A Marathon of Emotion

An unusual silence fell over the office after Anjing Zhen finished speaking.

For a moment, neither Tokai Teio nor Mejiro McQueen said anything.

They merely widened their eyes slightly as they looked at the Trainer before them, whose expression remained calm.

There had been no ornate language or impassioned emotion in what he had just said.

Yet his plain, matter-of-fact words were like an exquisitely detailed painting, meticulously sketching out every little part of Kitasan Black's daily life—every smile and frown.

It went far beyond simply knowing what candy she liked or what songs she hummed when she was happy.

It was a deeper understanding, one steeped in the long years they had spent together. He had silently taken note of all the girl's habits, efforts, vulnerabilities, and flashes of brilliance, engraving them in his heart with care.

That quiet yet weighty understanding was more moving than any straightforward praise, leaving even the two well-traveled student council officers truly astonished.

In that brief silence, Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen almost instinctively cast an exceedingly brief, furtive glance at the display cabinet resting at an angle.

For some reason, their hearts skipped a beat, and a powerful thought involuntarily surfaced in their minds:

What kind of reaction would that girl hiding behind it have after hearing the Trainer's words—words that were practically another form of confession? Her cheeks must be burning red, right? Would she cover her mouth in surprise? Or was she already panicking, completely at a loss?

Meanwhile, behind the display cabinet.

Kitasan Black stood with her back against the wall, staring at the heavy cabinet panel before her without moving at all.

The embarrassment and panic she had expected did not wash over her like a tsunami.

Instead, as Anjing Zhen calmly and thoroughly described her, she discovered