Symboli Rudolf was right—Kitahara Sota was indeed in danger.
Life-threatening danger, even.
Not long after finishing his chat with Higashimori Yosuke, the infirmary door swung open, revealing an Uma Musu with chestnut hair, crimson eyes, and a mysterious smile. She held two vials in her hands.
The mont she appeared, the infirmary—which had been filled with quiet chatter just seconds ago—fell dead silent.
All around the room, curtains quickly closed and locked. Even the trainer with the fractured pelvis struggled to rise, gritting his teeth against the pain just to draw the curtains shut, before collapsing again, sweating profusely and holding his breath, desperately hoping to escape this particular visitor's notice.
Rule number two of Tracen Academy's survival guide:
"If you encounter an Uma Musu wearing a white lab coat, remain calm, and under no circumstances agree to her requests."
This rule specifically referred to the Uma Musu who had just entered:
Agnes Tachyon.
Tracen's most notorious mad scientist, one of its most dangerous figures—and in Kitahara's personal threat-ranking, she stood just below the four heavyweights.
Facing soone this dangerous, Kitahara naturally had no desire whatsoever to interact with her.
He was the quickest to react to her arrival. Before anyone else, he swiftly drew the curtains around his bed, flopped onto his mattress, and began to play dead, trying to diminish his presence as much as possible.
Unfortunately, re seconds later, the curtain around his bed was pulled open.
The crimson-eyed Uma Musu entered with a gentle smile and sat casually beside him.
"Good afternoon, Trainer Kitahara."
"Ahem—Miss, you've mistaken for soone else. I'm Nobita Nobi. Who is this Kitahara Sota person anyway…?"
Agnes Tachyon tapped her cheek thoughtfully, tilting her head with a mischievous grin.
"Is that so? But your na tag clearly says 'Kitahara Sota' right there on your chest."
Kitahara: "…"
Damn it, again? That's it—I'm tossing this stupid na tag the first chance I get.
Observing the expressions flickering across his face, Agnes Tachyon's smile widened further, her curiosity piqued.
"You seem rather afraid of ."
No kidding. Are you seriously unaware of your own reputation around here?!
Kitahara's gaze nervously flickered to the two mysterious vials in her hands, unconsciously swallowing.
There was a reason why trainers avoided her, and why they had specifically added a rule against her.
Though she'd never caused irreparable damage, this mad scientist had triggered countless chaotic incidents within the school—all in the na of her experints—and inevitably, trainers were always the victims.
To na just a few:
She'd once concocted a drug that temporarily forced people to tell the truth. Within hours, the Uma Musu had bought out her entire stock, causing Tracen's trainer disappearance rate to skyrocket.
Coincidentally, the previous disappearance record was also caused by another one of her concoctions. She'd literally outdone herself.
Another ti, she developed a dicine that temporarily suppressed Uma Musu's emotions, wildly popular with trainers who prioritized results and disliked dealing with complicated feelings.
Initially, it had seed like a great idea—Tracen's overall atmosphere and race results even improved significantly.
The catch? The suppression was only temporary.
Once the effect wore off, the previously repressed emotions exploded violently, throwing the entire academy into chaos. Ultimately, even the normally adversarial Chairwoman and Student Council President had been forced into a rare collaboration, barely managing to prevent a catastrophe. Afterward, Agnes Tachyon was permanently banned from selling any drugs openly.
Wherever Agnes Tachyon appeared, trainers suffered. This had beco an undeniable, universally accepted truth in Tracen Academy.
As a result, despite having been at the academy for a long ti, she still didn't have a proper trainer.
Not that she minded—she was too engrossed in her research (or troublemaking) to participate seriously in races anyway.
Today, however, she'd changed her mind.
Because she had found soone incredibly interesting.
Earlier that day, she'd received a curious ssage from Symboli Rudolf.
At the ti, she'd been engrossed in an experint when Rudolf's ssage arrived, inquiring if she had anything to do with a recent Uma Musu assault incident.
Naturally, Agnes Tachyon imdiately denied involvent. Ever since the emotional suppression fiasco, she'd realized she risked getting expelled if she continued recklessly. Now, she rely sold harmless supplents like "Horse Power Energy Drinks" on the side.
But Rudolf's use of the phrase "malicious incident" imdiately piqued her interest.
While Tracen frequently saw cases of Uma Musu assaulting trainers, those incidents usually occurred between tantou and trainers with a deeply intimate relationship. Though terd "assaults," they were rely affectionate interactions taken a step too far, rarely considered malicious. In fact, Tracen usually turned a blind eye, treating it as dostic affairs unless things truly got out of hand.
But today, Rudolf explicitly used the phrase "malicious incident." This was intriguing.
Had so jealous Uma Musu violently attacked another's trainer? Or perhaps so reckless newcor thought Tracen HQ was a place where she could freely misbehave?
Being a curious scientist, Agnes Tachyon's interest naturally intensified. When she probed further, Rudolf's response shocked her.
An Uma Musu stronger than average had attacked a seemingly ordinary trainer with clear malicious intent—yet the trainer not only escaped unhard, but the attacker ended up unconscious?
If Rudolf hadn't been the one telling her, Agnes Tachyon would have thought it was nonsense.
This revelation intrigued her so thoroughly that she imdiately stopped her experint—sothing she rarely did—and rushed to the reported location.
And there, she discovered even more fascinating evidence.
A fist-sized indentation on the wall. Masonry torn apart by horseshoes. A faintly lingering, pungent scent of chemicals in the air.
Clearly, an intense fight had occurred—one that hadn't been entirely one-sided.
Yet, strangely, there was only a single Uma Musu's scent present.
Fascinating—utterly fascinating.
She couldn't help but clap softly to herself, lingering at the scene to uncover even more intriguing details.
And now, here she was, sitting calmly beside Kitahara, chin resting in her hand, ruby-like eyes gleaming playfully as she asked softly:
"Trainer Kitahara, would you perhaps be interested in becoming my personal guinea pig?"
"Nope. Absolutely not," Kitahara answered without hesitation.
But her smile didn't waver. Instead, she calmly handed him one of the vials she held.
"There's no need to rush into rejecting . Take a look at this first."
"No thanks. Whatever it is, my answer remains—"
Kitahara's voice abruptly halted. As he stared at the familiar orange liquid in the vial, cold sweat began trickling down his palm.
Simultaneously, Agnes Tachyon continued speaking, amusent coloring her voice.
"If my assumption is correct, this liquid can accelerate a human's recovery from injuries, right?"
"But that leads us to an interesting contradiction: your arm injury isn't particularly severe. If drinking a small amount of this potion could heal you completely, why remain in this injured state?"
She leaned closer, her scarlet eyes glinting mysteriously.
"Could it be that your initial injury was far worse than it appears now, and this is rely the improved state after your treatnt?"
"Or perhaps… a certain trainer willingly sacrificed an arm, successfully subdued an Uma Musu who wasn't weak by any standard, and then conveniently staged everything to look like an accident?"
"What do you think, Trainer Kitahara?"
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