Umamusume experiments? Forbidden research?
Hearing Mixed Grains's words, Kitahara Sota froze for a moment. Then he took the phone from her and started looking through what was on it.
The first document appeared to be a photo taken of a computer monitor, the screen slightly distorted.
...
[Special Subject: Mihono Bourbon]
[Cognitive Stability: Low]
[Manifestations: Due to uncertainty over whether she is fundamentally biological or mechanical, contact with machinery easily triggers cognitive errors, which in turn affect or even damage mechanical structures...]
[Recommended Measures: Correct her mistaken self-perception as a machine. The current method is guided reframing—explaining her belief that she is mechanical as a fantasy of her own, or something akin to chuunibyou, and redirecting her self-perception back toward a biological framework. Some progress has already been made...]
[Notes: My scanner! My scanner! Three of them blew up, aaaagh!]
...
[Special Subject: Aston Machan]
[Cognitive Stability: Extremely Low]
[Manifestations: Possibly due to a distortion in self-perception, or possibly because her own "mass" is insufficient, this subject's presence is extraordinarily faint. When cognitive distortion occurs, she may be forgotten. In severe cases, even descriptions related to her become blurred, and she may even disappear permanently...]
[Recommended Measures: Strengthen recognition. However, the strategies employed so far—including having more people get to know her, arranging important activities to draw attention to her, reinforcing memory, and so on—have all produced poor results. A new method is urgently needed...]
[Notes: Aston Machan really exists! Please remember that, no matter what!]
...
[Special Subject: Rice Shower]
[Cognitive Stability: Unknown]
[Manifestations: Unknown]
[Recommended Measures: None at present]
[Notes: During instrument testing, this subject's cognitive stability continued fluctuating. It can be confirmed that something is wrong with her, but what exactly remains unclear and requires further investigation and testing...]
...
After reading through the first file, Kitahara raised an eyebrow.
At first, he had assumed Karai Risa had simply been unlucky enough to wind up with three problem children as her trainees. Judging by this, though, she had done it on purpose...
Still, even if taking in problem children had been deliberate, Kitahara did not think that was necessarily a bad thing.
From the way these notes were written, she did not seem to have any intention of hurting those girls. If anything, she had quietly been trying to help improve their condition all along, and he saw nothing wrong with that.
But just as he was thinking that, his finger continued scrolling, and his brows gradually drew together.
...
[Experiment Log #121]
[The flesh-synthesis experiment succeeded. This is probably the world's first artificially synthesized "Umamusume flesh." Strangely, though, it seems to possess no viability. Its observed structure is clearly identical to that of normal Umamusume tissue...]
...
[Experiment Log #124]
[I celebrated too early. The flesh-synthesis experiment failed. That thing only looks like Umamusume flesh; in reality, it is nothing more than an ordinary lump of meat, with no viability or capacity for growth whatsoever. The question is, what exactly is missing...]
[Could it be a "soul"?]
...
[Experiment Log #131]
[That "goddess system" the Satono family has seems interesting. A VR imitation of the Three Goddesses? In that case, perhaps I should try a different approach—if I combine nanomachines with advanced AI, could I create an "electronic soul"?]
...
[Experiment Log #146]
[Success! It's alive! It's begun growing on its own!]
...
[Experiment Log #147]
[Opened the champagne too early. This thing is not fundamentally different from the dead meat from before. The only difference is that the machinery inside it is cultivating and enlarging it according to instructions. It does not possess a single trait unique to Umamusume...]
[Still, it is not a total loss. At the very least, the Umamusume flesh produced this way is far stronger than ordinary Umamusume flesh. That brings me one step closer to the final goal...]
...
[Experiment Log #148]
[I tried adding a little normal Umamusume flesh into the artificial tissue, but as expected—just as previous measurements suggested—small pieces of flesh separated from the "main body" are not fundamentally different from dead flesh...]
...
[Experiment Log #153]
[Still no clue at all. Umamusume are unlike other living things; they cannot be reproduced through matter alone. There is no data or documentation at the institute regarding the artificial creation of Umamusume souls, either.]
