One month. With one month left before he would take on the entirety of Ghira's forces at once, Riley stood still in the hallway, looking down with a caught-off-guard stare.
As the bell rang, the hallways began to flood with students, forcing him to move. As he continued walking, he dug his thumb's nail into his index finger, focusing on the pain for a moment.
How many of them are there?
Using his sixth sense, he found that there were Servants present all around the world, still unable to decipher the exact number. But, for certain, there were more than ten.
Fighting ten people at once… I've never done that before.
Hurrying up, he arrived in his first period class. Sitting down, he heard murmurs around him once more. This time, when his teacher walked in, he saw them eyeing him with a disdainful look.
Which, of course, was natural. He had killed a woman and gotten away with it in front of everyone. And, depending on someone's values, he had killed her in the worst way possible. Driving her to despair, and "convincing" her to end her own life—within the rapidly increasing rate of suicides, it was a reality widely known and horribly grim.
Yet, he was unable to utter a word of defiance. Everyone knew the core truth, and thus he would not allow himself to speak against it.
…
In PE, Riley was forcibly excluded from participating in games. Thus, sitting alone on the bleachers, he held his head and sat silently.
I want a drink. I want a drink. I want to drink all of this away.
Having been relieved by alcohol once, he sought it out for relief once more. Though, he couldn't exactly be called an alcoholic—it was more of a desire than a craving.
He heard footsteps. Looking to the side, seeing a girl with dark, scraggly black hair and a tired look in her eyes, Riley's gaze stiffened towards the girl he didn't recognize. She approached him, sitting down with him.
"Hey. Um, I'm new here, so—"
"Hey, hey hey," a voice called out, and a student approached the girl. "Don't sit next to him," he instructed, waving towards himself. "He killed the last new girl that talked to him—and I'm not joking about that either. It's big news around here. Come play with us, you'll be hated if you sit next to him."
The new girl glanced at Riley, and unceremoniously stood up, walking down the bleachers and leaving him alone.
"..."
Silently, he gently massaged his face with his fingers, trying to relieve himself in any way possible.
It makes sense. I don't dislike them for it. I understand why, and I don't blame them.
Still… it hurts.
An uncomfortable sensation drove itself through his heart. Saliva, building up in his throat, was swallowed. Once more, Riley felt the urge to kill. Not from vengeance, but that physical sensation ingrained into his weak flesh.
His head was held low in shame.
No. No, I won't kill anyone. I don't want to kill. Even a single life is incredibly valuable. I… I won't.
Needing something to put his mind to, Riley took out his phone and began to research combat.
Although phones weren't allowed in class, it was simply such that even the teacher did not want to interact with Riley, especially since he was off in the corner alone.
I need to get stronger in this one month.
Spending some minutes researching the human body, he connected it to his status as a Servant.
My body naturally regenerates constantly. If that's the case, then I suppose I don't need to train for muscular endurance, considering my body constantly eliminates fatigue.
Even against that lunatic, I think I only got tired from losing oxygen as a result of healing, not due to muscular fatigue. Then, I need to somehow build up my… VO2 Max?
The thought of training their bodies physically was not even considered by any other Servant, with the exception of Frank Russo. Thus, if he could tap into this underutilized method, then he would have a major playing field.
Ultimately, the VO2 Max was a way to ensure the body could work with the most efficient amount of oxygen in the blood. If he were to use that, then his blood-sacrifice-healing wouldn't be as damaging as it typically was, as he'd be able to work with more efficient oxygen supplies.
Continuing to delve even deeper, Riley considered the four main types of strength.
Strength Endurance isn't necessary due to regeneration… Explosive Strength is definitely needed, Relative Strength isn't as necessary due to me already being strong… Absolute Strength would be extremely beneficial if I'm always physically stronger than the others.
And, luckily for him, Explosive Strength and Absolute Strength were close acquaintances.
Then, I'll get as strong as I possibly can. Focusing on explosiveness for raw striking ability, and absolute strength in order to overpower the rest of them.
But, that itself wasn't enough. As a wise man had once said, "Just because you have materials doesn't mean you can build."
If he wasn't able to take full advantage of his physical statistics, then they were null. That's where training his skills, both in martial arts, weapon handling, and specific ability training came in.
Continuing to do research, he came to a conclusion.
If I'm fighting against a lot of people, I wouldn't want to be on the ground. Although, some basics there would definitely help, as Frank showed me that stuff is valuable.
It seems the general consensus is that Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai and Brazillian… Jiu-Jitsu, those are the general best. Hm.
If I can use [Falling], then having as many limbs to deliver downwards strikes would be best. From what I'm reading, Muay Thai is the style for that. And with BJJ, I can grapple, and [Falling] should be incredibly versatile there.
Though, knife-handling would be good. However, Filipino martial arts which used knives weren't exactly readily available classes near him, thus he'd have to practice on his own.
Getting everything sorted out, he came up with a plan.
I'll train early in the mornings, sneak out of school to hit the gym during lunch, and when school's over, I'll train in martial arts and lift.
The bell rang, ending Physical Education.
…
At lunch, Riley walked down the hallway to leave school, when he heard a voice.
"Riley! What're you doing?!"
Turning around, he saw a group of girls—at the forefront was Nina.
"Ah. Well, I'm going to the gym, I guess," he calmly replied, to which she seemed utterly confused.
