After confirming Silence Suzuka's leg wasn't seriously injured, Kitahara Sota stayed with her a bit longer, comforting her as she cried teary-eyed from the pain, before finally returning to the academy.
It wasn't that he didn't want to spend more time with Silence Suzuka, but compared to October—when there was basically nothing to do aside from the first week of school—his tasks in November had seriously piled up.
As previously mentioned, starting from the new semester in October, Uma Musume who planned to debut next year could begin running their debut races.
But considering the younger Uma Musume had relaxed during vacation, they needed some adjustment after returning, and URA itself also needed prep time.
So, while debut races could officially start right after school began in October, in practice they usually took place toward the end of the month—at the earliest, mid-October.
Right now, there were a full five Uma Musume on Kitahara's team planning their debut next year, and their talent and strength were all exceptional.
Debuting sooner meant more preparation for future races, so they'd basically all decided to debut in November.
Apart from these five debut races, Nice Nature and Manhattan Cafe each scheduled a G3, Tokai Teio had a G2, and Agnes Digital had a G1.
Counting those five debut matches, that made eight races in total.
Moreover, besides racing, since the chaos of the school's opening had passed, and the newly hired Kashimoto Riko had gradually settled into Tracen's work environment, the workload on Hayakawa Tazuna had also decreased—meaning that "pretend boyfriend" request she'd previously made for a break was now back on the agenda.
Especially given Tracen had something called "annual leave," Hayakawa Tazuna would likely face another workload surge before the year's end. So, it was best to place her rest period in November.
Furthermore, there was also assorted Black Forest business, deeper research into Domains, resolving the chairwoman's physical issues, and Kudou Kazuya's ongoing investigation into the Uma Musume hunts...
Sitting in the returning car, Kitahara counted on his fingers all the tasks ahead in the coming month. His expression slowly turned lifeless.
Forget it. Might as well enjoy this probably final peaceful moment by slacking off a bit in the trainer group chat.
Thinking thus, Kitahara opened the trainer chat group and idly chatted for a while, when suddenly, he spotted a slightly unfamiliar name:
Karai Risa.
Kitahara vaguely remembered her. She was a newly recruited trainer this semester.
He'd heard she was previously from the famous "Uma Musume Research Institute," and even had a pretty high-ranking position there.
Apparently, out of her sheer love for Uma Musume—and hearing Tracen was short-staffed—she'd temporarily resigned from the research institute and enthusiastically joined as a trainer.
As to why Kitahara specifically remembered her—during that meeting at the start of the semester when the chairwoman introduced Kashimoto Riko to all the trainers, this trainer named Karai Risa saw the name badge on his chest, and her eyes immediately lit up.
Then, right after the meeting, she directly cornered him, excitedly expressing that she'd heard his name a long time ago and never imagined she'd actually meet him here.
The two chatted for quite a while, and she even asked Kitahara for an autograph before reluctantly leaving.
Before leaving, she'd asked if Kitahara's team still needed an assistant trainer, hinting that if they did, she was currently looking for a team and could perhaps help out...
But Kitahara had declined.
It wasn't that he didn't want an assistant trainer. On one hand, though he'd indeed built a large team, at the end of the day, he was still just a rookie trainer less than one year in. Normally, someone like him would still be working as an assistant under someone else—let alone recruiting assistants himself.
As for Komata Hajime? That was a special case; he'd had no choice.
Moreover, during their conversation, Karai Risa tried proving she could help Kitahara by mentioning her experience working at the Uma Musume Research Institute.
Unfortunately, she didn't realize that bringing that up was actually a mistake.
The second she mentioned her research background, Kitahara immediately connected the dots to a certain notorious troublemaker whose fame echoed inside and outside the academy.
Just one Agnes Tachyon was already frightening enough, messing around with all those potions. If he were to bring in an actual professional researcher, who knew what terrifying chemical reactions would happen between those two?
For the sake of himself—and for the physical and mental health of everyone at Tracen—Kitahara didn't just reject her request; he even actively avoided letting her come into contact with Agnes Tachyon, lest some catastrophic accident occur.
