However, pulling Mizuno away from King Halo wasn't going to be an easy matter.
Although Mizuno's brain was frantically issuing commands to retreat, his body stubbornly refused to listen. In fact, sensing Tokai Teio and Rice Shower's intention to separate them, Mizuno's arms tightened around King Halo, desperately trying to prevent their separation!
"Trainer Mizuno! Where do you think you're touching?!" King Halo shrieked, her face flushed red.
She clearly felt Mizuno's hands, in an attempt to hold her tighter, slowly sliding upward from her abdomen, dangerously close to her chest!
That was an extremely important place for a girl, one that absolutely no one except the most significant person could touch! Anyone else who dared to touch there would immediately be beaten half-dead by justice-minded bystanders!
Let alone the highly prideful King Halo. If anyone dared touch the first-class King's chest, aside from paying with their life, the only alternative was offering a lifetime of servitude!
"I-I-I don't know either!" Mizuno frantically shook his head.
"You bastard, could it be that you haven't seen the first-rate King for too long, so your true colors are finally showing?!" King Halo shyly reprimanded, pressing down Mizuno's wandering hands to keep them from reaching her chest.
In truth, given her Uma strength, it would've been trivial to escape Mizuno's embrace. A little more force, and she could easily tear herself free.
But if King Halo did that, Mizuno would surely be injured—at least suffering fractured bones, at worst muscle damage that could leave permanent effects. That was why she hadn't forcefully broken away.
Besides, being embraced like this by Trainer Mizuno… actually feels pretty nice…
But touching there is absolutely out of the question!
At least, not right now!
At the very minimum, she'd first have to give away her first kiss…
"Trainer Mizuno, you aren't doing this deliberately, are you?" King Halo softly bit her lip, raising her head and peering up at Mizuno's masked face.
Kiryuin-san, who had finally caught up and saw the pair in such an intimate, couple-like position, couldn't help but comment:
"Trainer Mizuno, don't you think your relationship with your student… is a bit too intimate?"
"It! Absolutely! Isn't! Like! That!" Mizuno wailed in despair, practically shedding tears of frustration.
His lifetime reputation, the image of a sigma male who absolutely refused to casually approach Uma—completely shattered in this instant by his own body's inexplicable autonomous actions, transforming him into a disgusting pervert who attacked his own Uma and even tried to touch her chest!
Mizuno briefly suspected this was a nightmare. But the sensation he clearly felt through his own body, along with his fully lucid thinking, told him plainly this was reality.
What the hell was wrong with his body?! Why was it suddenly so desperate to hug King Halo?!
"Wait!" Mizuno suddenly had a realization. He looked down and urgently asked King Halo:
"King Halo-san, did you visit our team's training room?"
The reason Mizuno asked was because he suddenly remembered that inside the training room, there was still a terrifying potion bottle left on the table. Rice Shower hadn't drunk it, and he had forgotten to dispose of it!
"The training room?" King Halo thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes."
"You didn't happen to drink the clear liquid from the bottle labeled 'B' left on the table, did you?!" Mizuno asked in shock. Although King Halo hadn't answered yet, he already knew the answer in his heart.
"I did. Is something wrong?" King Halo tilted her head in confusion, wondering why Mizuno was reacting so dramatically.
"Was it your water, Trainer Mizuno? It's just water, I'll buy you a new bottle later…"
"That's definitely not ordinary water!"
Now Mizuno was absolutely certain—the reason his body uncontrollably embraced King Halo was because she had inadvertently drunk the B-bottle of the "Want-a-Hug Potion" Rice Shower had bought from the Black Market!
"King-san drank that potion?!" Rice Shower had just placed her hands on Mizuno's arms, intending to help separate him from King Halo, but upon hearing King Halo's confirmation, she froze in shock.
"Onii-sama… drank it too…"
"What potion?" Tokai Teio asked curiously.
"It's like this…" Mizuno quickly explained the potion's effects and usage to everyone, though he carefully concealed the fact that it came from Tachyon's Black Market—just in case certain Uma wanted to misuse it.
"Eh?!" King Halo and Kiryuin-san both showed expressions of astonishment upon learning that such bizarre potions existed.
Meanwhile, Tokai Teio's eyes lit up instantly.
"Ah?! Such an amazing thing exists?!"
As excitement surged in Teio's heart, she also felt deep regret.
Dammit! If I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have come straight to the track to be first! I should've gone to the training room and drunk that potion Trainer Mizuno mentioned!
If I'd drunk that potion instead, the Uma Trainer Mizuno would be hugging right now would obviously be me, Tokai Teio!
"Teio…" Mizuno stared at Tokai Teio, speechless.
Sure enough, his decision to hide the Black Market information had been correct! If Teio knew exactly where to buy such potions, Mizuno couldn't predict when he might suddenly find himself drinking something weird, closing his eyes, and then waking up in the Monarch's Basement!
"Um…" Noticing Mizuno staring at her, Tokai Teio awkwardly turned away.
"What I meant was… how could such a potion exist that forces trainers to hug their Uma for a whole week? That's wonderful—I mean, awful!"
Mizuno: "…"
"Onii-sama, let me help you!" Rice Shower spoke softly as she gently pulled Mizuno's arms away from King Halo.
Thanks to Uma strength—especially from an extremely gifted Uma—Rice Shower easily dragged Mizuno away without needing to exert much effort.
"…" For the first time, Mizuno recognized a hidden benefit of human strength being inferior to Uma.
That is, whenever a human was about to commit something reckless or dangerous, an Uma could easily intervene and stop them from committing crimes or harming themselves.
Though, if an Uma truly intended to Umapyoi a human, not even hundreds of humans would be able to stop her…
"Heave-ho~ Heave-ho~" Rice Shower hugged Mizuno's waist, carrying him twenty meters away from King Halo.
"Onii-sama, is this distance enough…?" Rice Shower set Mizuno down, adorably tilting her head and blinking innocently.
"It's enough." Mizuno praised her, gently patting Rice Shower's head.
The distance was very reasonable. Even if he broke free from Rice Shower's hold and ran, twenty meters was still too far—humans couldn't outrun Uma, so it was utterly impossible for Mizuno to escape Rice Shower's pursuit.
Even if, by some infinitesimal chance, he managed to outrun Rice Shower and reach King Halo, Tokai Teio and Kiryuin-san would still block his path, and King Halo herself could simply flee farther away…
Thus, Mizuno's chances of continuing to hug King Halo were effectively zero!
"Phew…" Everyone sighed in relief.
However, just as all the girls let down their guard, Mizuno's left hand suddenly moved!
Taking advantage of everyone's distraction, it stealthily reached backward, tickling Rice Shower's underarm.
"Eeep~" Rice Shower reflexively loosened her hold slightly, startled.
Mizuno's left hand seized this opportunity, moving at unprecedented speed, and grabbed onto his jacket's zipper.
Whoosh— went the zipper sliding downward.
"What?!" Mizuno stared in horror at his left hand gripping the zipper and realized instantly what his out-of-control body was planning!
After all, his body was part of him—whatever cunning strategies his brain could imagine, his body naturally knew as well.
There was only one possible way left to reach King Halo amidst all the Uma's defenses.
In order to hug King Halo, his body was willing to strip off his clothing and expose his Uma Mint constitution?!
"Nooo! Little Left Hand! Don't touch that!!"