"Hachoo!!"
Koji, sitting on the bus, sneezed at an inopportune moment, and his body involuntarily shivered.
"Who on earth is cursing me…"
"Far away, yet close at hand."
Yoshida, sitting next to him, squinted and smiled. Before his words had even faded, an extremely cold voice rang out:
"Please do not speak so loudly in a public place. The athletes still need time to adjust and rest."
Ahua stood beside him, her face icy, glaring at him with a look of disdain, as if he were an insect. Then, she turned and walked towards the rest area where the Uma Musume were sitting in the front row.
"Hmm…"
Koji shrugged helplessly. To him, Tojo Hana's reprimands were like a light drizzle, completely ineffective.
However, it was foreseeable that this trip would not be easy for him.
"Sigh, old man, why did you have to bring me along?"
He took a lollipop from his pocket, skillfully peeled off the wrapper, and shook his head with a sigh, saying:
"Aren't you just making me suffer?"
He had originally planned to go to other places to play these past few days, but unexpectedly, Yoshida called him directly before his departure, and then he went with them to the training base in Chiba Prefecture.
This directly led to the two most incompatible people constantly running into each other.
Tojo Hana's attitude towards him was even worse than he had imagined.
"Hey, I brought you out to relax. Do you still have complaints?"
Yoshida clearly had his own agenda for doing this, but for Koji, it was really unpleasant.
"Then you should have taken me to other places to play. Why drag me along with you to Chiba? No, as compensation, old man, you have to treat me to an all-you-can-eat barbecue in Chiba tonight."
"Heh… trying to extort your teacher?"
"Look at you, saying that. I've sacrificed my time to accompany you, so why not cover the cost of my meals for these few days too?"
"Alright."
Unexpectedly, Yoshida readily agreed.
Just as Koji was overjoyed, he added another sentence:
"When the time comes, let's call Tojo along too. Isn't it livelier with more people?"
"Damn it, old man, you're deliberately trying to annoy me!"
.
Kazuo probably didn't expect that Koji would eventually go to the training base in Chiba with Yoshida and Tojo, joining the coaching team to watch the competition the day after tomorrow.
At this moment, he was conversing with the girl named Aoi.
Since there weren't many people in the shop at the moment, Aoi directly instructed Kiryuuin, who was still eating breakfast, to sit at the counter and wait, while she went upstairs with Kazuo.
The upper floor was like a series of private rooms, and it seemed both siblings lived there. Aoi led Kazuo to the room at the very end of the corridor and said:
"Although this place was previously used as a storage room, I cleaned it thoroughly yesterday. I wonder if Asama-kun can accept it?"
It looked a bit like a workspace. Although there was only one small window, the room was fully equipped. Kazuo certainly had no objections; on the contrary, he was very accepting of the conditions here.
As long as it was quiet and allowed him to study in peace, a few minor inconveniences didn't matter.
Besides, it was still much better than a cramped capsule hotel.
"It's fine, this place is very good. Thank you very much, Kiryuuin-san…"
"It's nothing. If it's okay, just call me Aoi."
Perhaps it was to differentiate her from her brother. Although using "-san" and "-kun" at the end of names could distinguish them, Kazuo still nodded in agreement: "Okay, then… Aoi, if you don't mind, you can just call me Kazuo."
"Okay, Kazuo."
The two young people of similar age quickly became acquainted.
The girl deftly helped Kazuo make the bed, while Kazuo took out all his belongings and arranged them.
"Kazuo, are these your study materials? Huh? They look like Hua-jie's notes?"
Seeing the mountain of notebooks, Aoi couldn't help but exclaim softly.
"As the top student in the Trainer school back then, Hua-jie's notes were something everyone admired, weren't they?"
Kazuo hung his change of clothes on a hook and responded to Aoi's question.
"Yes, these were given to me by Tojo-san for review and preparation, as I still need to prepare for the Trainer qualification exam in May."
"Eh? Kazuo-kun is taking that exam?"
Aoi seemed a little surprised.
"Yes, although it's a bit embarrassing to say, I'm not an official Trainer yet, so I want to use this Golden Week holiday to study hard. I hope to pass the exam in one go this time."
"Hmm… I've been wanting to ask, how old are you, Kazuo?"
"I'm almost 19 this year."
"Ah, you're already working?"
This surprised Aoi. She had originally thought Kazuo was just trying to earn some pocket money during the holidays, but she hadn't expected him to already be an independent adult in society. Moreover, he was aiming to become a Trainer.
"Well… my situation is a bit complicated. I didn't go to university and instead started working, and then I encountered some things. So now I've come to Tracen Academy to study. And the person in charge of me is Tojo-san."
It wasn't that it was complicated, but mainly, if he told others that he came out to find work for his sister, and also wanted to become a Trainer for his sister—
Even Kazuo couldn't help but feel that it would be too embarrassing.
"Heh~ So that's how it is?"
Aoi nodded, not pressing further. Instead, she smiled and pointed to herself, saying:
"In that case, I guess Kazuo and I are colleagues. So, if you don't mind, I can help you with your studies, too?"
"Eh?"
"Don't let my appearance fool you, I already passed the Trainer qualification exam at the end of last year!" The girl proudly puffed out her chest. "And, I'm currently working as a Trainer at Tracen Academy. Of course, I'm not at the Main School, but at a Branch School."
Kazuo had heard Todo mention Tracen Academy's Branch School before, but he hadn't expected a girl who looked to be around his age to already be such a young Trainer.
"Aoi is already working this year?"
She looked even younger than him—
"I skipped grades in high school. Although I just turned 19 this year, I'm already a Trainer! Right now, I'm just helping out at my brother's shop because it's the holidays."
So strong!
Kazuo looked at the girl of similar age, his mind filled with only that thought.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/TripleCrown07
If you guys wanna check it out.