Troublemaker - ❌Juuzou Suzuya❌

8 - Training

A whole day had passed yet Juuzou was brimming with energy.

The small incident with Team Seidou had given him the hype he was hoping for, and couldn't stop moving around.

Shinohara was sitting on a small ledge, Juuzou, Hiyori, and Haru all sitting below him.

"What are we doing today then?" questioned the still bandaged Haru.

"We need to prepare for the exams of course." Shinohara was met with a huge groan.

Haru was asleep when they went over the whole exam business. He didn't know about Juuzou signing them up, or in fact any of it. He only found out when he was called to this meeting.

"You're the one who told me to protect him~" mocked Hiyori, rolling her eyes.

At least show some initiative, jackass... he thought.

He didn't know what the point of him being down there was; he was injured and so he couldn't really do much with the time he had, and maybe even no point in his squad even trying to enter the exams. You can only enter with 3 people after all.

"I know what you're thinking, and no don't smile yet." Haru could feel Shinohara's words break his hope. "From past tests, I can deduce that there will be a written exam, which is what you will be revising for."

Juuzou chortled at this, knowing how much Haru despised writing. The constant strain on his arm muscles were way too much effort, and he would have preferred to just sit back and learn by watching the others do their thing.

He opened his mouth to complain but was cut off by Shinohara, who threw a few books and a pencil case onto his lap, and gestured to the ledge on the right. Obediently, Haru trudged over and slumped down, scanning the first page of the first book.

"Okay, now that that's sorted; time to put you guys to work."

"WOOHOO!! What type of training are we doing today Shi-no-ha-ra-san~?"

"Oh... Sorry Juuzou I forgot to say. The only type of training you'll be doing is mind training."

"Wh-what?"

He chucked him a few books and another pencil case, which made his jaw drop, and then gestured to a place next to Haru. Juuzou also then trudged over, Haru struggling to keep his vengeful laugh in.

Hiyori also giggled, but stopped abruptly when she realised she was the last one standing.

"Don't worry, I have my own pencil case." She picked herself up, but returned to the floor when Shinohara shook his head.

"You're not going to be revising."

"What?? Why not??"

"Because you're already a genius, unlike Juuzou who's a pure idiot and Haru who's too useless at the moment to do anything else."

"WE HEARD THAT!" screamed Haru and Juuzou in the background.

"Yea well," it seemed the compliment touched her heart, "okay so what do you want me to do?"

"Physical and practical work of course! Just call it Shinohara's PP4NN!"

"PP4NN?"

"Physical and Practical work For New Newbies!"

Oh god thats a terrible name... thought all three of them simultaneously.

~~☆~~

"Do I... really... need to continue..?" Hiyori panted, almost finishing her 73rd lap of the park out of 100.

"Of course!! It's only been about 40km!!" Shinohara yelled, cheerleading her on.

Juuzou and Haru had taken their eyes off the work in front of them and started paying attention to Hiyori's work. After the 200 push-ups, 300 sit-ups, 50 crunches, 200 squats, a 10 minute plank, and now 100 laps around the park, they were glad that they were just given a book to read.

Hiyori collapsed halfway through the lap, and Shinohara decided maybe it was okay to call it off. She had been working on each exercise straight after all.

After hearing the whistle, Hiyori dragged herself over to where Juuzou and Haru were, and lied down next to Haru.

"That... was the worst thing... I've EVER experienced..." she kept panting like a mad dog.

"Well look on the bright side," reasoned Juuzou, "you got a lot fitter and a bit skinnier!"

"Aww, thanks Juuzou~ But still, that was much more terrible than it was enjoyable..."

"I guess there are a lot of bad things... I mean, you might have gotten skinnier but your butt looks a lot bigger..."

"STOP OGLING YOU PERVY WEIRDO!!" She gave him an extremely strong slap despite her fatigue which knocked him straight off the ledge. "That's not even a bad thing anyway, don't you know what guys like nowadays?"

"Uhh... well they like food and video games?"

"And we expect to pass these exams with you on this team..?"

"Now now you two, settle down. That's only part one of your training Hiyori..."

"WHAT??"

"And how about you guys? I trust you have learnt a lot?"

Haru nodded, and Juuzou simply smiled brightly.

"Okay well... Haru, name the four types of kagune."

This is a question of Juuzou's level... what does he take me for...

"Ukaku, Bikaku, Rinkaku, and Koukaku..."

"Okay seems about right." Shinohara turned towards the distracted Juuzou, satisfied with Haru's answer. "Now, Juuzou, which bit did you learn about?"

"Hmm?" He looked at him from the corner of his eye.

"Which part of the book did you read about..?"

"Ohhh... Yea, I can't read."

"Wh-what..?"

"I can't read~" He grinned, beaming after realising how surprised they all were.

"B-but... you've been at the academy for almost 8 months now... are you lying to get out of this??"

"You're raising your voice a bit Shinohara-san... it's a bit scary..."

Hiyori stood up to and went right into Juuzou's face, her eyes wide open.

"Juuzou. HOW CAN YOU NOT READ?? STOP LYING!! YOU'VE LEARNT TO READ SINCE YOU WERE 5-"

"No he hasn't." Haru interrupted and stopped Hiyori from moving a muscle (not that she could after the exercise), just in time for Juuzou to not hear the last bit.

"What was that?" Juuzou asked, tilting his head.

"She said nothing," insisted Haru, pushing away his enquiry, and then turning to the rest of them. "We all know Juuzou's circumstances so watch your mouth."

After about 10 seconds or so, realisation flooded Hiyori, and she stepped back, head hanging to the ground. Shinohara was also speechless, so Haru took this chance to speak.

"I'll teach you how to read and write..."

"Y-you what??" Hiyori was in full shock again. "You realise how hard that is??"

"I do."

"Then why-"

"How many times do I need to tell you, he's our teammate, and more importantly, he's our friend!!"

Juuzou felt something rush to his cheeks as his face went red. He never expected Haru to be this kind to him, especially despite their past. He used a word... a... a friend? He regarded Juuzou as a friend..? Finally, after all these years...Juuzou realised: he had made friends.

"Let's go, Hiyori. Time for your practical training to start." Shinohara and Hiyori both started to walk away and let Haru deal with Juuzou.

Shinohara turned back and smiled as Haru grabbed a book and a pencil.

Haru... we've barely been together and I can already see you changing.