Tokyo Soft Rice King.

He's really not the kind of bad guy with wicked intentions.

"Oh, that's alright. It's just a regular morning run, not some hellish training regimen. It won't leave you exhausted."

After changing his shoes, Kuroba Akira stood up and said to Murasaki no Miyagi in a serious tone.

"But don't be lazy just because it's a regular morning run. Becoming a voice actor requires a lot of stamina."

"And more importantly, running can improve your lung capacity. Professional voice actors and singers seem to have three lungs, and they can speak a long passage or sing continuously for a long time without their breath getting out of control. Right now, you don't even meet the basic requirements in this regard."

"Once your lung capacity has expanded enough, you need to start learning to use your diaphragm to produce sound, also known as abdominal breathing. If you only use your throat to produce sound, you will quickly become short of breath, and it will also cause great damage to your throat, which is not conducive to long-term work."

Murasaki no Miyako listened to his eloquent explanation and began to take it seriously. He really hadn't made that arrangement casually!

"Yes! I will do my best!"

It felt like having a personal trainer, which made Murasaki feel novel and also inspired her.

My voice acting journey will begin with this unassuming morning run!

"But if you're going to run, your current shoes aren't suitable..."

In other words, we also need to buy a pair of running shoes for Murasaki no Miyako.

Sigh, money is needed everywhere...

"Anyway, let's just have a little something for today. Since it's the first day, you don't have to force yourself to keep up with my pace. I'll also slow down a bit so that you can always see my back. So if you can't run, you can walk briskly."

"Okay, coach, I will try my best to keep up."

"Then let's set off."

Kuroba Akira's morning run route is fixed. There is a stream on his way to and from school. He runs along the riverbank until he sees a stone bridge. With that stone bridge as his goal, the round trip is exactly five kilometers, which is just right for a morning run.

In reality, Akira Kuroba wasn't that diligent. When he was a corporate slave, he didn't have time to exercise at all. It was only when he was in college that he started exercising because he had to participate in the college cup and university league.

Unfortunately, when he first took over this body, it was too weak. Not only did it have little muscle, but it would also leave him breathless after running for a short while, as if it were about to lose half its life. That's why Kuroba Akira picked up running again after a long break.

Even though I've turned back into a student in this life, I'm still so weak. This is unacceptable. Besides, proper exercise can increase my energy level, so I can do more things in a day.

And of course, there's one last reason: if you pass by here every morning, you can see...

Oh, here it comes!

Halfway through the run, you can see a beautiful young woman with short hair running towards Kuroba Akira from near the stone bridge in the distance.

She wore a breathable sports tank top and tight shorts, clearly showing off her curvaceous figure, and her exposed skin had a healthy tan from the sun.

She was running towards this place, braving the raging thunder.

This is the scene I look forward to most every morning during my run.

Yeah! We rocked it out today too!

Chapter Thirty-Five Popular Men

The waves surged and bounced, seemingly about to burst forth... Wow, what a magnificent sight!

Although it was a rather trivial reason, it did become Kuroba's biggest motivation to get up early for a morning run.

Seeing such a beautiful view right from the start of the day will brighten your mood for the whole day.

Looking back, when he was a child, Akira Kuroba never understood why Master Roshi was always watching aerobics girls on TV, but when he grew up, he completely understood, which also proved that his heart was no longer pure.

But what's wrong with Da Lei liking to see sunny, healthy, and beautiful girls? It's a pursuit and appreciation of beauty!

To be honest, Kuroba Akira is actually a butt fetishist rather than a breast fetishist, but staring down there is really too much. Even Kuroba Akira, who has a skin as thick as a city wall, would not do such a thing in public.

For the past six months, Kuroba Akira has seen this healthy-looking, athletic young woman every morning. She probably lives nearby, but Kuroba Akira has never seen her near Kobayashi's house.

Perhaps it was just that their running route happened to end here.

In short, for Kuroba Akira, she was the only bright spot in his otherwise monotonous life of studying.

The athletic girl smiled when she saw Kuroba Akira and nodded shyly to him.

Every day is like this, silent yet tacit, a serene acquaintance with nods.

For the first time in six months, Kuroba Akira raised his hand to greet her and said good morning.

"Good morning."

"Yes, good morning...wait?!"

The athletic girl instinctively returned the greeting, and only after the two had passed each other did she realize what was happening. In her panic, she tripped over her own feet and fell flat on her face.

"Wow!"

Kuroba Akira stopped and turned back to the girl who had fallen, offering her a helping hand.

"Uh, are you alright?"

I just said hello, why is she so surprised...? Does she think I'm mute like the class monitor does?

