More than a week had passed since they arrived at the training grounds. Fujiwara Chiya's daily routine had become training, rest, training, and more rest. The nervousness and discomfort of being in a new place had already faded, and Fujiwara Chiya had fully settled into this regular schedule.
But not everyone liked this kind of lifestyle.
For example, Gold Ship.
The excitement she had felt when they first arrived had already vanished. After circling the surrounding gardens, forest, and training grounds several times, all Gold Ship had left was emptiness.
There are way too few people here.
Looking around, there were only a scattered three or five people. They leisurely took walks with calm, desireless expressions, and this severely limited Gold Ship's ability to perform.
Even if she caused trouble for those people, they would not say or do anything.
And for Gold Ship, not being able to cause trouble was no different from a slow death. Every day she lived here, her life was reduced by one day. Just thinking about that made Gold Ship tremble in fear.
She had to rediscover herself.
"So, Trainer, let's go back!"
Gold Ship shoved the door open with a bang and barged into Fujiwara Chiya's room. The man hurriedly put on his clothes.
"Gold Ship, why didn't you knock before coming in?! Also, didn't I already lock the door?"
"The doors here can be opened with a plastic card. What are you doing, Trainer? Generating your own electricity? Should I wait until you're finished?"
"I'm checking my body. Be normal for once."
Fujiwara Chiya had thought it was Yaeno Muteki coming in. After all, the two of them had already had an awkward incident before.
Gold Ship, on the other hand, did not even have the word "awkward" in her dictionary.
"Checking where? Top or bottom? Want me to help?"
"No."
Fujiwara Chiya took off his shirt and turned his back toward the mirror. There was a red mark on his shoulder. It had been left by Shihandai's bamboo sword during training. It seemed Shihandai had noticed that his body was different from an ordinary person's, because he had started using an intensity meant for uma musume training on him directly. The pain had risen several levels.
Yaeno Muteki had recommended a few kinds of medicine to him. If he applied them to the injured area after getting hurt, he would recover by the next day. She used to get injured often, so she understood medicine quite well.
"Whoa~"
Looking at Fujiwara Chiya's body, Gold Ship leaned in and examined him.
"Trainer, the muscles you were so proud of before seem to be getting smaller and smaller. Are you slimming down?"
"No…"
Fujiwara Chiya had also noticed that the muscles he had finally managed to build were gradually disappearing. However, in exchange, his strength was increasing day by day.
Gold Ship reached out and touched him, letting out a little "hooh~" sound.
How strange.
There's clearly a girl touching my body beside me, but I don't feel anything at all.
Sure enough, in my heart, Gold Ship and the word "girl" have already been separated by an inequality sign. I should treat her as a special life-form independent from the rest of the world.
"Firm texture, fresh meat quality, smooth mouthfeel. This is premium-grade meat."
"Did you fail to find anyone to go crazy at, so you came here instead?"
"To think you saw through me. As expected of Trainer."
As she spoke, Gold Ship pinched him hard, and Fujiwara Chiya cried out in pain.
"I can't take it anymore, Trainer! Let's go back! Tracen is calling us! There's nothing here! No television, no arcade, no pineapple pie, and most importantly, no people!"
This was the one thing Gold Ship absolutely could not endure.
She needed people.
Living, breathing people.
Men, women, old people, children, anyone would do.
"You've already evolved into a realm I can't understand. So can you go play somewhere else?"
"In that case, I can only kill you first and then go kill myself."
"Stop—!"
The two of them tangled together in the room. In the end, Fujiwara Chiya was defeated.
"If you want to go back, I can send you back first."
"If I did that, wouldn't I look like a deserter?! If you guys don't leave, there's no way I can go back. If we're running, everyone has to run together. That way, we won't have to worry about getting sent to military court."
"And you're still not satisfied?!"
The two of them tangled together again. Eventually, they lay on the floor, panting for breath.
As an uma musume, Gold Ship actually felt like she was almost unable to hold Trainer down anymore.
Too scary.
Is this guy a monster?
Gold Ship was secretly shocked.
"We're only halfway through training. There's no way we can just leave whenever we want."
"In that case, come find something fun with me."
"I'm a proper adult. You want me to accompany an alien weirdo horse like you to search for entertainment? What kind of joke is that?"
"You think I won't rush into your room in the middle of the night and scream that you're assaulting me?"
"You're planning to drag us both down together?!"
"My life has already lost its light. If I can take Trainer along with me on the journey, I'd say that's not a bad ending either."
Fujiwara Chiya could tell.
Gold Ship had truly been bored out of her mind recently.
After all, there were only a handful of teammates here, and aside from Shirayuki, the others were not that easy to tease. But Shirayuki was either in the dojo or running, with almost no free time at all.
So Gold Ship had no choice but to come to him and vent with all her strength.
Seeing Gold Ship jump onto his bed and curl herself into a ball, Fujiwara Chiya had no other choice but to agree to go out with her.
"Really?"
"We'll go to the town at the foot of the mountain and see if there's anything fun."
"Yosh! Let's go, Trainer!"
She tossed the blanket aside, grabbed Fujiwara Chiya's hand, and dragged him outside. It reminded Chiya of when his university roommates had forcibly dragged him out.
When they reached the middle of the mountain, Gold Ship suddenly remembered something and pointed toward a secluded path.
"Oh right, Trainer. There's a waterfall over here too. Did you know that?"
"A waterfall?"
"Hmph, you didn't know, did you? During this period, I've already explored the whole mountain!"
You really are idle, huh.
"Want to go take a look?"
"Sure."
In any case, he had come out to accompany Gold Ship. Wherever they went, it was still going out.
The two of them walked for a while, then heard the rushing sound of water. Sure enough, they saw a large waterfall. It was probably seven or eight meters tall.
Just as Fujiwara Chiya was about to approach, he saw a figure beneath the waterfall. He immediately pulled Gold Ship back.
"Wait. Someone's there."
Following Fujiwara Chiya's gaze, Gold Ship also saw that pink figure.
"Isn't that the girl Trainer's always harassing? Why is she here too?"
"What do you mean, I'm harassing her? That's clearly your fault."
"You're my superior. My mistakes are your mistakes."
While the two of them were bickering, a large piece of wood drifted down from above. It struck Kyoei March, who was standing under the waterfall, right on the head.
With a dull thunk, the log split into two pieces.
"Trainer, her head seems to be solid."
Leaving aside whether her head was solid or not, Fujiwara Chiya narrowed his eyes as he looked at Kyoei March, who remained standing beneath the waterfall without moving.
It seemed they were not the only ones who had come here for harsh training.