BECAUSE I SAID SO!

Junko listened carefully to the ninjette as she gave an overview of her routine. She made no indication with her face whether or not she approved or disapproved of the schedule and glanced at Taylor to make sure she was taking notes. When she was finished, Junko tilted her head in thought.

"It's a start." She said finally. "The more detail the better, really. However, before you do that, I have a question." She looked at Kozue and her eyes glanced up and down the girl's figure. "Do you go to the bar every day?"

Taylor made a face while she scribbled down some notes. It was pretty simple, really.

DIET (poptarts?)
no structure
alcoholic
start from scratch

Taylor kept her mouth shut, despite how badly she wanted to lay it all out for Ninjette right then and there. She let Junko do the talking, and only raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the rookie while she waited for her answer.

"I..." Kozue opened her mouth to speak, then paused as a dozen excuses ran through ran through her head.  She knew this might be a problem, expected it. She just hoped it wouldn't have to be so soon. So open. So in front of Taylor.

Kozue balled her fist, ruining the organization she'd been doing. She took a moment, gathered her thoughts into something coherent, and then spoke. "Yes." She said, looking straight on. "Not every every day, but pretty much. It's not something I'm proud of. It just is."

"Not anymore." Junko saidmatter-of-factly. "I hope the last drink you had was good because you're going dry. If it's going to be an issue, or you don't think you can go cold turkey, you know where the door is. Drugs, alcohol, smoking... they have no place here. You're body is a temple and you're building an alter to the wrestling goddesses so that you can gain their favor on match night."

Junko stepped close enough to Taylor to see the notes but didn't give away anything with an expression. She looked back to Kozue. "You have a regiment that would make any normal person with a mind for fitness envious. However, for wrestling, let's be honest... it stinks."

Junko stepped towards Kozue. "What we just did, it was a warm up. Your life is going to change. Now's the time to walk away if you can't handle it or don't want to change."

"And if you touch another poptart, I will slap the taste out of your mouth," Taylor chimed in. "There is none of that shit in this house, or my house. Every once in a while, you can cheat a little bit, just to stay sane and reward yourself. But from now on, when you eat you eat because it's going to help you train.

"Everybody's different and stuff, but your schedule will probably end up looking like mine. I get up at seven, drink water, go for a short run, then eat breakfast. Then early morning training is for cardio, I eat again, then late morning is for technique. It varies every day what I work on, depending on what city I'm in, who I have to train with, and what I'm preparing for, but I keep track of what I did every day on my calendar. Then lunch, big lunch. Afternoons are strength and conditioning. Heavy weights, plyo, circuit training, bodyweight stuff, whatever. I mix it up to keep myself into it. Late afternoons are for technique, but really specific. I might take one thing and drill it for 2 hours, or I might work on twenty different reactions to one situation. I take notes. Those are the fun ones, but they're usually the hardest, too. Then comes dinner, and when I'm in Tokyo I watch tape with mom and take more notes.

"Wednesdays are lighter days, maybe half day or just an easy afternoon. Saturdays are heavy days, either lots of weights or hard sparring so that I'm worn out at the end of the day. Sundays are my day off, and I spend them with Johnny.

"I have fun, too, and all that, but it's because I like what I do and I keep my friends around. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't go out late, I don't party, I don't eat junk, and I go to bed on time because if I'm tired in the morning my day is going to suck, and it's not going to help me like it should. I read on the train, I try to ignore what people on the internet say, and I journal a lot. I try to make it so everything I do helps me be better, because that's what it takes to be the best, and I'm going to be the best."

She sighed, and stretched her legs out in front of her. "It's really hard, and that's why you need other people around to help you. You can't do this on your own. That's why we're here."

As it turned out, the last drink Kozue had was good. The best she'd ever had, even. Galway Beer of Foam and Fury.  Delicious. Probably not the greatest idea to mention that now, though.

She didn't consider herself an alcoholic. She knew alcoholics. She liked beer, liked tasting, even like studying it, but it was't an addiction. She could stop. She just hadn't had a reason before, so far as she knew. Now, she did. Kozue wouldn't have blamed Junko for not wanting to take the risk and kicking her to the curb, but she didn't.

