Chapter 43

As I was waiting for the bus, I was looking through the money I had and sighed.

I've only spent money on the bus, yet there was so little left already.

I've never really worked in my previous life, but I guess everything comes first in life.

As I stood near a window, I peered into the city. I still had some time before I reach the gym, but I couldn't do anything as I lacked sleep.

The lack of sleep also affected my mood. The thoughts of the events that transpired before tactfully left me, and I was left one on one with much-coveted silence and peace of mind.

The only downside so far was that I almost missed my stop. A few minutes passed, and I entered the so-called alma mater of the best grapplers in the MMA world.

I continuously rubbed my eyes that hurt a bit from the lack of sleep.

"Erlig, how are you?"

As I was going past the reception, I didn't respond in time.

"Hey, Erlig! At least say hello!"

Shaking my head once, I turned around to see a familiar girl. She rocked a pixie haircut. Her hair was dyed in a light shade of green, and it complimented her big clear green eyes. She was of small stature.

"Uhm, you're…" I scratched the back of my head, trying to remember where have I seen her before.

"Madeline's the name," she said after walking to me and extending her hand for a handshake. "I was at the reception the time you were getting your first spar."

That's it!

I shook her hand. "I'm a bit spaced out today, so I didn't notice you."

"No worries, but are you sure you should train while you can't see anything around yourself?" she looked me over.

"No problem, I just need to wake up." as I said it, a traitorous yawn almost escaped through my mouth.

"I'm still going to warn Jessie about your condition." She returned back to her desk and started writing something quickly.

"By the way, why are you here again?"

"Oh, that's actually easy to answer. The thing is, the one at the reception is always rotating. You've probably noticed this already."

I nodded. Whenever I came here, there was a different person greeting everyone.

"And today is supposed to be Jessie's turn, but you know her. She is a training freak. So every time it's her turn, I'm substituting for her. After all, she is my precious friend."

"Oh, I got it." so they were friends? "I think I should go."

"Good luck, and don't injure yourself." She waved to me.

Going into the busy gym, I went towards the changing room right away. After getting into my training wear, I went towards the place where Jessie usually hung out. Someone would come up to me whenever I came here, but this time Patrice, Paul, and even Jessie didn't assign me anything. Seeing her sitting in a circle of people, I hesitated for a second but eventually went towards her.

"Jessie, did Madeline come to you? What should I do today?" I've attracted a few pairs of eyes to myself.

"Erlig, you're finally here. Sorry for canceling yesterday's training." she clasped her hands together in a plea.

"No worries, what about today?"

"Yeah, Madeline already warned me. I think it would be better for you to focus on physical training, with our coach ensuring your safety."

"Won't it be even worse?"

"Don't worry," she walked to me and patted my shoulder. "If she sees that you aren't doing well, she will stop you immediately and send you back home."

She?

"Tanya, can you help our sullen star?" she turned around on her heels and asked a girl with a smile.

"Sure." the girl with the nickname Tanya answered in a rather rough voice. She stood up from the bench the group was initially sitting on and went towards me. "Hmm, your shape isn't half bad, but we can still improve it."

Girl… wasn't, exactly, the most appropriate word to describe 'Tanya.' She was as tall as me, while her physique looked out of this world. She wasn't that ripped. However, the amount of muscle that was balanced with the remaining body fat made her look big.

I glanced at her chest area and took my gaze right away. Really big. Though her shoulders were wide and her arms were probably thicker than mine, she still somehow managed to look womanly.

There was a very thick braid coiled around her own neck. Her hair was of a very light brown color while her eyes were big and were of a brown color as well.

"Nice to meet you, Erlig." she extended her hand for a handshake. "Though I've seen you a couple of times, we never actually talked, didn't we?"

"Nice to meet you too, err…"

"Tatiana Nabokova, but you can call me Tanya. I'm the head coach here. My specialty is physical development."

As we shook hands, her grip was firm. But contrary to what I thought, she didn't have many calluses on her hands.

"I will be in your care today." I nodded my head.

"Don't you worry, with me around, the guys here improved their measures immensely, hahaha!" With a hearty laugh, a loud and heavy slap on my back, I was entrusted to this big, in all meanings, woman.

"We will start with the bench press." She started walking towards the bench, and I followed her when a thought suddenly sparked in my head.

Even though I was sleepy, I still had something I needed to do and get to know.

"Tatiana, em, Tanya, wait for me for a second." I showed her my index finger.

"Sure." she turned around and crossed her arms.

I returned back to where Jessie was. The crowd around her started dissipating, yet there were a few people left.

"Erm, Jessie, can I have a second of your time?"

"Something wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" She looked at me intently and furrowed her eyebrows.

"No, it's not about that." I closed my eyes for a second, and my sleepy mind started working. The images of the fight club and Mara flashed. The things my parents told me alongside Jet's desires.

The things I did to those goons, it was almost like I was reliving that moment. The courage that I lacked came to me.

I wanted to hear what Jessie thought about her future and life as well.

"Are you free today after the training? Want to hang out?"

Her eyes opened wide. "Am I free, hmm?" she rolled her eyes upwards and tapped her chin with her finger. "Yeah, I guess I am. Do you want to invite someone else?"

"No, I would prefer it if it's just the two of us." I felt a few piercing gazes directed at me as I said this.

