Inside the Spica training room, Mejiro McQueen unusually listened to Gold Ship all the way through, a cookie pinched between her fingertips.
"I understand... Boss Lady wants someone to use their connections to get hold of training gear, right?"
"Exactly~ The Gold family is an absolutely dead-end route for Boss Lady, so you're the only one I can ask. Getting those things should be easy for the Mejiro family, right?"
Gold Ship rubbed her fingers together in front of McQueen, waiting for an answer.
McQueen popped the cookie into her mouth and sucked lightly on her fingertip.
She had already gone over what Gold Ship was asking several times in her head. Given her standing in the family and her relationship with her older sister, doing something like this would pose no problem at all. But when it came to this proprietress outside the academy, McQueen had no intention of helping her with something this useful for free.
No matter how delicious the food Dyna made was, the relationship between McQueen and Dyna was nowhere near close enough to justify the Mejiro family doing such a thing for her.
So McQueen wanted something in return.
"Helping isn't a problem, of course. But I need to get something out of it too. After all, this would mean using the family's authority. It's not something I can decide on by myself."
Spreading her hands, McQueen looked helpless. Gold Ship scratched the back of her head. She had a feeling Dyna probably would not agree...
Still, now that she had obtained the Mejiro family's stated position, Gold Ship left.
And on her way out, she took the cookies she had brought with her too, leaving McQueen frozen in disbelief.
Who took the snacks they had brought along back with them when they left?
Gold Ship had absolutely done that on purpose!!
"Sigh. Well, I'll ask my sister about it. There's no harm in making contact with a horse girl like that."
Mejiro McQueen packed up her personal belongings. Tonight, she had decided to go home. Right now, Shining Dyna was something of a hot potato: Central trainers were eyeing her hungrily, and the JRA badly wanted Rudolf to drag Dyna into the academy and register her under their banner.
A horse girl from a major family like McQueen was naturally also a focus of attention. As for Gold Ship's side, given the deep grudge between the Gold family and Shining Dyna, there was no need at all to worry about Dyna being "absorbed" by them.
What everyone was most worried about right now was this:
Oguri Cap was one of Rudolf's people.
Would Rudolf use that route to pull the chestnut-haired proprietress into the Central circuit?
In truth, Mejiro McQueen wanted the boss lady to remain in the shop—or, failing that, for the Mejiro family to secure her. After all, losing access to food that delicious and addictive would be a tremendous loss for her.
As she rode home in the family car, Mejiro McQueen sat in the back seat lost in thought, still savoring the taste of the cookie in her mouth.
At the Mejiro villa, it was time for the sisters' afternoon tea.
Mejiro Ardan carried over a teapot freshly filled with hot water and placed the tea service on the stone table in the middle of the garden.
"Older Sister, is McQueen coming back today too?"
Wiping her palms with a towel, Ardan asked Takamine and received a confirming nod. After counting the teacups and seeing that only McQueen's was missing, Ardan went back inside the villa to prepare one more set.
Mejiro Takamine had just received a message from McQueen. As the current head of the family, providing Shining Dyna with professional training equipment would be effortless for her. But her thinking was much the same as McQueen's—they needed to obtain a corresponding benefit from Dyna in return, even if it was only a verbal promise.
The Mejiro family business had declined somewhat from its former height. As family head, Takamine had to lead the Mejiros out of their current predicament, and Dyna was undoubtedly an excellent breakthrough point.
So she intended to use this tea gathering to talk things through with McQueen. It was also about time McQueen was cultivated into a true lady capable of standing on her own.
By the time tea began, McQueen, delayed by traffic, finally arrived late.
She casually handed her shoulder bag to the maid waiting by the door, greeted Takamine and Ardan first, then sat down and let out a long breath.
"How have things been at the academy lately? Judging from the message you sent, things haven't gone too smoothly?"
Ardan poured McQueen a full cup of black tea and placed the prepared sweets before her as well.
The tea was rich and fragrant, and the sweets carried a familiar sugary aroma. McQueen nodded, took a sip of tea, then bit into a cookie. Her eyes immediately lit up.
"Mmh... this was made by the boss lady near the academy, wasn't it? Sister, how did you get these? That place is packed every single day!"
Takamine crossed her legs and folded her hands atop her knees.
"Miss Shining Dyna and I already reached an agreement some time ago. Every day, she prepares sweets specifically to be delivered to the estate. So before you even brought us this information... I had already received a request from Miss Dyna herself. And as far as I know, only the Mejiro family received that request."
Even Takamine had not expected that simply by means of a dessert-supply arrangement, Dyna would deliver herself to their doorstep.
It was now certain that Dyna's network of connections was astonishingly narrow. Though Gold Ship was on excellent terms with her, the relationship with the Gold family behind her was catastrophically bad, which was why Dyna would never consider that route.
This was the Mejiro family's opportunity.
"Huh? The boss lady already contacted you, Sister?"
McQueen was surprised. She had assumed the boss lady was meek and timid, but was she actually the sort who struck from the shadows? Still, since Dyna had approached them on her own initiative, then she had presumably already thought through the price she would have to pay.
Ardan and Takamine exchanged a glance, both smiling faintly.
"Miss Shining Dyna's terms are these: she will provide the Mejiro family, free of charge, with any quantity of sweets or full meals at any time we require. Naturally, that alone would not be enough. So Miss Dyna also stated that she is willing to openly declare herself the Mejiro family's personal chef."
It was both a declaration and a confirmation of where she belonged.
For Dyna, this deal was all benefit and no harm.
McQueen's ears twitched a few times as she chewed over those words, puzzled.
"So she's basically pushing all the troublesome matters onto us. Do we still need to provide her with a trainer?"
"That part was never mentioned. Presumably Miss Dyna would not like any trainer we selected for her anyway. As for the troublesome matters—most of our remaining businesses may have declined somewhat, but they are still under the JRA's umbrella. They certainly won't object."
Takamine rubbed a fingertip along the rim of her teacup as she considered the matter carefully.
If Shining Dyna was hung under the Mejiro name, the JRA would naturally be delighted. Their questioning of Rudolf ultimately stemmed from only one thing: Shining Dyna had no JRA connections whatsoever when she debuted. What they needed was simply a banner—any JRA-affiliated banner would do.
The only real issue was Central Academy's side of things. Rudolf was already at her wit's end over Dyna's enrollment, and since the Prix Marcel Boussac, the chairwoman and Ms. Riko had also been hounded by even higher-ups.
The JRA was little more than a ramshackle circus. Takamine sighed softly at the thought.
And on top of that, Miss Shining Dyna's shop outside the academy absolutely could not be allowed to close.
At this point, that seemed to have become a matter tied to the stability of all Tracen Academy.
Besides...
There was no way Takamine could use the identity of "chef" to bind Dyna permanently to the Mejiro household.
Because right now, the Mejiro family needed to carve out a new path for itself.
"Tomorrow, Ardan and I will go visit Miss Shining Dyna together."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 27
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