"Trainer, I got the shots for you!"
Just as Fujiwara Chiya finished making a rough survey of the fields around Paris, Gold Ship came barreling in to report her glorious results.
"What did you get?"
"That Snow Fairy you mentioned! I snapped all her photos. Training, non-training, all of it. Not a single detail missed."
"Really?" Fujiwara Chiya shot to his feet. "I knew it, Gold Ship. When it counts, you're actually reliable."
"I'm reliable all the time, thank you very much."
The two sat down on the sofa, and Gold Ship pulled out her phone.
"Come on, come on, take a look. I didn't just record videos of her, I even checked the goods for you in advance."
"Checked the goods? What goods?"
"You know, tested the texture. That little uma musume called Snow Fairy? She's soft enough to—"
"What the hell are you talking about? I told you to film her training! What did you actually go do?"
Fujiwara Chiya flipped through Gold Ship's phone and found that, apart from training videos, there were also selfies of a blue-haired girl.
"As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never lose a hundred battles. Trainer, if you want to gather enemy intel, you can't just know what's on the outside. You have to know what's on the inside too. In other words, the warmth, the depth, the vibe."
"Hah?"
"So I gave her your contact details and told her, 'Our trainer has been paying attention to you for a long time. He wants to confess to you, and if you have time, he'd love to go out together. Oh, and if possible, please send a few selfies and some training footage too.'"
And somehow, Gold Ship had gotten exactly that.
"Gold Ship. I remember telling you to avoid doing anything conspicuous while you were watching her."
"I think you might've."
"And then you gave her my contact information?!"
"Nope. I only told her your office and room. Nothing else. Relax."
"You little…"
Knock, knock, knock.
Before Fujiwara Chiya could finish yelling, someone knocked on the door. Both of them instantly shut up.
Shirayuki was outside. Gold Ship was inside. Orfevre never knocked. Treve was with Shirayuki. Which meant the person at the door was obviously a stranger.
"Oh, right. That Snow Fairy girl said she wanted to meet you. Might be her."
"Shut up!"
Fujiwara Chiya clamped a hand over Gold Ship's mouth.
A few minutes later, the knocking stopped. Only then did Fujiwara Chiya let out a long breath.
"What's the big deal, Trainer? A cute girl came right to your door and you're still not happy? Is she not pretty enough? How high are your standards?"
"I really was possessed by madness when I trusted you. I asked you to gather intelligence, and you brought the target straight to my house. I'm never using you again."
"That is not what you said earlier!"
Fujiwara Chiya scrolled a little further and discovered that, besides the selfies, there were also a bunch of strange candid shots Gold Ship had taken. Some were from the side of the training field. Some were of Snow Fairy napping on the grass.
"Send me the training videos."
"Oh? Just the training? Trainer, are you sure you don't want the other pictures? I asked around, and Snow Fairy's pretty famous, you know. Her popularity's no joke."
"Gold Ship, do you seriously think you can tempt me? I graduated from chasing famous uma musume a long time ago. Rather than idolizing famous uma musume, it's better to create famous uma musume myself. That's what a trainer does."
"Okay, then I won't send the rest. There's still more, though."
"…Since you already took them, leaving them on your phone would be a waste. Send them over too."
"I knew it, Trainer."
Gold Ship grinned and jabbed him with her elbow.
"When meat walks right up to your doorstep, who doesn't take a bite?"
"Don't say weird things. It's purely for collection purposes. Anyway, you're done here. Get out already."
"You squeezed every last drop of value out of me and now you're kicking me away? Do you think Gold Ship is some girl you can summon and dismiss whenever you like? Do you have any idea how long I had to hang in a tree to take those pictures? My socks got torn!"
Gold Ship turned around and proudly displayed her cotton sock, ripped open by something, exposing a patch of pale skin beneath.
"It's not like I told you to…"
"There it is! The shirking of responsibility begins! I found you a girl, and not only are you ungrateful, you're accusing me of meddling. What kind of man are you? You take all the benefits, but I'm the one who has to carry the blame… Ah, poor little Gold Ship. Working so hard for her trainer, only to end up with nothing."
Gold Ship wiped away tears that did not exist and even sobbed with impressive commitment. Then, through the gaps between her fingers, she peeked at Fujiwara Chiya.
