Chapter 140: It's You?

“Oh! That reminds me—if you have any matches from July 1 through July 15, I won’t be able to attend. But Guanguan can come in my place.” Amu suddenly remembered that the apothecary certification examinations would not deliberately avoid the football-basketball schedule.

After all, plenty of trainers worked as guest coaches. No one had ever heard of a connection between apothecaries and football-basketball guest coaches!

The only remotely related profession was probably that of a nutritional apothecary.

Amu did not want them to think he was unreliable right after joining them, so he added an explanation. “I’m taking the professional apothecary examination on July 15.”

“Hm? The examination in July isn’t for Expert-level apothecaries…” Ayako was puzzled.

Before Amu could explain, Riko suddenly cried out, “Wait! Your name is Amu? You’re that Amu?”

“Huh?” Amu did not quite understand what she meant.

“The Amu who passed the Level One apothecary examination at the age of eighteen this March!” Riko said excitedly.

“That must be me… How did you know?” Amu asked, staring at her in confusion.

“I read the news reports!” Riko replied at once.

Seeing that Amu still looked puzzled, Riko said sheepishly, “Actually, I wanted to become a nutritional apothecary too. It’s just that I fell a tiny bit short of passing this year’s Level One examination.”

Considering that Riko was only sixteen, obtaining a Level Two professional qualification was already an exceptional achievement.

And with that in mind, it was hardly strange that she had read the report about Amu and still remembered it. He had indeed been interviewed at the time, though the article had appeared in an inconspicuous corner of the newspaper.

Only apothecaries—especially those who had also taken the examination that year—would have noticed it.

“Oh… So that’s how it is.” Coach Anzai slapped his palm lightly. He had been wondering why Amu’s name sounded familiar.

Riko had mentioned it to him several times in March.

“What a coincidence…” Coach Anzai began, only to be hurriedly interrupted by Riko.

“Grandfather, Grandfather, it’s already quite late. You need to rest.”

“Oh, ha ha… All right, I’ll go and rest. Ayako, Riko, just hold a small welcome party today, but don’t stay up too late,” Coach Anzai said matter-of-factly.

Only after confirming that her grandfather would say no more did Riko let out a sigh of relief. At the time, she had been terribly dissatisfied and had loudly declared that she would compete with this “Amu.”

But thinking it over now, Riko realized that she was indeed still some distance away from becoming a Level One apothecary. Amu could not possibly have succeeded through luck alone. His youth merely meant that he had greater talent—or had begun studying apothecary science earlier. By the time she turned eighteen…

Hm? Wait!

Riko suddenly remembered something. She looked at Amu in surprise. “You mean… you’ll be occupied from the beginning of July until the fifteenth? In other words… you’re preparing for the examination?”

There was nothing strange about a Level One apothecary taking the Expert-level examination. But intending to pass it was another matter entirely.

Although Amu had not taken the examination yet, it at least meant that he felt his abilities were approaching that level, did it not?

“It doesn’t really count as preparation…”

Riko had just begun to relax when Amu continued, “With an Expert-level examination, either you have the ability or you don’t. I’m only going to spend half a month calming my mind, so I won’t make some elementary mistake on the day.”

Riko and the others fell silent.

“Ha ha ha! You really are that kind of person!” Hanamichi came over and clapped Amu on the shoulder. “I’m exactly the same before every exam!”

He felt that he and Amu were becoming more and more like-minded.

“No, no, no. What the two of you mean is obviously not the same thing!” Ayako complained from the side.

Indeed, Hanamichi never studied before an examination either. He simply went with Kaede afterward to compete for the honor of finishing at the bottom of their entire grade.

Riko, who wanted to become a coach as well as a nutritional apothecary, understood best what an Expert-level apothecary represented. Even those who had never personally experienced it knew what the league’s title of “Expert-level” signified.

The Great Luo Across All Worlds

“Are you really that confident you can pass the Expert-level examination?” Riko pressed Amu. “Do you already possess the abilities of an Expert-level apothecary?”

“I suppose so. In any case, when it comes to the commonly used Expert-level potions, I won’t make a mistake unless something unexpected happens,” Amu said calmly.

“How did you manage that?” Riko knew very well how difficult it was.

“Well…” Amu felt that saying, “If you have hands, you can do it,” would be rather rude, so he answered modestly, “Perhaps I’m simply more sensitive to apothecary science than most people. More importantly, I had a good teacher…”

“Wait. You only became a trainer this year? Why? If you were so confident, shouldn’t you have begun preparing long ago?” Riko could not help feeling that even other Level One apothecaries who were confident in their abilities would already have started studying.

And yet Amu had actually begun traveling this year?

“I’m already eighteen. If I didn’t apply now, I’d miss my chance to enter the Rookie Tournament.”

Looking at Amu’s “modest” expression, Gangxian and the others finally understood why he had seemed uncomfortable earlier.

An eighteen-year-old Expert-level apothecary was clearly the sort of person accustomed to “standing at the very front.” His earlier declaration that his ambition was “to become champion” had probably not been an empty boast after all.

Thinking back on how they had dragged him along while shouting about the “league championships,” they suddenly realized that, from his perspective, it must have seemed rather pathetic.

For a moment, even Gangxian’s expression grew awkward. Only Hanamichi continued grinning foolishly.

As Amu chatted with Riko, he also became certain that this Riko was that Riko—the coach of the protagonist team in Kuroko’s Basketball, as well as its nutritional adviser.

In the story of Kuroko’s Basketball, she was only a second-year student, yet possessed judgment comparable to that of a professional coach. Her observational ability was practically supernatural: by looking at an opponent’s body, she could seemingly see an entire list of attributes.

As for her skills as a nutritional adviser… Riko’s medicinal cuisine had no nutritional problems whatsoever. It was her cooking technique that elevated the dishes to the level of lethal weapons.

The Riko standing before Amu, however, was still only a first-year student. He had yet to see her abilities for himself, so he could not make any hasty conclusions.

And she was actually Coach Anzai’s granddaughter?

Riko seemed deeply concerned about her grandfather’s health. If things continued along this path, perhaps Coach Anzai would be “driven” into retirement by her next year.

By that reckoning, even when the Generation of Miracles entered high school next year, Kubei might still manage to pick up a few overlooked talents. There would be plenty of fun left to be had.

“Don’t worry! Even if you wanted to compete in the first half of July, you wouldn’t have the chance. The national tournament begins with group matches in the second semester, and the formal games are held before March of the following year. We may arrange a few practice matches during the holidays after your examination, though. That will depend on your schedule,” Riko said. She had more or less realized that Amu truly knew nothing about the matter.

In the schools of the various leagues in this world, March was generally the first semester and the season for advancement, while September marked the beginning of the second semester.

Amu’s words had been those of a complete outsider. Yet strangely enough, the others now felt several times more confident in him. The professions of guest trainer and apothecary might have nothing to do with one another, but an eighteen-year-old who had already obtained an Expert-level professional qualification inspired an inexplicable sense of trust when he joined a team as its guest trainer.

Even Riko was no exception. She had immediately recognized that Amu and Guanguan were both newcomers and had wondered what her grandfather could possibly be thinking. But the moment she heard the title “Expert-level apothecary,” an unreasonable confidence sprang up in her heart.

Being an Expert-level apothecary did not necessarily mean one knew how to play football-basketball.

Still, perhaps it was simply the feeling that a person like this would never waste his time: once he chose to do something, he would certainly do it well.