"Oh, even just making a private little prediction in your own head can't be so beneath you."

Hayato would have been just fine with doing that himself, but he much preferred having cold hard proof that he was right about something, and that everyone around him knew it too. That evidence being in the form of cash meant little to him, and he planned to feed it back into the economy through some nice shops and restaurants over the weekend anyway.

Souvenirs seemed like a good idea, though. But like hell was Hayato going to give the kid any hint that he had a head start in something so important. His hand waved vaguely in the bag's direction, nothing more than casual acknowledgement.

"Just what training have you been doing while everyone else is back home?" Just an idle curiosity. Totally.