Negotiation
"Over here, over here!"
A tall, well-tanned high school girl calls out to her friends.
Almost immediately, a group of high school girls with a similar vibe to the first one appear. They enter the batting center and head straight for the petite girl.
(Hmm, this might be bad...)
Even for a girl with such amazing athletic prowess that she can hit back-to-back home runs, being surrounded by people taller and older than her might make her freeze up. Thinking this, Otchan started to rise from his seat.
"Ah, are you all from the same school as Ruri-chan...?"
"""Yes! Thank you so much for the other time!"""
However, the tanned high school girls surrounding Kateshina Ruu thanked her in loud voices and even performed a perfect 90-degree bow, so the middle-aged man's chance to intervene was completely gone.
"Ah, um... You're welcome?"But Ruu herself had never really spoken to these girls before and barely knew them.
She might have seen them around, probably because they were guarding the school gate, but that was about it. So, her main feeling was more about being sorry for having to take so many evacuees with her during the second wave of the Dungeon Stampede.
"So, um, today we came because we have a sort of consultation, or a request..."
"A request...?"
Five high school girls stood in a line, and the one who was a head taller than the others spoke as their representative, making Ruu tilt her head in confusion.
(I wonder what it is? I'd understand if it was a request for Machi-chan or Shizuka-chan. But why me, the least reliable one? What could they possibly want?)
(Ho～me Ru～n?)
"...Um! We really, really want to become Fairy Knights!"
"But! Machi-oneesama seems so busy, and we can't really get any guidance from her..."
"And also, Toga-san's training is, well, how should I put it, like military training... It's, um, a bit, not quite what we're looking for, we think..."
The girl who seemed to be the leader started talking but seemed to struggle to continue. Perhaps growing impatient, the other girls started talking all at once, as if a dam had broken.
(Ah... I see, Machi-chan. And Ruri-chan too...)
Ruu had also heard about the Fairy Knights. And she knew that Ruri-chan was having a hard time training the kids who had acquired their statuses in the dungeon.
So, the coach had devised a plan; he had mysteriously summoned the Pixie Queen in front of those kids. He said he used that surprise and excitement as a kindling agent to get them to focus on their training.
But now, the girls standing before Ruu seemed to be those on whom the medicine had worked a little too well.
However, having such an utterly mysterious experience shown to them up close during their sensitive adolescent years, it was only natural that they'd become completely captivated by it. After all, the reason Ruu fell for the coach wasn't just because he was strong and kind, but also because she found that unfathomable part of him incredibly mysterious.
And separately, she also knew that while Machi had been enthusiastically coaching the high school girls when she was at school, she had pretty much left them to their own devices afterwards.
After that, female students she had exchanged contact info with frequently asked for guidance, but Machi, showing her inherent capriciousness and tendency to get bored easily, had said, "I only coached them that time because it felt right in the moment, but I'm not gonna go out of my way to coach them~"
(The coach did say that some people have unique ability values... but Machi-chan's capriciousness and tendency to get bored are definitely off the charts...)
(Home run!)
(But what should I do? I can't possibly coach them...)
(Ho～me... Home run?)
(Huh? We learned from the same person, and I'm the one who studied the most? So then, I might be the most suited to be an instructor??)
(Home run!)
(Oh... I see. That's right. And she's my best friend, so I should help follow up on the things my best friend started, right?)
(Home run!)
"Ah, um, so... could you possibly coach us, even just a little?"
""""Please!""""
"Ah, well, if that's the case then—"
Just then, a man who had casually wandered into the batting center spoke up, completely oblivious to the atmosphere.
"Ah, you there. Got a minute? I heard there's a dungeon ability user girl here who's hitting back-to-back home runs. Would you happen to know anything about that?"
Hearing this, Kateshina Ruu and the high school girls turned to look. There stood a stout middle-aged man wearing a red baseball cap, a mustache, and sunglasses.
Just who is this man searching for Kateshina Ruu...?