Soon after, Orfevre, having gotten properly dressed, rushed together with Ikezoe to a location near the Ritto dormitory where Fuji Kiseki had mentioned.
There, as expected, they saw Fuji Kiseki alongside Curren Chan— however, this senior dorm supervisor, who always had a calm and charismatic attitude no matter the situation, seemed to be exasperated by something.
"Hmph— little pony, I'm getting a little angry~"
As Ikezoe and Orfevre got a closer look, they saw that Fuji Kiseki was currently trying to pull a small Uma Musume, who was stubbornly clinging to the wall of a building.
The small Uma Musume looked quite unique, as in addition to her school uniform, she was wearing a black coat and a hilariously large witch hat, almost looking like a cosplay of an anime character.
Fuji Kiseki continued to pull the Uma Musume while struggling to maintain a smile, saying,
"E- even if you're a freshman, you can't just skip sessions—!!! Ughhhh...!"
"Since you entered through the special admission, you need to train at l- least two hours a day!! Grhhh...! Even if you haven't found a Trainer you like yet, you can't be so lazy, little p- pony!!"
'H- how is her grip strength this strong...?'
Fuji Kiseki wiped off the sweat on her forehead with laboured breaths as she tried to pull the small Uma Musume again.
"Grrr...! I let you slide the last few times because I thought you were just unfamiliar with the environment, but it h- has already been a week!!! Uge...! You need to follow the rules, little pony!"
"Yadaaa! Yaaaada!!! Yaaadaaa!!! Yaadaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!" (T/N: Yada means no)
Unfortunately for Fuji Kiseki, the Uma Musume wearing the magic hat refused to leave, screaming in a childish voice.
Although Fuji Kiseki wasn't using her full strength to pull her, the sheer struggle that could be seen on her face clearly showed just how fiercely that Uma Musume was resisting.
"I can use magic, you know?! Although I'm just a little witch right now, provoking me has very serious consequences! I- I'll turn you into a frog! My Grandmother really did it once, it's true!"
"L- little pony, you've already said that many times already, if you can really turn me into a frog, then maybe I won't have to b- bother you so much—! Grghhh...!"
Fuji Kiseki had a very good temper.
As a senior and the daughter of her amazing mother, she was determined to create a warm, home-like environment for all the little ponies of Tracen, treating every student like she was their older sister, which made her highly popular and well-liked among the students.
However, this time, she had run into an insurmountable wall.
For the first time in years, her unbeatable charm had finally been rendered ineffective, defeated by a bratty Uma Musume's laziness.
Thus, for the first time since she became dorm supervisor, Fuji Kiseki resorted to slightly rougher methods with the little girl, forcibly trying to drag the child out of the dorm.
But from her room in the Ritto dorm all the way to here, this temperamental little child's uncooperativeness and stubbornness left Fuji Kiseki both physically and mentally exhausted.
If not for Curren Chan supporting her by her side, she probably would have given up and just called her parents.
"Little Tosho, don't make it so difficult for our dorm supervisor here..."
Curren Chan, who was beside them, was also at a loss.
But, just then, her ears suddenly twitched, as if it was a radar that had detected something, and she immediately turned her head, seeing that Ikezoe and Orfevre had arrived.
"Ah, Onii-chan! And Orfevre! You finally came! Please come quickly and help Fuji Kiseki, she's completely exhausted already."
"What happened?"
Seeing this loud and chaotic scene, Ikezoe chose to figure out the situation first.
"Onii-chan, we need your expertise here."
Saying this, Curren Chan pushed Ikezoe towards Fuji Kiseki.
"Onii-chan, you can deal with problem Uma Musume like Orfevre very well right? So can you please help deal with this Uma Musume?"
Arriving at Fuji Kiseki's side, she called out to her,
"Senior Fuji, my Onii-chan is here."
"Oh, Trainer Ikezoe, you're here! Thank you so much for coming, I was wondering what I would do if you didn't come."
Fuji Kiseki noticed Ikezoe and immediately relaxed, letting go of the little Uma Musume.
