Kawaii Cuties Clash! (for Oathkeeper)

It was late at night, and Claire St. Clair was still on the AFW campus. It was not like her to burn the midnight oil like this. Generally, she didn't even go out with friends after it got dark. But, as recent events in the Kawaii League were unfolding, Claire felt like she needed to put in some more hours in the gym. Though she and Tsukasa had completed just two of their planned five matches for the kawaii title, Claire had been hearing strange rumblings coming from management about the fate of that belt—not that they actually told her much. She would have thought that she was overreacting...until the next match in the series was postponed by two weeks, and she could not get ahold of Tsukasa when she tried contacting the current titleholder.

It was all very strange, and if strange things were afoot in the Kawaii League, Claire knew that she had to be ready for them. And that was why, with the clock now showing it was well past 10:00 PM, Claire was still in the AFW gym, trying to build some endurance and additional muscle mass before the floodgates were opened and her pursuit of the kawaii title took a turn.

Claire, right now, was on a mat in one corner of the large, expansive gym, performing a few basic exercises: pushups, situps, jumping jacks. She was warming herself up, getting ready to move on to some of the real machines. There was one little thing slowing her down: despite the late hour, she was not the only girl in the gym, and Claire had never really enjoyed exercising in front of an audience. While the other girl was on the other side of the room, it would still have been awkward for Claire to start grunting and sweating on the bench press or leg press with someone else present. She loitered on her mat, warming up at a slow pace, hoping that the other girl would leave.

Unfortunately, it did not look like that would happen anytime soon. The other girl looked to be warming up, the same as Claire. So, Claire decided to at least try to put some space between them. Picking up her water bottle, Claire would walk briskly over to the treadmills, which faced outward, toward the big bay window through which one could see a gorgeous view of Tokyo at night. Showing her backside clad in black running shorts to the other girl—not born of any disrespect or even conscious thought, but simply to give herself some social breathing room—Claire would set her water bottle in the cupholder and then begin to press buttons on the treadmill, cycling through all of the different settings and speed options to try to find the one best suited for her.

Cutey had planned to do a long work out, she doesn't usually came to the gym so late but prior engagements kept her from training. It might have been better to come back tomorrow morning but she just couldn't skip a day. After coming back to AFW, she had been determined not to be left behind by her friends from Wrestle Angels. A former Wrestle Angel Junior Asia Champion, she had a sense of pride as a wrestler. However, her idoling career had made her soft and she knew it. Chizuru and Rei were so driven, training harder and making leaps and bounds in their careers. She had to keep up but she wished she had something to help motivate her like... maybe a rival?

Lost in thought, she hadn't noticed that she was the only one in the gym until Claire began doing jumping jacks. Her earphones blaring with upbeat J-Pop EDM, she removed one as she was in the middle of her stretches. She made careful glances at Claire, sometimes even glancing at her from reflections from mirrors or windows. The dark haired girl was about her size and build, she realized that she must be in the kawaii division as well.

Wearing sleek pink and black running shoes, a pair of black yoga pants that revealed her ankles. Made of a spandex like material with pink lines in simple designs, it was skin tight and showed off the shape of her slender legs. The pink haired girl wore her hair in twin pigtails. She wore a plain loose top and her sport's bra peeking over her shoulder as she continued stretching her legs side to side. After her stretching, she made her way to the treadmill as she hummed a song before getting started. She blinked noticing Claire had taken the treadmill next to hers probably to get a good at the view. She glanced at Claire who had started selecting her difficulty.

Cutey decided to use this person to her advantage, training would be more fun if there was something to work towards. With a smile, she started her workout at a moderate rate to help her warm up. Although honestly, it was 1 or 2 mph faster than her usual warm up speed.

Claire had made her way over to the treadmills, a little bit more distant from the spot her fellow kawaii-sized girl had been occupying in the gym, to try to ensure that they both had plenty of space to workout without having to awkwardly stare at each other or accidentally bump into each other when they passed in a narrow corridor between machines. It was weird for two strangers to be staring at each other as they exercised, wearing a lot less than they usually might and getting all sweaty and red-faced.

Apparently, the other girl did not have any of the same qualms about exercising near each other. As Claire was selecting the speed on her treadmill, the girl walked right over and decided to occupy the treadmill right beside Claire's! Claire glanced in the girl's direction, noting the distracted expression on her face—no doubt a result of her being caught up in the music that Claire could very faintly hear coming from the girl's headphones. When the girl did look up at her, she seemed surprised by how close Claire was, as if Claire had all of a sudden sauntered over into her space.

Claire would turn her head back to her treadmill controls and scoff, though she had a wry smile on her face. You're the one who came over here second, dummy. She wasn't really angry, but it was amusing. The Japanese girl was cute, a kawaii almost the same size as Claire. But she was obviously a bit of a ditz—or that was the impression that Claire got.

