Hina Likes

Feeling abandoned, Smoker could only eat a little something outside by himself.

After training, Wude and Hina both lay down on their dorm beds and fell fast asleep.

The night passed without incident.

The next day.

Marine Academy dorms.

Wude and Smoker walked toward the cafeteria together, and passing by the female recruit dorm area, they spotted Hina chatting with female cadets.

There were some female recruits at the Marine Academy, but their numbers were far smaller in comparison.

"Let's go, grab a bite together," Smoker greeted Hina.

"You guys got up so early," a blue-haired female cadet beside Hina smiled and said.

"Really? Aren't you guys the same?" Smoker looked at the female cadet eyeing him in confusion. Why did this person love talking nonsense?

The blue-haired female cadet offered a polite and awkward smile, not wanting to converse with this guy anymore.

"Where is Kuroh? Where did you hide it?" Hina circled around Wude, poking him everywhere and even pinching his body a couple of times.

Wude wore a dark expression. Coming to find the IBM on his body was a bit outrageous, wasn't it?

"Let's talk about it after we dismiss today." He swatted away Hina's hands wandering all over his body, suspecting she was making up excuses to stir up trouble on purpose.

"I'm wondering how you release it. Where do you hide it? What does it actually look like?" Hina observed and studied him with a deadpan expression.

"I heard the first day of training will be very strict, the instructors will give us a harsh initial display of authority, and we'll be returning very late," a passing cadet said nearby.

"So what?" Wude and Hina looked at each other.

Wasn't strict training a matter of course?

"The training volume will be huge, you'd better mentally prepare yourselves," that cadet said nervously.

Hina glanced at Wude, thinking to herself, What kind of training could possibly have a larger training volume than this freak's?

After breakfast, Wude and the others hurried to the Marine Academy.

People gathered at the training grounds, standing in neat square formations.

"That Vice Admiral won't really not show up, will he?" Hina stood behind him and said in a low voice.

"No doubt about it," Wude nodded and said.

Borsalino's formation waited for a while, and the other Vice Admirals had already come over to speak to the other three formations before the instructors on their side finally arrived.

The instructors, who had deeply inherited Kizaru's style, briefly said a couple of things, assigned their tasks, and entered slacking mode.

"Attention everyone, follow your instructors to your respective areas!"

The one hundred people in Wude and Hina's group followed an unfamiliar instructor to their zone.

"Attention everyone, space yourselves out front and back, start with 500 push-ups!" the scar-faced instructor waved his hand and shouted.

Some new recruits wailed, while those who had previously been branch elites breathed sighs of relief, their emotions varying.

To Marines who had long trained at Marine Headquarters, 500 push-ups were simply a piece of cake.

Wude felt nothing, and once the spacing between the formation was adjusted, he began doing push-ups.

"A bit difficult." Hina looked at Wude, who was doing them easily beside her, and began working hard to finish the 500 push-ups.

The cadets began their workouts, while in another direction of the vast training grounds, an explosive roar rang out.

"Get some spirit into the lot of you--!

1,000 push-ups each, there'll be other events after that, and if you group of waste don't finish them, don't even think about ending today's practice!"

An officer under Sakazuki roared loudly, making the cadets under his command extremely nervous.

Meanwhile, a deadpan Sakazuki sat in front of the crowd, straightened his Marine cap, and said in a deep voice: "Marine Headquarters is a place for elites, and the Marine Academy is all the more home to the strongest among future elites."

Watching the wailing and complaining cadets, he slammed a palm against a nearby rock, splitting the large boulder: "Waste don't need to stay here. Are you waste? Do you want to be eliminated!?"

"No, not..."

"No, don't want to..."

Some startled new recruits stammered.

"Say that again!" Sakazuki roared.

"We are not waste--!"

"We don't want to be eliminated--!"

The formation he led shouted in unison.

"Training begins!"

With Sakazuki's command, the various instructors successively led their people to begin training.

He cast his gaze toward the other side of the vast training ground, looking at a few good prospects, feeling it was somewhat a pity.

Watching this term's number one easily knocking out 500 push-ups, he couldn't help frowning.

"Borsalino still hasn't come?" Sakazuki asked the officer beside him.

"Hasn't come," that colonel replied, likewise watching that figure, feeling it was a bit of a waste of talent.

Relying on his unique death-defying physique, Wude had constantly been undergoing harsh training all along.

He finished 500 push-ups before anyone else in the slacking formation.

However, he didn't stop.

He simply turned around, smiling as he watched the sweating Hina behind him, and did them together with her.

"Y-You, are you making fun of Hina?" Hina panted as she struggled through her 380th push-up.

"No, in my hometown, this is a form of sparring partner encouragement," Wude said as he kept doing push-ups. "Don't talk, keep going!"

"Mn, you just shut up..." Hina didn't even raise her head. The young girl figured this was the "bad boy tricks for tricking girls" her dorm roommates talked about.

Her face slightly flushed, and when she struggled to reach number 450, she looked up and saw that guy Wude grinning mischievously, easily continuing with his over-quota training.

This guy was still wearing a very relaxed look as he smiled mischievously at her.

"Hmph~" Hina let out a soft huff, lowering her head to stop looking at the bad guy her roommate had spoken of.

Meanwhile, the slacking instructors of the slacking faction gathered together at this moment, discussing the recruits of this term.

They couldn't be bothered with someone turning around to tease a girl.

A bunch of slacking colonels even placed bets; one wave of people wagered: "How many push-ups this kid can do before stopping."

Another wave of people wagered: "How many days it will take this bad boy to pick up the female cadet."

For a bunch of single, grown men, discussing this was quite engaging.

Far away, Sakazuki frowned as he watched Wude. Even though this guy took the initiative to add extra volume, wasn't his starting point a bit too crooked...

Still, monster rookies always had some strange personalities, or so they ought to.

If he were my subordinate, I'd definitely teach him using the strictest methods-- Sakazuki thought to himself.

"Phew, I'm done." Hina stopped, though she was still trembling as she propped her body up on her arms, looking up at Wude. "What number are you on now?"

"So-so, number 750," Wude smiled lightly and continued to the next one.

"I..." Hina originally wanted to say I'm not bad either, I'll keep up.

Yet looking at this monster youth still wearing an easy expression, those words were forcibly swallowed back.

"I'll just do 100 more," Hina added to her own quota.

"Then I'll continue."

"You... Hina will try her best to follow you, thanks for accompanying me to train."

She stammered those words, a confident girl who, after taking a blow, felt a bit touched as well.

A friend like this... Hina liked.