"Uh…"
Inside the team's clubroom, Hui Fujimura wore a troubled expression as he stared at the jade bangle in his hand.
So she really sent me a bangle as an apology gift…?
Yes—this was the very bangle Mejiro Asama had sent over.
Hui genuinely hadn't expected that intimidating old lady to actually back down and deliver a conciliatory present.
"Coach Fujimura… do you and my grandmother have some kind of conflict?"
Mejiro McQueen asked curiously. Earlier in the reception room, she'd asked Mejiro Asama directly, but the head of the Mejiro family had only shaken her head and refused to explain what was going on.
"McQueen, it's been days already—why are you still calling me 'Coach Fujimura'? Just say my name. You don't get tired saying that whole mouthful, but I'm getting tired hearing it."
"Then… Fujimura Hui?"
"That sounds like we're meeting for the first time. Don't be so stiff. Call me the way Ai does."
"…Hui?"
McQueen said it with a hint of awkward shyness, but Hui didn't mind.
"That's more like it."
He kept teasing her while examining the jade bangle.
Calms the mind… stabilizes the nerves… I wonder if that's even real.
[Tranquil Jade Bangle: When worn, increases Willpower by 1.]
The system panel popping straight into his field of vision nearly scared him out of his skin. His hand jerked, and he almost flung the bangle across the room.
Seriously, what is wrong with this garbage system? Why does it show up like some obnoxious pop-up ad?
That sudden notification nearly sent half his soul flying.
"Hui?! Are you okay?!"
His twitchy, spasmodic reaction startled McQueen badly.
"I-I'm fine…"
Hui replied awkwardly, glaring at the bangle as if it had personally wronged him.
That Mejiro witch… She must be in cahoots with the damn system, trying to scare me and make me embarrass myself in front of McQueen!
What a vicious scheme!
Goo-goo gah-gah!
Of course, those irresponsible fantasies stayed safely inside his head. Still, the sudden system panel had shown him a whole new world.
So some special items can actually grant stat bonuses?
Looking at the bangle—its effect was only a measly +1 Willpower. Compared to that drop in the bucket, the existence of the bangle itself was what intrigued him more.
Maybe there are other items out there—things that boost stats just by wearing them?
Still, the bonuses were trivial. Not worth sinking too much effort into.
"So," McQueen pouted, cheeks puffed like a little steamed bun, "what exactly is the conflict between you two?"
Hui and Mejiro Asama's insistence on keeping things vague had left her dissatisfied.
With a sigh, Hui finally told McQueen everything—from his conversation with Mejiro Asama in the Maybach, to the details of what had been said.
"...She wanted Anme to quit the team? Seriously—what is Grandma even thinking?!"
McQueen had never imagined things had escalated to this. Once she heard the full story, her expression turned into that classic "confused old man on the subway staring at his phone" look.
"If even you react like that," Hui shrugged, "you can imagine how I felt."
Even now, he still couldn't accept Mejiro Asama's way of thinking.
And while she'd offered an apology gift, that didn't mean he agreed with her. Those were two different matters.
"I'm sorry, Hui… Grandma said something so outrageous to you. I'm truly sorry!"
McQueen was the one apologizing in a panic.
Which was exactly why Hui hadn't wanted to tell her in the first place.
"Idiot. It's not your fault—why are you apologizing?"
He looked at the purple-haired dumpling with amusement.
"But Grandma said those things because of me. I can't just pretend I didn't hear it…"
McQueen lifted her head and looked him straight in the eyes.
"I'm part of the Mejiro family. If Grandma does something wrong, I should bear responsibility too. That's not strange at all."
At that moment, Hui realized the stubborn streak in McQueen was exactly the same as the one Mejiro Asama had shown when he'd confronted her.
"Alright, alright." He raised a hand and stopped her before she could keep apologizing.
"Just pass a message to your grandmother: as long as she doesn't interfere with my team's normal training, we'll consider this over. I'll accept the bangle."
It hadn't been an especially sharp conflict to begin with. Since there was a way to step down gracefully, Hui took it.
"Mhm!" McQueen nodded quickly.
Only then did she finally relax, a relieved smile returning to her face.
Being stuck between her coach and her caring grandmother couldn't have felt good.
Hui simply patted her back.
"Okay. Back to today's training."
"Okay—"
Letting something like this derail training would be a complete loss.
—
Night.
After finishing extra training, Hui returned to the dorms.
He was back earlier than usual—because he still had something else to do.
Opening the system panel, he tapped a tool called [Spatial Waypoint].
After a few days of testing, he'd discovered that setting a destination point only required a map. He didn't need to physically go there first.
He opened his phone. On the screen was a map of the United States he'd recently collected.
After choosing a location that should be deserted, he selected it and used the Spatial Waypoint.
[Set this as a destination point?]
"Yes."
[Destination point set. Teleportation available at any time.]
"Perfect."
His eyes lit up.
Next came the actual teleportation.
Hui drew a deep breath. His heart pounded in his chest like a war drum.
Could the system really handle a teleport over such a long distance?
I'm not going to end up in pieces, scattered here and there, right?
Staring at the deep blue teleport button floating in front of him, Hui clenched his teeth and slammed it.
If he backed down now, all the preparation these past days would be for nothing.
He wouldn't allow that.
"Teleport!"
Red points of light flared into existence around him, wrapping him in a glowing cocoon.
In the next instant, Hui vanished from the dorm room.
He felt the world twist. The ground beneath him disappeared and reappeared in the span of a heartbeat.
The scenery changed so abruptly that his pupils tightened.
The architecture—completely different from Japan—made him realize he was already in a foreign land.
He had succeeded.
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