And speaking of Agnes Tachyon…
Since the competition and their exchanges in October, though she continued her usual antics and potion-testing, Kitahara clearly sensed a slight increase in her reliability compared to before.
Especially regarding serious matters or tasks he assigned her—just as she'd promised him earlier, she'd stopped making trouble or pulling pranks during important tasks.
Of course, aside from serious matters, her chaotic experiments hadn't decreased at all. Rather, due to her abilities growing, the variety of pranks she pulled had actually increased.
Just recently, she'd openly sold that potion that directly raised affection levels on campus—and it sold out immediately on the day of release.
This was naturally followed by the routine disappearance of several trainers, prompting Hayakawa Tazuna and Narita Brian to rush around cleaning up the mess and investigating the matter. Once they'd traced things back to their familiar culprit…
They entered Tachyon's lab with ominous smiles, and then piercing screams echoed out like pigs being slaughtered.
Yet even with incidents like these, Kitahara could still clearly sense her changes.
Although her essence as a mad scientist and prankster hadn't changed at all, she'd undeniably grown a bit more dependable.
It felt like she'd shifted slightly from being a completely unhinged mad scientist to one who was chaotic in everyday life but could turn serious and trustworthy at critical moments.
Kitahara was truly gratified by this development.
After all, for a parent, nothing felt more rewarding than seeing one's own problematic child grow sensible and move towards a better direction.
If there was anything even more satisfying, it was seeing another problem child similarly change—like Agnes Digital's newfound confidence.
Just as he was thinking this, Kitahara suddenly realized a certain issue.
Based on his deductions, one condition for an Uma Musume to activate their [Domain] was to accumulate sufficient emotion, then trigger an emotional outburst through some stimulus.
Regarding Agnes Digital's stimulus, he had a pretty good idea; after all, she'd explicitly expressed liking him already.
And just before the race, to bolster her confidence, he'd done something like that, combined with her own abilities and past actions—it was no surprise she'd activated her [Domain].
But Agnes Tachyon…
Kitahara rubbed his chin, thinking hard for a long while, before finally attributing it to her long-suppressed desire to run freely at full strength for the first time.
Once he reached this conclusion, Kitahara glanced into the distance at Agnes Tachyon, currently running around the track, thinking silently to himself:
Does this girl really like running that much? Why can't I usually tell…?
Though puzzled, since he'd already settled on an explanation, Kitahara didn't dwell further on it, instead quickly shifting his focus to preparations for the extremely busy month ahead.
And then, amidst all this busyness, time began to flow swiftly onward...
...
Two days later, at the hospital.
Under the astonished gazes of the attending doctors, Silence Suzuka—after having her cast removed—actually managed to take a few steps on her own.
Clearly, her leg wasn't fully healed yet, and she walked with a noticeable lack of balance.
But for an Uma Musume who had broken her leg just two days prior, this was absolutely a medical miracle.
Facing the doctors' surprise and confusion, Kitahara Sota readily provided the explanation he had prepared beforehand: he simply credited the miraculous recovery to a bone-healing potion developed by Agnes Tachyon.
The moment Agnes Tachyon's name was mentioned, the doctors instantly showed understanding—and not only refrained from asking for more of the potion, but nearly refused outright when Kitahara offered to leave some at the hospital for other injured Uma Musume.
It wasn't that the doctors doubted Agnes Tachyon's abilities. Two years ago, Agnes Tachyon had indeed concocted a miraculous bone-healing potion.
But that potion had two notable issues.
Firstly, it had been made through some occult, alchemical method unique to Agnes Tachyon herself. The potion's creation resembled a lottery draw: after that one successful attempt, it had never appeared again. Human science was completely unable to analyze its composition, let alone replicate it.
Secondly, the potion had rather severe side-effects.
As for exactly what those side-effects were…
Well, although the injured Uma Musume had indeed recovered swiftly and returned triumphantly to racing, her trainer, meanwhile, had ended up bedridden for nearly an entire season with a shattered pelvis.
