Baiye didn't believe Ningning had any way to beat her in a training contest.
Just how hopeless this squishy healer was, every single member of the Hero's Party knew perfectly well.
In a certain sense, Ningning, who could topple herself over with a single wave of her own hand, might well be even squishier than the Hero.
So Baiye had no intention whatsoever of taking a contest against Ningning seriously —
Or so she'd thought at first.
But after noticing the barely concealed excitement on Ningning's face, Baiye finally couldn't help narrowing her eyes and started to size up this White Mage who'd suddenly turned so abnormally sprightly.
She remembered it clearly: ordinarily Ningning carried herself in a timid, mousy, walking-on-eggshells sort of way.
Even in battle it was rare to see her make any big movements, let alone in everyday life.
Yet today, this White Mage, who normally didn't even want to budge, was like she'd been shot full of adrenaline, standing on the training ground doing warm-up exercises with grunts and huffs, springing up and down now and then, visibly, palpably thrilled.
What on earth was going on here?
Don't tell me Ningning was on something?
Unable to shake her misgivings, Baiye stopped in her tracks and stood there, staring blankly at this White Mage acting so entirely out of character.
This creature, was she really the Ningning she knew?
"What's wrong, Baiye? Why aren't you coming over for the contest?"
Baiye had been observing from where she stood for quite a while before Ningning noticed her strangeness.
So Ningning struck a One-Yang Finger pose and unleashed her invincible Lion's Roar:
"Come at me!"
Ah, yep, it was Ningning all right, Baiye thought.
Nobody else could possibly produce a gesture that surreal.
So she hesitated no longer, striding over to stand before Ningning, and raised a hand to point at the start-finish line beneath their feet:
"Since you handed me the decision, let's compete in endurance, then."
"Starting from here, five laps around the training ground. That work for you?"
Ningning immediately split into a grin, delighted as a rotten little brat who'd rigged a New Year firecracker with nine layers of booby traps and was about to successfully blow an outhouse sky-high:
"I said you call the shots, so you call the shots."
Seeing Ningning's cocky grin, the ominous premonition in Baiye's heart grew thicker and clearer by the moment —
This creature definitely had some wicked scheme brewing in her belly.
But a gentleman's word, once given, can't be chased down by a team of four horses.
Even if Ningning was pulling some petty trick, she absolutely would not be afraid.
So Baiye swept the stray thoughts from her mind and stepped up to the starting line.
"Leilei? Leilei! Stop training, come help start us off!"
Seeing Baiye ready, Ningning hollered at Leilei from a distance.
Leilei, who'd been forced by Baiye into a staring contest with the straw dummies, had long since noticed the commotion over here and had been dying to escape training and come watch the show.
So the cat-eared girl immediately scooped up her little blackboard and came trotting over to the two of them:
『How do I start you off?』
"Shout 'ready, go,' or just cough three times."
The moment she heard she had to speak, Leilei's cat ears, perked up in excitement a moment ago, instantly drooped:
『I'll just cough three times.』
Ningning nodded, then, with an air of total ease, folded both arms behind her head as a pillow, yawned, and took her place at the starting line:
"Baiye, I'm already going super easy on you. Don't go crying if you lose in a bit, okay?"
Her antics successfully infuriated Baiye, and just as successfully made Leilei break out in a cold sweat on her behalf:
『Ningning, being this cocky, aren't you afraid you'll get beaten up in a minute?』
But Ningning didn't see that line at all.
And even if she had, she wouldn't have taken it to heart.
Heh. Foolish otherworld humans, let me show you what a being that truly reigns at the pinnacle of this world looks like!
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Leilei really did cough three times in place of a starting pistol.
Before the last cough had even died away, Baiye shot off like an arrow loosed from the string.
While Ningning still stood leisurely in place.
"Mm-cough-cough-cough!"