[Then again, it would be stranger if there were. This is something the Three Goddesses have expressly forbidden anyone to research. Supposedly, the last person who studied it did so over a decade ago. After the Three Goddesses found out, divine punishment came down, and that person is apparently still insane even now...]
...
[Experiment Log #157]
[As expected, it still doesn't work. Blood, organs—even a complete Umamusume on the verge of death—none of it can grant this mass of flesh true Umamusume "life"...]
[Damn it...]
...
[Experiment Log #158]
[The "Black Market"? This is my first time hearing of an organization like that. What a pack of scum...]
[Still, convenient. If artificial souls are impossible, then I can use this pack of scum to help me obtain a proper Umamusume and investigate another route. At the same time, I can try to trace their information. If I can wipe them all out in one sweep, so much the better...]
...
[Experiment Log #162]
[The capture failed. It was satisfying enough seeing the idiots who carried out the job get arrested; it saved me the trouble of dealing with them myself. Shame I still failed to drag those vermin lurking in the gutters into the light. They hide well...]
...
[Experiment Log #163]
[No choice. At this rate, I won't produce any results anyway, and it feels like the others at the institute have begun noticing something is wrong. I can't keep this up much longer...]
[I've decided. I'll go to Tracen and become a Trainer. That won't raise suspicion, and there are more than enough Umamusume there. If I can find a trainee I can trust, perhaps I can have her cooperate with my research...]
...
[Experiment Log #165]
[Reader, I do not know who you are, nor how you came to read this document. But if you have found it, then I am most likely already dead or insane.]
[I know my research has crossed into forbidden territory, and I know my actions now may be difficult to comprehend, but please do not delete this information. Deliver it to the Umamusume Research Institute. Perhaps my research itself is mistaken, but the data must be correct. I hope it may prove useful someday. That is the purpose for which I am writing this log.]
[Of course, it would be best if no one ever sees it at all.]
...
[Experiment Log #168]
[Tracen, here I come!]
...
After going through the logs as a whole, Kitahara slowly frowned.
In truth, the logs contained far more than just these few lines. Each entry ran for several pages.
But aside from the short notes themselves, the rest was mostly tables, experimental data, and specialist terminology. Many entries even had attachments that had to be opened separately to view the details.
Since all Mixed Grains had was plain phone-camera footage of the screen, those files and attachments could not actually be opened. But that did not matter much. Even if he could access them, with his current level of knowledge, Kitahara probably would not understand most of it anyway.
Even so, from reading through the logs, he could more or less grasp that Karai Risa had been trying to artificially create an Umamusume. Never mind the number of things she seemed to have done that may or may not have been legal—the research itself appeared to fall squarely under a taboo expressly forbidden by the Three Goddesses...
"Mixed Grains."
After thinking it over for a moment, Kitahara looked up at her, his face serious.
"Did you get all of this from Trainer Karai?"
"Mm."
Mixed Grains nodded.
"At first, I was just planning to snoop through her computer a little and see whether she had any special connection to you, Onii-sama. But while I was digging around, I found all this..."
"Have you shown this to anyone else?"
"Only you, Onii-sama."
Mixed Grains smiled at him. Then, after a brief pause, she seemed to remember something.
"Oh, right. It's a little late, but I still have something to give you..."
As she spoke, Mixed Grains went to a cabinet off to the side, rummaged around inside it, and brought out two beautifully wrapped boxes of chocolate, which she held out to him.
"Here. Valentine's chocolate. One from that girl, and one from me."
By "that girl," Mixed Grains meant Rice Shower. As for Doto, over on the other side...
By accident, the "chocolate" she had meant to give Kitahara had, in fact, already been "tasted" by him once just now.
Yes. Herself.
Even though he still had plenty of questions, Kitahara accepted the chocolates the moment Mixed Grains offered them. After asking her permission, he unwrapped one of the boxes, tasted what was inside, and nodded.
"Mm. Not bad. It's really good. You put a lot of care into this."
"That one isn't mine, Onii-sama. That one's Rice Shower's. Mine is the other box."
Hm? They were different?
Thinking that, Kitahara picked up the other box and opened it. Instinctively, he was about to put the contents into his mouth—but the instant he saw what it actually was, his hand stopped in midair, and his expression gradually turned complicated.
