A target as huge as a fuel tanker stopping right in front of a daycare—there was no way it wouldn't draw attention.
So very quickly, not long after the tanker came to a halt, a crowd poured out of the daycare to check what was going on. There was even someone Kitahara knew among them.
Since she was used to caring for kids back in her hometown, Super Creek would sometimes go out on her days off and volunteer at a nearby daycare.
And today just happened to be her day off. With Kitahara not around, and Komata-san busy training with no time to play "baby games" with her—
She'd gone out like usual and come here to volunteer.
When the commotion outside started, she was one of the first to react.
Even though she didn't know what was happening, Super Creek instinctively settled the children at once, guided them into a safe area, left them with the teachers—and only then came out to check the situation.
And then she saw Kitahara slumped in the tanker's driver seat, covered in blood.
The reason there was so much blood wasn't just the impact from the landing earlier—more of it came from that moment he tore the door off.
Or, put more precisely: he didn't actually possess that kind of terrifying physical strength.
It was because of another kind of power he'd mastered.
A method where, through interacting with other Uma Musume, he could build a channel between them and draw out part of their abilities, briefly bursting out with a portion of Eclipse's power.
Before, when he'd used a portion of Neicha's power, Kitahara had looked pretty relaxed and hadn't seemed to feel anything wrong.
But that was because Neicha's strength—while far beyond a normal person—wasn't particularly huge among Uma Musume.
And at the time, all he'd done was pinch a tree branch. There wasn't much else, the strain on his body was small, so nothing felt off.
This time, though, he used Eclipse's power—and the level of output was so intense he ripped the tanker's door clean off.
When it happened, forget the driver—even Kitahara himself was startled.
Because he hadn't meant to tear it off at all. He'd only wanted to see if he could pry it open. If that didn't work, he was ready to smash the window.
After that, the incident progressed smoothly. He threw the door away before the strength vanished, and he managed to stop the tanker.
But once it stopped, the consequences of overusing Eclipse's power started to show.
Weakness spread through him. His head swam. Blood began seeping from the skin of the hand that had ripped the door off, bright droplets sliding down and dripping from his fingertips.
Normally, for an injury like this, popping a stamina recovery potion would basically fix it.
But something was… weird. Not just the normal one—even the condensed stamina recovery potion. After a few swallows—
It did speed up his recovery, but it wasn't anywhere near as effective as before, like some force was interfering and preventing the potion from fully working. It didn't look like this would heal quickly.
And seeing Kitahara like that, Super Creek didn't hesitate for even a second—she charged straight over.
"Trainer Kitahara, you…"
"Super Creek?"
Seeing her, Kitahara froze for a moment, then realized this was a daycare—so her being here wasn't strange.
But even noticing her, Kitahara didn't have time to focus on her right now. Once he'd regained a minimum level of mobility—he immediately pulled out his phone, had the three Uma Musume around him help clear the crowd back a bit, then dialed Kudou Kazuya.
"It's handled."
The instant the call connected and his words fell, the other end erupted with the sound of a hard brake, something clattering, and a sharp intake of breath.
Then, not even waiting for Kudou to speak, Kitahara asked right away,
"Where did you get that intel?"
"Black Market. Someone in there—"
"Alright, I get it. Details later when there's time. For now, go back. About calling the police—say I told you to do it. I'll tell the others the same."
He wasn't doing this to cover for Kudou Kazuya.
It was just that the moment he heard Kudou had gotten the news from the Black Market, Kitahara realized Kudou's identity still couldn't be exposed.
Something this deranged—he didn't believe it happened without someone orchestrating it behind the scenes.
And if someone was orchestrating it, then even if this attempt failed, there would be a second and a third.
If Kudou got exposed now, sure, it would complete the task the Chairwoman had assigned—but if something like this happened again, and Kudou wasn't there to warn them…
That could turn into a tragedy.
Kudou Kazuya was sharp. He understood Kitahara's meaning almost immediately. After agreeing, he hung up and drove back to the academy.
Then time moved on.
A few minutes later, the first wave from URA arrived. After understanding the situation, they immediately began calming the crowd and sealing off the scene.
