Agnes Tachyon's laboratory was nothing short of a disaster zone.
The air was permeated with a sharp, strange smell—a mixture of formaldehyde, ozone, and a dozen unidentified chemicals. Beakers, test tubes, and various instruments glowing with an eerie light were piled everywhere on the tables and the floor, with electrical wires crisscrossing like snakes.
Gold City and TM Opera O, at that moment, stood like guardian deities who had stumbled into a spider's den, one on each side of Kaito, their eyes vigilantly fixed on the only "mistress" of the room: Agnes Tachyon.
"Well, don't just stand there like two door gods; you'll interfere with the experiment" Agnes Tachyon said without lifting her head, waving her hand with an authoritative tone.
"You two, as control groups A and B, get on those treadmills and maintain a heart rate of 150 while jogging; I need to observe the effect of my Assistant-kun's pheromones on your emotional fluctuations during exercise"
"Who wants to be your experiment?" Gold City immediately retorted.
"Heh, heh, this Overlord is not here to be your experimental material" TM Opera O also said with disdain.
Agnes Tachyon adjusted her glasses and said with an ominous air.
"Oh, really? If you refuse to cooperate, I suppose your interference is too strong and requires a 'physical excision'"
As she spoke, she glanced at the huge green syringe in the corner.
"..."
"..."
Finally, under the blatant threat of force, the two proud and fierce Uma Musume stepped onto the treadmills with expressions of discontent.
After setting up the "control groups," Agnes Tachyon immediately dedicated all her enthusiasm to researching Kaito. She pulled out an instrument resembling a lie detector, connected to countless electrodes.
"Assistant-kun, place your hand here" she ordered.
"I need to check your microcurrents, subcutaneous temperature, and pheromone evaporation rate at rest"
Kaito did as he was told.
However, the experiment did not proceed smoothly. Agnes Tachyon seemed to be working on an extremely complex subject, and her frustration grew due to a miscalculation in a key piece of data.
"No... this derived formula doesn't work... Damn it!"
She grabbed her hair frantically, while her other hand pounded the desk incessantly.
Kaito carefully noticed an ugly scar, not yet fully healed, on the wrist of the hand she was pounding with; she seemed to have injured herself during some dangerous experiment.
Due to her emotional fluctuations and the dull pain of her old injury, her data records were frequently erroneous.
The opportunity arose.
Kaito seized the moment and spoke.
"Miss Tachyon, the physical and mental state of the researcher directly affects the accuracy of the experimental data; you should know this better than I do"
Agnes Tachyon groaned irritably, "Hm?" and looked at him.
Kaito smiled and, with an undeniable tone, as if he were the lead researcher, said:
"Therefore, as your head assistant, before the experiment continues, I have an obligation... to first restore you to your optimal research condition"
Before Agnes Tachyon could react, or even open her mouth to refuse, Kaito stepped forward and grabbed the hand that was incessantly pounding the desk in frustration.
He flipped her hand over, exposing the ugly scar, and then activated the [Intermediate Massage Technique!]
"!"
Agnes Tachyon's body suddenly stiffened, and her glasses nearly slipped off her nose.
An extreme sensation of comfort, one she had never experienced, unexplainable by any scientific formula, reaching directly into her nerve endings, instantly spread through her entire body from the wrist he held—like the most intense chain reaction!
This sensation... This feeling was a hundred times! A thousand times! more effective than the most potent A-78 type neuro-interactive relaxant she had invented herself!
She stared, obsessed and dazed, at Kaito's hands, which seemed to possess an independent consciousness and were creating miracles on her wrist, as if admiring a perfect living work of art that transcended current civilization.
She whispered to herself, her voice filled with the fervor and obsession of discovering a new continent:
"Too... too incredible... This... this method of directly interfering with biological functions and optimizing them solely through physical contact... incredible... illogical..."
Suddenly she looked up, her gaze toward Kaito completely changed.
It was no longer the look given to a rare white mouse.
Instead, it was like looking at a rare treasure... a living, walking, infinitely Nobel Prize-producing treasure!
"I must... I must obtain more data!!!"
Just as the atmosphere in the lab was heading toward a strange direction...
Clang!
A loud crash.
Gold City, beside them, could no longer take it. She kicked the treadmill to a stop and approached, her face full of jealousy, glaring at Agnes Tachyon with fury.
"Hey! Science freak, don't look at him with those eyes as if you want to devour him!"
TM Opera O also elegantly stepped down from the other treadmill and walked slowly to Kaito's side, gently hooking her arm in a gesture of claiming ownership.
"Heh, heh, it seems today's experiment should come to an end, my dear protagonist; it seems he needs some 'private' rest time"
The air in the lab instantly solidified.
A new Shura Field, even more chaotic, centered on the ownership of a "rare treasure," officially erupted.