The next day, morning.
At the training grounds, the number of Uma Musu awaiting Kitahara Sato had increased to eight.
Unlike the others, however, Nice Nature wasn't standing among the group. Instead, she stood quietly in a distant corner, as if deliberately isolating herself.
It wasn't that nobody tried inviting her to join; rather, the mont they approached, the oppressive aura radiating from her imdiately drove them back. Only then did they understand why Eclipse had ntioned yesterday in the group chat that the new mber was "sowhat special" and better off left alone.
After greeting the rest, Kitahara went directly to Nature, asking if she could accompany him sowhere.
Of course, he made no ntion of the Uma Musu hunters—he only said he needed her help in talking with a few people.
In fact, even now, the Uma Musu from Black Forest still knew nothing of the truth, and Tracen had no intention of letting them find out. Even when collecting information, they were rely described as being misguided by extre Uma Musu rights activists, carefully preserving their naive illusions.
Kitahara gave Nature the sa explanation.
Honestly, if not for the risk that delaying might allow the enemy to notice and take counterasures, he wouldn't even have considered involving Nature at all.
"Yes, of course. No problem," Nature answered without hesitation.
After receiving her agreent, Kitahara didn't imdiately leave. Instead, he found Agnes Tachyon and quietly asked if she had more doses of the truth serum from before.
He wasn't planning to use it—but being prepared never hurt.
Agnes Tachyon, resting between training sets, hadn't noticed Kitahara approaching until his familiar voice suddenly sounded beside her. Her body stiffened instantly, and she instinctively turned her head away, her tail flicking nervously.
Still angry, huh...?
Kitahara sighed inwardly but still summoned his courage to explain what he needed.
Agnes Tachyon was silent for a mont, reached into her clothing to rummage briefly, then pulled out three vials of pale blue truth serum, placing them into his hand.
Kitahara's eyelids twitched violently at the sight.
Wait a second—how on earth do you train normally while carrying so much of this stuff around?
No, wait, that's not even the main issue here! Why are you walking around with such dangerous substances in the first place? And considering you could casually pull out three vials, doesn't that imply you're carrying even more!?
But Kitahara had misunderstood.
Agnes Tachyon actually only had three vials with her. Under normal circumstances, she would have only given him one, maybe two at most if he insisted. Never three—after all, she needed so herself.
Yet, startled by Kitahara's sudden appearance, Agnes Tachyon panicked and reflexively handed over all her stock. By the ti she realized her mistake, it was already too late.
Having obtained the serum, Kitahara quickly called Eclipse and Nature, then headed towards the Tracen detention facility.
Although terd a "detention facility," it functioned more like a juvenile detention center or mild prison. Due to its size, it wasn't situated on campus but rather in a separate complex near the main Tracen campus.
Still, since most detainees were students with minor infractions, the environnt was fairly comfortable, essentially just a localized Tracen campus with restricted freedom and entertainnt options.
But being sent here didn't an a break from studies.
Tracen was a school, after all—there were teachers for regular lessons and trainers supervising physical training, all enforced quite strictly.
The Black Forest Uma Musu naturally weren't exempt from this.
Initially, after their capture, they had acted defiantly, believing they'd finally get to confront Tracen's "dark side" directly, eager to deliver righteous accusations.
In less than a week, however, their spirits had withered completely.
Teenagers might rush headlong into risky, exciting causes when roused, but force them to endure strict lessons, structured training routines, and monotonous yet nutritious als day after day…
"Uuuh… I'm sorry, please let out…"
"Mom, Dad… I wanna go ho…"
"My phone… computer… snacks… uwaaah…"
Incidentally, when these unfortunate kids had left their hos, they'd told their families they were "visiting Tracen." Conveniently, Tracen now ensured that wasn't entirely a lie.
When Kitahara arrived, they were midway through their morning training.
An exhausted, miserable-looking line of little Uma Musu stood listlessly, following their assigned routines chanically, eyes dull and hollow.
Though emotionally drained, their physical condition had clearly improved significantly.
Originally, before entering, Kitahara had been prepared for the possibility of returning empty-handed. According to Hayakawa Tazuna, these stubbornly naive kids had cooperated in every aspect except talking about those people who had influenced them.
