"No… I don't know her. I just thought this kid looked kind of familiar—like someone I might've known before."
Belle's gaze drifted, doing her best to avoid Lighter's eyes.
She didn't know why Corin was pretending not to recognize her, but—
"Is that so?"
Lighter still looked unconvinced. He propped his chin on his hand and studied Corin, then lowered his head slightly.
"Then why do you two look so nervous?"
"Huh? Both of you?"
"Well… that's because…"
Corin and Belle immediately broke out in a cold sweat. One twisted her fingers, the other turned her head aside. Cold sweat poured down as their minds raced at full speed.
Finally, unable to endure the pressure any longer, Corin came up with a last-ditch solution. She lowered her head and shouted:
"Because—Mr. Lighter is really handsome!"
"Huh?" Belle blurted out.
Lighter took it even worse. The sunglasses perched on his head slid straight down, revealing a strangely blank expression. His eyes were wide and unfocused, carrying an almost childlike innocence.
Handsome…
Was that praise, or was it an insult…?
But Lighter quickly realized that if he stayed frozen in shock, he'd lose even the one advantage of being called "handsome."
He hurriedly pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose, shifted his stance to stand with his back to the wind, and let it whip his red scarf high into the air. Somehow, it really did make him look a bit dashing.
Lighter cleared his throat twice, waved a hand, and walked off.
"Good taste. Just remember to call me 'bro' next time."
Corin immediately nodded like a little quail pecking grain, answering earnestly,
"Corin will remember, Mr. Lighter."
Pfft!
A sharp pain stabbed through Lighter's heart, nearly making him misstep and fall flat. Even when he passed by Lucy, he couldn't help clutching his chest.
Lucy happened to notice and, abandoning the problem children she'd been dealing with, turned her head.
"Lighter, what's wrong with you?"
"It's nothing, just—"
Lighter was about to walk off, but then it occurred to him that Lucy wasn't much taller than Corin either. They might even be about the same age. Maybe their views lined up, too.
"Lucy… do I look old?"
To his surprise, the moment Lucy heard that, she frowned and snapped impatiently,
"Huh? What, are you acting up too?"
"Go on, go away. Don't ruin this lady's mood… Hey, wait—get back here. We still have important things to discuss."
Being scolded by the organization's head steward—even Caesar had to put up with that.
What choice did Lighter have? He sighed and obediently went back as Lucy ordered.
Miss Lucy's commands had to be followed.
"And you too—newbie over there, come along as well. You're my key recruit. How could you skip the meeting? I went to a lot of trouble to lure—cough—recruit you from the city."
Lucy almost let something slip. Her face reddened slightly as she coughed to cover it up.
"Oh. Coming."
Hearing herself called, Corin hurried over.
Seeing her like this, Caesar raised an eyebrow and bent down, leaning close to Lucy's ear as she whispered,
"At that height… Lucy, you didn't kidnap this kid, did you?"
"Yes, she's not tall, but... why are you bending down to talk to me?!"
As she spoke, Lucy's volume shot up, ending in a full-blown shout. The girl's embarrassed fury was ear-splitting.
Only then did Caesar realize that Lucy herself wasn't exactly tall either. She'd completely forgotten. She hurriedly waved his hands and laughed it off.
"Haha, Lucy, that's not what I meant. I mean—go on, go on…"
She was not someone you could mess with when she was furious.
Even Caesar, leader of the Sons of Calydon, had to give her chief steward some face.
"Hah… honestly…"
Lucy finally pulled her gaze away from Caesar. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Belle stepping forward. Her face flushed at once. She quickly looked herself over to make sure nothing was out of place, then tugged her hat back into position.
"Ahem. Hello, Proxy. I'm Lucy, a member of the Sons of Calydon. This is our leader, Caesar, and these are Burnice, Lighter, and Piper."
"Oh, and this is Corin. She's a newcomer who joined today. She's currently working as a bartender and server for the Sons of Calydon."
Lucy spread her hands, introducing each member to Belle one by one.
"Hah! A new recruit who can mix drinks? I'm a bartender too—how about coming to mix drinks with me sometime?"
Burnice suddenly perked up, staring straight at Corin.
Corin instantly felt as if blazing sunlight were pouring down on her. Just getting a little closer made her feel like she was about to burn through. She quickly shrank back behind Lucy, dodging Burnice's dangerous gaze.
She'd been here less than half a day, and already Corin deeply missed the gentle attentiveness of Victoria Housekeeping.
Everyone there was so quiet. It was wonderful.
"Burnice, shut it and get back here! Don't scare her!"
Since Corin was someone she'd brought herself, Lucy naturally protected her. Holding Corin close, she glared back at Burnice, who could only scratch her head awkwardly and retreat.
Once Burnice backed off, no one else came out to cause trouble.
At last, the world fell quiet for a moment. Lucy let out a long breath and looked at Belle.
"Here's the situation, Proxy."
"We asked Billy to bring you here for tomorrow afternoon's Tour de Inferno."
"The name sounds flashy, but it's basically an off-road motorcycle race held inside a Hollow. The objective is to be the first to reach the Cinder Lake and throw the Sparkstone into it."
"Mm…" Belle lowered her head, thinking for a moment, then asked, "That Tour de Inferno sounds pretty dangerous. What do you get for winning?"
"The winner becomes the overlord of the Motorcycle Alliance."
Lucy explained, "The Motorcycle Alliance is the ruling coalition of the entire Outer Ring, with absolute authority. The alliance's overlord controls the allocation of routes."
"And in recent years, the overlords have all been the Vanquishers… Those guys always stick us with the worst routes. Every time I go to argue with them, that Vanquisher second-in-command Lucius brushes me off with excuses like 'the routes are decided by lottery'… Agh! I really want to tear him apart!"
Mid-rant, Lucy suddenly flew into a rage—but then remembered Belle was standing right in front of her. She immediately pulled herself together and continued calmly:
"In short, if we want control over the Cinder Lake routes—and to make sure the people of Blazewood don't have too hard a winter—no matter what, we have to compete in this Tour de Inferno."
"Wait…"
As she spoke, Lucy suddenly remembered something and murmured quietly,
"On the way back, I heard that the son of the city clothing supplier—who's always worked with Pompey—is coming in person to negotiate with him. Pompey even rushed back from out of town for it."
"If we can't win the Tour de Inferno, then tonight…"
...