"Cafe-senpai... I think I just saw you go out the main door?"
"Hmm?" Cafe tilted her head. "No, I just finished making coffee."
With that, she placed the coffee on the table and happened to see the half-open music box.
"This thing... I'm sure I put it away. How did it get out again?"
What did she mean, "get out again"? Could this thing run around on its own?
Closing the music box, Cafe took a string from a drawer and tied it up.
After it was secured, she placed it inside a wooden box.
"Sorry, this happens sometimes," she said, sitting down next to Shirayuki. "These things... if you're not careful... they'll escape. You didn't touch it, did you?"
"No."
"That's good."
Cafe breathed a sigh of relief.
"Cafe-senpai..." Shirayuki broke out in a cold sweat. "That thing... it's not some evil object, is it?"
"No, it's just a music box that can run around. But sometimes, it attracts unpleasant things."
Listening to her cryptic words, Shirayuki shivered and quickly took a sip of coffee to calm her nerves.
The rich aroma filled her mouth, but she was in no mood to savor it right now.
There were too many questions, and she didn't know where to start.
"Cafe-senpai, I'm here to see Tachyon-senpai. I remember she's in this room... right?"
"Tachyon is on the other side," Cafe said, pointing to the wall that looked like a galaxy. Only upon closer inspection did she realize it was actually a curtain, dividing the entire room into two parts.
"Shirayuki-san, you're not here because she forced you, are you? It's not the first time she's done this. Many students have been tricked into her room... for experiments. If you were forced or threatened, you can tell me. I can handle it for you."
"No, she didn't threaten... well, there was a little bit of a threat."
"Tachyon..."
Cafe stood up angrily, looking as if she were about to confront her.
"Wait a moment, senpai!"
Seeing her about to charge over, Shirayuki quickly stopped her.
"She did threaten me, but it's all resolved. She won't use that to force me to do anything anymore."
"That thing?"
"Something... hard to talk about."
Cafe sat back down.
"Shirayuki-san," she said, "don't give in to her demands. If you always just go along with her, she'll only get worse. Besides, that girl Tachyon, as annoying as she is, she never actually carries out her threats. She just talks big. Next time she pulls something, just ignore her."
This was the conclusion Cafe had reached after being her classmate for many years.
"Yes," Shirayuki nodded in deep agreement. After finishing her coffee, she stood up. "Then I'll be going, senpai. The coffee was great."
"You're welcome... to come again."
Lifting the curtain, Shirayuki ducked through. Vials of shimmering, colorful liquids appeared before her eyes.
Who would have thought that these two rooms were connected?
Science on the left, occult on the right. It was a wonder these two hadn't come to blows.
A girl in a white lab coat stood at the lab bench. Seeing Shirayuki emerge, her expression was one of surprise.
"Trainer? How did you come out from there?"
"I knocked on the wrong door."
The thick curtain provided excellent soundproofing; Tachyon hadn't heard the sounds from the other side.
Shirayuki took out the glasses.
"Tachyon, this thing is out of battery."
She raised an eyebrow.
"So the capacity wasn't enough... I see. I'll take a look at it later." Tachyon took the glasses and then looked Shirayuki up and down a few times. "By the way, Trainer, you didn't run into anything strange in Cafe's room, did you?"
This question sent a chill down her spine.
"Yes, I did," she said in a low voice. "I saw Cafe walk out of the room, and then another Cafe came out from inside."
"I see..." Tachyon said, as if she had expected it. "It's best not to casually enter her room. Otherwise, strange things will happen."
"Why are you saying that too? Don't you believe in science?"
"I do. That's why I'm studying her strange constitution. Last time, I accidentally touched that vase in her room, and my precious research data immediately caught fire. Three months of hard work, just burned to ashes. I cried for a long time."
Shirayuki's eye twitched.
To make Tachyon cry, just who was this Manhattan Cafe?
"Many inexplicable phenomena occur around her. If you don't want to get caught in the crossfire, it's best not to annoy her. An angry Cafe is very scary."
With that, Tachyon shivered.
"I feel like the only person who would make her angry is you..."
The other girl didn't deny it.
"By the way, Trainer, I have something for you."
As if remembering something, Tachyon took a black box from a drawer. Inside was a silver ring. The familiar shape instantly brought back a memory, and she asked in a tone of disbelief, "A wedding ring?"
"Hmm...? You can think of it that way if you want."
"For me?"
"Of course."
"No, no, no. I've been your trainer for less than a week. Isn't it a bit strange for you to propose so suddenly?"
"Could it be that you want to cultivate a relationship first?"
"Isn't that a prerequisite for a proposal?"
Tachyon smiled. "Just kidding. This isn't a wedding ring. It's an experimental sample of mine."
"A sample?"
"That's right," she said, asking her to extend her hand and then sliding the ring onto her finger. "This can help you confirm your identity."
As if a switch had been flipped, a warm sensation came from the ring.
"Trainer, if you keep using your old method of identifying yourself, you'll be found out sooner or later. You can't guarantee that everyone who sees you will call you by your name. Especially during a conversation, saying something that only one of you would know could cause a lot of trouble. This ring can help you."
She held her hand.
"From now on, the one with this sensation is Shirayuki, and the one without is Chiya. You are two completely different individuals. Of course, just distinguishing is not enough. You also need to cultivate different habits for your two bodies. Otherwise, people who are familiar with you will still notice something is wrong."
Shirayuki touched the ring. "What kind of habits?"
"Your body is like a person's two hands. You use your right hand to write and your left hand to cook. After long-term training, your two hands will develop different adaptations. What you need to do now is to cultivate different feelings for your two bodies."
