After an hour-long nap, Ichin went out to wash his face, then changed into sportswear and headed downstairs to the gym area.
After doing some warm-up exercises, Ichin began his workout.
At this time, there was no one else in the gym—he had the whole place to himself—so he could train without any interruptions.
Only after getting started did Ichin realize that Utaha and Yukino should be finishing their classes soon and would probably be heading to the company before long.
Since Yagami Kō and the others knew where he was, Ichin didn't stop to grab his phone and instead continued working up a sweat.
Sure enough, about half an hour later, the gym door opened, and Utaha, Yukino, and Hazuki walked in together.
Seeing Ichin drenched in sweat, Hazuki laughed. "My, my, it's rare to see him working out in the company gym. Did something stimulate him?"
Utaha smiled and said, "When we went back some time ago, Ichin really wasn't exercising much, and he was eating quite a lot. It's good for him to work out properly. He does care quite a bit about his figure, after all. Of course, his current physique has absolutely no problems."
As Hazuki listened, she followed Utaha and Yukino closer, and soon noticed the muscles on Ichin's arms beneath his short-sleeved shirt, as well as the outlines of his physique revealed by sweat soaking into his clothes.
He couldn't be compared to those so-called muscle-bound hulks, but his build was undeniably very nice.
After looking for a couple of seconds, Hazuki's eyes lit up as she said, "Ichin, you'd be more than happy to provide some benefits for everyone in the company, right?"
"Huh?"
Ichin stopped his lat pulldown mid-set and asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Then he saw Hazuki take out her phone and snap several photos of him in rapid succession.
"No, no, you need to keep moving. Don't stare at my camera."
"..."
Not only Ichin, but Utaha and Yukino as well, all looked at Hazuki speechlessly.
Meanwhile, Hazuki shamelessly urged him on. "Hurry, hurry—just pretend I don't exist. I'll only take a couple of photos."
Rolling his eyes at her, Ichin grabbed the handles again and continued his workout.
"I really didn't expect you to be this kind of person, Hazuki. Being into girls is one thing, but you won't even let me off?"
While snapping photos, Hazuki giggled. "Hehehe, even I can't help taking a few extra looks when I see a guy with a good body. Oh, right—could you take off your shirt?"
This time, before Ichin could say anything, Utaha reached out and grabbed Hazuki by the cheeks. "Hazuki-san, taking photos like this is more than enough already, okay?"
"Mmnn—got it, got it!"
Only after Hazuki nodded repeatedly in agreement did Utaha finally let go.
Rubbing her cheeks, Hazuki wasn't really angry. She smiled, picked out a photo with the perfect angle, and sent it to a group chat she had created that consisted entirely of the company's female employees.
"Girls, motivation time! Work hard this afternoon~!"
After the photo was sent, there was nearly ten seconds of silence. Then the group instantly exploded with activity, everyone going crazy as messages flooded in one after another.
Utaha and Yukino leaned over next to Hazuki and took a look at the chat. Utaha said in surprise, "Wow, I didn't expect this. They all look so proper and serious usually, but now every single one of them is practically drooling."
Yukino felt her eyelids twitch as she watched, thinking to herself how lucky it was that she hadn't joined this group. Otherwise, seeing such utter chaos, she'd never have any peace.
That said, as she read the girls' messages, the corners of Yukino's lips lifted slightly.
Even though thinking this way felt a bit embarrassing, she had already seen far more intense scenes than this.
After sending the photo, Hazuki put her phone away and looked at Ichin. "Your workout should be about done, right? Remember to come upstairs in a bit—we still have a management meeting to hold. You said so yourself."
"Don't worry, I won't forget."
As he spoke, Ichin took a deep breath and continued pulling the bar down.
"Give me about twenty minutes. Once I finish this set, I'll go take a shower, then come up for the meeting."
"OK, then I'll head up first."
With work still waiting for her, Hazuki didn't stay in the gym any longer and turned to leave.
Sitting down on a nearby machine, Utaha smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be working out here, Ichin."
After finishing the last five reps and stretching, Ichin flexed his hands a bit. He took the towel Utaha handed him, wiped off his sweat, and said, "I didn't really have a choice. I had classes in the morning, so I didn't have enough time to work out properly—just ran on the treadmill at home for a bit. This afternoon I had more time, so it was perfect to really work up a sweat. Besides, I paid to have this gym built myself—wouldn't it be weird if I never used it even once?"
After looking around at the gym equipment, Yukino asked, "But with so much equipment, does anyone actually come to use it?"
"Of course they do."
Standing up, Ichin replied, "There usually aren't that many people on regular days, but when work is lighter, some folks still come down to exercise. The company has always encouraged everyone to take care of their health. And on weekends, this place is open too, so compared to weekdays, it's pretty easy for it to be full on weekends."
"Of course, there are still more guys than girls. Not many women come."
Utaha nodded. "That makes sense. Girls tend to prefer going out shopping on weekends. Though… shopping probably counts as exercise too, right?"
Shopping—
With the way girls shop, it might really count as exercise.
After resting for a bit, Ichin went to the showers, while Utaha and Yukino headed back upstairs.
Fifteen minutes later, Ichin returned upstairs and went straight to the meeting room, where everyone else had just arrived as well.
Seeing that everyone was present, Ichin said, "OK, let's start the meeting. Today we'll mainly go over the general plan for the remaining four months of the first half of the year, and each team will report on their current progress."
At that moment, the meeting room door was knocked on and opened. Yukino walked in, holding a cup.
"Sorry to interrupt."
Coming over to Ichin, she set the cup down and said softly, "You didn't drink much water after your workout earlier. I made you some sports drink—remember to finish it."
Ichin smiled and nodded. "Mm, thank you. I'll drink it."
Yukino returned the smile. "Later, Utaha and I are going out for a bit. We'll also pick up ingredients for dinner, so just focus on your work."
After Yukino left, Ichin picked up the cup and took a sip, then looked at everyone and said, "OK, sorry for delaying everyone a little. Let's begin the meeting. It's already been a month since the New Year, so let's start with updates from each team. We'll begin with the Fall Guys team."
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