Liberty Island ruled with an iron fist, prying the whole story out of Agnes Tachyon and Sugar Lights. Once she understood the sequence of events, she didn't hesitate for a second with her answer.
"We're a team, aren't we?"
"So, naturally, we have to drag Hishi Miracle down with us!"
Liberty Island spoke with total conviction.
For something this embarrassing, it was only fair that everyone went through it once; she absolutely wouldn't allow Hishi Miracle to fall behind the pack here.
As she spoke, she walked over to the hospital bed, gently guiding the sitting Dream Weaver back down and smoothing the covers over her.
She made a point of covering the section of the sheet that had just been dampened by the girl's tears.
"Just stay lying down, Master. Leave the rest to us."
Tucked under the covers, Dream Weaver blinked, wondering if she had somehow been blinked out of the 'prankster' category by Liberty Island. She didn't speak up, though.
Even if her own strength had broken its limits, Liberty Island's power stats were clearly far beyond a mere A-rank. Besides, with her leg currently in a cast, she stood no chance of winning a physical struggle.
Glancing over at Agnes Tachyon and Sugar Lights—who looked thoroughly disciplined—Dream Weaver obediently pulled the blanket over her mouth and decided to stay quiet.
Having settled Dream Weaver, Liberty Island clapped her hands and turned a smile toward Agnes Tachyon.
"Tachyon-san, you're surprisingly good at acting, aren't you? Why don't you be the one to make the call again?"
Perhaps it was because of the display of force she'd just witnessed, but Dream Weaver felt that smile looked a little dangerous.
--+--
Meanwhile, left alone in the waiting room, Hishi Miracle was so bored she had resorted to pacing back and forth.
The cell signal was terrible, and since Liberty Island and Sugar Lights had both vanished, she could only wander aimlessly around the room she'd already memorized.
After another lap, Hishi Miracle suddenly froze. She stopped in front of the vanity, and after several seconds of silence, she finally moved.
"This is definitely weird!"
Thwack!
She slapped the vanity table, muttering to herself.
"Why haven't Liberty and Dr. Lights come back yet? Does France really have some legend about the Ghost of Louise?! Don't tell me the Trainer and Tachyon-san are being held captive by a ghost too, trapped in the bathroom!"
"But that's impossible!"
Hishi Miracle lowered her head as she spoke. After a few beats of silence, she looked up, staring directly at her reflection in the mirror.
"But... once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
"There is only one truth!"
"The Trainer and the others really are trapped in—"
Before she could finish her deduction, the phone she'd tossed on the sofa suddenly rang.
Abandoning her logic, Hishi Miracle lunged for the sofa in two giant strides, snatching the phone and hitting the answer button without a moment's hesitation.
"Tachyon-san! You guys really are trapped in the bathroom, aren't you?! Dr. Sugar and Liberty never came back, so tell me exactly what tools you need right now!"
"Otherwise... I'm afraid I'll be the next victim!"
On the other end of the line, Agnes Tachyon went silent for a long time.
It lasted so long that Hishi Miracle began to suspect the call had been dropped.
Just as she was about to pull the screen away from her ear to check, Agnes Tachyon finally seemed to collect herself. Her voice came through low and heavy.
"Miracle... whatever you were just thinking..."
"Just get to the infirmary. Now."
She didn't give Hishi Miracle a chance to respond, hanging up with lightning speed.
A dazed Hishi Miracle stared at her screen. Agnes Tachyon's words and her own previous deductions crashed together in her mind. Within that spiral of contradictions, she somehow performed a miracle of her own: she fused two completely unrelated theories into one.
A minute later, Hishi Miracle put her phone down and struck a cool, dramatic pose.
"I see. While I wasn't looking, the Trainer and the others have already defeated the ghost."
"Even just hearing the exhaustion in Tachyon-san's voice, I can imagine what a grueling, desperate battle it must have been. Everyone must be in the infirmary getting treated for their battle wounds right now."
"What a shame... it seems my true power didn't have a chance to shine this time either."
She swept her bangs back with one hand, indulging in a moment of solo-coolness in the empty room. Then, with a light step, she headed for the infirmary.
Since the battle was over and everyone was safe, what was there to worry about? All she had to do was walk in and listen to their stories.
With that thought, a smile spread across her face, and her gait became even more of a skip.
Hishi Miracle practically bounced to the infirmary door. Without a second thought, she pushed it open, raising a hand in greeting as she walked in, shouting with boundless energy:
"Yo! I'm here!"
Inside the room, everyone froze.
Though they had all overheard the call, none of them expected Hishi Miracle's entrance to be so... unique.
Sugar Lights, who wasn't much of an actress, simply buried her face in her chest.
It was hard enough just suppressing the sound of her laughter; she couldn't risk letting Hishi Miracle see her struggling to keep a straight face.
Liberty Island rested her forehead in her palm, also trying desperately to hide her expression.
She was the only one who had talked to Hishi Miracle about French ghost stories earlier, so she was the only one who understood exactly what was going through the girl's head. But that made it even harder to bear. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably, looking for all the world like she was about to burst.
Agnes Tachyon was the one who pulled through in the clutch. She took a deep breath, suppressing all trace of amusement, and turned to Hishi Miracle with a heavy, sorrowful gaze.
"You... you've come."
The reaction was so different from what she'd expected that Hishi Miracle blinked in confusion. Only then did she finally stop to observe the atmosphere.
There was Sugar Lights, head buried in her chest, slumped over as if she couldn't even support her own weight.
There was Liberty Island, hand over her eyes, shoulders trembling as if she were sobbing.
And there was Agnes Tachyon in her white lab coat, her expression so grim it could practically drip ink. She bit her lip, her brow furrowed with deep distress.
Hishi Miracle suddenly realized that her imagination and reality might have been slightly off.
The battle against the ghost hadn't gone well at all.
She looked at Agnes Tachyon and asked for the name of the only Uma Musume who wasn't visible in the room.
Agnes Tachyon merely pointed a silent, trembling finger toward the white curtain partitioning the infirmary.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.