At seven in the morning, when Lu Mingfei arrived at the training grounds, students in combat uniforms of every color were already lined up by unit. The flags of the Student Union and the Lionheart Society snapped in the morning breeze.
On the Student Union side, Caesar Gattuso stood at the head of the formation, his blond hair gleaming like molten gold in the morning light. Nono was beside him. Today, she wore the referees' black trench coat, with a red referee badge pinned to her chest and her long hair tied in a high ponytail. She was confirming something with Professor Manstein.
On the Lionheart Society side, Chu Zihang stood in the middle of the formation, the Murasame in his hand polished to a brilliant shine. His deputy, Susie, stood beside him, checking an equipment list with her head lowered. Lancelot, Qilan, Pazzi-Lu Mingfei had heard all those names before, and now he could finally put faces to them.
Oh, and Fingel was lecturing the paparazzi in the distance, looking even more imposing than Caesar or Chu Zihang. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was in overall command of the drill.
Professor Schneider stood on a raised platform, while Professor Guderian excitedly rubbed his hands beside him. The moment he saw Lu Mingfei arrive, he jogged over.
"Mingfei, you're here!" Guderian said warmly. "I have good news! Your 3E results are out. You're a bona fide S-Rank!"
"Guderian," Manstein's voice came from beside them, "let our S-Rank observe on his own. Come with me to the observation team."
Guderian wanted to say more, but a look from Manstein stopped him. Lu Mingfei noticed a subtle satisfaction in the way Manstein looked at him. It was probably because this drill had finally avoided major property damage, and he, the S-Rank, hadn't caused any trouble either.
"S-Rank." Professor Schneider came down from the platform. "Observe all you like, but don't interfere."
With that, he left. Lu Mingfei could feel how complicated Schneider's attitude toward him was. He didn't fully trust him, yet he had to acknowledge the strength Lu Mingfei had shown during the Day of Freedom.
The warm-ups began. Students started jogging and stretching, with shouted commands rising one after another.
Next came training to withstand heavy pressure loads, designed to counter the powers of the King of Earth and Mountains. The students dragged weighted straps along the track, struggling forward as sweat quickly soaked their combat uniforms.
Chu Zihang's pace was noticeably faster than everyone else's, his cadence as steady as a metronome. Caesar moved just as efficiently, but his style was completely different, every movement carrying an elegant ease.
After finishing the full course, Caesar walked over to Lu Mingfei.
"Lu Mingfei."
Lu Mingfei nodded. "Senior Gattuso."
"I've done some reflecting on the Day of Freedom," Caesar began. "Chu Zihang and I used to focus on pushing our individual abilities further. Without meaning to, we created a rivalry between the Student Union and the Lionheart Society. In a real crisis, that's meaningless."
"That move of yours may have cost me a lot of face, but it did prove a point: once the gap between individuals becomes large enough, even the most refined personal skills become meaningless."
Lu Mingfei nodded. For Caesar to say that, with his ability to organize and put plans into action, Lu Mingfei genuinely thought he knew what he was doing.
"So Chu Zihang and I have made some adjustments lately." The corner of Caesar's mouth lifted, with the pride of someone who had done something impressive but was too modest to say so outright.
"Both clubs began putting their houses in order last month. We removed a batch of members who were only padding their résumés, added high-intensity coordination exercises, and reduced the proportion of training hours spent on one-on-one sparring."
"Chu Zihang and I also planned this drill together. You missed the first stage: basic fitness screening."
He took a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it over. It was densely covered with schedules and training diagrams, the modules marked in different colors and handwritten notes alongside them.
They were now in the third stage, coordination training, which lasted three days. Yesterday had been D-3, basic coordination; today was D-2, tactical coordination; tomorrow would be D-1, a full-spectrum simulation.
Then came the fourth stage, D-0: the actual drill.
"Impressive." Lu Mingfei folded the paper and handed it back. "That willingness to correct your own mistakes is genuinely impressive."
"Well..." Caesar hesitated slightly. "I've heard there have been some rumors around campus lately. You know, in an enclosed environment like this, information always spreads... Not that spreading quickly is a bad thing, but sometimes its accuracy..."
He gave up beating around the bush. "What I mean is, what's going on between you and Zero?"
Lu Mingfei sighed in distress. "Senior Gattuso, don't even ask. I can't figure it out myself."
"You can't figure it out?" Caesar wondered whether his Chinese was worse than he'd thought.
"Seriously." Lu Mingfei scratched his head. "I didn't do anything, and she just came right up to me. She fed me cookies, even shoved them into my mouth. I couldn't refuse. What do you think she wants from me?"
