"Trainers Katsuragi Kyota and Ryoshima Nao, upon hearing this announcement, please report to the acting chairwoman's office."
"I repeat, trainers Katsuragi Kyota and Ryoshima Nao, upon hearing this announcement, please report to the acting chairwoman's office."
Since morning, the school building's intercom hadn't stopped.
It kept broadcasting trainer names.
Students saw trainers, one after another, enter the acting chairwoman's office, only to emerge later with grim faces, looking utterly miserable.
After some asking around, they found out the reason: to avoid hassle, those trainers had listed the names of several Uma Musume who skipped training together on the attendance sheet they submitted.
After all, those particular girls often ditched classes and ignored all attempts at discipline, so their trainers had more or less given them free rein.
The very next day, the academy caught on.
Besides being punished with writing self-criticism reports, these trainers' names and offenses were posted on the bulletin board in the school's main hall as a warning to others.
It was a thorough, face-smacking humiliation.
The trainers lucky enough not to get caught felt a sudden chill run down their spines.
This 'kill the chicken to scare the monkey' tactic was quite effective.
Inside the office, a young woman listened to Toujou Hana's explanation.
"In addition to recording the duration of training sessions, if an Uma Musume leaves midway for more than half an hour, it must be noted. Understood?"
"Yes," the girl nodded, then couldn't help but add, "Trainer... isn't this a bit too strict?"
For once, even Toujou Hana agreed. "Indeed. Even with training, there should be some flexibility."
If an Uma Musume was off her game, the weather was bad, or there was some other reason causing a late start, trainers would normally adjust the training duration appropriately based on the situation.
But now, they had to stick rigidly to the planned schedule.
Not that changes were forbidden, of course.
But it required submitting an additional written report explaining the reason for the adjustment.
That extra step made the whole process much more cumbersome.
And after submission, there was still the chance of being summoned by the acting chairwoman for verification.
Many had been called to the office precisely because their reports were too vague or unclear, and were ordered to rewrite them.
"There's no way around it. At this stage, we can only adapt." If even the chairwoman couldn't change things, what hope did they, mere trainers, have?
A trainer's job was getting harder and harder...
Giving up the struggle, Toujou Hana sighed.
The young woman narrowed her eyes.
This couldn't go on like this…
--+--
Heavy curtains blocked the windows. In the dim room, Manhattan Cafe lay lifelessly sprawled across her desk.
Beside her, Agnes Tachyon listlessly flipped through a book.
The strings of characters were like a lullaby, making her drowsy.
For once, Agnes Tachyon was actually feeling... bored.
While everyone else was bustling with activity, she felt utterly idle.
The reason was simple.
Her time had been shattered.
Research sessions that used to run for several uninterrupted hours were now chopped into countless fragments by the training schedule.
And once an experiment started, it couldn't just be paused.
If she forcibly skipped training to finish her research, the instructor would record it on the form and report it.
If her absences piled up, without a doubt, Agnes Tachyon would be summoned to the acting chairwoman's office.
Given her history of strict supervision, the woman's actions towards her wouldn't be as gentle as they were towards other Uma Musume.
Writing self-criticism, suspension, cleaning the campus...
Those would be bearable.
What Agnes Tachyon feared was the woman resorting to any means necessary to expel her from Tracen Academy.
After all, she already had a long list of black marks.
Before, whether she skipped training or classes, the academy had turned a blind eye.
But now...
Agnes Tachyon thought.
With old and new offenses tallied together, it was enough to get her expelled from Tracen twice over.
If she hadn't been lying low these past few days, avoiding giving the woman any new ammunition...
Agnes Tachyon shook her head.
In the past, even leaving Tracen wouldn't have stopped her research.
She had no particular attachment to Tracen anyway; her reason for entering was to access better data.
But now it was different.
Her research subject was primarily 'friend'.
If she lost access to her, most of her research projects would essentially be scrapped.
She seriously doubted 'friend' would be willing to leave with her.
Unless Cafe was also willing to leave Tracen.
But that seemed completely unrealistic no matter how she looked at it.
Cafe's goal was to become like 'friend', and she worked tirelessly towards that.
Leaving Tracen meant giving up her identity as an Uma Musume. Wasn't that practically destroying the very purpose she had clung to from the beginning?
Cafe couldn't leave Tracen. 'Friend' couldn't leave Cafe.
