Hayakawa Tazuna's condition right now is very bad.
It's been said before: as the Chairwoman's only assistant, her workload was never small to begin with.
And with the flood of new students transferring in, her workload has only been piling higher and higher.
Then, in just these past two weeks, that already-heavy workload stacked together with the mess new transfers brought, then stacked again with the sudden explosion of duties before vacation, and finally stacked once more with her family's endless pressure to marry.
Even though Tazuna's body far surpasses that of a normal Uma Musume, she could no longer withstand this double torment of body and mind. Both physically and mentally, she had already sunk into exhaustion.
Luckily, though these two weeks were hellishly busy, once vacation began, she would only need to push through the work in front of her, and then she could finally breathe a little easier for about a month.
Besides, the Chairwoman had already reported the situation to URA and requested support.
URA replied. Though they couldn't provide any help on the trainer side—though they did promise that when the new term began in October, they would assign someone to assist with paperwork, to share some of Tazuna's crushing load.
But no matter how that sounded, the truth was, with Tazuna in her current state, there was no way she could give her all in the coming incident.
Her own plan had been simple: burn herself out these two weeks, then collapse into proper rest during vacation, body and soul.
But now, after hearing Kitahara Sota's purpose for coming, Tazuna instantly realized—her plans for vacation were already ruined. Her expression grew more and more strained.
It wasn't that she hated overtime. If she truly wanted to slack off, even the Chairwoman herself couldn't have stopped her.
The problem was simply that she was exhausted, utterly. Body and spirit. To keep working like this—she could already feel her strength slipping through her fingers.
Even so, after listening to Kitahara's words, she forced herself to sit upright, bracing her mind, and together with the Chairwoman, the four of them began to discuss how they would face this event.
From the very start of discussion, the four unanimously agreed on one point: they could not call the police.
There were many reasons for this.
Kudou Kazuya wanted to use this as a chance to bait the "buyer." They feared the police's involvement would require endless resources in public relations. They feared a clumsy move would spook the enemy and push them to target weaker places like Tracen itself...
But those were only secondary reasons.
The real reason was simple, the police of this world were... well...
Not exactly strong in ability.
Even in Kitahara's original world, police were always a profession people mocked.
And in this world—where crime rates were already far lower thanks to the Three Goddesses—the police were even more irrelevant, even less capable.
If the police here weren't so useless, Kitahara wouldn't have had to throw himself headlong into Uma Musume hunters, fighting tooth and nail on his own.
Because if he didn't act personally, judging by their efficiency and competence—saving people? Forget it. Arresting? They might scrape by, maybe. But bowing, apologizing, and blurring with mosaics? On that, they were peerless in the world.
So to pin hopes on the police was pointless. Better to rely on Tracen itself.
At least Tracen had plenty of Uma Musume. Even if their experience was lacking, a body three times stronger than a normal human was nothing to laugh at.
Once this was established, the four in the Chairwoman's office moved on to the next step: drafting a preliminary action plan.
And as soon as this step began, the other three all turned their eyes to Kitahara.
This time he didn't dawdle. He immediately asked the Chairwoman for a map of Tracen's surroundings, spread it out, and began drawing.
Though he thought his relationships with his girls were "normal enough," out of precaution he still spent time patrolling the area around Tracen, studying terrain—always ready to grab his bucket and bolt if needed.
And now, while the time to flee hadn't yet come, this scouting was finally paying off.
According to the intel Kudou provided, the enemy planned to move during vacation, when students were scattered, and Tracen's vigilance was relaxed.
Most importantly, the "buyer" had said he only needed the Uma Musume to vanish for three days. After three days, she'd be returned intact.
So then, during vacation, if some lively young Uma Musume went off to play for three days, with no contact to school or home—wasn't that perfectly normal?
Following this line, their targets would most likely be the students still living in the dorms, the ones who hadn't debuted yet.
Those who went home were no good: family would call the police, maybe even alert Tracen and the Three Goddesses.
Those who had debuted—or were preparing to—were also no good: their trainers watched them daily, which again risked alerting Tracen or the Goddesses.
So the only ones left were the undeveloped, low-grade students: not yet debuted, still in school, training only just begun.
These girls, young and without much money, had extremely limited range of activity.
They rarely strayed beyond Tracen's surroundings, and even then only in groups.
So, using this deduction, plus past experience, plus his own knowledge of the local terrain—Kitahara quickly marked seven or eight priority areas on the map, along with twenty secondary zones, and sketched possible enemy routes for entry and retreat.
But even so, he didn't declare, "We'll use my plan."
Instead, he used it as a base and discussed it with the other three. After long exchanges, combining everyone's suggestions, they finally nailed down a concrete, working plan.
Now came the issue of manpower and execution.
Surprisingly—after a long, tangled silence...
Kitahara stood up himself, with a sigh of resignation.
"Um... if you're short on people, I can take Eclipse and help patrol, keep watch a little."
The moment he said this, the other three's expressions changed instantly.
After all this time together, they already knew well his slippery nature: the way he slacked off, the way he was cautious to the bone.
To even help with planning was already giving them face. None of them had expected him to actually join in on-site.