The things Taylor described sounded hard. More than she'd ever even dreamed of doing, likely way more than 95% of the wrestlers in the AFW bothered to do. But then, she didn't come here to be 95%. She hadn't come because she wanted to be better, either. Kozue was here because she wanted to be the best. No more surviving matches and counting on dumb luck and  a smile to get her by. Real, legit wins. They could help her do that. They were taking the chance. Letting her in.

Kozue look between Taylor, Junko and the door, knowing full well the next words to come out of her mouth might decide how she spent the next few decades.

"Nothing worth doing's easy, I guess." Her eyes locked with Junko and she gave a solid nod. "Higurashi-sensei.” She took a deep breath and sucked all her pride down with it.”Parker-sensei.” Yeah, that one would take some getting used to.

”I want to change."

She’d miss the Pop-Tarts, though. Oh, well.

Junko smiled at Kozue's response. She might regret it in a week or two but if she was still around in a month, she'd be grateful. She then looked at Taylor and grinned. "Fufu. First they start calling you sensei and then you start popping out kids. My circuitous plan is nearly complete! Fufufufu!"

As Junko cackled her phone buzzed. "Oho~!" She exclaimed and trotted off to the bench where she left it. "I wonder who it could be? Hmmmm..." She paused as it continued to buzz. She then grabbed it and answered.

"Moshi Moshi! Ohh, Mamouru-kun, konnichiwa~" She began. She then turned and looked at the two. "Mamouru-kun may be helping out as well. He also needs to do some training." She paused. "Not for wrestling." She said as though they asked. "Anyway, I'll be back shortly." She said and nodded her head at Taylor before she slipped out of the gym while rattling off some quick and pleasant sounding Japanese.

"Well, this is awkward."

Taylor had hoped she wouldn't have to be alone with Ninjette. She took her role as a trainer seriously, and intended to do a good job, but she loathed Kozue. And now they were alone. How awkward.

"I won't bite if you don't," she said, and hopped up into the ring. "Springboards, I guess?"

It was a place to start, and maybe if they were busy they wouldn't have to talk, or face each other as people who hated each other.

Kozue got an ominous vibe from Junko when she talked about Mamouro, but she didn't have time to contemplate it. Back to work.

"Had worse." Like being asked to take off her shirt by the mother of her best friend, getting inspected like a choice slab of beef, then being asked how serious she was about the homewrecking business. That was awkward. This? Close, but not quite there.

She shrugged. Springboards were as good a place as any to start. Maybe better than most. Kozue did want to get those movements down, making it more fluid. "You're the boss." She said, and popped the few remaining nuts into her mouth. She crushed them fast, gulped them down, and rolled her way back into the ring. "How do you want to go at it?"

"Start slow, and stop when I say to."

Taylor bounced up and down in the ring and kept an eye on Ninjette. She folded her arms across her chest and frowned.

"I'm going to do a good job training you," she declared, as if she were dispelling Ninjette's assumptions. "I reeeally don't like you, but I'm a professional and we decided to do this, and we're gonna do it right. So you can roll your eyes at me all you want, I know you want to, as long as you do what we say. Stop."

The moment Ninjette prepared to jump for the ropes, Taylor stepped in. "Look at your feet. What foot do you jump off of? Why? Are you landing with both feet at the same time or not? Why?" She stepped in close to the ropes. "Do this first. Both feet, balanced."

She hopped up to the bottom rope, and then up to the middle, then the top rope, and then back down one at a time before coming back to the mat. She kept her upper body poised in such a way that her balance never wavered. "Start as simple as you can, and think about all the shit you do that you normally just do by feel. Make it perfect, then drill it until you just feel it and don't have to think anymore. The farther back your target is, the farther away from the ropes you jump, the more back and forth you get. For now, just straight up and down. Three sets of ten."

She stepped back to watch. One problem she hadn't anticipated was that she wanted to work out herself, but she had to pay attention, at least for now. Maybe the breaks would be good for her.