And Agnes Tachyon couldn't just abandon 'friend'.
This tangled relationship forced her to abandon her principles.
Even if it meant stopping her experiments, she couldn't leave this place.
If it came to the worst...
Agnes Tachyon considered moving her research equipment into the dorm and using her nighttime sleeping hours.
But then the issues of secrecy and noise became unsolvable.
What if she made some strange noise in the middle of the night, and the dorm head came in to check? All her activities would be exposed.
Wouldn't that be like slapping the central administration right in the face?
What a pain...
Maybe, just as Cafe had said.
If 'friend' became their trainer, all problems would be solved.
They could have sufficient contact, and use 'friend's' position to legitimately adjust the training schedule.
They could consolidate these completely unusable fragments of time into blocks, giving Agnes Tachyon the opportunity to research.
Looking at Cafe, slumped on the desk, Agnes Tachyon put her book down.
Since she wasn't doing research anyway, there was no need to keep holed up in her room.
"Cafe, let's discuss something," Agnes Tachyon said.
"'Friend'..."
As if not hearing her, a faint sound escaped Cafe's lips.
During the day, the two hardly saw each other. At night, due to the strict management system, leaving the room required reporting to their trainer, and even independent training needed approval.
There were even random patrols outside from time to time.
It felt like watchful eyes were everywhere.
These past few days, her total meeting time with 'friend' didn't even add up to an hour.
It was as if Cafe's body was going through withdrawal symptoms.
She was listless and absent-minded all day.
Even her trainer was worried about her condition and had reduced her training intensity.
"Cafe, are you listening to me?"
Seeing Manhattan Cafe completely unresponsive, Agnes Tachyon raised her voice.
But the other girl still lay there like a puddle of sludge stuck to the desk.
"Hmm? Isn't that Miss Silence? What brings you here?"
"Silence?!"
Slapping the desk, Cafe jerked her head up, looking around frantically.
Then she saw Agnes Tachyon's mocking smile.
"Tachyon, you tricked me..."
"Finally listening, are we? Cafe, your state is just too pitiful."
Manhattan Cafe slowly sank back onto the sofa.
"You wouldn't understand, Tachyon," she shook her head. "Just knowing 'friend' is nearby, yet I can't go see her... it hurts so much inside."
"Do you know that feeling?"
"It's like wanting to touch 'friend's' body, but having to do it through a layer of clothing. Something is always in the way..."
"..."
"Now, what's between us is farther than clothing—it's Tracen's rules. That set of rules, so close yet impossible to break..."
"Ahem, Cafe, just calm down first."
Agnes Tachyon was at a loss for words.
Every time topics related to 'friend' came up, Cafe became... really strange.
Was this really okay?
"I have something very important to tell you."
Suppressing the urge to force-feed Cafe a bottle of something to forcibly reset her brain, Agnes Tachyon spoke.
"What do you want to say?"
"I've been thinking about what you said the other day, about making 'friend' a trainer."
"You said it was impossible."
Right after Cafe suggested it, Agnes Tachyon had immediately shot it down.
To be promoted from trainee to trainer required at least a full year of study at Tracen.
Silence had barely been at Tracen for a month.
Even with her special privileges, it couldn't happen that fast.
"That's exactly my point. Becoming a trainer isn't feasible, but using her status as a trainee, she can still help us."
Agnes Tachyon said, "Don't forget, there are still position vacancies. Not every trainer has a trainee assigned to them."
"For example, Cafe, your trainer."
Agnes Tachyon looked at her.
That's right. They just needed to make Silence the trainee for Cafe's trainer.
Then she could indirectly help adjust the training.
"This... is that really possible?"
Was she supposed to ask her trainer to go fight Toujou Hana for someone?
Forget whether Toujou Hana would agree, her own trainer might not be willing either!
"It's possible. But not by stealing her. To be precise, it's about taking on responsibility for one more trainer."
"What do you mean?"
A smile spread across Agnes Tachyon's face.
"Tracen doesn't allow new trainees to be promoted to trainer, but they do allow one trainee to assist multiple trainers simultaneously."
If they could get the agreement of two trainers and the trainee herself, then she could take on an additional workload.
Now was the time to showcase the trainee's personal charm.
"Cafe, have her make a move on your trainer," Agnes Tachyon said.
If she could attract the trainer enough, even without any ulterior motives, the trainer would want to keep the trainee close by.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.