Ch.53Chapter 7. Ice Is No Less Than Fire (5)

The rain poured down just like yesterday. Camilla rubbed soap on a towel to create lather. She handed one to me and kept the other for herself.

“Could you scrub my back?”

Of course, it didn’t end with just the back. We awkwardly shampooed each other’s hair too. As for the intimate areas, we were still too embarrassed and washed those ourselves.

Still, we had to keep watch. We washed our bodies diligently with our backs turned to each other while getting soaked in the rain. You never know when some voyeuristic zombie might come running.

It’s a strange feeling. In a world facing the apocalypse, with my tingling groin, I’m showering naked with a beautiful woman with a toned body in the pouring rain at dawn.

“…But come to think of it, I didn’t get to enjoy it,” Camilla complained. Though I hadn’t particularly enjoyed it either.

“Well, we can figure that out as we go.”

“Pervert. How naughty.”

“Hey, look who’s talking.”

Before I could say anything more, Camilla hugged me from behind, her body still covered in soap. A small laugh tickled my ear. Her fumbling hands were slippery.

“That means I need to tease you more. Shh. Shh. Be good, okay? Make noise and the zombies will get you.”

I feel like I’ve already been caught. The more I struggle, the more our bodies seem to touch. The slipperiness was just a bonus. Camilla whispered in my ear again, as if she couldn’t care less about my predicament.

“You know what? I brought ‘that’ from the resort.”

“What’s ‘that’?”

“Your body is answering for you.”

“Ah, ahhh…”

“If you exercise hard and get in better shape than me, let’s open ‘that’ together. Somewhere nicer than here. What do you think?”

“I’m really going to get you for this. Just wait.”

As I replied, I reached for Camilla’s buttocks. I spread my hand and pressed firmly, just like I did yesterday. But my fingers couldn’t sink in. It felt like touching a rock. Camilla gently pressed my earlobe with her lips.

“Nice try. But you’re supposed to grab it like this.”

* * * * *

A few days later.

I had fallen into Burpee hell. No, prison would be more accurate. I was trapped in a ‘room where you can’t leave until you complete 10 sets of burpees.’

“One, two, three. One. One, two, three. Two.”

“Huff… hah… huu… huuu…”

“One, two, three, three!”

I can’t live like this.

“W-wait, I’m going to die…”

This is violence. The floor is so soaked with sweat that my palms keep slipping. I can’t believe the floor can get this slippery from human sweat.

“Wait? What did I say I’d make you do if you said ‘wait’ one more time?”

Oh. I’m doomed. Camilla’s face hardened.

“…I said I’d do one more set.”

“Then let’s do it.”

And she gets into position herself. I can’t even get angry at her for this.

Right now, Camilla and I are exercising at the same intensity. If either of us makes a mistake, we add one more set.

“Sorry. I guess I’m making mistakes because it’s been a while. Let’s do one more set.”

Camilla made all sorts of strange mistakes. Adding a final count, skipping a movement. I should have recognized the viciousness beneath that apologetic facade.

“Ah. Aaaahh…”

In the end, I was the first to run out of stamina. And Camilla showed no mercy for my mistakes.

“One more set.”

“Y-you, you’re doing this on purpose…”

“Exercise improves the more you do it. Let’s go.”

No matter what happened between us on that rainy day, we were still quite embarrassed when looking at each other’s bodies. That’s normal, I suppose. But when we exercised, we could look at each other directly without needing to steal glances.

Camilla corrected my posture, and I followed hers. I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some suggestive feelings. But then.

“It’s okay. Just try again. I noticed you were positioning like this earlier, but as I keep pointing out, you need to extend your legs more…”

I made a mistake. I forgot that this woman was a former “athlete.” And not just any athlete—she had been a promising talent who had aimed for medals. She was seasoned when it came to exercise.

Moreover, water ballet is a sport that requires moving freely “underwater.” It demands tremendous strength, endurance, and even breath control.

Camilla had received systematic training, and she could follow most exercises without difficulty. This was customized PT with no movements too complex or impossible to follow.

She didn’t even get angry. Her principle was that ‘getting angry while teaching is what amateurs do who lack the skill to teach others.’

