Aftermath: Fast & Furious & Low

This is a great honor!

Every one, thank you, thank you!

Go on, Salty Maid, wave!

We have triumphed!

L-like this? ...What is so funny?

I can read the room too, and I am truly grateful for this applause.

I see. I am glad to hear that! Then all together now!

R-right, all together.

Hur ray! Victory is ours!

Our supremacy is clear for all to see now! It feels good to win first place by a decisive margin! Not that I ever believed it would turn out otherwise!

Nonetheless, I could not have done this without Fujimaru's support and your capacity for violence.

Well done, Salty Maid! Our success in fending off our fearsome rivals is due entirely to our teamwork!

...Indeed. And I am grateful to you as well.

I originally approached you merely so you could serve as a human shield if necessary, but your performance exceeded my expectations.

The way you notice small details even as you ignore them, and consistently choose the most ostentatious and dangerous course of action...

Just this once, I daresay it was responsible for our greatest achievement here.

It is thanks to you that I managed to secure first place. The crowd's cheers are yours to enjoy.

Now, go on and head to the winner's podium. A victory parade set to last three days and three nights awaits you.

Hahaha! Umu, it shall be a glorious celebration! A lavish victory gala singing my praises!

However, while that is most generous of you, wait just a moment.

What would be the point of my ascending the podium on my own? Did you not say this is our victory?

We still have to pour champagne on each other, give an interview where we are asked the secret of our victory, smile at each other, say something like...

"What else!? Our strong bond that let us suppress our burning desire to rub the other out at the first chance!"

...and proceed to hit one another with bouquets of roses. Do you not wish to do that?

...

No. Tempting though that sounds, I shall leave the glory to you.

I will simply accept the Holy Grail and take my leave.

After all, Fujimaru is waiting fervently for my report.

"I will only cheer for you..." What a lovely thing to say. It makes me want to buy popsicles by the case.

You wish for thunderous applause, correct? That holds no appeal to me, I am afraid.

You shall have honor, and I shall have the prize. That is what we agreed upon when we formed this team.

Now, I must rent a motor home and head for that river.

There, a maid and her master shall relax by the water's edge, under a clear blue sky. There could be no more kingly end than that.

Heh. It took all my strength of will to focus on the race and keep that image from my mind.

...Hold it. When did I say I would let you have the Holy Grail?

I shall be handing that to Master myself.

You may have the prize money, so stay away from the rest. For that matter, stop daydreaming.

"I will only cheer for you" my foot!

Master promised to cheer only for ME, directly and in person! He even pounded the wall behind me when he did so!

...I knew you were a woman lost in her own mind, but I did not know you had gone so far as to install a VR function.

Do you truly believe Master has the guts for something like that? Are you certain you were not merely daydreaming?

No, I was not! For some reason, he told me he wished for me to win this race, and I wished to grant his request.

It was that very passion that led to this Theatrical Essence! How else would you explain my Class changing just like that!?

Surely you must also have experienced something similar!

Hm, that is true... In fact, I underwent my own class change for much the same reason...

However! You and I are still nothing alike!

So what if Master allegedly pounded the wall or not!?

When he approached me, he took my hands in his and gazed into my eyes. There were even flower petals swirling in the air!

Flower petals!? Truly!?

Truly! You too would have thought it a paradise! Though looking back upon it, it seems extremely unnatural!

Ooh, I am so jealous! I too want to see Fujimaru surrounded by swirling flower petals, just once!

However! Before that happens, there are two pressing matters I must resolve!

The first one, naturally, is to unleash divine judgment upon Fujimaru for his two-timing!

And the second, naturally...is to eradicate the interloper that stands before me!

I was just thinking the same thing! It seems we truly are of one mind, Drama Queen! If we calm ourselves and consider this rationally, it should be clear that all of this was Ishtar's plot the whole time.

But that does not change the fact that you stand in my way!

We were not able to settle our score during the race, but there is nothing preventing us from doing so now!

Umu, we are indeed of one mind on this! This shall be the ultimate end to our race!

There is but one Holy Grail, and there can only be one winner. Whoever emerges victorious from this battle shall be the true king of summer!