Friday morning, Rudolph Symboli did not come to the Student Council Room.
She was sick and took a day of sick leave.
Sick leave is not unusual for an Uma Musume, because that's how Uma Musume are; after such high-intensity races, choosing to retire without any injuries or illnesses is impossible.
Therefore, Uma Musume still have regular follow-up checks after retirement.
Also because of racing, even minor ailments would undergo specialized examinations.
So, Rudolph Symboli's leave was not strange.
It's just that, whether it was because they were long accustomed to such sick leave, or because Rudolph Symboli hadn't noticed Tokai Shizen's situation for nearly a year.
It made the two of them overlook a possibility.
Standing at the entrance of the residence, which had been thoroughly confirmed after investigation.
Rudolph Symboli did not intend to force her way in.
She politely pressed the doorbell.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The doorbell rang. Tokai Shizen, who was in the kitchen looking at ingredients and thinking about what to make for Chiyo O's celebration dinner tonight, turned her head towards the door. "Is that Chiaki?"
Because of Representative Chiaki's free-spirited way of doing things, even with Maruzensky constantly keeping an eye on her, it was still difficult to fully grasp when Representative Chiaki would appear at her house.
Precisely because of this, Maruzensky chose to give the spare key to Chiyo O, rather than leaving it in a place Representative Chiaki could access.
But even so, Tokai Shizen now felt at ease walking towards the door.
And, without any observation, she directly opened the door.
Then, she saw the person she hadn't seen in nearly two years.
"Ru, Rudolph, Rudolph Symboli."
All the strength in her body seemed to be drained, and Tokai Shizen directly sat on the floor.
"Tokai, no, Tokai Shizen, long time no see."
Her tone was the same as always.
But that tone made Tokai Shizen feel fear.
If facing the initial Maruzensky, Tokai Shizen was merely scared, then now Tokai Shizen felt true terror.
She knew Rudolph Symboli's power and understood her title in Central, so Tokai Shizen knew that this person in front of her was truly capable of doing anything she wanted to her, and she would have absolutely no ability to resist.
That's why Tokai Shizen reacted this way.
"You have a daughter?"
"..." Tokai Shizen looked up at Rudolph Symboli, then lowered her head slightly again: "...Yes."
Listening to Tokai Shizen's long-delayed words, Rudolph Symboli's gaze merely swept across the entire room.
She saw the stroller she had seen at the racecourse that day.
And all the traces of Tokai Shizen's daily life.
She looked at the room, pondered for a few seconds, then Rudolph Symboli spoke: "It looks like you're doing well?"
A hint of concern flowed in her words.
That day, Rudolph Symboli had only sent Tokai Shizen back; nothing that happened afterward was due to Rudolph Symboli's actions.
Because at that time, the Symbol Family still needed to cooperate with the Tokai Family, Rudolph Symboli merely sent Tokai Shizen back.
But just like celestial bodies.
Even slight fluctuations from an overly massive celestial body can cause operational problems for planets in a galaxy.
Perhaps the outermost planets would be almost unaffected, but as the most closely connected and closest planet to the star, it would inevitably be greatly affected, and precisely because of this, the Tokai Family's actions were so natural.
After all, they were also afraid of taking responsibility.
But the title of Emperor was right there; it would be impossible for the Tokai Family to miss such an opportunity, so the Tokai Family pushed all the problems onto Tokai Shizen.
However, compared to Tokai Shizen's condition, Rudolph Symboli was more concerned about another aspect.
"Her name is Tokai Mochizuki, right?"
"Yes." Without the previous hesitation, this time she was a bit more open, because Tokai Shizen knew that since the other party could say she had a daughter, it meant that the other party had basically investigated everything.
Realizing this, Tokai Shizen had no desire to do anything.
She only hoped the other party would leave quickly, nothing more.
Hearing Tokai Shizen's response, Rudolph Symboli merely looked in the direction of the stairs: "May I go see her?"
The unrefusable question made Tokai Shizen open her mouth.
She wanted to refuse, but... "It's the room upstairs on the left, it's not locked..."
Ignoring Tokai Shizen's subsequent reaction, Rudolph Symboli went straight upstairs. Although Tokai Shizen's situation was sympathetic, Rudolph Symboli wanted to see Tokai Mochizuki more than she felt sympathy.
After quickly walking up to the second floor, she opened the door to the first room on the left.
Then Rudolph Symboli saw a pure white room with almost no decorations.
Although it was white, it was... After glancing at the floor, where she could find almost no dirt, Rudolph Symboli realized that even though Maruzensky allowed her to live here, Tokai Shizen still regarded herself as someone who had been taken in.
After just a glance at the floor, Rudolph Symboli focused her gaze on the bed.
An infant lay on the bed.
Without any hesitation, after taking a few steps forward, the girl saw the baby's face.
Unlike what she had imagined, the baby's condition looked somewhat poor.
The next second, Rudolph Symboli, as if remembering something, turned her head to look at Tokai Shizen.
Tokai Shizen merely lowered her head, facing Rudolph Symboli's gaze.
Seeing Tokai Shizen, Rudolph remembered that Tokai Shizen seemed to be sickly.
And... she probably hadn't rested well during the time she was driven out, so that meant the situation back then led to the current state.
Noticing this, Rudolph Symboli looked at Mochizuki again, then Rudolph Symboli stood up: "I should go."
At this point, Rudolph Symboli paused for a moment, then spoke again: "I won't come again, but I hope you can stay away from Maruzen and Chiaki."
As the Student Council president, currently, before the emergence of a new star, Rudolph Symboli did not want the work of those two to be affected by Tokai Shizen's presence.
Hearing this, Tokai Shizen was stunned for a second.
Tokai Shizen knew Rudolph Symboli's current position, so she also understood that even if Rudolph Symboli only said this and didn't take actual action, someone would help her deal with this matter.
And Chiaki and Maruzen had already helped her a lot.
She didn't want Chiaki and Maruzen to be troubled by this matter.
So... "Yes... I will."
Words against her will came out of Tokai Shizen's mouth, her slightly lowered head preventing Rudolph Symboli from seeing her expression.
Rudolph Symboli didn't care about this; she simply walked past Tokai Shizen and left the room.
Finally, after hearing the door close, Tokai Shizen sat on the floor.
The expression on her face was very sad, but she still endured it.
"At least..."
"At least, there's still some time to cover this up."