After a long flight, the plane finally landed smoothly at the destination airport.
Outside the gate, Silver Charm had been eagerly waiting.
She had specially dressed up today. Her silver hair cascaded smoothly over her shoulders, and a sharp, eye-catching casual outfit made her look full of vitality.
She stood on her tiptoes, azure eyes eagerly searching the surging crowd for that familiar figure while her heart leapt with anticipation.
Finally, she saw the figure she had been thinking about for nearly a year.
Myriad Dreams emerged, pushing a luggage cart, looking a little tired.
"Dreams-chan—!"
Silver Charm's face instantly broke into an incredibly brilliant smile, like a sunflower greeting the sun.
She rushed forward almost without thinking, like a small silver cannonball, her arms wide open, aiming to give Dreams a warm, long-awaited reunion hug.
However, just a second before she could touch Dreams, a tall figure, exuding an aura of 'do not approach,' suddenly appeared between her and Dreams.
Yaeno Muteki stood tall, her brown long hair gleaming coldly under the bright airport lights.
She crossed her arms, chin slightly raised, her brown eyes fixed intently on this uninvited guest.
Her face was as cold as ice.
She didn't even look at Dreams behind her. All her hostility and vigilance were directed at Silver Charm.
Behind her, Dreams rubbed her forehead helplessly, sighing silently.
Silver Charm's momentum stopped abruptly, and her smile froze on her face.
She looked at the unfamiliar Uma Musume in front of her, whose entire being screamed 'rejection,' and her brows furrowed in confusion.
She then tilted her head, trying to peer at Dreams, who was completely blocked from view.
When she spoke, her tone clearly displeased: "Hey, who are you? Would you mind moving aside?"
"Me?"
Yaeno Muteki snorted coldly, her voice not loud, but carrying clear provocation and a declaration of ownership. "I am Dreams-chan's roommate, Yaeno Muteki."
She deliberately emphasized the word 'roommate,' as if it carried an undeniable intimacy and priority.
The confusion on Silver Charm's face quickly gave way to a sharp understanding.
She also crossed her arms, her chin slightly raised, meeting Yaeno Muteki's icy gaze without flinching.
Her tone shifted, becoming somewhat playful, yet sharply confrontational.
"Oh— I see, Yaeno Muteki... I've heard of you, but."
She paused, her gaze attempting to bypass Muteki's shoulder. "I have an appointment with Dreams-chan, why did you come along?"
"Come along?"
Muteki's lips curved into a smile that held no warmth, a sharp glint in her eyes.
"How could I possibly let Dreams-chan stay alone with a girl like you?"
"Girl like me?" Silver Charm raised an eyebrow as if she had heard something amusing.
Far from being annoyed, her smile became more aggressive.
"That's a rather unpleasant way to put it. You're just... a tiny bit earlier than me in knowing Dreams-chan."
She deliberately elongated the pronunciation of 'tiny bit,' the provocation in her tone unmistakable.
The air between the two seemed to crackle, their gazes clashing fiercely in mid-air, one as cold as ice, the other as fiery as flame.
Neither was willing to yield an inch.
Dreams, caught in the middle, felt a splitting headache.
Just as Yaeno Muteki and Silver Charm's gazes clashed and the air solidified, a voice, heavy with sleep and as if just dug out of bed, drifted over weakly:
"Dreams— I'm here... yawn..."
Touch Gold shuffled over slowly, her golden short hair a bit messy.
Her golden eyes were half-open, as if she couldn't be bothered by anything around her.
She even had a slight hunch in her back, and with her hands in her jacket pockets, she looked absolutely exhausted.
She had indeed come at Dreams's vague request to "pick me up at the airport, might need your help... to ease the atmosphere," but she clearly hadn't anticipated this kind of situation.
As she approached, her half-closed eyelids keenly caught the almost visible intense confrontation in front.
Yaeno Muteki standing there like a protective beast, Silver Charm like an enraged, beautiful falcon refusing to back down, and Dreams, caught in the middle... her face screaming "help me!"
Touch Gold's steps instantly halted, and even the lingering sleepiness was driven away by the oppressive atmosphere.
Her golden eyes slowly scanned the three of them, finally resting on Dreams's pleading face.
"Tsk." She made an almost inaudible clicking sound with her tongue, then...
She turned around decisively, lifting her foot to return the way she came.
Her movements were so fluid, as if she had just passed by to yawn.
"Gold! Stop! Don't you dare leave!" Myriad Dreams's reaction was astonishingly quick.
The moment Touch Gold completed her turn, Dreams had already darted forward (while cleverly avoiding the invisible battle line between Muteki and Charm), grabbing tightly onto the back of Touch Gold's jacket, almost dragging her back.
Touch Gold stumbled as she was pulled, forced to turn back around.
The lazy expression on her face finally cracked, revealing the genuine helplessness and the frustration beneath.
"Hey, hey, gently..." she mumbled, trying to rescue her clothes from Dreams's grip.
Dream lowered her voice, speaking rapidly like a machine gun, her eyes filled with an undeniable plea:
"You said you'd pick me up, didn't you? What about our friendship? Touch Gold, if you leave now, you're abandoning me! They'll tear me apart!"
Touch Gold sighed, raising a hand to scratch her already messy golden hair.
Her golden eyes swept over Yaeno Muteki, whose face was cold and eyes vigilant, then glanced at Silver Charm on the other side, whose smile was brilliant but held a hidden sharpness.
She finally slumped her shoulders in resignation, complaining in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"Dreams, you only said to pick you up... you didn't tell me I'd have to be the buffer and referee for your love triangle. Is it too late for me to pretend I don't know you?"
"What do you think?" Dreams clung to her clothes, her eyes answering everything.
At this moment, Silver Charm's attention was also partly drawn to the newly arrived Touch Gold.
She scrutinized Touch Gold: "Dreams-chan, why did you call her too?"
Yaeno Muteki's gaze also coldly swept over Touch Gold, who was being held by Dreams, her brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.
But seeing Dreams's almost 'hostage-taking' posture, she judged this person to be temporarily less threatening (and seemingly very unwilling to be here), so she redirected most of her attention back to Silver Charm.
Dreams, still clutching Touch Gold's clothes with one hand, waved the other hand somewhat awkwardly.
"Aren't we all friends? Calling one more just makes it livelier~"
"Oh..."
"Hmph."
Two responses with entirely different meanings sounded simultaneously.
Touch Gold felt the gazes from both sides (one curious and prickly, the other cold and scrutinizing), then looked down at the corner of her clothing still tightly clutched by Dream,s and finally sighed deeply and wearily once more.
She raised her other free hand, waving it dismissively in front of her face, greeting both of them simultaneously, her voice still tired:
"Yo... hello. I'm just an innocent passerby forced to wake up early... don't mind me, really."
Her final words were filled with genuine longing.
However, Yaeno Muteki's possessive vigilance, Silver Charm's undiminished curiosity, and Dreams's death grip on her hand all clearly told her that she was definitely in for it today.