I sighed, staring at myself in the mirror. My skin had always been a bit more proo tanning than my mother's, which had made me stand out growing up. And not in a good way.

  I'd never been too secure about my body or my looks, but I'd never really thought about them actively. I usually wore my imperfes like a badge, uanding that everyone was different. I didn't get the worst roll in the world, nor the best, but how I turned out never bothered me too much.

  But now that I was a Magical Knight, it was like I couldn't stop obsessing over it.

  Five feet, two iall. Definitely underweight.

  Dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Short, neck-length hair that refused to stay unfrizzled.

  I pursed my lips, turning to the side and frowning.

  I knew I should be eating miven what I'd heard about the physical challenges of being a Magical Knight and the demands of training on the body, but it was hard for me to get food down after a lifetime of scrimping and saving for anything that kept me from being hungry.

  Sure, there was a buffet in the dining hall, and Kaleidoscope City was one of the least likely major cities to suffer a food she, but my brain just couldn't itself around the cept of eating freely.

  I leaned in closer to the mirror, feeling around the edge of my jaw.

  Too sy.

  Too weak.

  Not like a real warrior, not like a real defender. Not even close to matg the physiques of any of even the weakest of the ical knights I've seen.

  Even while enhanced beyur human limits, Eris had more or less had her way with me once she'd closed the distance. She was much mile and lithe, she could easily weave between my clumsy attempts to increase the raween us.

  She had power.

  She had presend charisma.

  And, at the end of the day, she had reach too.

  If she'd just pressed her advantage seriously and wao hurt me instead off bbbering on and monologuing like a damn cartoon vilin, she could have put me away then and there. It had all been a matter of my strength, power, and build, but I couldn't help but realize that I might not be enough to defeat a enemy like that who was taking things seriously. It was also something that wasn't easy to ge ht, unfortunately.

  I'd lost a little bit of my fiden that fight. Not just in my physical abilities, but my personality and general mi.

  I'd wao approach that fight like a herht out of the movies, slinging out my own fident banter and giving as good as I got, but...

  Ugh.

  I shook my head, feeling a pit of self-doubt pooling in my stomach. It was tough, but I o work through it.

  I grumbled, grabbing a hoodie from my closet and throwing it on. It wasly fttering, but it hid the worst of my figure's deficies. It would have to do for now.

  "Hey, Sienna! You almost ready for your meeting?" a familiar called from outside my door.

  We'd pnned oing breakfast together before we split off for our respective program's final orientations, and I knew I would be transformed anyway.

  But still...

  "Y-yeah," I answered, looking in the mirror o time. "Give me a sec."

  Sure, we were going to show up transformed to the best of our abilities and in es, but there was no guarahat people wouldn't end up notig. No doubt all the veterans would be giving the newbies the side-eye, evaluating them and w if they were worth their time.

  Maybe that's a bit much, but it felt true to me. After all, that's how it was in real life. People were always sizing each other up, looking for faults and weako exploit. Not everyone did it, but there was always a bad egg or two wherever I went that gave either me or Al hell. Just our lived experiences.

  "I'm just having a crisis, no big deal."

  I quickly freshened up, doing my best to run a brush through my hair and spsh some water on my face.

  Finally, I pushed out of my drinning nervously at the big lug waiting outside. "Okay, good to go now."

  Albert raised an eyebrow. "Everything alright? You're looking a little pale."

  I waved him off. "I'm fine, Al. Just nerves, you know?"

  "Yeah, I feel you. And heck, my track isn't half as active or insane as yours. I gotta imagine you're a bundle of nerves."

  "Pshh, yeah."

  We headed out of the dorms, taking the elevator down to the ground floor. The campus was as bustling as ever, with crowds of people milling around and talking animatedly with friends.

  "So..." I trailed off. "Excited?"

  He shrugged. "Sure. I guess?"

  We walked together in silence for a bit, me looking around and trying my best to stay calm and not let my ay build.

  "Hut! Two! Three! Four!"

  Al and I stopped as we passed by a rge group of people doing plyometri a ft patch of grass. All of them were dressed in assorted gym clothes and drenched i, and it looked like there were three girls and about twenty boys. They ranged wildly in age, from a leader who looked he was about college-aged to people a bit older than me and Al.

  "Woah," I whispered, watg them jumping on boxes they'd id out in rows. "Isn't it a bit early ierm for that?"

  Al shrugged. "Well, fitness isn't something you take franted, right? It's something you have to work on every day, regardless of your training or yeics. Just being able to break a sweat helps on the daily and stuff."

  I aking in the group for a sed. They were definitely fit.

  Muscle, tendon, and ligament.

  Never heard of it.

