Some time later.
At the usual spot—the little izakaya where the Four-Person Marriage Pressure Squad (including Komata-san and Hayakawa-san) often gathered in private to vent.
Kitahara found Symboli Rudolf, who was sitting alone at a table, incognito. He walked over and joined her.
"You're here?"
Once he'd sat down, Symboli Rudolf looked up, greeted him, ordered food, and then got straight to the point about why she'd called him here.
"There are three things I want to talk to you about today."
Kitahara nodded. "Let's hear it."
"Specifically…"
Symboli Rudolf tapped the table with her index finger, then began.
"You know Symboli Sirius, right?"
Symboli Sirius. Even just from the name, you could tell she was from the Symboli family—a direct member, actually—with a blood connection to Rudolf. Rumor had it that she and Rudolf had even been childhood friends.
And like Rudolf, Sirius was also part of the Tracen Student Council—not officially listed, but she hung around there all the time.
Personality-wise, she was a bit of a tomboy. Her hair color was almost identical to Rudolf's, but a bit shorter, giving her an even more spirited look.
She'd ranked high for years in the academy's "Which Uma Musume Would You Want as Your Boyfriend?" polls—consistently second place.
And first place?
First place was sitting right across from Kitahara.
"I know her."
Kitahara nodded.
As mentioned before, because he'd been to the Student Council so many times, Kitahara and Symboli Sirius—as well as Mr. C.B.—were at least on nodding terms. Not close, but at least acquainted.
After Kitahara's answer, Symboli Rudolf was silent for a moment, then spoke quietly.
"Then what do you think my relationship with her is like?"
"It doesn't seem too good."
Kitahara answered honestly.
Even though Sirius and Rudolf were both from the Symboli family, both direct descendants, respected and popular among students, and frequently worked together in the Student Council—no matter how you looked at it, their relationship should have been solid.
But in reality, even Kitahara, who was an "outsider" to the council, could clearly sense the friction between the two.
Sure, when they were in public—especially if an outsider was watching—they'd at least put up a front.
But in private, even if they ran into each other in the hall, or happened to share a room, they rarely exchanged more than a word. And when they did, the air was thick with tension—snarky barbs, biting sarcasm, as if they might come to blows any second.
And now Rudolf brought her up…
Combined with some things he'd heard lately, Kitahara thought of a certain possibility.
"You want to improve your relationship with Sirius-san?"
Symboli Rudolf nodded.
It wasn't strange—whether as partners, family, or just to maintain her own image, Rudolf had plenty of motivation to patch things up with Sirius. Kitahara didn't think it was odd at all.
What was odd was why she was telling him.
He wasn't Student Council, had nothing to do with the Symboli family. Sure, he and Rudolf were on friendly terms, but with Sirius it was just acquaintanceship.
If she wanted advice, she should go to someone like Mr. C.B. or Narita Brian, who were closer to Sirius. Worst case, even Tokai Teio would work—Teio got along with Sirius and probably knew her better.
Maybe seeing the question on his face, Rudolf explained before he could ask.
"You know how things are between me and Sirius. If I go to her directly, it won't go well. So I need a go-between."
"I'd thought about asking Mr. C.B. or Teio, but just recently, I heard from some students that Sirius seems pretty interested in you lately. So I wondered if you could keep an eye on things and lend a hand…"
That was the truth.
But not the whole truth.
Besides what she'd just said, the most important reason was her previous suspicion.
In her mind, matters between her and Sirius belonged to the Symboli family's internal affairs.
Because of that suspicion—her long-held belief that Kitahara was her little brother—she thought it only made sense for him to handle this.
Also, Rudolf wanted to use this opportunity to get Kitahara and Sirius on good terms as well.
After all, if her hunch was right, then not only would Rudolf be Kitahara's older sister—Sirius would be too.
Especially since Rudolf had a sense that the Symboli family intended Sirius and herself to jointly manage the family's affairs:
Rudolf, as "The Emperor," would represent the family's upright public face.
The messier business, the things that might hurt her reputation, would be left to Sirius to handle. One light, one shadow—they'd manage the Symboli family together.
Even if she and Sirius didn't like the family, blood was blood, and you couldn't just walk away from that.
Once she stepped down as Student Council President, no matter how reluctant, she'd have to return to the family and shoulder what was hers.
With things between her and Sirius as they were, working together was a pipe dream—if they didn't tear the family apart first, it would be a miracle.
But if Kitahara could get on good terms with Sirius, even if the sisters didn't make up, having Kitahara as a buffer would keep things from getting too bad.
It would satisfy Sirius's curiosity, be good for Kitahara, achieve Rudolf's aims, and even benefit the family itself.
Four birds with one stone—Rudolf couldn't think of any reason not to do it.
And faced with Rudolf's request, Kitahara thought for a bit, but didn't refuse.
Back when he first met Rudolf, he'd been pretty intimidated by her.
But after everything that had happened, he wasn't scared of Rudolf anymore. Even his guard against the Symboli family had dropped a notch.
