about them at lunch, but the boy was no help. All he had to tell them was that Medjed began their work as "hackers of justice" but recently they'd started looking out for their own self interests exclusively. And nobody seemed to know anything about them. Even the internet had been no help. Their website, being written in English, wasn't helpful to them either. Ann could read it for them, but it gave no information about their true motives or identities.

Akira had to admire their nerve though. Calling out the Phantom Thieves in an act of war. Even the forum was getting hyped about the idea. If they could take down internationally known hackers their popularity would skyrocket. Hell, they could even make enough bank to retire if this went well enough. But with no leads to follow, they simply had to ignore it for today and wait for Medjed's next move.

In order to do so, Akira had plans to meet up with Ann at the gym. She wanted to use today to begin her exercise plans for work. It would have been an opportunity to be alone with her, but that didn't work out either. She had enlisted him to bring Ryuji along, since he, as a former athlete, was better suited to helping her with this problem. So the three met up at the gym on Central Street for the afternoon in appropriate attire.

"Akira and I have been here before a few times." Ryuji commented. "It's pretty sweet and there's not too many people getting in the way. So, what are you trying to do here exactly?"

"I need to slim down!" Ann said, firmly.

Ryuji gave her a puzzled look. By all visual accounts, Ann was perfectly slim already. She had a gorgeous figure. It wasn't hard to see why Akira would find her appealing. "Uh, you tried jogging?"

"It's to help her with work," Akira said. "You know, being a better model."

"Ohhh..."

"And aerobics alone aren't enough!" Ann said, confidently. "I want to tone up too! So I need to start lifting weights. Plus, my shoulders are drooping, I wanna make my biceps leaner, and I need to straighten my back out, and work on my calves!"

Akira smiled at her as she listed off all her self improvement goals. He never tired of watching her get excited. It was so cute. "I wanna tell her she's already beautiful but I can't say that in front of Ryuji. He'd tease me about it forever..." Instead, Akira said, "You have some real guts to want to do all that."

This answer pleased her. "Mhmm! Thanks!"

Ryuji rolled his eyes at the two of them. "Ok, motivation is good and all, but if you do all that shit, you're not gonna be able to move tomorrow."

Ann wasn't perturbed by this. "Then you come up with a training regimen for me."

Ryuji sighed. "You're such a pain. I got enough work making my own schedule."

Ann smiled and replied, "If you do that for me, I'll go on a date with you as a reward!"

It was clear she was joking, but Ryuji was quick to reply, "Fuck that." While Ann wasn't looking he gave Akira a knowing smirk and wink. "Quit thinking you're some sexy character in an anime. It's sad watching you like this."

Ann looked offended by that comment. "What!?"

"First off," Ryuji continued, "One of those sexy characters would never come to the gym in their school tracksuit."

Ann was wearing her red P.E. uniform instead of personal work out attire. "These are the only exercise clothes I have! So how was I supposed to know? I've never been to the gym before today!" Before she could continue her argument, she got a phone call. "Oh. Hang on, I gotta take this." She walked away from them to answer her phone.