  The guy leading the exercise was lean with a cssic swimmer's build. He wasn't pag a ton of muscle, but he was visibly strong and fit and did his jumps with a colossal grin on his face. He had dirty blond hair and blue eyes that shoh the iy of his movements and a thin, sharp jaw and an equally sharp hat looked like it came from a cssical era statue.

  Two dozen students were training in unison, moving with visible exertion and focus. But for some reason, there was one figure in the group whose rhythm just looked visibly off from the er of my eye. My eyes followed the movement, nding on a boy who looked siderably younger and more underdeveloped than the rest. He even looked youhan me, which was saying something.

  All of them had short, ly barbered hair, but the boy I had my eye on had messy bck bangs with dyed brown highlights c his eyes and a ragged t-shirt on that looked like it had seeer days. He was breathing heavily, and his legs were shaking as he tried to keep up with the rest of the group.

  The boy even looked... frail.

  "e on, everyone! Get that blood flowing and sweat dripping!" The guy at the lead barked at the others, breaking out into alternating deep lunge jumps so quick he almost looked like a blur. The group followed his movement, pig up the pace as they followed his lead.

  I gaped, but the weak-looking boy kept going, throwing his legs forward and back with growing iy—

  And theumbled, slipping and boung on one angle before falling onto the grass in a cssic breakfall. Half group immediately swarmed in, helping him to a seated position aly extending his leg.

  "Dude, Kazuki, you okay bruh?" a short, tino-looking muscur boy asked. "That looked like it hurt."

  The leader leaned in, clutg at his heart and panting for breath. "Take it easy little bro. You've gotta slow down and go at your own pace."

  Kazuki nodded, rubbing his ankle and grimag. "Suys. I just... was trying to keep up."

  They patted him on the bad the shoulders, chatting and ughing as another boy offered him a bottle of water.

  A muscur boy with chocote brown skin flexed a bicep with a grin, giving him a high-five. "Damn, man! Look at that hustle! Keep it going and before you know it, you'll be beating us all over the edge of the field."

  One of the firls in the group noticed us staring and grinned. "Yo! Boss!!"

  I blinked, feeling my cheeks flush as I realized I'd been caught staring. Albert and I shared a look, and I rubbed the bay neck awkwardly.

  The leader of the group immediately stalked forward, his arms swinging fidently at his sides. "Why, hello there! What I do for you folks? Looking for a friendly workout and some fun with the Power Fitness club?"

  The club members stared at us, flexing their muscles and smiling wide. It was almost ical, but they seemed so sihat I couldn't help but smile back.

  "Erm, we've kinda got orientation stuff," Albert said. "I've actually been going out of my way to exercise more though. You guys kinda caught our eyes and maybe I'll circle back down the road."

  He spped his belly with a smile, elig a ugh from the group leader, who nodded. "Nice. Well, good for you, dude! I'm Bke, the founder and current president of the club. If either of you you want to whip yourself in shape, you know where to find us."

  Albert chuckled nervously. "Well, you guys seem pretty advanced for where I'm at. But maybe if I get better, I could give it a try."

  The guy shrugged, shaking his head. "As far as I'm ed, everyone's wele to train with us no matter what their experience level is at. We just love having new faces, and we're more than happy to help a fresh fish get their feet wet. Besides, uiding philosophy is sustainability and sistency!"

  He shot Kazuki a worried look, nodding to himself. "Last thing we want to is have someone push themselves until they vomit and cause an injury. So if you're not ied in trying to sprint halfway across the world on your first day, there won't be a problem here."

  I smiled, rubbing my left arm awkwardly. "Well, I'm ly athletically ined."

  He tilted his head. "Well, that's okay, too! A person's fitness should always be self-assessed and tailored to their abilities and prefererust me. Over half the folks here started off in the same boat."

  Albert rubbed his belly. "Don't mihen. I'm... definitely on my way t aing ba shape. You know, new leaf and all that."

  I g him curiously, but I was hardly surprised. His mom overfed him regurly, so he was always a bit on the chubby side. She'd always tried to do the same to me, but my mother and I were never fortable with taking advantage of her generous nature.

  The boy named Kazuki finished his water, wiping his lips. Theood up and limped over to us, clearly struggling.

  But the boy seemed determined, and he made his way over to us with a small, embarrassed smile. He waved at us shyly. "Sorry about that spectacle. Probably wasn't the best first impression for our little club here."

  Bke ughed, slinging a well-muscled arm around the boy's shoulder and g him on the back. "See, bud? Just go with yut. Don't push yourself past the point of an injury. Knowing your limits is far more important than trying to look strong."

  Kazuki nodded, g his fists. "I know. It's just... I'm trying to ge myself for the better, and I don't want to hold anyone back."