The small Uma Musume wearing the large hat also noticed Ikezoe, looking up at him before glaring.
"Is this the reinforcement the evil side brought? Hmph! Bring it on! A witch like me will never lose!"
"...So what's going on? And who is this rude chuunibyou girl?"
Of course, when Ikezoe laid his eyes on this Uma Musume, his soul had already realized who this was.
Ikezoe was just hoping that Fuji Kiseki could surpass his expectations and contradict his thoughts. After all, there isn't just one Racehorse that dislikes training, right?
Ikezoe had ridden almost all the problematic JRA-designated Racehorses; from those who disliked training, messed up races, or had difficulty entering the gate.
Thus, he still held out hope that this might not be the Uma Musume he thought it was.
"Uh... okay, firstly I should apologize to you. This kind of matter shouldn't have been your responsibility in the first place, it was just that Curren Chan over there insisted that you are good at handling such situations..."
Fuji Kiseki sighed in defeat as she looked at the small Uma Musume, still clinging to the wall as an expression of helplessness appeared on her face, saying to Ikezoe,
"This is Sweep Tosho, a transfer student who recently skipped grades to enter Tracen Academy."
"Her previous school had given her recommendations on account of her incredible talent and special interest in becoming an Uma Musume, which is why she is here now."
"But... as you can see, she is highly resistant to training and has not trained a single day since the day she enrolled here, as well as skipping the freshman mock race held yesterday, so I had no choice but to drag her out myself to train."
"After all, if she continues to skip sessions like this, her academic credits will be deducted. If she accumulates too much of these deductions, she might even get expelled..."
"I had initially planned to call the girl's parents, but Curren Chan strongly believed that you can solve this..."
In fact, by the end, Fuji Kiseki herself wasn't so sure about her own words anymore.
After all, the only two solutions to this situation could be boiled down to either persuasion or force.
She had already tried to gently persuade Sweep Tosho, but despite her best efforts, Sweep Tosho didn't budge at all and instead became even more resistant to the idea of training.
As for force... Fuji Kiseki would absolutely not allow anyone to use violence as a solution, especially towards such a young girl like Sweep Tosho.
But still, that only left them with the option of persuading her, which she had failed at earlier despite trying her best to the point where she had even given up on this option in her heart.
However, just as Fuji Kiseki's words fell and before Ikezoe could react, Orfevre, who had been standing beside him, scratched her head and sighed in annoyance.
"This has nothing to do with us. Seriously! Why should we waste time on something like this?! Just call her parents! I need to prepare for the Classic Triple Crown, you know."
"Sigh... Ikezoe, we don't need to bother with crap like this, let the snotty brat cry and scream as much as she wants, let's go back to training— huh? Ikezoe?"
But, just as Orfevre was about to turn around and leave, Ikezoe had already walked towards Sweep Tosho.
Because Sweep Tosho was only around 1.4 meters tall, he had to kneel down to barely be at eye level with her. (T/N: Sweep Tosho is 139 cm tall)
"... Can you go train? Pretty please~?"
"Yada!"
Sweep Tosho immediately refused.
"...Then there's nothing I can do."
Ikezoe seemed unsurprised by this expected answer.
However, contradicting everyone's expectations, instead of walking away, he actually sat down cross-legged on the spot, eyeing the now-confused Sweep Tosho.
"Then let's see who can outlast whom. It's quite cold outside now. So we'll both stay here like this until you decide to train."
"...Huh? I- is there something wrong with your head or something?!"
Sweep Tosho looked at Ikezoe like he was a crazy person, puffing up her chest as she said provocatively,
"I am an Uma Musume, AND a witch, you know?! I won't get sick. But you're a human! You'll catch a cold like this!"
"Hehe, it's fine. To be honest, I've been more healthier than ever these past few months."
Ikezoe chuckled in response and spoke with a determined voice.
"I don't want to see someone as promising as you have your talents wasted, so this is all I can do. Well then, let's see who will come up on top, little witch."
-----+-----
Sweep Tosho: I cast, TESTICULAR TORSION!
Ikezoe: A— *fucking dies*
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.