That was genuinely cold.

Then again, it was also very Ricardo-like.

Thinking about it, it really didn’t seem like the kind of thing he would throw himself into with passion.

I understood, but it still would have been fun if we could enjoy it together....

Moping a little, I muttered,

“It’s always fun once it actually starts.”

“Then do your best~. I’ll cheer for you at least....”

“Is this only for selected participants? I heard it was mandatory attendance for everyone except employees physically unable to join....”

Still grumbling, I opened the Black Badger employee app.

A popup appeared.

“Black Badger 32nd Sports Festival!”

In one corner was what looked like Martin, and in front of him were two adorable badgers drawn large, one holding a volleyball and the other a water bottle.

Smiling, I tapped the popup.

[You are on Team X.]

“Oh.”

I said it out loud.

“I’m on Team X.”

Instead of answering, Ricardo kept eating his pasta.

Not minding the lack of response, I checked the team members.

[TEAM X (Team Name TBD)]

-Jason Trevain

Ghk.

-Chen Koenig

-Giacomo Ro

-John Mühlen

What?

“Senior Mühlen is participating too?”

“They always say they’ll exempt him if he states he won’t participate, but every single time he never expresses an opinion....”

I’m pretty sure he just forgets that expressing an opinion is even required.

I stared at the genius scientist’s name on the list.

He looks like the type who won’t even realize the sports festival is happening until the day before.

“It’s basically a physical fitness test....”

“Ah.”

So Ro probably drags him there.

“So he just gets swept along.”

This too was probably one of Yehyeon’s many stress factors.

John Mühlen was precious talent to Center Core, yet he had virtually zero self-preservation instinct, which often made him a constant concern for leadership.

Smiling faintly, I continued down the list.

-Peter Dream

-George Stone

-Yoshika Shastel

.

.

.

Under the “specialized staff” category, the names continued in a long row.

Since I mostly skimmed for familiar people, it didn’t take long to read the list once.

Then I despaired.

“Rick!”

“Why....”

“We’re on different teams!”

If I tapped the Y tab, I could read the names assigned to the opposing team.

Ricardo’s name was there.

I had no choice but to accept the tragic reality.

“I’m not even on the same team as Yun or Ami.... No, why did they split me away like this?”

“Who’s on your team~?”

I read off the familiar names.

Jason Trevain, Chen Koenig, Gregory / Samjin, Giacomo Ro, Carl Dow, Shu Diamond, Bobby Winter, Ruta Ayer, William Walker, Luke Lyle, Leeho Chang, Nana Dol, Jack Black....

The opposing team had Choi Yun, Ricardo Sordi, Choi Ami, Tom Husson, Sophia Kalak, Asil Fiscer, Jonathan Kudo, Hesh Lyle, Sylvia Kip....

“Aren’t Yehyeon and Ska participating?”

As I kept reading, the question naturally came out.

Ricardo set down his glass of water.

“Who’d enjoy seeing top leadership participate~.”

Fair point.

“They probably don’t want to join either....”

Judging from Yehyeon’s expression, that definitely seemed true.

As for Ska Owen and Aide Gilbert, they’d probably rather get ten more minutes of sleep than join a sports festival.

And Ju was already explicitly listed as an emcee, so attending as a competitor had been impossible from the start.

Still, it was disappointing.

I kind of wanted to do the sports festival with Yehyeon.

Not ending up on the same team as Ricardo was honestly disappointing too.

“Rick, are you really not going to run?”

Even as I replied to Shu’s delighted message saying she was happy we were on the same team, I kept grumbling.

“Isn’t it too much to just refuse because you’ve got seniority?”

“Don’t pout~. Even if I don’t want to, Ami will probably shove me into participating anyway....”

“Ah! That’s true!”

I brightened immediately.

It was a relief Ricardo and Ami were on the same team.

When I smiled brightly, Ricardo lifted one brow like he found me absurd.

“I think you’re the one who might not be able to participate.... Can you recover in three weeks~?”

“I started walking faster already, didn’t I?”

Instead of answering, Ricardo silently looked at my cane.

Of all times, it had to happen yesterday.

The memory of last night surfaced, souring my mood.

The third Elder came back to mind.

That arrogant look in his eyes.

