Author's Note: I am not an editor or a professional writer. I will write this and edit it to the best of my ability. I also do not own Uma Musume, which is owned by Cygames. Watch the animes and read the mangas, for they are pretty good. Finally, please enjoy.
Endless Journey POV
It was an interesting day as we were introduced to each of the branch managers of the organization. They were all quite interesting and brilliant in their own ways. However, the aftermath of the Spice and Ayana reveal was an annoying one. I had to supervise my girlfriend, KiWi, tonight despite the fact that I still had research to continue.
Although, it seems everyone had other priorities tonight.
Vic's priorities were understandable. She wanted to make sure the team would be in safe hands during our future endeavors. The others, however, weren't quite as understandable, as they were all acting like foolish lovebirds struck by Cupid's arrows.
Now, though, I had to continue my research.
We had finally arrived at my room, which also doubled as my laboratory. Tonight, I had planned to access my soul once again. I had been getting closer to accessing the greater power that all Uma Musume possessed—a power capable of enhancing their bodies to heights that should have been impossible for them to reach in their current state.
Zone.
That's when KiWi spoke.
"Ooooh, bad girl wants to take me to her room to bang me."
My goodness. And we had been doing so well today, too.
Once KiWi started talking, her chattering didn't stop. She tried to seduce me with nearly every sentence. Still, I was able to resist her.
Sometimes.
Other times, her creativity simply overwhelmed my sense of reason.
I still remembered the alien-style leather swimsuit.
That night, I had completely lost all sense of reason.
Good times.
Still, as her punishment, I was going to bring her as close to success as possible without actually letting her succeed. How dare she cause trouble for us today?
We soon entered my room.
KiWi immediately began making herself comfortable while I prepared my equipment. Once everything was ready, I sat down and began meditating.
I focused on my breathing.
My heartbeat.
My soul.
Then, as I entered my Zone, the laboratory around me faded away.
KiWi disappeared from my awareness entirely.
I was back in that strange place.
There, I saw the two figures again.
The first was the horse.
Its coloration was completely different from my own hair.
Then there was the girl.
She looked exactly like me.
Only younger.
I stared at her for several seconds. I had finally gotten another opportunity to speak with her.
I opened my mouth.
I was about to say something when—
"NA NA NA NA!!!!!!"
Everything suddenly faded away.
I awakened with a start.
I looked around and immediately realized what had happened.
KiWi had set my alarm to go off right now.
Goddesses damn it, KiWi!!
I grabbed the alarm clock and crushed it into a million pieces.
If I weren't an Uma Musume, that probably would have hurt my hand.
Fortunately, I was.
And I was pissed.
I had been so close.
I was on the verge of unlocking Zone without ever stepping onto this world's competitive track.
KiWi had ruined it.
I immediately chased after her around the small room.
She laughed as she dodged my attempts to catch her, clearly enjoying herself.
"Come on, EnJo!"
"Get back here!"
She kept laughing until I finally caught her.
I grabbed her arms, wrapped mine around her, and tackled her onto the bed.
She was still laughing.
"So what now, EnJo?" she asked. "What do you want to do with me?"
I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
I restrained her so she couldn't move, then reached underneath my bed and grabbed the rope I kept there.
"Goddesses damn it, EnJo! Why?!"
"You know why."
I restrained her securely before placing a gag over her mouth to silence her.
Then I carried her into my large walk-in closet.
The restraints were specifically designed for Uma Musume, meaning there was no way she was going to simply overpower them. I secured her hands and legs before fastening her to the floor with the heavy equipment I kept in my laboratory.
There was no way she was getting out until tomorrow.
I even placed cardboard boxes and newspapers underneath her, just in case she decided to make things even more difficult.
KiWi was staying there for the night.
I shut the closet doors and returned to my meditation.
Unfortunately, before I could begin again—
Ping.
A text message.
Why was everyone trying to bother me today?
I grabbed my phone and read the message.
"Yo, guess whose girl just got her agency hired as the Org's primary agency?"
Soon enough, everyone was congratulating Ayana.
