"CHI! AKI! DAI! HYO!"
Eternal Meteor forced her opponent's name out through clenched teeth.
Both hands death-gripped the controller. Her fingers were grinding the stick so hard they were practically leaving afterimages—yet the HP bar in the top-right corner, the one that belonged to her, was still draining at a terrifying speed.
"Gut punch! Gunfire! Another gut punch! Hahahahaha—Meteor, you're still too green!"
SLASH! flashed across the screen.
Chihaya Representative set the controller down, threw both arms up in triumph, and—just to be extra obnoxious—leaned her body toward Eternal Meteor and waggled around in pure, unfiltered provocation.
"Awwww Wanna go agaaain? Hahahaha!"
Eternal Meteor felt something go rigid.
Her fist.
Her fist went rigid.
Her right hand cracked as she clenched it. Against this type of human being, only one method existed:
Heavy. Direct. Violence. (Metaphorically. Mostly.)
She'd originally planned to sandbag a couple rounds as a "newbie," then pull off a late comeback and casually flex with a "wow I've barely played."
But if Chihaya was going to open with scrub tactics?
Then the theater was over.
Fine. You asked for it.
Her plan was locked in—yet her face still wore that faintly regretful look, the kind that lowered an opponent's guard.
"Okay," she said sweetly. "But wow, Chihaya-senpai, you're really strong… Sigh. I'll just treat this as practice with a new character."
"Of course I'm strong!" Chihaya laughed loudly. "But I'll go easy on you!"
She didn't notice the corner of Eternal Meteor's mouth quietly lifting.
"Yeah, yeah. Totally."
Eternal Meteor calmly waited for Chihaya to pick her character.
Then, when Chihaya turned to look at her—confused why Eternal Meteor still hadn't selected—
Eternal Meteor gave her a wicked little smile.
Her fingers danced.
In under a second, she hard-locked the character she wanted—fast enough that there was no time for second thoughts, no time to stop her, no time to "accidentally" back out.
I'm done with formalities.
"Meteor… You… you've never actually played that character, right?"
Chihaya's reflexes kicked in. The moment the confirmation sound played, she whipped her head back to the screen—and in that final sliver of time, she saw it.
She saw exactly what Eternal Meteor had picked.
Eternal Meteor answered nothing.
She only smiled.
"You… you haven't played that character, right?!"
Chihaya already knew what was coming.
Her brain just refused to accept reality.
"Die."
"THAT'S CHEATING! You said you were practicing a character!"
"I am practicing a character," Eternal Meteor said, tone serene. "I'm just practicing you."
Chihaya's inputs were screaming.
Her controller might as well have been on fire.
But it didn't matter.
Eternal Meteor's character only needed one thing: horizontal movement.
And one button.
That was it.
Chihaya's character got deleted like a clerical error.
"totsugeki. Like gut punches, do you? totsugeki. Like gunfire, do you? totsugeki. How about my dolphin-man, huh? totsugeki totsugeki totsugeki—HAHahahahaha!"
The smile didn't disappear.
It merely transferred ownership.
At the tiny pause between rounds, Eternal Meteor even spun her wheelchair in place like a victory emote.
Meanwhile, across the room—
The happier those two were, the more miserable Air Groove became.
Paperwork was stacked like a curse. Noise from the TV was constant: impact sounds, button-mash chaos, laughter that could shatter glass.
And to make it worse, the only person besides the President who could reliably help—Maruzensky—was nowhere to be found.
"President… are you really not going to do something about them?"
Air Groove's brow twitched hard enough to manifest a visible #.
She clenched the stack of documents in her hand so tightly that the edges creased.
One Chihaya was already obnoxious.
Now she'd fused with Eternal Meteor and become something far worse than "1+1=2."
Two people who could actually play off each other's energy weren't twice as loud.
They were four times as loud. Minimum.
And yet—
For some reason—
The President, the same Rudolf who normally couldn't tolerate even a fraction of Chihaya's racket…
…looked like she was smiling.
Air Groove blinked once, sharply, convinced she'd hallucinated.
But no.
Rudolf's lips were genuinely curved. Her pen moved smoothly across the page, uninterrupted—like the chaos behind her wasn't noise, but music.
Air Groove stared.
Was this really the same Rudolf who always preached rules and discipline?
"No," Rudolf said lightly. "It's fine. A little liveliness isn't bad."
Air Groove didn't say it out loud, but the thought hit anyway:
That is absolutely not what you said last time.
Back then, she'd practically pinned Chihaya to the desk until she worked through her tears.
But Air Groove kept it to herself and simply watched Eternal Meteor's back with a deepening, careful silence.
Rudolf didn't notice the scrutiny. She only kept working—occasionally lifting her eyes to glance at Eternal Meteor laughing and bickering with Chihaya.
And each time she saw it, something heavy inside her loosened.
Maybe I should let Meteor come to the student council room more often.
Seeing her laugh right in front of her—no hiding, no isolating, no spiraling alone—was better than leaving her somewhere unseen, quietly drilling herself into ruin.
Rudolf exhaled, a slow breath.
She still couldn't understand it.
Yes, Uma Musume chased victory by instinct.
But Eternal Meteor's obsession was different.
So intense it became self-destruction.
Training until she cracked bone.
Then racing anyway.
Then not only winning, but pulling a massive gap like it was the only outcome she'd accept.
Why?
Why wasn't "win" enough?
Why did it always have to be overwhelming?
Rudolf set the question aside—because right now, Eternal Meteor was laughing.
Right now, she was alive.
That was enough.
But outside the student council room—
On the track where training continued as usual—
Tokai Teio ran with a weight over her head, like a storm cloud that refused to move.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
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