"Today is endurance training."
Fujiwara Chiya kicked the huge stone beside him, which was taller than a person.
"Push this thing twenty meters."
"You've gotta be kidding, Trainer! Can anyone even move that thing?"
Gold Ship jumped out yet again. It seemed she simply loved going against Fujiwara Chiya. And not only did she love arguing with him, when she found out that Fujiwara Chiya had to move dorms, she had immediately asked whether she could live in his old room.
Fujiwara Chiya was so angry he nearly spat blood.
What did she mean by that?
The moment he left, this girl wanted to occupy his nest?
Fujiwara Chiya honestly had no idea who in this academy, aside from him, could keep her under control.
Gold Ship, oh Gold Ship.
Without me around, wouldn't you overturn the heavens?
But I can't take care of you forever either.
Although it would be difficult, Fujiwara Chiya still hoped he could gradually change her.
Holding back his temper, Fujiwara Chiya explained, "As long as your posture and force are correct, you can move it. This is also acceleration training. It tests how you generate forward power. All right, begin!"
While Fujiwara Chiya was recording everyone's pushing distance, Kiryuin Aoi ran over. She tugged lightly on Fujiwara Chiya's sleeve.
"Chiya, do you have time?"
"Aoi? What's wrong?"
He had thought it was that little brat Katsumura Yota again, so the words he had been about to curse with immediately softened. Fujiwara Chiya still suspected that Yota was the one who had reported him to the Director.
"Meek's condition seems a little strange. Can you come and help me take a look?"
"Sure."
After handing the record sheet to Shirayuki, Fujiwara Chiya followed Kiryuin to the eastern training ground.
Very soon, he saw that white-haired uma musume.
From a distance, she could easily be mistaken for Shirayuki, but Happy Meek's hair tips carried a faint pink color. Under the sunlight, she gave off a soft and adorable feeling.
She was quietly running over there.
"What's wrong with Meek?"
"It's already happened several times. No matter how I call her, she doesn't react. It happened twice while Chiya was away at the outside training ground, and recently it happened twice again."
"Maybe she didn't hear you."
"No, Chiya. Even if I stand in front of her, it still doesn't work. She only hears me if I touch her."
"Hah?"
Fujiwara Chiya frowned.
"I'll go take a look."
As he spoke, he chased after Happy Meek.
"Chiya… eh?"
Kiryuin Aoi's voice paused.
She realized that Chiya's speed was much faster than during the last trainer race. Even if Happy Meek was only warming up right now, this was not a speed a human should be able to catch up with.
And yet, after running more than five hundred meters, Fujiwara Chiya somehow managed to reach Happy Meek's side.
Did Chiya spend his training time training himself?
"Meek. Hey, Meek!"
Fujiwara Chiya ran beside her, but no matter how he called out, she did not react.
When he saw Happy Meek's eyes, Fujiwara Chiya's pupils suddenly contracted.
"You're kidding me…"
Those empty, straight-looking eyes.
Fujiwara Chiya knew them.
Back when Shirayuki entered the Domain, she had seen herself, and her eyes had looked exactly like this.
There had been nothing in them.
The Domain.
Happy Meek was inside the Domain!
But why?
Why was her speed so slow?
The surrounding trainers' mouths widened one by one. They were seeing a trainer running side by side with an uma musume, and someone could not help blurting out,
"Damn… you've got to be kidding."
"Meek!"
Fujiwara Chiya patted her shoulder.
As if waking from a dream, the light returned to Happy Meek's eyes. She looked blankly at Chiya, then glanced around and stopped.
"Trainer Chiya?"
"It's me."
Fujiwara Chiya held her shoulders and asked, "What happened just now? What exactly did you do?"
She shook her head, her eyes looking blankly toward the sky.
"I felt like I went somewhere very far away. There was nothing there, only a single point of light. When Trainer called me, the light disappeared."
Fujiwara Chiya was certain.
That was the Domain.
But it was not the Domain as Fujiwara Chiya understood it. After all, Happy Meek's speed was something even he, a human, could catch up with.
Could it be that Happy Meek had simply entered a state of complete concentration?
How exactly did she do it?
While Fujiwara Chiya was still puzzled, Kiryuin Aoi caught up with them. Fujiwara Chiya told her what he thought.
"The Domain?"
"Mm. But it's a little special. I've never seen this kind of Domain before. Even though she's in a state of complete concentration, her speed is very slow."
"I see."
"For now, just keep an eye on her."
"Okay."
"Then I'll head back first."
"Chiya."
Before he left, Kiryuin Aoi asked him,
"You're not an uma musume, right?"
"Of course I'm not."
"That's true. Sorry, I asked something strange."
Under Kiryuin Aoi's complicated gaze, Fujiwara Chiya returned to his own training ground.
"Guinea Pig-kun."
Agnes Tachyon came over beside him.
"What did you do just now?"
"Meek had a bit of a situation. She entered the Domain, but it was a very strange one. Even though it was a state of complete concentration, her speed was slow."
"The Domain?"
That was unexpected even for Agnes Tachyon.
But she had something more important to ask.
"Happy Meek's running just now wasn't slow. At least, not by human standards."
"Is that so? But I felt…"
"Guinea Pig-kun."
Agnes Tachyon interrupted him.
"The farthest we moved this stone was twenty-seven meters. Try and see how many meters you can move it."
"How could I possibly move it?"
"Try."
Left with no choice, Fujiwara Chiya walked toward the stone according to Agnes Tachyon's request. Seeing this, the surrounding uma musume all moved aside and cleared a path for him.
"If I can't move it, don't laugh at me."
"Oh? Is Trainer launching a charge against uma musume now?"
"G-Good luck, Trainer!"
Gold Ship and Doto cheered for Fujiwara Chiya. Rice Shower, Mejiro Dober, and the others stood nearby, watching with great interest.
Fujiwara Chiya took a deep breath, then gathered his strength into his core.
Veins bulged on his arms. His body pressed tightly against the huge stone. He used the same power-generation method as running.
At the same time, the stone, which weighed several tons, slowly began to move.
"Hey, hey, hey…"
"It really moved?"
"Onii-sama, amazing!"
"This isn't just a matter of amazing anymore, is it?"
The uma musume all opened their mouths wide.
More and more people gathered around them. Trainers gradually came over as well, watching Fujiwara Chiya push the stone used for uma musume endurance training.
He kept pushing until the fifteenth meter.
Then, gasping for breath, he stopped. His body had no strength left, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.
A few seconds later, the crowd erupted into deafening cheers.
Fujiwara Chiya, with a human body, had accomplished a feat of an uma musume.
Agnes Tachyon looked at the trail left by the stone.
Fifteen meters.
That was roughly the result an uma musume who had just entered her true development period could achieve.
Was this due to hormonal influence?
Shirayuki's training had always been affecting Trainer. If that was truly the case, then this influence was not small at all.
If the two of them trained at the same time, would it produce twice the result with half the effort?
Agnes Tachyon suddenly had that thought.