Soon after, people from Tracen headquarters arrived right on URA's heels, and started assisting with the work.
But this time, there wasn't anyone Kitahara knew in the Tracen team—rather than Hayakawa-san, it was led by Kashimoto-san's group.
She came over to check on Kitahara too, but clearly the level of concern was… a little different from the others.
"Isn't this kind of thing usually led by Hayakawa-san? Why isn't she here?"
Looking at Kashimoto-san, who could barely manage even a light jog, confusion surfaced in Kitahara's eyes.
Hearing that, Kashimoto-san clicked her tongue, helpless.
"The academy isn't exactly peaceful either."
"...The academy got attacked too?"
"No."
Kashimoto-san shook her head.
"But it's even worse than that."
"One of the Uma Musume under your name pulled off something big."
Under his name. Uma Musume. Something big.
She didn't even need to say the name—Kitahara could guess with his toes who it was.
"What exactly happened?"
"I'm not in charge, so I don't know the details. But I can tell you this: as of now, nearly a quarter of the trainers in Tracen headquarters have gone missing…"
Mm. Great. Yeah, that definitely counted as "something big."
After hearing Kashimoto-san, Kitahara immediately opened the group chat. Sure enough, there were a pile of @'s directed at him, and the group was actively talking about it right now.
But that wasn't what Kitahara needed to care about at the moment.
He closed his phone—out of sight, out of mind—then lifted his head and saw the person URA had sent to lead this operation standing in front of him.
"Long time no see, Kitahara."
"Yeah. Long time no see."
The man was named Kamisato Daisuke. He used to be a trainer at Tracen. After retiring, marrying his former Uma Musume, he joined URA.
After years of work, he was now one of URA's vice chairmen, mainly responsible for serious incidents—including Uma Musume Hunting—which was why he'd dealt with Kitahara plenty of times.
He glanced at the battered red sports car beside the tanker, smacked his lips twice, and sighed.
"Looking at that car, I can tell—it's definitely been abused by some guy without a license…"
"Maruzensky-san was driving. She has a license."
"You really think I'd believe that?"
Kamisato Daisuke rolled his eyes. Just as he was about to say something else, the Metropolitan Police finally arrived.
With the police here, Kamisato Daisuke couldn't really keep reminiscing with Kitahara. He turned to go negotiate and coordinate.
But before leaving, his gaze swept the battered sports car again. A thoughtful look flashed in his eyes, and he asked in a tone that seemed casual.
"Say, Kitahara."
"Yeah?"
"How did you find out what was happening here—and get here in time?"
"How else? I was driving up in the mountains— I mean, riding in Maruzensky-san's car for a cruise, and I saw a vehicle that looked like it was out of control and heading toward the daycare…"
As he spoke, Kitahara sighed helplessly.
"You know. I've always had terrible luck."
"...That's true."
If anyone else gave that kind of excuse, Kamisato Daisuke wouldn't have believed it.
But over the years, he'd personally witnessed Kitahara's "bad luck" countless times.
So he didn't doubt it much. He accepted it quickly, then went to deal with the police.
Not long after the Metropolitan Police arrived—since the incident happened right in front of a daycare—to avoid escalation, after inspecting the scene and understanding the situation, the three parties began clearing the area.
A few minutes later, everything had been cleaned up completely. Kitahara was sent to the hospital. After a round of examinations—
They confirmed that although he looked scary on the surface, there was actually nothing seriously wrong, and that his recovery speed was far beyond normal—
So they didn't keep him. They wrote a few prescriptions and let him go.
Then, after leaving the hospital, the three Uma Musume—plus Super Creek now—finally had time to think about other things, and the atmosphere in the car gradually turned subtle.
How exactly had things gone down? How did Kitahara suddenly know? What was that burst of power? Why did he seem so familiar with URA…?
Honestly, Maruzensky and Sirius Symboli really were mentally tough.
If it were other Uma Musume, after being dragged through that kind of insane ride by Kitahara, forget questions—being able to come back to their senses at all would be impressive.
But those two had basically recovered not long after the landing. Not only could they take over driving for Kitahara—the moment the tanker stopped, they could immediately run out and check on him.
