"Or-Orfevre… I'm done. Slow down… let me rest a second…"
"Trainer, you useless man! Giving up already?"
Orfevre set Fujiwara Chiya down on a roadside bench and handed him a bottle of water. He chugged several mouthfuls with loud gulps, panting like he'd just survived a life-or-death race.
What happened to that "the alcohol doesn't hit you later" nonsense?
Nase Hideto, that old bastard! He lied to me!
Chiya's head swam. The taste of alcohol kept crawling up his throat. At this point, he had lost count of how many times he'd gotten drunk. For the sake of maintaining his image in front of Shirayuki, Chiya had already sworn off alcohol, but after being egged on by Nase Hideto, he'd ended up drinking a little again.
It was only less than four bottles!
Has my tolerance really fallen this far?
Looking at Chiya's flushed face, Orfevre raised a hand and fanned him.
"You men really have no self-control. Good thing I was here this time. What would you have done if you'd gone out alone? Crawled back on all fours?"
"It's because you… guys, urk… were with me that I could let myself relax a little."
Chiya covered his mouth, fighting down the nausea.
Hearing that, Orfevre turned her head away, secretly delighted.
Trainer said he felt at ease because she was beside him.
Hmph. Looks like Trainer can't manage without me anymore.
"Feeling better? How is it?"
"More or less."
Orfevre moved behind Chiya and lightly patted his back.
Chiya let out a long breath. Because of his influence, Shirayuki was dizzy on her side too. Everything in her vision was spinning so badly that Treve had no choice but to carry her on her back.
The drunkenness buff affected both of them, but the sleepiness buff only affected one person. Chiya figured he might as well knock himself out and concentrate his consciousness on Shirayuki's side. That way, at least he'd feel a little better.
After resting on the bench for a long while, Chiya finally sat up. Orfevre supported him by the arm.
"Thanks, Orfevre. I feel a lot better now."
"You are a grown man, yet you have no independence whatsoever. Without me, Trainer can't do a thing."
Chiya laughed awkwardly. With Orfevre supporting him, the two returned to the dorm. Chiya collapsed onto the bed.
"I'm going to sleep for a bit. Orfevre, if you want to go out, find Shirayuki. She knows the way. Don't wander around alone."
"I know. What do you take me for, some clueless child? Trainer is not even that much older than me. Don't talk to me in that grown-up tone."
"I'm just worried…"
"Shut up and sleep."
Orfevre pulled the blanket over him and drew the curtains. After confirming that Chiya had fallen asleep, she stood by the bed for a moment, then left.
Once she stepped outside, she saw Shirayuki, whose complexion had finally improved.
"Well, well. If it isn't the Empress. What, your airsickness finally cleared up?"
"It did."
"Trainer got hit by delayed alcohol. You got hit by delayed airsickness. Is this a Fujiwara family trait?" Orfevre folded her arms. "Trainer is already asleep. Don't disturb him."
Shirayuki had just been about to go in and check on herself when Orfevre blocked the doorway.
"I only wanted to see how Chiya was sleeping. I won't disturb him."
"He is sleeping perfectly well."
"Is that so… Um, when he was drunk, he didn't say anything strange or do anything embarrassing, did he?"
At the time, both their heads had been so foggy they had no idea what they were saying or doing.
"When has my Trainer ever embarrassed himself?"
Hm?
"I have always strictly supervised Trainer's behavior. He has always met my standards. In my eyes, Trainer is not someone who can be called embarrassing in the first place."
So that's how I look in Orfevre's eyes?
A tiny spark of pride flickered in Shirayuki's chest. She had never heard Orfevre praise her like that before.
Though, if anyone is strictly supervising Chiya, it should be me. I'm the one constantly perfecting his every move.
She didn't dwell on it. After learning she hadn't embarrassed herself, Shirayuki breathed a sigh of relief.
Now Orfevre was standing at the door like a guardian statue, so Shirayuki couldn't get inside.
This time in Europe, Shirayuki had secretly brought that outfit with her. That semi-transparent gauze nightdress. In the past, Shirayuki had only thought it was pretty and wanted to enjoy the view, but now, she had other uses for it.
"Want to go for a walk, Orfevre? We finally made it to Paris. It'd be a waste not to look around."
Orfevre glanced toward the dorm room. After thinking for a long while, she asked, "Is it fine to leave Trainer alone in the room?"
"It's fine. It's not the first time. Last year, he also got drunk in Paris. Treve and Mei had to carry him back."
Orfevre slapped a hand over her face.
She did not want to hear the dark history of her man.
But at the mention of Treve, Orfevre couldn't help asking, "Are you and Treve close?"
"We're… okay, I guess."
They used to sleep together often at night, cuddling and getting far too affectionate.
But that was before. Now, Shirayuki and Treve should probably count as fairly close friends.
"You're that intimate with an opponent? I'm disappointed in you, Empress."
"Opponents aren't enemies. You and I are opponents too, Orfevre, but I actually like you quite a bit."
"You…"
Orfevre turned her face away.
"That is only because I am Trainer's uma musume, so you think that way about me. The same goes for me. If not for your relationship with Trainer, I would have knocked you off the Empress's throne long ago."
"So I'm riding on Chiya's connections?"
"A large part of it, yes."
Orfevre flicked her bangs.
"Let's go."
"Go where?"
"Didn't you say you were going to show me around? You've already been here once. Take me somewhere interesting."
"Sure."
Shirayuki stood up.
By now, Shirayuki had long since learned how to handle Orfevre's saying-one-thing-meaning-another personality. If you removed all the dissatisfied complaints from her words, what remained was basically her true feelings.
Tsundere… wasn't quite right either. Orfevre was actually quite generous when praising people. She wasn't stingy with compliments. At most, she would add, "You are good, but not as good as I am," afterward to emphasize her own nobility.
At this point, Shirayuki could completely manage Orfevre.
"I'll go ask Gold Ship whether she wants to come too."
And just like that, the group spent their time wandering around until evening.
In the Paris Tracen dorm, Treve was washing up in the bathroom, humming a little tune as she happily scrubbed her hair.
Ever since she and Shirayuki parted ways, she had come down with something like lovesickness. Every day, she called Shirayuki and sent her messages. Sometimes, because of the time difference, Shirayuki would reply very late. Whenever that happened, Treve would get terribly gloomy.
She would feel like she'd been dumped, then sit miserably on the training grounds for ages. Only after Shirayuki comforted her in VR would she finally recover a little.
Now that Shirayuki had come here, Treve had decided she was going to stay by Shirayuki's side the whole time.
After the race ended, she was going to Japan too.
Her Japanese was already good enough to chat with Shirayuki smoothly.
Treve carefully washed herself from head to toe, determined to be spotless. Later, she was going to Shirayuki's room to sleep.
A whole year.
After an entire year, she could finally hold Shirayuki again.
Treve had been waiting for this for far too long.
Looking at her freshly cleaned, pretty self, Treve wrapped a bath towel around her flushed body. Wearing slippers, she went pat, pat, pat down the hall toward Shirayuki's room.
By now, Shirayuki should already be in bed, right?
Perfect.
She was going to bed too.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Shira… yuki?"
The room was completely empty.
There wasn't a single person inside.