Early the next morning, Kitahara Sota awoke to an oddly soft, damp sensation on his hand.
Still groggy from sleep, his first thought was that his injury might have reopened overnight, soaking the bed in blood. Alarmed, he quickly opened his eyes.
What he saw instead was Oguri Cap, peacefully asleep beside him, drooling enough to soak almost one-sixth of his bed.
Kitahara: "…"
Since he'd fallen asleep early, he'd also woken up early. Glancing at his phone, he saw it was only 4 AM.
After a brief hesitation, he decided not to wake Oguri. Instead, he retrieved an orange potion from the system, drank it quietly, and felt his injured arm immediately heal.
He got out of bed, cleaned up the drool with tissues, gently picked up Oguri Cap, and placed her onto the bed, carefully tucking her under the covers. Then, settling into the chair himself, he began browsing on his phone.
Since he'd already struck a deal with Agnes Tachyon yesterday, he wasn't worried about having to explain his sudden recovery.
If it had been Tokai Teio or Agnes Tachyon who had stayed the night, he certainly wouldn't have dared to act so casually.
But with Oguri Cap…it was strange. Her calm, gentle aura gave Kitahara an inexplicable sense of comfort, even planting a dangerously naïve thought in his head:
Maybe not every Uma Musume is that scary after all.
But he quickly banished that reckless idea from his mind.
Are you crazy? Thinking like that at Tracen is practically a death wish.
Oguri Cap was an exception. This girl literally thought about nothing but food. With her natural, carefree personality, it wouldn't cause trouble to deepen their relationship slightly—at worst, he'd treat her like his own daughter.
But the other Uma Musume were another matter entirely. Tracen's reputation as a "den of man-eaters" was not undeserved.
After all, there was a fellow just a bed away—poor guy with a shattered pelvis. He was living proof.
Of course, Oguri Cap wasn't the only "safe" Uma Musume at Tracen. Special Week was another harmless, food-obsessed sweetheart, and Twin Turbo was a reckless but lovable idiot. Still, Uma Musume like these were definitely the minority.
The core issue was biological: Uma Musume naturally had far more stamina and vitality than humans, particularly during their adolescence. Combine that youthful vigor with racing—a fiercely competitive sport—and their emotions inevitably ran hotter, making impulsive actions more frequent.
It didn't take much to trigger them. Sometimes even the smallest provocation was enough to ignite their emotions, resulting in all sorts of trouble.
Officially, trainers were supposed to guide and mentor their Uma Musume. But in reality, they functioned as emotional regulators, keeping Uma Musume grounded.
To achieve this, trainers had to form strong emotional bonds with their charges. As a result, developing romantic relationships was extremely common.
As for Kitahara's own opinion on such relationships…
He often joked about the absurdities of Tracen Academy, but honestly, he understood it. He'd even briefly considered the idea of marrying an Uma Musume himself someday, given his talent as a trainer. He figured that once Eclipse was an adult, if she were willing, he wouldn't mind spending the rest of his life with her.
It wasn't particularly strange—after all, he was a normal adult man with normal desires. Physically and emotionally healthy, he couldn't possibly remain completely indifferent.
Even now, as he glanced at Oguri Cap sleeping peacefully, her expression as innocent as a child's, he couldn't help but find her adorable, briefly tempted to reach out and pinch her soft cheeks.
Yet, he resisted the urge. Instead, he quietly browsed his phone, waiting for dawn.
The first rays of sunlight finally crept through the window, and Oguri Cap stirred awake. Her eyes opened slowly, blinking at the unfamiliar ceiling above, confusion briefly crossing her face.
Who am I? Where am I?
Where's breakfast?
"You awake?"
Noticing her confusion, Kitahara put down his phone and explained what had happened earlier.
Oguri listened quietly, her expression unchanged. Afterward, she blinked slowly, eyes drifting to Kitahara's left arm.
"Trainer Kitahara, your arm…"
"Oh, this?" Kitahara flexed his arm lightly, now essentially healed. His lips twitched slightly. "Yesterday, a certain Uma Musume in a white lab coat dropped by with some potion…"
"…Agnes Tachyon?"
"Yes, she said her name was Agnes Tachyon."
"Oh, then it makes sense."
Oguri nodded easily, accepting this explanation without question.
While Tachyon had a terrible reputation among trainers, she was actually relatively well-liked by Uma Musume. Although her experiments often caused chaos, their primary customers and beneficiaries had always been Uma Musume themselves. Thus, most viewed Tachyon neutrally at worst.
Though Oguri had never directly interacted with Tachyon, she'd certainly heard of her reputation.
"Still, Trainer Kitahara, it's probably best if you avoid dealing with her again. Most of her potions have side effects, so you should be careful."
"I understand." Kitahara nodded, then asked curiously, "By the way, you mentioned going back last night. Why did you end up staying?"
"I lost track of time studying. By the time I noticed, it was already past curfew, so I just stayed."
"You really…" Kitahara sighed helplessly. "Well, anyway, want to rest a bit longer?"
"No. I'm hungry." Oguri climbed out of bed, briefly scratched her ears and hair, and after they greeted the doctor on duty, headed straight to the cafeteria with Kitahara.
Stepping out of the infirmary, Kitahara immediately sensed that Tracen's atmosphere was noticeably different from yesterday.
While everything seemed normal at a glance, he noticed far more watchful eyes around campus. Among the passing Uma Musume, some appeared to be casually strolling, yet their alert gazes constantly surveyed their surroundings. He also spotted slight bulges under their uniforms—likely concealed weapons.
Kitahara wasn't surprised. Yesterday's attack and the Chairwoman's warning meant heightened security was only natural.
Still, why did it feel like they were watching him more intently than anyone else?
After breakfast, he accompanied Oguri back to her dorm since she wanted to shower. Then, returning to his own room, he showered quickly and stared blankly at his nearly empty wardrobe, eventually deciding to put on the same clothes from yesterday.
Of course, that cheap suit jacket was completely ruined, so he had no choice but to head out in just his white shirt.
Since Oguri had already informed everyone in the group chat about his recovery, when Kitahara arrived at the training grounds, his entire team was already assembled and training.
Except Eclipse, of course.
He'd planned to slack off as usual, but given yesterday's events, he could sense eyes watching him even more intently today—many no doubt dispatched by the Chairwoman herself.
Normally, Kitahara had no trouble blatantly slacking off in front of fellow trainers and students, but these eyes belonged to higher-ups. Even the laziest employee knew better than to slack off openly when supervisors were watching.
Kitahara was a slacker, not an idiot.
Thus, breaking his usual pattern, he didn't immediately pull out his phone upon arrival. Instead, he decided to actually instruct Special Week and Oguri Cap seriously for once.
But moments later, seeing Tokai Teio suddenly appear in front of him with an energetic smile, holding a cup of honey-flavored energy drink, Kitahara was dumbfounded.
Wait, I only called those two. Why are you here too?
"What's wrong, Trainer-san?" Tokai Teio noticed his stare and flashed a bright, cheerful smile.
"…No, it's nothing."
Facing that glowing smile, Kitahara swallowed his complaints. He cleared his throat, took out his notebook, and adopted a rare serious expression.
"All right, enough chit-chat. It's been four days since we started training, so I'd like to test your progress and adjust our training plans accordingly. Special Week, let's start with you."
"...Ehhh?!"