After securing the fifty vials of [Plant Growth Potion] and stowing them safely in his four-dimensional pocket, Mizuno didn't linger at Tracen Academy a second longer. He mounted his bicycle at the gate and hurried back to the boys' dorm before dawn could break.

By the time he arrived, it was already 4 a.m.

He parked the bike quietly in the shed, tiptoed up to his door, calmed his breath, braced himself, and pulled out the key.

The instant the key turned in the lock, a sound sharp as snapping chains rang through the room inside.

Kacha—

The dorm rooms had been designed with a special function by Tracen's higher-ups:

If you opened the door from inside, it made no sound. But if someone used a key to open it from the outside, the reinforced iron door—meant to withstand a charging Uma—would let out a short, crisp noise. Not loud, but enough to jolt awake whoever was sleeping inside, a signal that someone was entering.

The sound itself was symbolic too, set to mimic breaking iron bars—the meaning of breaking free, yearning for freedom.

To any Trainer inside, hearing that sound meant: an intruder. They could run to the window immediately, and if the figure walking in was a lust-driven Uma, they could jump out and escape. Better that, than waking up the next morning to find themselves locked away in their beloved Uma's basement.

Back then, Mizuno had thought this was genius design. It kept Trainers safe from midnight intrusions.

But now...

He wished the function didn't exist.

Because tonight, the one creeping back in from outside was him. And the one inside the room—the one who must not be disturbed—was that terrifying Uma...

Symboli Rudolf.

Kacha—

The alarm-sound cut through the silence, as grating as nails on a chalkboard. Mizuno's teeth ached. He hugged himself, shivering.

Hands to his forehead, he peeked toward the bed, already imagining Rudolf sitting up, smiling-not-smiling, watching him—caught red-handed, sneaking back in after a night of "fooling around."

"Hm?"

But to his surprise—on the bed, Rudolf hadn't stirred.

She lay still, curled under the blanket, the quilt rising and falling with steady breaths. Her posture was the same as when Mizuno had left earlier. Only her tail gave the slightest twitch.

But tail swishes and ear flicks while sleeping didn't mean an Uma was awake. Just like tossing or rolling over, they could happen unconsciously in the middle of a dream.

Which meant Mizuno couldn't judge from her tail or ears alone. He'd learned that the hard way at Teio's dorm, when he'd mistaken Teio's "fake sleep" as genuine.

But with Rudolf... her nature was calm, disciplined, wise, honest. She wouldn't be the type to...

Fake sleep, right...?

"..." Still uneasy, Mizuno circled to her front, studying closely.

Breathing steady. Expression relaxed. Posture normal...

Ninety-five percent certainty—she was really asleep.

So she'd simply been sleeping too deeply to hear the alarm...

"Hah..." Mizuno let out a breath of relief.

Good. If she hadn't noticed, then it was as if he'd never left. No excuses to invent, no explanations to twist.

He placed his phone back on the nightstand, eased himself into bed, pulled up the blanket, turned to face her, and, as before, took her hands gently into his own.

Satisfied his pose was identical to earlier—flawless, beyond suspicion—he closed his weary eyes and sank into sleep.

The room fell silent again.

Only Mizuno didn't notice—beneath the quilt, Rudolf's toes had been curled tight, unnaturally tense, from the moment he entered...

The next morning, Mizuno's alarm rang at seven sharp, as always.

"..." Exhausted, he barely registered the sound before it was deliberately silenced.

Half-asleep, Mizuno slipped right back into slumber, his mind erasing the trivial memory.

It wasn't until thirty minutes later, when Rudolf's soft voice called at his ear, that he twitched awake.

"Sora, time to get up."

Opening his eyes, he saw her before him—Rudolf, smiling gently, wearing an apron. On the kitchen table sat two steaming plates of omurice, the aroma drifting across the room. She must have cooked before waking him.

"Eh? Luna, you're the one who woke me? What about my alarm?" Mizuno blinked, baffled.

He grabbed his phone from the nightstand. The alarm had gone off. So why hadn't he heard it?

Was it... because he'd only slept three hours... still too exhausted...?

"Figures. Sleep too deeply, and you can tune out the sounds around you." Mizuno muttered to himself, all the more convinced of last night's conclusion—that Rudolf simply hadn't woken because her sleep had been too deep.