Just as the black-haired girl was about to select her speed, her pink-haired counterpart would start her run, selecting a moderate speed and starting to get going. Claire glanced down at the speed she had been about to select. She was pretty sure that it wouldn't be as fast as the other girl's speed. It wasn't a competition, really, but...Claire couldn't be right next to this girl if she was practically standing still compared to the cutie beside her.

She clicked the "Up" button three times, enough to match and then surpass the speed of the other treadmill by one notch. Then, Claire pressed the "Start" button, and would get going, breathing easily as her treadmill accelerated.

Cutey was lost in her own world, listening to her music not really paying attention to her new gym acquaintance. After some time had passed by, she realized she was had matched her speed. She resisted the urge to bring up the speed again, she didn't want to leave the impression they were in competition. Despite this speed not being Cutey's warm up speed, it was a mildly difficult speed to maintain, she wondered how Claire was fairing and realized she had changed speeds.

'Oh... a tough girl, huh? Let's see if you can keep up with me now.' She thought to herself not shifting the speed immediately. She waited a good minute before giving a 'casual yawn' before shifting the speed, not one but two notches faster than Claire's current speed. The pink haired girl had gone from jogging to a steady run, her foot falls becoming more audible as she accelerated. She took a couple of long breaths through her mouth before forcing herself to breathe through her nose. Normally, this was the speed Cutey could handle but not for more than 15 minutes. She liked to go about this fast near the end of her workout after gradually increasing the speed.

As she ran, she eventually put her earbuds out of her ears pretending to be tired of listening to them. Cutey was determined to beat this stranger, she wanted to hear if Claire's breath to gauge how long she could go for.

Claire was obviously a very competitive person by nature. If she wasn't, why would she have traveled halfway around the world to join a professional wrestling league? Even though she was a fairly mild-mannered person outside of the ring, it only took a little push to ignite her competitive spirit. And a little push was what she got, when she saw Cutey beside her trying to jog faster than her. She didn't know this girl, and had never even seen her before they both entered the gym looking for a late-night workout. But Claire did not want to look weak in front of her, so she set her treadmill a notch faster, thinking that would be that.

And then the pink-haired girl in the tight, cute yoga pants would increase her own speed, setting it two notches above what Claire was doing! Claire could hear the girl's feet hitting the tread faster. She might have thought that the girl was just accelerating to her full speed after limbering up, but, when she turned to the girl, she saw that she didn't have her headphones on anymore, which struck Claire as strange...unless the girl was paying more attention to her. Claire was sure she caught a glance or two out of the corner of her eye, too.

"Hah..." Claire would breathe, before reaching up to press to accelerate her own treadmill. Like Cutey, she would not stop at just one notch above her opponent, instead skipping up to two notches above Cutey—and, as it happened, two notches faster than the speed she usually maxed out at during her workouts. It was not as if she couldn't run this fast for a while, but it would definitely take a toll on her, as her breathing became more labored, just a little raspy, as she pushed her body. But she was going faster than the girl next to her, and she would smile as she glanced over to the girl, wondering what she would try next!

Cutey ran on the treadmill concentrating on her breathing and her ability to keep a steady pace. The mechanical sound of the rolling surface underneath her and the sounds of their feet hitting the treadmill were the only sounds she could hear. She concentrated on the sound and tried to deafen everything else to ignore the slow burn in her legs and the the the burning sensation in her lungs. In truth, Cutey had always been a fast sprinter but her usual regimen involved maintaining a steady speed to increase her stamina which was below average. Hearing Claire's tempo change, she looked up to see the cute girl smile at her. She blinked looking dumbfounded before realizing this was now an open challenge. The pink haired girl's cheeks colored a bit at the bold statement. Cutey let out a grunt and looked grinning back.

"Haa... It's gonna be like that is it? Fine. Bring it. Prepare to eat my dust, loser~" Cutey between breaths, responded by holding down the acceleration button until a beeping sound indicated that she reached the maximum speed of 15 mph. She tried to keep her tone to be more playful than rude. After all, the cute dark haired girl was a stranger and Cutey wasn't going to act like a jerk or at least not come off as bitchy. The pink haired girl let loose as she went forward in full out sprint, mostly relying on momentum and adrenaline fuel her. The pink haired girl's breathing was sporadic and uneven. She doubted she could keep this up for more than 2 minutes but she was banking on the fact Claire would be baited into the full out sprint challenge and either be unable to keep up or burn out faster than her. Her arms keeping up with her steps as Cutey willed herself to keep up with the rapid pace.

