"Ugh, hurry up, Takamaki! We're burnin' daylight!"
"Don't rush me, Ryuji! Besides, I'm almost ready!" Ann Takamaki called out, her voice echoing in locker room she was just finishing getting ready in. When she asked Ryuji Sakamoto to help her exercise and keep fit for her blossoming modeling career, she knew the bleached blonde boy would be obnoxious about it, but they hadn't even started yet and he was already getting on her case.
As good of friends they were, Ryuji's hot-headed attitude always got on her nerves, and if he hadn't proven how knowledgeable he was at working out, she would have gone to the gym alone. But the last time she'd been to the gym with him and their mutual black-haired friend, he was able to give her plenty of direction and make sure she got a full workout, which she knew she needed. Unlike the last time she had been to the gym with Ryuji, Ann had ditched her school P.E. sweats, instead wearing tight dark red jogging pants and a crimson tank top, an outfit she'd gotten specifically to be reminiscent of her former Phantom Thieves gear. She'd never wear that dominatrix cat suit in the real world, but form-fitting red workout clothes were a good alternative.
Storing the rest of her belongings in a locker, Ann paused for a moment, then reached into her bag. Digging for a moment, she found the small diamond she was looking for. It was no bigger than her fingernail, and it wasn't a real diamond, not in the traditional sense- it was a gem created from a Shadow from the Metaverse. Joker had called it Regent, named after the real diamond, and through some method she didn't quite understand, Joker had turned the Shadow into a physical object. A melancholy looked passed over her face; Joker had left behind a lot of trinkets and gear from their time as the Phantom Thieves when he moved back to his hometown. One of them was the fake Regent diamond Ann now held softly, something she kept to remind her of her far away friend.
Blinking away the beginnings of tears, Ann smiled. It was sad to think about, but Joker wasn't gone forever or even that far away really, and he wouldn't want her to be so sappy anyway. Good times were hard to think about sometimes, she knew, and didn't let it get her down. Still smiling and without thinking about it, Ann pulled her shirt and sports bra open and dropped the diamond into her bust. Not the best place to keep a precious keepsake, but it was the only place she had on her to keep it relatively safe, held against her chest due to the snug bra.
"For motivation!" She said out loud in her usual bubbly tone. Knowing Ryuji was getting agonizingly impatient, Ann slammed the locker closed and dashed outside.
"Pff, took you long enough!" Ryuji said, scowling with his arms crossed and leaning against the wall next to the doorway Ann emerged from.
"Whatever. You look like such a creep waiting outside the girl's locker room, by the way!" She replied with playful snark.
"Shuddup! I'm doin' you a favor here, y'know!" He bit back. Pulling off the wall, the track athlete took the lead. "C'mon. Let's stretch out and then get some cardio. That'll be plenty for you right now." Ann dutifully followed, inwardly thankful for Ryuji. As much of a hard time as they gave each other, she knew he cared, and she suspected he felt the same way about her.
Nearing the treadmills, Ryuji stopped to stretch, bending his right leg behind him and pulling on his ankle. Ann followed his lead, unaware of the faint glow the diamond in her cleavage was emitting. During all of the Phantom Thieves heists, none of them had ever bothered to wear any of the gear into the real world, including items made from Treasure Demons. Joker never shared any of the equipment with the team as their leader, and none of them ever had a reason to ask for them. Now that Ann had "equipped" the Regent, however, she was unwittingly finding out that they actually had an effect on people in the real world, not just the Metaverse.
As she stretched, Ann was surprised with how easy it seemed to feel to her to do so. She wasn't exactly out of shape, but she was holding her leg taut for much longer than she expected to, not growing sore or tired at all. Shrugging, she began stretching the other leg, unaware of how taut her quads were on the leg she just lowered. The Regent under her top was an accessory that boosted the wearer's strength in the Metaverse, and it was beginning to do the same thing to Ann in the gym...   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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