Time returned to the present.
Kitahara brought Rice Shower to a corner of the training grounds, and the two sat facing each other.
Kitahara's expression was calm as he thought about how to begin the conversation. Rice Shower, meanwhile, sat quietly across from him with her head lowered, obvious unease written across her face.
Several years had already passed since that night. The URA files also carried a note suspecting that Kitahara had personally dealt with those people, and no suspicion had ever fallen on the still-young Umamusume at his side.
But only the two people directly involved knew the truth of what had happened that night—what, exactly, had occurred in that blood-soaked darkness.
And from that day onward, there were two children named Rice Shower.
One of them was much like the Rice Shower from before she met Kitahara: timid, cowardly, meek, prone to blaming herself, as if everything Kitahara had taught her before, and all the improvement in her personality, had vanished overnight.
But the other "Rice Shower" was almost her complete opposite.
She was confident, bright, and no matter when, where, or what was happening, she always wore that sunny, cheerful smile on her face—almost exactly like the version of her Kitahara had once said he wished to see.
Only in some respects, she seemed to have gone just a little beyond what Kitahara had hoped for.
But that wasn't the issue right now.
Looking at Rice Shower sitting before him with her head lowered, looking somewhat lost and awkward, confusion gradually rose in Kitahara's eyes.
Strange. He remembered Rice Shower not being this scared of him before...
While the Rice Shower he had known in the past had certainly been shy and reserved, after they'd spent enough time together, even if she still acted timid around him, she had never been so uneasy or panicked.
On the contrary, back then, whenever something happened that made her uneasy or frightened, she would instead move closer to him, and once she was by his side, her tension would visibly ease.
And it wasn't just back then, either. During the year since he had come to Tracen, even though he had never deliberately sought her out, there had still been the occasional chance encounter.
For reasons he didn't know, Rice Shower had always only watched him from afar, never coming over to greet him, and even when he tried approaching her himself, she would leave in advance.
But even then, Kitahara had noticed her expression, and never once had he seen this kind of unease or panic in her eyes, let alone the way she was acting today.
Maybe it was because this time, they were finally speaking face-to-face?
That was what Kitahara thought, though the faint sense of dissonance in his heart still remained.
Still, whatever the reason for her behavior, one thing was certain: in her current state, there was no way they could have a proper conversation.
So, in order to ease her nerves, Kitahara didn't ask her anything directly. Instead, he started with small talk.
"How long has it been since we last sat down like this and talked face-to-face? A few years, at least, right? Before I knew it, you'd grown up this much..."
"I remember back then, you said you wanted to become an outstanding racehorse girl. I asked whether that meant aiming for Tracen Main Campus, and you answered me, 'That's impossible,' 'There's no way someone like me could do it'..."
"But look at you now. You're here. You made it here through your own efforts. There's no better proof than that..."
"Oh, right—I ran into Doto before, too. She brought you up as well. She said your grades at the academy were very good. I went and checked later, and they really are..."
"Come to think of it, when did you and Doto get to know each other? From the way she talked, it sounds like the two of you are pretty close..."
Kitahara rambled on about all the little things they had talked about or gone through in the past, occasionally mixing in some present-day trivialities too, trying to help Rice Shower relax that way.
But strangely enough, the more he talked, the lower Rice Shower's head sank.
He couldn't see her expression clearly, but from her body language alone, it was obvious that she wasn't doing well, as though she were enduring something.
"...What's wrong? Are you not feeling well somewhere?"
Kitahara noticed something was off.
At his question, Rice Shower's body stiffened. Then, with her head still lowered, she seemed to mutter something to herself.
And after that murmur, for reasons unknown, that sense of strain gradually began to ease. Rice Shower slowly raised her head, her face still tinged with a faint blush that had yet to fade.
"I... I'm fine."
Even though she said that, Kitahara still checked her over just in case, and after repeatedly telling her to let him know at once if anything felt wrong, he returned to the previous topic.
And this time, whether because what he had said earlier had helped, or because of whatever Rice Shower had done while keeping her head down—in any case, once they resumed talking, she was much better than before. The unease and panic in her eyes faded by more than half, and every now and then she even picked up his conversational cues. The atmosphere between them gradually grew more relaxed.
And once Kitahara saw that Rice Shower had finally calmed down, he decided it was time to get to the real point.
"Rice Shower, are you getting used to life here?"
"At first... I wasn't really used to it, but by now, pretty much..."
