The day for the exchange students' transfer finally arrived.
In the crowd, Shirayuki spotted several familiar faces.
Treve's friends.
Unfortunately, Treve herself was not among them.
"Morning," Shirayuki greeted.
The moment that group saw her, their eyes lit up.
"Shirayuki, we're here!"
They immediately surrounded her, then started rubbing their cheeks against hers like she was some kind of cat.
During the time they had spent with Shirayuki, this group had picked up a little Japanese as well. They were nowhere near as fluent as Treve, but they could at least manage a few greetings. After that, though, they slipped right back into French.
Aside from that, the only sentence Shirayuki could understand was:
"Treve misses you."
Since they were old acquaintances, Shirayuki's attitude softened a lot. She brought everyone back to Tracen, helped arrange their dorm rooms, and those who were good at English used English to talk with her.
"Treve told us to keep an eye on you."
"Keep an eye on me?"
"Exactly. She said we have to see whether you've forgotten about her and secretly gotten together with someone else."
"…I haven't. I haven't gotten together with anyone else. Besides, there's no way I'd forget Treve."
"That's hard to say. Treve spends every day browsing Japanese forums now. Shirayuki is already Japan's number one, right? The people who like you could probably form a line. With that many people around, one of them might steal your attention."
"Impossible. I'm very well-behaved."
"Really?"
"Really."
Shirayuki patted her chest, righteous and firm.
The golden-haired uma musume stared at Shirayuki for a moment, then could not resist hugging her and stroking her head.
"Looks like you and little Treve really do suit each other. Honestly, it makes me jealous. Both Shirayuki and Treve are unfair. One is strong and cute, and the other is strong with that full-on wife energy. I want that too!"
"Wife energy? You aren't talking about me, are you?"
"Who else would I be talking about?"
Shirayuki scratched her cheek.
Had she really gone that far?
She remembered that half a year ago, she had still been holding onto her manly heart. But after fully accepting her body, things had spiraled completely out of control.
Katsumura Youta said Chiya had become too soft, while Treve and her friends went straight to calling her wife material.
It felt like she had skipped an entire stage.
I shouldn't have fallen this completely, right?
There was still a difference between a girl and a wife.
After arranging the dorm rooms for them, Shirayuki went back downstairs to the kitchen. She turned on the stove and started making desserts and lunch. Since her friends had come all this way, she naturally had to treat them properly.
The desserts were for them.
As for lunch, Shirayuki was preparing that for Chiya.
The food in the cafeteria was good, but Shirayuki felt that since she had been so busy lately, taste mattered too. Food could not be judged by nutrition alone.
So Shirayuki came to the kitchen to make something Chiya liked.
A reward for herself.
Holding a hair tie between her teeth, Shirayuki gathered her hair into a ponytail, tightened her apron, and began beating eggs.
While she was stir-frying, Seiun Sky walked in.
She was wearing pale yellow pajamas, her eyes still foggy with sleep.
"Mmnya? Isn't that Shirayuki? What're you making?"
Seiun Sky took a bottle of barley tea from the fridge, poured herself a cup, and asked while drinking.
"Lunch."
"Oh. What a coincidence."
"What's coincidental about that?"
"Seii-chan is hungry."
"That's not called coincidence. You slept until noon. Of course you're hungry."
"Is that so? Then it must be fate. So, can I leave it to you, Shirayuki? Seii-chan will let you play with her tail."
"Put it on my tab first. Go wash your hands."
"Yes, yes, wife-sama."
Seiun Sky giggled. After rinsing her hands twice at the sink in the laziest way possible, she sat at the dining table and watched Shirayuki bustle around in the kitchen.
The corners of Seiun Sky's mouth could not help curling up.
The aroma drifting through the air. Shirayuki's figure as she cooked.
Put them together, and the happiness level was way too high.
That said, since Shirayuki was basically Trainer, why did she have so much womanly charm?
The fair, slender nape exposed after she tied up her hair. That snowy-white skin that clearly came from careful maintenance. The tiny beads of sweat glittering on her skin as she earnestly fried rice.
