"Rise and shine, sleepy head."
Soseki rolls over in his bed, attempting to savor every second of sleep he can.
"Soseki, yah in there? C'mon, wake up."
Soseki opens one eye, squinting as the light penetrates his eyes. He answers in a groggy voice, "What do you want, Arashi?"
"Ahh, there you are. I knew you were in there. Say, you want to go out with me on a run?"
Soseki, not fully paying attention to what Arashi said, tries to shake the sleepiness out of his head. He turns his head to look out the window and asks, "What's the time? Why is it so dark outside?"
Arashi lets out a chuckle and sheepishly answers, "6:45."
"Oh, okay… Goodnight." Soseki turns back around and attempts to go back to sleep. However, Arashi was not having any of that and shook Soseki lightly on the shoulder.
"Soseki, don't pull that on me. C'mon, wake up."
Soseki, not wanting to get out of bed, covers his head with a blanket. "I don't know what you want to do at 7 a.m., but I would love to not be a part of it."
'Is this kid crazy? Waking me up at 7? Kick rocks, pal.'
"But Soseki, we need to be strong ninjas, and ninjas get up early to train."
'Training? Soseki thought. This kid trains this early? That's unusual. For a child to have this much drive to get good at something. I can't help but respect the grind.'
"Fine, give me a couple minutes. I'll be out shortly."
"Excellent. I'll be just outside the orphanage door, okay? When you're ready, come see me there."
Soseki nodded his head in affirmation, prompting Arashi to take his leave.
'Well, guess I gotta get up now. Oh, before I do, let me read that letter under my pillow.'
"Happy early birthday, Soseki. This is an early birthday gift for you. Headmistress Aijin has exciting news for you, so head to her office whenever you're free, okay? Also, lighten up, Soseki. We all care for you and are here to help. Don't be so somber all the time, okay?"
'Signed Oyari Aijin. She has the same last name as the Headmistress. Happy early birthday? I wonder how old I actually am. Sigh, so many questions. I'll find answers later.'
Soseki hops down his bunk and heads to the restroom. He washes his face, then goes to meet Arashi at the exit door leading to the big playground.
After some friendly banter, they went out of the orphanage and made their way to the playground that was quite close to the building.
"What's the plan?" Soseki questioned.
"We're going to run, of course. Need to get the blood pumpin' for the real stuff."
The real stuff?
"Arashi, what exactly do you mean by the real stuff?"
"You'll know when we get to it."
'That's definitely reassuring.'
Before Soseki could ask another question, Arashi started jogging. Not wanting to be left behind, Soseki also started jogging. However, the gap between them never shortened.
'Why so fast, this early in the morning? I'm running overtime just to catch up to him. And the way he moved… it's fluid, too fluid, it's uncanny, robotic even.'
Arashi kept a perfect stride, not slowing down or speeding up. His breathing was uniform, steady but brisk as he ran around the open field.
He noticed Soseki struggling to keep up with him, so he slowed his jogging pace, allowing Soseki to catch up.
"You're pretty fast, aren't yah? That's interesting, never saw you as the athletic type."
'Athletic type? I can barely keep up. This Arashi guy… is quite troublesome.'
Soseki, not wanting to waste the precious oxygen he is struggling to draw from his lungs, gave a quick nod and stayed focused on controlling his breathing.
Soseki's eyes flicked to the sky where he saw a flawless canvas of the night, where each star burned sharp and still, like secrets etched in light.
"The sky… it's pretty," Soseki panted, breath catching between each word.
"It really is," Arashi replied, barely winded. "You're doing great. Just a few more laps, push through, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Woow, color me immmpressed," Arashi said with a smirk. "You kept up surprisingly well. I—"
Soseki panted, clutching his side. "Huff… huff. This training… is huff-huff very tuff."
Arashi chuckled. "Well, you'll be in for a surprise. Next on the agenda is body conditioning. You think you can keep up?"
Soseki met his gaze with tired eyes but a steady voice. "Bring it on."
An hour later, the sun had climbed fully over the horizon, casting brilliant golden rays across the trees and grass.
"Well, look at that, we're done," Arashi said, wiping sweat from his brow with a grin. "Honestly, I'm impressed. When I played with the other kids, you never showed up. Never struck me as the athletic type."
Soseki's chest heaved as he struggled for air.
'Keep up? I can barely breathe… and my arms and legs feel like lead.'
All he could manage was a low groan of acknowledgment before collapsing onto the grass, his fingers sinking into the cool earth, the soft blades tickling his skin. The scent of damp soil and crushed grass filled his nostrils as he let out a loud exhale.
Arashi stretched lazily and tossed a glance over his shoulder.
"I'll be off to the market for a while. Go wash up, alright?"
Soseki blinked, surprised. "Oyari-san lets you leave the orphanage unsupervised?"
With a finger pressed to his lips, Arashi flashed his trademark smile.
"Nope. She stopped asking a while back. But if she ever does, you cover for me, got it?"
Soseki nodded, still catching his breath.
"M'kay. I'll head back then. When'll you be back?"
Arashi shrugged, already turning on his heel.
"Dunno. I'll see you when I see you though. Later, Soseki!"
Like that, he was off, hotfooting toward the lively section of the village.
'I wonder where he is off to', Soseki thought, watching the familiar silhouette disappear.
On his way back to the orphanage, Soseki started to ponder.
"That note Oyari-san gave me… I need to see the head mistress and try to unveil more truths about this world."