He walked over and lay on the bench without hesitation, but instead of positioning himself under the barbell, he placed his head where his back should be, legs dangling off the end, arms crossed over his chest like a corpse awaiting burial.
Shiina blinked.
"That's… not how you lie on it."
He looked up from his odd position. "Is this not the correct formation?"
"You're lying backwards."
Akira frowned, then sat up and rotated awkwardly. His limbs folded and unfolded like a large, confused insect.
Finally, with her help, he slid into position.
"Now lift the bar."
He looked at it. The empty bar weighed little, but Akira gripped it as though it might explode.
With a deep breath, he lifted it.
Shiina leaned forward slightly. "Careful, don't lock your elbows. And don't bounce it off your chest."
Akira paused mid-press. "So it is designed to kill."
"No." she sighed. "It's designed to strengthen you gradually."
He finished the set with a suspicious glance at the bar before racking it back into place.
Shiina gestured toward another area. "Come on. Let's try the stationary bike."
They walked across the padded flooring, the rubber giving gently under their steps. The air smelled faintly of metal and disinfectant, mingled with the low thrum of speakers playing soft background music.
The bike stood waiting, sleek and harmless-looking.
Akira raised an eyebrow. "This is… a seated treadmill?"
"You pedal. Like riding a bicycle. It strengthens your legs."
He sat, placed his feet on the pedals, and began to cycle slowly.
A moment passed.
Then he frowned.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"That's the point."
His face twisted in visible frustration.
"So I sit and pretend to travel. I row but do not cross water. I run but do not chase. I lift but nothing gets lifted. This gym… is a place of beautiful lies."
Shiina let out a soft laugh, light and breathy.
"Come on, let me show you the pool," she said, still smiling as she gently tugged at his sleeve.
Akira blinked. "Pool?"
"Yes. A big body of water. You swim in it."
"Swim? As in, flail until death is avoided?"
Shiina snorted. "No. As in coordinated movement through water. Controlled strokes. Breath timing. You know… swimming."
Swimming was not a concept unique to this strange new world, of course. Water, after all, was water everywhere.
Cold, heavy, and unforgiving.
It was the same whether in a palace bathhouse or a mountain spring.
But for Akira, swimming had never once been associated with leisure. There were no crystal-clear pools, no warm towels, no soft splashes followed by laughter.
There were only currents strong enough to pull grown men under, rivers choked with moss and ice, and missions that required silence beneath the surface while blades whistled overhead.
He remembered holding his breath in winter, slipping into frigid water beneath a moonless sky, dagger clenched between his teeth. The stench of blood sometimes drifted in the water before the blade even struck.
He had once swum two kilometers through an underground canal filled with leeches just to assassinate a corrupt merchant in Kyoto. He succeeded. But he did not swim again for three years.
Even now, the memory left his skin tingling with a phantom chill.
"Swimming…" he murmured, eyes fixed on the still, blue surface ahead of them.
Shiina tilted her head, catching something strange in his voice.
"It's not dangerous." she said gently. "There's no current. The water's clean. It's meant to help you build strength, not test your life."
Akira didn't respond right away.
The scent of chlorine filled his nose. It was sharp, unfamiliar, but oddly clean and far from the stagnant or earthy waters he knew. The lights above shimmered across the pool surface, playing like waves of glass. Students chatted nearby, their voices muffled by the high ceiling and tile walls, distant like echoes in a temple.
"I've swum before." he said finally, eyes not leaving the pool. "But not like this."
Shiina glanced at him, noticing the sudden stillness in his posture. His hands were relaxed, but his shoulders had tensed ever so slightly.
She recognized the posture.
It was readiness. The kind someone carried into enemy territory.
Akira stepped forward until the tips of his shoes met the edge of the pool. He crouched and touched the surface with two fingers, feeling the water ripple faintly around his skin.
"Strange… no blood. No salt. No bones at the bottom."
Shiina gave him a side glance. "Why would there be bones at the bottom?"
"You haven't seen some of the rivers I've crossed."
She looked at him, her expression softening.
"You won't have to cross anything here," she said quietly. "You just swim. No mission. No ambush. No leeches."
He glanced at her. "You say that now. But these… floating ropes could easily be the arms of a concealed lake serpent."
"They're lane dividers."
"Ah. Camouflaged tentacles, then."
Shiina smiled again, then walked to a nearby rack and picked out a spare towel. She handed it to him.
"I'll stay close. If anything tries to pull you under, I'll punch it in the face."
Akira blinked, caught between amusement and bewilderment.
"…Understood."
He looked at the far end of the pool, then back at her.
"And if I sink?"
"You won't. I'll be right here."
Akira stared at her. She said it so casually. Like it was a normal thing, to stay beside someone who didn't know how to swim in a world full of strange machines and glowing buttons.
He exhaled slowly.
"…Then I shall attempt it. But if the pool tries to eat me, you must avenge me."
Shiina grinned. "Deal."
Akira stood still for a moment, then turned to her.
"Swim with me." he said plainly.
Shiina blinked. "Huh?"
"You said you'd stay close. But if I am to brave this calm-looking but clearly suspicious body of water… then you must enter it with me. As a show of alliance."
She hesitated, surprised. "Y-you want me to swim with you?"
Akira nodded once. "It's strategic. I do not yet understand the behavior of this pool. It may act differently when observed. But if two enter together, it may reveal its true nature."
Shiina gave him a long, unreadable look. Then sighed.
"…Fine. Just give me a second."
She turned and walked to the edge of the changing stalls, where her bag lay. With quick, practiced movements, she unzipped her outer gym jacket and peeled it off, revealing the fitted black one-piece swimsuit she had worn underneath. She pulled off her leggings next, exposing long, smooth legs that glistened slightly in the warm humidity of the poolside air.
Akira froze.
The fabric of her swimsuit clung to her in all the wrong ways and all the right ones. It traced the curve of her hips like it had been sculpted there, the neckline just modest enough to avoid scandal, but daring enough to drive ancient shinobi discipline to the breaking point.
Her back was strong and beautifully defined, her figure an exquisite balance of strength and grace. Every step she took toward the water made a faint sound on the tile, steady and soft.
Akira's brain short-circuited.
"Why did I ask her to swim with me?" he thought with panic.
He forced himself to look away but his eyes betrayed him almost immediately and flicked back, helpless.
"This is bad. A devastating error. What am I supposed to do if my little Akira… Stages an uprising?!."
Yet, at the same time, a second voice in his mind whispered, one forged of pure male instinct.
"…But what a view to die for."
Shiina approached the edge of the pool and dipped a foot into the water. She shivered slightly, then looked over her shoulder.
"Well? You coming in or not?"
Akira swallowed hard. For once, words failed him.