Not that he was careless—he still kept his guard up against any Symboli family Uma Musume except Rudolf.
But the task was to help improve Rudolf and Sirius's relationship—not to get himself involved with Sirius. There shouldn't be any issues, so he nodded and agreed.
As for Sirius's interest in him…
He'd noticed that a while ago.
Truth was, like Rudolf, Sirius had the heart of a leader.
The difference was, Rudolf—the rule-follower—kept her focus on the best and brightest Uma Musume.
Sirius, with her personality, couldn't care less about rules or status—she paid more attention to the "not-so-excellent" Uma Musume.
That's why, once Kitahara started leading Black Forest, Sirius started watching him.
And when Black Forest started getting results, her curiosity only grew. Every now and then, she'd strike up a conversation with him about work.
If it was anything else that had caught Sirius's interest, Kitahara might have panicked.
But in this area—just talking about work—he didn't see a problem.
If chatting about work alone was enough to rack up favor, then Komata-san and Hayakawa-san, who were always talking shop with him, should be off the charts in affection by now.
Not a chance.
So, when Rudolf asked, Kitahara didn't hesitate long before agreeing.
After a bit more talk, Rudolf brought up the second matter.
"Are you free around New Year's—or, more precisely, in the few days after?"
"After New Year's?"
Kitahara thought for a moment.
"I'll be free, but there are a few days I might be busy…"
He shrugged, helpless.
"You know how it is. Right after New Year's is peak marriage pressure season. And not long ago, two of my elders already booked me for matchmaking meetings during that period, so… you get it."
At that, Symboli Rudolf froze.
"You're getting matchmaking appointments those days too?"
Too?
Kitahara blinked, looking at Rudolf.
"Wait, don't tell me—you're also getting…"
Rudolf nodded, exasperated, then added,
"Apparently Sirius is getting pressured too, and not even by Symboli Speed—that old woman—it's someone else… and the timing's about the same."
"…Damn."
Kitahara fell silent for a while, then sighed.
"So those days really are peak disaster season. I'm still pretending to be Hayakawa-san's boyfriend, so I can probably bluff my way through that, but Komata-san might get hit with family pressure too…"
Who knew if she'd already come clean to her family, and how she'd explain it if so.
He pulled his thoughts back and looked at Rudolf.
"So, President—what do you want me to do those days?"
"Well…"
Rudolf coughed a few times, looking away.
"To this day, I still haven't told the Symboli family about us. And honestly, I'm not planning on getting into a relationship right now, much less getting married. So I wanted to ask—would you be free to come with me on the day of my matchmaking meeting…"
Before Rudolf could finish, Kitahara already got it.
Good grief. We're on the same wavelength.
He'd been thinking about bringing a couple of his "good bros" along to sabotage his own matchmaking sessions anyway.
He'd even started considering candidates. Who'd have thought Rudolf had the same idea?
As fellow sufferers, Kitahara was naturally inclined to help.
But faking being Rudolf's boyfriend with the Symboli family was already risky business.
He didn't know why nothing had blown up yet, or what the Symboli family really thought—the danger hadn't passed.
If he went and sabotaged Rudolf's matchmaking too, that risk would probably skyrocket…
"President, I'm afraid I might not be able to help you with that…"
"I won't let you help for free."
Before Kitahara could finish, Rudolf interrupted.
"I can see you're hiding something—your abilities as a Trainer, for example."
"I don't know why you're doing it, and if you don't want to explain, I won't ask."
"But Kitahara, I have to remind you: as things stand, you're not exactly hiding it well—at the very least, look at the results of your Uma Musume. If you claim you're nothing special, who's going to believe it?"
No one, Kitahara thought silently.
Honestly, it wasn't like he hadn't considered what Rudolf just pointed out.
The problem was, even if he saw the issue, he didn't have a good fix.
Like he'd said before, he could stop caring about himself, could slack off as much as he wanted, but he couldn't be so selfish that it would let down—or hurt—the girls under his care.
But now…
"You can help me?"
Looking at Rudolf, Kitahara couldn't help asking.
"I can."
Rudolf nodded, face serious.
"As long as you help me get through this, I'll do my best to cover for you until the day I leave Tracen."
Hearing that, Kitahara felt his resolve waver—shamefully tempted.
He had money, safety; all he needed was to survive another three years and slip away. The biggest thing blocking his escape now was his Uma Musume's results and growing fame.
But if Rudolf could help him cover things up, then maybe…
"I'll think about it."
Kitahara replied.
Rudolf didn't press; after all, it was only early December—New Year's was still a ways off. No rush.
With Kitahara's answer, she nodded, then moved on to the final topic.
"One last thing."
As she spoke, Rudolf's expression grew serious.
"It's about Teio."
Kitahara wasn't surprised—Teio was usually the topic Rudolf wanted to talk to him about.
"What's up? Just so you know, if it's about training, unless she asks me herself, there's nothing I can do…"
"It's not about training."
Rudolf shook her head, fixing Kitahara with a grave look.
"It's just… I feel like there's something I have to tell you."
"That child—she likes you."