To Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako, training under Akisame Kōetsuji's guidance felt like being thrown onto an out-of-control dump truck—barreling through worlds like Satoru Mikami, Rudeus Greyrat, Tanya Degurechaff, and Kazuma Satou without brakes.
From day one, their routine was training, training, training, and goddamn more training! Only in the two or three hours before bed could they finally unwind, cuddling with the long-awaited Shigure Kōsaka while watching anime.
"I-I don't get it—" Hisako lay sprawled on the ground in her training clothes, eyes shut and drenched in sweat as she panted. "Why... after over half a year... haven't we learned a single... actual technique?"
"I also find it strange," Erina fanned herself weakly. "Although I can clearly feel my physical fitness improving, we still haven't learned any actual techniques yet."
"I'm not entirely sure either—" Hayashi maintained his horse stance on the wooden post with a helpless expression. "Perhaps Master Kōetsuji has his own plans."
In the original story, the protagonist Kenichi Shirahama might have progressed slowly, but at least he learned some techniques. Yet here they were, having not learned even the slightest bit of actual combat skills. Hayashi genuinely didn't understand why.
"Ho ho, that's because your bodies are still being tempered—" Akisame approached with a smile. "Thanks to Florges's healing techniques and the nutritional boost from Miltank's milk, I can finally put my theory into practice with you two."
"Theory...?" Hisako gulped, feeling uneasy. "Why do I have this creeping sense of dread?"
Could it be some mad scientist's biological experiment? Like making people grow cat ears, fox ears, or dog ears...
Wait, would that actually be a good thing? If Erina grew cat ears...
Heh heh heh...
Hisako, lost in her delusions, let out a laugh so unsettling it made others cringe.
"Hisako..."
Erina looked at her attendant with mixed emotions. The longer Hisako spent around Hayashi, the weirder she seemed to become—was Hayashi some kind of mutation source that made people act strange?
An Elder God? Are you an Elder God? The one symbolizing perversion and foot fetishes, is it you?
"It's not the kind of weirdness you're imagining," Akisame said with an exasperated smile. "What I'm about to say is purely my personal opinion—you can take it lightly. In my view, human muscles can be divided into three types: 'high explosive power, low endurance' white muscles, 'low explosive power, high endurance' red muscles, and pink muscles that combine both traits—'high explosive power and high endurance.'"
"This theory—"
Hearing this for the first time, Erina and Hisako exchanged glances, while Hayashi remained unfazed—he'd known about this since reading the manga!
Hisako mused, "Setting aside pink muscles for now, at least white and red muscles seem to have corresponding examples?"
"White muscles with high explosive power but low endurance—that would be arm muscles, right? They can lift heavy objects in an instant but tire quickly," Erina pondered. "Red muscles with low explosive power but high endurance—those would be respiratory muscles, wouldn't they? They work continuously throughout life. Stop them, and breathing becomes impossible."
Hisako then turned to Akisame curiously. "Master Kōetsuji, how does this 'theory you're putting into practice' relate to the muscle classification you just mentioned?"
"Of course there's a connection." Akisame calmly removed the skin from his upper body, revealing muscles as perfectly sculpted as marble. "Normally, the ratio of the three types of muscles in the human body is fixed. But through twenty years of testing and training, I've perfectly transformed all my muscles into pink muscles that combine both explosive power and endurance."
"!" Both girls were shocked. Hisako blurted out, "Could it be that Master wants to recreate..."
"Exactly! I want to attempt transforming all three of your muscles into perfect pink muscles." After displaying his physique, Akisame put his clothes back on and said with a smile, "To me, this is only the first step in laying a proper foundation—"
"..."
Erina and Hisako exchanged stunned glances. This was just the first step? Master Kōetsuji, just how far are you planning to take our foundational training before considering it complete???
Only now did they fully understand why Hayashi had brought them to this world as their first step toward becoming stronger—this level of foundation was like pulling all the top-tier characters in a single ten-roll when rerolling accounts in a mobile game.
Too strong!
After realizing Master Kōetsuji's ambition, Erina and Hisako trained with even greater enthusiasm, making Akisame feel his experience in training disciples had grown once more.
Akisame-style Disciple Training Insight #17: When training disciples, giving them something to look forward to can effectively boost their motivation. Then, by gradually increasing the training intensity, the disciples won't complain.
