"Sit."
Rudolf led Eternal Meteor over to the sofa, guiding her to the seat opposite where Rudolf had been sitting. She then went to a cabinet, took out a full tea set, and placed it neatly on the table.
"Try this," Rudolf said, pouring half a cup before sliding it over. "It's black tea I brought back from a trip."
Not as good as cola, Meteor judged immediately—though she only dared think it. Out loud, she politely praised it as "really tasty."
Rudolf took one look at Meteor's face—clearly hates it, still says it's good—and let out an amused, helpless smile.
"Alright. Let's talk business."
"Yes, ma'am!" Meteor snapped upright like she'd been switched on: legs together, hands on knees, back straight.
"No need to be that formal."
"But isn't 'serious business' supposed to be… serious?"
Rudolf paused, then covered her mouth with one hand and laughed.
"That's a good one," she said, still smiling. "I'll tell everyone that next time."
"Ahem. Anyway—Meteor, you don't have a phone yet, do you? Or running shoes, horseshoes, things like that?"
"No."
Meteor's answer made it pretty clear she already understood why Rudolf had called her in—and why Teio had been sent out.
"Consider this my investment in you." Rudolf took out her wallet, pulled out a card, and set it in front of Meteor. "There's 200,000 in it. The PIN is 070400."
"I'll take it, then. Thanks, President."
Even X, inside her head, sounded stunned.
"…Huh?"
It had expected some polite refusal, a bit of back-and-forth. Instead, Meteor accepted it without a flicker of embarrassment.
"Debts don't bother you once you have enough of them," Meteor replied internally to X's silent disbelief. "Besides, I'll pay it back."
"You have no shame."
Meteor ignored the honest insult and decided she'd drag Teio along as her shopping guide later.
"Teio already showed you around campus, right?" Rudolf asked. "How was it?"
"Great," Meteor replied sincerely. "It's really… comfortable here."
She couldn't help recalling the place's absurdly luxurious facilities.
"Don't let the surface fool you," Rudolf warned, her tone turning firm. "Every horse girl here is your competitor. If you don't work with the resolve to be crushed to pieces, you won't win."
After saying that, Rudolf stood and looked up at a plaque hanging on the wall.
"Do you know what it means?"
Meteor had exactly one thought:
You're asking a former drifter if she can read English—seriously?
She shook off the distraction and answered properly.
"I do. And sooner or later, I'll make everyone replace 'Eclips' with my name."
Rudolf smiled.
"Good. But for now, focus on preparing for your debut."
"Go buy what you need," she added. "I'll keep working on your enrollment paperwork."
Meteor stood, thanked her, and headed out—
only to find Teio outside with her head and ears pressed against the door, trying to eavesdrop… and failing because the door was too thick to hear anything.
With a deadpan expression, Meteor bribed Teio into being her personal shopping assistant for the day—paid in one honey specialty drink.
And that was when hell began.
"This horseshoe is that expensive…? Is this for real…?"
Meteor stared at the receipt, trembling.
"Yup," Teio said brightly—dragging the now-pale Meteor toward the next shop. "And you still need training horseshoes too. The ones here aren't durable, so we're buying those at another store."
Every swipe of the card felt like someone squeezing Meteor's heart. By the time they finished everything that afternoon, she looked like she'd burned down to ash.
"Phone and SIM are done!" Teio lifted her phone. "Let's add each other on LINE!"
They added each other.
On the way back, they bought two honey specialty drinks. Meteor, curious, ordered the same thing Teio did.
One sip later, her soul left her body.
"I can feel my blood sugar launching into orbit—I'm gonna f—ing take off!"
To avoid wasting it, she shoved the drink into Teio's hands and marched back to the dorm.
Teio was left alone, face bright red, staring at the cup Meteor had already drunk from—frozen between drink it and don't drink it.
"Today is a good day a good day"
Humming to herself, Meteor arrived at the dorm, arms full of bags, and entered her room.
She knocked first. No answer.
So she pushed the door open, set her things down on the empty bed, and began unpacking.
Every so often, she glanced at the bed opposite.
It was too neat—military-level neat. Next to it stood a tall bookcase, and the books were organized perfectly by category and size.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Meteor muttered to X.
"How so?"
"Room clean and tidy, no weird smell… next line."
X immediately regretted responding.
"…Stop torturing me with ancient memes."
Meteor ignored that and went to the window.
"The view is amazing," she said in genuine awe. "You can see the track and the school buildings clearly—no obstructions at all."
Then she heard a knock.
Meteor swallowed.
Please let my roommate be easy to get along with… Otherwise dorm life is going to be hell.
"Come in."
The door opened slowly.
"Hi. I'm Eternal Meteor, your new roommate—pleased to—"
She froze.
"…Huh?! President?!"
Standing there was the familiar tri-colored hair.
It was Symboli Rudolf.
"That's right," Rudolf said calmly. "There were no spare rooms. After Fuji Kiseki called me, I had you assigned here."
Rudolf leaned down and patted the utterly stunned Meteor on the head.
"From now on," she said, "I'm your roommate."
"EHHHHHH?!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 36)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 36) Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 36)
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink