In the trainer's office, Luo Cheng looked at the pouting Tokai Teio in front of him.
"Lazy trainer, sleeping during the day," Teio said. A few seconds later, she couldn't keep a straight face and let out a laugh. "I just can't help but want to mess with you when I see you asleep. Did you stay up late modifying the plan again?"
Luo Cheng blinked, feeling as though he had traveled through time. He reached out and pinched his thigh hard. The sharp pain jolted his brain, and he shivered. Still not satisfied, Luo Cheng stood up, walked over to Tokai Teio, and cupped her face. Their faces were so close they were almost touching.
"Trainer... what are you doing..." Tokai Teio mumbled, her mouth squished into a funny shape.
"It's not a dream... I've transmigrated. I've really transmigrated!"
After more than a hundred days, Luo Cheng had finally arrived in the real world! The Tokai Teio in front of him was a living, breathing person! He hugged Teio and kissed her hard, celebrating his new lease on life with overwhelming joy.
Tokai Teio's tail twitched twice. When she realized what her trainer had done, her face instantly turned bright red. She covered the spot where he had kissed her and stammered, "Trainer, this kind of thing... this kind of thing should be done in a room!" With that, she scurried out of the office.
What was going on? Luo Cheng was confused. In the other world, no matter what he did to Teio, she would not react, simply letting him do what he wanted like a doll. Besides her daily routine as a game character, his interactions with them were purely based on instinct.
For instance, when Teio reached a certain threshold, she would hug Luo Cheng tightly and let out a cute meow-like sound, then collapse onto the bed, flushed and gasping for breath. These were Tokai Teio's subconscious, instinctual actions, done without thought. And Tokai Teio had many more of these instincts, which Luo Cheng won't go into detail about.
After nearly 100 days of living in a game world, Luo Cheng had almost forgotten how to interact with normal human beings. He wondered if it was acceptable to meet someone and immediately start checking the size and flavor of their chest to see if they were a good fit for a cuddling partner that night. Luo Cheng wasn't sure; he had been disconnected from normal society for too long.
He also wondered if the affection he had built up for Teio in the other world, which had reached a maximum level and even showed hearts, was still intact here.
As Luo Cheng was processing his new reality, Tokai Teio suddenly returned. She looked left and right outside the door before closing it tightly. She then tiptoed over to Luo Cheng and kissed him on the cheek.
"Don't ever launch a surprise attack on me again... Did you hear me, Trainer?" Tokai Teio said, her face still flushed.
Luo Cheng was stunned for a moment. This... did this mean her affection level was maxed out? He couldn't see her status, or any game UI. This was true reality, completely without game elements, which made Luo Cheng feel a bit out of place. If this was the case, he had a few other Uma Musume with maxed-out affection levels.
The chairperson Yayoi Akikawa and the secretary Tazuna Hayakawa were the fastest to reach max affection besides Teio. There were two reasons for this: first, they fit his personal aesthetic, and second, they were convenient to use. It was probably a quirk of the system's logic that all Luo Cheng had to do was make an internal call to the chairperson's office and say, "I have a problem over here," and they would come over. It was much simpler than running into the hallway to catch someone.
Luo Cheng found that although the chairperson looked like a loli, she was quite "well-endowed." Her slender waist felt very soft and tender, and her delicate, smooth little feet had a natural milky scent and were very comfortable to hold. She was a great option, whether as a pillow or as a pet to play with on his lap. Luo Cheng was curious if they, too, would be as close to him as Teio was.
"Trainer, stop daydreaming, Trainer!" Tokai Teio reached out and pulled on Luo Cheng's cheek. When he snapped back to attention, she complained, "You've been acting weird all morning. Did you not sleep well last night?"
"...Last night?"
Luo Cheng remembered his sudden transmigration, and his memory of the past was blank. Since his other-world self had been here for three months, what had "he" been doing in this world?
"Didn't we just have normal training yesterday? And..."
"And what?" Luo Cheng urged.
"And you slept on my lap for a bit, you sleepyhead!"
It matched... at least partially.
According to Tokai Teio's description, everything Luo Cheng had said and done in the other world had a corresponding event here. He had indeed hugged Uma Musume, stroked their tails, messed with their ears, and even pinched their small feet, but there was no mention of bringing someone home to use as a body pillow. Some content was missing. It was like finishing a game and finding a few CGs missing from the gallery.
What was going on? Was this the system's correction? As a vigorous young man surrounded by beautiful doll-like girls, how could he remain unmoved? Luo Cheng was no virtuous gentleman, nor did he like to live a pure life. He was a shut-in who enjoyed "lewd" things, and he was very clear about his own nature.
The prolonged solitude had exhausted Luo Cheng both mentally and physically. The more he thought about his situation, the more miserable he felt. All his major worries only brought him torment, so he might as well let his "other self" take the lead, at least that would bring him some happiness. So in the game world, Luo Cheng did pretty much everything he wanted with whoever he wanted. The only thing he could do there was pass the time, train the Uma Musume, and wait for the world to change. And today was the day it changed.
The situations in both worlds were different, but he still kept the habits from the other one. Now, just looking at Teio's ears made him want to grab them and squeeze. In fact, he had already started.
Tokai Teio wagged her tail and made a soft purring sound. This confirmed that her affection was at a maximum level; otherwise, the kiss just now would have resulted in her kicking him to death. This was no joke. During training, Luo Cheng once asked Teio to push a rock weighing several tons, and she actually did it! If any of these Uma Musume got angry and punched him, Luo Cheng would probably be done for. Even if they didn't react to his actions in the other world, their physical abilities were several times his own. The Uma Musume's physical prowess was not something he, a mere human, could contend with, even as the "sole player."
"Trainer, you're so weird today," Tokai Teio said, her eyes squinted in happiness. "I came here to tell you something important, but you keep interrupting me."
"Something important? What is it?"
"It's about the debut race, of course!" Tokai Teio wrapped her arms around Luo Cheng's waist and nuzzled his chest. "Finally, my great self will have my first debut race! You better watch me race properly!"
The debut race... Luo Cheng remembered. The notebook did indeed have the date of the debut race written down. It also thoughtfully marked the start date of the debut race training plan, which was today.