Worse, according to the doctors' examination afterward, the trainer's pelvic fracture wasn't like any ordinary fracture. Instead, it seemed as if the injury had been directly transferred from the Uma Musume to him—he'd spent the entire following season instructing her via video call from a hospital bed.
With such a vivid case on record, the doctors fully believed Agnes Tachyon was capable of producing miraculous bone-healing potions—but as for the side effects…
In the end, under Kitahara's persuasion, they reluctantly accepted a batch of potions—but explicitly as a consignment from Kitahara, not as a donation.
The doctors agreed they would only recommend it in truly urgent cases, for Uma Musume who desperately needed to return to the racetrack. Furthermore, they insisted all proceeds from any potion sales would go directly to Kitahara himself; the hospital would take not a single yen.
But on this point, Kitahara was rather unwilling.
After all, the hospital providing a sales channel deserved at least some share of the profit.
However, no matter how he urged them, the hospital staff stubbornly refused to accept a commission. Eventually, they even suggested that if the potion genuinely helped any Uma Musume, they'd want to offer Kitahara an additional reward out of gratitude.
At the moment he heard them refuse the commission and even mention giving him a reward, Kitahara instantly excused himself from the room.
Even after he left, the doctors kept praising Trainer Kitahara, sighing to each other that the rumors hadn't done him justice—in person, he was even better than the legendary image painted by word of mouth.
Had he not left so quickly, and if they weren't afraid of bothering him, even the attending physician himself would've wanted to get a photo and autograph.
Meanwhile, on Kitahara's side, the doctors' behavior only made him feel profoundly helpless.
He muttered endless complaints about it as he took Silence Suzuka back to his dorm.
But by the time they arrived, besides Silence Suzuka, two more young ladies had joined their little group:
Special Week and Grass Wonder.
Special Week's case hardly required explanation. As Silence Suzuka's roommate and best friend, she would've felt terribly lonely staying alone in their room. Combined with certain lingering personal motivations, Special Week readily applied to move in under the pretext of taking care of Suzuka.
As for Grass Wonder…
After hearing Special Week was moving, Grass had privately approached Kitahara, expressing her own desire to move in too—ostensibly because she wanted to be together with Spe-chan.
But as to Grass Wonder's true motivations…
Those who knew, knew.
Yet whether others understood or not, Kitahara himself absolutely did not.
Therefore, facing Grass Wonder's pleading expression and gently beseeching tone, Kitahara hesitated deeply. But finally, considering his bonds of friendship, he couldn't bring himself to refuse her request.
And just as Kitahara anticipated, the moment Special Week heard Grass Wonder was moving in, her expression immediately darkened.
Helping a bro was one thing, but that didn't mean he'd help Grass-san cling excessively to Special Week without boundaries.
So, seeing Spe-chan's face sour instantly, Kitahara hurriedly clarified that it was only because he'd be exceptionally busy soon, and that Grass-san's stay was primarily to make handling Black Forest's tasks easier.
This wasn't exactly a lie. While he'd certainly considered his brotherly bonds in accepting Grass Wonder's request, his decision was driven mostly by practical work considerations.
And after saying this, he further added: if Special Week truly felt uncomfortable rooming with Grass Wonder, he could always have Grass-san share the small single room with himself instead…
But strangely enough, even though he'd clearly said all this specifically out of consideration for Special Week, Spe-chan's expression steadily worsened as he spoke.
Finally, she uncharacteristically interrupted him, declaring she was perfectly willing to stay with Grass Wonder and earnestly begging him not to worry about it any longer…
"Um, Special Week, you don't need to force yourself, you know? If you really can't accept her, I'll keep an eye on her. If she tries anything excessive, just tell me immediately…"
"…It's fine, Sota-san."
Special Week lowered her head, letting her hair fall softly down past her shoulders, hiding her expression from view.
"I don't…feel uncomfortable being around her at all anymore."
"So please…you can rest easy now, Sota-san."
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T/N: I DONT THINK ANY OF YOU READS THE THOUGHTS SECTION SO IM GONNA JUST TRY POSTING IT HERE
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say thank you to Girantina for that thoughtful message