The next day, Fujiwara Chiya's body had recovered. Somewhat.
The ache in his waist and legs had dulled enough that he could at least crawl out of bed like a functioning member of society. Personally, he wanted one more day. Just one more day to let his completely wrung-out body remember what "normal" felt like.
Unfortunately, training couldn't wait forever.
With Shirayuki around, the team itself would be fine. She was reliable enough to handle almost anything that came up. But Shirayuki's own training was a different story.
No matter how much trainer knowledge an uma musume had, she couldn't train herself properly. Someone still had to stand outside the movement, watch the form, judge the rhythm, and catch the little errors she couldn't feel from the inside.
In other words, Shirayuki could be everyone's trainer.
But Shirayuki's trainer could only be him.
With that thought in mind, Fujiwara Chiya changed into his clothes. As he pulled his shirt over his shoulders, his fingers accidentally brushed against the bite mark near his collarbone.
A tiny jolt ran through him.
Even though a full day had passed, the mark showed absolutely no sign of fading.
When people got overwhelmed, they all expressed it differently.
In Hayakawa Tazuna's case, apparently, that expression was biting.
Once her emotions passed a certain point, gentle touches hadn't been enough to convey what she felt anymore. So she had sunk her teeth into his shoulder. Hard enough that Fujiwara Chiya had seriously wondered, for one terrifying second, whether she was trying to eat him.
Thankfully, Hayakawa Tazuna's sanity hadn't completely clocked out. After seeing the mark she had left, she had gently licked it with her tongue, and after that, she hadn't bitten him again.
Somehow, Tazuna always seemed to hover right on the border between danger and safety.
One moment, she made every hair on Chiya's body stand on end. The next, she made him feel so safe he could almost forget the danger had ever been there.
Apparently, he wasn't the only walking contradiction around here.
Tazuna was one too.
It was just that every single one of her contradictions happened to be aimed directly at him.
Covering the bite mark with his collar, Fujiwara Chiya dragged his still-weak body out of the room. The instant he opened the door, a small figure was waiting outside.
"Onii-sama."
Rice Shower looked up at him with a bright, relieved smile.
"Is your body all right now, Onii-sama?"
"I'm fine now."
Fujiwara Chiya gently patted her head.
To keep his uma musume from worrying, Fujiwara Chiya had told everyone he collapsed from overexercising.
Very wholesome.
Very athletic.
Very healthy.
Also completely unrelated to the truth.
He had a sinking feeling that he had finally entered the "balancing bowls of water" stage his father had warned him about. He had to keep every bowl steady in his hands. Spill even one, and things might spiral completely out of control, just like they had with Hayakawa Tazuna.
Honestly, Fujiwara Chiya couldn't even imagine what Rice Shower would be like if she turned dark.
Then again, he had never imagined Hayakawa Tazuna's true nature would be that wild either.
What he needed to do now was stabilize everyone's emotions and make sure no one did anything reckless because of romantic feelings. Even if they were all girls in the middle of adolescence, "young love" was not supposed to come with bite damage.
At this point, Fujiwara Chiya had fully entered sage mode.
His heart did not stir in the slightest at feminine charm.
There was only one thing on his mind.
Return to the team.
Guide everyone.
Survive.
"Rice made breakfast for Onii-sama," Rice Shower said, lifting a small pink box with both hands. "Rice hopes Onii-sama gets better soon."
Rice was such a good girl.
Fujiwara Chiya felt warmth spread through his chest. Whenever his condition was poor, Rice Shower was always the one who stayed by his side and took care of him properly.
Gold Ship and Meisho Doto also came to his room sometimes, of course, but how should he put it?
Their concern usually made his condition worse.
Especially that one time he caught a cold and Doto accidentally spilled cold water all over his blanket.
At that moment, Fujiwara Chiya had genuinely seen the revolving lantern of his life.
Only Rice Shower knew how to offer the right care at the right time. Maybe it was because Rice herself had gone through so many painful stages that she understood exactly what someone needed when they were weak.
"Thank you, Rice. I'll eat it when I get to the office."
"Yes, Onii-sama! Rice will come find Onii-sama during training."
Her pale little face bloomed into a cute smile. After letting Fujiwara Chiya pat her head one more time, she walked with him toward the school building.
Once he returned to his office and sat down, Chiya hadn't even managed to catch his breath before another guest arrived.
