If it had been any other horse girl in Special Week's place—say, Tokai Teio or Agnes Tachyon—making such a move and statement, Shinji Kitahara would most likely be planning his escape route.
But Special Week was different.
On one hand, it was because she was a complete simpleton. On the other, it was because of their shared past.
Unlike with Oguri Cap, Shinji had met Special Week in the countryside, and it was much earlier than when he met Oguri, around the time his reputation was just starting to spread.
At that time, he and Eclipse had just finished scavenging a town. Seeing that the granaries there were nearly empty, they prepared to find the next place to wreak havoc, which led them to the rural area where Special Week's family lived.
Although there was no local Tracen Academy, or even a decent horse girl training facility, the number of horse girls was surprisingly large. And because it was the countryside, the land was vast, grain was abundant, and prices were low, with no need to consider transportation costs. It quickly attracted his attention, and he prepared to have a good haul there, spreading his contact method at the same time.
And then, he met Special Week.
And speaking of which, their meeting was actually a misunderstanding.
At that time, Special Week's adoptive mother had a high fever. Spe-chan was very worried and then heard from others that if you hang three carrots in front of your door, you can summon someone to help. So she did the same, and then ended up in a staring contest with the Shinji who had shown up at her door.
"Are you the one with the problem?"
"No, it's my mom who's sick."
"Is your mom a horse girl?"
"No, she's human."
Then what the hell did you call me for? Go find a doctor!
However, despite his internal complaints, with the attitude of "since I'm already here," he took out a bottle of stamina potion, poured out about a third of it, and, under the guise of cold medicine, had Special Week feed it to her adoptive mother.
As for payment, on one hand, it was just a common fever that would have gotten better on its own in a few days. On the other hand, seeing that their family wasn't well-off, and he was in a hurry to move on to the next household to harvest grain, he didn't ask for payment and left after giving her the potion.
But who knew that after hearing about this, Special Week's adoptive mother, as soon as she got better the next day, directly found his residence at the time. She had originally just wanted to thank him, but after meeting him, she noticed something was off.
"Where are your parents?"
"Dead long ago."
"You live alone?"
"I have a younger sister, currently boarding at school. She's a horse girl."
"...You support her?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
Shinji had originally thought it was just casual small talk and didn't pay it much mind.
But to his surprise, the next morning, his door was knocked on. When he opened it, Special Week's adoptive mother was standing outside, holding a packed lunch box. She said it was payment for helping to cure her illness, but anyone could see that she was just looking for an excuse to help him out.
Shinji didn't refuse. After all, he was happy to save some trouble, and her cooking was indeed excellent.
But later, because Special Week's adoptive mother still had to work, and his house was right on Spe-chan's way to and from school, Special Week became the one who delivered the meals.
Over time, they became friends.
And also, her only friend.
The reason? Because Special Week had a rather simple personality, the other horse girls at school felt she was a disgrace to their kind. Although it didn't escalate to outright bullying, they basically didn't play with her. As for humans, although young horse girls weren't as strong, human children were also fragile, so very few humans would play with horse girls.
And it wasn't just her classmates; even the teachers didn't particularly like her. After all, her trait of being a poor student wasn't something she developed after coming to Tracen; it was an innate talent.
Thus, having no friends at school, after getting to know Shinji, she would basically go find him whenever she had free time. Even if he didn't have time to play with her, she would follow him like a shadow. As long as he didn't tell her to leave, she would keep following, sometimes even skipping class to do so.
If the story had ended here, it would probably have been a heartwarming tale of a boy and a girl meeting.
However, this gentle story did not remain heartwarming, but was instead stained with a bloody page.
Horse girl hunting.
As the name suggests, it was the hunting of horse girls as if they were wild beasts.
Admittedly, there were many people in this world who loved horse girls, and the various protection regulations and measures for them were very comprehensive. Plus, with their own great strength and the blessing of the Three Goddesses, it was rare for horse girls to encounter accidents, let alone be kidnapped and sold.
But precisely because of this, the scarcity of the "goods" made them even more valuable.
Thus, the profession of horse girl hunter was born.
Cities were forbidden grounds for them, filled with crowds and surveillance. If discovered, even before the police or relevant personnel arrived, the passersby would beat them half to death. Larger towns were also no-go zones because there were horse girl security teams. Once discovered by them, with a horse girl's sense of smell and tracking ability, what awaited them was most likely death.
Excluding these two types of areas, the countryside naturally became their best target.
And, not just the location, but because they were worried that fully developed horse girls were too strong and could cause accidents, they never targeted adult horse girls, and even rarely considered junior high or high school students. They only went after the youngest and most ignorant children.
And at that time, Special Week happened to fit these requirements perfectly.
So, it was only natural that she went missing.
It was just a little strange that at the same time she disappeared, the boy named Shinji Kitahara also disappeared.
Some people speculated whether he had run away with her, but those who had been helped by him, both people and horse girls, asserted that this was absolutely impossible. Her adoptive mother was the most steadfast among them.
Then, after more than half a month, just when everyone thought there was no hope left, he walked out of the forest with Special Week, looking a bit ragged. They had encountered horse girl hunters and had found a chance to escape.
That's how Shinji explained it, and Special Week agreed with him, so no one doubted it.
Then came the standard procedure.
They called the police, searched the mountain, and indeed found the horse girl hunters Shinji had mentioned.
Except they were in pieces.
They seemed to have encountered some kind of accident, their bodies eaten by various wild animals. The scene was too horrible to look at.
And after returning, perhaps because she was frightened by this incident, Special Week was left with some psychological trauma. She stuck to him for a full half a month and couldn't even sleep without him by her side.
Counting the half a month it took to walk out of the forest—mainly because they got lost, this damn system didn't even have a minimap—for nearly a month, she had fallen asleep in his arms, and the habit of rubbing her hair was also formed during that time.