"Huh? You said you'd eat lunch with me. Plus, how can I believe you're just 'going to the gym' when—"
Riley sighed. Quite audibly.
Unlike before, however, in which such an abrupt action would spark a small laughter amongst her friends, it was not so. His reputation had been so thoroughly dragged through the dirt that they refused to find anything he did hilarious.
"Did you…" Nina began, visibly angry before he walked over with his hands in his pockets. His face was a slight pink, and he felt a heavy weight placed over his heart. Indeed, his face and ears were burning up.
"I… I love you," he unexpectedly confessed.
Those three words shot through her heart, leaving her extremely confused.
"W-wha…?!"
"...It was, er, a joke. I'm going to the gym. How about this? I'll text you every five minutes, so you know I'm not dead. If I miss one, you can get worried and call me. But, seriously, I'm trying to get my life back together—physical activity is just part of that."
"...That… that doesn't answer, you—w-what did you just say?" She said in embarrassment, and Riley shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
"It was a joke. Just to get you to stop being so, um, irritated. So, yeah. I need to get stronger. It'll help with the bullying, won't it?"
"Uh, well, I guess—"
"Alrighty, see ya t'night. Bye-bye."
Riley unceremoniously departed, doing some grave-robbing before heading to the gym.
…
Riley Woods, with his skinny build, had a one-rep-max of one-hundred pounds. With there being only so many people at the gym at this hour, he didn't feel bad about hogging a bench for ten minutes, with literally zero rest other than changing the weight.
Ultimately, he did several reps with that maximum, taking time to regenerate his muscles and prevent fatigue, taking Kara's tooth and removing it from his pocket, alternating between being a Servant and not.
In essence, he swapped. Varying from one-hundred pounds to sixty. With his lighter load, he did three to five reps as fast as he could until absolute failure, where his final rep took several seconds to re-rack, and he knew for certain if he went down again, it would slam into his chest.
Blending in Absolute Strength with a more Explosive Strength methodology, he made some good progress in his short timespan due to his intensity and supernatural regenerative ability.
…
Entering his car, Nina had come in with him, sitting down in the passenger seat and looking at him with quick, brief glances.
"...Riley, I… I'm still very confused," she began. "What's going on with you?"
It was reasonable. Suicidal thoughts were a "normal" enough issue that she could understand and have a loose idea of how to help. But Riley's life had been thrown into heaps and heaps of abnormality.
The quietly nesting dark thoughts had been acted upon, a new girl had come and entangled Riley's reputation with that of a killer, he frequently vanished and isolated himself from her, not to mention the terrorist attack which had caused great pain to many.
—Simply put, it was chaos. And in her limited life experience, she was unsure of how to navigate it. Or rather, even if she had thirty or fifty years of life experience, it would be difficult to navigate.
"Ah…"
The two sat in the car, silent and alone. As Riley looked outside, seeing the dozens of students heading to their cars, or getting onto the bus, he felt the windy breeze of Fall, his windows rolled down.
"...I, um… I trust you, Nina."
The heavy weight set upon his heart was removed, and he exposed himself in his entirety. He rolled up the windows, ensuring that she was the only person to hear his words.
"Then, if you trust me… then, tell me. Tell me what's going on, what all of this is about, because… Just, tell me."
Awkwardly shifting, leaning back in his seat and stretching his arms, elbows hitting the roof of the car, he turned towards her and spoke thus.
"—I… I am a Servant of Ghira."
"W-what?"
That was the natural response.
"In essence… well. I'm not quite sure how to say this. A lot of things, if I tried explaining, wouldn't make sense. That's why, first… I want you to believe me."
She tilted her head, as Riley opened up his palm. The next moment,
"Huh?"
A knife had popped out. From thin air, from the void—a weapon had been summoned into the world in just one moment. And, in the next, it disappeared.
"What…? How are you, how are you doing that?"
"...It's a lot to explain. But, to summarize, I suppose… This has been the root of all the absurdities, I guess. My vanishing, my secrecy, Kara's presence, all of it is based on this. I am not a normal human being anymore."
A gun was formed, then the water from Nina's bottle was taken out and held mid-air. His "tricks" caused her to doubt her sense of reality, as she rubbed her eyes to ensure she wasn't seeing things.
"That…" she softly muttered, "that's just… okay. Okay."
"—?"
Nina composed herself, and she took a deep breath. Sitting utterly still, she was calm, and while not understanding, the young woman ensured serenity.
"Alright. I have a feeling the truth is definitely much, much deeper than you've let on. However, this… it's a lot to wrap my head around. It's strange, but I'll accept it, for now."
"Wait, y-you will?"
"Of course. I mean, I don't understand, but even if I don't understand… Well, you're my best friend. I might not know everything, but I don't need to know everything in order to do my best to be here for you. That's what you'd do for me, right?"
There was, a strange moisture. A stinging pain in Riley's eyes, and he felt his nose acting weirdly.
"Ah… y-yeah. No doubt."
Wiping his eyes, he smiled. Not showing any tears of his, he did not have to force his smile.
"I'd do the same for you. That's… yeah. Nina, Nina, you… you really are an amazing person."
Riley was filled with gratitude. Both for Nina, and for himself.
Yeah. No mistake there. I'm so glad… I'm so glad I wanted to be more like her.
She was, put simply, a friend. A human being who looked out to help others—unmistakably, Riley Woods had chosen a good person to aspire to be like.