The next day, Mizuno Sora woke up and opened his eyes, greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling.

Reaching to check himself, he noticed he wasn't wearing his [Doctor's Outfit]...

!!!

Mizuno immediately scrambled out of bed, pressed himself against the corner, and shielded himself defensively, ready for a desperate final struggle.

However, after carefully looking around, he relaxed with relief.

Thankfully, this wasn't some basement—it was just his room in the men's trainers' dormitory.

But how exactly had he ended up here?

"Luck, how did I get back to the dorm?" Mizuno asked.

Since their heartfelt conversation earlier, Mizuno and Luck had formally become allies—Mizuno charging ahead while Luck provided backup, guidance, and assistance as they collected Hope energy to save the world.

"Hmm, it went something like this..." Luck began explaining.

After the battle with Misfortune Goddess ended, the unconscious Mizuno had been blasted away by the explosion, landing knocked out on the ground.

Fortunately, Kiryuin Aoi and Happy Meek were nearby. They rushed over, picked him up, and planned to hand him over to another male trainer, following academy regulations. Male trainers weren't supposed to be treated in the academy infirmary but instead by other male trainers who would then take them to outside hospitals.

However, just as Kiryuin and Meek searched for another male trainer, Hayakawa Tazuna appeared.

Tazuna said she would handle Mizuno's return. She took Mizuno from Meek and carried him off to an unknown destination.

While Tazuna was trustworthy (in Mizuno's opinion), she was still a woman—and any woman posed a risk. If Tazuna accidentally removed his [Doctor's Outfit] along the way, Mizuno's trainer career would tragically come to an end.

Thankfully, at the crucial moment, Luck summoned the old driver.

It was during the old driver's break, and he was making a tofu delivery in his AE86. As he drove past Tracen Academy's entrance, he spotted Tazuna carrying the unconscious Mizuno.

The old driver had seen Mizuno's face beneath the hood once before, understanding the urgency of keeping Mizuno hidden from any female eyes—human or Uma Musume. Without hesitation, he performed a perfect gutter drift, swiftly rescuing Mizuno from Tazuna's grasp, and hurriedly took him back to the male dormitory, handing him off to the dormitory manager.

The elderly dorm manager, using his frail yet surprisingly sturdy body, carried Mizuno back to his room, changed his clothes, administered hangover medication, and tended to him carefully for an entire day until his vitals stabilized.

And now, the next day, Mizuno had finally woken up.

That was the entire sequence of events.

"Kiryuin-san! Happy Meek! Tazuna-san! Old driver! Dorm manager-san! Thank you all!" Mizuno felt deeply moved, eyes moistening slightly.

They were all so kind. If not for their careful relay—passing him like an Olympic torch—he might've already been ambushed by passing Uma Musume.

Luck pouted, "What about me? I contributed too!"

Right—he'd almost forgotten that Luck had summoned the old driver in the first place.

"Alright, thank you too, Luck," Mizuno sincerely praised her.

"Hehe~"

Since dropping the playful act used to fool Misfortune, Luck had shown her true self as his earnest ally, genuinely adorable compared to the irritating system persona from before.

Having slept through Saturday, today was Sunday—a rest day. Mizuno decided to use his free time reading to further develop his trainer skills, preparing himself to help Urara win the [Arima Kinen].

But before starting his reading, Mizuno usually checked his phone for the current time and recent news.

Opening the Tracen Academy official app, he immediately noticed the four pinned announcements:

[Shocking! Sudden Heavy Rain at Tracen Academy!]

[Miracle Honey Drink Appears in the Cafeteria!]

[Shocking! Three Goddesses Manifest, Summon a Mysterious Young Man!]

[(C101) Amateur's Soft Touch... Heart-pounding Service Rises... A Powerful Big Challenge?!]

...

The first three announcements were clearly related to him.

The first was referring to the storm generated during his drunken fight against [Misfortune Goddess (Beyond)].

The second and third...

Luck had already told Mizuno about his embarrassing, intoxicated behavior: proclaiming himself "incredibly handsome" at the Three Goddesses statue and distributing honey drinks to numerous Uma Musume in the cafeteria, creating countless security risks for himself.

Why hadn't Luck stopped him? At the time, she'd still been maintaining her playful facade to fool Misfortune, and these chaotic acts actually generated luck energy needed to defeat Misfortune.

"Ugh, I need to find some way to mitigate this mess..." Mizuno groaned, rubbing his head in frustration.

Then, Mizuno looked at the fourth post. Despite its strange title, he found himself compelled to click on it.

"Hello, everyone~ Today I'll show you something you'll all enjoy."

The video inside wasn't the suggestive content the title implied; instead, it was just a random grey-haired Uma Musume wearing sunglasses dancing energetically.

Text underneath read: (Anyone who clicked on this post has been recorded for this experiment. Hehe, you filthy adults.)

The post showed that over six hundred people had already clicked it.

Poster: The Fickle Little Ship

"Of course it was clickbait!" Mizuno sighed, mildly annoyed but also amused. Annoyed at himself for being tricked, amused that despite suspecting it was a bait post from the start, he'd still given into curiosity and clicked it.

A few moments later, the official admin deleted the prank post.

"Shame, that was actually pretty clever. I wish I'd grabbed a screenshot," Mizuno muttered before preparing to set his phone down and begin reading.

Ding!

Suddenly, he received a friend request.

Opening it, he was surprised—it was from Symboli Rudolf.

"Rudolf? Why would she add me?" Mizuno wondered as he accepted the request.

Ding-ding.

As soon as he accepted, Rudolf immediately sent a message.

[Conversation with Symboli Rudolf]

[Symboli Rudolf]: Good morning, Mizuno-san.

[Symboli Rudolf]: I apologize for the sudden request, but could you come to the Student Council President's office right now?

[Symboli Rudolf]: We need to discuss something regarding the recent posts.

"Posts?!" Mizuno's heart sank.

Was he about to be cuffed for clicking that inappropriate bait post?!