Under the Cherry Tree

Chapter 2: Confusment

Sakura's training were cruel and harsh.

Your fighting with Sora meant nothing compared to your teacher's "training", it seems more like a goddamn death game! 7 days worth of hell, 10 hours or more worth of training!

Monday: You were forced to swing a sword 500 times, and if you dare mess up, you had to restart or get beaten up by Sakura herself.

Tuesday: You had to become one with the Cherry Blossom, yes it sounded weird you know. You had to worship like kiss and hug the tree! And concentrate on your "breathing" (With the help of the three) and calmness, but it doesn't help that you didn't get food! (Don't forget Sora and Haruka laughing at you)

Wednesday: Run down the dangerous mountains until you reached Sami village, then after that you had to run back up, this one was the one you absolutely hated the most. Haruka kept mocking you at how you can't keep up with her, you swear to god, you're about to snap at this girl

Thursday: Fight one of the students, spoiler alert:

All of them can easily dominate you that it's literally scary, the most strongest and meanest one was Haruka obviously, Yuri was the one who took it easy on you while Sora...well she's Sora.

Friday: You love and hate this one, it's because it's technically at night and you could sleep in the morning, although you hate it because you had to run around the nearest forest (Not the Saki forest) and survive Sakura's traps which can KILL you!

Saturday: Helping the Sami village with chores, like getting supplies, this one you didn't mind, but you didn't exactly know why it was a "training".

Sunday: Final one... Training on your breath. Sakura said your breathing was messy and you're always out of air, so she forced you to do at least 100 push up a day, in the very first day you did this, you literally suffered and barely did 1. You still remembered the dissatisfied and disappointment mother look in Sakura's face.

Time kept repeating, every month you slightly improve, your breathing was still short, but after training for 3 months, it was fine - sure you sometimes suffer from shortness of breath, although at least it wasn't when you first trained, you barely did a push up!

Now it has been 1 year and you noticed a lot of changes in your body, you had these weird things called muscles, and you actually wanted to flex it off to the others, but didn't bother as they're stronger than you.

---

"EHH?!"

You stared up at the massive tree, feeling a sense of trepidation wash over you. When you looked at Sakura with an annoyed expression, you couldn't believe what she was asking of you. "But it's just chilling there!" you protested. "I can't just destroy it-"

She interrupted you, her voice even and unwavering. "Don't worry," she said. "If it ever gets destroyed, we always plant a new one afterwards." Her tone turned irritable. "If you can't handle it, then I suppose those one year of training is just a waste of time." With that, she turned on her heel and began to walk away.

You called out to her, desperate for more guidance, but she ignored you, leaving you alone with this impossible mission.

With shaking hands, you drew your sword, knowing that you had to give it a try. After all the hard work and training, you couldn't just give up now.

Taking a deep breath, you steadied yourself before lunging at the tree. Your muscles shook with the intensity of your strike as you tried to pierce through the thick bark. The force of the impact reverberated through your body, almost making you throw up. Gathering all your strength, you tried again..again...and again.