Early the next morning.
Kitahara woke from his slumber and began his day as usual.
Dressing, washing up, breakfast...
Nothing unusual happened in between.
Even the strange attractiveness lingering at his fingertips had dissipated overnight, leaving everything normal by morning.
Since that pull was now gone, the other Uma Musume didn't dwell on it much, writing it off as coincidence; after some brief private chatter, they simply moved on.
As for Nice Nature, though she'd received the information from Agnes Digital about Kitahara's True Awakening—
For various reasons, she didn't delve into it. Shortly after Kitahara left to meet Oguri, she also went out, heading straight to the training grounds for her own tasks.
Then, a while later.
After meeting Oguri Cap at their agreed spot, Kitahara escorted her to the racecourse.
Once Oguri was settled at the preparation area, Kitahara went off to the spectator stands.
Originally, due to his own peculiar condition, Kitahara had planned to have a chat with Karai Risa.
But upon reaching the stands—not only was she nowhere nearby, even after a rare proactive glance around the area, Kitahara failed to spot her.
After checking with nearby trainers, Kitahara finally learned that Karai Risa was regularly absent from Tracen Academy at least once every week—and today just happened to be that day, so naturally, she wouldn't show up at the races.
"I see..."
Kitahara nodded, sinking into thought.
If Karai Risa, an official researcher, wasn't here, then to quickly figure out his current issue, he'd have to ask Agnes Tachyon...
But asking Tachyon was, well, hmm...
After mulling it over, Kitahara concluded it would be wiser to wait for Karai Risa to return rather than going directly to Tachyon.
With that settled, Kitahara stopped worrying and turned his attention back to the racetrack, planning to leave immediately after Oguri's race.
However, before Oguri's debut could even begin—
Accompanied by a soft, gentle fragrance, an Uma Musume with an exceptionally curvaceous figure sat down beside him. Her waterfall-like aqua-blue hair cascaded down her back, and her purple eyes gleamed like gemstones.
One of the Mejiro family's esteemed young ladies, Mejiro Ardan.
With his maxed-out vigilance, Kitahara naturally noticed her arrival.
But noticing was one thing—far from greeting her, he subtly shifted in his seat, quietly inching away from her.
He wasn't doing this because he disliked Mejiro Ardan personally; it was simply because he had a healthy fear of the Mejiro family as a whole.
Especially since, not long ago, Kitahara had secretly asked Meisho Doto to deliver a health management regimen to Ardan, something that might help with her fragile physique.
Although he'd specifically told Doto not to reveal who'd sent it—
The problem was, there were very few people in the Academy qualified to even comment on Ardan's condition. Moreover, lately, she'd clearly been paying special attention to him.
Under such circumstances, she might lack solid proof, but she'd certainly have reason to suspect him—and it was entirely possible she'd come to confront him directly.
Just as Kitahara was silently pondering this possibility, Mejiro Ardan spoke first.
"Hello, Trainer Kitahara. I'm Mejiro Ardan. It's a pleasure to meet you."
She greeted him with a gentle smile, her voice soft and soothing.
"...Hello, Ardan-san."
Kitahara responded politely, pausing briefly before continuing.
"Are you here to watch the races as well?"
Mejiro Ardan shook her head calmly.
"No, I'm actually here to see you."
I knew it.
Kitahara's mouth twitched slightly, but he wasn't too flustered.
As he'd thought moments earlier, Ardan might suspect him of sending that health regimen, but without concrete evidence, he could deny everything firmly and feign ignorance to avoid suspicion...
"I heard you're Manhattan Café's trainer, and that you can see—even touch—her 'friend.' Is that true?"
...Excuse me?
Kitahara blinked, momentarily stunned.
He'd fully prepared himself to face Ardan's direct questioning about the regimen; he'd even mentally rehearsed his answers, but instead—
Fortunately, this wasn't a tricky question at all. Although caught off-guard by this unexpected topic, Kitahara quickly recovered and nodded frankly.
"Ah, that's true."
There was no reason to lie about this, so Kitahara admitted it openly.
And it wasn't the first time he'd been asked this question, either.
In fact, his ability to see or even interact with Sunday Silence had become something of an open secret within Tracen Academy. Quite a few curious individuals had come specifically to ask him about it.
But curiosity was one thing; when told explicitly that "ghosts" were indeed real, and that aside from Sunday Silence, other strange phenomena actually existed on campus (mainly according to Café, though strangely Kitahara himself had never personally encountered them)—
The curiosity and excitement on those Uma Musume's faces would vanish at a visible pace. Some even curled their tails in fright.