"...She shoved a mouthful of cookies into your mouth?" Caesar repeated.
"Yeah, pork-floss cookies. She made them herself. Then she made me eat all of them, handed me milk, and wiped the corner of my mouth." As Lu Mingfei recalled the scene, embarrassment gave him goosebumps, and he couldn't help rubbing his arms. "She was really bossy, like a mother hen."
Caesar looked thoughtful.
"Senior?"
"Just call me Caesar." Caesar's voice had grown a little dry. "I just think that pattern of behavior is rather unusual."
"Right!" Lu Mingfei had found someone who understood. "That's why I said I don't get it!"
"Well, what are you two grown men whispering about over here?" Nono walked over, tilting her head as she looked at them.
Caesar instantly regained his elegant composure, a confident smile curling his lips. "Men's business."
"Then you're definitely talking about women," Nono said mercilessly.
Caesar didn't mind. He smoothly suggested, "Want to train together? We can test how well we work as a team."
"No thanks. Referees don't need to go out there and eat dirt. I'll just watch the show." Nono waved him off.
"Fair enough." Caesar glanced at Lu Mingfei, then turned and left.
Nono plopped down on the crate beside Lu Mingfei and crossed her legs.
"Come on, tell me. How did you and Zero get together?"
"..."
Lu Mingfei slowly turned his head to look at Nono.
"Could you all set a time and come ask me together?"
Lu Mingfei sighed and repeated everything he had just told Caesar-the library, the cookies, the milk, the wiping of his mouth.
In the distance, the Medical Team Zero belonged to was conducting a casualty-treatment exercise. A simulated casualty lay behind an obstacle. Zero dropped to one knee, deftly checked the wound, and bandaged it. Then, before her partner could react, she had already hoisted the simulated casualty onto her shoulder like a sack and was running toward the safe zone.
"That medic..." A nearby student stared in amazement. "How is she stronger than the Assault Team?"
Nono tipped her chin in the direction Caesar had gone. "Do you know why Caesar was upset just now?"
"Upset?" Lu Mingfei blinked. "He seemed pretty down-to-earth to me."
Nono was speechless. "You've been shaking Caesar's confidence lately."
"Because I blasted him away on the Day of Freedom?"
"Not because of the Day of Freedom."
"Then what?"
"The progress you've made with Zero."
Now Lu Mingfei was completely lost.
"...Wait, why would my relationship with Zero shake his confidence? Does he have a thing for her? But isn't he with you, Senior..."
Nono took a deep breath, then rolled her eyes hard. It was a masterful eye roll, filled with the helpless frustration of someone wondering how he could possibly be this stupid.
"Can you make your brain work normally for once? At first, there were those rumors about you and me. Caesar didn't care at all. He figured I just wanted to go out and have some fun."
"But then things changed. A beautiful girl on Zero's level-and I don't mean her looks. I mean her status, her bloodline, that mysterious air of hers. She's throwing herself at you, and on top of that, the other girls at the college have started paying attention to you too..."
"Caesar has started to think you might have a special appeal to Zero, and to girls who are particularly unpredictable and unusual toward you."
"What does that mean?"
"As the heir to the Gattuso family, Caesar has always believed in conquest and a leader's charisma. But the 'ability to be conquered' you've shown has hit his blind spot."
Lu Mingfei froze, his mind beginning to replay his conversation with Caesar.
Caesar hadn't been asking about Zero. He had been asking what little dating tricks Lu Mingfei knew that he didn't.
And what had Lu Mingfei done? He had very sincerely described how Zero had come up to him on her own, how she had bossily fed him cookies, how she had wiped the corner of his mouth...
That was the same as telling Caesar: I don't know. Girls just come up to me like that.
"Fuck," Lu Mingfei said.
At the sight of his expression, as though he'd seen a ghost, Nono shook with laughter. That trouble-loving streak of hers made Lu Mingfei's unease rise again.
"Nono," he hesitated, "what about you?"
"Hmm?"
"Why do you care so much about me too? From the Regent Hotel to Hakone, and now here, you've done all this because..."
He didn't know how to finish the question.
Nono stopped laughing and looked at him.
"Because, Lu Mingfei," she said,
"You have a special appeal to me-"
Seeing his horrified expression, Nono laughed again. This time, once she finished laughing, she stood and headed toward the referees' stand.
"I'm heading to the referees' stand." She glanced back at Lu Mingfei. "Don't overthink it. The appeal I'm talking about isn't what you're imagining."
"Then what kind is it?" Lu Mingfei pressed.
Nono didn't answer. The hem of her trench coat fluttered gently as she walked along the path.