"…"
Nase Fumino's fingers, which had been tapping against the car window, stopped.
She turned her head and looked Kuroha over, hard and deep, her gaze sharpening. "What do you want me to do? Say it directly."
At this point, if she still could not tell Kuroha had an agenda, then these past years as a Trainer would have been a complete waste, and she might as well go find a block of tofu and ram her head into it.
"Do you want to go on an overseas expedition with me?" Kuroha's voice sounded quietly.
"…"
In an instant, the car fell into a deathly silence.
Fumino froze in place. Her eyes widened as if she had just heard some absurd fairy tale.
Only after a long moment did she slowly part her lips, letting out an incredulous shriek. "Hah?!"
The sound was so loud that Kuroha had to frown and cover one ear. "Lower your voice. Don't get so worked up. I'm driving."
Fumino's words came out jumbled, all her usual composure gone. "W-wait, you, you, you… what did you just say? Am I hallucinating?"
Left with no choice, Kuroha patiently repeated himself, enunciating each word. "I said, do you want to go with me, on an o-ver-seas ex-pe-di-tion."
"Hah?!"
An even higher-pitched scream.
After a bout of chaos, the car finally, barely, returned to something resembling calm.
Fumino rubbed her forehead, feeling a little dizzy. She took a deep breath, forced herself to settle down, and asked helplessly, "You're saying you want to go overseas?"
"Yeah."
"Who are you taking?"
"Oguri Cap."
"…"
Fumino fell silent for a few seconds, then waved a tired hand. "Fine. I don't even want to be surprised anymore."
"Central doesn't want to let this news out so soon, right? Otherwise the outside world will go crazy. I get it. I get it all."
She glanced at Kuroha beside her and asked the most critical question. "Next question. Why do you need me to go with you?"
"Kuroha, you should know very well. I have my own team, and… we're competitors."
Kuroha did not dodge the challenge. Instead, he calmly raised three fingers.
"Three reasons."
"First, McQueen and Teio are both at a key stage at the start of their careers. I need to come back often to keep an eye on them. I can't stay abroad for long periods."
"So on Oguri Cap's side, I need a strong Trainer who can effectively understand my training methods and core philosophy, and then execute them perfectly as the one overseeing her."
"A strong Trainer…"
Hearing that appraisal, Fumino's expression turned a little unnatural. Then she folded her arms and snorted. "Then what's the second?"
"Second, Creek also needs a professional training ground for recovery training."
Kuroha glanced into the rearview mirror at Super Creek, who had perked up her ears and was clearly eavesdropping, and smiled.
"Oguri Cap and Creek used to be fierce rivals. Even though Creek's peak period is over now, as a partner for training runs, their compatibility is excellent. It's mutually beneficial."
"That's good for Oguri Cap's improvement, and it also means Creek won't lose her chance to train while she's 'resting and treating her injury' overseas. If anything, with high-intensity pacing, she may even find her competitive condition again."
Kuroha laid it out neatly and logically, his face relaxed with a smile, as if everything was already within his grasp.
"As for the third…"
He paused, then suddenly turned his head and looked deeply at the purple-haired beauty beside him, calling softly, "Fumino."
"W-what?" Under that deep gaze, Fumino snapped back to herself, her heart skipping a beat.
"Last year, the two of us were called 'Central's strongest new-generation Trainer twin stars,' weren't we?"
Fumino narrowed her eyes, wary. "Oh? Are you trying to laugh at how far ahead you've pulled?"
"How could I?"
Kuroha chuckled, shaking his head as he looked out at the scenery sliding backward beyond the windshield.
"I just feel like… the two of us, as representatives of a new era, do we really have to end up like the older generation?"
"Either we fight to the death over this one little patch of Central ground, or we die outside, achieving nothing."
Fumino's pupils slowly widened.
She seemed to understand what Kuroha was getting at.
Then she let out a quiet breath and laughed dryly. "What do you mean, die in Central, die outside. You really don't know how to talk. That sounds awful."
The next moment, her expression turned solemn, and a firm light flashed in her eyes.
"Of course I don't want that."
She pressed a hand to her rising and falling chest, fingers curling slightly as she felt the warmth in her palm.
"I'll surpass them, and I'll make my name echo across the entire world!"
Yes.
That had always been her goal.
From the beginning until now, it had never changed.
To surpass the previous generation, surpass those so-called authorities, and make everyone understand that she, Nase Fumino, was not merely "Naise Hideto's daughter"!
Kuroha heard her and curved his lips into a smile as if he had anticipated this all along. "Then the third reason is very clear."
"Go overseas with me. I need your help, and you can take this opportunity—under my banner, with Oguri Cap's challenge—to accumulate valuable expedition experience."
"Just like Oguri Cap and Creek complement each other, the two of us can complement each other as well. Best of both worlds, one stone, two birds. What do you say?"
"…"
There was no response for a long while.
Kuroha, a little awkward, tilted his head slightly. Then he saw that faint, suspicious flush on Fumino's delicate face. She was staring at him with a strange expression.
After several seconds, she finally coughed lightly and turned her head to look out the window.
"Since you're inviting me so sincerely… I guess I'll reluctantly agree."
Only then did Kuroha face forward again. He let out a quiet breath of relief and chuckled. "That's great. Everyone wins."
What he did not see was Fumino dropping her head the moment she finished speaking, fingers unconsciously twisting at the hem of her clothes as she secretly grumbled to herself.
"What do you mean… complement each other… you idiot…"
Could he stop saying things that were so easy to misunderstand, so naturally?
"…"
In the back seat, the two silent long-distance queens watched the entire exchange.
McQueen and Creek looked at each other, both utterly confused.
They blinked, then looked toward the front at the two Trainers—who were not speaking, yet whose atmosphere was clearly off—and, in the same small voice, the same thought surfaced in their minds.
Right now… should we maybe not talk?
(End of Chapter)
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