Event Story – Cross Paths Again!!, ch.4

[kozvme]

Sage: Haah, haah...

Marion: Hey, your defense is getting weak! If this were the real deal, we’d both be in for some serious injuries!!

Sage: Uh, yeah...! Sorry... I'm still having a hard time continuing to use overflow...

Marion: ......

Sage: Kh...!? I- I'll do my best...!

Marion: Listen up, you definitely have the basic stamina and skills to handle overflow.
You just have to get comfortable with it. Treat the situation like it's just another day!

Sage: Understood...!

Marion: Alright... it's about time we take a break.

Sage: Huh- this is totally fine, though? I'm still super confident in my stamina.

Marion: I'm not worried about you. I wasn't planning on taking a break just yet either, but I'm getting distracted by outside noise.

Sage: Outside...?



Brad: It seems I may have interrupted you.

Sage: Ah, Brad-san!

Marion: ... Why did you come here? I'm pretty sure you don't have time for this kind of stuff.

Brad: Indeed. However, after listening to the details of the mission, I found myself somewhat concerned about how things were going.

Sage: Oh, so you’re also worried about your old mentee? ♪

Marion: ......

Brad: ... That's not quite it, but I was also there at the Rookie camp at the time.

Marion: You're still not part of this, though? You haven't been involved in the collection at all.

Brad: I won't deny it.
But the main reason is that you neglected to report to us mentors and tried to make your own decisions about the collection.

Marion: What the…!? Why on earth are you talking about this now…!

Sage: Ma- Marion-kun...

Brad: Well, we also weren't fulfilling our responsibilities as supervisors back then.

Sage: ... Huh? When you say it like that, it definitely feels a bit out of the blue?

Brad: Sage?

Sage: Oh, sorry about that...! By the way, I just remembered that back then, you didn't scold or reprimand Marion, Brad-san. I wonder why that was.

Brad: I'm impressed by how well you remember that.

Sage: Well... that incident was really something that stuck with me...

Brad: Although I was Marion's mentor, it was Robin who was responsible for Marion in that particular grouping.

Sage: That's right. Marion and I were in Teacher's team!

Brad: Yes, that's why I decided it wasn't my place to speak up in that situation.

Marion: Hmph, then it's even more irrelevant now.

Sage: But it feels kind of nostalgic, doesn't it? Our Rookie camp ♪
Since we were divided into 3 teams, I missed out on spending time with Nico and the others, but I really enjoyed interacting with the other sectors.

Brad: Come to think of it, the 12th gen was organized into 3 teams, huh.

Sage: Oh? Is the 13th gen not the same?

Brad: No. The 13th gen trained in 2 teams, focusing on both short and long distances.
For the 12th gen, we had 3 teams: attack, defense, and support.

Sage: I remember. Marion-kun and I were in the defense-focused team B, and Teacher was our leader.

Brad: Yes.
I clearly recall how upset you were when you got assigned to team B.

Marion: ... Move on, forget about that.

Sage: Oh, that reminds me, why was Marion-kun in team B? I thought the criteria were based on what we excel at...

Brad: That's right. However, at that time, Marion was already excelling in attack, defense, and support, all in a well-balanced manner.

Marion: ......

Brad: For that reason, he was the only one we hadn't figured out how to handle until the very last moment during the mentor meetings.

(Was it then that he reached out to me—)

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