"I see. You want Shirayuki to become a completely different individual from 'me,' is that right?"
"You catch on quick, Trainer," she nodded. "Although your minds are connected, your bodies are completely different. Over time, your mind will change according to your body's habits. Shirayuki will have her own way of thinking, and Chiya will have his."
This way, besides her, no one would be able to discover her anomaly.
"Is this also part of your experiment?"
"No, it doesn't have much to do with my experiment," she shook her head. "These are just ways to disguise you. If your identity is discovered by others... it would be troublesome for me."
"Didn't you threaten to expose me before...?"
"Because that was the most efficient method," she said, pinching her chin. "I know my methods might have been a bit extreme, but if I had to cultivate a relationship with you from scratch and wait for you to sign with me, who knows how long that would take. After all, my reputation isn't good, and my original experiment wasn't making any progress. So, it was faster to just use my bad reputation to make you submit."
That pair of dark-red eyes seemed to have seen through everything from the start.
"Think about it, Trainer. Without any evidence, even if I revealed your identity, no one would believe it, right? Just like Cafe. She keeps saying she can see strange things, but how many people really believe her?"
She chuckled happily.
"Even if you didn't say anything, there was nothing I could do to you, other than maybe coming to your room to spend the night every night."
"So you were planning to bluff me from the start."
"That's right. I'm just that kind of terrible person."
She admitted her shortcomings without any hesitation.
Such a frank attitude left her speechless.
"Anyway, for your sake, and for mine, I hope you will remember the sensation on your hand. This ring will intermittently provide an electrical signal, so your hand will always feel like it's wearing a ring, like a marker, proving that you are Fujiwara Shirayuki. And today is the last time I will call you Trainer. From now on, I will call you Shirayuki-san. Understood?"
"Yes."
She was still touching the ring.
"Um... Tachyon, this thing seems to be stuck?"
"Call me Tachyon-senpai. That's right. To prevent it from falling off, it automatically adjusts its size. It may look like just a ring, but its internal structure is quite precise."
"So impressive. But... why can't I take it off?"
"Why would you want to take it off? It's waterproof, dustproof, not in the way, and it helps you remember your identity. There's no reason to take it off, is there?"
"No, the place you put it is a bit... delicate."
It was right on her left ring finger.
"The ring will automatically fall off when the battery dies. If you don't like it, you can change its position. You just have to wait half a month."
"That's a long time. Does this little thing's battery have such a large capacity?"
"Because it doesn't consume much power."
"Alright... I understand."
Shirayuki looked at the beautiful and somewhat futuristic ring on her hand and nodded.
"I'll try to distinguish between the two bodies as soon as possible. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now, Tachyon... Tachyon-senpai."
"Yes. Goodbye, Shirayuki-san."
After she left, a dark figure walked out from behind the curtain.
"My, my, Cafe. How rare. You actually came to my room on your own initiative," Tachyon teased, looking at her eerie golden eyes.
"You didn't do anything strange to that child, did you?" Cafe asked, worried about her junior's safety.
"Don't slander me. My relationship with Shirayuki-san is quite peaceful."
Cafe gave her a look of distrust.
"What? If you don't believe me, go ask her yourself."
"No, never mind," Cafe turned around. "If you continue to prey on your juniors, I will... tell the student council everything."
"I didn't prey on her, really."
"It's best if you didn't."
Cafe returned to her own room.
Tachyon let out a long sigh of relief.
If Cafe had told the student council, it probably wouldn't have been as simple as being grounded. She would have been ordered to suspend her studies and go home.
Her experiment was finally showing promise. She didn't want to fall at such a crucial moment.
And "prey on."
She would never prey on Shirayuki.
Although she had destroyed many things, she was quite gentle with her own belongings.
"Fujiwara Shirayuki..."
She gently swirled the potion in her hand.
"Can she become that Horse Girl, the one with the ultimate speed?"
...
Leaving the lab, Shirayuki returned to her dorm.
Tachyon had told her to cultivate habits different from her original self, but she hadn't given any specific instructions.
As it happened, she had a ready-made theme right here—femininity.
That's right. As long as she made the body of 'Fujiwara Shirayuki' girly enough, she could completely differentiate herself from Chiya.
It might sound strange, but she decided that she would start from scratch and become her ideal perfect woman!
Feeling the ring on her hand, Shirayuki made up her mind.
First, I'll ask Mejiro Dober for advice.
Returning to the dorm and finding her, she explained her purpose.
"Let me get this straight. You want to become... a lady?"
"That's right."
"I think you're fine as you are, Shirayuki. Although McQueen-san says you're rough around the edges, it's okay for you to be that way."
Dober was very fond of this uninhibited child. She had a tomboyish feel. Although her habits were completely at odds with her delicate appearance, after spending a long time with her, there was an inexplicable sense of ease.
They could talk to each other without having to pay attention to anything.
"Dober-senpai, it's mainly that I want to change myself. If I continue to drift along like this, I'm very likely to waste the opportunity the goddess has given me."
"The goddess?"
"Precisely! This body was bestowed by the Three Goddesses!" she said, puffing out her chest proudly.
Dober rubbed her eyebrows.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to learn a little about these things."
"Dober-senpai, didn't your attitude just change a little too quickly?"
"It's your imagination," she coughed a few times. "I can't guarantee that I can help you change, but I will do my best."
"It's fine. In my eyes, you are the embodiment of virtue and elegance, senpai. It would be enough for me to be one-tenth of what you are."
"I'm not that amazing," Dober blushed slightly. "Anyway, come here first. I'll help you comb your hair."
....
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