Have I gotten a little depraved?
Lying in bed and staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, Kitahara sank into thought.
Honestly, his relationship with Grass was rather unusual.
Because he had always believed she was a lesbian—and that she liked Special Week—Kitahara had treated her like one of the guys.
They had said things to each other that would have been inappropriate with other women, and traded complaints he never would have voiced around them.
Whenever he sensed danger from the other Umamusume, he would even deliberately seek out Grass Wonder.
Then the two of them would chat and unwind together.
Grass always looked proper on the surface, but once you got to know her, it became clear that she had a quietly dirty-minded streak.
That was why Kitahara felt so at ease around her.
Rather than a Trainer and an Umamusume, they were more like close friends who were always giving each other grief.
Equal, casual, and intimate.
So when he found out that Grass Wonder had been deceiving him, he really had been rather angry.
Combined with all the resentment he had built up from being so busy lately, it had made him want to scare her a little.
But somewhere along the way, things had gone wrong.
He really had only meant to scare her. He had just been putting on an act, barely using any strength at all. He had even held himself back and deliberately avoided certain sensitive areas.
At worst, he had figured a couple of hard smacks on the backside would be enough.
So why, even though he had barely used any force, had his hands sunk in even deeper whenever she struggled?
Why had the places he had deliberately avoided touching pressed themselves against him instead?
It was very strange.
He really had been angry with her as a bro.
But apparently, she had never seen him as a bro in the first place.
She had been scheming against him while he remained completely unsuspecting, and everything that came before had been laying the groundwork.
And so, before he knew it, it happened.
He slept with his bro.
With Spe watching from the side, no less.
Just thinking about the whole thing felt absurd.
As for Grass Wonder's feelings toward him...
Kitahara might have been dense, but he could still put two and two together.
Given Grass's personality, the fact that she had not immediately pulled out her naginata and cut him down afterward—or handed him a blade and demanded he commit seppuku—already said plenty.
Of course, she might simply have lacked the strength.
After all, Grass Wonder had provoked him first, and he had all that pent-up resentment.
He had been a little rough.
Even with Grass's self-control, there was no chance she would be getting out of bed for at least half a day.
As for Special Week...
He had not lied to her.
Umapyoi was out of the question because of her age, but Kitahara truly did have a way to deepen their connection and put her heart at ease.
A "brand."
What was a brand?
Some time ago, while experimenting with the pink energy inside him, Kitahara had left pink marks on Oguri Cap and several other Umamusume.
The pattern and its placement gave him a strange sense of déjà vu, but so far, it did not seem to be harmful.
Not only was it harmless, it offered considerable benefits.
It could improve their physical abilities, strengthen their sense of connection to one another, and even allow him to temporarily borrow their power under certain circumstances.
According to what he had learned when consulting Shanish, that was still nowhere near the limit of the brand's abilities.
As the energy within him grew stronger, he would not only be able to receive power from the Umamusume, but also strengthen them in return—or even bestow power upon them.
Naturally, such a powerful ability came with a price.
Once this kind of brand was inscribed, it was essentially the same as becoming one of his vassals.
And there was no changing one's mind afterward.
The brand was carved into the soul. Cutting away the flesh would do nothing. If he wished it, even after the body perished, the soul would remain enslaved to him forever.
...No, wait. Why does this thing sound more wrong the more I think about it?
What exactly is that power inside me?
Kitahara had been horrified when he learned that.
He had also started worrying about what to do with the brand on Oguri Cap.
Tachyon's was less concerning. She was a dangerous individual, after all, so having a brand to keep an eye on her was not necessarily a bad thing. Besides, she had already confessed her feelings to him...
But Oguri Cap was a pure, innocent, good-natured girl who knew nothing about any of this.
Still, he had too much going on at the moment to deal with or research the matter, so he had temporarily set it aside.
Now, it happened to be useful for Special Week.
However, given how dangerous this power was, Kitahara first explained the brand's effects to Special Week in detail.
He then told her with the utmost seriousness that once it was inscribed, she could never change her mind for the rest of her life, nor could she sever her connection to him.
Not even death could break it.
Yet faced with such tempting...
He meant terrifying effects.
Special Week's eyes only shone brighter the longer she listened.
By the end, even Kitahara was starting to feel uneasy under her gaze.
Unsurprisingly, Special Week agreed to the branding immediately.
Once it was complete, she curiously stroked the pale pink pattern on her lower abdomen. As she felt the connection to Kitahara flowing from it, the unease and fear in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by joy and satisfaction.
This was exactly what she had wanted.
But Special Week was not the only one.
Grass, who had spent quite some time panting off to the side, dragged herself over, still half wrecked, and nestled against Kitahara.
"I want one too."
"...Why do you want everything?"
"I don't care. I want one."
Although she was always graceful and quiet in front of others, just as Kitahara had said, once you grew close to Grass, it became clear that she was quietly dirty-minded in private.
What he did not know was that she only showed this side of herself to him.
Not even Special Week was allowed to see it.
"Stop touching me. Fine, I'll give you one."
And so Grass received a brand as well.
It did have an unexpected payoff.
Afterward, Grass noticed that her body's recovery rate had increased significantly and reported it to Kitahara.
That was how Kitahara learned the ability could also accelerate recovery.
At the same time, it only strengthened his resolve not to let this secret get out.
He was already a game-breaking Trainer. If a buff this powerful were exposed as well...
Forget asking him to become their Trainer. The ones wanting to line up and breed with him would probably form a queue of their own.
What he did not know was that there was a saying:
Even if he kept quiet, someone else would talk.
"Did you know? Trainer Kitahara has a very mysterious ability..."
A certain white Umamusume who wished to remain unnamed continued enthusiastically fanning the flames.
Eclipse did not merely watch her stir things up. Whenever someone asked, she would nod along and vouch for her.
They were thoroughly in cahoots.
In any case, after Umapyoi with Grass, Kitahara's life entered a brief period of peace.
Whenever he had free time, he still came to Grass's clubroom.
Not for Umapyoi, but for the quiet.
After all, Grass had plenty of work to do and did not have that much time to Umapyoi with him anyway.
There was no Umapyoi, the place was peaceful, and occasionally he could pet Spe a little.
Special Week was very considerate too. Not only did she avoid causing him trouble, she had even begun learning how to assist Grass with her work.
It all felt remarkably tranquil.
"By the way, Trainer Kitahara, I do not think Black Forest is a very pleasant name. I would like to rename the organization."
"What do you want to call it?"
"How does 'Kitahara-gumi' sound?"
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