Long and Grueling Training
“Hmm-hmm~♪”
“…………”
Hinata swayed happily as she sat, clearly in high spirits.
Across from her—Rui sat with a pale face.
“N-no… I can’t. There’s absolutely no way…!”
“You’ll be fine, Rui-chan! I know you can do it! C’mon, c’mon~♪”
The angelic (yet devilish) girl giggled as she pushed it toward Rui.
“P-please, spare me, Hinaaa…!”
Rui shook her head, her eyes slightly teary.
On the table in front of her—
“There’s no way I can eat this much!”
—was a towering mountain of hamburgers.
◇◇◇◇◇
“Rui-chan, you should gain some weight.”
“Huh?”
That one sentence was all it took.
When Rui looked down at Hinata, whose face was about twenty centimeters below hers, she was met with the angel’s beaming smile.
But there was something shadowy lurking beneath that cheerful expression—and Rui had a pretty good idea what.
“Hina… don’t tell me you’re still hung up on the last popularity poll…?”
“————”
Hinata’s smile didn’t falter as she shrugged.
The last popularity poll.
It was a ranking held upon graduation from the Training School.
The Winged Guardians of Excia had a primary duty: the preservation of peace.
To uphold this, three qualities were essential:
Courage, Talent—and Charisma.
Heroes were symbols of peace, meant to bring tranquility to people’s hearts.
For them, courage and talent were a given—but charisma was just as, if not more, important.
And the grand event meant to showcase this heroic charisma?
The popularity poll.
To Rui, it was a meaningless game.
But as a Winged Guardian of Excia, participation was practically mandatory.
Even the Training School held its own ranking upon graduation—separate from the main Excia rankings.
It was treated like a final grade of sorts.
And those were the results Rui suspected Hinata was dwelling on.
“N-no way! That’s not it at all!?”
“Hina…”
Rui stared flatly as Hinata began flustering.
At graduation, Rui had taken overwhelming first place.
Given that she already bore the grandiose epithet “The Beautiful Conductor”, even as a student, it was only natural.
Hinata, meanwhile, had secured second place by a huge margin over third.
Nearly 95% of the votes had gone to the two of them, making it an unprecedented ranking.
The students below third place had already accepted their fate long ago.
Hinata had no reason to be dissatisfied with the results.
In fact, Rui could practically hear her inwardly downplaying herself: “Someone like me doesn’t deserve…”
But the real issue was—
“—It’s fine, Hina. You’re not fat.”
“Rui-chaaan!?”
The rankings often came with fan comments.
There were too many to read them all, but a quick glance was enough.
When Rui and Hinata skimmed through them, Rui’s were mostly filled with words like “beautiful” and “gorgeous.”
A few even said things like “She’s so thin it’s worrying” or “She looks like she’ll snap in half,” but the overwhelming majority were pure praise.
Not that Rui cared.
She had zero interest in fan opinions.
If anything, she thought, “Why don’t they focus on their own lives instead of cheering for others?”
Rui couldn’t care less about what others thought of her—but Hinata wasn’t so detached.
Most of Hinata’s comments were either “cute” or “strong,” but scattered among them were remarks like “so squishy~” and “so healthy-looking!”
The handwriting was clearly childish—and children could be brutally honest.
To Rui, they sounded like compliments—but Hinata seemed bothered by them.
“That’s not it! It’s muscle! Just muscle mass!”
“Mhm, sure.”
“Unlike you, Rui-chan, I specialize in close combat!”
“Mhm, of course.”
Rui’s gaze drifted downward as Hinata teared up, desperately pleading her case.
(All those nutrients must go straight to those mountains, huh…?)
She discreetly averted her eyes—
—but Hinata noticed.
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“Aah! That look! You don’t believe me, do you!?”
“I do, I do. …Just in a different area.”
“Ughhh!!”
Rui found Hinata’s pouting adorable—but the conversation soon circled back.
“Rui-chan needs to gain weight too! It’s not good for your health!”
“…I can’t help it. I don’t have much of an appetite.”
“Thaaat’s why we’re gonna train you to eat more!”
“No thanks.”
Rui turned away with a hmph.
Puffing out her cheeks, Hinata’s eyes glinted mischievously.
“—Hey. Wanna go on a date?”
“Let’s go right now.”
And so, their training date began.
◇◇◇◇◇
“I wanna go hooome…!”
Which brings us back to the beginning—at the food court.
As Rui stubbornly shook her head, Hinata sighed playfully.
“Fine, fine~”
With a grin, she reached for the mountain of hamburgers.
Then, as the angel devoured them one after another—the towering stack vanished in seconds.
Rui’s face turned even paler.
(S-she’s eating all that greasy food… ugh. But Hina looks so cute eating…)
Such was the resilience of a devoted fan.
After happily polishing off the entire pile, Hinata let out a satisfied sigh—then suddenly turned serious.
“That was just a joke, though.”
“…That was a joke?”
“A joke! But Rui-chan, you’re too thin. It’s not healthy. You could get sick!”
“Well, yes, but…”
Seeing Rui reluctantly agree, Hinata pulled out a pair of glasses from nowhere.
She had entered Teacher Mode.
“To gain weight—you must increase your calorie intake!”
“Uh-huh.”
“But if your diet is unbalanced, your intestines won’t absorb nutrients well! So eat a variety of foods!”
“Then why did you just make me eat burgers—”
“Women can easily consume 2,000 calories a day! Especially if they exercise!”
“I don’t move much.”
“At first, try splitting meals into four to six smaller portions! Snack more too!”
“Hey, are you even listening—”
There was no arguing with Teacher Mode Hinata.
The light was fading from Rui’s eyes.
“Also, never skip protein in a meal! And do anaerobic exercise—weight training! This keeps excess calories from turning into fat, so it’s a must! So, Rui-chan—”
“…What?”
Hinata beamed.
“Let’s do our best together, okay? ♪”
“Eeeek…!”
And so began Rui’s long and grueling training.
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