After that utterly baffling victory dinner, time passed without much disturbance, and the next day arrived. Fujiwara Shirayuki was called to the laboratory by Agnes Tachyon, who put a helmet over her entire head and then fitted an electrode cap onto it.
This thing looks kind of terrifying.
Fujiwara Shirayuki swallowed nervously. Watching the figure busily moving in front of a huge machine, she felt that Agnes Tachyon really did look like a proper researcher, clad in a white lab coat and recording data.
In the middle of the experiment, Agnes Tachyon asked several questions, and Shirayuki answered them. A few minutes later, Agnes Tachyon told her to take the cap off.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Shirayuki let out a long breath.
"So, how was it?"
Hearing Shirayuki's question, Agnes Tachyon set down the experiment sheet and said, "The differences between you and Trainer Chiya are becoming more and more obvious. To be precise, apart from your shared senses, you can now be regarded entirely as two separate people."
"We were always two separate people."
"That's not what I mean." Agnes Tachyon shook her head. "For the current you, even if you can see what the trainer sees, it only means you've gained another viewpoint. You do not think the same way the trainer does. To put it simply, the trainer is like a character in a game to you now. You can choose to control him, or you can completely let go and allow him to act according to his own logic. But you still get to see everything that character sees."
"So that means we've become independent personalities who can exist without affecting one another?"
"Exactly. The same goes in reverse. If the two of you want to, you can completely live as two separate people."
Fujiwara Shirayuki nodded.
"Then do you want that?"
"What?"
"To fully become two separate people. At the moment, staying like this works fine. But what about later? Do the two of you want to live separately in the future?"
"This…"
Shirayuki could not say for sure. Right now, she had no intention at all of separating.
"I sent your blood out for a DNA test. It's completely different from the trainer's blood, which means the two of you have no blood relation whatsoever."
Fujiwara Shirayuki widened her eyes.
That was completely unexpected. She had assumed this body was some kind of copy.
If it was not, then where in the world had this body come from?
Thinking back to what happened yesterday, Fujiwara Shirayuki increasingly felt that this world was filled with things far beyond her imagination. Especially the Three Goddesses. It was impossible to think about them using normal common sense.
"Do you know what it means, not having any blood relation?"
"Hm?"
"It means you can marry Trainer Chiya, Shirayuki."
Hearing those words, Shirayuki's mind short-circuited for a moment.
"If you don't want to live as two separate people, then the only option left would be to live with yourself, wouldn't it? Your body is the body of an Uma Musume. You can marry and have children normally. If you and the trainer had a little foal, you could be both father and mother. Isn't that fascinating?"
"No way! Absolutely no way!" Fujiwara Shirayuki's tail shot up. "There is no way I'd marry myself. Don't even joke about it, Tachyon-senpai. I like girls!"
Fujiwara Shirayuki loudly declared her orientation.
"I'm only giving you another angle to think from, so you understand that living with yourself isn't impossible. For you, being single and being married are almost the same thing. Either way, it's one man and one woman living together."
That really is one hell of a way to put it. So choosing to stay single is basically marrying myself?
"Oh, and there's one more thing I should remind you of. If things continue developing at the current rate, then in less than half a year, your thought process will completely become that of an Uma Musume. At that point, your hobbies, tastes, and habits will probably become much closer to those of other Uma Musume too. So your orientation may also change."
"Hah? You've got to be kidding me."
"Well… don't worry. A large number of Uma Musume like girls too, so that part probably won't change. But your view of men may stop being as resistant as it is now. For example, the trainer."
There are plenty of examples, after all. People make a game character they personally like, then keep admiring themselves in mirrors or through a third-person camera. That's basically being infatuated with "yourself."
Shirayuki might end up developing to that stage as well.
Assuming, of course, that the trainer's appearance happened to match her preferences.
"That's enough for today's experiment. The next one will be the day after tomorrow. I'll let you know when it's time."
Fujiwara Shirayuki left the laboratory. Before heading back, she stopped by Chiya's office. Standing there, she carefully studied "herself," thinking about Agnes Tachyon's words.
If her way of thinking really does become that of an Uma Musume, then she'd end up bi. That would mean men might become acceptable too.
No matter how I think about it, that's way too extreme. Could I seriously end up falling for myself?
As though she were examining some strange lifeform, Fujiwara Shirayuki kept circling him and looking from every angle.
This is so stupid. What am I even doing?
Fujiwara Chiya slapped his own cheek. As a beautiful girl, the sight of Fujiwara Shirayuki kneeling and looking up at him like that was way too dangerous.
Don't think about weird things. Just take it one step at a time.
For the moment, Fujiwara Chiya simply could not accept Agnes Tachyon's theory.
Fujiwara Shirayuki walked around behind him and began massaging his sore shoulders.
At present, his relationship with Shirayuki was both separate and connected. They could engage in different patterns of deep thought at the same time. Even if Fujiwara Chiya completely emptied his mind, Shirayuki could still move around freely. The reverse was also true. In other words, they could disconnect and reconnect at will.
That was the result of long-term training. All those theories Agnes Tachyon had proposed were based on continuing that training. If Shirayuki were to take off the ring now, then in just a few months she would probably revert to the way she was at the beginning.
If I keep going… am I really going to keep going?
Just as Fujiwara Chiya was rubbing his eyes and sinking into thought, Shirayuki's hands suddenly stopped.
She pointed to the form on the desk and said, "This part is wrong."
Their thoughts reconnected, and Fujiwara Chiya immediately understood what Shirayuki meant. He picked up a pen and made a few corrections to Agnes Tachyon's race notice.
It was just like that. Whenever Fujiwara Chiya entered deep thought, he could no longer sense Shirayuki's presence, and yet she still continued acting normally according to her own thought patterns, unaffected by him at all.
In other words, at that moment, the two of them were completely separate.
Though visually, he could still see things normally. Shirayuki's viewpoint remained present in Chiya's mind the whole time.
Fujiwara Chiya stroked his chin.
This is so annoying… forget it. Even the medical world had not fully understood consciousness. Why should a trainer be the one trying to solve such a problem? It wasn't like he wanted to become some medical PhD. If Agnes Tachyon liked this kind of thing, then she could be the one to investigate it. Fujiwara Chiya had no intention of continuing to study it himself.
It was better to focus on what was right in front of him. Racing was the true goal in the end.
Fujiwara Chiya handed the corrected notice to Shirayuki.
She accepted it and left the room. She needed to go tell Agnes Tachyon to prepare for her debut race tomorrow.
That said…
Closing the door behind her, Shirayuki recalled the image of Chiya sitting in his chair, thinking seriously. The masculine way he carried himself, paired with his handsome side profile, gave him an unexpectedly refined air.
"He's actually pretty handsome."
Fujiwara Shirayuki murmured the praise to herself. Of course, she did not mean it in any special way toward Chiya.
She was just admiring herself a little.