“Umm, let’s head back for today.
See you tomorrow.”
“Alright, we’ll head back first.”
Seeing the two obedient little horse girls leave, Akira didn’t say anything more.
What was coming next was his own problem, it had nothing to do with these kids.
But how did things end up like this?
This was the one thing Akira was completely baffled about.
Tracen Academy wasn’t some incredibly free spirited, relaxed academy like people might imagine.
Because of that, he hadn’t actually spent that much time with Orfevre and Deep Impact.
In reality, they were just bottom tier horse girls that no one paid attention to, so they secretly talked to Akira and did what they called “start up training” in the woods.
Normally, for official Uma Musume, even going outside for a break required their Trainer’s permission.
If they didn’t have a dedicated Trainer, they had to notify an instructor.
Even simple outings required passing academic classes first.
Because of these strict considerations, Akira firmly believed the chances of his secret plan being exposed were extremely low.
That was the only reason he had the courage to contact them in the first place.
But what no one could have predicted was that on that rainy day, a naked Mr.
C.B.
had actually been crouching in the back of that very shelter.
And as if that wasn’t enough, while he was hiding from the horse girls and doing cleanup duty around the school, he overheard other staff members gossiping.
He learned that during the morning mock race, the entire Student Council had basically ignored the live event happening right in front of them.
Why?
According to the widely circulated rumors among the staff, Mr.
C.B.
had run off again, and the Student Council had decided to go look for her.
That led the Emperor to search the woods, where she ultimately discovered his secret training spot.
Some Trainers claimed that the Triple Crown horse girls only acted because they sensed a powerful aura emanating from the woods, but Akira dismissed that as utter nonsense.
He knew about ‘Domains’ and ‘Auras’, but the woods were kilometers away from the arena—sensing something from that far away sounded completely unrealistic.
Besides, Orfevre and Deep Impact were just starting out as bottom tier horse girls.
Even if they possessed infinite potential, it was impossible for anyone to sense them that quickly.
All of this was just a massive coincidence and his own terrible luck.
(…I really have the worst luck.)
But the real problem was: if he lost his job here, where would he go?
Dragging his exhausted body after finishing his shift at Tracen Academy, Akira walked to the staff dormitory and opened his door.
This dorm was considered part of the welfare benefits for Tracen Academy staff.
After all, if there was one thing Tracen had an abundance of, it was land.
So even the janitors were given very decent, single room apartments.
The room was a bit small, but it had everything he needed.
The towering piles of books and notes were proof of the sweat and effort Akira had poured into his studies.
But if an investigation really happened, losing his job would be the least of his worries.
What would happen to all these restricted, internal academy books…?
Staring at the books on his desk, Akira frowned and fell into deep thought.
But right at that moment, footsteps suddenly echoed from the hallway outside his door.
They weren’t heavy, but they carried a certain confident rhythm.
It sounded exactly like a supremely confident Emperor inspecting her territory.
The footsteps stopped right in front of Akira’s door.
Two seconds later, there were three polite knocks, followed by a voice Akira never dreamed he would hear here.
“Good evening, Kato Akira-san.
May I come in and sit for a moment?”
“And what if I say no?”
“You really do love making jokes, don’t you?”
“…Then I will respectfully comply, Rudolf-san.”
Suppressing the negative emotions swirling in his heart, Akira stared at the charming high school girl standing outside his door and forced a smile.
The Triple Crown Uma Musume, standing outside a male staff member’s door in the evening—a headline like that would definitely make the front page of the tabloids.
However, looking at the politely smiling Symboli Rudolf, Akira didn’t feel a single trace of romance.
She wasn’t wearing her usual casual clothes or the standard Tracen uniform with white stockings.
Instead, she wore a dress with black stockings that perfectly hugged her legs, accentuating her slender, imposing figure.
This Rudolf was absolutely nothing like the gentle woman from the games.
If anything, she felt more like the version of her from the spin off manga—a woman brimming with fierce aggression, fully capable of using intimidation and allure to trap the horse girls she favored, forcing others to make the choices she wanted.
Her seemingly slender, delicate legs hidden beneath those black stockings contained an almost explosive, terrifying power.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
Taking off her student boots, Rudolf calmly picked out a pair of slippers from the shoe rack, put them on, and naturally walked into the room.
Her slender legs, wrapped in black stockings, swayed gracefully.
It was hard to imagine that such long, perfectly straight legs were meant for fiercely tearing across the turf.
Akira could hardly believe that Symboli Rudolf was currently sitting cross legged on the only stool in his room, staring right at him.
Looking at the man in front of her, Rudolf suddenly asked.
“Well, there isn’t a Trainer alive who wouldn’t be interested.
After all, you are the Emperor—anyone dreaming of becoming a Trainer would care about those legs.”
“That is true.
In that case, you should already know why I came to see you, right?”
Sitting cross legged on the chair, Rudolf propped her cheek on one hand.
Calm and indifferent, she stared at Akira, who was standing there looking somewhat anxious.
“Let us speak frankly, Kato Akira-san.
Regarding the two Uma Musume who appeared in the woods…
you’ve already broken the academy’s staff contact regulations, haven’t you?”
“…Yes.”
There was no point in dodging the question.
He had already been called out by Mr.
C.B., and the fact that the Emperor was here now meant she possessed absolute information.
At this point, figuring out who was at fault didn’t matter anymore.
What mattered was presenting a result.
And this result had to be Akira confessing everything himself.
“I violated the Uma Musume contact regulations.”
“Then I will not waste time on pleasantries.
Kato Akira-san.
Tell me, who are those two children?”
“…”
“Who are they?”
“Are you going to defy my orders?”
Standing up slowly, Symboli Rudolf’s aggressive, commanding eyes locked onto Akira, who was trying to avert his gaze.
Her momentum and tone were absolute and incredibly oppressive.
Under such overwhelming authority, even someone older than her could only feel instinctive fear.
Just as the distance between the two of them gradually shrank and the aura in the room grew suffocatingly dense, a voice suddenly rang out from outside the window, completely shattering the heavy atmosphere.
“Yoohoo~ Akira!
I’m here~”
“Mr.
C.B.?!” x2
Staring at the smiling horse girl knocking on the window glass, the two people in the room couldn’t help but gasp in shock at the exact same time.