Who knows how long had passed before Trainer Mizuno's consciousness finally clawed its way back from a feverish nightmare—one where he was endlessly Uma Pyoi'd by two horse girls under flashing disco lights.
When his mind finally surfaced, his whole body felt like it had been wrung dry.
"Where... is this?"
Blinking against the dim light, Mizuno found himself in a cramped concrete room, his wrists and ankles lashed tight with coarse hemp rope. His back leaned against a cold, mottled wall, and the floor beneath him—though relatively clean—was as hard as stone.
There were no windows. Only a faint, narrow slit of light leaked through the slightly ajar iron door two meters away, barely illuminating the space.
His last clear memory was shopping with Mejiro McQueen, getting ambushed by her maids, and right as he was about to unleash his Unlimited Fragrance, someone had cheated—using knockout gas.
Given the dark, sealed space... could this be the Mejiro family's fabled basement?
"I'm doomed..." he muttered, despair sinking like lead in his stomach.
His mouth wasn't gagged, so technically he could shout—but what good would that do? Even if someone heard him, it would only be the Mejiro family. No one outside knew he'd been taken.
At least his clothes were still intact. He patted himself down in relief—thank heaven, no one had tried to Uma Pyoi him while he was unconscious. Maybe they had standards.
Still, he couldn't risk alerting them that he'd woken. The moment they knew, they'd either "persuade" him—or worse.
"Guh..." Mizuno forced himself to stay silent, lowering his head to think.
No one knew his location. He hadn't told a soul where he was going. Mejiro McQueen had dragged him from her family's own store—there were no witnesses. If he wanted to escape, it had to be on his own.
His eyes drifted toward the door. It was cracked open, leaking that small strip of light like a lifeline.
Maybe... just maybe...
Bound hand and foot, Mizuno awkwardly rolled onto his stomach and began wriggling toward the door, inching forward like a sluggish caterpillar.
"Just a bit more... just need to get there..."
That thin beam of light looked like salvation itself.
But he'd barely moved half a meter when a calm female voice echoed from a dark corner.
"Oh, you're finally awake."
"Gah!" Mizuno froze mid-crawl, heart lurching. Someone had been in here the whole time?!
He whipped his head toward the sound—and from the shadows, a wine-red-haired Uma Musume stepped out, her boots tapping softly against the floor.
"Hehehe..." She chuckled lowly, walking closer. She wore a black jacket over a dark gray tank top, denim shorts, and thigh-high black stockings held up by garters. A thin metal chain jingled at her waist.
Her face carried sharp, handsome lines—made more striking by the eyepatch covering one eye. And her horse ears... Mizuno blinked. Their outer fur was the same wine red as her hair, but the inner fluff was sky-blue.
"You are...?" he asked cautiously.
The girl flipped a white-streaked lock from her bangs, then struck an overly dramatic pose, her voice dripping with chuuni gravitas.
"My name is Tanino Gimlet—the bearer and cleanser of sins, the shadow that delivers the justice the gods refuse to enact! The one gifted with the Fallen Demon Eye!"
She covered her eyepatch with one hand for emphasis.
"Tanino Gimlet..." Mizuno repeated, the pieces clicking together.
No wonder she looked familiar—she was Vodka's sire!
And if Agnes Tachyon was Daiwa Scarlet's sire... then these two were natural rivals.
"..." Mizuno eyed her warily. She wasn't tied up, but she wasn't helping him either. Which meant—she was guarding him.
But why would she? She wasn't Mejiro family. Which could only mean...
Wait.
After he'd passed out from the gas, had someone else intercepted him—stolen him from the Mejiro maids?
Before he could piece it together, the iron door creaked open again.
"Oh? Awake already?"
A new voice entered—a familiar one.
An Uma Musume in a white lab coat, holding a bubbling green test tube, stepped through the door.
Mizuno's stomach dropped.
"Agnes Tachyon?!"
Of course. Who else would walk in carrying something that looked like it could dissolve steel?
Tachyon arched a brow at the sight of Mizuno lying facedown, bound, and wiggling like a trapped worm. Her crimson eyes flickered with faint amusement, though her face remained eerily calm.
"Hehe, good timing," she said, twirling the vial. "If you hadn't woken up soon, I'd have had to test one of my wake-up formulas on you."
Then, as if to make a point, she tilted the test tube and poured a few drops onto the floor. The liquid hissed and ate through marble, releasing a puff of smoke that curled into the shape of a grinning skull.
"Gah!!" Mizuno yelped and scrambled backward as far as his ropes allowed, pressing himself flat against the wall.
The message was clear. One wrong move, and he'd be melted.
And what was worse—the two women stood side by side. Tachyon and Gimlet.
Working together.
That was... impossible.
These two were like fire and acid—complete opposites. One obsessed with science and invention, the other with chaos and destruction. Their daughters were rivals who could barely be in the same room together.
And now they were cooperating? That was like seeing Jotaro and Dio co-host a cooking show, or Bowser and Mario buying a house together.
"Gulp..." Mizuno swallowed hard. "Um... why did you two kidnap me? What are you planning to do?"
"Heh, what do you think?" Tachyon leaned in close, her eyes glinting behind her glasses. She lifted the edge of his hood with one gloved finger. "We're here to settle the score."
"I... I don't think I've done anything to either of you..." Mizuno stammered, shrinking away.
"Let's cut the act."
