The Ultimate Stride | Prince of Stride Fanfiction |

23 | Training Camp

    | {Kyouko's P.O.V.} |

    Tugging at the shoulder strap of my overnight gym bag, I soundlessly gaped at the building that stood before me and my fellow people.

Judging by how they were silent as well, I assumed that my brothers and teammates were experiencing the same feeling of shock as I was.

    We were standing in front of Saisei's training facility, and words couldn't describe how grand it was compared to our measly track and wooded area stuffed behind the Hônan campus.

    "Wow~" Hozumi whistled.

    "Hot damn," Heath hooted.

    "It's so dazzling!" Nana added with a clap.

    "This isn't a training facility... this is a skyscraper!" Ayumu sweat-dropped.

    "My loyalty to Hônan is wavering," Takeru swooned, and Kuga went to support his shoulders.

    "Don't give in, Fujiwara."

    "It's so... big," I observed stupidly in English as I stretched my neck to see it in it's full glory.

    "That's what she said," Teagan mumbled, and I swiftly smacked him over the head.

    "Shut it. You're ruining my moment of awe," I scolded him without shifting my gaze from the building to his hooded self.

He moodily shook his head and stomped ahead of our group.

    "If you stand there like that all day, you're never going to get stronger, Kyouko," he teased, and I instantly snapped out of my daze to follow him up the stairwell that led to the entrance of the building.

"Like hell I'm not gonna get stronger!" I barked after him.

Since I was fully recovered from my fever, I was more than ready to train my tush off for the EOS time-trial. It was the only thing I wanted to do after slacking off for so long.

I'm going run myself into the ground.

    Before I could proceed to race up the large cement steps, my path of travel was blocked by a person. Their shadow was large enough to cover my whole body, so I assumed it was a guy.

    I looked up to find Reiji standing there with a kind smile adorning his features.

He was wearing his team jersey, and his perfectly tousled purple hair was still as flawless as the last time I saw it in Ichijyōkan's relationing booth.

    "It's nice to see you so anxious to train with us, little flower."

    Seeing that I was far too close to his chest, I respectively took a few steps back to where the rest of my teammates were standing. I smiled up at him while trying to conceal a blush.

His use of my strange nickname had thrown me off good enough to make my heart pound a little harder in my chest.

    "I'm always excited to train! We look forward to doing so with you today," I bowed. The sound of the other Saisei boys chatting at the top of the staircase caused my eyes to instinctively look up in curiosity.

Everyone is here.

Kaede, Shizuma, Asuma, Bantarō, and even the gloriously gloomy Tasuku.