"Heh-heh, if I say I was just joking just now, will you believe me?" Mizuno scrambled to sit up, forcing a stiff smile.

Crap! He had actually mistaken reality for a dream, and done something so outrageous to Rice Shower—right in front of a whole group of Uma Musume!

Mizuno could already picture himself being reported for "molesting his own Uma Musume," which would trigger two possible bad endings.

One: Being dragged away in handcuffs by human police, locked in jail.

Since being imprisoned meant his [Doctor's Outfit] would be confiscated—and with his body stats graded "A" against humans—he would definitely be "let me visit you"-ed by the musclebound inmates...

The other ending was even more terrifying...

Being dragged off by the Tracen Academy Student Council, locked in the special interrogation chamber. They'd strip off his [Doctor's Outfit] and expose his secret of being Uma Mint...

Gentle Hayakawa-san had only smelled a trace and was already cornering him against the wall. If a bunch of hormonal young girls saw his complete Uma Mint form...

The ending... didn't need to be said.

But things didn't develop like Mizuno feared. Nobody seemed about to report him.

Instead of caring about him rubbing his face into Rice Shower's stomach, everyone seemed more concerned about what he had just said.

"Onii-sama liking Rice Shower... turns out it was a joke..." Rice Shower's horse ears drooped, sorrowful.

Seeing her look so hurt, Mizuno couldn't stand it. He rushed to explain: "That wasn't a joke! Of course I like Rice Shower!"

"Onii-sama liking Rice Shower is real?"

"Yes." Mizuno nodded.

"Yay~" Rice Shower's ears perked back up, and then she asked curiously:

"Then if I force Onii-sama to Uma Pyoi, you won't resist—that's real too?"

"Uh..." Mizuno choked.

Honestly, if Rice Shower really tried to Uma Pyoi him, there was a high chance he wouldn't resist. But compared to being forcefully checked by an Uma Musume, Mizuno would much prefer to be able to do that sort of thing normally.

Of course, if the Uma Musume were swapped out for a human woman, even better.

After all, in history, any man who dared marry an Uma Musume—no matter how strong his body—after ten years of marriage, without exception, was thirty in age, sixty in body, completely drained dry...

And besides, Rice Shower was his adorable little sister. How could he do that sort of thing to her?

So Mizuno said: "That part's different—that part was a joke..."

"Mm." Rice Shower nodded, smiling happily.

The answer wasn't perfect, but she was satisfied.

Because her current understanding of Uma Pyoi was still just "dancing together."

If she wanted to dance with Onii-sama, why would she need to force him? She could just ask.

So as long as Onii-sama liked her, that was enough. Uma Pyoi—whether he agreed or not—didn't matter.

"Onii-sama, Rice Shower likes you too~" Rice Shower said with a smile.

"Ugh!" Mizuno nearly died on the spot.

Being told "I like you" by Rice Shower—that was the greatest honor an Onii-sama could receive!

After a long while, once he calmed down, Mizuno remembered the embarrassing thing he'd just done—frantically rubbing Rice Shower's belly.

"Sorry... for doing that to you just now..." He put his hands together, sincerely apologizing.

But Rice Shower didn't blame him. She only lowered her head shyly, curling her fingers.

"If it's Onii-sama... Rice Shower doesn't mind..."

In fact, not only had she not felt uncomfortable—being rubbed like that was strangely pleasant. She had even wished Mizuno would do it more.

"Rice Shower..." Mizuno was deeply moved.

So easily forgiving him—Rice Shower really was the most adorable little sister.

Right—if it were Urara, she'd be the most angelic daughter~

"Then what about me?" Tokai Teio, who had been watching the whole time, couldn't help but blurt out.

"And me!" King Halo demanded urgently.

Their duel wasn't over yet.

"Teio-san, Halo-san, don't think we've forgotten what you two just did to Onii-sama."

Rice Shower's gentle tone vanished. Her whole body radiated a terrifying aura.

"Guh..." Both Uma Musume shrank under her glare, lowering their heads in fear.