Leilei ran over clutching her blackboard and poked Ningning in the side:
『Ningning! The race already started!』
But Ningning only reached out to lightly bat away Leilei's poke, watching Baiye's back with a look of total ease:
"No rush, no rush. Let me toy with her a bit."
『You're kind of asking for a beating, Ningning.』
Leilei couldn't shake the feeling that, at this rate, even if Ningning miraculously won, she'd probably never escape a thorough thrashing from Baiye.
"Mm, that's about enough."
"Can't let her get a whole lap ahead, or Baiye'll definitely just call off the race and lecture me without a second thought."
Watching Baiye, who'd already run more than half a lap, Ningning spread her hands helplessly.
Then, with a single flicker, she vanished from before Leilei's eyes.
The gale kicked up by the White Mage's launch even blew the little blackboard right out of Leilei's arms.
The cat-eared girl stared dumbstruck, watching Ningning circle a full lap at several times Baiye's speed and catch up to her in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the training ground.
Baiye, having run barely half a lap, had already noticed that Ningning hadn't budged an inch from the starting line.
But before she even had time to get angry, Ningning's head appeared like a phantom at her right hand:
"Oh-ho, Captain, so you're no good at this either?"
"!!!"
Baiye startled so hard she stumbled.
She'd thought she was about to fall, when she suddenly felt an immense force at her shoulder, Ningning gripping her clothes and steadying her upright:
"Whoa there, careful now."
Though the puzzlement in her heart remained as strong as ever, in this moment a sliver of gratitude also welled up in Baiye's chest —
"Wouldn't want you saying later that I made you trip, and that's why you lost."
Another line out of Ningning's mouth, and that little sliver of gratitude in Baiye's heart vanished in an instant.
Ningning!
You'll die if you go one second without being insufferable, won't you?!
"How did you catch up?"
Baiye once again shut out the stray thoughts and, cold-faced, interrogated the White Mage who'd been keeping pace right beside her.
"Just ran normally, and caught up. That's all."
"Impossible!"
Hearing this absurd claim, Baiye immediately pronounced judgment.
"How is it impossible? Try running at full speed and see."
Fine, you're on!
Baiye couldn't hold back in the end, goaded by Ningning's smug little face, and began to accelerate.
But the eerie thing was, no matter how Baiye sped up, even giving it everything she had, Ningning stayed steadily right at her side the whole time, poking her head over now and then to leer at her with a punchable grin.
That punchable expression seemed to say:
"Oh? Captain Baiye, so you're no good either?"
"Turns out you're just a trash fish too."
No.
Baiye glared viciously at Ningning.
This creature had actually said the taunt out loud!
"Trash fish, heh heh, big ol' trash fish." Ningning clapped her hands, "praising" Baiye.
By the last two laps, once Baiye's stamina flagged and she slowed down, Ningning even started running circles around her.
And made not the slightest effort to hide how utterly effortless it was for her.
She even kept cupping a hand over her mouth to keep snidely calling her "trash fish, trash fish."
Baiye's breathing was thrown into complete disarray by the ordeal.
Not because her stamina was spent — though she really was exhausted — but out of pure fury.
Her lungs were about to burst with rage.
This was more than any human could bear!
The bullying had gone too far!
Baiye watched, helpless, as Ningning's punchable grinning face bobbed to and fro before her, her ears flooded with the demonic chant of "trash fish~ Captain Trash-fish~," yet she was as powerless as a useless husband.
Her legs felt like they'd been filled with lead; she couldn't muster the strength anywhere in her body to so much as raise a hand and give this creature a single cut.
"Fii-nal, laa-aap—"
Ningning dragged out the words like a smug little bird showing off that it had finally learned to fly, and with a burst of speed breezed effortlessly ahead of Baiye.
Then she turned around, running backward to face Baiye while forming a giant heart shape over her head with both hands:
"Captain Baiye, you can do it! I'm rooting for you!"
"Ningning! You, just, you wait—!"