Instead, she would silently “correct” me by firmly pressing down. Gentleness overcomes strength? Wrong. When you’re pinned down, strength becomes irrelevant.

“You’re doing it wrong again. You’ll get hurt that way.”

“S-sorry… huff. Huff.”

To me, panting like a dog, Camilla offered encouragement.

“It’s okay. It’s natural to find it difficult. The exercises we’re doing use muscles that aren’t normally used, so even athletes find them extremely challenging.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Thinking about it again, that’s not comforting. Why make me train muscles I don’t normally use?

“Oh, that? It’s for balance. Johan, your body is quite good, but your posture is awkward. You move like someone who’s been sitting at a desk too long and has stiffened up. Think about it. If you’re only using about half your body, the parts you use get overloaded while the unused parts go slack. It’s a matter of habit.”

When I thought about it, it made sense.

Since coming to this world, my physical condition has improved unbelievably. Seeing muscles develop on a body that hardly ever exercised is proof of that.

But while my body may have been “corrected,” my habits of using it haven’t changed. My body still remembers those days of slight abdominal obesity, hunched shoulders, and turtle neck.

“So let’s do one more set.”

Up to this point, I was quite grateful to Camilla. The way she energetically repeated exercises without showing any signs of boredom.

…But that “continuation” never seemed to end.

Even when I saw her tank top clinging between her breasts, soaked with sweat and water. Even when I saw her dolphin pants completely wet and sticking to her skin like flesh. Even when I heard her breathless moans, and all I wanted was to collapse and sleep, it was always “continue.”

“H-how, how long… are we going to do this…?”

“We continue.”

“B-but until, until when…?”

“Get into position.”

Of course, my posture collapsed. My arms, legs, back—everything was in revolt. Camilla looked down at me like a dictatorial queen.

“See? It’s a mess. You need to practice until your body can automatically maintain the correct posture. Until you can maintain perfect form without thinking about it. It’s okay. Just one more set.”

“Please.”

“Hmm.”

Camilla tugged at her tank top and leaned her upper body toward me. I unconsciously looked at her cleavage. I suppose she might not wear underwear during exercise. I swallowed involuntarily.

“You know what, Johan? Did you know that when you’re truly exhausted, you can’t even smell?”

“No, and I don’t want to know.”

“When I was training, they would put sliced lemons at the end of the pool. Whenever I felt tired, I would smell the lemon. If I couldn’t smell it, I’d take a bite. When I couldn’t taste the sourness or smell the lemon anymore, that was when I had truly used up all my strength. You’re drooling right now. One more set.”

Through sheer willpower, I finally made it. Standing with my body trembling, Camilla brought me a towel, a water bottle, and chocolate.

“Chew the chocolate thoroughly, and leave half the water?”

“…Why?”

“You’ll throw up if you drink it all, won’t you? We need to do 300 PT jumps. Your muscles are all shocked and contracted right now, so we need to loosen them up. Let’s jump together. What? Don’t tell me you’re giving up here?”

“…No. I’ll do it. I can do it.”

I couldn’t bear this humiliation. I’ll get through this somehow. But instead of getting into position, Camilla gently hugged me. Now her muscles felt hard and painful.

“Johan. This is just exercise, and training is different.”

“…What?”

“Some of the programs I went through included fighting in a completely exhausted state. Sounds impossible, right? But you know what, it works. What? Don’t tell me they don’t train this hard in Western Minsk? From what I’ve seen of you, it looked like you had some intense training.”

“I keep telling you that’s not it.”

“Oh, you didn’t train that hard? That’s a shame. I was wondering.”

No, I really can’t stand that look in her eyes. That look that seems to be looking down on me.

“…Wait. I’ll beat you. I’ll really do it.”

“Thank you. For saying that.”

Camilla smiled shyly and leaned her body against mine again.

“I brought ‘that’ from the resort, you know?”

“What is it?”

“The thing in the drawer. The thing couples ‘open’ when they play. Right? I’ve never actually used it either.”

<Ultra-thin…> or something like that, I guess. I remember now. At this point, I don’t care about this or that. I can’t see Camilla’s chest anymore, just the stairway to heaven.

“But why bring that up?”

