The next day.
Director's office.
As the door opened, Chiya saw Akikawa sitting behind her desk.
"Director, you called for me?"
"Come in."
She waved him over.
Chiya stepped forward, standing in front of the desk, slightly tense.
"The Central trainer evaluations are out. You scored a total of six points."
"Six… is that bad?"
"Six…" Akikawa waved her fan lazily. "It's not exactly impressive."
She added casually, "That's about what you'd expect from two winning runners."
"Two?" Chiya frowned. "But only one of mine actually won."
"What? I told you at least one, and you really went with the bare minimum?"
"I did my best, alright…"
It's not like he could predict every race outcome perfectly.
"Well, winning isn't everything. The judges also factor in overall performance. Even if they didn't win, your runners probably impressed them, so you got some extra points."
"…I should probably thank them for that."
"In any case, your performance wasn't bad." Akikawa leaned back slightly. "So as a special exception, I'm letting you off garden duty. Consider it making up for your mistakes."
"Seriously!?"
Chiya nearly bowed on the spot.
Even though he no longer had to pull weeds, watering the garden every day still took time and effort. Running back and forth with buckets wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend his day.
"Don't get too excited," she added. "If you mess up again, there's a whole forest waiting for you up north."
"…Understood."
"And one more thing." Akikawa crossed her legs. "You heard what was said at the exchange event, right? About how races are going to change."
"Sounds like things are about to get a lot more intense."
"I don't entirely agree with Central's approach," she said, her tone sharpening slightly, "but if we want to compete in Europe, this is the fastest way forward."
Then she looked at him directly.
"But Chiya, winning isn't everything. What matters more is how your runners feel. If they don't want to race that way, don't force them."
"I'll respect their choices."
"Good."
For a brief moment, Chiya thought he saw a gentle smile on her otherwise serious face.
But when he blinked, it was gone.
"You can go back to work now."
"Alright. I won't keep you any longer."
With that, Chiya turned and left the office.
Out in the hallway, he hadn't even taken a few steps before he ran into a familiar figure.
"Guinea pig."
"Tachyon… what are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, obviously. Got a minute?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Come to my lab."
"For another experiment?"
"Of course. I made some improvements to the affinity glasses. I need you to test them again."
"That's fine… but why not test them yourself?"
"Because every time I wear them, everyone shows up as around forty. I'm starting to think something's wrong with it."
"…Have you considered that might be a you problem?"
"Possibly. That's why I need you."
Chiya sighed.
"Alright, let's see what you've changed."
Back in the lab, Chiya put the glasses on.
"…This feels different."
"I added a new system," Tachyon explained. "It now includes Tracen student data and can generate dialogue suggestions based on the situation. Things that are likely to improve affinity or mood in real time."
"That's… actually kind of insane."
Chiya pressed the activation button. A faint blue light swept across the room.
He looked at Tachyon.
Her affinity reading displayed: [81]
"…Did you actually fix it? Why is it even higher than before?"
"What's the number?"
"Eighty-one."
Tachyon tapped her chin.
"That sounds about right."
"…Why?"
"Because you're my one and only guinea pig. And my trainer. Honestly, it could be in the nineties and it still wouldn't be strange."
"…I really don't want my popularity going up for that reason."
Chiya glanced at the lens again.
"Ah… there's a suggested line."
"Let's hear it."
"…Tachyon, as your guinea pig, I look forward to being used to your heart's content."
The moment he said it, the number jumped to [83].
"Say it more naturally next time."
"No, the line itself is the problem. That goes completely against everything I stand for."
"Chiya, with that attitude, you'll never win a girl over."
His eye twitched.
"…Still, seems like the feature works."
Tachyon nodded, clearly satisfied.
Her mood had improved noticeably.
"Keep testing it," she said. "Use it as much as you can. Bring it back later."
"Got it."
Chiya adjusted the heavy frame on his nose.
"By the way, can you make this smaller? It's killing my nose."
"If the system works, I'll consider reducing the size. Maybe even switch to projection later. This is just a prototype."
For something she casually threw together, she was putting in a surprising amount of thought.
Chiya left the lab.
Let's test this on someone familiar first…
If it really worked, he might even be able to use it during training.
He decided to try it on Rice Shower.
Heading toward the senior building, he had barely reached the stairs when a small brown-haired girl rushed past him.
"Shinko Windy!?"
"Hm?"
She turned around.
"Who are you? Do I know you?"
"…Uh…"
Honestly, after everything she'd done to Shirayuki these past few days, he had developed a bit of a reflex reaction.
While he was scrambling for an excuse, the glasses lit up again.
Affinity: 54
Suggested dialogue appeared.
He hesitated.
Well… it's just a test anyway.
After a few seconds, he took a breath.
"Y-Yeah, I know you. You're the one who throws the world into chaos… the Dark Overlord."
The moment the words left his mouth, he wanted to disappear on the spot.
But that was what the system suggested.
He had no choice.
He watched her reaction closely.
She slowly lowered her head.
Then,
"Heh… hahaha! HAHAHAHA!!"
She burst into laughter.
"So you've uncovered my true identity! That's right, I am the Dark Overlord who plunges the world into darkness! Now then, hero… state your name!"
Honestly, this might have been the most painful conversation Chiya had ever experienced.
But,
He glanced at the display.
Her affinity had instantly jumped to 70.