Chapter 170: I won’t hate it.

Agent Use Training Ground No. 1—

Just as Yonomori Nami had said, none of the temporary training grounds were currently in use.

One reason was that the number of active Agents was much lower than a month ago.

Seiran’s group aside, among Ephnel’s juniors, Fuurin Shion (Fifina), Uzuki Saori (Lily), Shiina Rin (Furan), and Kiri Mahiru (Hien) were either seriously injured or imprisoned.

The remaining few had to guard the four border garrisons and the airport, and were responsible for city patrols and disaster extermination missions.

So the training grounds were left completely vacant.

“Are you going to have little Yukina train right now?”

“Yes,”

Ephnel replied to Yonomori Nami’s inquiry.

“It’s not a bad thing to get into the state early. Besides, this is Yukina’s own request. Although it’s her first training session, I don’t plan on lowering the requirements too much. I’m sure Yukina feels the same way.”

“Eh?”

Yonomori Nami stopped her fingers from swiping on the tablet, looked up, and showed a puzzled expression.

“This is her first time? I thought you two had already been training on your own…”

Recalling the report she had received from the general affairs department last night, Yonomori Nami looked at Ephnel.

“Last night, we detected your sync fluctuations at the training ground. I thought you were conducting combat training.”

The act of synchronization wasn’t something that was strictly regulated.

Often, Agents would enter sync due to some sudden situation or for self-training.

Headquarters would record the Agent’s actions and either pay attention or inquire about the situation.

However, in Ephnel’s case, Yonomori Nami rarely sent people to ask questions, only making a record for backup.

One reason was that Ephnel’s own authority was higher than Yonomori Nami’s, and the other was because of Masaki Hinaki’s instructions to her.

Ephnel was involved in many confidential matters and acted more freely than others.

This was a privilege unique to Ephnel.

“Speaking of which, about…”

Yonomori Nami didn’t think too much about the sync report from the shrine training ground last night.

Just as she was about to say something more, she suddenly noticed that at some point, Ephnel’s face had turned as red as a tomato.

And Yukina was standing beside Ephnel, covering her mouth and giggling.

“Ephnel, you…”

Yonomori Nami stared blankly at Ephnel, whose ears and neck were also covered in a crimson blush.

“What’s… what’s wrong? Are you okay? Are you not feeling well?”

“N-no, it’s nothing…”

“I’ll go get a doctor for you!”

“No, no, it’s just that…”

Ephnel awkwardly averted her gaze, coughed lightly, and blurted out a random excuse, “It’s just that the air conditioning is too hot!”

“The air conditioning…?”

It was clearly very cool.

“Ah, right! It’s that… I suddenly want to exercise, so I’m getting excited! See, we’re about to start combat training, aren’t we?”

“Um…”

“Anyway, I’m fine! In-in short, I’ll leave the training ground registration to you!”

After a series of nonsensical laughs, Ephnel took Yukina’s hand and walked quickly forward, ducking into the changing room.

Yonomori Nami watched Ephnel’s retreating back, which looked like she was running away, and blinked in confusion.

“Naoko, you’re so cute.”

In the changing room, Yukina looked at Ephnel, whose face was as red as a tomato, and smiled, covering her mouth.

Ephnel took a deep breath, wanting to say something but holding back, and finally just shot Yukina a glare.

Ultimately, she herself was the one who had been so wild yesterday.

She couldn’t blame Yukina for it.

“Alright, hurry up and change into this.”

Ephnel handed the clothes from the case to Yukina.

“This is…?”

“A training uniform.”

Ephnel went to the side and sat down, explaining.

“You need to change for gym class and swimming class, and of course, it’s the same for training. This is a training uniform designed and made to simulate an Agent’s combat suit. Although it’s far from the real thing in terms of performance, it’s a decent substitute to conserve Order energy, so… ngh… change into it…”

Towards the end, Ephnel’s words suddenly became hesitant.

Yukina took the navy blue training uniform and blinked curiously.

The fabric didn’t feel like ordinary cloth to the touch.

It had a good texture, not too thin, but it was very, very light.

It felt like a ball of feathers in her hand.

On top of that, it had the smooth, silky feel of fine material, which was very comfortable.

“Eh? They already prepared something like this for me?”

But Yukina subconsciously gave it a light sniff and caught a faint scent on the clothes.

The scent was very pleasant, and Yukina felt a hint of familiarity in it.

It was as if…

“Eek? This is…”

As if she knew what Yukina was about to say, Ephnel spoke up first, “That’s actually my training uniform…”

“Naoko’s?”

“Mhm…”

Ephnel subconsciously looked away, fiddling with her hair in embarrassment.

After all, it was a dedicated uniform for Agent training.

It was impossible to prepare one-size-fits-all styles.

Each one was custom-made according to the Agent’s figure.

Yukina had only just registered as an Agent, so of course she didn’t have her own training uniform.

So Ephnel had brought her own.

“I was thinking our heights aren’t that different… so… you could probably wear it? That’s why I brought it…”

Although the size wasn’t specifically tailored for Yukina, there was no problem with her wearing it because the training uniform itself had a certain amount of elasticity.

If there was any problem…

Ephnel hadn’t thought much of it at first, but when she handed the clothes to Yukina, she inexplicably felt a sense of déjà vu, as if she were “giving her own underwear to Yukina to wear.”

After all, it was a uniform worn over undergarments, and a tight-fitting one at that.

Thighs, waist, back, bare feet… large areas of skin would be in close contact with this outfit—which was equivalent to giving something very personal of hers to Yukina.

Ephnel couldn’t help but worry about strange little things like, “Did I wash the smell of sweat off the uniform properly?”

She would even have fantasies like, “After Yukina finishes training, I’ll take this outfit and add it to my collection,” which sounded like something a pervert would do.

And she was also worried, “Will Yukina dislike this sudden closeness?”

After all, even for intimate lovers who had a physical relationship, there would still be some appropriate distance between them, right?

What if Yukina was the type who didn’t like to come into contact with things that other people had used?

“Of course… if you don’t like it, then forget it, I…”

“How could I not like it?”

While Ephnel was still lost in her thoughts, regretting her thoughtless action, Yukina had already gone to the changing room door and locked it with a click.

“If Naoko thinks I would feel embarrassed by clothes that Naoko has worn, then you’re gravely mistaken~”

Under Ephnel’s slightly stunned gaze, Yukina gently untied the sash at her waist.

“I would never, ever dislike Naoko’s scent…”