"I'm back—here."
"Thanks~"
The girl sitting on the ground had just taken the jacket her friend fetched from the dorms—
—and then promptly let it slip from her hands and fall to the track.
"Can you believe it? I just saw President Rudolf carrying a horse girl back to the dorms!"
"Huh? Seriously? Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
Her friend jerked her head up, wide-eyed with disbelief.
Tokai Teio, jogging laps around the track, caught the keywords.
Her pace slowed… then slowed again.
She pulled her phone from her pocket and put on the most casual expression she could manage—like she'd received a message—
but her ears were straining so hard they might as well have stretched across the field.
"It's real! I ran into them on the stairs. And it was a full-on princess carry, too~~"
The speaker covered her cheeks with both hands and swayed dramatically, dragging out the last syllable on purpose, painting the scene with all the suggestive flair she could muster.
"Okay, okay, enough teasing—who was it? Tell me. Tell me!"
"Wanna know? The answer is~~~ I don't know."
She spread her hands like it was the funniest thing in the world.
Her friend's face fell in pure betrayal—and she immediately pinched her thigh.
"Ow! Hey! I'm telling you, I didn't see clearly! I was behind the President going up the stairs. I only caught white hair… and her leg was injured."
That was enough.
Teio didn't need another word.
She knew exactly who that was.
Her foot hit the ground harder than necessary—so hard the sudden noise made the two girls glance over—
but Teio didn't look back.
She dropped her head and kept running, forcing her legs to keep moving just to squeeze the feelings down into something she could survive.
The truth was, Teio hadn't come to the track on a day off to "train."
She'd come because she couldn't stand having empty time.
Empty time meant thinking.
Thinking meant circling back to Eternal Meteor.
The terror she'd felt at the racecourse had finally eased after Meteor replied that she was fine… but Teio still couldn't stop wanting to talk to her—just a little more, just to be sure, just to hear her.
And Teio was considerate enough to tell herself:
She's a patient. She needs rest. Don't bother her.
So she ran instead.
But now Meteor was already discharged and back at school—
so why hadn't she sent a message?
Maybe she's exhausted. Maybe she fell asleep the moment she got back.
Teio clung to that explanation like a life raft.
She typed a long message in the chat box anyway—
then stared at it, panicked at the thought of being a burden—
and deleted everything.
She kept running, kept sweating, kept waiting for a reply that would make her breathe normally again.
Half an hour later, Teio stopped to rest, braced one hand on the railing, and chugged water like her throat was on fire.
Then she checked her phone.
Still nothing.
A little ache surfaced in her chest—
only to be quickly drowned by a brighter thought:
Tomorrow. I'll see her tomorrow.
She checked the time, decided to grab a honey drink, and started humming as she headed toward the vendor.
"Coming through, coming through!"
Sudden, urgent footsteps hammered behind her—along with the metallic clatter of parts hitting parts.
Teio hurriedly stepped aside—
and Gold Ship blew past, arms full of several stacked boxes like a one-horse construction crew on a mission.
"Wha—Gold Ship?! What are you up to now?"
"I'm building a wheelchair for Eternal Meteor, obviously! Just got the commission. I'm itching to start."
Gold Ship tilted her head just enough to see who had spoken, answered while still running, and didn't slow down even a fraction.
Then she shot straight out the school gate and disappeared, energy practically crackling off her back.
For once, she'd stumbled onto a project that hit every button in her brain.
If she didn't start immediately, she'd feel sick.
She looked happy.
Teio didn't.
As the meaning of those words sank in, Teio stood there frozen, the strange mix of emotions spreading across her chest like ink in water.
She watched that white-haired blur vanish beyond the gate—
then slowly lowered her head.
Her teeth pressed lightly into her lower lip.
Her expression tightened with something small and wounded.
Why won't you just message me?
I was really worried.
The moment Teio realized Meteor wasn't asleep, she started sending messages—simple ones, gentle ones, worried ones.
But it was like tossing pebbles into a bottomless lake.
No reply.
Not even a "read" mark.
Of course, the reality was painfully mundane:
Eternal Meteor was too busy being completely absorbed in gaming to notice the phone she'd tossed aside—buzzing itself to death on the floor.
Right now, she only cared about the pure joy of bullying someone in a fighting game.
But Teio didn't know any of that.
All Teio felt was confusion piling into hurt.
And then, inevitably, worry clawed its way back in:
What if she fainted again? What if something happened?
The memory of the ambulance flashed through her mind.
Teio opened her chat with the President and sent a careful question:
Was Meteor with her?
This time the message flipped to "read" almost immediately.
And the reply came back just as fast:
Meteor was in the student council room.
Playing games.
Teio slid her phone back into her pocket—
and broke into a sprint straight toward the student council room.
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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