"Next, let's go to the Student Council first." Seeing more and more academy security guards noticing them, Tazuna turned to the others and suggested this.
"I need to explain things to Rudolf and the others first and clear up the misunderstanding. Otherwise, having the two of you wanted all the time isn't a solution." Tazuna smiled at Fuji Kiseki and Hishi Amazon.
At the moment, the two dorm leaders were wanted by the Student Council, making it difficult for them to take even a single step inside the academy.
Although Tazuna, as Tracen's chief secretary, had plenty of prestige within the academy and almost everyone would show her some courtesy in official matters, academy security unfortunately did not fall under her authority. The only thing Tazuna could do was step forward and negotiate with the security guards whenever they came up to arrest Fuji and Amazon.
And Tazuna had already done that several times just now.
"Security officer, that's how things stand."
"Oh, since Hayakawa-san is asking, then I'll temporarily leave these two students alone..." The Umamusume security officer took a few steps back and put away the shackles in her hands.
"But I can't make the decision to cancel the wanted notice. Hayakawa-san, it would be better for you to personally explain things clearly to President Rudolf."
"Understood." Tazuna nodded politely.
Just as the security officer said, going to the Student Council and speaking with Symboli Rudolf to lift the academy security's wanted notice on the two dorm leaders was the best choice at present.
Only, after hearing Tazuna's suggestion, the two dorm leaders' faces were filled with reluctance.
"The Student Council..." When Fuji and Amazon heard those three words, the furious gazes of Symboli Rudolf and Air Groove automatically surfaced in their minds, and they could not help breaking into a guilty sweat.
After all, they had abducted Mizuno right in front of the Student Council back then. Who knew whether the Student Council Umamusume would want to tear them into pieces when they saw the two of them again, or exile them to the Special Education Base...
"Don't worry..." Tazuna saw the two dorm leaders' concerns and comforted them. "Based on what I know of Rudolf, she isn't an unreasonable Umamusume. I'm sure that as long as we communicate properly, she'll definitely understand. Isn't that right, Trainer Mizuno?"
Tazuna looked at Mizuno and gave him a suggestive blink.
"Uh, well..." Mizuno did not dare agree.
Was Symboli Rudolf reasonable? Why was it that, in his own impression, Symboli Rudolf had hardly ever been reasonable with him...
But in order to go along with Tazuna, Mizuno still nodded in agreement.
"Yes. Luna really is very good at undressing people—understanding people, I mean..."
"..." Even with Tazuna and Mizuno's guarantee, Fuji and Amazon were still very unwilling to go to the Student Council.
Fuji Kiseki in particular felt that, based on what she had done to Mizuno over the past few days, if all of that came out, she was probably truly finished...
"Um..." Seeing that the two dorm leaders were still full of worry, Tazuna crossed her hands and smilingly offered another suggestion.
"Of course, I can also go to the Student Council by myself, as long as you two promise not to abduct Trainer Mizuno again while I'm gone."
"Hah! Of course I won't do something like that!" Hishi Amazon replied with a clenched fist.
She had come back to Tracen with them precisely to personally find out what kind of person Mizuno really was. Naturally, she would not commit another kidnapping.
"..." Beside her, however, Fuji silently stared at Mizuno, looking thoughtful.
"Kiseki?" It was not until Amazon called out to her that Fuji came back to her senses.
"Uh... I won't either..." Fuji Kiseki guiltily turned her face away, her gaze somewhat evasive.
"Mm." Tazuna nodded in satisfaction, releasing the arm she had been affectionately wrapped around Mizuno's. Then she gently took Fuji by the wrist.
"Then Kiseki, you'll come with me to the Student Council now."
"Eh?! I have to go with you?" Fuji Kiseki pointed at herself in surprise.
"Kiseki, the expression on your face just now was too obvious." Tazuna smiled. "I can't let you stay alone with Trainer Mizuno."
Tazuna had seen academy Umamusume kidnap trainers countless times before, so she knew perfectly well what Fuji Kiseki wanted to do to Mizuno right now.
"Guh..." Seeing that her little scheme had been exposed so mercilessly, Fuji's ears drooped in disappointment.
"Then we'll be going. Trainer Mizuno, you can go look around with Amazon for now." Tazuna smiled gently at Mizuno.
"Sure," Mizuno agreed.
