Luke, unable to show his face in the neighborhood due to the intense pressure he felt, reluctantly made plans with Yerna to visit the neighborhood he was going to move to under the pretext of introducing her to a house she had previously scouted.
‘Looks like Luke is really looking forward to the new house.’
Since neither Luke nor the other children had seen the new house, it seemed appropriate to show it to them at least once.
Fortunately, when Yerna said it wouldn’t be a problem to advance the schedule, they decided to go see the house they would be moving into tomorrow, a bit earlier than planned.
Coincidentally, Yerna also had time to spare since she had taken a leave under the pretext of “treatment” to hide Luke’s suddenly advanced right arm due to his powers, and Dayton was also on a day off, making the schedule work out well.
Since they were going anyway, she decided to invite Dayton as well.
Since it would be a house for all of them to live in, it was more efficient to discuss it together.
“How about it? Can Dayton come today?”
At Luke’s question, Yerna took the phone from her ear and replied.
“Yeah. Dayton said he would stop by the gym today, so he asked me to pick him up.”
“The gym?”
Luke tilted his head in confusion.
The gym was already somewhat equipped for the Forest Keepers in Luke Forest.
Could it be that Dayton found it necessary to go to a separate gym when he could do a decent amount of exercise for free in the forest?
With a puzzled expression, Luke asked, “The gym? Doesn’t Dayton use the Forest Keeper facilities?”
“Oh, is that what you’re curious about?”
Yerna replied with a smile.
“Actually, Daytona isn’t using the gym; he has a younger sibling he usually looks out for there.”
“Hmm, is Dayton teaching them how to exercise?”
“It seems that way. He said he knew that sibling from when they grew up in the facility and then ran into them by chance recently. They must be really close.”
“I see.”
Luke nodded immediately.
If he had a connection, that was understandable.
Anyway, it was time to go pick up Dayton.
——
‘Lüphon Gym’
This is a sports facility that combines a martial arts dojo and gym that Dayton used to attend.
When Dayton returned after the call, his expression was as bright as if he had been enchanted with Light Magic.
He was smiling so cheerfully that it made him completely unable to concentrate on his workout due to the distraction.
Eventually, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer and asked, “Hey, is there some good news today?”
“Oh, can you tell?”
Dayton smiled sheepishly, touching his lips as if in embarrassment.
“Yes, you’re smiling a bit too unnaturally. What’s going on? Did you win the lottery or something?”
“No, it’s not the lottery. I’m going with my wife to see the house we’ll be living in.”
“Excuse me? Your wife?”
“Oh, did I not mention it?”
Tena looked at Dayton in surprise, his eyes wide.
During their breaks, a lot of chit-chat occurred while working out, leading to various discussions. However, Dayton had never mentioned anything about marriage.
After all, it felt more like they were dating rather than actually being married.
“I just got married. Recently.”
Dayton revealed the fact that he had married, sharing who his partner was, how they got married, and what he was feeling about it all.
As a youth in his prime, Tena found Dayton’s romantic stories extremely fascinating.
“Congratulations, bro! I was totally taken by surprise.”
“Thanks for the congratulations. Anyway, my daughter is coming by to visit later. She’s curious about the gym.”
“Ah.”
It seemed he already had a daughter.
But it was a daughter that had been adopted, without any blood relation.
‘Hmm, already a daughter, huh?’
Even though he was okay with the fact, it honestly made him wonder how it would feel to already have a ten-year-old daughter at such a young age, right in his mid-twenties.
It was a concern that Tena, who hadn’t even become an adult yet, couldn’t grasp.
– Ddu ddu ddu ddu…
At that moment, the notification sound signaling the end of the break began to ring, and Dayton clapped his hands, urging Tena to stand up.
“Alright, we’ve rested enough, right? Let’s get started again. If we rest any longer, we’ll lose muscle.”
“Okay.”
For those who exercised, the loss of muscle was an issue more important than anything else.
