“The opponents were very weak… so their loss… was… naturally expected.”
Jiang Jianyue’s tone was steady. Although she was happy for him in her heart, how could she possibly show it?
“Yeah, it really wasn’t much of a challenge.” Yuki Asahi chuckled and leaned forward slightly toward her. “What are you looking at?”
“Work.”
Jiang Jianyue pulled the tablet closer to her chest—the screen actually showed trending topics on Blue Bird regarding Yuki Asahi.
‘The internet trolls are currently building hype for Yuki Asahi… Inspecting the results of my subordinates’ work could barely be considered work.’
However, the phrasing used by the troll army was a bit too heavy on marketing. She would have to find a chance to teach them what real “internet slang” was.
“Work?”
Yuki Asahi didn’t expose her poor attempt at hiding it. Instead, he leaned back against the sofa and watched the upcoming matches with Jiang Jianyue.
Aside from the unreasonable “stat-stomping” of Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu Unit 1, several other teams Jiang Jianyue followed showed staggering strength.
First was the ART Team from Tokyo University.
In both matches, Shadow Girl transformed into a silver-white metal giant dragon (Western-style).
Both matches combined took less than one minute; the ART Team won by relying on a torrential downpour of metal rain.
Although it was quick, compared to Unit 1’s pure stat-stomping, it looked quite beautiful—exactly the kind of “Superpower” the public wanted to see.
Consequently, the ART Team instantly gained countless fans online, their popularity even eclipsing the trending topics supported by the troll army.
“This team is choosing to hide their information just like us,” Yuki Asahi mused.
However, the ART Team didn’t choose to bulldoze through with physical force.
Was it because they couldn’t, or were they competing for trending spots?
Another team, the Round Table Knights, also swept their way into the group stages with a clean 2-0 score.
But these British guys’ style was to not hide their abilities at all; every member had to show off their power at least once.
Yuki didn’t pay much attention. He didn’t know why Jiang Jianyue was so focused on this team.
There were plenty of teams going 2-0 at light speed in the qualifiers.
As lunchtime approached, the two finally saw someone they knew—the Supernatural Club’s team.
“The name they chose… if they make it to the main tournament, I don’t know how much face they’ll lose…”
Yuki sighed while gently stroking the girl’s foot resting on his lap. Jiang Jianyue was currently lying on the sofa, bored by the repetitive matches.
To the general public, battles between Ability Users were exciting, but she had seen far too many.
In their first match, their opponents were an international column from Southeast Asia.
Every one of them looked fierce, as if they could tear a group of high school students to pieces.
The result of this match was somewhat unexpected. Even Jiang Jianyue was stunned in the private box.
Those fierce-looking Southeast Asians were actually defeated single-handedly by Yuma Endou through pure physical stats!
“Is this Endou classmate… that strong?” Yuki frowned, his tone carrying a hint of unease. ‘Will I have to face them in the future?’
Jiang Jianyue, knowing Yuma Endou’s Ability, could only feel that they were lucky.
Besides, the Supernatural Club was essentially the protagonist team; they certainly wouldn’t be eliminated in the qualifiers.
Yuma Endou’s Ability was calculated by “tries,” and likely had a duration and cooldown period, though the report hadn’t mentioned it.
This became clear in the second match when Yuma Endou evidently rolled a “Great Misfortune.”
As soon as he entered the field, he turned into a slime.
Yes, a slime. This slime’s “hand” was even holding a short sword that looked like it came out of a chibi-style game.
“What… what kind of Ability is this?” Yuki muttered.
“Want to know?”
Jiang Jianyue pursed her lips, and her big toe scratched Yuki Asahi’s palm.
Yuki grabbed the restless foot and smiled helplessly. “Wouldn’t that be cheating? If I reached the top that way, Yue, you’d be disappointed, wouldn’t you? Just like the fairy tales say, those who take shortcuts always fail.”
Jiang Jianyue sneered internally. ‘Fairy tales?’ She didn’t care about cheating, and fairy tales were just lies for children. Wait, Yuki technically was still a child—minors were all children.
“Fairy tales might be a lie for children, but the virtues they convey are real,” Meiguan said gloomily. “It’s better to read fairy tales than to watch porn.”
“Shut up.”
On screen, the remaining four people had to face a four-on-five situation.
Their opponents this time included a player skilled in plant control, and the entire arena was quickly covered in crazily growing vines.
As soon as Yuki saw this Ability, he knew the Supernatural Club was going to win.
Kaori Onishi drained the moisture from the plants, and Saori Saiyonji burned them to a crisp.
The arena suddenly “lit up.”
Kaori Onishi now had enough water to create a firebreak, so she no longer needed to use her own bottled water.
The enemies slowed by Makino Yuzuha couldn’t escape; two of them were burned first, and then the other three were driven into the fire by Yamanoi Yayoi’s evil spirits.