After all, they had been in the wrong first. All the more reason they didn't dare meet Rice Shower's eyes.

"What happened?" Mizuno asked, confused. He had given up thinking earlier, so he didn't know.

Rice Shower quickly explained.

Basically, when she arrived, she'd found Teio and King Halo giving Mizuno "CPR"—and even trying to go mouth-to-mouth...

If Rice Shower hadn't stopped them in time, they would have succeeded.

"I see..." Mizuno nodded, shuddering a little at the thought.

"Sorry, Trainer Mizuno..." Teio hung her head, guilty.

She hadn't imagined their fight over him would cause him to faint.

Bad children needed to be punished. And the only punishment Teio could think of was something she'd seen when she was very small—when other kids made mistakes, their parents would lift them up and spank them.

So Teio turned around, stuck out her butt, and looked back at Mizuno with tearful eyes: "Trainer Mizuno, as an apology... you can spank me."

Mizuno: "?"

No, wasn't this "apology" a bit too strange?!

"Onii-sama..." Rice Shower stared at him, as if testing whether he would actually spank Teio's butt.

"No no no!" Mizuno shook his head violently.

To spank Teio would be pure suicide. Right now he might smack her butt with his hand—but how she might "smack" him in return later, who knew...

And if Symboli Rudolf found out someone had dared spank her precious daughter, Mizuno would never be forgiven.

"Hmph. A first-class Uma Musume would never stoop to such a low apology." Halo turned her nose up at Teio's "butt spanking" idea.

Then, blushing, she looked away, spreading her arms toward Mizuno: "The apology of a first-class Halo must be first-class too. Trainer Mizuno, as compensation... I'll allow you to hug me, just this once."

Mizuno: "?"

Better than Teio's idea, sure—but still bizarre!

Teio realized what was happening and protested: "That's unfair, Halo-san!"

"Trainer Mizuno..." Teio quickly spread her own arms, requesting the same hug-apology.

Mizuno: "?"

"Eh? A hugging event? Urara wants to join too~" innocent Urara lifted both hands.

"Onii-sama..." Rice Shower hesitated, then also reached her arms out toward Mizuno.

Mizuno: "?"

What the heck—why was everyone suddenly asking for hugs?!

"..." At that moment Mizuno turned to the only Uma Musume present who hadn't spread her arms.

"Eh?" McQueen, realizing he was staring at her, pointed at herself in confusion: "Me too?"

"No no no!" Mizuno waved his hands frantically.

If one more joined in, he really would be torn apart by five Uma Musume...

Wiping sweat, Mizuno said helplessly: "Alright, I forgive you all. No compensation needed. Just don't let it happen again. Urara, Rice Shower—you two don't need to copy them either. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh..." All the Uma Musume sighed.

Why did they sound... disappointed?

"Okay, let's start today's training." Mizuno pulled out the day's training plan and handed copies to each of them.

But as he was distributing them, he realized one was missing.

"Wait—where's Ship-bro?"

He finally noticed that even though training had gone overtime by dozens of minutes, Gold Ship still hadn't shown up.

Mizuno pulled out his phone and sent her a message.

[Conversation with Ship-bro]

[Mizuno]: Ship-bro, you're not at the training ground at all. Where are you?

[Gold Ship]: Beep beep. Distress signal from our Martian comrades detected—invaded by Venusians.

[Gold Ship]: The Gold Ship has already departed, heading to Mars for rescue. Don't worry.

[Mizuno]: .....

Translation: She had something to do today, and wasn't coming to training.

But whether Gold Ship came to training or not didn't matter to Mizuno. That was just how she was. Forcing her to come wasn't good, so he always left her on "free range."

What he cared about more was something else.

[Conversation with Ship-bro]

[Mizuno]: Then can you still come with me to pick up the parts this afternoon?

[Gold Ship]: Don't worry.

[Gold Ship]: At that time I'll definitely show up—like a heavenly soldier descending.

[Gold Ship]: Mizuno-dono, just wait and look forward to it.

[Mizuno]: .....

[Mizuno]: Right, right.