He felt that his professional career was about to end before it had even begun.
The paint on the door was peeling.
The edges even showed signs of rotten splinters.
The only thing proving this was an official department of Tracen Academy was the crooked wooden sign hanging there:
[Placement and Rehabilitation Department for Fierce Uma Musume]
The name sounded like a nursing home prepared for Uma Musume whose careers had ended.
Whose temperaments were particularly volatile...
No, it was straight-up an asylum.
"Take a deep breath... take a deep breath..."
"Hoshi Kaito, you are a Transmigrator, the Chosen One!"
"What is there to fear about being exiled to the frontier?"
He tried to cheer himself up mentally.
But the knuckles gripping the transfer order were already white with tension.
Besides, Tracen Academy is a guaranteed career!
The benefits are great.
And you get to have close contact with the adorable Uma Musume...
Although the word "adorable" might need quotation marks.
Just as his inner monologue reached its climax, the door creaked open from the inside.
A smell mixed with medicinal plaster, liniment, and a faint scent of despair gushed out.
It nearly suffocated Kaito on the spot.
Inside the office, three pairs of eyes turned toward him simultaneously.
They looked at him with a complex mix of sympathy, compassion, and the gaze reserved for a martyr.
Kaito, the lamb waiting to be slaughtered, froze in place.
He clearly saw the scene inside the office.
The man at the desk on the left had a thick cast on his left arm.
The middle-aged man at the center counter had a huge bandage over his nose.
He also had a dark bruise on his eye.
The young man at the desk on the right had his back to the door.
He was gripping the back of his chair with his body twisted at an odd angle.
With a dry crack, he let out a groan of relief after completing a high-difficulty bone self-adjustment.
"Good heavens...!"
Inside Kaito's heart, a stampede of 100,000 "grass-mud horses" was already roaring past.
Where is the promised close contact with the Uma Musume?
Where are the youth and the sweat?
This is clearly a field hospital!
"The new guy?"
The elder with the cast asked first, his voice weak.
"Y-yes, I am Hoshi Kaito."
"I am here to report for duty today."
His voice was barely a whisper.
The man with the bandage sighed.
He handed Kaito a bottle of medicine.
"Kid, try to look on the bright side."
"There are no obstacles in life that you cannot overcome."
"Uh... thank you, senior?"
"Take it."
The man patted him on the shoulder with very little force.
"This is the welfare package for newcomers."
"Believe me, you will need it every day from now on."
The welcome package is trauma medicine?
Kaito felt like crying.
He asked the most crucial question with a trembling voice.
"Uh... excuse me, which Uma Musume will I mainly be in charge of for rehabilitation massage?"
The office instantly fell into a deathly silence.
The young man pointed toward the innermost part of the room.
It was a confinement room sealed with yellow "Quarantine" tape.
"Her."
The young man's voice had a hint of terror.
"Gold City."
"Due to her kicking and destroying three top-quality physiotherapy machines imported from Germany, she is currently in solitary confinement."
Gold City.
Those two words hit Kaito's skull like lightning bolts.
The girl famous on the racetrack for her incomparable stamina and golden will.
But she was also extremely volatile.
She even had the "glorious achievement" of throwing a Trainer off the track...
Gold City?!
Kaito's legs grew weak.
He slumped to the cold floor.
It was over.
"I'm dead..."
"Am I going to be sent back home to marry an Uma Musume on my second day as a Transmigrator?"
"They won't even leave behind a complete corpse of me..."
Just as his mental pressure reached its limit, a mechanical voice exploded in his mind:
[Ding—]
[Detection of a severe survival crisis in the host.]
[The desire for survival has reached its peak...]
[The Divine Level Petting System has been officially activated!]
Kaito: "...?"
Σ ( ° △ ° | | | )
[Distributing newbie gift pack to the host...]
[The pack has been opened successfully!]
[Congratulations to the host on the acquisition:]
Passive Skill - Primary Massage Technique: The foundation of the God's Hand.
Your hands can now automatically detect the state of every muscle fiber.
Active Skill - Primary Masculine Aroma LV1: A special pheromone.
It makes the Uma Musume feel safe and relaxed.
Kaito stared at the virtual panel.
He felt like a drowning person suddenly grabbing onto an aircraft carrier's anchor.
The System!
My cheat has finally arrived!
He wiped his face and stood up.
He brushed off the dust from his pants.
His back straightened.
His gaze became resolute.
He gave the three seniors a professional smile:
"Don't worry, seniors."
"I am a professional."
It's just Gold City!
Just a fierce girl!
In front of my God's Hand and my fatal scent, watch me make her docile and obedient!
The three seniors exchanged glances.
Had this kid gone crazy from the scare?