“I told you, didn’t I? That I didn’t get to enjoy it then. Let’s train hard, and when you get better than me, we’ll open it together to celebrate. It’s my first time too, and I want to do it somewhere nicer than here, and with… a more impressive you.”

“…You… really…”

“And you’re really doing well, you know? Let’s just work a little harder.”

I shouldn’t be like this. I find myself smiling without realizing it. No, this is gaslighting, my reason screams, but my body is overflowing with joy. Camilla pressed her chest against mine and spread my arms.

“Now, position like this… 400 PT jumps.”

“Wasn’t it 300 earlier?”

As if to deny it, Camilla placed her hand on my lower abdomen. She gently circled my navel with her palm and whispered.

“Sorry. It was 500.”

* * * * *

A few days later. The rain was still coming and going.

The radio talked about “monsoon fronts” and “stationary fronts,” which essentially meant it would rain all week.

But we couldn’t just sit around doing nothing. While we couldn’t go far in the pouring rain, we still took the truck out to scout the surroundings.

– Johan.

Camilla whispered through the walkie-talkie. She was in a clothing store, while I was in a grocery store scooping up cans of soda.

“Yeah?”

– What color do you like?

“Suddenly? Well… I don’t particularly have a favorite.”

– Then pick any color.

“Red? It’s the first color of the rainbow.”

– …Oh. I like red too, but… Okay. If that’s what you say.

She seemed a bit disappointed for some reason. Thinking she might have developed another strange habit, I brushed it off and picked up a phone that I had wiped with sanitary cotton. It was still dead, with no sound.

The reason for checking phones was to make contact with brokers. We needed to make calls for that. The problem was that most of Camilla’s contact network had been cut off.

The 8th National Gendarmerie had attacked the Central Liberation Army’s headquarters and hideouts, but Commander Hans had destroyed all information before disappearing somewhere.

Of course, not all brokers are affiliated with the Liberation Army. In the end, they all move according to money, just like everyone else. Some were motivated by the belief in Elsa’s liberation and helped others who shared the same belief.

Next, we visited the store next door. A zombie wearing a hamburger franchise uniform was still standing behind the counter.

It stood still as if ready to take an order, then, as if remembering it hadn’t clocked out, slumped over the counter.

I was about to cut off its head when I noticed the phone at the counter. I took it outside first and then let it clock out. It didn’t even moan as if ready for a long rest after a long shift.

Again, I wiped the phone with sanitary cotton and picked it up. The dial tone was clear.

“Camilla. I found one. It’s at the hamburger franchise.”

Camilla entered the store with a waterproof sports bag and an axe soaked in blood. She pressed various buttons and, when she seemed to connect with someone, waved her hand. It was a signal asking me to keep watch as it might take a while.

“They want us to come out between the highways this Friday. They’ll give us detailed information on Thursday, but just in case, I’ll try to find a couple more contacts.”

They said it was impossible to break into human protection zones, especially around cities. The fence surrounding the city was a problem, but soldiers were stationed there, shooting any approaching zombies.

It’s common knowledge that the smell of corpses and gunshots attract more zombies. That’s why even the boldest people don’t think about breaking through the city outskirts.

But as with all human endeavors, there are always gaps to exploit. There are various ways to enter the city, and each broker has their specialty.

Fortunately, we made contact with two places. One was next week, the other the week after.

“Let’s aim for this week first. Security tends to be a bit looser when it rains, and if there’s a problem, we can always go the following week.”

“Okay. Then I should exercise hard, right?”

I backed away in inexplicable fear. Camilla smiled and opened her bag. She rummaged through it and pulled out something red.

It was underwear. Well… it said underwear, but that’s not clothing. If that’s clothing, then a necklace is a raincoat. Why on earth would something like that be in this rural town?

“…I’m going to wear this tonight.”

“So when you asked about colors…”

“I brought all colors in case you’d be disappointed. I’ll wear this today. Tomorrow, pick another color.”

I’m afraid. I know what’s coming next.

“…So let’s add 10 more burpees. At this pace, we’ll be in perfect physical condition by Friday. Exercising with you is so much fun. It’s driving me crazy.”

I’ve awakened a beast.