Seeing Ardan apparently curious as well, Kitahara didn't hold back, freely sharing his experiences.
Normally, Kitahara assumed Mejiro Ardan would react similarly to the others. She might start off intrigued—
But after hearing those detailed descriptions, especially regarding genuinely spooky campus incidents—
Well, even in broad daylight, surrounded by many people at the racecourse, she probably wouldn't tremble outright, but surely she'd feel uneasy.
Yet to Kitahara's surprise, after listening carefully, far from being frightened, Ardan's mood grew visibly more excited.
Although her demeanor remained elegant and poised, the sparkle of enthusiasm in her eyes was impossible to hide after his account of the supernatural.
Seeing her like this, Kitahara suddenly remembered something.
Although it wasn't widely known around campus, he vaguely recalled hearing—back before he'd transmigrated—that Mejiro Ardan was actually quite passionate about paranormal phenomena...
And unlike certain Uma Musume, she wasn't the kind of girl who was "Lord Ye Loving Dragons"—pretending to enjoy something she actually feared deep down. Ardan was genuinely unafraid of such things from the bottom of her heart.
A sudden bad premonition stirred within Kitahara.
Wait, don't tell me that next, she'll—
"In that case, Trainer Kitahara, may I visit you sometime to meet this 'Sunday Silence'?"
Ardan smiled sweetly, eyes brimming with curiosity.
"Of course, you're welcome anytime."
Realizing she wasn't asking to join his team, Kitahara instantly relaxed and agreed without hesitation.
After agreeing to Ardan's request, Kitahara chatted with her for a while longer.
A short time later, just as Oguri Cap's race was about to start, Ardan received some message. Politely excusing herself to Kitahara, she gracefully departed.
Kitahara kept his eyes fixed on her retreating figure, only breathing a sigh of relief after she completely left the stadium.
"So it was about ghosts, after all..."
He muttered quietly to himself, sinking comfortably into his seat and gradually relaxing as Oguri stepped onto the track.
It was just that he didn't know, even as his expression gradually relaxed, Mejiro Ardan was strolling leisurely outside the stadium, eyes fixed on the video playing on her phone.
Or rather, the security footage.
In theory, students didn't have the authority to access Tracen Academy's surveillance recordings.
But as one of the Mejiro family's prized daughters—especially given that the Mejiro family practically controlled the area around Tracen—it was no big deal for Ardan to expend a little effort to retrieve a few days' worth of footage.
And as for exactly which days she'd retrieved…
Did that even need saying?
Although, since the regimen had been passed along indoors, there wasn't explicit footage of Meisho Doto directly receiving the documents from Kitahara.
But what the footage clearly showed was that when Meisho Doto entered the room, her hands had been completely empty.
When she exited, she was holding a suspiciously familiar file.
Never mind Mejiro Ardan—even Sakura Chiyono O would've instantly understood who gave Doto those papers.
Yet Mejiro Ardan had no intention of openly confronting Kitahara.
Unlike most Uma Musume, due to poor health since childhood, Ardan's personality matured early, and she understood far more than her peers.
Thus, she clearly grasped Kitahara's caution—aware that he was probably afraid that, should his attempt to help her fail, he might come under pressure from the Mejiro family. Hence, he'd used this discreet approach.
As for why she'd gone to the trouble of uncovering the sender of this regimen—it wasn't as if she planned to do anything.
She knew her own condition better than anyone. The entire Mejiro family had already invested huge amounts of resources into treatments for her.
Yet, up until now, they'd barely managed to sustain her at the minimal level necessary to handle basic training, allowing her just to remain on the track.
For someone to craft such a detailed regimen for her, they had to fully understand the gravity of her situation.
Moreover, she had no relationship with him at all. It wouldn't even be exaggerating to call them complete strangers who've never even spoken once.
But even under these conditions, he still took the risk and spent considerable effort preparing that detailed regimen specifically tailored to her.
Even if the regimen had ultimately been ineffective, the kindness alone was enough to win her genuine respect.
And, after actually trying the plan—even though it had only been a short while—Ardan discovered the effects were even better than those prescribed by the expensive doctors the Mejiro family had invited.
While it hadn't completely resolved her chronic problems—indeed, the improvements probably wouldn't mean much to the average Uma Musume—
For Mejiro Ardan, this already exceeded all her expectations.