The athletic girl panicked terribly, staring at Kuroba Akira with disbelief, waving her hand like a rattle drum, and replying in a trembling voice.

"I...I'm fine! Absolutely fine! Really! I'm not hurt!"

"Really? That's good."

The athletic girl hesitated for a moment, wiped her sweaty hands on her leggings, and then carefully took Kuroba Akira's hand.

Kuroba Akira pulled her up from the ground and began to introduce himself.

"Oh, by the way, let's get acquainted. My name is Kuroba Akira. Come to think of it, this is the first time we've introduced ourselves after all these chance encounters."

"Ah! Yes! Hello, my name is Tomita Haruka!"

"Tomita Haruka... should it be written as 'Haruka' or 'Haruka'?"

Kuroba Akira wrote on the girl's hand, trying to confirm how her name was written.

That's the tricky thing about Japanese names. Surnames are relatively easy to recognize, but names pronounced the same way can have more than ten different spellings.

Another important thing is to confirm the other person's talent. This is a rare opportunity, and you might just draw an SSR!

Unfortunately... the athletic girl's right hand had no writing on it.

　This shows that she was a girl with no talent.

It's clear that talent isn't something that's commonplace, further confirming that Anri Hitomi and Murasaki no Miyako Shion are both absolute chosen ones.

The girl felt an itchy sensation in her palms, and her heart rate was much higher than when she was running. She was so nervous that she felt her palms were about to sweat again.

But she still tried to calm herself down and told them how to write her name.

"No, that's writing Qingxia..."

"I see, Haruka Tomita. Okay, I'll remember that."

Indeed, this athletic girl has a sunny and summery vibe. She looks very healthy and her development is too good. She's even bigger than the class president and has a level comparable to Ms. Kobayakawa. But Ms. Kobayakawa isn't a current high school girl, so maybe she can get even bigger.

Although she wasn't a rich woman he could latch onto, Akira Kuroba still remembered the athletic girl's name and thanked her for bringing a bit of anticipation to his monotonous life.

At this moment, Murasaki, who had slowly caught up, also saw this scene. She came to Kuroba Akira's side and asked expressionlessly.

"what happened?"

"It's nothing, she just accidentally fell."

Oh, are you alright?

Although the question was asked out of concern, the tone was cold and indifferent, giving the impression of keeping people at arm's length.

So, it turns out that Murasaki no Miyako still reverts to the feeling of first meeting someone in front of outsiders...

So, I'm not an outsider anymore, right?

Kuroba Akira mentally estimated the current level of favorability towards Murasomiya Shion.

It seems that the initial impression was indeed very high, and it didn't drop too much because of the underwear incident.

"Yes, I'm fine... um...!"

Haruka Tomita was stunned.

This was the first time she had ever seen such a beautiful girl in real life.

There are many beautiful girls at school. They are very good at dressing up, fashionable and stylish. Tomita Haruka has also thought about whether she should dress up like them. After all, the seniors in the swimming club have said that she has a good foundation and that dressing up will definitely make her more beautiful.

But the girl in front of me didn't need to dress up at all; she was naturally beautiful.

It seems that none of the pretty idol girls on TV are as beautiful as this girl in front of me... to an excessive degree.

Compared to her, she felt like a country bumpkin... The overwhelming sense of inferiority made Tomita Haruka's expression look somewhat unnatural.

Shion Murasaki had seen this look of lost confidence far too many times. She knew that simply standing there had already dealt a blow to the girl in front of her, so she spoke up to remind Akira Kuroba.

“Wise ruler, if this continues, you might be late for school.”

"Yes..."

No, why are you in such a hurry?

It's me who needs to go to school, not you, and besides, you can't run fast in your current condition.

However, Kuroba Akira did not intend to waste any more time. After his morning run, he would take Murasaki to a nearby convenience store to buy daily necessities.

"See you next time, Tomita-kun."

"Ah, yes... goodbye."

After saying goodbye to Haruka Tomita, who was still standing there in a daze, Akira Kuroba prepared to turn back. It wasn't necessary to go to Ishibashi every time.

Murasaki nods to her as a greeting.

On the way back, Murasaki followed behind Kuroba Akira and couldn't help but mutter a word.

“A wise ruler…is really popular.”

Akira Kuroba turned around, feeling quite puzzled.

"Huh? This isn't exactly being popular, is it? She didn't come here specifically to see me; we just happen to see each other during my morning run. This is the first time we've exchanged names today, okay?"

"is it?"

Judging from the girl's expression, Murasaki had a feeling that she had definitely developed feelings for Kuroba Akira, and that those feelings were quite strong.

What annoyed her the most was that Kuroba Akira kept glancing at the girl's chest!