Sunday Silence was still dazedly feeling the warmth of the large hand against her chest at first, but she quickly sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
She turned her head, and her gaze met the complicated looks in Yayoi's and Rudolf's eyes.
Faced with this mortifying scene, she did not shrink back.
Instead, she raised an eyebrow and looked the two of them over suspiciously before asking, "What? Can you see me now?"
After receiving an affirmative answer, she finally confirmed that she had truly broken free of her kamigakushi state.
Looking at the "black-haired octopus" still clinging tightly to Kuroha, Rudolf, who stood nearby, felt a vein at her temple twitch for no clear reason.
Something about it made her feel uncomfortable.
"Sunday Silence-san, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
After thinking for a moment, she strode forward, reached out, grabbed Sunday Silence under the arms, and lifted her down.
"Let go!"
Forced to land without warning, Sunday Silence instantly bristled. She turned around and bared her little fangs at Rudolf.
...This child seemed to have a rather poor temperament.
Kuroha and Rudolf exchanged a helpless glance.
"All right! Stop messing around."
The moment Kuroha finished speaking, Sunday Silence, who had been baring her claws and fangs a second earlier, instantly retracted them and strangely quieted down.
"Shizu!"
Yayoi rushed over excitedly, both hands poking and squeezing Sunday Silence's body to confirm the sensation.
"I thought something had happened to you. How did you end up like this?"
"...I don't know either."
Suddenly subjected to such enthusiastic "manhandling," Sunday Silence looked extremely unused to it, her brows nearly knitting together.
But faced with such sincere goodwill, she could not bring herself to hiss outright.
Left with no choice, she stiffly endured Yayoi's movements.
At the same time, she reached out.
She grabbed the little cat that had been calmly lying on Yayoi's head and watching the show, then rubbed it hard a couple of times.
The little cat immediately let out a string of protesting meows.
However, the good times did not last long.
As Sunday Silence continued interacting with them and repeatedly made physical contact with the outside world, Kuroha keenly noticed something.
The outline of her once-solid body had suddenly grown a little fainter.
"So that's how it is..."
Kuroha frowned slightly and thought to himself, "It looks like her current form of existence is roughly the same as Godolphin and the others."
"Except theirs are purely projections of the tiniest fragment of will, while Sunday Silence's soul and body have both become like this."
"Huh?! Why is Shizu's body turning transparent?"
Yayoi noticed the change as well and was so frightened that she immediately stopped moving her hands.
"My method only temporarily restored her to normal. It is not a permanent solution," Kuroha explained.
Yayoi asked worriedly, "Then is she going to disappear right away?"
"Er, not quite."
He paused, quickly calculating in his mind the rate at which the Power of Blessing he had previously infused into Godolphin had been consumed.
After a moment of thought, he added, "Based on the current rate of consumption, if she keeps interacting with the outside world like this, then seven days..."
"Mm... probably around two to three days, and she'll turn back into her kamigakushi state again."
He had originally wanted to say seven days.
But after realizing that the power inside Sunday Silence was dissipating much faster than it had with the Three Goddesses, he decisively changed his answer.
"Th-Then what do we do?!"
Yayoi was so anxious that she nearly started spinning in circles.
By comparison, Sunday Silence, the person involved, looked completely indifferent. She curled her lips faintly and said, "Three days is three days. Doesn't matter."
Rudolf, however, noticed the blind spot.
She hesitated for a moment, then quietly leaned close to Kuroha's ear and lowered her voice. "That was your Blessing just now, wasn't it? If you use it on her, does it have a cooldown?"
Kuroha froze for a moment, then shook his head.
"Not really."
Then he walked forward two steps and, under the three Uma Musume's varying gazes, proposed a compromise.
"How about this, Chairwoman Yayoi? For the time being, let Sunday Silence stay by my side. I'll help her temporarily stabilize her kamigakushi state."
"After the Satsuki expedition ends, I'll find Godolphin and the others and study how to restore her completely. Is that all right?"
For that final "is that all right," Kuroha turned to Sunday Silence and asked gently.
"Stay with you for now..."
"Right. Otherwise, there's no way I can come here often enough to help stabilize your condition."
"...Let me think."
Yayoi pinched her chin and was just about to carefully consider the proposal.
But before she could finish thinking, Sunday Silence suddenly stared straight at Kuroha and blurted out, "Then from now on, are you my new Trainer?"
"..."
How did taking care of you for a while turn into me becoming your Trainer...?
Kuroha could not help silently ridiculing Sunday Silence's leaps in logic.
But when he looked at the black-haired girl before him, at those red eyes shining brilliantly beneath the lights, he found that he could not bring himself to refuse.
He paused, then ultimately nodded.
"If you're willing, you can call me Trainer."
"Fine!"
Her bangs suddenly lifted, revealing an exquisitely beautiful face.
Sunday Silence gave a soft laugh. Then she obediently stood up straight and bowed deeply to Kuroha.
"Trainer!"
"...Objection! I haven't agreed yet!"
Yayoi, who had been left off to the side, finally reacted. She snapped her folding fan open sideways and blocked Sunday Silence's path.
"And Shizu, don't you already belong to a team?"
Faced with the chairwoman's obstruction, Sunday Silence took the little cat that had already been rubbed into a state of lifeless despair and precisely pressed it back onto the head of this perfectly legal little girl.
Her expression instantly shifted from joy to calm indifference, and she replied in a clear voice, "Ever since I transferred my registration, I stopped being one of their Uma Musume."
"And didn't you already pay them a sum in penalty fees on my behalf, Yayoi-nee?"
"Oh, right. Including the money from the kamigakushi the other day, that makes it double!"
After hearing that, Yayoi froze for a moment. After a brief silence, she nodded in understanding.
"I see... Very well, then. Since this is your own decision."
In the end, with the chairwoman's approval, Sunday Silence was temporarily placed under Team Chasing Light.
Kuroha would be directly responsible for managing her.
...
Outside in the hallway.
Looking at the black-haired girl following closely beside him with an obedient, lovable look, Kuroha let out a soft sigh.
(End of Chapter)
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