"Then... what about 'her'? Has 'she' gotten used to life here too?"
Kitahara never said who "she" was, but the instant he asked, Rice Shower immediately understood who he meant.
A trace of unease and panic surfaced in her eyes again, but thinking back to what had been discussed while she had her head lowered earlier, after a brief moment of panic, Rice Shower still managed to steady herself. Tugging at the hem of her clothes, she spoke in as normal a voice as she could manage.
"She... doesn't really like life here. She says it's kind of boring."
"I see..."
Kitahara nodded. After a pause, he continued.
"Then is she doing all right now? Does she still come out to 'get some air' a lot like she used to?"
"...She hardly comes out anymore."
After a moment of silence, Rice Shower went on.
"Ever since Onii-sama left, she's hardly come out. Especially after entering the academy, she's basically never come out to 'get some air' at all. No one else, including Karai-san, knows she exists either..."
So none of them know...
Kitahara nodded, not especially surprised by that answer.
Because years ago, through observation, he had already discovered something.
Though he didn't know the reason, whenever he wasn't by Rice Shower's side, the probability and frequency of that other "Rice Shower" appearing would both drop sharply. And even when she did appear, the extent of her more outrageous behavior would be relatively mild.
Originally, the main reason Kitahara had wanted to talk to Rice Shower was to ask whether that other personality had been behaving herself—whether she had caused Rice Shower any trouble, or done anything problematic.
And now, after a simple exchange and confirming that Rice Shower herself was in decent shape and that the other personality had also been relatively quiet, Kitahara finally let out the breath he had been holding.
And after seeing him relax on his end, Rice Shower hesitated for a moment, then spoke timidly.
"Um, Onii-sama... I'm sorry..."
"What is it?"
Kitahara looked at her in confusion.
"Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?"
"Um, I didn't mean to avoid you, and it's not like I never thought about asking you to be my Trainer, but... but..."
Before Rice Shower could finish, a hand came down onto her hair.
"Mhm. You don't need to explain. I know."
Kitahara looked at her and smiled.
"I know you still think you'll bring bad luck and don't want to cause me trouble..."
"But you know this too—I've never once disliked you. And even now, I still firmly believe that you're my little lucky star."
After a pause, he looked at Rice Shower and continued.
"But since you chose Karai-san as your Trainer, then I trust your judgment too. You don't need to blame yourself over that. If you run into any problems in the future—especially the kind Karai-san can't handle—you can come find me too."
"I'll always be here."
Feeling that familiar touch on her head, hearing those words at her ear, Rice Shower felt as though she had gone back several years, to when the two of them had still been together. Her gaze gradually began to blur.
"Onii-sama..."
Her emotions swelled, her awareness blurred, and something buried deep in her heart—something that had always been trying its best to keep itself restrained—began, under Kitahara's coaxing, to rise uncontrollably toward the surface.
No. Not yet. Just endure a little longer. Just a little longer...
Something whispered within Rice Shower.
But unfortunately, even though she was already doing everything she could to suppress it, no matter how hard she tried, as her emotions swelled, certain impulses only intensified, and the corners of her lips began to rise involuntarily.
Because Rice Shower had shyly lowered her head while they were talking, and because she had seemed fine just now during the conversation, Kitahara failed to notice what was happening with her. He simply kept rubbing her head while quietly saying more things meant to comfort her.
But just as something was about to reach its breaking point, just as "Rice Shower" was on the verge of losing control—
Ore no aiba ga—
"Sorry, I need to take this."
The sudden ringtone cut off Kitahara's words and gave Rice Shower a chance to breathe.
And after answering the call, Kitahara raised a brow as he recalled what had been said on the other end, then looked at Rice Shower and spoke apologetically.
"Sorry, Rice Shower. Something's come up on my end, so I need to head off for a bit."
"...Okay."
Rice Shower kept her head lowered, her expression hidden beneath her hair.
Seeing that she had agreed, Kitahara didn't hesitate any further. After giving her a few final reminders and telling her once more that she could come find him any time she ran into trouble, he left with his phone in hand.
And after he was gone, Rice Shower did not leave immediately. Instead, after confirming that his back had completely disappeared from view, she slowly raised her head, folded her hands together, and gazed in the direction he had gone, a smile as radiant as sunlight spreading across her face.
"So he still remembers us. He's always remembered us, and he's still been worrying about us the whole time..."
"Forget you—even I got startled when he first showed up. I thought he'd somehow found out about the plan. But looking at it now, apparently he still hasn't..."