The kind of man whose creed was probably that the best defense is offense.

The kind who would really say any means were acceptable as long as he reached his goal.

I was trying to pull my foot out of all this quietly.

But can I really keep doing that?

If Ricardo’s house gets wrecked again, I’m not sure I can keep responding rationally either....

“There you go again.”

My senior lightly kicked my shin under the table.

“Ah! That hurts, Rick!”

“If that hurts, how are you planning to survive the sports festival?”

Ricardo leaned back in his chair.

“You’ve never done matches with the other Badgers before, have you?”

“No, but even I know people get overheated.”

Then how do the general staff and science staff participate in a situation like this?

When I asked, the green-eyed senior answered easily.

Apparently the scientists usually participate by proxy through their inventions.

Sometimes they also help with quiz events during races.

The general staff could help with quiz sections too, and some participated in E-sports.

But on sports festival day, it was basically treated as a legitimate day off for them.

They simply got to stop working for the day and watch the festival like a sporting event.

“Betting on wins and losses is prohibited in principle.... But I don’t think they’ve ever once cracked down on people making little side bets among themselves~.”

Traditionally, the team name was decided by team vote.

And by tradition, the names were usually animals.

The names that came up often were species that sounded strong, like albatrosses, eagles, or wolves.

Apparently fierce internal debates always broke out over who got the cooler name....

“But the events aren’t listed.”

“They usually announce those around two weeks before....”

“Oh, I see. What kinds of events are there usually?”

“That changes every time~....”

The one thing that never disappeared was the relay race.

Tug-of-war and dodgeball were also staples.

The relay was usually straightforward baton passing, while obstacle races with quizzes and assorted challenges were apparently always included too.

He said there probably hadn’t been a single year without three-legged races either....

As for shooting, everyone was simply too good, so at some point it had been removed.

“We used to have archery too, but after an unfortunate incident, it was permanently abolished....”

“Huh?”

There was an accident during archery?

“Wait, did someone get hit?”

“Not a person....”

“Hm? Then an animal got hit?”

“The horse of the then Supreme Commander....”

Good grief.

So this was a story from the Frozen Period.

“They held sports festivals even during the Frozen Period?”

“That guy liked showing off with things like that.... He rambled through the opening speech for over an hour~.”

“So someone hit it on purpose.”

I didn’t even need to see it to know.

Ricardo answered with only a small snort of laughter.

I let out a hollow laugh.

It wasn’t surprising.

What I was curious about was who had to clean up the aftermath.

I didn’t know the infamous former Supreme Commander in detail, but there was no way someone like him drove cheap cars.

They probably called it an accident, sure, but I couldn’t imagine the commander at the time letting it slide that easily.

I wanted to hear more, but our conversation ended there.

Because Ami contacted us.

Exactly as she’d written in the messenger, she arrived five minutes later.

“Rick! We’re on the same team!”

Ami had already checked the sports festival teams.

The moment she stepped out of the blue car, she jumped up in excitement.

“Last time we were on different teams, so this is awesome!”

The excited senior spotted me slowly walking out from behind Ricardo.

Her brows drooped instantly.

“Hilde’s on a different team....”

“Ami.”

I greeted her sadly too, stepping one foot outside the front door.

“We got split up....”

“But can you even participate in the sports festival, Hilde?”

Tilting her head, she looked me over.

“Mr. Yoow said you still need more rest.”

“Yoow?”

The one who reacted was Ricardo.

His voice turned displeased.

“You ran into that guy?”

“Ah. I’ve been going to escape rooms with Mr. Yoow lately!”

Ricardo’s movements stopped cold.

I turned to check his expression.

He was standing frozen halfway to the front door, staring blankly at our little senior as she casually admired the yard.

The frown that had appeared the moment Yoow’s name came up seemed to smooth out at Ami’s absurd answer.

Of course, he had already grasped the situation instantly.

“I suddenly kind of feel sorry for that man now~....”

Covering his mouth with one hand, Ricardo muttered quietly enough that only I could hear.

“Was that because you nagged him into it?”

“He can’t bring himself to reject Ami’s requests because of his own karma.”

I whispered back.

I whispered back.

“Ami really likes hanging out with Yoow. She says his black jokes are hilarious.”

