Wisteria Eyed

49

"Miyasha, you've exercised enough! You need rest!"

"I can still continue—" I huffed tiredly before collapsing as my hands gave out underneath me, "Okay, never mind. My weak-ass arms are useless."

"You shouldn't say things like that about yourself, Aneki!"

"Kamado is right, Miyasha!" I gave Ren-senpai a flat look as he kindly offered me a hand, "You can't bully yourself into becoming better!"

"Yeah, yeah," I brush them off almost carelessly as I stood up with his help — all the joints in my body aching and burning to the extreme while my arms shook with exhaustion, "I'll keep that in mind."

"You only keep that in mind but never actually follow it," Zenitsu quipped from his position against the wall — it was almost impressive how he could still manage to taunt me while doing his handstand perfectly.

Maybe calling it a 'finger' stand would be more accurate, considering how only two of his fingers were actually supporting his whole upside-down frame.

"Y'all brutal, oof," I joked as I collapsed on the familiar porch of the Rengoku Estate, "Taunting me while doing that? Damn, showing off much, eh?"

That brought on a round of chuckles as Ren-senpai guided the trio in changing their hands and repeating the handstand again, making me look at them in a daze as I wondered how much they had  grown.

It has been about two months since we started training in Rengoku Estate and honestly, it definitely had been one of my best decisions if I did say so myself.

The Trouble Trio had now become quite stronger — even more so than I ever thought they could be.

In fact, their enthusiasm to learn and practice impressed me; even Rengoku-sensei was surprised at their vigorous selves, though, not in a bad way.

"Why are you sitting here?" I turned to look back as I felt Rengoku-sensei approach us swiftly from within the Estate, "Are you done with your push-ups?"

"...kinda?"

"And how many did you manage before you collapsed?"

"Twenty-nine," I sighed as he took a seat beside me; I hated how good he was getting at predicting my actions, "I almost made through to thirty but Ren-senpai distracted me."

"Your hands were already shaking way before that, Miyasha!" Ren-senpai added good-naturedly, his eyes twinkling as his father directed a flat look towards me, "I was only asking you to not push yourself beyond your limit, again!"

"I was fine~!" I whined jokingly as both father and son shook their heads at me; the relationship dynamics of this household had improved by leaps and bounds, and I was quite proud to see it.

Especially since it meant seeing Ren-senpai being more carefree and relaxed while Senjuro too started acting more natural and joyful around his father.

"No matter how much effort you put in, acting in opposition to your nature is simply counterproductive, Sarota." Sensei pointed out bluntly as he stood up to go inside, "If you keep this up, you will lose the little progress you have gained these past two months."

"Well, then maybe I should simply align my efforts following my nature, shouldn't I?" I quipped back as I was suddenly handed a flask of water by him, "Ah, thank you so much, sensei."

"Doing too much would not help you," he sternly pointed out before sighing and looking ahead at the boys training in the yard, "I know you are not satisfied with your progress, but you can't push your body to do something that it wasn't made to do."