This texture, this pattern, and this shape...
Kitahara fell silent for a while, then looked at Mixed Grains. In response, she simply blinked.
"What is it, Onii-sama? Don't you like it?"
A long pause.
"If I'm not mistaken... this isn't chocolate, is it?"
"That's right."
Mixed Grains nodded with a smile, admitting it quite openly.
"But I don't think the difference is all that big. They're both black, edible, and able to express love..."
How the hell was that even remotely the same?!
Staring at the black lace panties in his hand, still faintly damp, Kitahara had to put real effort into not flinging them away on reflex. After carefully setting them back in the box, he let out a deep sigh.
"All right, Mixed Grains, let's talk about Trainer Karai... No, on second thought, let's talk about you and Doto first."
He slipped the box into his pocket—extremely unwillingly, but too worried about hurting the girl's feelings if he rejected it outright—then looked at Mixed Grains and spoke seriously.
"I understand how you and Doto feel now. But like I said earlier, at least for now—before you've even finished your three years of racing—I can't respond to those feelings. I also don't want you trying anything like this again, and there's no way I'd ever do Uma Pyoi with you just to save myself."
"You both still have long lives ahead of you. You can't ruin your future over a momentary desire or impulse. And as your Trainer, it's my responsibility to protect you. I'd never do something that could hurt you at a time like this..."
"Onii-sama, you're wrong about that."
Unexpectedly, Mixed Grains cut him off. She lifted her head and looked at him, her tone earnest.
"This isn't some momentary impulse. Ever since that night years ago, Rice Shower and I made up our minds. No matter what happened, no matter how many difficulties we ran into, we were going to find you."
"I know that maybe you don't care for me and that girl quite that much. Our personalities really are troublesome. We know that if we get too close to you, we might end up causing you a lot of problems."
"So from the very beginning, we never dreamed of keeping you for ourselves, or staying by your side all the time. As long as we could watch you from afar, help when you needed us, and protect you whenever you were in danger, that would have been enough."
"It's the same with Doto. We never wanted to trouble you. That's why, even after we learned you had come to Tracen, we didn't try to approach you, and we didn't try to join your team either..."
"And that wasn't only true before. It's still true now."
"A big part of why we even tried this plan was simply because it could help you, Onii-sama. If you truly can't accept it, then as long as you say so, we absolutely won't plan anything like this again."
"And not just plans like this. If it's what you want, the two of us will do anything you ask. And if you think we're a bother, then from now on, we'll do our best not to appear in front of you either..."
Mixed Grains's voice gradually grew quieter.
Because halfway through what she was saying, Kitahara's expression had already started to change.
And by the time she reached the end, the shadow on his face had become unmistakable.
"The two of you. Come here."
Though neither of them understood what had happened, both Doto and Mixed Grains obediently walked over, standing in front of him with uneasy expressions.
"Um, Kitahara-san, we won't do anything like this again..."
Doto tried to explain, clearly flustered, and even Mixed Grains's eyes now showed a trace of unease.
But just when they thought they were about to get a scolding, Kitahara suddenly opened both arms and pulled them into his embrace.
"I'm angry," he said.
"But I'm not angry about what you did today. I'm angry about what you just said."
He lowered his head and looked at the two of them in his arms.
"What do you mean, 'not troubling me'? What do you mean, 'not daring to hope you could stay by my side'? I originally thought you hadn't come looking for me for some other reason, and now you're telling me it was because of that?"
"If that's the case, then let me make this absolutely clear too. Yes, there are times when the two of you really do give me a headache, and yes, there are times when dealing with things around you really is a hassle. But I have never, not once, disliked you for that."
"You care about other people. You think about other people. You place your trust in me. And you're willing to work hard to change yourselves. Even if the results haven't always been ideal, you still pushed yourselves all the way to the limit of what you could do."
"I don't believe that people like you are unworthy of standing beside anyone. And I don't believe you're a burden."
He looked at them, his tone earnest.
"I really do like you as you are, and I've never minded having you by my side. So from now on, don't ever say things like that again. And don't ever act like that either."
"Do you understand?"
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