That night, after Rudolf and Maruzensky escorted Eternal Meteor back to school—watching her eat, watching her take her meds—Rudolf took the completed questionnaire and returned alone to the Symboli family home.
In a private office, a professional psychologist employed by the Symboli household accepted the papers from Rudolf. Her eyes skimmed the questions and answers quickly.
Then she tossed the questionnaire onto the desk as if it were trash.
Rudolf's stomach dropped.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
The psychologist rubbed at her brow, already looking like she'd developed a headache.
"Normal. Extremely normal," she said. "Other than the kind of passive suicidal thoughts that a lot of people more or less have these days, there's basically nothing abnormal here."
Rudolf immediately caught the subtext.
"…You mean it's too normal?"
"Yes."
And now Rudolf started to frown too.
Given everything Meteor had done—training until she smashed herself bloody, showing clear self-destructive patterns—there was no way she was this psychologically 'clean.'
A questionnaire this perfect didn't mean "healthy."
It meant "highly defended."
The psychologist leaned back, voice half-weary, half-bitter.
"Just hearing the scenarios you described already gave me a headache. Then I watched the race footage and the Winner's Stage recording frame-by-frame, hoping she'd show something more… typical."
She glanced at the flawless answers again and let out a helpless laugh.
"…But this? Heh."
When Rudolf had first sent over Meteor's background file, the psychologist thought it would be "tricky."
After hearing that Meteor had trained so hard she split her head open and ended up in emergency care, it became "very tricky."
After watching the footage in detail, it became something worse:
hard to even know where to start.
And then there was this questionnaire—this "perfect," shouldn't-exist, immaculate set of answers.
It made the psychologist feel numb.
She listed the profile bluntly:
"Self-destructive impulses, world-weariness, craving attention… plus intense pride that makes her violently reject other people's worry." She paused, then stared at Rudolf like she couldn't believe this case was real. "Honestly, Rudolf—are you sure you didn't drag her in from another world? I've practiced medicine for years and I've never seen a horse girl this… this complicated."
To the psychologist, Eternal Meteor was like a wolf hidden among sheep.
But what made it terrifying was that even the "wolf" was a disguise.
Since when did a horse girl who only cared about running come packaged with problems like this?
Where were the Three Goddesses when you needed them—seriously, somebody help.
Rudolf swallowed and asked the question she cared about most:
"Then… is there any way to heal her?"
Her face was tense, and behind that tension the psychologist could see something like guilt. She narrowed her eyes for a moment—then dropped it. Not her place. Not her business.
She answered carefully.
"Normally, I'd recommend starting medication, then building a treatment plan through interviews, with weekly counseling sessions." She tilted her head back toward the ceiling lights. "But for Eternal Meteor… no. Absolutely not."
Rudolf waited, jaw tight.
The psychologist continued:
"You can tell from the answers. She's extremely resistant—resistant to treatment, resistant to being seen as abnormal, resistant to being looked at with concern."
Even when she wants attention, she can't tolerate being cared for.
"And today, when she came to race with her head wrapped in bandages—she escaped the hospital, didn't she?"
Rudolf stayed silent, then nodded.
The psychologist's conclusion was grim:
"If you force her into therapy or force her to take medication, you won't heal anything. You'll only escalate the conflict. She'll seal herself even tighter, and that 'self-destruction road' you're afraid of will become her only road—until the very end."
Rudolf's patience snapped.
"Then what do I do?"
The psychologist gave the answer like it was the only card left in her hand.
"Love."
"…Huh?"
Rudolf's ears twitched. She genuinely thought she'd misheard.
The psychologist stared at her with solemn seriousness and clarified immediately:
"You heard right. Don't misunderstand me—I mean familial love."
Then she reached for a metaphor strong enough to match the case.
"Right now, Eternal Meteor is like a hedgehog—no… a porcupine."
The psychologist decided "hedgehog" was too mild.
"That porcupine has a time bomb strapped to its belly. And the worst part is—the countdown has already started. If you don't disarm it in time…"
She made an exaggerated mushroom-cloud gesture.
"Boom. Porcupine and bomb, gone to ash."
Rudolf knocked the desk lightly with her knuckle, signaling: Less theatrics. Keep going.
The psychologist obliged.
"Like a real porcupine: if you pet it the wrong way, you'll end up with bloody hands. If you pet it the right way, nothing happens."
"But a porcupine keeps its quills angled toward anyone it sees as a threat."
"The only way is to make it relax—to let the quills lie down. And only when it trusts you enough to expose even its soft belly… can you disarm the bomb."
She concluded with the real prescription—slow, brutal, unglamorous:
"Most of this probably comes from being alone through childhood. So your job is to enter her inner world bit by bit. Soften the wall that rejects others. Let her learn that someone in this world is thinking about her… loving her."
"And then—grab her hard. Drag her legs back from the edge of the abyss."
Rudolf lowered her head, thinking.
The psychologist watched her and shook her head, helpless.
She truly couldn't think of a better method.
Because the alternative—tricking Meteor into taking meds, then trying partial therapy—was too risky.
From the psychological model built on everything Rudolf described, Meteor was painfully sensitive to emotional intent.
If she ever realized she was being deceived…
That wouldn't be a setback.
That would be total destruction—with no chance to repair it.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 20
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 20
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