“Hmm…”
At nine in the morning, the homeroom teachers began leading their students into the academy’s grand auditorium.
The welcome ceremony for the new students was about to begin.
As a member of the support staff, Kazuomi stood behind the stage curtain and cautiously peered into the audience.
His gaze wandered among the girls chatting below.
Finding one particular person among hundreds of students wearing identical academy uniforms was far from easy.
Nearly five hundred Uma Musume had enrolled this year.
At present, Kazuomi wanted only to find the girl named Creek whom he had met earlier.
“Where could she be?”
What Kazuomi failed to notice was the figure that had silently appeared behind him.
“What are you looking at?”
“Mm… I’m trying to find a girl.
I wonder which class she’s in.”
“Oh?
You’ve already chosen a target?
You’re not to be underestimated.”
“That isn’t it.
I only want to find her and say thank you.”
“I see.
Still, judging from what I can see from here, the quality of this year’s students seems rather high.”
“Mm…?”
Kazuomi answered absentmindedly.
Gradually, however, he realized something was wrong.
Who had been speaking to him this entire time?
And why did it feel as though something were hovering directly above his head?
He slowly turned around.
A dark-skinned man met him with a frivolous grin.
“Yo, newbie!”
Kazuomi jolted.
“Senior Okino!”
At some point, Koji had arrived at the venue.
He looked completely different from the drunken disaster of the previous night.
Now he carried himself with a casual, carefree air.
Seeing Kazuomi’s surprise, he laughed with the satisfaction of someone whose prank had succeeded.
“Ha ha!
Seems I caused you a little trouble last night, huh?”
A little trouble?
The man standing before him had completely destroyed Kazuomi’s morning without displaying the slightest awareness of it.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t required to attend today’s entrance ceremony?”
Kazuomi delivered the question with pointed significance.
“Ha ha.
That is true.
But I had nothing to do lying around the dormitory, so I decided to stop by and see how things were going.”
Looking at Koji’s shameless expression, Kazuomi found himself unable to remain angry.
Although he had plenty of complaints, there was no point holding a grudge against a senior who did not appear malicious at heart.
“I suppose that’s the burden of being the junior.”
“Hey, no need to be so distant.”
Koji threw an arm around Kazuomi’s shoulders.
“You don’t have to call me ‘Senior.’ It makes me feel old.
Just call me Koji.
And if you don’t mind, I’ll call you Kazuomi.”
Koji was so naturally familiar that Kazuomi could only accept it.
“Great!
Now, Kazuomi, back to the previous subject.
Which Uma Musume has caught your eye?”
The atmosphere changed instantly.
With Koji’s arm around his shoulders and his voice lowered conspiratorially, the two resembled boys preparing to trade dirty jokes while judging girls in private.
Kazuomi felt trouble approaching from every direction.
“There’s really nothing like that!
I was only curious about her!”
He had folded Creek’s handkerchief neatly and placed it with great care inside his jacket.
“It’s good to have someone in mind, but sometimes you need courage.
If you hesitate too long, someone else may claim her first.”
Koji was not entirely wrong.
During the first six months after enrollment, the new students would gradually select their trainers.
From Koji’s perspective, Kazuomi’s hesitation might cause him to miss his opportunity.
Of course, Kazuomi still had numerous other obstacles standing in his way.
“It’s not what you’re imagining.”
Kazuomi muttered in displeasure.
“Forget it.
I’ll surely meet her again eventually.
I can thank her then.”
“Oho.”
Men acting like gossiping old women were truly unbearable.
“Well, never mind that.
I had a quick look around earlier.
The Uma Musume in this year’s intake seem excellent in every respect.
It’s enough to make a man excited.”
Koji stopped asking whom Kazuomi was searching for.
Instead, he redirected the conversation toward an even more dangerous subject.
This man is dangerous.
“By the way, Kazuomi, what do you like most about Uma Musume?”
“Huh?
Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“Don’t worry about it.
I merely want to confirm something.”
Pressed by some invisible force, Kazuomi answered honestly.
“I suppose it would be the way they run.”
Koji’s eyes immediately lit up.
“You really are my sworn brother!”
“What?
Since when were we sworn brothers?
We only met last night!”
Kazuomi continued firing back at full intensity.
“You like their thighs too, don’t you?
Right?
Right?”
“What?
No!
How did we get onto that?
That obviously wasn’t what I meant!”
“Flexibility!
Muscle composition!
A large part of an Uma Musume’s natural ability is determined by her legs.
As the saying goes, where there’s a thick Uma Musume, there’s a way—”
Koji forcibly pulled Kazuomi closer to look at the girls below.
The students’ uniform skirts reached only to the knee.
Now that they were seated, countless pairs of thighs were exposed before the two men.
Kazuomi had possessed no such intention at first.
Yet under Koji’s corrupting guidance, the conversation gradually veered off course.
His gaze began drifting downward as well.
“Judging from this year’s freshmen, those thighs must feel incredible.
Ah, I want to give them a squeeze!”
As Koji spoke, both hands repeatedly kneaded an imaginary target in the air.
“Just imagine it.
Amazing, right?
Amazing?”
He was practically panting.
Was it truly acceptable for a senior like this to work at the academy?
However—
To be completely honest…
“They do look… rather impressive.”
Their agreement lasted fewer than three seconds.
“You two…”
A murderous presence suddenly emerged behind them.
Hana Tojo stood there like a wrathful demon, looking at them as though they were insects—or perhaps inferior carbon-based life-forms.
Her killing intent seemed almost tangible.
“Get out of this auditorium!
Both of you!”