Karai Risa, former chief researcher of the Umamusume Research Institute, current Tracen Trainer.
Female. Likes chocolate and coffee. Afraid of pain.
Currently under arrest for conducting forbidden research.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
Faced with Tazuna Hayakawa's questioning, Karai Risa showed remarkable backbone.
"Come on, shouldn't the question be whether there's anything else you want to ask me?"
"...There's already nothing left to ask."
There really was nothing left to ask.
Putting aside the diary entries on Karai Risa's own computer, which were practically monologues, after her arrest, she had basically answered whatever she was asked. Sometimes, even when no one asked, she would start talking on her own.
As for what had actually happened...
It was, in truth, an extremely clichéd story.
Karai Risa had once had an Umamusume friend who suffered from a severe illness.
To save her, Karai Risa tried every method she could think of, but in the end, all of them failed.
And so, she chose to step into forbidden territory.
In other words, research into the essence of Umamusume.
She failed.
She successfully preserved her friend's body, but what remained was nothing more than a mass of flesh that still maintained vital signs.
She tried all sorts of methods. For the sake of her research, she even went so far as to surgically modify herself into something half-Umamusume.
But that body still showed no signs of waking.
After an unknown length of time, after an unknown number of failures...
An idea came to her.
She still remembered that, while alive, her friend had a wish: to become the strongest Umamusume.
Then if she helped her fulfill that wish, if she modified her remains into the strongest body...
Would her soul come back?
The answer was no.
Karai Risa had known that for a long time.
After all, she was so intelligent. She had been the chief researcher of the Umamusume Research Institute. She was the person who had delved deepest into the forbidden so far.
The dead could not be revived.
She knew that better than anyone.
All of her efforts had, in truth, been an attempt to deny everything she had learned in her life.
So when she saw that body stand up, her first reaction was not joy, but fear.
And the facts were exactly as she had imagined.
What had revived inside that body was not her closest friend, but a god.
She collapsed to her knees and did not react for a very long time.
Just as Shanish had said, sometimes people did not actually need rigorous logic. All they needed was a reason to deceive themselves.
But now, Karai Risa had lost even that reason.
Yes. Shanish's body had been made by her hand.
As for why it looked identical to Eclipse, it was not that Karai Risa's friend had looked the same as Eclipse. Rather, Shanish had adjusted it according to her own needs.
She had been given the name of a god, after all. Reshaping an appearance was not difficult for her.
As for how Kitahara had gotten this information...
After reading certain logs earlier, Kitahara had actually been able to guess some of it.
Shanish's explanation after Umapyoing him gave him definite evidence.
And so, after confirming Tokai Teio's condition, Kitahara contacted Tazuna Hayakawa and carried out this arrest operation.
Originally, he had thought the arrest might be dangerous, and had made considerable preparations in advance.
But now...
Looking at Karai Risa, who was only a step away from turning herself in, Kitahara fell silent.
Even more silent than him was Tazuna Hayakawa.
For Kitahara, once Karai Risa was arrested, the matter was over.
But for Tazuna Hayakawa, this matter had only just begun.
Because it involved Umamusume, and because she was also a Trainer, a human court would not handle this.
But if it was handled within the academy...
"I don't know what to do."
Looking at the collected information, Tazuna Hayakawa wore a troubled expression.
Conducting forbidden research sounded very serious, but there was no especially clear framework for severe punishment.
For one, not many people researched this sort of thing. For another, the people who did research it generally either died or went insane before any judgment could be passed.
Rather than existing for punishment, this rule was more like a warning to those people, telling them not to do something stupid.
And although she was a mad scientist, as for the number of Umamusume who had died by Karai Risa's hand, one could not say there were none—only that the number was negative.
Yes. Negative.
She had indeed used certain Umamusume as experimental subjects, but all of them had physical problems, and many of them were already on the verge of death.
Although she had failed to save her closest friend, the Umamusume she experimented on—the ones who were originally certain to die—had survived instead.
Even the Umamusume she experimented on had all willingly become her experimental subjects.
They could basically be called volunteers.
After all, they were about to die. What else would they care about?
If one listed out everything Karai Risa had done from beginning to end and tallied it all up...
The worst thing she had done was that, in order to further research Super Umamusume, she had previously wanted someone to capture an outstanding Umamusume and bring her in for full-body data collection.
And even then, part of her plan had been to set up a sting operation and use it to destroy the Black Market.
That was the incident where Daiwa Scarlet had nearly been kidnapped.
If that point was excluded, then one could even say that a certain unnamed mad-scientist Umamusume surnamed Agnes deserved to be arrested more than she did.
No, wait. Wasn't it strange that that mad-scientist Umamusume was still out there right now?
Tazuna Hayakawa fell silent in thought.
After reading Tazuna Hayakawa's materials, Kitahara also fell silent in thought.
How should one put it...
Bad people definitely ought to be punished.
But Karai Risa...
Right now, she herself seemed quite willing to be locked up. Or rather, she did not care whether she was locked up or not.
After all, her many years of effort had all come to nothing, and the lie she had relied on to keep living had been pierced through.
Never mind locking her up. Even if they shot her on the spot, she would not resist.
"...In my opinion, why not find a place to put her under house arrest and let her do some normal research?"
She was a top-tier researcher. Given what she had done, forget the death penalty—even a life sentence would be too much.
Her original intention had not exactly been evil, and she had not caused any serious consequences.
If this counted as a serious crime, then Agnes Tachyon should have been locked up long ago.
...No, wait. Wasn't it strange that she had not been locked up?
"...Why do I feel like the way you're looking at me is so strange?"
Agnes Tachyon, who had been called over as one of their backup measures, looked at the two people before her and, for some reason, felt a chill.
"...It's nothing."
Tazuna Hayakawa looked away.
"Let's do as Trainer Kitahara said."
Because blowing this matter up would not benefit the academy either, Tazuna Hayakawa simply decided to turn a major issue into a minor one, and a minor one into nothing.
To put it simply, they would not make the information about Karai Risa public, but would effectively place her under house arrest.
Not only to punish her, but also to protect her.
After all, given her current mental state, it would not be impossible for her to seek death the moment no one was watching.
Then the only question now was where to put her under house arrest.
A place like the detention room would not do. For one, her mind was currently unstable. For another, if she was locked up there, it would be difficult to explain if anyone asked.
Leaving her where she was would be even worse. An unattended super-genius with a broken mind, holding a whole pile of equipment in her hands—Tazuna Hayakawa did not even dare imagine what kind of disaster she might produce.
They needed someone to watch her, somewhere easy to explain, somewhere safe enough, with powerful fighters who could stop her if she tried to do anything, and ideally with some safe experimental equipment so she could continue putting her skills to use...
After thinking it over and over, Tazuna Hayakawa could only think of one place.
"No, are you serious?"
Kitahara looked at Tazuna Hayakawa with an expression that said, Are you kidding me?
He pointed at himself, then at Karai Risa.
"You want to throw her into my dorm? Today isn't April Fools' Day, Hayakawa-san."
"...I don't want to either."
Tazuna Hayakawa sighed.
"But it really is the most suitable choice."
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T/N: hello i am back from japan, and i am sick heres some chapters i remembered you guys exist
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