Agnes Tachyon held the huge syringe filled with bubbling, unknown green liquid, a fervent, sickly smile hanging on her lips as she approached step by step.
Her eyes, hidden behind her glasses, gleamed with the light only a predator exhibits when seeing its prey.
"Hmph!" Gold City immediately adopted a combat stance, fists clenched, emitting an aura of danger.
"Heh, heh, how dare a mere Alchemist act presumptuously on this Overlord's stage?" TM Opera O twirled her wrist and somehow produced a magnificent rapier (a stage prop), pointing the tip forward.
The strongest internal conflict in the history of the Tracen Academy's Ferocious Uma Division was about to erupt.
[EXTREME DANGER!]
[EXTREME DANGER!]
[Host's life is in A-rank danger!]
[Please evacuate immediately!]
[Evacuate immediately!]
Kaito's crisis intuition alarm wasn't just sounding; it was playing an apocalyptic symphony directly in his mind. He had no doubt that if these three started fighting, never mind the lounge, half the building would probably collapse!
He had to stop all of this before Agnes Tachyon stabbed him with that syringe that looked capable of knocking out an elephant!
"Stop!"
Kaito shouted, using all his strength to break free from the "protective circle" formed by Gold City and TM Opera O, directly confronting the most dangerous source.
He forced himself to look directly at Agnes Tachyon, though he could clearly see the ominous green liquid in the syringe still "gurgling" and bubbling in his peripheral vision.
Agnes Tachyon stopped, tilted her head, and observed him with interest, as if slightly intrigued by the prey's proactive behavior.
"Oh? Is the core sample going to speak voluntarily?"
Her voice was monotonous, but with an indifference that ignored others.
"Please be brief in your last words; my time is gold"
"Last words, my foot! I want to live a few more years!"
Kaito roared internally, took a deep breath, and threw out the only lifeline he had thought of in this life-or-death situation.
"Dissection is the least efficient, most foolish, and least aesthetically pleasing research method!"
This sentence managed to make Agnes Tachyon's eyebrow twitch slightly.
Kaito attacked while the iron was hot, with a seductive tone.
"A dead and motionless sample can only give you limited information, but if you truly want to know what secrets are hidden in my body and why I can change them..."
He glanced at Gold City and TM Opera O behind him and continued.
"Then what you need is living, dynamic, continuous, in vivo data: long-term, short-range, uninterrupted observation, recording, and comparison"
He saw, for the first time, a flash of "thought" emerge in Agnes Tachyon's crazy eyes.
"It worked!"
Kaito immediately cast the final, most lethal bait.
"I can become your 'Research Assistant'"
"You can record the changes in my physical data at any time, observe the effects of my pheromones on different subjects, and even... perform some tests that you consider 'harmless'"
"The prerequisite for all this is," Kaito's tone became extremely solemn, "put away that toy of yours that looks very dangerous, and you must not harm us in any way"
The entire room fell into a brief silence.
Agnes Tachyon lowered her head, adjusting her glasses, apparently evaluating the feasibility of this "proposal" in her rapidly operating brain.
Both Gold City and TM Opera O looked at Kaito nervously, seemingly unable to comprehend why he was throwing himself into the lion's den.
A few seconds later, Agnes Tachyon raised her head.
Her eyes were terribly bright.
That light was Columbus's ecstasy upon discovering the New World, Newton's epiphany when struck by an apple.
"That's right! In vivo research! Continuous observation! This is ten thousand times more interesting than a cold dissection report!"
"Deal"
She uttered the two words with restraint and then, with a speed that blurred her movements, placed the huge syringe back on the cart's stand with a click.
She adjusted her glasses and a flash of intelligence (or perhaps madness) gleamed in the lenses.
"Well, my dear Assistant-kun, there's no time to lose; please return to my lab immediately"
"Our first urgent experiment begins now!"
"Topic name: 'Comparative study on the correlation between special male pheromones and the emotional fluctuations and physical functions of Top Uma Musume in different mental states'"
After speaking, she completely ignored the two stunned "bodyguards" beside her, grabbed Kaito's wrist, and turned to leave, her urgency suggesting that if she delayed even a second, a great discovery worthy of the Nobel Prize would slip through her fingers.
"Hey! Wait a moment!"
"Stop right there!"
Seeing this, Gold City and TM Opera O reacted immediately.
They exchanged a glance and instantly saw the same determination in each other's eyes.
They quickly followed, "trapping" Kaito again, one on his left and one on his right.
Gold City asserted naturally.
"He is my exclusive masseur, and I must supervise his physical condition throughout the entire process"
TM Opera O elegantly tossed her hair.
"As the protagonist, it is my legitimate responsibility to look after the physical and mental health of my backstage supervisor"
A new battlefield, a Shura Field, was about to change location from the luxurious lounge to the legendary and most dangerous laboratory full of strange chemicals and instruments.
The curtain was about to rise.