Chapter 594

"Thank you, but no need."

Shanshan Hideki suppressed his excitement, walked forward, and said very sincerely:

"Natsume-kun, your strength far exceeds my expectations. With you here, our results in this tournament are definitely worth looking forward to!"

"In the coming time, if you have any training needs, or any difficulties in life, please feel free to bring them up. As long as it helps you maintain your condition and lead the team to a good ranking, we will do our best to assist."

Natsume Chikage didn't want to take advantage of this to make requests and shook his head:

"Thank you, Captain, but there's no need for special treatment."

"It's just that, as you know, I need to work, and there are quite a few trivial matters in life, so I might not be able to guarantee coming to club training every day... I hope the Captain and seniors can understand."

If it were before, Shanshan Hideki would definitely have required him to train for at least an hour or two every day.

But after witnessing Natsume Chikage's strength with his own eyes, he completely changed his mind.

"I see your physical fitness and coordination are very good; have you been exercising consistently lately?"

Natsume Chikage nodded:

"Yes, I have a habit of morning exercise every day."

Hearing this, Shanshan Hideki breathed a heavy sigh of relief and readily agreed:

"Then that's no problem! I agree."

"With your current strength, plus maintaining your condition through daily self-exercise, there's indeed no need to be constrained to coming to the club every day."

"Just come by and train with everyone when it's convenient according to your own schedule."

Natsume Chikage thanked him:

"Thank you for understanding."

After speaking, he walked toward Konoe Hitomi, who had been sitting on the sidelines.

"Hitomi, I'm finished here, we can go."

"Mm."

Konoe Hitomi responded calmly; she seemed completely unsurprised by the one-sided four matches just now.

She looked down at the water in the cup lid in her hand—it was still scalding hot, not suitable for drinking.

She was silent for a moment, seemingly feeling that the waiting time was much shorter than she had anticipated.

She didn't wait any longer, just silently poured the water back into the thermos, tightened the lid, put it into her school bag, and then stood up.

"Let's go."

Natsume Chikage noticed her small actions but didn't say anything, just nodded.

"Mm."

The two left the club building and walked on campus.

"Are you planning to return to the Collection Force next?" Konoe Hitomi asked.

"Mm, they said they're going to play board games later and asked me to come over," Natsume Chikage replied.

"... I see," Konoe Hitomi's voice betrayed no emotion.

Passing by a vending machine, Natsume Chikage stopped and took out coins to buy two bottles of mineral water.

He handed one of the bottles to Konoe Hitomi.

"For you."

Konoe Hitomi looked at the bottle handed to her, paused, and didn't take it immediately.

She raised her eyes, looked at Natsume Chikage, and asked softly:

"Why give it to me?"

Natsume Chikage thought for a moment and explained:

"You helped me tidy up my Kendo uniform just now. Consider it... a return gift."

"... I see. That reason is quite reasonable."

Konoe Hitomi blinked, and in her eyes, which always lacked emotion, a very faint smile flashed once again.

And so—she reached out and took the bottle of water.