It was a true combo move.
Watching Kaori Onishi cheer while holding the slime on screen, Jiang Jianyue suddenly remembered something.
“Speaking of… Kaori.” She turned her head, her gaze scrutinizing. “She’s been very… sad lately.”
Regarding the “ignoring” incident, Yuki’s reply had been indifferent; he had only said he didn’t see it and then never opened the LINE group again.
Even Jiang Jianyue felt that Yuki had gone a bit too far.
After all, she was someone who viewed her Penguin Group friends as spiritual sustenance.
If she could, she would live on the internet forever.
Yuki had these friends who cared about him, yet he had become so cold recently.
It was hard to say how the others felt, but Kaori was certainly heartbroken.
She used to share over a dozen “cursed” images she found every day, but now she only chatted.
It made the voyeuristic Jiang Jianyue feel a bit out of practice.
The smile on Yuki’s face gradually faded. He turned his face away, and Jiang Jianyue couldn’t see his expression.
“Are you… running away?” Jiang Jianyue asked softly.
Running away instead of solving a difficult problem sounded like something Yuki would do.
“I’m grateful to her.” Yuki sighed, answering honestly. “In class, Onishi… she took care of me.”
Jiang Jianyue started to say something but ultimately just sat up straight and waited for him to continue.
“But, that’s all.” Yuki’s tone shifted, becoming exceptionally firm.
“For her, I only have feelings of friendship, and maybe some… guilt for being unable to reciprocate her feelings. At Hokkaido, I already planned to reject her. After everything that happened when we got back… I don’t know if I’m just stalling or if I really don’t have the heart to deal with it… sigh… I’ll find a chance to make it clear to her.”
Jiang Jianyue felt a flicker of unease. It wasn’t because Yuki hadn’t severed the connection yet; she didn’t have the right to demand that, nor did she actually care.
The unease came from a feeling… a feeling that they would eventually have a falling out.
Why did she feel this way? After all, with Kaori’s personality, she wouldn’t make things too ugly. She was always so boisterous, so…
No.
Jiang Jianyue suddenly realized that her way of thinking was a bit like “bullying an honest person.”
“What if… things get… really ugly?” Jiang Jianyue asked. She didn’t want Yuki to lose his few friends because of her.
“I’ve already decided.” Yuki turned his head, his Golden Eyes filled with sincerity. “If I have to choose between love and friendship, I’ll choose you.”
Hearing those words, Jiang Jianyue felt a slight sweetness in her chest, but more than that… she felt uncomfortable.
It sounded like the onset of “love brain.” In most entertainment media, characters who suffered from “love brain” never met a good end and only caused the audience’s blood pressure to spike.
Jiang Jianyue knew she shouldn’t be so critical of Yuki’s declaration of loyalty, but she was somewhat worried.
“Let’s go. Lunch.” Jiang Jianyue didn’t respond to his confession. She instantly returned to her lazy posture and stood up.
A trace of disappointment flashed in Yuki’s eyes, but he quickly composed himself. “Back to Mejiro?”
“Of course… we’re going out to eat.”
……
Meanwhile, in a shadow somewhere at the New National Stadium.
Cuiyue was crouching on the ground with zero regard for her image, holding an official bento that had already gone slightly cold.
The organizers had delivered lunch to the stadium, and it was convenient for the staff and participants to eat these boxed meals.
“Hmph.”
She took a huge bite of the fried shrimp tempura. There was too much flour and very little shrimp meat, which made her already bad mood even worse.
‘That bastard Yuki…’
Cuiyue chewed the poor-quality tempura while cursing Yuki Asahi in her head.
As soon as the match ended, she had only taken a moment to remove her face mask, and that guy had already vanished without a trace.
Reina Hayami hadn’t even realized what was happening and could only say awkwardly, “Well… then this afternoon…”
Tsubasa Kubo silently put on his headphones and walked away. Since two people were already gone, there was no need to plan anything for the afternoon. The remaining three could only disband in silence.
Cuiyue had grabbed a bento and hidden in this unnoticed corner to finish her lunch.
‘Is that what a so-called ace Captain is like?’
Cuiyue poked the rice with her chopsticks and snorted coldly. ‘Zero sense of responsibility, leaving his teammates behind to go run off…’
Her gaze suddenly froze.
Through a gap in the bushes, she saw two familiar figures walking slowly along the tree-lined path not far away.
The girl walking with an air of authority was the very “main character” who annoyed her just by looking at her—Jiang Jianyue.
And the boy following beside her, occasionally trying to initiate small gestures, wasn’t that the “missing” Captain Yuki Asahi?
Snap.
The chopsticks in Cuiyue’s hand broke.
‘Fine. You’re here playing lovey-dovey, are you?’
Cuiyue tossed the bento box into a nearby trash can, wiped her mouth, and chased after them.