...
The next day, at the training ground.
"You two, come here for a second!" Lucian whistled, calling Silence Suzuka and Special Week into the rest room.
The two horse girls stood in front of Lucian, each with a different demeanor.
Silence Suzuka had her hands behind her back, face completely calm, showing not the slightest awareness of having done anything wrong. Special Week kept her head lowered, not daring to meet Lucian's eyes.
"Explain yourselves. What's with those dark circles under your eyes? What time did you go to sleep last night?" Lucian tossed the data panel he'd just recorded onto the table. "Lack of sleep—you see the numbers you two put out today? You're practically sleepwalking, aren't you?"
Both Silence Suzuka and Special Week knew they were in the wrong and didn't dare respond. They'd thought resting in the afternoon would help, but they still looked listless.
Lucian sighed. "Tell me the reason. Spe-chan, you explain."
"Last night… I talked with Suzu-chan for too long, and we only went to sleep really late."
Special Week's apology was sincere enough, unlike Silence Suzuka standing beside her like nothing had happened, just planted there without saying a word.
At this point, Lucian still didn't know that Special Week had already accepted the idea of the three of them together. "Alright, you two just rest in the rest room this afternoon. With your condition this bad, I can't feel at ease letting you continue training."
"Mm, thank you, Lucian-kun."
"Now you're talking? I thought you were going to stay silent forever." Lucian laughed. "Mm, mute Suzu-chan."
Through the half-open door, Silence Suzuka glanced out at the training ground, as if confirming no threat was present.
Then she grabbed Lucian by the collar, stood on tiptoe, and boldly kissed him.
"Eh… Eh—???" This sudden scene left Special Week frozen in shock.
She'd always thought kissing him was so difficult and troublesome—needing to pick a private setting, needing to avoid being seen… How could Suzu-chan just kiss him like that directly?
And right in the rest room!!!
"Stop messing around..." After coming back to his senses, Lucian quickly bit her lip lightly and stepped back.
He noticed Special Week standing there stunned, and for a moment he didn't know what to say. Just a second ago he'd been scolding Silence Suzuka, and now it was his turn to fall silent.
"Suzu-chan, you're way too bold." Lucian said.
Who just sticks out their little pink jelly tongue before even kissing properly? That's too much!
Silence Suzuka's thumb gently brushed across her own lips. "Lucian-kun, I already told Spe-chan everything you wanted me to. Can't I get a tiny little reward?"
"Ah, Spe-chan already knows everything?" Lucian was stunned again. No wonder Silence Suzuka had been so fearless today—she'd been waiting for this. "Does Suzu-chan want to kiss again?"
"No, I'm too shy. You talk to Spe-chan first."
Lucian scratched the back of his head and turned to Special Week. "Spe-chan, what… what are you thinking?"
"I… I'll listen to Suzu-chan." Special Week was far too embarrassed, so she hid behind Silence Suzuka.
Lucian's eyes lit up—he immediately understood what she meant. This way, so many of the worries and conflicts he'd had dissolved on the spot.
"Ahem, Spe-chan, Suzu-chan, just rest well this afternoon. Stay in the rest room, or go back and get a proper sleep."
Afternoon training had only just started not long ago; naturally, Lucian couldn't stay in the rest room forever.
Just as he was about to leave, Special Week grabbed his sleeve. "Trainer Lucian, I… I want a kiss too."
"Hm? Spe-chan wants to kiss too, right?"
"Mm… mm." Special Week looked toward Silence Suzuka, who gave her an encouraging look.
If she didn't even dare to kiss in the rest room, then what about anything more? —That was the revelation Silence Suzuka had given her last night.
She wanted to start a new story too. She wanted to try so much more with Trainer Lucian.
"Please, Trainer Lucian." Special Week lifted her face, closed her eyes, and slightly pursed her lips like ripe red berries, waiting for him to claim them.
Lucian left his mark on her small mouth.
Before the kiss, her brows and eyes trembled irregularly from nervousness, like poor dancers. After the kiss, her expression relaxed and softened.
"Trainer Lucian..." Special Week unconsciously took a step closer—this had almost become her instinctive action every time after a kiss.
But this time, Lucian stepped back.
"Spe-chan." Lucian pointed toward the noisy training ground outside the door; many horse girls were training, and he was genuinely afraid someone passing by might see. "Alright, you two rest. I'm heading out."
Lucian left the rest room and closed the door behind him.
Special Week and Silence Suzuka sat down.
"Suzu-chan... you're so amazing. I wouldn't dare kiss Trainer Lucian in a place like this."
Silence Suzuka thought to herself that there were even more amazing things. "But kissing opportunities have to be seized by yourself. Could Spe-chan really hold back for a whole week?"
"No… I couldn't endure that long." Special Week shook her head, pointing at her own chest. "Right here would miss Trainer Lucian so much."
"Mm, that's right."
"So... that's why I think what Suzu-chan said makes so much sense." Special Week said.
"Spe-chan, shall we go back and sleep? It doesn't feel very restful here."
"Mm, okay."
The two gathered their things and left the rest room as well.
...
But not long after the two left, a figure emerged from the back door of the rest room.
"Ara ara... I just came to borrow a stopwatch, but I ended up seeing something so incredibly interesting."
"Trainer Lucian doesn't seem very honest at all."
Grass Wonder held one side of her face in her hand, tilting her head with a smiling expression as she watched the backs of Silence Suzuka and Special Week.
"But what kind of relationship is this exactly?"
"Trainer and team member?"
"Or teacher and student?"
"Or maybe both... Suzu-chan and Trainer Lucian's relationship really is something special."
...
Interesting… way too interesting...
Grass Wonder shifted her gaze to her phone. The screen was playing the video of Lucian kissing Special Week just moments ago.
She'd collected some incredible information.
With this, she wondered if Trainer Lucian would still dare to act so arrogant toward her in the future.
Just to be safe, Grass Wonder added the video to her private space and backed it up. "What would Trainer Lucian look like when he's being bullied?"
Grass Wonder's eyes narrowed into thin strings, the curve of her smiling lips growing even more pronounced.
She murmured to herself: "If I trust my instincts, it feels like a lot of the members on 'Dream' have unusually close relationships with Trainer Lucian... Could they all be like this?"
Do they all know about each other's existence? Or are they maintaining some kind of balance?
There were far too many questions. Rather than guessing blindly, it was better to find the answers through action.
Before that, though, she needed to think carefully about how to make use of this video she'd captured.
...