Well, almost everyone.
Many people still hadn't forgiven Spice and continued cursing her out.
Especially KiWi.
…Wait.
KiWi?
I suddenly heard a voice behind me.
"Great news about Ayana, right? But man, I still hate Spice right now."
I slowly turned around.
There she was.
KiWi.
Sitting on my bed.
Free.
She winked at me.
Ping.
Another message arrived.
I didn't bother reading it.
KiWi did.
"Huh. The staff are having a meeting tonight. How interesting."
I just stared at her.
I was completely speechless.
She smiled.
"Oh… you thought those restraints could hold me?"
She tilted her head.
"Girl, I've escaped the author's restraints before. And he's a godlike being in this world."
What the fuck was she talking about?
Before I could ask, everything went black.
A second later, I found myself standing there with a strange straitjacket in my hands. It was covered in unfamiliar symbols.
Two strange boxes had also appeared around KiWi's hands and lower body, completely restricting her movement. They were covered in the same symbols.
Finally, a strange mask covered her entire head, leaving her unable to see or speak.
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
Then she looked absolutely terrified.
I smirked.
The chase began.
KiWi tried to run, but this time I caught her.
I restrained her completely.
Once I opened the closet door, however, I discovered something that hadn't been there before.
A sarcophagus.
It had the same strange symbols as the restraints.
I opened it.
Inside was everything KiWi would need to survive the night.
I somehow knew exactly what to do.
I placed her inside and closed the sarcophagus.
Then, without even thinking about it, I knew how to lock it from the outside.
I shut the closet door.
Then I returned to my meditation.
This time, I made it back to the same place.
But something was different.
There was a seal inside me.
A timer was counting down.
The seal contained strange lettering and numbers similar to those on the restraints and sarcophagus.
I tried to reach Zone again.
Nothing.
The seal was blocking me.
It seemed that whatever power governed this place had decided that I wasn't allowed to discover Zone yet.
Not for a certain amount of time, anyway.
I tried breaking through it.
Nothing.
I tried forcing my way around it.
Nothing.
Eventually, I realized the truth.
The seal was impossible to break.
I awakened and decided to move on to my other research.
Speed.
Strength.
Endurance.
Reaction time.
And every other physical attribute I could measure.
I'd already completed the physical testing and gathered most of the necessary data. Now I could begin turning that knowledge into practical methods.
By tomorrow, I'd probably have several ways to strengthen myself and the rest of the team according to everyone's individual abilities.
I might even have enough data to share with the new coach.
Assuming he didn't fuck things up.
The night passed as I continued working.
I created multiple copies of my research and sent them to several trusted individuals and devices so nothing could be lost if something stupid happened.
I also stored copies in multiple databases across different locations.
I regularly checked each one to ensure nothing had been corrupted or lost.
I kept everything in both physical and digital formats.
Several trusted staff members had also agreed to help safeguard my research.
Of course, I kept some locations completely secret from them.
If someone ever became greedy and decided to steal my life's work, they would fail gloriously.
After making sure everything was secured, I finally returned to the closet.
It was time to free KiWi.
She was asleep when I opened the restraints.
I carefully carried her back to the bed.
She eventually woke up and realized she was free.
Then she looked at me.
And immediately began pouting like an immature child.
I didn't care.
"Get your ass up and get out of my room before I throw you out. I don't have time for your petty bullshit when you did nothing but cause problems the entire night."
She glared at me.
I looked back toward the closet.
The restraints were gone.
So was the sarcophagus.
At least now there was some evidence supporting KiWi's ridiculous story about an all-powerful author.
I moved the restraints she'd escaped from back to their usual location where I could easily reach them if necessary.
Though, honestly, I probably needed better restraints if I was going to keep dealing with KiWi.
After cleaning herself up, KiWi got out of the shower and changed into the clothes she'd left in my room for our more… intense nights.
I soon went to take my own shower.
When I came back out, KiWi had already left.
She really was pissed off.
I changed into some fresh clothes and headed toward breakfast.
Just another night, I guess.
At some point, I'm going to have to get some sleep.