The importance of exercise when dieting is common knowledge—so much so that there was hardly any need for me to lecture her about it.
Even so, if there was one thing I felt compelled to say...
"Hayashi, are you interested in joining a gym?"
"A gym?"
Hayashi tilted her head curiously.
"...Well, I wouldn't say no. But isn't walking enough?"
"It’s not ideal."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Apparently, aerobic exercise alone doesn't do much for building muscle."
"And... what does that mean?"
"I explained the relationship between calorie intake and calories burned earlier, but do you know what the biggest factor in calorie consumption actually is?"
"...Metabolism?"
"Right, basal metabolism. For people our age, the daily basal metabolic rate is roughly fifteen hundred calories for men and eleven hundred for women. Given our current lifestyle, we probably take in about two thousand calories a day. In other words, your basal metabolism handles nearly half of your daily intake on its own."
"Whoa."
"However, dieting is ultimately the process of forcing the body to consume its own fat by creating an energy deficit. Naturally, your metabolism will slow down to compensate."
"I see. So, you're saying we should do weight training at the gym to keep the metabolism from dropping."
"Exactly. A drop in metabolic rate is the biggest obstacle to losing weight. That’s why extreme food restriction is a bad idea. If you starve yourself, your body will just lower its metabolism to survive."
"Huh... you really know your stuff."
"Of course. I researched it."
"You can get that detailed just by researching?"
"Who do you think you’re talking to?"
"Aside from the fact that your smugness is incredibly grating, you're actually quite persuasive!"
Hayashi gave me a bright, cheerful smile.
Well, of course I was.
"...But do I really need to go all the way to a gym?"
Suddenly, Hayashi looked down, her expression darkening. It seemed she still felt some resistance to the idea.
"Is it a money issue? Have you not saved enough yet?"
She shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's just... I have this image that the barrier to entry is really high."
Ah, I see.
"What if the regulars click their tongues at a newcomer trying to lift a barbell?"
"What’s this? That doesn't sound like you at all."
In high school, Hayashi had been known as The Queen. She was noble, loud... and incredibly abrasive. To think that same girl was now intimidated by a bunch of gym rats.
This was actually pretty amusing.
"Don't worry. The people who do that are just amateurs."
"Amateurs?"
"Yeah. The real pros will just watch over you from a distance."
"In that case, I'd rather have them come over and give me advice."
"Hey now, you don't get it at all! If they did that, they wouldn't be pros! Ha ha!"
"...I will never understand your sense of humor."
Hayashi gave me a freezing look while I laughed.
"Well, don't worry. I’m not suggesting you go alone."
"Huh?"
"I'm going too."
I gave her a thumbs-up to put her at ease.
"...Ah, right. I get it now."
Hayashi looked like the pieces had finally clicked into place.
"You've been wanting to get back into the gym yourself, and you're just using my diet as an excuse to drag me along, aren't you?"
Bullseye.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Fine then. I'll go by myself. You're busy with university, and it would be a shame to bother you."
I went silent.
She really knew how to be difficult when she wanted to.
When I squinted at her, I saw her watching me with a mischievous smirk.
"...Fine, my bad. You're right. I've been feeling out of shape lately, so I thought I might as well go with you."
"You should have just said that from the start."
"It felt like I was losing somehow."
"You're more sentimental than you let on, aren't you?"
Hayashi laughed.
I wanted to tell her that she was exactly the same, but I kept it to myself.
"Anyway, it's settled. For the time being, we're making calorie restriction and exercise a habit. That means walking, but also going to the gym."
"Yeah, okay."
"In that case, should we go buy some workout clothes instead of just groceries?"
"Oh, now we're talking!"
Hayashi snapped her fingers.
"Then it's not a shopping trip anymore—it's a date!"
I grimaced at the nonsense coming out of her mouth.
"I have no idea what you mean by that."
"What do you mean you don't know? A man and a woman who are close going out to buy clothes together. What else would you call it?"
"What's your definition? What are the criteria for a date?"
"Shut up."
"She just steamrolled a perfectly logical question with 'shut up'."
What a power play.
"...Are you sure about that?" I asked, looking exasperated.
"About what?"
"For a girl like you, going clothes shopping with a guy must have been a daily occurrence. If that's your logic, you must have been on thousands of dates already."
"Ha!"
Hayashi snorted. It was an irritating sound.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but believe it or not, you're only the second man I've ever gone clothes shopping with. The only other one was my father."
What about that DV guy?
The question was on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it. It wasn't the time to go digging through her past. Besides, given how controlling he was, it made sense that they never went out to buy clothes together.
"Now do you get it? Two people of the opposite sex going to a clothing store is, without a doubt, a date."
"...Fine, I hear you."
I looked at her smug face and sighed.
"Whether shopping with someone is a date or not is a matter of personal perspective. You can think whatever you want. I’m not going to agree."
"...Still as stubborn as ever, I see."
Be quiet.
"...Well, if that's how you feel, I won't push it."
Hayashi backed down surprisingly easily. Usually, she would have kept hounding me.
"Then how about this?"
It seemed Hayashi had a point she wanted to make that was far more important than the shopping argument.
"A man and a woman, exercising together, keeping an eye on each other. At a gym they're paying for. Just the two of them."
"..."
"That's unmistakably a date, right?"
The term she was pushing for was... a gym date.
She was taking the exercise plan I had suggested and labeling it a date.
I found myself at a loss for words.
Was a man and a woman going to the gym together a date?
It would have been easy to reflexively deny it. The reason I had argued against the clothing store being a date was because I assumed Hayashi had plenty of experience doing that with men. If every shopping trip counted as a date, the word would lose all meaning.
However... Hayashi had likely never been to a gym with a man. In fact, she had probably never set foot in one in her life.
"Man, I'm looking forward to it. Our gym date."
Hayashi emphasized the words pointedly.
"Why do you insist on calling everything a date?" I asked, my voice laced with exasperation.
Why was she so obsessed with the word? What did she stand to gain from it? I could think of plenty of downsides, but very few benefits.
Still, a few possibilities crossed my mind.
Maybe she just wanted to tease me.
Maybe she wanted to mess with my head.
...But I knew Hayashi wasn't that kind of person.
Not based on the version of her I had come to know over these past few months of living together.
"Isn't it obvious?"
She probably...
"It’s because I want to go on a date with you. That’s all."
With a bold, confident smile, Hayashi threw those words right at me.
"...Oh."
"Wait, are you blushing?"
"...Do I look like I am?"
"...I can't tell."
You can't tell, huh?
...Good. That’s the right answer.