"Coach?"
With a hint of grogginess, an older man with a thick mustache awoke, looking around with calm, narrowed eyes.
When Coach Owen saw Leonel looking over him, he blinked.
"Son of a bitch. You died too, kid? And what the hell is with that hairdo, you look like a dyke."
Leonel pinched the bridge of his nose. Whenever his coach had a sip to drink, all his political correctness went out the window. It was as though he didn't know you weren't allowed to say that kind of stuff. And, apparently, his almost dying had the same effect as a shot of whisky.
Leonel slapped his coach's chest, knocking a bit of wind out of his sails.
"Hey, hey! What the hell are you doing, brat?! Can't you see I'm lying here?! If you're mad, go dye it black like a real man!"
Aina sputtered with laughter, unable to hold it back anymore.
"Huh?" Coach Owen looked over. "… Well, at least the angels are beautiful."
Leonel's expression darkened. Had this old man gone senile?
"Stop ogling my girlfriend, coach, or else I'll throw you back in the snowglobe!"
"Hm?"
Coach Owen blinked, touching his chest. He seemed to finally register that though Leonel's slap had stung, for a man who should have been pierced through the chest, it hadn't hurt nearly enough.
At first he thought that heaven just healed injuries, that made sense, right? But, he felt as though his body was very much in the present and didn't feel any different at all. It was only then he understood that he must somehow still be alive.
Though he couldn't understand how, he was a military man. Spending too much time harping on details wasn't his style. Instead, he looked over toward Aina.
"Hey, little girl. I just thought you should know that before you, this ungrateful brat spent at least four years pining over another little girl. He wouldn't shut up about it, truly ridiculous. Make sure you protect yourself from his grubby hands, never fall for a man with another woman on his mind."
Leonel was speechless while Aina's laughter only grew. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop her bell-like laughter from resonating across the room.
"What are you laughing about? Gramps here is only trying to give you some advice. This little twerp actually asked the same woman out more than 500 times and still had the face to continue, going on about some 'Persistence' nonsense. I almost sent him to the school board to be reviewed for sexual harassment."
Aina finally couldn't take it anymore, she clenched her stomach, her abs aching from laughing so hard. There didn't seem to be enough air in the room for her to breathe.
"Have you said enough yet, old man?!" Leonel snapped.
"Hey, what are you getting mad at me for? She's too beautiful for you anyway, brat. At the very least, she deserves a man with a better haircut. I thought I taught you better than this."
"That's Aina, dammit!"
"Huh?"
Coach Owen blinked, looking toward the laughing Aina once again.
"You met a girl by the same name?"
Leonel almost fainted.
…
After a long while, Coach Owen finally dropped the senile act. Though it was a bit hard to accept that these Ainas were the same person, his ability to brush off the details of how things worked was still immaculate.
"… Ah, so you healed me… What a busybody, I was looking forward to finally having some rest."
"…"
Leonel didn't know how to respond to this. This old man was really ungrateful. Who could possibly want to miss out on this era?
"Spit it out already, brat. You've been tiptoeing around something ever since I woke up. You know I don't like it when people can't get to the point."
Leonel's expression turned serious.
"I need you to betray the Ascension Empire."
Coach Owen froze before slowly looking up toward Leonel.
"… Okay, maybe that was a little too to the point. I take it back."
Leonel gaze met his coach's eyes, but he didn't back down.
Coach Owen rubbed his forehead, grumbling. "You leave a brat to their own devices and suddenly they've become a little monster… You know, when I asked you to gain your own goals, I didn't also say to become suicidal."
Though he said this, Coach Owen was inwardly grinning from ear to ear. This wasn't because he had some tragic backstory that made him want to harm the Ascension Empire. In fact, the Empire had always treated him well. What he was grinning about was the look in Leonel's eye.
It was finally there. That fire that had been nothing but smoldering embers before.
"Do you need to do this?" Coach Owen asked.
"Yes."
"You could likely inherit the throne naturally if you just make your intentions known." Coach Owen replied seriously. "Your grandfather isn't as ramrod as you think he is. In a lot of ways, he is very flexible and progressive."
"It won't be the same." Leonel didn't hesitate in his response. "And… If I understand that man well enough, then there is no way he will give up the Throne because now he doesn't have to.
"His goal… Is the same as mine."
Aina listened without breathing a word. She could feel how serious this was and the fact that Leonel was speaking of this with her and Coach Owen here clearly illustrated that the two of them were the people he likely trusted the most in this world.
Coach Owen met Leonel's eyes and released a puff of air.
"Alright. But, I'm not suicidal, brat. If you don't have a solid plan of approach, I won't act and I will leave you hanging. I have a beautiful life to enjoy still, many women I have yet to taste, sights I've yet to see. I'm not dying for you."
Leonel's lip twitched. Wasn't this old man just complaining about being revived? How had it suddenly gone from that to him not being suicidal?