"Hui, did something good happen? You're grinning like a thief."
Inside the clubroom, Anmoku placed both hands on Fujimura Hui's shoulders and began to knead them gently.
"Mm, more or less," Hui said.
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the massage service from his own trainee.
"But, Ai—why are you suddenly this enthusiastic? Shouldn't you be busy preparing for your debut right now?"
"Hehe. I just came to ask whether you have time next week~"
"Next week?" Hui looked confused. Why bring that up all of a sudden?
"Next week should be the same as usual, I guess. Why—do you need something from me?"
The debut race was already over. For the time being, he didn't need to go back to America. It would probably just be regular training as usual.
"Hui, you didn't forget what's next week, did you?"
"What is it?"
"The fireworks festival! How could you forget something that important?"
"…Right. It's that time already," Hui murmured.
The massive fireworks festival held in Tokyo in late July happened every year. Central Tracen Academy also held a celebratory summer festival at the same time—always lively, always crowded.
But Hui usually didn't participate in events like that.
The last time he watched fireworks with someone was when he was seventeen…
Back then, his father hadn't fallen ill. His mother hadn't died from grief. Life was still normal, and he could still attend the festival and watch the iron trees and silver blossoms bloom across the sky.
But only one year later, his family's circumstances took a sudden nosedive, and he lost any desire to watch fireworks.
From that year onward, Fujimura Hui stopped celebrating festivals.
Because attending them would drag him back into the beautiful memories he'd shared with his family—and the pain that followed.
So he chose to avoid them.
Some hurdles can't be cleared. Then don't clear them. Life still has to go on.
Even if you carefully slap a bandage over your heart, the cracks underneath never truly disappear.
"Hui, let's go watch the fireworks together next week~"
The chestnut-haired girl—angelic as ever—made her invitation.
"…That day, I might have to handle some academy work," Hui said, turning his gaze away and silently praying she would take the hint and back off.
If he forced himself into an event like that, all he would do was ruin the girl's mood.
His trainee should be happy during festivals—smiling, bright—rather than sitting in some corner with him while he licked old wounds. That would be ugly.
"I see~" Anmoku actually smiled wider.
"So that means as long as you don't have work that day, you can come with me to the fireworks festival, right?"
"…"
Watching her bubbling enthusiasm, Hui swallowed the words that rose to his throat.
The truth was: the reason he "worked" on holidays was because he had proactively gone to Hayakawa Tazuna and requested it himself…
If he buried himself in work, he could get through that miserable stretch of time more easily.
Thinking about it now, that might have been one of the reasons he'd driven himself into overwork.
At first, Ms. Hayakawa didn't agree to assign him duties on holidays. But she was soft-hearted—she couldn't withstand Hui's repeated pleading. In the end, she had no choice but to give him some token work.
"Just you wait, Hui! Next week, you are absolutely coming with me to the fireworks festival!"
…At this point, he couldn't bring himself to admit that overtime was something he'd asked for in the first place.
"Do whatever you want," Hui sighed, letting her have her way.
"Then I'm going to train~ Hui, just wait and see!"
"Yeah, yeah… I got it."
Bang.
The clubroom door shut, and once again, only Hui remained.
If Anmoku really took care of his work next week…
Would he really have to go with her to the fireworks festival?
Hui stared at the teacup on his desk, watching the steam rise and vanish into nothing. His mood felt just as unstable—drifting, dissolving.
"Let's just… let it happen," he murmured.
With that thought, he extended a finger and opened the system interface.
He still hadn't claimed yesterday's rewards from the race win.
[Quest: Win your debut race. Progress: Completed. Reward: +30 to all attributes.]
Hui tapped the button. A total of 150 attribute points flowed into the panel at once.
[Speed: 452 | Stamina: 431 | Power: 440 | Guts: 437 | Wisdom: 431]
That was Red Eyes' current stat sheet. With this payout, her strength climbed another step.
But the rewards didn't end there.
[Detected: Host won the debut race by a large margin. Extra reward obtained: Adaptability Upgrade Point (Single) x1.]
[Note: Adaptability Upgrade Points can increase one of the following: Track/Surface Adaptability, Distance Adaptability, or Running Style Adaptability.]
An Adaptability Upgrade Point?
A pillow arriving right when he was sleepy.
Hui had been worrying about how to improve Red Eyes' adaptability—and now the system handed him the solution.
[Surface Adaptability: Turf (A), Dirt (B)]
[Distance Adaptability: Sprint (B), Mile (A), Middle (A), Long (B)]
[Running Style Adaptability: Front-runner (C), Pace (A), Stalker (A), Closer (A)]
This was Red Eyes' current adaptability panel.
Obviously, her Sprint and Long distance adaptability were only B. And among running styles, her front-running adaptability was a mere C.
These were her weak points. If he wanted to create a legend, those weaknesses had to be corrected.
Hui had been stuck on the question of how to raise adaptability—until this extra reward pointed the way in a single stroke.
Use the point. Raise the adaptability.
Without hesitation, Hui began allocating it.
"Use Adaptability Upgrade Point."
[Dirt adaptability increased: B → A.]
Yes—his first choice was dirt.
The reason was simple: the American circuit was dominated by dirt tracks. If her surface adaptability was lacking, then every future race would carry an inherent disadvantage.
It was better to patch that weakness as early as possible.
Even if he never obtained another adaptability point again, surface adaptability clearly took priority over running style and distance.
Running style wasn't mandatory—you didn't have to race as a front-runner.
Distance could be managed by selecting races that avoided your weaknesses.
But dirt?
Dirt was impossible to avoid.
As long as Red Eyes kept racing in America, she would inevitably face dirt events.
The importance was obvious.
And just as Hui was busy with the upgrade, his phone suddenly vibrated, startling him.
He picked it up and woke the screen.
[You have 1 unread email.]
"?"
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