Excellent. Today, Akisame has improved yet again.
...
...
Wake up, breakfast, train, rest, lunch, train, rest, dinner, train, rest, watch anime with Shigure, sleep.
When people become engrossed in something, their perception of time dulls—especially during this kind of repetitive daily training. So when Akisame informed Hayashi and the others that their first phase of training was complete, the trio realized nine months had already passed.
"I-It's over?" Hayashi sat on the grass, clenching his fist with a dazed expression. "So, like, am I a pink muscle man now?"
Feels a bit like Majin Buu. Am I the ultimate lifeform now?
Erina couldn't help but laugh. "Hayashi, don't phrase it like that!"
Hisako added with slight annoyance, "Exactly! The young lady and I went through the same training! By your logic, wouldn't we be pink muscle girls too?"
So weird!
A feminized Majin Buu is just too bizarre... Wait, isn't that basically Android 21's Majin form? I'm in!
Hayashi glanced at their figures—now infinitely nicer than nine months ago—and couldn't resist teasing, "Let's be real, if you two went back to Totsuki looking like this, wouldn't all the girls there drool with envy?"
"Ehehe—"
After shifting to a more cheerful topic, Hisako—who had been complaining just moments before—instantly brightened up.
Clutching her cheeks with both hands, she beamed and said, "Hehe, this time I'll definitely make them see me in a whole new light!"
Hayashi twitched his lips and remarked, "It's not just seeing you in a new light—it's more like their eyeballs will pop out trying to get a good look."
Erina couldn't help but grin as well. What young woman wouldn't love having a more curvaceous figure? Just look at her perky pectorals, those enticing abdominal lines, that perfect peach-shaped rear…
Perfect. Absolutely perfect!
Elegant. So elegant!
Seductive. Too seductive!
Once the trio had calmed down a little, Akisame continued, "After the first phase of training concludes, the second phase will require you to decide on your martial arts style."
"Style?"
Erina and Hisako exchanged glances.
"The most basic choice is whether you prefer fighting bare-handed or with weapons," Akisame said, pointing first at himself and then at Shigure Kōsaka. "The next step is deciding what specific discipline to study after choosing your combat approach."
"If you choose bare-handed combat, will it be Muay Thai? Karate? Judo? Sambo? Pencak Silat?"
"If you choose weapons, will it be a naginata? A single-edged sword? A bow? A sickle? A poleaxe?"
After Akisame finished speaking, Hayashi, Erina, and Hisako fell into a brief silence—the master's words were simple: they had to choose their path.
"Erina and Hisako will probably go with weapons, right?" Hayashi mused, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at the two. "If you pick blades, it might indirectly improve your knife skills."
"!"
Shigure, who had been listening nearby, suddenly perked up at this. With a quick patter of footsteps, she rushed over to Erina and Hisako and raised her hands—holding a dagger that Akisame had specially prepared for her, which was practically a "longsword" for someone her age.
"Shigure?"
Erina and Hisako watched as the little girl glanced around before dashing into the kitchen and returning with a carrot, which she then lifted high above her head.
Hayashi guessed, "Looks like she wants to demonstrate… knife skills?"
"Mm-hmm!"
Shigure nodded eagerly. She tossed the carrot into the air with her right hand, swiftly gripped the dagger's hilt, and—shing!—a flash of cold steel sliced through the air. Before Hayashi and the others could even blink, the carrot had already landed back in her palm.
"Mm—"
Without a word, Shigure held out her hand to Erina and Hisako. The two gasped in amazement at the sight of the carrot, now meticulously shredded into strands as fine as hair.
"Shigure's this skilled?!"
"That knife work is insane!"
Shigure bashfully traced circles on the floor with her toes, then fidgeted shyly before asking, "Want to… learn?"
"Please, please!" Hisako and Erina immediately crouched in front of Shigure. "Shigure-chan, we'll be in your care from now on!"
"Mhm!"
Shigure pressed her lips together and nodded her head 50% faster than usual, her inner excitement needing no further description.
"How nice—" Akisame pretended to look enviously at Shigure before glancing at Hayashi. "Don't tell me all three of you are going to learn weapons? I'll be so lonely—"
'Could your acting be any faker?' Hayashi mentally complained before scratching his cheek somewhat awkwardly and lacking confidence. "About my choice—actually, I have this idea that might be either incredibly ambitious or just plain presumptuous..."
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