  The group leader shook his head. "Now, you listen to me Kaz. This is all about the journey. Baby steps, brother. You owe nobody but yourself. And as long as you're still walking on your road, that's all that matters. Oep at a time, little buddy."

  Now that he was a bit closer to us, I noticed Kazuki was... different.

  The boy had delicate, effeminate features that I could even call pretty, but I could see a raw iy behind his brown eyes as he made eye tact with Bke.

  But then the look disappeared and he sniffed, rubbing his eyes. "Thank you, boss. That means a lot."

  "Little bro! You know it," Bke answered, ruffling the boy's hair. "And , we've got new friends here."

  Kazuki finally made his way to us, extending a hand. "Hi there, sorry for the clumsiness. I'm a little self-scious about it. Er, name's Kazuki but everyone calls me Kaz."

  I quickly grabbed his hand, returning the shake with an awkward grin. "Sienna. Lovely to meet you, er, Kaz."

  "Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry. Kazuki is good. Yeah. Kaz, Kaz is fine. Definitely," he corrected, slig his hair bad exhaling. "Wow. Um. What a disaster."

  Kaz robably around five feet six inches, with a small nose and sharp cheekbones. He was almost sleo the point of looking fragile, but his jaw was strong and his eyes occasionally shoh a fierce, iious determination.

  His voice was high-pitched and soft, and I found myself giggling softly at his nervous antics.

  "Don't sweat it," Bke called. "We've all been there. I mean it."

  Kaz clutched his water bottle, his eyes widening. "Right. Yeah. Um. m, yeah. Hope we catch you around sometime! We... we're not actually terrible. roup here is just dedicated to staying active and keeping our fitness goals on track, and..."

  His cheeks flushed, aook a deep breath. "Good, wow, you two seem really cool and I don't know if-"

  Bke patted him on the shoulder. "Whoa there, buddy. I think you need a breather, haha."

  He breathed, closing his eyes briefly before opening his eyes with focus. A sharpness came back to his gaze. "Yes, I did. Sorry about all that. My nerves are a bit haywire right now. So, yeah. o meet you two. Gd we didn't chase you off."

  I giggled. "No worries, Kazuki. You seem like a nice guy. ly easy getting into fitness, huh? I definitely rete. I was actually literally staring at a mirror earlier thinking about trying to gain a bit of weight. My grocery budget was always a bit limited, so I missed out on some pretty essential windows growing up, I think."

  Kaz nodded sympathetically. "I hear that. Yeah. Well, anyway... Most of us go to the gym here on our own schedules but Bke aian host group csses and stuff when they have the time. You guys ever want to tag along, it's a fun group and we have our own group chat."

  Bke grinned, putting his arm around Kaz again and pulling him in for a one-armed hug. "Little bro, did I ever tell you you're a star?"

  "B-bke, please stop that! You're suffog me, you goon."

  I smiled, hearing the love and passion in their voices.

  Bke ughed, shaking his head. "Anyway, you two have a great day and good luck with your stuff! Remember, if you want to train with the Power Fitness club, hit us up a us know. Ping me on the handles or number I put on that card and I'll add you troup chat."

  He reached into his shorts and pulled out two cards, throwing it at both me and Albert. "There, see you around, freshmen. sider yourselves invited."

  With that, the group headed back to the grass field, Bke in the lead and Kaz waddling behind him.

  Al and I turned around, walking in the dire of the dining hall.

  I looked down at the card in my hand, smiling to myself.

  "Think you'll take him up on that?" I asked.

  "Maybe. We'll see. I've kind of been fumbling on my own reading and watg guides. It's just hard on my own."

  I chuckled, looking at my friend with pity. "Of course. I get it. But like you said. No char siu buns or new dessert recipes from your mom to derail you anymore. May as well try to whip ourselves into shape while we , right?"

  He sighed. "Right. That's the pn. 't make any excuses just because the world almost ended. Especially because the world almost ended."

  I nodded.

  "Gym buddies? Start week maybe? When we're not full of pasta and rid stuff?"

  He stared at the ground, nodding slowly. "Sounds like a p's do it."

  I smiled to myself.

  At least Albert was trying. And so was Kaz, and Bke, and all those other people out there.

  That was a heartening realization to keep in mind.

  Maybe not everyone o be out there fighting monsters and proteg the world from supervilins. Maybe some people just had to be out there, taking care of themselves and trying to live their lives to the fullest.

  I o try and remember that.

  Nothing erfect, but I could always do a little better, a little bit of an improvement here and there.

  So, I would do it.

  Ohing at a time, Sienna.

  Oiny step at a time.