DR★F3: Despair RPG

Chapter 2: I won't lose

'I'm Tomomi Nakamura, and I will win this game!' I said to myself. I was in desperate need for some encouragement. I just found out I was locked in some kind of a deadly contest with twelve other unknown people, just witnessed one of the only people who have been kind to me die a horrible death and all other contestants were expecting me to die in the first round just because I was a bit chubby. In summary, my situation was quite depressing.

But despite all urges to give up, I felt some kind of a spark of hope amidst all the emptiness. Akihiro, the kind stranger who helped me before, suggested I started training right now to have a chance of winning the STRENGTH contest.

When I saw all the exercise machines (or, as I like to call them; torture contraptions) in the gym, my resolve began to weaken. Akihiro didn't let me give up that easily, though. "Don't be afraid, Tomomi. I'll work out with you."

"Thanks, but... why are you even helping me?" I couldn't help but wonder.

"It's what you'd do for someone else, isn't it? People should stick together. Let's all do our best... and may the best one win."

From his expression, I could tell he was also trying to say that he wants my help as well. Very well, I can return the favor. So I meekly smiled at him and each of us jumped on a treadmill. Thinking about Akihiro's words, I came to think of him as a really nice person. He must be, if he's willing to ask a total stranger for help in this situation. I wouldn't be able to trust someone with that.

Very soon, I ran out of energy and had to stop running. Akihiro stopped his treadmill too and moved to me. "Let's try something different now."

"Wait, I need a break-" I tried to protest, but he shook his head, and I knew why. I only had one day to work on my physical fitness... who knows what Goro, the mysterious mastermind, would do to us tomorrow. So we moved to the weights and started lifting.

When I got tired of that, we went to try out some machines for leg workout. Then, we lied down and did some sit-ups. Then, rope jumping. Then, yoga. After that, back to the treadmills. Whenever I ran out of energy, Akihiro forced me into another activity. In a while, I thought I couldn't do any more, so he went to get us some water, but after a 5 minute break we had to get back to exercising.

This went on for the remainder of the whole day. I definitely wouldn't be able to keep this up if Akihiro wasn't there. "You can still do more!" "Let's try more today, before your muscles get stiff!" were all things he said to me. I just... didn't want to let him down, so I kept going. But after an uncertain amount of time, I simply couldn't even move, so I ended up lying on the ground, trying to catch my breath.

After several minutes of lying there together with Akihiro, we looked at each other and I chuckled. Then he did, and in the matter of seconds we were rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. I must be going crazy already, I thought. But there was something really sweet about being in that kind of unrealistic situation with someone, so I had to laugh until my midriff started to hurt.

I could fall asleep right there, that's how exhausted I was. Akihiro had to help me up and move to my room. My knees were shaking and I thought my whole body turned to jelly. That's why I don't exercise... I knew I'll barely be able to move for the next week. If I'm not executed, that is.

I didn't even look around my room much. It was just a bland, underground cell, anyway. But at the moment, I just wanted to fall into my bed, so I murmured a quiet 'Thank you' at Akihiro and fell into an uneasy sleep moments later.