"Knock, knock, knock."
Kuroha curled his fingers and rapped on the door.
The next instant, the muttering inside the office vanished, plunging the room into a brief, deathly silence.
Then came a flurry of rustling noises, as if someone inside were frantically tidying things up.
Only after a short while did Yayoi's deliberately calm, bright voice come from behind the door.
"Come in!"
Kuroha and Symboli Rudolf pushed the door open and entered.
Yayoi was sitting upright behind her large office desk.
With a sharp fwip, she opened a folding fan in her hand, the large characters for "Welcome" written across it.
Kuroha and Rudolf looked at the confident, radiant smile on Yayoi's face, then exchanged a glance, amusement flickering in their eyes.
Had they not heard everything clearly from outside the door just now, they might really have believed this chairwoman could remain unshaken even if a mountain collapsed before her.
"Chairwoman Akikawa."
Rudolf stepped forward to greet her, then gestured toward Kuroha beside her.
"Trainer Kuroha has just returned to the country. His schedule is rather rushed, but after learning about Sunday Silence's situation, he came here directly."
Yayoi's little head bobbed up and down. "Delight! I truly appreciate the trouble, Trainer Kuroha!"
"It's only natural…"
Kuroha gave a casual nod.
From the moment he entered, however, his attention was not on the chairwoman.
As he walked forward alongside Rudolf, his gaze unconsciously focused on the spot beside Yayoi.
Standing there was a tall, beautiful girl.
She wore a stylish black trench coat, paired with a gold tie and belt.
Her waist-length, deep-black hair fell loosely around her.
A conspicuous white ahoge stuck straight up from the top of her head, and her small horse ears flicked and twitched.
Her bangs were so long they nearly covered half her face. They looked somewhat messy, as though she had not taken care of them in a while.
At this moment, the girl looked extremely irritable.
She had originally been giving Yayoi an earful.
But when Kuroha and Rudolf walked in, her words paused.
Her crimson eyes turned toward them, revealing a faint trace of curiosity.
Looking at this Uma Musume, who seemed both familiar and unfamiliar, Kuroha's first thought was—
Manhattan Cafe?
She looked far too similar…
But the thought was dismissed the instant it arose.
There was still a long time before Manhattan Cafe's active era. How could this be that horse?
Besides, just the black-haired girl's proud "heart," so broad it was almost comparable to Maruzensky's, and those molten-lava crimson eyes made it absolutely impossible for her to be Manhattan Cafe.
Combining that with the information from earlier, Kuroha instantly reached a conclusion.
This was the central figure in the divine disappearance incident that had been causing such an uproar at Tracen lately.
Sunday Silence!
Inside the chairwoman's office.
"Welcome! Trainer Kuroha, congratulations on your return!"
Yayoi smiled as she waved her folding fan.
After that, she first lavishly praised Mejiro McQueen's outstanding achievements during her overseas expedition.
Only after Kuroha responded to each point did she tentatively ask, "Regarding the next arrangements, is there anything you need the academy's help with?"
Kuroha calmly glanced at Sunday Silence, who had happened to quiet down at that moment.
Then he withdrew his gaze and replied evenly, "Not at the moment. Thank you for your concern, Chairwoman."
"?"
Sunday Silence, who had been observing this internationally renowned genius trainer with great interest from the side, suddenly felt as though his gaze had lingered on her for an instant.
"Was that my imagination? Did he just look at me?"
The black-haired girl immediately grew suspicious.
Her brows furrowed slightly, and she began muttering inwardly.
Once the catching up was over, Yayoi lowered her folding fan and finally got to the main subject: Sunday Silence.
Her previously confident tone became deeply troubled and dispirited.
It was as if she were a completely different person from a moment ago.
"…So, we exhausted every possible method. We checked the airport and all surveillance footage along the route, and even used special channels, but we still couldn't find Shizuka's whereabouts…"
Yayoi rubbed her little head and sighed.
"I told you, I'm right here!"
Almost at the same time, Sunday Silence, standing beside her, scratched at her hair in great irritation and complained loudly.
"What do you mean, missing?"
"It's just that none of you can see me!"
As she spoke, she raised her little hand, wanting to smack the cat sleeping on Yayoi's head.
Her palm passed straight through it, as if she had become intangible.
The girl stared blankly at her hand, then stomped her foot hard.
"Damn it! Ugh, this is so annoying, so annoying, so annoying!"
However, Yayoi did not notice the complaints by her ear at all and continued speaking to Kuroha on her own.
"Later, President Rudolf passed along messages from Lord Darley and Lord Byerley."
"They said that Trainer Kuroha might be able to resolve this matter, so…"
"How many days have I been shouting already?! What do I have to do before I can touch anything? I'm so pissed!"
Sunday Silence was still chattering nonstop from the side, anxiously waving her arms around.
In his left ear was the chairwoman's plea.
In his right ear was Sunday Silence's irritable protest.
Kuroha, whose head was starting to ache from the noise, finally could not help frowning. He spoke in a low voice, cutting them off.
"Enough! Stop making so much noise."
The moment those words came out, the air in the office seemed to freeze.
Yayoi's voice stopped abruptly, and she stared blankly at Kuroha.
Then the perfectly legal loli chairwoman's mouth drooped, and she said somewhat aggrievedly, "Trainer Kuroha… are you scolding me?"
"Uh… no. You misunderstood, Chairwoman."
Kuroha sighed helplessly, pointed in Sunday Silence's direction, and explained, "I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Sunday Silence."
"…!"
The black-haired girl, who had still been complaining, froze completely.
At that moment, she finally confirmed that the look from earlier had absolutely not been her imagination.
"You can see me?!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Sunday Silence immediately launched herself forward, crashing straight toward Kuroha.
"…"
Looking at this girl whose body moved faster than her brain, Kuroha was slightly startled.
But seeing Sunday Silence flying through the air, he still helplessly reached out and caught her.
"Bam!"
A dull sound of bodies colliding rang through the office.
The tremendous impact caught Kuroha off guard and forced him half a step backward before he managed to steady himself.
Sunday Silence raised her head and felt the solid sensation coming from both hands.
Her crimson eyes were filled with shock and disbelief. She even forgot to get off him.
"You… I can actually touch you?!"
Meanwhile, Rudolf and Yayoi, standing off to the side, still had not processed what Kuroha meant when he said, "I was talking to Sunday Silence."
But as former top-tier Uma Musume, their dynamic vision was extraordinarily sharp.
They had seen it with their own eyes.
In the empty air in front of Kuroha, where there should have been nothing at all, some invisible, powerful force seemed to slam solidly into him, forcing him back by half a step.
(End of Chapter)
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