With a sharp crack, Gimlet slammed her boot beside his ear, splitting the concrete wall. She grabbed his hood roughly, jerking his face toward her.
"I'll ask once," she said coldly. "Are you the mysterious man?"
"Mysterious... man? I have no idea what you're talking about," Mizuno said quickly, shaking his head.
"Oh? Really now?"
Tachyon's calm smile didn't reach her eyes. She pulled another test tube from her sleeve—this one hissing violently, green fumes spilling out the moment she popped the cap.
The stench was sharp enough to burn his nose.
Agnes Tachyon tilted the vial just enough for the liquid to glint ominously. "Drink it."
"W-wait, wait, wait! Fine! That's me! I admit it!" Mizuno blurted, nodding so fast his hood nearly slipped off.
He could tell from their confidence that the question had only been a test—they already knew who he was.
"Good. Since you've confessed, this will go faster." Tachyon calmly re-corked the green concoction, slid it back into her pocket, and drew another bottle from her sleeve. This one shimmered gold, tiny star-like lights swirling inside. She held it before his face.
"Drink up."
"Uh… what is it?" Mizuno eyed the glittering liquid suspiciously.
"I'll explain after you've had it," Tachyon said with a thin smile.
"..." He turned his head away. Yeah right. Who drinks mystery sparkles from a mad scientist?
"It's fine if you refuse…" Tachyon's tone dropped several degrees colder. She grabbed his chin, forcing him to face her. "But if you don't, I'll strip you naked and deliver you straight into a Uma's bed."
"Haha… I'll drink it," Mizuno said instantly, mouth wide open in surrender.
"How very cooperative." Tachyon nodded in approval, uncorked the bottle, and poured the potion down his throat herself.
Glug, glug, glug— Mizuno swallowed reflexively until the last drop was gone.
"C-cough—so, now can you tell me what that was?"
"Nothing special," Tachyon said lightly. "Just a poison."
"Hah?!" Mizuno froze.
"You kidnapped me just to poison me?!"
"Oh, not quite." Tachyon chuckled, tossing the empty bottle aside where it clinked across the floor. "It's a modified version of my Want-a-Hug Potion. Unless you take the antidote from me every week, you'll fall into heat—specifically craving Uma Pyoi with Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka."
"W-wait—WHAT?!"
It was an aphrodisiac!
And not a random one—she'd tuned it to Scarlet and Vodka?!
"Why those two specifically?" he croaked.
"Oh? You really don't know?" Tanino Gimlet's one visible eye narrowed dangerously. "After what you did to my cute junior, you dare pretend ignorance?"
Her boot slammed beside his ear, the crack echoing through the room. Concrete fissured outward; a shard broke off and smacked him squarely on the forehead.
"Gwah! I swear I don't know what you're talking about!" Mizuno squeaked, staring up at the black-stockinged thigh hovering inches from his face. The faint scent of leather and perfume made his pulse spike. If that kick had landed, I'd be paste!
"Calm down, Gimlet," Tachyon said mildly, catching her partner's arm. "We still need him intact if we want those two girls cured."
"Tch." Gimlet clicked her tongue but stepped back, lowering her leg.
"Whew…" Mizuno sagged in relief.
"Well then," Tachyon continued, squatting so her eyes were level with his. Her crimson pupils—flat and unblinking—fixed on him like a lab specimen. "Let me clarify."
"You appeared out of nowhere at the Statue of the Three Goddesses about a month ago, the so-called 'mysterious man' who made ten Uma Musume lose control around you. That much is fact."
"My most talented junior, Daiwa Scarlet, was among those ten."
"Originally, I considered simply giving you to her—to let her… vent. But that would be equivalent to continuing faulty research, producing only defective results. Even if she had you, Scarlet wouldn't return to her normal self; she'd become a beast ruled by instinct."
"So I studied her symptoms, analyzed your unique constitution, and created three experimental suppressants: the Want-a-Hug Potion triggered by scent, the Only-Want-to-Protect Potion triggered by sight, and the Ear-Pregnancy Potion triggered by voice."
She listed them as casually as grocery items.
"Even combining all three failed to neutralize your influence. Scarlet still burned for you."
"Then, just as I was about to abandon the project, news arrived—El Condor Pasa had fully recovered. Air Groove too. That's when I realized the obvious truth."
"Wherever poison exists, the antidote lies close by. You spread the 'poison' of desire—therefore you must also be the antidote."
"At the same time, Gimlet's beloved junior Vodka was suffering the same affliction. So we joined forces and retrieved you before the Mejiro family could."
Tachyon's tone sharpened, every word precise.
"But according to all reports, you're infuriatingly good at slipping away. The moment anyone lets their guard down, you vanish."
"That's why I brewed the Want-to-Love Potion—the one you just drank. Think of it as Version A. When someone else takes Version B, the effect links you. Version A's drinker feels an overwhelming urge for intimacy with the Version B target."
"The difference from the Hug Potion is simple: this one transforms harmless affection into raw, physical desire—and it's timed. Miss a weekly antidote, and the compulsion activates irreversibly."
She straightened, dusting her knees, her expression still as calm as ever.
"In short," she said, voice cool and final, "if you can't restore Scarlet and Vodka to normal before the limit expires, your own body will betray you—and you'll end up satisfying their instincts by force."
Her crimson eyes gleamed faintly in the half-light.
"Do you understand now, mysterious man?"