The race was over.
Even though she had fallen asleep in Kitahara-san's arms immediately upon leaving the track, Agnes Tachyon hadn't missed the Winner's Concert, thanks to the downtime provided between the race and the award ceremony. She awoke about ten minutes before the event began.
Seeing her condition, Kitahara Sota originally intended to skip the Winner's Concert entirely. The race officials and audience were a bit disappointed but expressed understanding; after all, everyone had noticed her odd state after crossing the finish line. Although unsure what exactly happened, they had no complaints.
However, Agnes Tachyon herself insisted on attending the Winner's Concert once she woke up. Her movements were slightly stiff compared to usual, but she still performed beautifully, earning unanimous cheers from the crowd. Afterwards, even some officials approached her for autographs, declaring that she was an athlete with a promising future, one whose signature would surely become precious memorabilia.
When the Winner's Concert finally concluded and they returned to the temporary waiting room, the smile gradually faded from Agnes Tachyon's face.
Don't misunderstand—not that she felt bad or anything. She was just regretting why she had wasted that precious time sleeping.
Now, after waking up, she had only ten minutes to prepare for the Winner's Concert, completely losing the chance to flirt properly with Kitahara-san. Such a rare chance wasted, just like that…
Deep regret filled her heart.
Yet after a short moment of sulking, she remembered the two rewards Kitahara-san had promised her, bringing some slight consolation to her disappointment.
At least with these two guaranteed rewards, she wasn't returning empty-handed…
As she was pondering this, Kitahara Sota re-entered the waiting room.
"I just arranged with the staff to extend our use of this room," he said gently. "If you're still feeling tired, you can rest here a bit longer. We'll leave when you're feeling better."
…Eh?
Agnes Tachyon blinked, momentarily dazed.
Before she could fully process, Kitahara-san casually approached her, grabbed a pair of spare shoes from nearby, and skillfully began changing her shoes for her.
Agnes Tachyon didn't speak up, nor did she tease him as she usually might.
After recovering from her initial surprise, her eyes glittered with a strange brightness, but she simply stayed quiet, obediently watching his movements without causing any trouble.
After finishing with her shoes, Kitahara-san went to wash his hands. On his way back, he casually pulled out a bottle of stamina potion from his system and handed it to Agnes Tachyon. After taking a small sip and feeling her fatigue ease a little, she saw him remove his jacket, lay it neatly on the bench, and gently signal her to lie down upon it.
Then he began giving her a gentle, relaxing massage.
Although she'd indeed been hopelessly weak to these massages before, Agnes Tachyon had gradually developed some resistance—or perhaps "adaptation" would be a more fitting word—due to the increasing frequency of his care and her steadily improving condition.
In short, she was now able to maintain a somewhat normal demeanor under his gentle ministrations. She obediently cooperated with him, like a hamster happily nestled in its owner's palm, even proactively adjusting herself slightly to please him.
After finishing the massage and seeing her condition greatly improved, Kitahara-san asked about her unusual performance in today's race.
Was it because it was her first time going all-out? What exactly had happened during those unexpected bursts of brilliance on the track...?
At his questions, Agnes Tachyon finally recalled the strange state she'd entered earlier. Yet, she found herself struggling to put it clearly into words.
While they both puzzled over this, Eclipse, who'd been silently watching from the side, abruptly spoke up.
"It's common to feel like that when you activate your [Domain] for the first time. Especially since hers is a 'Wisdom and Technique' type, it places a significant burden on the brain and consciousness. Once she adapts to it, it'll get easier."
A [Domain]?
They both froze for a moment.
Of course, they'd both heard of [Domains]. Even official URA documents mentioned this phenomenon explicitly: certain top-tier Uma Musume, in exceptional situations, could trigger their latent potential during races, entering special states or gaining enormous boosts in specific areas. These states were called [Domains].
But although URA confirmed that [Domains] truly existed, virtually everyone—including the Uma Musume themselves—treated them as mere urban legends.
It wasn't difficult to understand why: even among those Uma Musume who'd been active for the full three years, collected countless honors, and won multiple G1 races, very few had ever truly awakened a [Domains].
Although Agnes Tachyon personally knew a few who had indeed activated [Domains], the problem was… well, those particular individuals weren't exactly approachable.
Yes, precisely—those student council girls.
