A Brand New Day

Sota was awoken by the glaring sunlight piercing between his curtains. 

He winced and groaned a bit, but eventually got up. He assumed that it was early afternoon, since that was the usual routine. On top of that, it was the only time that the sun came through and blinded him in that way. 

In the past, he would've immediately gotten dragged into a spiral of dark thoughts. Things were different now, though. Each day now felt like it had some purpose.

He looked at his phone, confirming the time was around what he had expected it to be. He also saw the "new text" icon that he had come to appreciate each morning. 

[Ren]: Good Morning, Senpai!  Be sure not to sleep in too late today :P

Sota chuckled. It had been a little over one week since the day of the tournament and their picnic. Since then, they had been in constant communication. It was small talk about events from the day or things at school, but Sota enjoyed it nonetheless. He couldn't remember the last time someone earnestly wanted him to listen. 

He gave her a quick response and then got himself ready for the day. The house was empty, so he went outside where there was open space and began practicing. He was intent on making it a habit. Ren would close the skill gap quickly if he didn't work at it diligently. 

He practiced for a bit, then made his way back inside around the time he expected others to start arriving back home. As he was getting showered and dressed, his phone buzzed again. 

[Ren]: I know this is super short notice, but could you maybe bring me to class tonight? Senpai Natsu texted me letting me know that he wasn't going to be able to make it tonight .

[Sota]: Sure, that should be fine. I can be there around 5:30. 

[Ren]: Yay! Thanks, Senpai. You're the best!

***

Sota took a moment to catch his breath as class finished up for the night. The physical activity used to be miserable, but he had been enjoying it much more over the last week. It amazed him how fast a sense of purpose could shift someone's perspective. 

"I'm ready to head out whenever you are!" Ren noted as she ran over, bag in hand. 

"Yeah, I should be good to..."

"Hey, Sota!"

They both turned their attention to the voice. As Sota stood with his bag, he saw Sensei making his way over after finishing a discussion with some other students. 

"Great job today with your portions of class," he complimented. "It seems like you've started to come back to life a bit in your training, and I wanted to make sure you knew it had been noticed."

Sensei's words felt really tight in Sota's chest. He was bad with compliments as it was - especially from Sensei, who tended to give them out sparingly to the higher-ranked students. 

"Thanks," Sota managed after a moment. "I'm hoping I can keep it up. It helps to have a student that keeps you in-shape."

Ren's face became a bit red at that comment. Sota was oblivious, but Sensei caught it in his peripheral vision. 

"As long as you don't get carried away. By the way, are you planning to be here next Thursday?"

"Absolutely not."

His face and words were deadpan and emotionless. Sensei broke out into laughter, while Ren simply looked at them both in confusion. 

"Is something happening next Thursday?" 

"Next Thursday is Senpai Sota's birthday," Sensei noted to Ren. "Around here, we celebrate birthdays with a nice and brutal workout session..."

"I think I'll go one step at a time as I get back into it," Sota assured him. "Appreciate the thought, though."

Sensei chuckled once again, and they parted ways shortly after that. Sota and Ren made their way to the car, where they tossed their bags in the back and headed on their way. 

"You never told me your birthday was coming up, Senpai..."

Her tone almost felt like an accusation. Sota looked and saw that she had a pouting expression on her face. 

"Yeah, I guess it slipped my mind. Doesn't really seem that important..."

"It should be!" she exclaimed, quickly reverting to her more bubbly nature. "It'll be fine now, though. Since I know when it is, I can be sure to plan something!"

"If you say so."

Their endless conversations continued all the way back to Ren's house. Even once Sota had parked, she sat in the car and continued chatting, completely oblivious to the time. It wasn't until the porch light of her house began flickering on and off that she realized how late it was. 

"Oh, I didn't realize how late it was! Sorry for holding you hostage."

"It's totally fine," Sota chuckled. 

She quickly grabbed her stuff and got herself out of the car. Before closing the door and running in, however, she looked back at him. 

"By the way, I was able to download some of the smaller games you had recommended to my laptop! I was wondering if you'd be up for trying a couple of them with me tonight? No worries if not, I don't want to be annoying..."

"That's totally okay!" Sota blurted out. "I'd be happy to..."

He said it without thinking, since he wanted to cut down her self-insult. The truth was that the idea made him a bit anxious. It had been a long time since someone had gone out of their way to download a game just to play it with him. 

"Really? That's awesome!" she cheered with a smile. "I'll send you my gaming info once I get inside and you can let me know when you're ready!"

With that, she closed the door and skipped off towards the house. Sota remained there until she was inside, then drove off while pondering what the night held in store.

***

Sota landed the final shot on the enemy monster, and a big "VICTORY" sign came up on his screen. 

"We did it!" Ren's voice screamed through the headset, almost deafening Sota. 

"Yeah, we did," he chuckled. "Not bad for your first time playing. I thought that maybe I'd have to carry you the whole way through..."

"That's not nice, Senpai!" she pouted. "I told you I had played games before. Sounds like you didn't believe me!"

Sota met her words with a chuckle. He peeked over at the clock on his monitor and almost did a double take. 

"It's almost 12am," he noted. "I don't want to be that guy, but you definitely need to go to bed for school."

"I know, I know. Party-pooper..."

He waited to see Ren log off the game, then he followed suit. 

"Sorry I stole so much of your night, Senpai..."

"Don't worry about it," Sota assured her as he leaned back in his chair. "I had a lot of fun, actually. We'll have to do this again."

"Definitely! By the way, I had another question for you."

"What's up?"

Ren's voice went silent for a moment. It was long enough that Sota actually checked to ensure she was still on the call. 

"I really don't want to impose, so please be honest if I am," she started. "I know you're just getting to class and so I don't want to make it tougher... But I was hoping that maybe you could bring me to class from now on?"

Sota's chest fluttered and tightened at the request. 

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean I can, but we already text pretty frequently and now are talking about playing games. If I'm always bringing you to class, aren't you going to get sick of me?"

He said it a bit sarcastically, but there was a honest concern inside his mind. Before he could dwell to much on it, Ren immediately spoke up. 

"I'm sure that question comes from something I don't understand about you yet," she responded. "Please don't let yourself think that way, though. If I didn't want to spend more time with you, I wouldn't be asking..."

It was a weird shift from her nervous question to her more confident response. Sota thought about his own behavior - how he could make his personality shift on a dime if it was needed to help others. Perhaps Ren carried a similar ability?

"Yeah, you're right. I'd be happy to."

"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "Well, I'm going to head to bed now! Don't stay up too late, Senpai!"

She dropped off the call after that, leaving Sota with his thoughts. The day had been more of a ride than usual, but it was a positive one. It felt like so much had changed so quickly, all because of one person being introduced to his life. Each event that transpired felt like he was diving deeper into responsibility he wasn't sure if he was ready for. It was terrifying, but still motivating.

He spent a couple of hours funneling that motivation into his online courses. He could not let himself get more complacent than he already was. A good instructor wasn't just better in the dojo, but was also a good example in life as a whole. While it would be a slow journey, he needed to begin planning what he was going to do with his life going forward from here. 

By the time he went to bed, he had tuckered himself out. With each day that passed, he became less certain about what the future held. The one benefit of having something he held dear was that he now had something he could lose. 

Still, he fell asleep with a smile. Even while anxious about what the future held, he was glad to no longer be trying to survive "just one more day".