“Choi Yun’s biological little sister, huh....”

“And Yoow is about to go listen to Tom’s original song next.”

Ricardo lowered his head and quietly started laughing.

Meanwhile, Ami finished looking around and came up to the front door.

Her round black eyes looked straight at me.

“How’s your heart, Hilde?”

I smiled as I looked down at the senior who had taken both my hands in hers.

“It’s gotten a lot better.”

“Really don’t push yourself, Hilde.”

Ami said softly.

“My rehab took a really long time too.”

“I really haven’t been doing anything lately. Even today I slept until lunchtime.”

“I’m worried.”

The ends of her brows still drooped downward.

“People get super worked up about this stuff. Rick’s the problem because he doesn’t get worked up enough.”

“They’ve all got way too much energy~.”

“Just do only the really simple events.”

Ami gently squeezed both my hands and suggested it.

“Something that won’t be too hard on your body. Besides, you’re staying a Black Badger from now on anyway, right? The sports festival happens again next time too.”

That was true.

Honestly, if my condition didn’t improve fast enough, I had no intention of forcing myself into the sports festival either.

I didn’t want to drag the team’s score down.

And Ami was right that there would be another chance.

I was planning to keep trying to live on.

No one was chasing me, yet there were still things I had to do.

Life was strange.

Even after living this long, the things that needed doing never truly disappeared.

I still had debts to repay to Yun and Yehyeon, and I still had to contact the Ice Dragon and take those photos....

More than that, I still couldn’t be sure whether my connection to Kyle had been completely severed.

What if it’s still there?

Of course I knew the possibility was vanishingly small, but every now and then when my heart ached, I still muttered to Kyle alone.

Is this hurting because you’re overdoing things over there too?

What exactly are you doing in that new place?

I grumbled like that to nobody.

And I knew people would call it insanity, but sometimes I really thought I could faintly feel Kyle’s presence.

Not like a sixth sense.

Something else.

Something blurry, close by, just for a short time....

Good grief.

I didn’t even say it out loud, and I already sound insane.

I absolutely can’t let anyone notice I think things like this.

I looked ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) down at the top of Ami’s head and thought that.

I’m already making the people around me worry enough as it is....

While I was thinking that, I heard Ami muttering something almost like she was talking to herself.

Her eyes were lowered to the front step.

“It’s a relief Hilde’s still recovering. If you were completely healthy, we’d definitely lose no matter what.”

“Ami!”

No!

How could she say something like that?!

I was horrified.

“That’s terrible!”

“Sorry!”

Ami shouted.

“But you’re too good, Hilde! If you were healthy, I’d have zero confidence in beating you!”

“So that’s why you were telling me not to participate?!”

My light and salt!

As I stared at her in disbelief, Ricardo burst out laughing.

His bright laughter echoed through the entrance.

But I didn’t have the bandwidth to turn and look at him.

“Betrayal!”

“No! I’m sorry! But still!”

“So that’s why you were against it....”

I muttered in a dejected voice, and it seemed to prick her conscience.

Ami cautiously watched my expression before speaking carefully.

“Hilde.... You know I’m seriously really hoping for your full recovery, right...?”

“Doesn’t sound like it....”

“I really am!”

Still holding both my hands tightly, Ami bounced in place.

“I mean it! I just only hope you’re not too good during the sports festival! Other than that one day, I want you perfectly healthy all the time! I want you feeling great every single day!”

“On sports festival day?”

“...Would it really be so bad if your condition was just a little off that one day?”

“Is everyone normally this serious about the sports festival?”

I asked Ricardo in a tired voice.

At that, my senior, who had been trembling with laughter while looking down, lifted his head.

His green eyes curved with amusement.

“Far more than you’re imagining....”

...I’m suddenly starting to feel sorry for the leadership, Yehyeon included.

Thinking that, I stood there glumly watching Ami continue her passionate defense.

Not because I was truly hurt.

Honestly, I just found her reaction hilarious.

Though somewhere in the back of my mind, I was also afraid to imagine just how intense the other seniors must get if Ami was already like this.

***

Not long after that, I got a call from Jason Trevain.

[Senior Jason Trevain]

“What.”

The moment I saw the name on my phone, I froze.

“Why is he calling me?”