This time, the Chairwoman and Tazuna hadn't even thought to tempt him with salary.
Because patrol and security carried real risk. Even with some fighting ability, Kitahara was human. To throw him into this was inevitably dangerous.
But today he actually volunteered himself into the most dangerous work...
Could it be Agnes Tachyon slipped him some weird potion again?
Thinking this, their gazes on Kitahara grew strange.
As for what Kitahara himself thought...
Honestly, if he had the choice, he would've loved to shove this onto Tazuna and Symboli Rudolf, then curl up in his dorm and rot.
But from past experience, he knew—even if he holed up, Uma Musume hunters had ways of sniffing him out, dragging him in regardless.
Besides, his current financial strain came precisely from buying mountains of random supplies to fulfill his trainer duties: full care kits and ointments for Neccha, proper clothes for their races...
If fighting broke out in his dorm, sure, he had confidence he'd win—but the damage? Who knew how much he'd lose. No race prize or salary could cover that.
So, though unwilling, Kitahara decided he had to strike first, shift the battlefield outside.
At least out there, the security presence was stronger than in his dorm.
Anyway, since sooner or later they were bound to come knocking, he might as well grab hold of the thickest thigh between Hayakawa Tazuna and Symboli Rudolf, let them be the ones doing the wild slashing—while he and Eclipse just sat off to the side going gaga.
And faced with Kitahara Sota's sudden volunteering, even if the other three found it strange,
Considering he was the expert here, with a track record full of these things, they didn't refuse.
And then...
"Tazuna-san, in your condition... are you really sure you can?"
It wasn't just Kitahara. Even Symboli Rudolf and the Chairwoman turned worried eyes toward her.
Under the gaze of the three, Tazuna fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
"I'll do my best."
Truth be told, Tazuna knew her own state wasn't good.
But with something this serious, as Tracen's security captain, she couldn't possibly be absent.
And thinking of that, she suddenly remembered something, turning to Kitahara.
"Um... Trainer Kitahara, since you're Agnes Tachyon's trainer, you wouldn't happen to have any of those stamina-restoring potions on you...?"
"I do."
Kitahara nodded. Then he added:
"But I don't recommend you use them."
It wasn't even out of fear of side effects. Tachyon's energy boosters usually had minimal ones—at most, glowing a little or such.
The real problem was that those tonics, including the ones in his own system, were only surface fixes.
They could cover for a short burst, like topping up during strenuous exercise, or patching fresh injuries.
But long-term use, and you'd end up like Tachyon herself—perfectly fine on the outside, but inside, a body riddled with hidden cracks, the frail physique of an actor.
For someone like Tazuna, yes, she could probably push through with a dose.
But her body was already at its limit. To keep propping herself up with medicine would only carve deeper flaws—and likely worse than Tachyon's own hidden injuries.
Not even potions.
From what Kitahara had observed, years of overwork had already left Tazuna with problems stacked high. Not the kind that simple rest could solve.
The reason he hadn't noticed before was because Tazuna always dressed conservatively, wrapping herself up tight, never moving properly in front of him.
And she'd always covered herself so well—until today, when she finally couldn't hold it in anymore, letting her exhaustion show. Only now did Kitahara get a glimpse of the issues weighing on her.
This was tricky...
If he had a choice, honestly, Kitahara really didn't want to pull out that method.
But staring at Tazuna now, her weariness impossible to hide, eyes bloodshot, looking like she could collapse at any moment...
He couldn't help thinking that if he did nothing, then forget about hugging her thigh, she'd be lucky to even remain standing, let alone keep working. She might very well faint in the middle of duty.
And patrol and security work were dangerous. Even someone as strong as Tazuna, in this state, might get into serious trouble.
So after hesitating for a while, watching her only grow more haggard, Kitahara finally couldn't hold back and spoke.
"Tazuna-san... if you don't mind, I have a bit of knowledge in care work. Maybe I could help adjust and relax your body."
"Eh? Trainer Kitahara, you know nursing?"
Because all his care work was done in private—and though he hadn't forbidden the girls from talking, since they were all "victims," no one had the guts to mention it outside—
Up until now, even Symboli Rudolf had no idea Kitahara was actually skilled at nursing.
Faced with their doubtful eyes, Kitahara went quiet, then answered:
"Yeah. I studied a little before, though I dropped it for a while. Then, since some of the little ones on my team had health problems, I picked it back up again. During training camps I'd sometimes treat them..."
Though he made it sound modest, the three who knew him didn't believe for a second it was "just a little."
As for Tazuna herself—
She had long thought of seeking a top-class caretaker to help condition her body. Now, with Kitahara conveniently skilled in this, of course she wouldn't refuse.
And not only Tazuna. Hearing he could do this, even Rudolf and the Chairwoman showed interest, asking if he could treat her right here in the office, just to test the effect.
But Kitahara shook his head.
"Tazuna-san's situation is too severe. A simple massage won't do. I'll need to use certain other things, and those are only in my dorm. I'll also need to prepare first..."
Saying this, he looked straight at Tazuna, serious.
"So, could I ask you to come to my dorm later tonight?"
"And, if possible—I'd like you to prepare to stay overnight."
"Otherwise... things might get rather troublesome."