"Evidence?" Symboli Rudolf felt a chill of foreboding.
"Just look down." At Gold Ship's cue, Rudolf lowered her gaze—only to see the door display flicker to life with a photo.
It was shot from the head of a bed, in a dimly-lit room: a boy sprawled on a heart-shaped bed in the shape of a giant '大' character, limp as if his soul had been sucked out, face bloodless and slack, a corpse awaiting the butcher's knife.
She couldn't make out the boy's face from this angle, but the clothes he wore—identical to what Mizuno always wore!
And there, half-naked Gold Ship sat astride him, hands caressing his face, lips pressed tightly against his, as if claiming him with all the boldness of a lover.
"!" Seeing this, Symboli Rudolf's pupils constricted sharply.
"Fake! It's just a doctored photo—they want us to think they're together, that's all! Gold Ship wouldn't dare do anything like that to Trainer Mizuno!" Rudolf kept telling herself, fighting to tamp down the killing intent that radiated from her entire body.
But then Gold Ship sent the original video—and with it, shattered Rudolf's last desperate hope.
In the footage, Gold Ship and the boy weren't stitched together by photoshop. They were actually, physically kissing. And Gold Ship, almost like she wanted to provoke a certain Uma, went all out—her ears twitching so hard they nearly left afterimages, tail standing stiff with excitement!
Only after a dozen seconds did Gold Ship finally end the spectacle. Then she looked straight into the camera, her face steeped in mockery.
"Heehee~ He gets kisses like this from me every day, President Rudolf. So? How does it feel now, hmm? How does it feel?"
Boom!
Symboli Rudolf smashed her fist straight through the display, sending sparks and thick black smoke curling up from the shattered mess.
"Gold! Ship!" Her face had gone utterly dark, every word squeezed through gritted teeth, every hair bristling with fury.
As someone who prided herself on her purity, she'd treasured that boy's first time. Even with so many chances to just take him for herself, she'd always held back, always waiting for that perfect, romantic, heart-stirring moment—so she could savor that delicious feast in the right place, at the right time…
But now, the thing she'd treated as a priceless treasure—hers, as the Emperor—had been treated like some cheap trinket sold on the street, defiled at will by a lowly Uma who hadn't even managed to prove herself on the track?!
Crash!
In a fit of rage, Rudolf kicked the fourth alloy door straight off its hinges and stormed down the corridor, dead set on reclaiming her prize. Too bad—the doors in her way seemed endless: after the fourth came a fifth, after the fifth, a sixth, with no end in sight…
Even after breaking through seven, eight doors in a row, Symboli Rudolf still hadn't reached the room where Mizuno was locked away.
"Damn it!" Panting, she glared at the latest, untouched alloy door, forced to brace herself with hands on knees as she tried to recover the energy she'd wasted on fury alone.
"Haha~" Gold Ship, in fine spirits, watched Rudolf fume and flail with nowhere to vent, then twisted the knife:
"President Rudolf, are you starting to get it now?"
"His first kiss? Already mine! As for his virginity, well, that's only a matter of when I feel like it!"
"Oh, and you can stop dreaming about busting through my defenses by force. This isn't something you people can do. Without my permission, you'll never get to where I've got him hidden!"
"So, mighty Student Council President—so used to getting your way—if you want him safe, you'd better behave and play by my rules! Otherwise, you can look forward to drinking at the full-moon banquet for my and his child!"
"Gold! Ship!" Rudolf clenched her fists, humiliation burning through her like she'd never felt before.
She was the Emperor, a peerless star, worshipped by thousands, wielding the highest authority at Tracen Academy, backed by the mighty Symboli clan. She should have been able to get whatever she wanted—fortune, fame, even the sweetest, rarest love, all hers for the taking…
And yet, her beloved had been snatched away by a rogue Uma, and all she could do was watch as her sweetheart was pinned to a bed and toyed with—while she herself was left to kick doors in a dark underground hallway!
Symboli Rudolf was—by this point—well and truly regretting everything!
Regretting not guarding Mizuno day and night, so she could have protected him from being taken by Gold Ship…
Regretting not paying closer attention to what was happening at the Special Education Base, which had let Mizuno sneak Gold Ship out…
And most of all—regretting not making a move sooner! If she'd locked Mizuno away in the basement herself, he wouldn't have ended up stolen by another Uma!
"Damn it!" She clutched her forehead, cursing her own lack of foresight.
"President!" Air Groove and the others hurried over, worry etched on their faces as they gathered around her.
Since they'd been behind her—and blocked by her body—they hadn't seen what Gold Ship put up on the monitor, so they had no idea what kind of "evidence" she was talking about. But from Rudolf's furious door-kicking, they could sense: Gold Ship had definitely taken something important from Mizuno!
"Did Trainer-san's virginity already get taken?!" El Condor Pasa cried out in horror, struggling to accept that her future fiancé's chastity might have been stolen by another Uma.
"No." Rudolf shook her head, looking a little lost, answering with barely any strength: "It's just… his first kiss is gone…"
"!" The Uma Musume all felt their hearts clench at once.
Not the absolute worst news—not as bad as Gold Ship and Mizuno having a child already, at least—but even so, losing his first kiss hit these girls hard, dragging their spirits straight down. And the most affected, of course, was the one who cared most, worked the hardest, and had the greatest confidence she'd win all of Mizuno's firsts—Tokai Teio.
"How could this happen…" Teio clenched the hem of her skirt, the same thoughts running through her mind as had tormented Rudolf.
If I'd just been a little bolder, maybe I'd have gotten everything from him already…
Slap!
Rudolf smacked her own cheeks, forcing herself out of the gloom, straightening her back as she glared at the camera Gold Ship used to watch them.
"Say it. What will it take for you to let him go?"