While the two were chatting and laughing, Yaeno Muteki stood in the corner, staring blankly at them.
'As expected, Myriad Dreams-chan is just too flirtatious.'
Yaeno Muteki seemed to have come to some sort of realization before heading back to the dormitory alone.
Night fell, and the dormitory was silent.
When Myriad Dreams returned, she found Yaeno Muteki staring at her quietly.
Myriad Dreams felt a wave of eeriness.
An indescribable feeling surrounded her, but seeing that the other girl didn't have much of a reaction, Myriad Dreams washed up and played games until 9:00 PM as usual, then lay down in bed right on time.
Suddenly, Yaeno Muteki hugged Myriad Dreams from behind.
"Let's be together today."
Myriad Dreams' body stiffened.
She instinctively wanted to refuse, but she felt a massive amount of strength in the other's arms.
Realizing that Yaeno wouldn't let go even if she refused, she had no choice but to agree.
Soon, exhausted from the day's training, Myriad Dreams sank into a deep sleep, her breathing steady and long.
However, Yaeno Muteki, lying by her side, remained awake for a long time.
The moonlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, outlining the profile of Myriad Dreams' sleeping face.
In Yaeno Muteki's eyes, that defenseless expression seemed to radiate an alluring glow.
The scene she had glimpsed from afar at the swings during the day— Myriad Dreams sitting side-by-side with Marvelous Sunday, even handing her a piece of gum— flashed repeatedly in her mind like a movie on loop.
'Gum... she always seems to use that to comfort others.'
'It was like that for Marvelous Sunday, and like that for Rice Shower...'
'Why... why can she be so gentle to everyone?'
A burning emotion, a mixture of jealousy and insecurity, quietly spread and fermented in her chest.
She carefully turned onto her side, greedily gazing at the face inches away in the darkness.
Her fingertips rose uncontrollably, trembling slightly as they hovered over Myriad Dreams' cheek, longing to touch yet afraid to disturb this tranquility.
'Myriad-chan... your gaze, your smile, that seemingly casual kindness... how wonderful would it be if they truly belonged only to me.'
She thought of the "supervisory" duty Trainer Tojo Hana had granted her.
A dangerous thought coiled around her heart like a vine.
This wasn't just about ensuring a routine anymore, it was the most legitimate reason to lock the girl firmly by her side.
'As long as this duty exists... I have the right to pull you back to my side whenever you try to escape... no matter what method I use.'
Finally, emotion overwhelmed reason.
Like stealing a precious treasure, she rested her forehead gently against Myriad Dreams' shoulder, deeply inhaling her scent.
This overly intimate contact made her body shiver slightly, and a twisted sense of satisfaction welled up within her.
'You are mine... you can only be mine.'
'I will use every possible means to make this "supervisory" authority a gentle shackle from which you can never break free.'
She remained in this cuddling position until the sky began to pale.
In the morning, when Myriad Dreams woke up in a daze due to her biological clock, she found that Yaeno Muteki was lying by her side as if she had slept peacefully through the night.
However, the arm wrapped around her waist was tighter than any night before, carrying an unquestionable sense of claiming ownership.
Myriad Dreams frowned slightly and tried to move gently, but the arm instantly tightened further.
Near her ear came Yaeno Muteki's drowsy yet exceptionally clear whisper:
"Don't move... Myriad Dreams-chan... sleep a little longer..."
The voice was as gentle as ever, yet it caused Myriad Dreams to feel an inexplicable chill.
Myriad Dreams' body stiffened at that whisper.
Yaeno Muteki's arms were like the toughest chains, firmly imprisoning her between the mattress and that warm embrace.
The stubbornness in her tone made her seem like a completely different person from her usual steady self, carrying an unquestionable desire for control.
"M-Muteki?" Myriad Dreams tried to call out softly, her voice carrying a faint, undetectable tremor.
She tried to turn around, only to be held even tighter.
Her back was pressed completely against the other's body heat, she could clearly feel the steady yet powerful heartbeat within Yaeno's chest.
"Hm?" Yaeno Muteki's response carried a lazy nasal tone.
Her warm breath brushed against the nape of Myriad Dreams' neck, triggering a wave of fine shivers.
"Myriad-chan is being disobedient... I clearly said to sleep a little longer."
Her fingers lightly toyed with the fabric of Myriad Dreams' training gear at her waist.
The movement was gentle, yet it carried a sense of scrutiny and possession.
Myriad Dreams felt a surge of inexplicable panic.
This excessive intimacy and sense of control felt further and further removed from the original intent of "supervising a routine."
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something— like it was time to get up, or that being held like this was too hot— but the words caught in her throat, finally turning into a helpless sigh.
She vaguely sensed that any attempt to break free might invite an even stronger "suppression."
Yaeno Muteki seemed very satisfied with her submissiveness, letting out an extremely soft, contented sigh.
She buried her face deeper into the nape of Myriad Dreams' neck, inhaling the scent that mixed a faint hint of sweat with a fragrance unique to Myriad Dreams.
The scent was like green grass after the rain.
This scent put her at ease, yet it also made the longing in her heart grow wildly like weeds.
"See, just stay in my arms like this. Don't go anywhere. The world outside has too many people and things that will distract you... Only here, in the crook of my arm, do you belong completely to me."
Time slipped away in this silent struggle of wills.
It wasn't until the sunlight outside the window became bright and piercing, and the clamor of other Uma Musume starting their morning practice drifted in from outside the dormitory, that Yaeno Muteki finally, seemingly with great reluctance, slowly loosened her arms.
Myriad Dreams immediately sat up as if granted a grand reprieve and scrambled off the bed, her movements carrying a hint of haste.
She didn't dare look back at Yaeno Muteki's current expression.
She merely whispered, "I'm going to wash up," and practically fled into the bathroom.
Watching that hurriedly retreating figure, Yaeno Muteki slowly sat up.
There was no displeasure on her face, instead, the corners of her mouth curled into an extremely faint, bottomless arc.
She reached out to straighten her slightly disheveled collar, her eyes terrifyingly calm.
'It's alright, Myriad Dreams. You can escape for a moment... but night will always fall, and you, in the end, must return to this bed... you must return to my side.'
'I will make you get used to it slowly... used to my temperature, my touch, my presence... until one day, without my embrace, you will be unable to sleep.'
By the time Myriad Dreams had finished getting ready to head to the training ground, Yaeno Muteki had also finished tidying up.
She stood by the door waiting, appearing as steady and reliable as always.
"Let's go together, Myriad-chan." She smiled, her tone natural, as if that suffocating scene from the morning had never occurred.
Myriad Dreams looked at her flawless smile, but the chill in the depths of her heart refused to go away.