A Farewell to All Futures

Making Schedules

Over the last six months, Hajime had been doing exercises in the morning. One of these exercises was jogging a few times around Hope's Peak Academy's full campus and around the surrounding neighbourhood. Each time he reentered the campus and finally ended his morning training, he always greeted Juzo and had a friendly exchange at the gates.

Over the past few days, Hajime wanted to improve his morning training so that he could fit more training inside his time that he needed to keep short. He did have to make sure his three friends didn't get themselves into too much trouble. Maybe he would include a warmup at the beginning to stretch his muscles before his run. He knew from experience that stretching your muscles before an exercise reduces the risk of muscle cramps.

Hajime sat in the residence lounge with a pocketbook on his knee, a pencil in one hand, and a bright yellow energy drink in the other. He took a swig of the drink and put it on the table beside him, twirling the pencil in his hand as he contemplated what exercises he should incorporate into his morning training. Should he go to the gymnasium and see if there's something that can withstand his punches? Or should he do some laps in the pool every morning? The latter might keep him from being too dirty, but he didn't want to contaminate the pool with his sweat. But the pools were filtered every hour anyway...

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of red enter the lounge. He tore his eyes away from the pocketbook and looked up in recognition. Shinji had gone over to the vending machine in the lounge and was in the process of buying an energy drink. The machine seemed to be giving him a hard time, but he was doing his absolute best not losing his temper with it.

Hajime had seen the firefighter around while doing his daily exercises. He had always assumed that Shinji had been doing training of his own and had just let him do his own thing. Who was he to interfere in another person's fitness, after all? But if he was right and Shinji had been doing some morning exercises as well, maybe getting a few suggestions from him wouldn't hurt.

Finally, Shinji had gotten his drink and headed over to the nearby table, where he leaned on it with his hand as he began to drink his energy drink. Hajime figured that now was his chance to ask. "Hey, you with the red hair. Shinji, right?" He called over.

The firefighter took notice and stopped his drinking. "Yeah, that's me! You need anything?" He asked.

"Yeah, mind coming here a sec?" The boxer beckoned with his hand. 

Shinji put the cap back on his energy drink and walked over to the couch. He put one hand on the armrest and leaned forwards, trying to see what was on the pocketbook. "What's this? Is this a training exercise?" He guessed.

"That's exactly what it is." Hajime nodded. "Listen, I've seen you out and about while I'm doing my morning training. Do you have a routine too?"

"Yes, definitely! As a training maniac myself, I have to make sure to keep to a routine to stay fit! Morning training really is the best, you know!" The firefighter enthusiastically proclaimed.

"Glad we're on the same page, then." Hajime grinned. "Listen, do you have any pointers in a morning training? What kind of exercises do you do? I'm trying to improve my own morning training and I thought that you would have some ideas."

Shinji thought for a moment. "Mind if I see your book there? I think I can tell you how to improve it if I give it a once-over." He suggested.

"Knock yourself out. Not literally though." Hajime shuddered, remembering a time where he had said that to Iroha, who didn't know what it meant and took it literally. He was rightfully yelled at by Nikei after the group had convinced Iroha that it was just an expression and stopped her from hurting herself.