"This works as well," She smiled at me, "Alright, then let's hang out just the two of us."

"Great, I will talk to you after the training." I quickly trudged back to an amused Tanya.

"Going after our little princess?"

"What?" I looked at Jessie and then back at Tanya. "No, no, it's not like this. I want to ask her a few questions, that's all."

"Like, question if she has a boyfriend?" Tanya grinned.

"No! I'm not interested in her, in that way." I shook my head with a bitter expression.

"Hoh." she still grinned, "Whatever suits your taste, then. Now it's time for us to sweat a little, don't you think so? Ahahaha."

Getting another slap, I flinched and went together with Tanya.

Though she would probably look intimidating if she were in my previous world, here, Tanya looked pretty. Though it was used most commonly towards men, she did look like a giant teddy bear.

Though there was something that wasn't cute and fluffy at all about her.

As I started exercising under her watch, I felt like the workload tripled. As I was squeezing every ounce of my energy, she was laughing and cheering me up in her own fashion.

Cheering me up by slapping me in between the exercises, pumping me up by flexing her muscles, and yeah, more laughing.

The training was hard, in more than one way. Though the workload itself increased and the weights were heavier, the worst thing was that she was distracting me every now and again.

I wasn't particularly horny in my previous life, and I wasn't a virgin anymore. But even with a mindset like this, every time she came close to me, her chest would envelop different parts of my body, thus distracting me from training.

"Now-now, it wasn't that hard." Tanya smiled wryly. "If you act like that, I'm starting to doubt what others are teaching you."

The training ended after roughly five hours, and I was lying spread eagle on the floor. I couldn't even answer her as it was hard to move my tongue.

"Haaa, it's great, haaa, you aren't, haaa, gulp, teaching mahhhrtial aaaahrts." I barely caught her figure with my eyes.

"The real martial art is a fight between your mind and your body." She flexed her biceps. "Though it's great to learn how to fight, no matter how strong your opponent, he would never be as strong as you, yourself."

"Perhaaaaps."

"Let's take you, for example. I heard about your spar." She looked at me. "Now, now, don't be so dejected and listen to what I'm going to say."

She walked closer to me and squatted down.

"Ehem, though you lost that battle, it isn't solely your fault. At the end of the day, you are a newbie. On the other hand, today, you fought a battle against yourself. I've seen a lot of people breaking down when they were put under my care."

I've had a feeling that what she said had an underlying meaning.

"Yet you didn't whine and continued to push further. Aren't you great? Though there is a possibility that you were too afraid to ask for a stoppage. Ahahaha!"

I take back whatever I've thought about her.

"Anyway, you should go and wash up, don't make our little princess wait for you," Tanya said as she squeezed and pulled my cheeks.

I've managed to get up and go into the shower. After that, I changed my clothes and started looking for Jessie. And I found her rather quickly. She was talking with Madeline near the entrance of the gym.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah, and you?" I fixed my bag.

"I'm ready as well. Maddie, I will call you later." Jessie hugged Madeline.

"And you better tell me about your date." Madeline smiled cheekily, much to my and Jessie's embarrassment.

"It's not a date." Jessie took control of herself much faster than I did. Rolling her eyes towards Madeline, she looked at me and gave me a smile. "Should we go?"

"Sure, let's go."

"You too, Erlig. I'm waiting for the juicy details," Madeline shouted toward us.

We walked in complete silence for a few minutes. As I quickly looked at Jessie, she wore a fairly simple tracksuit of blue color with a white stripe. She as well wore a grey beanie with a few strands of her blonde hair peeking out. Although in my previous world, such costumes were usually worn by guys who were not blessed with great intellect. Somehow it really suited her. I would go as far as to call her elegant and her outfit laconic.

"Gosh, why does everyone act like this towards me." She glanced at me from the corners of her eyes. "It's your fault, you know." she slapped my stomach. "Before you came, there was no such gossip."

"Did they really gossip so much?" I doubted I was the reason.

"You didn't hear this?" She looked amused.

"I was busy with Tatiana."

"Oh, right, how was the training?" her eyes shone a shade brighter as the talk came to exercising.

"I thought I would die. Even though I was sleepy, in the beginning, after the first exercise, I couldn't even think of sleep. In fact, all I was thinking about is how to survive." someone might say I was exaggerating, but my face would beg to differ with how serious I looked.

"Pfffhahaha. Are you serious?" Jessie brushed off tiny droplets of tears in the corners of her eyes. "Anyway, where are we going?"

"I don't know. I was following you." I shrugged.

"And I was walking after you."

We both stopped simultaneously and looked at each other.

As she looked at me with her furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips, she looked rather comical, with her beanie and tracksuit. While I was battered after the training, it probably didn't look much different.

""Hahahaha.""

We simultaneously broke into laughter.

"Why are you looking at me so seriously?" Jessie was the first who stopped our laughing fit. She made a funny face. "You stood there like this."

"Hah, and look at you, standing there like I butchered and ate your dog." I made a funny face of my own, and we giggled again.

"Okay, we should stop this." Again, Jessie was brushing the tears caused by laughter while hugging her stomach. "What are we going to do?"

"Share a drink or two of coffee?"

"I know, a good café around here, this time you can follow me, we will end up in a good place."