There was no other meaning to it. It was just out of boredom, finding something to do to pass the time.
Then, after some time, just like in other places, he suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Okay, he knew this was a bit much. He should have at least said goodbye to Special Week and her adoptive mother, who had taken good care of him. But the problem was, he had really run into some trouble at that time, so he left in a hurry and didn't have time to say goodbye. Later, he had no chance and was too embarrassed to go back, so he just let the mistake be.
And then, time came to the present.
Looking at Special Week in his arms, her neck craned up, looking at him eagerly, the words "hug me" written all over her eyes, Shinji's eyelids twitched.
Because she had been very well-behaved before, plus it had happened when she was a child, and it had been a long time, he had originally thought that even if she hadn't completely forgotten him, she certainly wouldn't be as clingy as before.
After all, from what he knew of her, this kid's brain was filled with nothing but carrots. She was not only big-hearted but also extremely forgetful. She could completely forget the text she had memorized the day before, and any criticism or sadness would basically be forgotten by the next day. Sometimes it even made him wonder if she was actually a goldfish-girl with only seven seconds of memory.
Other children, after experiencing such an event, if not left with a lifelong psychological scar, would at least be afraid for a while.
But Special Week had completely recovered in just half a month, and her personality was even more cheerful and lively than before. The terrifying memories, if not completely forgotten, were mostly gone. Even when asked, she would just look blank, as if none of it had been her own experience.
Because of this precedent, Shinji felt that it was already good enough that she still remembered him. But now it seemed that she not only remembered, but her attitude towards him was also the same as before, without any change.
Her previous good behavior was probably because there was no opportunity to be alone, so she didn't come up to him directly. And now that she had the chance, she immediately started to act spoiled.
If it had been any other horse girl pulling this on him, his heart rate would have already been over 120.
But the problem was, the other party was Special Week.
That Special Week whose brain was full of carrot juice, nicknamed "Special Doofus."
So not only was Shinji not panicked, but his heart was also not fluctuating much. He just felt a little helpless and melancholic.
After a sigh, he reached out and forcefully pulled out Special Week, who was still trying to squeeze into his arms.
"You said it yourself, that was then, this is now."
"...Is there a difference?" Special Week looked blank.
"Of course there is." Shinji's expression was serious. "You're a big girl now. You can't be like this anymore."
She certainly was a big girl.
Although a simpleton, perhaps because she ate too much, Special Week's development had always been good, especially the soft, fleshy feeling brought by her slightly chubby figure, which could be described as plump and juicy.
And, perhaps because she was from a single-parent family and had no experience with men, she might have lacked knowledge in certain areas. When she was rubbing against him, she hadn't paid any attention to her position, and the result...
Let's just say a physiological reaction is inevitable.
Although after saying this, he noticed that Special Week's expression looked a little disappointed, between a hard heart and another kind of hardness, he resolutely chose the former and quickly pushed her back onto the sofa.
The process of pushing her back was very smooth. Although Special Week was the type who was particularly strong even among horse girls, just as she had said during training before, she trusted Shinji. As long as it was his command, she would execute it unconditionally.
And Shinji also saw this obedience in her and could feel that her feelings for him were just pure, unadulterated trust. Otherwise, he wouldn't have put her in the safest horse girl category.
A child, a simpleton, an idiot, a foodie, obedient, and the female lead of the Tracen Photo Album, surrounded by yuris...
The buffs were stacked beyond belief, even several orders of magnitude higher than Oguri Cap's. It had reached the point where it was impossible for things to go wrong no matter how you looked at it.
So, even though Special Week had acted like that just now, looking at her simple and honest eyes, it was hard for Shinji to feel any vigilance.
Of course, no vigilance was one thing, but he would still maintain the necessary distance. This was a basic quality.
Looking at Special Week holding a pillow on the sofa, looking at him pitifully, Shinji repeatedly warned himself in his heart not to be soft-hearted, not to follow in the footsteps of a certain Mitsuo Taishi. He tried his best to divert his attention, focusing his gaze on his phone, not looking at her, but...
"Wuu~"
Special Week unconsciously let out a pitiful, wronged sound.
Shinji was silent for a moment, then let out a long sigh. "Alright, alright, I get it. I'll play with you for a while—but let's get this straight first, no more jumping into my arms. After all, you're a big girl now. You have to be sensible, understand?"
Special Week's eyes lit up, and her tail behind her stood up straight. "Okay!"
Shinji sighed, got up and sat opposite her. He was about to ask her what she wanted to play, but just as he looked up at her, he noticed something strange.
Strange, has Special Week's hair grown a little longer than just now?
"...Shinji-san, is there something on my face?" Special Week noticed his gaze.
"No, nothing. It's just that your hair seems to be growing a bit fast."
"Ah, that." Speaking of this, Special Week touched her hair, a hint of confusion in her eyes. "I don't know why, but my hair has been growing a bit fast recently. Suzuka even helped me measure it. It's only been four days, and it's grown nearly a centimeter..."
"Have you been eating something strange recently? Or is it that Tachyon person's doing?"
"Umm... no, I haven't eaten anything strange, and Miss Tachyon hasn't given me anything..."
The two chatted about this topic for a while but didn't pay it much mind. Because just now, the first moment he noticed something strange, Shinji had not only checked her body himself through certain means but had also rarely opened the system to confirm it, but neither had detected any problems.
Then it should be fine.
After all, she was a child, still growing. And she ate so much. It was normal for her to develop a bit faster. And he felt that if her hair could be a little longer, maybe she wouldn't look so simple-minded. It would be a good thing.
Thinking this, Shinji no longer paid attention to this trivial issue and began to focus on playing games with the Special Week in front of him.
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