"Well done, Diamond! That's my daughter, a true Satomi!"
Chairman Satomi couldn't suppress his grin, his eyes occasionally drifting toward the Kitakami family.
Satono Diamond noticed her father's behavior and guessed what he was thinking.
(Is Father happy because I beat Kitakami-san?)
Kitakami-san again?
Not only Crown, but even Father was paying attention to her now?
Kitakami-san's performance in that last race had been decent, but surely not enough to warrant this level of attention from Father?
Satono Diamond glanced over at Kitasan Black, currently getting her head patted by Mr. Kitakami.
She couldn't understand it. Why was everyone so focused on Kitakami-san?
What was so special about her?
No matter how hard she looked, Satono Diamond couldn't find anything noteworthy. Because Kitasan Black wasn't at all what everyone seemed to think—she wasn't some hardworking prodigy, just a perfectly ordinary person.
On the other side, Kitasan Black's father was saying, "Hey, you did pretty well out there!"
"..."
Kitasan Black quietly shelved the excuse she'd been preparing. She'd thought the old man might see through something, but apparently she'd overestimated his perception.
Her eldest senior disciple chimed in, "That's right, sixth place is excellent for a debut race."
"That was amazing! If you'd just been a bit faster at the end, you might've won!"
"Such a shame—you were so close to having a shot at the championship."
Her senior disciples all wore expressions of genuine regret, as if truly believing she'd come close to winning.
But in reality, sixth place didn't look anything like being close to the championship.
Hearing her family's praise, Kitasan Black couldn't help pushing away her father's hand and turning her face to the sky.
Setting aside her guilty conscience, wasn't everyone's reaction a bit... off?
Logically speaking, shouldn't her performance in that race be chalked up to luck?
The other competitors just happened to underperform, that's all.
The ability she'd shown wasn't much better than her practice results.
So why did everyone seem genuinely impressed?
(This is bad. I really should've called in sick today. What do I do now?)
At this point, Kitasan Black was out of ideas.
Never mind how the teachers saw her now.
At least at home, the old man was more convinced than ever that she had real talent.
Please don't let him go crazy and pile on more lessons—like extra tutoring during vacations. Please, anything but that.
"Kita-chan, your classmate seems to be looking for you."
Her mother's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
Looking where her mother indicated, Kitasan Black saw Satono Crown staring at her with sharp eyes.
She had no idea why the other girl would seek her out after the race.
Was she upset about losing?
But Satono Crown's loss had nothing to do with her. If she wanted to vent, she should go find Diamond-ojousama, who actually won.
"Let's talk, Kitakami-san." Satono Crown's tone was serious. She didn't give Kitasan Black a chance to refuse, immediately turning to bow to her parents. "Auntie, Uncle—may I borrow Kitakami-san for a moment?"
Kitasan Black had no idea what Satono Crown meant by this.
Were they even that close?
Why should I talk to you? No way—
Just as she was about to refuse, her mother gave her a push from behind.
"Kita-chan, it's better to clear things up if something's wrong. Besides, I think your classmate here seems like a good girl."
Satono Crown had that kind of appearance—one look and you could tell she was an honest, upstanding person. The kind who made an excellent first impression.
And this young lady really was as straightforward as she appeared.
But Mom, aren't you even a little worried about your precious daughter's safety?
Kitasan Black couldn't help complaining internally.
Still, she understood that when dealing with an elementary schooler like Satono Crown, her mother's attitude was perfectly normal.
"Fine."
Since her mother had spoken, Kitasan Black decided to hear what this young lady had to say.
"Let's go."
Following her instincts, Kitasan Black chose not to have this conversation right here.
The two left the training grounds and found a quiet spot.
Satono Diamond had been watching Kitasan Black and noticed them leaving together. She grew curious.
(Why would Crown be looking for Kitakami-san at a time like this?)
Was it because of that declaration of rivalry before the race?
But Kitakami-san's results this time were pretty average.
Though Kitakami-san's ability had been somewhat surprising, Satono Diamond didn't think her performance was particularly outstanding.
She couldn't understand why Crown would view Kitakami-san as a rival.
The two of them didn't even interact much normally. It made no sense.
And in today's race... she was the one who won, wasn't she?
Crown not coming to talk to her was one thing, but now she was going to find Kitakami-san instead? This obsession with Kitakami-san was just strange.
Just then, Satono Diamond overheard a conversation between reporters from the Flash Press.
"Senpai, the ones worth watching here are definitely those few students, right? The new Satomi girls, and that Number 4 from the race just now."
"Indeed. My intuition tells me that Number 4 is definitely going to be big in the future!"
"Is it really that impressive?"
"In my personal opinion, the best performance in that race came from Number 4."
"But even if you say so, senpai, Number 4 only finished sixth."
"Yes, and that's the strange part. Didn't you notice something unnatural about Number 4's performance at the end?"
"Not really. Maybe you're overthinking it, senpai."
"Maybe. But I have a feeling—among this batch of newcomers, that Number 4 is definitely going to make big news in the future!"
That senior reporter seemed to think very highly of Kitasan Black's performance.
Satono Diamond fell silent for a moment, then looked in the direction Kitasan Black and Satono Crown had gone. She couldn't help following them.
She still couldn't understand why Kitakami-san attracted so much attention.
But if this many people thought highly of her, then there must be something about her that she herself couldn't see.
