Even though Mizuno resisted with all his might, struggling desperately to escape, Tokai Teio's will was ironclad. She clamped onto his arm and, before the overwhelming difference in strength between Uma and human, Mizuno had no chance to resist. He was dragged, inch by inch, into Tokai Teio's room.
At first, Mizuno wasn't too worried. He thought, Even if she does pull into her room, it's not like she'd actually dare to do anything. So he kept consoling himself inside—It's fine, it's fine. Just endure it a little and it'll be over.
But what happened next instantly undid all the calm he had just managed to piece together.
Because on the way to Teio's room, Mizuno encountered... sothing supernatural.
As Teio hauled him along the corridor of the dorm, there ca a sudden creak. A door to one of the other rooms, one he didn't recognize, cracked open just a sliver. And from inside, sothing reached out and seized his ankle.
Mizuno looked down—and saw that what gripped him was a pale, withered human hand. A hand that looked like it belonged to a corpse!
Right after, a voice floated out from within the room, faint and weak beyond belief:
"Help... help ..."
But before the plea could even finish, it was as if so unseen force yanked the speaker back into the room.
The door shut tight again. The corridor returned to silence, as though nothing had happened at all.
"What the hell?!" Mizuno finally processed it, stumbling back several steps until he was flat against the wall.
That dead man's hand, that cry for help—what were they?! Were there ghosts in the Uma dorms?!
Seeing him so shaken, Teio gave a little laugh, clung gently to his arm, and soothed:
"Trainer Mizuno, don't be afraid. That's just one of the senpai's Trainers, not a monster."
"Tra... Trainer?" Mizuno's eyes darted between her and the closed door, his face drained white.
"You an that hand, the kind you only see in horror films or cri dramas—that was actually a Trainer's hand?!"
"Yup." Teio nodded.
"That Trainer is really close with that senpai. They Uma Pyoi together in her room every single day."
"Ha?" Mizuno was struck dumb.
Just... how long had they been Uma Pyoing to turn into that?!
"May I ask, exactly how long have your senpai and her Trainer been at it like this?"
"Hmm... about two weeks now."
"Guhhh..." Cold sweat poured down Mizuno's back.
No wonder that hand had looked shriveled, void of all moisture, like the bark of a dead tree...
So his body had already been squeezed dry...
Mizuno stared at the door, grief welling in his chest. He brought his hands together, bowing silently in prayer for that poor Trainer's soul.
May he still be among the living.
Teio, watching Mizuno's "reluctant-to-leave" expression, misunderstood entirely. She thought he wanted to be just like that Trainer. Her eyes shone with excitent as she leaned in close, her gaze expectant.
"Trainer Mizuno, how about we Uma Pyoi too~?"
"Gwah?!" The words struck Mizuno like thunder. His knees nearly gave way under him.
The "Uma Pyoi" Teio was talking about—could it possibly an what he thought it did?!
"Um, Teio... do you actually know what Uma Pyoi ans?" Mizuno asked with great caution.
"aning?" Teio tilted her head, puzzled.
"Isn't it just plain old dancing? What else could it an?"
"Whew..." Mizuno let out a breath of pure relief at her innocent reply.
Close one. She didn't know the hidden aning. Otherwise, today he would've ended up shriveled too...
"You're right. Nothing else to it—it just ans dancing." Mizuno confird with all seriousness.
"?" Teio felt like Mizuno was hiding sothing, but she had no proof.
"Then will Trainer Mizuno dance Uma Pyoi with ?" she asked again, full of expectation.
"..." Mizuno hesitated.
If it really was just dancing, then it wasn't anything to be afraid of. He could agree to that.
So he nodded. "Alright."
"Yay~" Teio hugged his arm and hopped in delight.
"Trainer Mizuno's going to Uma Pyoi with ~"
Dragged all the way, Mizuno was pulled at last to Teio's room.
She pulled out her key, unlocked the door, then hurried behind him to push him inside with both hands.
"Trainer Mizuno, look, this is my room~" Teio said excitedly, showing it off.
Mizuno glanced around. The room's layout, the arrangent of things—it was almost identical to what he had seen the last ti he ca.
There was even still the sa orange-haired girl lying asleep in bed—Teio's roommate, Mayano Top Gun. Not only had her sleeping posture not changed, even her sleep-talking was still mumbling, "I can't eat anymore..." Mizuno couldn't help wondering if she had ever gotten out of bed at all.
But the most eye-catching thing was, of course, the cardboard sign pinned to the wall beside Teio's bed. In big bold letters, it declared her life goals.
Last ti, Mizuno had seen the words: [To beco the undefeated Triple Crown Uma].
But now there was a new addition underneath:
[Win Trainer Mizuno's heart]
Mizuno: "?"
Teio, noticing too late the damning words on display, rushed to tear the board down and tossed it on the bed, throwing a blanket over it. Then she turned back with a sheepish smile.
"Hehe..."
Mizuno: "..."
He had already seen it. What was the point of hiding it now?
But honestly, Mizuno didn't mind this new goal. Teenage girls liked to set things like "capture so-and-so's heart" as their oaths—it was normal behavior.
As long as she didn't an it literally...
Teio, under his stare, gave a few more silly laughs.
Then her gaze strayed to her roommate, still snoozing away, and she suddenly rembered. She dashed to Mayano Top Gun's bed and gently shook her small fra.
"Top Gun, wake up."
"Uwaa~... what is it..." The little orange-haired girl whined in a tiny, babyish voice, clearly unhappy at being disturbed.
Just monts ago she had been dreaming of a date with a handso big brother whose face she couldn't quite see. She had just finished a huge tableful of carrots with him, and next they were about to go sowhere else together. But Teio's call had shattered it all—her sweet dream broken into pieces.
Teio leaned close to her drowsy roommate's ear and whispered:
"Top Gun, you're always asking to bring my Trainer back to the dorm, right? Well, I've brought him now~"
"Oh..."
At first, Top Gun only murmured back half-asleep, then tried to sink back into her dream.
But a few seconds later, realization struck. She snapped her eyes wide open and shot upright.
"Eh?!"
Teio's Trainer—here, in this room?! That ant he'd seen her while she was sleeping?!
But when she looked around, she only saw Teio standing there. There was no one else in sight.
"Where is he?" Top Gun blinked in confusion.
No one was there. Was Teio playing a prank on her?
"He's right here." Teio pointed at an empty space, motioning for her to look carefully.
"?" Top Gun followed her finger and focused her eyes.
Slowly, Mizuno's figure began to surface in her vision.
"There really is soone!" Top Gun gasped.
And his appearance matched Teio's description exactly—Trainer Mizuno, cloaked head to toe in strange clothing that left no skin exposed at all.
His presence was unbelievably faint. Like an assassin, invisible in the shadows. Only the faintest trace of honey-scent betrayed him—without being told, she would never have guessed there was a person standing right there.
Before, she had teased Teio: since she liked her Trainer so much, why not be like those senpai and bring him back to the dorm to get close, close...
But now—Teio had really brought him back!
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