Clang—the vending machine made a 'drip' sound, and a can of coffee dropped with a 'gudong gudong'.
Kazuo reached out and took it. Since the old man made him try Suntory coffee last time, he surprisingly grew to like its bitter taste.
The saying 'not to judge things with preconceived notions' indeed holds true.
However, it was this bitter coffee that was advertised with MGA's 'Haru no Chou' (Spring Sorrow) music video.
Hmm... [If only tomorrow were a clear sky]
[If only tomorrow would come as promised]
[Spring breeze carrying cherry blossoms, sunlight enveloping everything]
The music of this song unconsciously played in his mind. The sorrow of graduation and separation, combined with the anticipation of the next stage in life, indeed had that slight aftertaste of sweetness after bitter coffee—this was the 'Spring Sorrow' of April.
[As long as you can live, no matter what, it's fine]
[If I can also live, that would be wonderful]
...Apparently, thinking this way, everything seemed to become quite reasonable.
Hmm, suddenly I feel like listening to music.
During his lunch break, Kazuo went up to the school's rooftop alone. According to Koji, this place was rarely visited by people and was a very secluded secret resting spot suitable for leisurely moments.
Although Kazuo was more inclined to believe this was where Koji used to slack off.
The warm spring sun was gentle yet not dazzling, making one feel like taking a good nap.
After reconciling with Toujou Hana in the morning, as his mentor, Toujou Hana had now become completely serious. After returning to the office, she directly slammed a thick stack of documents from her drawer onto Kazuo's desk.
"Read and memorize everything I've marked in these documents during this holiday. I will quiz you when you return, so be prepared."
Clean, concise, and without any pretense. Toujou Hana took out all these materials without a word. From lesson plans, notes from her student days, and even practice tests and mistake collections, Toujou Hana had kept all these things perfectly preserved until now.
These were all 'straight-A student's notes.jpg'. Only now did Kazuo finally understand why the old man would have Toujou Hana be his instructor.
Because when she was serious, her drive and her 'my word is law' personality could indeed help him make a sprint in a short period.
So, after looking at documents all morning, Kazuo now felt a bit tired, his eyes aching.
After all, with all the data and theoretical knowledge, reading just one introductory book for a morning only got him through a third of it. The Trainer qualification exam, besides assessing tactical knowledge, also tests various other subjects closely related to Horse Racing, including medical rehabilitation and physical therapy.
It was finally break time, and Kazuo also wanted to find a quiet place to rest for a while. Coffee paired with a pineapple bun from the school cafeteria was a unique kind of delicious.
Sitting in a corner of the rooftop, the occasional breeze brushed against his heart, allowing his tense nerves to relax a great deal.
However, just as Kazuo was about to take out his purchased lunch for a quick bite, he turned his head and happened to see a very small figure huddled in the shadow of the rooftop's top room, gnawing on something.
She was looking down at her phone, holding a compressed biscuit-style energy bar in one hand, gnawing on it with a crunching sound like a hamster.
Her ears were also flapping "puchi puchi" to both sides, but because she was too focused on her phone screen, she seemed to have no noticed Kazuo walking in from outside.
While concentrating on her phone, she also wanted to crunch and eat, puffing up her cheeks.
"Giggle giggle… Mmm, crunch crunch… So hard and so dry…"
These foods, marked with nutritional content and claiming one bar could replace a meal, were essentially dehydrated and compressed. Initially, they only made one feel thirsty, but after absorbing water in the stomach, they created a feeling of fullness… Daijin was clearly eating this type of food, but her furrowed brows showed that the taste could only be described as barely palatable.
Daijin, who had been silently gnawing on the energy bar with her head down, only suddenly noticed a strange gaze after half a minute. She looked up, not expecting to meet someone surprising here.
The moment their eyes met, both of them were momentarily stunned—after a brief silence, they called out each other's names as if to confirm their identities.
"Daijin!?"
"You, what are you doing here!?"
Kazuo never expected to meet Daijin in such a place. It seemed she had been there before him, but why was she huddled here alone… Daijin, like a small cat, seemed a bit flustered at being seen. Holding her phone in one hand and a bar-shaped energy food in the other, she made to get up and flee, but before she could move, Kazuo had already called out.
"Wait, Daijin!"
Hearing Kazuo's call, she subconsciously stopped. With her back to Kazuo, she mumbled somewhat unwillingly, "What… Is something wrong?"
"No… Nothing really, I just wanted to chat since we met."
Although he wasn't sure why, after the last incident, Kazuo's relationship with Daijin should have improved. But since they parted that day, they hadn't spoken at school. He always felt as if Daijin was intentionally avoiding him.
This led to Kazuo seeing Daijin several times, and as soon as she spotted him from afar, she would immediately detour… Although Xiao Hai Wan always said it was nothing, he still felt like he was disliked.
He could already see Daijin talking with other students, even becoming teammates and rivals with Victory Ticket and Biwa Hayahide.
But when it came to him, he felt ignored. Honestly, Kazuo himself hadn't figured out why. Slowly, Daijin sat down to the side.
Although it was "to the side"—there was at least enough space for five people between them.
Did she still need to be so wary of him?
However, Kazuo clearly misunderstood Daijin. She wasn't avoiding Kazuo because she disliked him. On the contrary, it was precisely because of the change in their relationship that she didn't know how to react, and thus, she subconsciously resorted to avoidance to solve the problem.
After all, avoidance, though shameful, was effective.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/TripleCrown07
If you guys wanna check it out.