Seeing that he had no reaction, she kept crying.
"Fine. I'll buy you some snacks as a reward. Happy?"
"Is that all I'm worth to you, Trainer? Snacks?"
"Snacks covered in gold leaf."
"Hmm. Barely acceptable."
Gold Ship pulled off the torn sock and threw it onto the sofa.
"Remember to sew that up for me. Bring it over with the snacks. Serve Gold Ship well, and in the future, I guarantee you a beautiful harem beyond your wildest dreams."
With that, Gold Ship ran off.
Fujiwara Chiya stared in the direction she had disappeared, the corner of his eye twitching.
When exactly was Gold Ship's condition going to be cured?
He rummaged through the cabinet, found a sewing kit, and sat on the sofa to mend Gold Ship's sock. A faint scent of soap drifted from the fabric.
Strange…
Hadn't this just been changed? And looking at the tear, it did not really look like it had been snagged by a branch. If anything, it looked like it had been cut.
What was Gold Ship even planning this time?
While Fujiwara Chiya was busy sewing Gold Ship's sock, Shirayuki spotted Snow Fairy walking out of the school building. She immediately ducked her head.
"What's wrong, Shirayuki?"
Treve, who was sitting beside Shirayuki and eating crepes with her, turned around. The next second, she saw a beautiful blue-haired girl, and her gaze sharpened at once.
"Do you know that uma musume, Shirayuki?"
"No."
"Then why are you hiding?"
"…Maybe it's just a habit."
Gold Ship had told Snow Fairy all of her information too. Shirayuki was terrified the girl might show up at her door one day.
Listening to Shirayuki's evasive answer, Treve puffed out her cheeks.
Shirayuki had already been in Paris for nearly a month, yet the number of times Treve had gotten to properly cling to her could be counted on one hand. Every night, Treve washed herself until she was sparkling clean and placed herself neatly on Shirayuki's bed, only for Shirayuki to not come back and "eat."
Who knew where she ran off to instead.
When Treve asked, Shirayuki only brushed her off with, "I had something to do outside."
Weren't you a little too busy?!
Even if an uma musume had to train for a race, who trained at nine or ten at night? And what was with staying out all night?
Treve was very angry. Very, very dissatisfied. Shirayuki kept leaving her alone, and Treve was starting to feel like she was being emotionally neglected. Even though Shirayuki took care of her with the gentle competence of a young wife, Treve was still unhappy.
Because she had a feeling Shirayuki had not become so wife-like for her.
She had become that way for someone else.
"Shirayuki, do you have plans tonight?" Treve asked.
She had decided. If Shirayuki had something to do again, Treve would quietly follow her. She could not stand Shirayuki sneaking out every night anymore. It was practically like she had someone outside.
"Tonight…? Not really. I can take a day off."
Since arriving in Paris, Shirayuki had fully experienced what it felt like to live on her own. No one interrupted her. No one got in her way. She could do whatever she wanted.
Sometimes, she liked to blindfold herself, bind her own hands, and turn herself into an oversized doll, relying only on Chiya's side. Other times, she liked to let Chiya's side fall asleep, abandon the male senses entirely, and sink fully into the feeling of being a girl, quietly savoring that peaceful body.
The feelings she had suppressed for so long had finally rebounded from the bottom, transforming into desire. Shirayuki had tried all kinds of ways to vent it, draining every last bit of strength from Chiya.
That said, doing that every single night was still rough, even with an uma musume's stamina. Her waist was starting to ache. So Shirayuki planned to take a short break for the next few days and let Chiya recover a little.
Touching her soft, pale stomach, Shirayuki could not help but sigh.
Apparently, her appetite was huge in every sense.
Luckily, her food supply was abundant. Every time, she could eat to her heart's content.
"Really? You don't have anything tonight?"
"Nothing."
Treve raised an eyebrow.
"Good. Then come back and sleep in the room."
It seemed she would not be able to tail Shirayuki tonight. A bit of a shame.
But that was fine.
As long as Shirayuki kept sneaking out, Treve would get her chance.
She would definitely find the person secretly dating Shirayuki behind her back. And when she did, she would make them understand exactly what happened to anyone who dared steal the property of the Queen of France.