Kaito had never seen Tea Seat take the initiative to kiss him before.A beautiful flush bloomed across her fair cheeks, a delicate crimson that stood out in the moonlight.
"Trainer… I've been surrounded by ghosts since I was little. No one knows what the world I see actually looks like. When I talk to ghosts, others probably think I'm just a strange girl muttering to herself.
"You're the same, Trainer. Your world is different from everyone else's. What you can see, we can't. What you understand, we can't fully grasp. This situation might last your entire life. But no matter what… I hope you can live according to your own wishes."
My own wishes…
What were they?
…As a player, was it to clear this game?
Kaito thought of the Trainer Handbook—the pages filled with records of countless Uma Musume and their races.If he successfully trained every character recorded in that handbook… would that count as clearing the game?
Kaito desperately longed for genuine conversation. More than once, he had nearly given up on himself. Over a hundred days of utter solitude had left him physically and mentally exhausted. This wasn't a life meant for humans.
If this continued, the way he treated the Uma Musume wouldn't stop at using them as body pillows. He might even discard the last remnants of his humanity.
He liked Uma Musume. He hugged this one, teased that one—but if he were truly asked to hurt them, Kaito knew he couldn't accept that.
That was his bottom line.
He wasn't sure how long he could keep holding onto it. So if there was even a chance to change things, he wanted to try.
He would train every Uma Musume listed in the handbook.That was the goal Kaito set for himself.
Resting against Tea Seat's soft, pliant thighs, his heart gradually calmed. She really did have some kind of mysterious power—just talking to her brought an inexplicable sense of peace. Even when she simply sat there quietly listening, it was enough to soothe his restless mind.
Everything he bottled up during the day, he poured out to Tea Seat at night. Like a castaway stranded on an island carving a piece of driftwood to talk to—except he didn't need wood. He had Tea Seat. Sometimes, after talking until he felt emptied out, he would simply fall asleep outside with her.
"Trainer, you're not alone."
Slender fingers gently smoothed the deep furrow between his brows.
…Is Tea Seat comforting me?
Unfortunately, there was none of that youthful fluttering romance between them. It was all just physical closeness building affection—love itself didn't really exist here. Who could fall in love with a doll that couldn't truly communicate? If you judged only by appearance, that wasn't love—it was desire.
And yes—Kaito desired her.
He knew his self-control wasn't that strong. Being able to hold onto his single bottom line was already impressive enough. Asking more of himself would only burden his mind and make him irritable.
Holding Tea Seat's smooth black tail in his arms, breathing in its gentle coffee-like scent, Kaito lay on her thighs. He didn't know how long passed—before he drifted off to sleep just like that.
The girl gently stroked his head.
The Trainer was strange. He said he wasn't from this world. That everyone here was a doll. That he was the only living person.
Every night, he told her these things.
Tea Seat felt that he didn't belong in this world.
She couldn't abandon him—not only because their long days together had made him an inseparable part of her life, but because she had fallen for this man who suffered the same kind of loneliness as she did.
Just like Kaito said—sometimes Tea Seat also felt like she was the only conscious one in the world. She could see ghosts, touch them, talk to them. In everyone else's eyes, she was an oddity. People kept their distance.
It made her feel as if she stood in the narrow gap between two worlds, sensing both life and death at once. That was why she had more ghost friends than living ones.
The Trainer was the same. He, too, lived between worlds—but his situation was far more special and complex. Otherwise, he wouldn't repeatedly ask her, again and again:
"Tea Seat… can you hear me?"
Perhaps, at those moments, the Trainer had already drifted into another world—and she had become just another "doll" in his eyes.
The thought made her chest ache.
Tea Seat understood how terrifying loneliness was. Just like when she spoke to ghosts and people around her stared with strange expressions and said:
"Tea Seat, you're so weird."
Even if she didn't care much about others' opinions, those words still hurt deeply.
Now, the Trainer was in the same state she'd once been in. Back then, she'd barely endured it with the help of her ghost friends—but who did the Trainer have to rely on?
No one understood him.
Except her.
She was the only one who could offer him salvation.
Tea Seat lifted the man into her arms. For an Uma Musume, carrying an adult nearly 180 centimeters tall was no different from holding a baby—she could barely feel his weight.
Carrying Kaito just like that, she headed to the Trainer dormitory. She knew he had a habit of leaving his room key on top—she'd seen it before when she came with him.
Came before…?Strange. Had she been here before?
Her memories were vague. The place felt familiar, yet she couldn't clearly recall it.
Back in the room, Tea Seat gently laid the Trainer on the bed and let out a soft breath. Her gaze fell to his clothes.
Sleeping fully dressed would be uncomfortable, wouldn't it?
The Trainer was already so tired—he should rest more easily.
Thinking that, Tea Seat supported his body and removed Kaito's shirt. Then his pants.
Her fingers brushed over his strong thighs. Looking at the man's well-built frame, she swallowed unconsciously.
No matter how much humans trained, they could never match Uma Musume. Racial advantages couldn't be overcome by effort alone. And yet, the defined contours of his body still made her heart flutter.
Especially when, under her touch, the man revealed a hidden side of himself.
It was… astonishing.
N-No, I can't keep looking!
Her heart pounded wildly, her head growing faint. Tea Seat hurriedly pulled the blanket over Kaito and turned her back to him, trying to calm her breathing. But the more she tried, the faster her heart raced.
Looking at the sleeping man, she swallowed again. Her body grew hotter and hotter, as if a switch had been flipped. Her golden eyes slowly changed—
A red heart pulsed within them.
[Affection Level: 100]
A screen flashed briefly through the man's consciousness.
"Trainer…"
We're each other's salvation… so if we become a little closer, that should be fine… right?
With nothing else left in her eyes, Tea Seat slowly climbed onto the bed—
—and began to undress.