Naivety often ant stubbornness—especially during the emotionally unstable period of maturation. Once they fixated on sothing idealistic from their past, changing their minds was extraordinarily difficult.
But the mont Kitahara saw them, he suddenly felt the truth serum in his pocket was pointless—even Nice Nature seed redundant.
Because among the miserable-looking Uma Musu in front of him, nearly a third of them were familiar faces.
Of the remaining two-thirds, half knew Uma Musu he had helped, and the other half had at least heard of him.
Because Kitahara deliberately avoided Tracen's main campus and major cities to steer clear of problematic elites, he wasn't very famous among the elite ranks. However, in the countryside, especially among the rapidly increasing number of unregistered Uma Musu missed by URA, his na was practically legendary.
In certain rural areas, he was revered almost as a living representative of the Three Goddesses, secretly worshipped at private shrines. (Secretly, because Kitahara himself had forbidden such idolization as inauspicious—once, a village had nearly erected a temple dedicated to him before he'd hastily intervened.)
Thus, when the young Uma Musu recognized him, the quiet training area instantly erupted into chaos.
Before Kitahara could even initiate a conversation, the forrly listless girls crowded around eagerly. Those who knew him spoke up enthusiastically, and those who didn't quietly observed from behind, encircling him completely.
Without delay, Kitahara explained his purpose.
Of course, he didn't ntion the Uma Musu hunters. Instead, he simply said that Tracen wanted to talk with those individuals to clear up so misunderstandings. If necessary, he even offered to bring these girls on a campus tour to prove firsthand that Tracen truly prioritized the welfare of Uma Musu and wasn't exploiting them as commodities.
Additionally, he assured them there was no need to worry about Tracen retaliating harshly against those people. After all, these Uma Musu who had directly attacked Tracen had received gentle treatnt—so how could those individuals, who had never personally confronted Tracen, face worse consequences?
It was flawless logic.
Especially coming from Kitahara himself—the legendary Kitahara Sato.
They could doubt Hayakawa Tazuna or even Tracen, but never Kitahara Sato.
So why exactly did I bring Nature and the truth serum again?
Kitahara questioned himself silently as he effortlessly got the girls talking, quickly obtaining far more detailed information than Hayakawa had previously managed to acquire.
But due to their number and frequent emotional outbursts causing mory gaps, the data collection process was slower than Kitahara had initially anticipated. It seed he'd be spending the next several days here.
Quickly, Kitahara discovered that even if he didn't need Nature for interrogation, she still had other uses.
Specifically, once the girls recognized him, those he'd personally helped tried eagerly to get closer. While this had been acceptable when they were small children, years of maturation had transford them considerably. Needless to say, such close interaction now was highly inappropriate.
Yet he also couldn't easily push them away—being human, he'd struggle to physically resist them if they persisted—so he helplessly watched as they pressed forward.
Just then, Nice Nature silently stepped forward, positioning herself by his side. Her oppressive aura surged forth, imdiately halting the excited Uma Musu in their tracks.
Good job, Nature! Excellent work!
This single action instantly restored the feeling of seamless cooperation they'd shared years ago.
That was only the start.
Recording interview data, maintaining orderly conduct, controlling distance with her pressure, even smoothly offering him water when his mouth grew dry...
Despite several years apart, it took Kitahara less than half a day to fully recapture the synergy they'd once shared.
She could anticipate exactly what he needed just by observing subtle cues from his movents or tone, executing tasks flawlessly without a single explicit instruction.
Nature truly is amazing…
Kitahara quietly marveled.
Though Nature's talent wasn't on par with monsters like Agnes Digital—and certainly couldn't replicate him entirely—in terms of coordination, communication, and managent, Kitahara himself couldn't even compare.
Her gentle, stable deanor especially suited him, aligning perfectly with his desired peaceful, mundane life.
Soday, when these girls matured into capable adults, he might consider revealing the harsh truth about the world to them.
But not today.
Today, Kitahara chose gentle lies to preserve their innocent happiness, at least for a little while longer.
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