The day of the Master's Cup arrived. As a scenario race, there was no special story event. Instead, Handyman Hayakawa simply came over to inform Luo Cheng about the competition.
Is that all? Is the Master's Cup so insignificant?
Still, even if there was a story event, it wouldn't make a difference in the VR world. Whether it was the game or reality, they were both given a sense of consciousness once he entered.
The first race was called the [GROW UP RACE]. There were ten teams in total, but the VR room didn't have enough machines, so only one team could enter at a time. While the other teams were racing, people could watch the broadcast in the cafeteria.
However, for Luo Cheng, the screen was just a white display without even any sound. He could only figure out what was happening by listening to the conversations of the surrounding horse girls.
Tokai Teio was in the seventh race, so they couldn't enter the VR room until it was almost their turn. Until then, Luo Cheng could only stare blankly at the white screen.
This is so boring. Is there anything I can do to pass the time?
Luo Cheng yawned and looked around. I guess I'll play with Teio for a bit.
He called out to her twice, and Tokai Teio came over, her eyes still fixed on the screen, seeming very interested in the race.
There was a strange phenomenon: through the horse girls' conversations, Luo Cheng discovered that they could race normally even when he was in the game world.
There was an invisible wall all around Tracen Academy, and Luo Cheng had tried every method to get out. He even tried to drag other horse girls to it to see if he could get them out, but he failed. The wall worked on everyone, not just him. So if that was the case, how did these people race when he entered the game world? How did they get out?
To solve this mystery, Luo Cheng had specifically gone to other trainers' offices and looked at their horse girls' race schedules. He finally found a horse girl in Fumino Nase's room who was about to race. Luo Cheng stayed near her day and night, waiting for the race day to arrive. When the time came, he watched her put on her racing uniform and go with Fumino Nase to the gate of Tracen Academy, where they both just... disappeared.
Yes, without any warning, they just vanished! Like the food in the cafeteria, they just blinked out of existence.
Luo Cheng came up with two theories. The first was that under certain circumstances, a player could leave Tracen Academy and teleport to other locations. The second was that Tracen Academy only trapped him, the player, while other characters could still come and go freely.
The second theory was a bit too depressing, so Luo Cheng didn't want to believe it. He decided to focus on the first theory: that under certain special circumstances, he could leave this place. Tracen Academy wasn't the entirety of this system world; there were more unknown areas that Luo Cheng hadn't discovered yet. He hadn't yet unlocked all the system's permissions and was only getting new feature windows one by one. He figured that by the time Teio's training was complete, most of these features would probably be unlocked.
Luo Cheng brought his attention back to the present. There were still two months until the [Satsuki Sho] storyline. During this time, Luo Cheng had been so unlucky that he hadn't even triggered a single random event. Fortunately, the scenario he chose was the Master's Cup, so he could at least go play with the Three Goddesses. If it had been any other scenario, he might have already gone crazy.
He had Tokai Teio sit sideways on his lap and stroked her head. Her body had become much softer lately. Poses that were difficult before were now effortless. Her arms, waist, and thighs were like soft, supple pudding, so delicate they felt like they could absorb his fingers. This confirmed Luo Cheng's suspicion: the stronger the horse girl, the softer her body. Symboli Rudolf, Air Groove, Narita Brian, Silent Suzuka, and all the other powerful horse girls exhibited the same characteristic. And the softest part of a horse girl's body was always...
Luo Cheng reached down and grabbed Tokai Teio's little shoes. He unbuckled the straps and, holding the heel, skillfully took them off.
Tokai Teio's body shivered, and she leaned into Luo Cheng, still watching the race broadcast. The girl's pristine, white feet were now exposed to Luo Cheng. He could see her beautiful feet, which were perfectly flat and had no excess flesh. From her toes to her arch to her heel, they formed a warm, rounded curve with perfect continuity.
He held her foot, which was about the same size as his hand, and began to massage it. The softness, warmth, and slight dampness made her tender, translucent feet seem to dance in his palm, making them impossible to let go of.
As he continued, Tokai Teio's breathing became heavier, and her eyes, which had been fixed on the screen, began to flick toward Luo Cheng. Slowly, the bottom of her feet became increasingly damp with sweat, which started to soak her cotton socks. He could faintly see her translucent skin, and a faint smell of soap hung in the air.
"Trainer..." Tokai Teio leaned against him.
"Today's training task..."
"We won!"
"Yay!"
The horse girls in the cafeteria suddenly cheered. They looked at the white screen and congratulated the winning horse girl.
Unfortunately, Luo Cheng couldn't even join in the celebration. He looked at the snowy-white screen, his eyes blank.
"Is it the seventh race now?"
"Yeah, there's still some time. I want to eat something."
Hearing that it was the seventh race, Luo Cheng patted her bottom. "Let's go, Teio. It's almost our turn."
"..."
Tokai Teio remained seated on Luo Cheng's lap, not moving.
"What's wrong?"
Her sky-blue eyes stared intently at Luo Cheng. "You're just staring at me without saying anything. I don't know what you want."
"..."
Seeing Teio suddenly acting out, Luo Cheng wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her pink lips. No matter what Teio wanted, if he did this, she would immediately become a good girl. It worked better than hypnosis. If she was in a bad mood, he'd kiss her. If she was disobedient, he'd kiss her.
Sure enough, after Luo Cheng kissed her, Tokai Teio's eyebrows arched, and a smile appeared on her face. She looked at her shoes on the ground and wiggled her feet. Luo Cheng bent down to pick them up, put them back on her feet, and tied the laces. Only then did Tokai Teio jump off his lap. She clicked her heels together and stood in front of him.
"Let's go. To the race."
"Okay."
When they arrived at the VR room, they put on their headsets as Handyman Hayakawa instructed. With a flash of white light, Luo Cheng opened his eyes and found himself on a racetrack. The stands were packed with people, and the sound of the crowd was deafening.
This is...
Luo Cheng's eyes widened.
"It's so exciting, Trainer!" Tokai Teio exclaimed, pulling on Luo Cheng's hand.