When Wuyou's figure vanished into the white door, the Three Goddesses reluctantly withdrew their gaze.
"He really is… a good kid," Godolphin Arabian said softly, wiping the corner of her eye as if nothing had happened.
Byerley Turk narrowed her red eyes slightly, hiding whatever emotions stirred within.
"Unfortunately… there's nothing we can do…"
The Three Goddesses could grant Uma Musume divine power. They could even restore Wuyou's body completely.
But—
Wuyou wasn't an Uma Musume.
"Still~," Darley Arabian chirped, "we did give him a little blessing, didn't we?"
"…Are you sure that kind of 'blessing' isn't actually hurting him?"
"Aahaha Maybe he'll like it"
Byerley and Godolphin exchanged a look, saw the same helplessness on each other's faces, and sighed.
Coo coo gaa gaa
Morning birdsong dragged Wuyou out of sleep.
"What kind of bird is that…? What a weird call…" he mumbled, half-asleep.
He sat up, his mind still a sticky blur—until the memory of last night's dream-date with the Three Goddesses quietly surfaced. He scratched his cheek.
"Can't believe I actually met the Three Goddesses…"
"Come to think of it… they said they gave me some kind of blessing… so does that mean…"
He swallowed. A little hope, a little nerves.
Then he slowly opened his eyes—
And saw, as always…
Pitch-black.
"Yeah… figures it wouldn't be that easy…"
After testing it, he shook his head and tossed the disappointment aside.
Instead of chasing unrealistic miracles… he'd rather think about what to eat for breakfast.
After washing up, Wuyou went into the kitchen.
Morning sunlight slipped through the curtain seam like a thread of platinum, mischievously painting the wooden floor, then crawling up along the legs of the young man's pants.
Szz—szz—
Oil danced lightly in the dark pan, sending up the rich, mellow smell unique to bacon.
Outside the window—birdsong, the clatter of rolling shutters rising. Slender girls in sailor uniforms laughed and teased each other on their way to school; tea-colored loafers clicked against the ground, ka-da, poking at who knew how many boys' restless hearts.
"The black in front of me isn't black
The white you said what kind of white"
As he cooked, Wuyou hummed a song he'd learned from the great eastern country.
When he remembered the red-haired Uma Musume teaching him the tune while crying her eyes out, he couldn't help but laugh.
Ka-da.
Two plates of bacon and fried eggs landed on the table. Wuyou didn't sit down right away—he decided to go wake up the lazybones next door.
He pushed open the door.
A cool autumn breeze swept past his side like a bratty kid, rudely evicting the warmth inside the room and shoving it out into the hallway.
But this bratty kid was oddly considerate, too—because it delivered a strange sort of "greeting gift":
The aroma of breakfast from the shopping street, the light laughter of students on their way to school, and the brilliant autumn sun that wasn't warm—yet still dazzling.
Wuyou knocked on the neighbor's door. After hearing the rustle of someone getting dressed, he leaned on the corridor railing.
A fairy born of nature would naturally love mountains and rivers—
But Wuyou also loved everything human.
And after losing his sight, he cherished even more every breath of air he could still feel, every texture and warmth he could still sense.
One day, the scenery stored in his mind would fade with memory—bleaching out, blurring.
Before that…
He wanted to remember them in other ways.
Wuyou propped his cheek with one hand, smiling calmly.
Upstairs, a young man listened to the wind and "watched" the view.
Downstairs, girls were watching him.
Just that simple posture, that slender silhouette—somehow carved something vivid enough to last a lifetime into the hearts of countless girls tasting first love.
And for countless boys whose first love hadn't even bloomed yet—
It withered on the spot.
Ka-da…
The door opened.
Chihaya Representative—now in Tracen Academy uniform—peeked out sleepily. Her brown hair was messy, and even her right ear was slightly frizzed up.
She froze for a second. Even the "good morning" on her lips got swallowed back down.
In those beautiful eyes, only the young man remained.
"Morning, Chihaya."
"M-morning… Yuu…"
"Come on. Let's eat."
"Mm!" The moment she heard breakfast, she perked up, swallowed, and hurried after him into the room.
"…Sorry for intruding."
At the entryway, she instinctively lowered her voice.
It was her first time at Wuyou's place. She knew it was rude, but curiosity won—she couldn't help looking around.
The room was clean and tidy—almost plain. Aside from a few simple pieces of furniture, there didn't seem to be much else.
No strange odors, either—only the bacon and eggs, taunting the hungry little beast in her stomach.
"Sit and eat. It won't taste good once it's cold," he reminded gently.
Chihaya nodded and sat across from him.
She picked up her fork… but didn't start eating. Instead, she watched Wuyou—quietly, carefully.
He lifted his utensils with practiced ease. His fingers lightly touched the rim of the plate to confirm position—then he precisely cut a small piece of bacon.
Smooth and natural, as if he could see perfectly.
Chihaya remembered the scene on the corridor.
That figure leaning on the railing, listening to the wind—blending into the morning's tiny sounds like he belonged to them.
And she finally understood where that "brilliance" came from.
It wasn't his looks.
It was the way he lived—brightly—inside the dark.
"Your hands are really steady," Chihaya said softly.
"Practice," Wuyou smiled. "At first I'd knock over cups. Now I can cook, write, even use a computer. Want to try? I can talk you through it."
"Sure," Chihaya said, her smile a little strained. "Another day… with you there, I'll try too."
He said it so lightly. But she knew—
Only he understood the sourness and sweetness, the bitterness and pain behind those words.
So they ate and talked.
Maybe about training insights.
Maybe about silly stories from Chihaya's childhood—climbing trees, stealing bird eggs.
The second hand clicked ka-da, ka-da, like a tiny hammer tapping apart the bricks called "time."
Sunlight slanted through the window, cutting a warm-gold stripe across the table.
The bacon and eggs were long gone. They just kept sipping from cups of hot milk that seemed to never run dry, chatting for a long while.
Chihaya hadn't eaten breakfast with anyone in ages.
Neither had Wuyou.
Two lonely souls in the dust of the world—finally finding someone who could soothe the other.
"…Hey, what time is it now?"
"I'll check—Huh?! It's this late?! Yuu, hurry!"
"W-wait—Chihaya, I can walk by myself! Don't carry me!"
"Stop arguing! If we're late, Miss Hayakawa will start Phase Two punishment!"
An Uma Musume shouldering her trainer and sprinting down the road—toward Tracen—beginning their grand escape.
And planting three massive "?" marks over every passerby's head.
....
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