And seeing the mood inside the car getting more and more delicate, even though, for various reasons, nobody asked outright—Kitahara let out a sigh and took the initiative to explain.
They were eyewitnesses, after all. And aside from Super Creek being seventeen, the other two were older than Kitahara. There wasn't much reason to hide it.
As for Super Creek—Kitahara was worried she might go back and talk to others on the team about it, so he could only reveal part of the truth to her, so she'd be able to keep it secret for him.
Of course, this explanation wasn't complete.
Kitahara didn't go into his past in detail. He mainly explained around this incident, and he didn't directly tell them about the Black Market's existence, or Kudou Kazuya's identity.
But it was enough.
After hearing Kitahara's account, the three of them each showed different expressions.
Sirius Symboli's brow lifted slightly. Along with anger, the interest in her gaze toward Kitahara grew even deeper.
"Does the President know all this?"
"She knows. And she's helped me a lot before. Even that 'mole'—I only met him with her help…"
"I see…"
Sirius Symboli nodded and didn't speak further.
Super Creek, on the other hand, didn't focus much on moles or attacks. Her eyes stayed fixed on Kitahara's shirt, soaked through with blood.
She just pulled him into her arms, gaze full of worry—looking like she cared about him even more than before.
As for Maruzensky—since she was driving, Kitahara couldn't see her expression. And she didn't speak. She quietly took Kitahara home.
Seeing Kitahara come back like this, Eclipse's gaze shifted subtly.
After hearing it was Kitahara himself driving—and that overusing his power was what did this to him, not anyone else—her expression loosened a little, but the chill in her eyes still didn't fade. The pressure rolling off her was enough that even Sirius Symboli and Maruzensky felt it.
After bringing him back, the three Uma Musume chatted with Kitahara for a while longer, even ordered delivery, and only got up to leave when it was getting late.
But as they were leaving, Kitahara suddenly remembered something and spoke to Maruzensky with some embarrassment.
"Um, Maruzensky-san… you know how it is. Last month my girls had a lot of races, so my expenses were kind of heavy, and the prize money from a few races hasn't come in yet because of various issues. I'm a bit tight right now…"
"I'm not trying to dodge payment. I just want to ask if you can delay it a bit—count up the damage first, and once the money comes in, I'll pay you back right away…"
Hearing that, Maruzensky originally wanted to refuse.
Because for damage this minor—and when it was for stopping something like that—she didn't think Kitahara needed to compensate her.
If anything, if you advertised it properly, those "damages" could even be used like an old soldier's scars—a badge of honor.
But just as she was about to refuse, she seemed to think of something. Her voice paused, then she nodded and agreed to Kitahara's request, got into the car, and drove off with Sirius Symboli.
Watching the two of them leave, Kitahara finally let out a breath of relief. He was about to talk with Eclipse about what happened—and set a time with Kudou Kazuya tomorrow to meet and talk in detail—but before he could even turn around, something struck him, and he froze.
Wait. He remembered that on the way back—including him—there were four people in the car…
So even if he stayed, three people should've been leaving.
But right now, only two had left…
In that instant, as a terrifying possibility surfaced, Kitahara's hair stood on end.
Wait—don't tell me…
Turning his head like a stiff machine, Kitahara saw Super Creek sitting quietly on his sofa, one hand propping her cheek, looking at him with a worried gaze.
"Um, Super Creek… curfew's almost here. You should go back to the academy…"
"I took leave."
As she spoke, Super Creek stood up and walked over to him in silence.
In reality she was a full head shorter than Kitahara—she even had to look up at him.
But somehow, the moment she stood in front of him, Kitahara felt like he was the shorter one.
Facing Super Creek, who was radiating a thick, unmistakable "Motherly Demon" aura—no matter how dense Kitahara was, there was no way he couldn't understand what she wanted to do.
"Um, Super Creek, I—"
Kitahara tried to struggle.
But unfortunately, it didn't help at all.
---
T/N: ITS TIME FOR GOOGOOBABIES!!!
...
Umu! I am Nero Claudius—the brilliant Emperor of Rome, the dazzling Saber, the one and only performer who can steal a stage with a single smile!
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