After watching Tazuna lead Fuji away, Mizuno turned to look at Amazon beside him and found that she seemed to have been staring at him for quite some time.
"What is it?" Mizuno asked.
"Hayakawa-san really likes you..." Amazon murmured.
In all the years since she had enrolled, this was the first time she had seen Hayakawa-san be so close to a man.
If it were any other trainer, Hayakawa-san would never have held on the whole way without letting go. This situation clearly meant Hayakawa-san wanted to fall in love!
"Y-yeah..." Mizuno was startled by those words and quickly explained with a fake laugh. "Haha, actually, I like Hayakawa-san quite a bit too. After all, we're good friends."
"..." Hishi Amazon's face instantly fell.
"Are you playing dumb, or are you really dumb? When I said Hayakawa-san likes you, I didn't mean liking you as a friend. I meant—"
"Okay, okay, okay!" Mizuno hurriedly cut off what Amazon was about to say.
Of course he knew Hayakawa-san's liking for him was not on the level of friendship, but the sort that wanted to have children together. After all, Tazuna had said it all so nakedly back then.
But Mizuno felt that this was an effect caused by Uma Mint. It was only desire, with no feelings behind it, so it could not count as normal liking. Therefore, Mizuno did not want to accept it at all.
Of course, the key point was that Tazuna's confession at the time had been too frightening, directly leaving Mizuno with psychological trauma.
With her goal of having more than twenty baby Umamusume in the future, who could possibly take that?!
So Mizuno quickly changed the subject.
"Amazon, it's getting late. Shouldn't we go ask people?"
"Right." Hishi Amazon froze, suddenly remembering her purpose.
She had come to verify Mizuno's character, not discuss his romantic history with him!
So Amazon grabbed Mizuno's sleeve with one hand. "Come on. Take me to find your trainees first."
"Uh..." After hearing that, Mizuno rested a hand on his chin with some difficulty. "Which one would you like to ask first, Amazon?"
"Hah? What do you mean, 'which one would you like to ask first'?" Hishi Amazon raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Do you have a lot of Umamusume on your team or something?"
"Mm..." Mizuno nodded.
"At present, three Umamusume have formally become my trainees, but there are eight Umamusume in my team in total. There's also another Umamusume who isn't part of my team but comes to my place every day, so if you count her, that makes nine..."
"Hah?! That many?!" Amazon's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Mizuno in disbelief.
She had thought that, as a rookie trainer, Mizuno's team would have at most two or three Umamusume.
But what was with having nine Umamusume?!
That was already almost catching up to the scale of her own team—Team Rigil, led by Hana Tōjō, Tracen's publicly acknowledged strongest female trainer!
"Aren't you a rookie trainer? Where did you find so many Umamusume to join your team?" Hishi Amazon questioned.
"Well..." Mizuno scratched his cheek a little awkwardly. "Would you believe me if I said they joined on their own?"
"What rookie trainer who hasn't produced a single result yet can attract this many Umamusume to join his team on their own?!" Amazon could not help questioning him.
"And with so many Umamusume on your team, are you capable of making a proper training plan for every single one of them?"
"You didn't invite them onto your team because you had improper thoughts about them, did you?" Hishi Amazon showed a suspicious expression.
"You can rest assured about that! I can swear it!" Mizuno raised three fingers.
"I can guarantee that I'll prepare proper training plans for all of them, and I won't have any improper thoughts about them!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"You haven't had that kind of relationship with any of them?"
"Forget having that kind of relationship. Normally, I keep my distance from them..."
"Trainer Mizuno!"
Just as Mizuno was about to show off to Hishi Amazon how pure his relationship with his Umamusume was, a familiar voice suddenly came from not far away.
"?"
Before Mizuno could clearly see who had arrived, a dark shadow rushed straight at him and knocked him directly to the ground.
"Trainer Mizuno, you finally came back!"
The girl wearing a wrestler's eye mask sat astride Mizuno, her face flushed, and the tail behind her as lively as a fish in water.
"Gou-nii~ When exactly are we holding the wedding~?"
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T/N: cooooooooooked
T/N2: I HAVE NO EXCUSE! EXCEPT THAT UHHH SPYTL! AND ASPENTL! HAS KEPT ME DISTRACTED! THOSE FIENDS! I will try to post more now...