Knocking On The Wrong Door

[BlackAkuma]

Yo-Yo hated working out. She hated sweating. She hated going to the gym and hanging around other sweaty, smelly people. She hated getting on the treadmill and running until her legs hurt, she hated wiping down the machines, she hated drinking water bottle after water bottle after water bottle. She hated the annoying pop music they played over the loudspeakers, she hated all the creepy women oogling her, she hated lifting weights, she hated doing all the annoying stuff she had to do to keep her body in working shape. If she had her druthers, she would’ve stayed home on this lazy Saturday afternoon, watched some movies, and drifted off to sleep.

Any other day, she might have done that, too. Before Aaliyah came around.

Ever since her cousin had come to Tokyo and joined LAW, she’d been up her ass all the way, staying on her about training and getting her into an actual schedule. Not that Yo-Yo had never worked out before, but she liked to do it whenever she felt like it, not when she was going off some schedule she had to adhere to. Aaliyah had come up with this whole regimen she needed to stick to, rules she had to follow, what machines she needed to use, and blah blah blah…

It was all such a pain. At first, when Aaliyah came, she thought it would be nice to have her around. Not that Yo-Yo needed it. Sure, she hadn't won a match yet, and the few she had tended to go terribly, but so what? She was in a rut, and she could get it out soon enough. Didn’t need any help, didn’t need to be babysat. Sooner or later, she was going to run LAW. It was just a matter of time.

That was what she kept telling herself, anyway, even now, as she made her way through into the locker room, dripping all over from a hard workout. Aching all over, sweaty in all the worst places, she stripped out of her workout clothes and wrapped a towel around her chest, covering up as she made her way towards the back. There weren’t too many people at the gym today, so she had the place all to herself, a rare opportunity. That meant she would have the sauna all to herself, the perfect spot to cool down after all that.

Yo-Yo turned a corner, grabbed the handle of the sauna door, and…

Locked. It was fucking locked.

”What?” She clicked her teeth and glared at the ‘OCCUPIED’ switch on the handle. She could hear someone inside the room, but couldn't make out who through the fog on the glass. Figured this would be her luck.

But whatever, whoever this was couldn't be in there that long. Yo-Yo would just wait for her to come out, then take her turn. No big deal.

So she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Five or so minutes later and Yo-Yo’s patience had officially dried out worse than whoever was in that damn sauna. ”Hey! Hurry the fuck up in there?” She gave the door a couple of good kicks, stubbing her toe a little on the second one. ”You don’t own the damn thing, your time’s up!”