With his curiosity mostly quelled, Tena decided to focus on his workout and began lifting the barbell.
Currently, Tena was performing the bench press.
There was no better exercise for working the upper body.
Seeing Tena lift the barbell much more smoothly than before, Dayton couldn’t help but admire him.
“Oh, looks like that weight is light for you now?”
“Really? I’ve just gotten a bit used to it.”
“That’s impressive; that’s a pretty heavy weight for your age.”
“Thanks to you teaching me.”
“No, this is in the realm of talent. I couldn’t even fathom doing this at your age.”
“Is that so?”
Tena, who had been feeling that he was getting stronger as of late, nodded confidently at Dayton’s remark.
It made him feel a bit more puffed up in pride.
“I think it’s about time we start increasing the weight from tomorrow. Is that okay?”
“Yes, bro.”
That was a rather confident answer.
At that moment, a phone rang from inside Dayton’s pocket.
“Oh, hold on a second. It must be her calling now. I’ll be back in a moment. Just keep working out on your own.”
Although the bench press usually required a spotter due to its inherent hazard, it was hard to think that an accident would occur with Tena lifting the barbell so easily in his current weight setup.
Besides, Tena also had no thoughts that he would be the subject of any such accident, so he nodded willingly.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
While Dayton was away, Tena mechanically continued to lift and lower the barbell, pausing to think for a while, when suddenly the gym door opened and someone entered.
Could it be that Dayton had returned already?
“Oh, so this is the gym, huh?”
That was the voice of a child that sounded somehow familiar.
Where had he heard that before?
Tena’s simple curiosity led him to glance in that direction, and he was jolted.
This was because the figure was too familiar to him.
With platinum blonde hair down to her sides, aquamarine and golden eyes that were different from each other, and cute little cat ears perched atop her head…
She looked somewhat taller than the image he remembered, but it was undoubtedly the same figure Tena had in his memory.
Tena was so astonished that he momentarily lost strength in his arms.
And that turned out to be an incredibly fatal mistake.
“…!”
Usually, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but he was currently lifting a rather heavy barbell.
As his lifting power faltered, the barbell came rushing straight toward Tena’s chest.
‘Oh no!’
Just as Tena regained his sense of panic and tried to exert strength in his arms, the already accelerated barbell couldn’t be easily stopped.
With no way to lift his arms, he realized he had no means left to mitigate the weight crashing onto his chest, which could potentially kill him.
The cold sweat began to pour as he thought about how he might die right here today.
And the cold sweat made the bar even more slippery, making it even harder to hold on than usual.
If he had known he would die like this today, he would have increased the weight instead.
Thinking positively for a moment, perhaps when Dayton returned, he would help him add 20kg more to the bar.
At least, when people would ask how he died, he could say he had died challenging the limits of a human.
But such trivial thoughts did nothing to help him resolve this imminent crisis.
The bar was still falling, and he didn’t have the strength to catch it.
Tena cursed his powerless arms as he stared at the falling steel bar aimed at his chest, closing his eyes tightly as fear overwhelmed him.
“Ugh, Aaaah!”
However, the strong impact he was bracing for never came.
The weight of the bar felt surprisingly light.
“…?”
Wondering what was going on, Tena slowly opened his eyes and saw the barbell had stopped right in front of him.
But what was peculiar was that he could see two tiny, white hands lifting the bar.
Feeling something strange, Tena slowly raised his head.
And once again, he was shocked.
A girl with a worried expression was lifting his barbell!
When the girl made eye contact with Tena, she let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“Phew, are you okay? You have to be careful while working out. You almost had a big accident.”
“Uh, how…?”
As Tena stared at the girl in shock, he realized that she looked at him intently and suddenly froze.
“Wait, are you… that time, that robber?”
He recognized her as one of the evildoers who had robbed money from a student in a back alley, a young man he had once taken down by bending his knee in the opposite direction.
What are the odds that such coincidences would occur in the world?