It was Mejiro Dober.
"Morning, Dober," Fujiwara Chiya greeted.
"Good morning, Trainer."
She nodded slightly.
"I heard from Shirayuki that something happened to your body… How are you feeling?"
"I'm all right."
"I see…"
Mejiro Dober fidgeted for a moment.
"Actually, there's something I wanted to give you, Trainer."
She lifted both hands.
Only then did Fujiwara Chiya notice the bento wrapped in blue cloth that she had been hiding behind her back.
"You need nutrition if you're going to recover. Trainer probably hasn't eaten breakfast yet, right?"
"I haven't…"
Fujiwara Chiya answered blankly, his voice carrying a trace of disbelief.
Shirayuki often ate the bentos Mejiro Dober made. He knew that. But he had never imagined the day would come when he would get to eat one himself.
No wonder he hadn't seen her when he woke up this morning.
She had gone to the kitchen.
"D-don't misunderstand!"
Mejiro Dober's ears twitched as she quickly looked away.
"I just thought that if you don't get better soon, all the work will fall on Shirayuki. She's an uma musume too, but she has to stand on the sidelines and train us, and that cuts into her own training time. So…"
She placed the bento on his desk.
"You need to fulfill your responsibility as a trainer and come back to the training grounds quickly."
Her gaze kept darting between Chiya and the floor.
"Of course," Fujiwara Chiya said with a soft smile. "I'll do my best to recover. Thank you, Dober. Sorry for making you worry."
"You've done so much for me. This much is only natural."
Mejiro Dober secretly let out a tiny breath of relief.
"Then… I'll see you this afternoon, Trainer."
After lowering her head in farewell, she left the room.
Who would have thought that Mejiro Dober, who once hadn't even dared to speak to men, would one day make a bento for one?
Watching her slowly grow into the person she was now, Fujiwara Chiya felt a deep wave of satisfaction rise in his chest.
"Yo, guinea pig-kun. Busy?"
Mejiro Dober had barely left before Agnes Tachyon strolled in.
Without the slightest concept of personal space, she walked right up to Chiya's side and began examining him from head to toe.
"W-what is it?"
Fujiwara Chiya swallowed nervously.
Agnes Tachyon had leaned in close enough that her dark red, shutter-like eyes looked as if they might suck him in.
"Nothing. I simply came to inspect your condition."
Her lips curled faintly.
"By the way, what exactly did you do to exhaust yourself so badly that you couldn't even get out of bed?"
"Just normal… exercise. Squats and stuff…"
"In that case, this is perfect timing for my new medicine."
Agnes Tachyon's eyes gleamed.
"A muscle recovery agent designed to rapidly restore stamina. As it happens, I also need data on its effectiveness. Come now, guinea pig-kun. Drink it. Go on!"
As she spoke, Agnes Tachyon pulled a bottle of yellow liquid from her pocket and began closing in on Fujiwara Chiya.
"I only just recovered!"
"That's precisely why this opportunity is so valuable. The more exhausted the subject, the more necessary the medicine."
"Director! We have a genius of terrible logic over here!"
"Guinea pig-kun, I've been waiting for you to come back specifically so you could test this."
After a brief but completely useless round of resistance, Fujiwara Chiya eventually accepted the reagent.
"What are the side effects?"
"You'll know once you drink it."
Looking at Agnes Tachyon's half-smiling expression, Fujiwara Chiya furrowed his brow.
He shook the suspicious yellow reagent in his hand.
Then, with the face of a man walking toward the execution ground, he pinched his nose and drank it.
A few seconds later, warmth spread through his stomach.
Then the fatigue in his body eased.
Just a little.
Fujiwara Chiya immediately checked himself.
His head was not glowing.
His stomach was not making strange noises.
His joints had not transformed into anything unrecognizable.
Everything seemed… normal.
Fujiwara Chiya's eyes widened. He stared at Agnes Tachyon in disbelief.
"This is one of my proudest research results," Agnes Tachyon said, looking far too pleased with herself. "How could it possibly have side effects?"
As if her prank had landed perfectly, Agnes Tachyon let out a rhythmic laugh.
Then she turned, waved one hand over her shoulder, and headed for the door.
"Come to the training grounds soon, guinea pig-kun. Everyone is waiting for you."