Yet, even so, she had no intention of forcing Kitahara to dedicate himself to improving her health—nor did she even privately consider asking.
It wasn't that she didn't desire better health, but rather, she believed some things mattered far more than merely fixing her condition.
Up until now, Kitahara had no real connection to her.
At most, the attention had been one-sided: occasionally, she'd quietly observe him, intrigued by his growing reputation and his peculiar team.
Not only did Kitahara owe her nothing, he'd actually gone out of his way to help her selflessly. Strictly speaking, she owed him quite a bit instead.
Under these circumstances, far from making further demands, the reason she had retrieved the surveillance footage was purely to identify precisely who had provided this regimen and find some suitable way to repay him.
As for anything beyond that—lacking sufficient information—she could only proceed step by step.
But refraining from forcing others to help her did not mean Ardan had given up on the idea of having Kitahara assist in improving her health.
On the contrary, upon discovering that it was Kitahara who'd prepared that regimen—and that he also had a deep interest in paranormal phenomena—her inner desire grew even stronger.
Choosing not to pressure didn't mean she intended to abandon her goal.
Staring quietly at the man on her phone's screen, Mejiro Ardan remained silent for a while, then gently traced his cheek with her fingertip, before calmly putting the phone away and heading outside.
She might just have to change her approach a bit, that was all.
...
Meanwhile—while Mejiro Ardan was making her move, Oguri Cap's race had concluded.
Since it was only her debut, naturally Oguri won without suspense.
And after victory, the eerie, now-standard scene unfolded again—absolutely no one came to celebrate, as though this had become the trademark of Kitahara's team.
After the race, Kitahara brought Oguri Cap back to their temporary clubroom. While helping her relax after the run, he casually asked what reward she'd like.
Reward…
When Oguri heard that word, her very first instinct was to seize the opportunity to "eat" Kitahara-san a bit.
Unfortunately, given the current situation, she couldn't think of any legitimate excuse to "eat" him, so she reluctantly dropped the idea.
As for going out for a delicious meal, Oguri thought about it briefly but quickly decided against that too.
She knew her appetite well enough: an expensive restaurant would bankrupt Kitahara-san in a single sitting, while anything cheaper might taste even worse than Tracen's cafeteria food.
But excluding these two options, Oguri truly couldn't think of another reward she wanted.
Seeing her stuck in indecision, Kitahara didn't rush her. After finishing the post-race care, he let her sit quietly and ponder the issue at her own pace, seating himself across from her and intending to wait patiently until she figured it out.
Originally, Kitahara planned to pull out his phone and kill some time while waiting.
But halfway to retrieving it, he reconsidered, gazing thoughtfully at his own hands, and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He figured it was better to take this chance to further explore the mysterious phenomena from yesterday.
As for that particular power that boosted his "attractiveness," now that he'd figured out its source and effects clearly enough, Kitahara didn't intend to mess with it any further.
That left only the soft purplish-pink glow.
Though Kitahara strongly suspected this particular glow might just be an aftereffect of ingesting too much of Tachyon's luminous potion, effectively turning himself into a glow-stick.
Because in earlier tests, he hadn't noticed this glow conferring any practical benefit at all.
Even when activating it, he hadn't become stronger, faster, or anything—it really seemed to be merely a visual effect.
But even if it was just an effect, that seemed quite handy. Next time he entered something like a mirror maze, he'd no longer need to rely on Tachyon's glowing potions; he could simply glow himself, greatly improving convenience…
With all these scattered thoughts drifting through his mind, Kitahara closed his eyes, focusing his attention once more, carefully guiding out that mysterious energy bit by bit.
Thanks to his previous experiences, this attempt came far more naturally, and the effect improved significantly—not just at his fingertips, but now spreading across his entire palm, enveloping it with a soft, captivating glow.
Looks pretty good, actually…
Opening his eyes again, Kitahara silently marveled for a moment.
Then, glancing toward Oguri Cap, he prepared to ask if she'd decided on her reward yet.
But just as he lifted his head, he discovered that Oguri, at some point, had also raised her head and was now staring intently—unblinkingly—at his softly glowing purplish-pink palm.
Seeing her expression, Kitahara gave a slightly embarrassed cough and hurriedly began to explain.
"Ah, Oguri, this is—"
Bang—
His words came to an abrupt halt.
---
T/N: was gonna update earlier but got lazy, so im just doing 4 chapters for today's update, should be an update tomorrow too maybe 4 maybe not
Hello. I'm Enkidu.
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