On Friday night, Rice Shower had a dream.
She dreamed that she was floating high in the sky, looking down at the familiar training grounds of Tracen Academy.
The sun had already begun to sink toward the horizon, yet a few horse girls were still stubbornly training on the track.
Rice Shower soon realized that, aside from herself observing everything from this godlike vantage point, there was also another "Rice Shower" down below, running alone on the track. There was no lucky charm hanging at her chest. It looked like the Rice Shower from a few days ago.
Was this a dream?
But why did everything in it feel so real? Her mind was perfectly clear, nothing like an ordinary dream. It felt more like a memory.
Her own memory? But why would it be shown to her like this?
"Ugh…" Rice Shower couldn't make sense of it. Her head felt dizzy.
"Hm? What's that?"
At that moment, she suddenly noticed that above the "Rice Shower" in the memory floated a gloomy-looking woman. Beside her was a little sign identifying who she was.
[Clone of the God of Misfortune]
"The God of Misfortune?"
In an instant, Rice Shower understood.
No wonder she had always been so unlucky before, and even brought disaster to the people around her from time to time. It turned out she had been possessed by a fragment of the God of Misfortune.
But now, she no longer encountered misfortune. So how exactly had that god left her?
Just as she was wondering, a black-clad figure with the label [Tang Han] above his head approached the training grounds.
"Big Brother?"
From this all-seeing perspective, Tang Han's Doctor's Coat no longer reduced his presence. Rice Shower spotted him immediately.
Still, she was confused. The first time she had met Tang Han in person was after Haru Urara's tryout race. Before that, he had only asked Urara to pass the lucky charm on to her. They had never directly interacted.
So why was Big Brother here?
It wasn't until Tang Han pulled the lucky charm from his pocket that Rice Shower finally understood.
So back then, Tang Han had come here to give her the lucky charm and drive away the clone of the God of Misfortune.
But just as Tang Han got within ten meters of "Rice Shower," the God of Misfortune above her moved a finger.
Bang.
Tang Han fell flat on the ground.
At that moment, the pain Tang Han had felt in real time was conveyed in full to Rice Shower, who was now watching.
"It hurts!"
Rice Shower clutched her nose. The pain was so sharp that tears welled at the corners of her eyes.
Slamming nose-first into the ground was no small thing. It took her quite a while to recover from the shock.
"So this… is Big Brother's memory from back then…"
Rice Shower looked at Tang Han with aching sympathy.
Back then, when he had tried to help her, he had been struck down by the God of Misfortune.
And yet the "Rice Shower" of that time, unaware that it was Tang Han approaching and not knowing him at all, had mistaken him for a ghost and run away in fear.
Tang Han had tried to chase after her, only to be knocked flat again by the God of Misfortune.
"Big Brother went through all this just to give me the lucky charm…"
Rice Shower descended in front of Tang Han, wanting to help him up.
But this was only a memory. She could not change what had happened, nor could she touch him. Her hand simply passed through his body.
Then, delighted by her first victory in their confrontation, the God of Misfortune began to boast smugly.
"Every time I toy with Rice Shower, I build up a little more energy."
"I'll make her unluckier and unluckier until one day, when she rounds a bend in a race, she just so happens to break a bone, and then just so happens to strike her head on a bit of gravel left on the track…"
"And die right there on the course."
"Hahahaha—!"
Rice Shower heard every word clearly.
"Ah…"
Her face turned deathly pale.
So in the future… she would die falling on the racetrack?
The terror of death flooded her whole being. Faced with such a tragic future, she didn't know what to do.
But then she saw Tang Han struggle back to his feet and follow after her again.
"Oh? Instead of running away, you're coming closer to me?"
"If I don't get close to you, how am I supposed to drive you out of Rice Shower?"
"Hoho, then come even closer."
And then Tang Han was tripped again by the power of misfortune, his nose smashed bloody.
"Mm…"
Rice Shower felt his pain once more.
But even after falling three times, Tang Han still did not give up.
He threw away all dignity and crawled forward like a dog.
Even when both his arms were rendered useless, he did not stop. He curled up and rolled himself forward instead.
And in the end…
"Bugh!"
Tang Han was sent flying by some unknown horse girl summoned by the God of Misfortune, and his whole body went numb.
"Big Brother…"
Feeling the pain in her own body, Rice Shower was overwhelmed with guilt. Her shattered heart hurt even more than the wounds he had suffered.
What kind of willpower did it take for him to endure all that?
To suffer so much, to abandon his dignity, to bear pain beyond imagining, and still refuse to give up?
And yet the "Rice Shower" at that time knew none of this. She simply left, carrying the God of Misfortune with her.
"You can't even move now. Even if you know the truth about me, how are you going to get close enough to drive me out?"
"You should just lie there obediently and wait for some other horse girl to step on you to death."
The God of Misfortune mocked him arrogantly, while Tang Han could only lie on the ground alone, watching "Rice Shower" move farther and farther away.
A knight trying to save a princess had fallen on the road before reaching her.
Later, the situation changed.
Urara found the half-dead Tang Han, and Tang Han, as if leaving behind his final words, pulled out the lucky charm.
"I want to ask Urara for a favor…"
"What is it? Urara will absolutely do it!"
The rest, Rice Shower already knew.
Urara had come to find her and handed over the lucky charm. The moment Rice Shower received it, her whole body suddenly felt lighter. The clone of the God of Misfortune that had clung to her was destroyed, and from then on, she had been blessed with nothing but good fortune.
If Big Brother had not fought so desperately to get that lucky charm to her, she would never have been as happy and blessed as she was now.
It could be said that her life, and her happiness, had both been given to her by Tang Han.
"Big Brother… why… why didn't you tell me?"
Tears trembled in Rice Shower's eyes.
If Big Brother had told her the truth, then she swore she would have repaid him with her whole life.
No matter what he asked of her, she would have done it.
So why had he never said a word, and instead gone out of his way to hide it?
…
Then the scene abruptly changed.
It became the moment after Urara's tryout race, when Rice Shower first saw Tang Han with her own eyes.
At the time, she had called him Big Brother, and Tang Han had nearly died on the spot from sheer emotional overload—but that was not the important part.
What mattered came after they parted.
After saying goodbye, Tang Han stood there looking at her retreating figure and murmured to himself:
"Because rather than turning Rice Shower into someone who only knows how to repay me, I'd rather watch from afar as she chases her dreams, feels joy from the good fortune in her life, and lives happily every day. If she can do that, then I'm satisfied."
"That's what it means… to be a big-brother type."
…
The dream shattered. The memory ended.
Rice Shower woke up in bed.
Through the window, she saw a sliver of sunlight struggling through the cracks of the night. Then more and more rays followed the first, until the whole sky was filled with morning light.
The rising sun illuminated the earth.
And it illuminated her as well.
Rice Shower clenched the lucky charm at her chest tightly in both hands and wept without restraint.
Join here to read ahead.
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
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TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
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