"Once you've calmed down later, get in touch with Doto again and tell her not to run into Onii-sama anytime soon. With how careless she is, I think she might let something slip and make Onii-sama notice something's off..."
"As for when we'll make our move? Let's tentatively set it for the day after Valentine's Day. By then, the women around him will have just finished one round of competing over him, so their attention should be focused on each other, and they'll be sloppier than usual..."
"Don't worry, I've already arranged all the conditions. I booked the Warehouse a full month in advance—an entire day. As long as we can get him there, then no matter what happens, no one will know..."
"Will he come to hate us for this? Mm, thinking about it carefully, with his personality, he probably wouldn't like this sort of thing. He might even hate us..."
She closed her eyes. Recalling the information she had obtained earlier from Meisho Doto, a black dagger had somehow appeared in her hand, and she played with it deftly, back and forth, a strange gleam entering her eyes.
"But didn't we decide this a long time ago? We can't keep causing him trouble forever. We can't keep relying on him forever. We have to do everything we can to help him and protect him... no matter what form that takes."
"His True Awakening is about to begin. It may even have already begun. We don't have any more time to hesitate."
"And besides..."
The dagger left its sheath and turned in her hand. Reflected in the dark blade was a face with a strangely twisted expression—half radiant smile, half timid weakness—as though a sharp dagger had split it cleanly down the middle.
Looking at the image on the blade, she ran her finger lightly over that half-timid face, and an odd excitement entered her voice.
"The truth is, you want that too, don't you?"
"Otherwise, why would you be willing to go along with my plan?"
"What do you think?"
"Rice Shower."
...
Elsewhere.
Not long after leaving Rice Shower, Kitahara arrived at a certain mad scientist's laboratory. After pushing the door open and entering, he found Tazuna Hayakawa with a face dark as the bottom of a pot, and Agnes Tachyon kneeling primly on a chair with an obedient look on her face.
"What stunt did she pull this time?"
Kitahara looked toward Tazuna Hayakawa.
Tazuna Hayakawa cast Agnes Tachyon a long, meaningful glance. After a moment of silence, she slowly said,
"You should let her explain it herself."
Kitahara turned his gaze toward Agnes Tachyon, who was off to the side trying her best to reduce her own presence. She kept it up for a bit, realized it wasn't doing a damn thing, and finally gave a sheepish laugh before speaking.
"It's actually not that big a deal. I just accidentally knocked over two bottles of potion when I went to the cooking room today..."
"What kind of potion?"
"Truth Serum MK2. An upgraded version of the one you used before. Its effect is to make people unable to lie for a period of time. It's a new drug I recently developed..."
Hiss...
Just hearing that effect made Kitahara suck in a sharp breath.
Good lord. If that thing ever hit the market, Tracen's record for highest Trainer disappearance rate would probably get broken all over again.
But...
"If you just knocked over the potion, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Kitahara looked confused.
The effect of the drug was certainly absurd, but if it was only spilled, it shouldn't have caused any real issue, should it?
"Spilling it wouldn't have mattered, no..."
Agnes Tachyon had originally wanted to gloss it over, but after glancing at Tazuna Hayakawa's thunderous expression, she wisely chose to tell the truth instead.
"But there happened to be a water purifier by the counter at the time, and when I knocked the potion over, I accidentally spilled it into the purifier. And the water from that purifier was one of the ingredients used for making chocolate, so..."
After a pause, Agnes Tachyon gave two dry little laughs.
"By the time I realized what had happened, the bottles were already empty. I did try to persuade everyone not to use that water anymore, but it seems like that had the opposite effect..."
After hearing her explanation, the corner of Kitahara's mouth twitched.
"You mean that whole batch of chocolate has a truth-inducing effect now?"
"No."
At Tachyon's denial, Kitahara let out a breath of relief.
But in the very next second, Agnes Tachyon spoke again.
"After that, the Umamusume who hadn't gotten any of the water heard about it, surrounded me, pooled their money together, bought all the remaining Truth Serum MK2 I had on hand, and mixed it into several more fresh buckets of truth water."
"If they don't waste any of it, those buckets should be enough to supply more than ninety percent of all the chocolate made in the academy."
"So no, it isn't that batch of chocolate that has a truth-inducing effect."
"It's that almost every piece of chocolate coming out of the cooking rooms has a truth-inducing effect."
---
T/N: OOF
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