Even an uma musume with perfectly normal preferences would feel her throat go dry after seeing that.
Right now, Seiun Sky's throat was very dry.
She drank the chilled barley tea to cool herself down.
Could this be Trainer doing it on purpose? Was he trying to make himself look more feminine? Or had Trainer always had these extremely girlish habits?
No.
Trainer did not have these teasing little movements.
Only Shirayuki did.
After spending so much time with Chiya, how could Seiun Sky not understand him?
Still, this was pretty nice.
The man was dependable. The girl was soft and delicate. Put the two together, and did that not mean double the happiness?
Seiun Sky had already started imagining the beautiful life of eating Shirayuki's breakfast every morning and sleeping in Chiya's arms every night.
"Here."
"It's finally here? Then I won't hold back… Mm! Delicious!"
"Then I'm heading out first. Take your time eating."
"Huh? Shirayuki isn't eating?"
"Mm. I'm taking mine back."
"I see…"
Seiun Sky watched as Shirayuki carefully packed the lunch into a bento and left.
Wait. Wasn't that portion kind of small?
Shirayuki usually ate enough to cover an entire table. Why was she eating like a normal person today?
Was she dieting?
As Seiun Sky kept eating, she gradually felt that something was off.
Could it be…
On the rooftop, Shirayuki and Chiya sat together.
This was Fujiwara Chiya's first time going up to the rooftop. Normally, the door was locked, and no one was allowed in without a special reason. But when Fujiwara Chiya told Director Akikawa that he wanted to wander around Tracen freely, she handed him the keys to the entire school.
Whether it was the rooftop or the sports equipment room, Fujiwara Chiya could enter as he pleased.
Honestly, Chiya did not particularly want to go all the way to a place like this just to eat lunch.
But there was no helping it.
His free time was limited, and most of it had to be spent accompanying his uma musume. The time left for himself was pitifully small.
So, every once in a while, Fujiwara Chiya wanted to escape a little.
To keep some time for himself.
Opening the bento, Fujiwara Chiya looked at the beautifully arranged dishes inside.
Considering that they might live together in the future, Shirayuki had been constantly improving her household skills. Cooking was already no challenge for her. She might not be some top-class chef, but she was definitely better than the cooks at an ordinary restaurant.
More importantly, Shirayuki's cooking suited his tastes perfectly.
Ever since the things Rice Shower made had started matching Chiya's palate more and more, Shirayuki had also begun paying attention to that issue.
Compared to other people's preferences, what she herself liked was the most important.
Sitting beside him, Shirayuki watched Chiya eat the tempura she had made.
The crisp texture came with a refreshing flavor. Shirayuki swallowed, and at the same time, a strange feeling stirred in her chest.
A little hot.
A little ticklish.
At that moment, Shirayuki remembered what Treve and the others had said.
That she would definitely become a good wife.
It had already been difficult enough for her to become a girl. Now they were suddenly talking about becoming a wife. How was she supposed to accept that?
Shirayuki had never been a wife before, and she did not know what a wife was supposed to be like.
But Shirayuki had once imagined her ideal wife.
Gentle and considerate. Sweet, charming, and terribly lovable.
Of course, Shirayuki would never demand that from someone else. That would be too unfair to them.
But she could demand it from herself.
Seeing the bit of oil at the corner of Chiya's mouth, Shirayuki tilted her head up and lightly licked it away with the tip of her tongue.
Then she bit a piece of tempura between her lips and leaned in front of Chiya like a little cat. Her hands pressed against the man's thighs as she lifted herself upward.
The necklace at her neck slipped down. The clear blue crystal gleamed softly, echoing the blue of her large, misty eyes as she gazed at Chiya.
The fragrance of the food passed between their mouths.
Shirayuki's sense of taste was sharper than Chiya's. When the two of them ate the same thing together, the flavor seemed to multiply several times over.
So fragrant.
So sweet.
So good…
The two of them slowly savored the taste of the food.
When their lips parted, a silver thread glimmered briefly in the air.
Shirayuki panted softly, her small cheeks flushed red.
She felt like she finally understood.
What it felt like to become a wife.