Claire was of the opinion that Cutey was the one who had made this an open challenge. Claire was not the sort of silly girl who would go around making ridiculous dares and trying to throw herself into conflict with any other kawaii cutie she ran into. But this girl had chosen the treadmill next to her, then set her treadmill to a faster speed while keeping an eye on Claire and listening to her breathing...Claire had no choice but to accept. Maybe it would be fun. The way the girl talked, it sounded like she wasn't a bad person. Her smile was cute, too.

"Haaah...you're the one who started it, and you're the one who's eating dust for dinner tonight!" Claire would insist, breathing deeply every few words to make sure she didn't run out of breath. Her lungs were still working just fine, despite the high speed at which she was running, but her legs were starting to warm up and she knew it wouldn't last forever. She was definitely more fit than the girl next to her, wasn't she? As Cutey slammed her finger into her acceleration button, Claire would do the same, both of them holding them down until both treadmills were maxed out at fifteen miles per hour. That was significantly faster than Claire was used to running, and, while her steps were steady, her breathing did not have that easy, constant rhythm it had begun with. Sweat was forming on her forehead and under her arms in big drops as she pushed herself, arms pumping, head frequently glancing over to the other girl to check her progress.

"Be...careful...don't...fall!" Claire would pant in between steps, as the two of them raced each other at top speed, waiting to see who would have to give up first. For two strangers, the two were getting very competitive, very fast, but the smile remained on Claire's face the whole time!

"Thanks-...haa... be careful too." Cutey said between breaths, she was surprised how sweet the other girl was. It was good to know her workout rival put safety first.

Cutey felt she had an easier time at the beginning of their sprint but as soon as the adrenaline began to die down, she was dying fast after a minute. Still, she pushed herself even if it hurt, Cutey refused to lose to this dark haired kawaii. This was going to be a contest of wills. Feeling her lungs begin to burn, the muscles in her thighs and calves begin to strain. She could feel her body burning up and sweat trail down the back of her neck and crawl down her back. The pink haired girl could feel her heart pound in her chest as her throat tasted dry and hot in her mouth.

Cutey struggling to push through another minute of this break neck speed, her legs feeling like cinder blocks. The rhythm and perfect form she exhibited earlier was discarded. She felt herself getting farther away from the treadmill console and towards the edge of the treadmill. She grit her teeth and willed her way towards the console struggling to keep up with the pace. She felt like she was desperately trying to catch a locomotive already departing a terminal.

"Th-thanks...haaah..." Claire would reply, glad that this contest between the two of them, while fierce, would be a friendly one. She had had her share of negative experiences with fellow wrestlers so far at AFW, and she did not need another enemy. A rival...sure! A friendly one, Claire would love to have, and this pink-haired Japanese girl, whatever her name was, seemed like the sort who Claire could have a lot of fun with.

Right now, though, as the two of them sprinted along beside each other at fifteen miles per hour, she was not having that much fun. Claire had been able to maintain the pace for about a minute, but after that, the raspy, short breaths she took with each step simply were not supplying her with enough oxygen to keep up this sort of race. Worse still, her legs, which had first grown hot, were now beginning to feel numb, and tight, her muscles burning out completely from the sudden onslaught of activity far too rigorous for her to have undertaken. "Hhah...ahhn..." Claire panted, as her throat and heart seemed to be throbbing in pain, too.

She felt her tight form beginning to break down, as one foot landed a little wide from where she had intended to place it, and the next landed further back on the tread, away from the console. She could feel herself slipping away...drifting further and further from the console...coming dangerously close to falling off the back of it. Claire would desperately keep up the chase, though she felt her body bending, her legs wobbling, her feet nearly slipping off the back of it with each step...desperate, she looked to Cutey, eyeing the other girl, as if trying to convince her to fall off or stop the treadmill first with just a pained look!

Cutey felt like she was suffocating, her heart accelerating and sweat was pouring down her face. The American girl was putting up a terrible fight, she turned back looking at those pleading eyes. She couldn't help but find the desperation in Claire's eyes to be utterly adorable. She looked at Claire with a similar expression before turning away and shakign her head, she wouldn't be beaten by another kawaii.

The two were running on empty at this point, Cutey told herself just to last another few seconds. She felt herself starting to slow down again and it was as if an invisible wall was pushing her back against the console. She groaned in annoyance and at the merciless machine who continued to torture her. Cutey's legs were Jello as she felt every muscle strain to keep her moving.

Cutey knew she couldn't go on anymore, she knew the moment she manged to pull herself ahead again, she had to press the stop button. The pink haired girl would most likely crash or really fall. As much as she wanted to win, Cutey didn't want to go flying backward and comically end up airborne like in a cartoon. Terrified, Cutey just wanted off the ride. She whined as no matter how hard she ran, she really didn't seem to be moving. She fired her arm forward, her fingers just inches away from the stop button.