The morning starts as usual, the birds are chirping soundly, and the sun shines brightly outside. Then suddenly a loud burst of laughter from the break room disturbs the bird's chirping.
"Bwahaha, you ended up skipping school just because of that!" Sugimoto asked while laughing at Alice.
"Idiot, stop laughing like that, I didn't want to be made fun of for today so I decided to skip school!" She crossed her arms angrily.
"Won't your parents be mad about it?" He asked her.
"Don't worry they won't find out. Besides, the school won't be mad if I skip for a day or two." She says and plays it off.
Sugimoto sees she is a bit annoyed and starts petting her.
"How many times have I told you this and you never listen!" She said angrily while pushing his arm away and scolding him.
"Sorry, it's hard to resist." He chuckled.
"Jeez, you're often irritating to deal with, Senpai." She pouts as she says that.
"Come on, it's not my fault you suddenly hugged me from behind." Sugimoto told her.
"As if I wanted to do that! I just happened to fall when I went over to you." Alice angrily told him.
While they were arguing, the manager came into the break room and was surprised to see Alice being early on the weekdays.
"Ah, Alice, aren't you supposed to be in school today?" The manager asked curiously.
"Oh, erm- I had permission from the school to be absent from school today." She told the manager.
"I see, good to hear that since there's something important I wanted to discuss with both of you." The manager told them.
"Sure, what's up chief?" Sugimoto asked him.
"Today I want to discuss our upcoming qualifiers for the first round of the ROA Cup." The manager told them.
"Sure, what about it?" Sugimoto asked him again.
"I want to discuss the rival teams competing for the upcoming qualifying session. We have some new faces for this year's edition. A Japanese car manufacturing company Nissan has joined this edition of the ROA Cup." The manager told him.
"Nissan? They're competing here in Akinabalu?" Alice asked in a curious tone.
The manager nods his head while crossing his arms.
"I remembered Nissan used to dominate all 6 rounds of the ROA Cup in 2015. They were a powerhouse in Akinabalu until they suddenly pulled out from the competition in 2018." Sugimoto conveyed to them.
"Yup, this is what I'm worried about. The first round out of 6 will be one of the hardest to qualify since there are only 24 spots for the fastest car during the qualifiers out of 64 cars competing. I still don't know their full capabilities but I'm confident you two can qualify for the race. " The manager told them.
"Don't worry chief, we won't let you down." Sugimoto said and smiled.
"Yep, we will not let you down manager!" Alice told the manager with enthusiasm.
"Good, I think we all know now that qualifiers are in about two weeks from now so I expect both of you to work harder, right Sugimoto?" The manager said as he glared at him.
"Y-yes sir." Sugimoto nervously replied.
The manager nodded and exited the break room, leaving Alice and Sugimoto together.
"Remember senpai, work hard." She said as she nudged his arm and teased him.
"Yeah yeah, kid." Sugimoto scoffed and rolled his eyes.