She wanted to figure out this mystery—why, when she was the one who won the race, was everyone more interested in Kitakami-san?
This wasn't how races were supposed to work.
The current situation gave her the strange illusion that she wasn't actually the winner.
Father wasn't happy because she won the race—he was happy because she beat Kitakami-san.
The visiting reporters cared more about Kitakami-san who only placed sixth.
Why? Just because Kitakami-san was leading for most of the race?
No, that couldn't be all. There had to be something she was missing.
Why was Crown so focused on Kitakami-san? She wanted to find that reason.
Kitasan Black and Satono Crown walked into a small grove. Seeing no one around, Kitasan Black stopped.
"This should be fine. So, what did you want to talk about?"
She was actually a bit curious what this young lady wanted with her.
After all, their relationship couldn't even be called friendship. They really weren't close.
Looking at Kitasan Black's "hurry up and say what you want to say" expression, Satono Crown couldn't help taking a deep breath.
She's this nervous? Kitasan Black watched Satono Crown with confusion. What is this about?
After composing herself, Satono Crown asked seriously, "Kitakami-san, you held back in that race just now, didn't you?"
Satono Diamond, who had just caught up and was hiding nearby, heard this. Her breath caught in her throat.
Kitakami-san held back in the race?
Something like that...
Satono Diamond's eyes were trembling.
"..."
Kitasan Black's heart nearly stopped.
But she quickly recovered, realizing that Satono Crown didn't seem entirely certain about this.
"Why would you think that?"
She forced herself to appear calm.
Was I found out?
It's fine—she shouldn't have any solid evidence!
But where did I slip up?
Kitasan Black needed to find the answer from Satono Crown so she'd never make the same mistake again.
Satono Crown remembered Kitasan Black's expression in those final moments of the race. After a pause, she said, "Intuition."
That moment, Kitakami-san's eyes had seemed off somehow. But Kitakami-san rarely showed emotional fluctuation normally, so this alone wasn't evidence. Yet seeing that same composure during a race... she could only say something felt wrong.
Kitakami-san didn't take this race seriously—that was the feeling Satono Crown had.
"Well, I'm flattered you think so highly of me," Kitasan Black said evenly. "But that was my full effort."
(Don't panic. Just act indifferent like always and get through this.)
Kitasan Black now knew that Satono Crown had no evidence.
After all, given Crown-ojousama's personality, if she'd actually found proof of sandbagging, she would have confronted her directly and openly.
(Still, intuition is troublesome. There's no counter for that.)
Her response was flawless, but Satono Crown still looked unconvinced.
"No!"
"..."
Young lady, you're the one who's being unreasonable here.
No evidence, just intuition to suspect someone—you're the one with the problem.
Kitasan Black hadn't expected that even after saying all that, Crown-ojousama would keep pressing.
Elementary schoolers really were hard to deal with.
If she were facing the grown-up Crown-ojousama, that response would have been enough. The adult version, even if she still had doubts, wouldn't be so openly persistent like this. She'd investigate secretly instead. That would be scary too, but at least not as troublesome as dealing with the current version.
But no matter.
Once Kitasan Black confirmed Crown-ojousama had no real evidence, she knew she was in an unassailable position.
"I don't know why, but I feel like you're not telling the truth, Kitakami-san!"
"Is that so? Well, there's nothing I can do about that."
Kitasan Black put on a helpless expression.
"You want to say I'm being unreasonable, but—"
"Aren't you, though? Crown-san, you know my usual results. On what basis are you saying I wasn't trying? Don't you think that's rather rude to me?"
"Ugh."
Satono Crown was overwhelmed by Kitasan Black's sharp words.
"Come to think of it, you declared some kind of rivalry with me before the race started too. How strange—you, who always ranks first in practice, declaring war on me, the dead-last. What exactly do you see when you look at me? Could you please stop projecting your fantasies onto me?"
"I..."
Satono Crown was speechless.
She felt something was wrong with what Kitasan Black was saying, but couldn't find any way to refute it.
(Got her!)
Kitasan Black knew she'd won.
"What you just said wasn't only rude to me—it's rude to all the other competitors too. Are you saying they didn't earn their placements through their own ability?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"But if you truly believe I was holding back, then that's exactly what you're implying."
"That's wrong!"
"Nothing's wrong. Crown-san, the person you've been looking at was never the real me. Wake up."
Looking at Crown-ojousama, now shocked into silence, Kitasan Black felt a twinge of guilt. But at least she'd dealt with this situation.
Satono Crown's body and mind were both trembling.
Still just an elementary schooler, she obviously hadn't noticed that Kitasan Black had been using sophistry.
She'd been forced to think along the lines Kitasan Black laid out, naturally arriving at conclusions favorable to Kitasan Black.
Could it be...
(Was I really wrong?)
Satono Crown couldn't help doubting herself.
Kitasan Black watched her deeply shaken expression.
(Did I go too far?)
(No—this is the best outcome!)
Kitasan Black steeled her resolve without softening.
Hopefully, after this conversation, Crown-ojousama would give up on targeting her.
She really hadn't expected that, with Diamond-ojousama staying out of it, Crown-ojousama would suddenly step up as the boss encounter.
What she'd done was just putting things back on track.
After all, she was never supposed to have any connection with Crown-ojousama.
Having successfully led Satono Crown astray, she'd arrived at the conclusion that she herself was the one at fault.
"I'm sorry, Kitakami-san."
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"