The student council members usually had good temperaments and eagerly helped any Uma Musume in need. But they generally held a poor opinion of Tachyon, as her constant experiments created numerous problems and messes that the student council always had to clean up. Naturally, she couldn't expect them to assist her research willingly.
But…"Wisdom and Technique" [Domain]?
"[Domains] have categories?" Kitahara-san asked.
Eclipse nodded slightly.
"You can roughly categorize [Domains] based on their characteristics. There's the straightforward 'Power and Speed' type, the sustained-boost 'Stamina and Willpower' type, and finally, the rare and special type like hers—'Wisdom and Technique.'"
Kitahara Sota rubbed his chin, sensing a strange déjà vu from Eclipse's explanation.
Meanwhile, Agnes Tachyon didn't have such a feeling, but she did have another question pop into her mind:
"Eclipse-san, why do you know so much about this?"
Even URA descriptions about [Domains] were rather vague, and online information was sparse at best. In fact, even the few Uma Musume who'd activated [Domains] themselves often had little actual understanding of what they'd experienced. They might have triggered it by instinct or sheer luck, hardly grasping its specifics or categorization, let alone identifying others' [Domains].
However, Eclipse didn't answer Tachyon's question, simply acting as if she'd heard nothing at all.
Having spent enough time together, Agnes Tachyon quickly recognized that this meant Eclipse wasn't willing to explain. Though curious, she chose not to press further.
Kitahara-san, on the other hand, was long accustomed to Eclipse's silence. Predicting that she wouldn't respond anyway, he hadn't even bothered to ask in the first place.
After chatting briefly about [Domains] without coming to any clear conclusions due to lack of further information, the three dropped the topic altogether, deciding to leave it for future consideration.
Finally, having concluded their discussion, Kitahara-san, feeling resigned yet bracing himself, proactively mentioned the two rewards he'd promised Tachyon earlier, asking her what exactly she wanted.
Expecting her to tease him or maybe ask him to test a potion, he'd mentally prepared himself.
But after a brief silence, Agnes Tachyon's actual request caught him completely off guard.
"Guinea Pig-kun, could you come sit next to me?"
Kitahara-san was confused but didn't object.
After he sat down beside her, Agnes Tachyon paused again, then slowly reached out her hands. Under his puzzled gaze, she gently guided him down, placing his head comfortably onto her lap.
Before he could ask anything, she leaned closer and softly explained:
"This is my first reward."
…This counts as a reward?
Kitahara Sota looked utterly bewildered.
Seeing his confusion, Agnes Tachyon continued:
"Lately, Guinea Pig-kun, you've taken care of me a lot, and I've caused you a great deal of trouble."
"Tachyon, you—"
"Don't worry, Guinea Pig-kun." She smiled gently, reaching out to lightly touch his face, her eyes sparkling mysteriously. "I have absolutely no intention of changing. I'll continue troubling you plenty in the future."
Kitahara Sota: "…"
You little—!
Tachyon immediately went on:
"I know if I behaved better, you might like me a little more. But I can't help it—that's just who I am."
"Even so, even a hopeless troublemaker like me occasionally feels a bit unbalanced inside. So today, my first reward is simply being allowed to care for you like this, just to balance myself out."
"As for the second reward—Guinea Pig-kun, please rely on me a little more. Don't let it always be me causing you trouble."
"I'm worried if things continue this way, I might hesitate next time I try forcing you to test my potions."
"So, to ease my conscience when I cause trouble for you, won't you trouble me a little in return?"
"Oh, and please don't even think about avoiding this by guilt-tripping me instead. It's impossible."
"Your only choices are: let me trouble you while feeling slightly guilty, or let me properly repay you a bit to ease my conscience. Which do you prefer, Guinea Pig-kun?"
Looking down at him seriously, she waited.
Kitahara-san sighed helplessly. "Even if you say that, I really don't have much I could trouble you with…"
"Research data, potion supply, financial assistance, anything else…" Her tone was unusually earnest.
"I promise, Guinea Pig-kun—"
"Alright, alright, I get it," he interrupted, covering her mouth lightly. "I believe your sincerity. Stop saying stuff like that…"
Finally, after a pause, Tachyon shyly whispered:
"Guinea Pig-kun, today…I don't want to eat at the cafeteria."
Kitahara-san smiled immediately, readily agreeing.
Thus, Tachyon quietly dropped her head, enduring a fierce scolding from that voice inside her mind, unable to muster even a hint of rebuttal.