"Trainer Kaito… today's test… I'll be counting on you again."
Perched on Kaito's lap, Hayakawa Tazuna exhaled softly, her breath warm and fragrant against his ear.
Ever since that day she'd grabbed him, her behavioral patterns had started getting strange.
At first, she'd just stand across the desk while speaking.The second time, she stood directly in front of him.After a few more visits, she skipped all the steps entirely—sitting straight on his lap, arms wrapped around his neck, long black-stockinged legs crossed and swinging leisurely.
That wasn't all.
Before, when Kaito called the internal line, there was a fifty–fifty chance either Tazuna or Akiyama Yayoi would show up. Now, out of ten calls, at least eight were Tazuna.
That part was fine—Kaito could handle either of them.
The problem was that the moment Tazuna arrived, she sat on his lap.
Did your character models get misaligned or something?!
With Kaito's stamina, holding a small filly for a long time was no issue at all. He could easily "play around" with the Chairwoman for an entire morning. But Tazuna was a mature woman—taller than Yayoi by a fair margin. Sitting on his lap, she felt solid and heavy, nearly eye-level with him.
Which meant that aside from Tazuna, he couldn't see anything else.
That said, thanks to her childbearing-friendly hips, it wasn't uncomfortable. If anything, it felt like he was being absorbed. Whether chest or hips, Tazuna's "capacity" was more than respectable.
Still, having his face completely buried by Tazuna wasn't exactly sustainable.
"It's the same room as before. Trainer Kaito, please come with me."
She said that—but made no move to get up.
Instead, she remained pressed against him, arms looped around his neck, clinging quietly. In the end, Kaito had to lift her off his lap himself before she finally started moving.
These Uma Musume… their logic was getting stranger by the day.
Kaito glanced at the affection meter above her head.
Did Tazuna's heart look… a little redder than before?
Maybe it was just his imagination.
That morning, he'd already summoned the Chairwoman to his office and enjoyed a cream bun together. Right now, he truly had no improper thoughts toward Tazuna at all.
With a pure and innocent heart, Kaito entered the testing room.
Today's test was different from usual.
After completing adjustments for normal human parameters, the next subject was an Uma Musume. Tazuna instructed Kaito to bring one of his girls.
The one he chose was Tokai Teio.
As his very first Uma Musume, Kaito firmly believed in the principle of "when something needs doing, let Teio do it."
Once Teio arrived, Tazuna triggered a dialogue event and explained how the device worked. Teio's eyes immediately lit up. She rushed over to Kaito, and the first thing out of her mouth was—
"Trainer! What's today's training task?!"
I've had it!
Can't you all come up with a new greeting for once?!
Kaito snapped, grabbing her head and rubbing it fiercely until her legs went weak and she turned all warm and limp before finally stopping.
This wasn't Teio's fault.
Everyone was like this.
After smoothing out her ruffled hair, Kaito said, "Today you're accompanying me to test a new machine. I'll show you something really good later."
With that, he sent Teio into the machine and lay down himself.
The familiar mechanical voice echoed in his ears.
When Kaito opened his eyes, he was standing at the academy gates.
Good.
Time to meet the AIs again.
At this point, Kaito's main reason for coming here wasn't testing anymore—it was chatting with the AIs. He finally understood why humanity was so obsessed with developing high-intelligence AI.
Flirting with cyber horse girls felt way too good.
As cyber Uma Musume, their physical parameters were naturally modeled after real Uma Musume. Their primary purpose was to act as sparring partners, helping with race training.
But ever since Kaito started coming here, their mission objective had shifted—from sparring to chatting.
They were extremely curious about the outside world.
When I'm trying to ascend mechanically, you all want to endure the frailty of flesh. I really don't get what you're aiming for.
If he ever had the chance, Kaito wanted to reincarnate as a cyber Uma Musume.
Gazing at the school building, Kaito prepared to take Teio to find the AIs—
When suddenly, a small hand reached out from beside him.
"Trainer! So this is the virtual reality world Miss Tazuna was talking about?!"
Tokai Teio looked thrilled, tugging excitedly on his arm.
Staring into her bright, sky-blue eyes, Kaito fell silent.
After a long pause, he lowered his head, rubbed his brow, then looked back up at her.
"What's wrong, Trainer? Are your eyes uncomfortable? Hey, what's this? A menu? You can touch it, Trainer!"
…No way.
...
"Trainer Kaito, you brought your Uma Musume today, huh?"
"Yeah. Her name's Tokai Teio."
"I'm the strongest Uma Musume Trainer has!" Teio puffed out her chest proudly.
That's right.
The Tokai Teio here possessed independent consciousness—completely different from the game world.
A virtual reality world. The intersection of reality and fiction.
Kaito realized just how precisely that phrase fit.
Right now, Tokai Teio existed in a state that was both game and reality. Her body outside was like a doll, yet her consciousness was real.
This device could upload human awareness into computer space.
So in the end—did Teio's brain already contain human-level thought, merely sealed away by the system?
Or was her mind granted by the electronic world itself, like the AIs?
Was this Teio the real Teio?
Or an AI?
And was he really himself?
Kaito suddenly fell into a massive, Socratic philosophical dilemma—
"Who am I, really?"
"Trainer!"
The sudden voice snapped him back to reality.
He looked up at Teio and saw her arguing with the AIs about something.
At that moment, a translucent screen appeared before his eyes.
[Special Event Triggered: Arcade Showdown]
A… scenario?
Kaito turned to the AI beside him. "You guys have a story system here too?"
"A story system? What are you talking about, Trainer? This is a training simulation device. Of course, we can also simulate what you mentioned…"
"What I mentioned…?"
"You know… those things between men and women… doing AI…"
The AI Uma Musume spoke shyly, twisting her fingers.
Alright.
So this wasn't an all-ages device.
Kaito understood.
And at the same time, he understood something else.
"I need to log out for a bit."
"Eh?! But the test just started!"
"Next time!" Kaito said, swiping his right hand through the air. A menu popped up. He tapped the Log Out button.
Darkness swallowed his vision.
"Trainer Kaito?"
A gentle voice reached his ears.
Kaito removed the headset and saw the familiar green silhouette outside the VR capsule. Hayakawa Tazuna looked puzzled.
"Did something go wrong with the test, Trainer?"
Yes.
Kaito hadn't triggered the VR world's scenario.
He had triggered the scenario of his own world instead.