"Then I'm coming in."
Hearing Obey Your Master's voice from inside, Tony Bianca pushed the door open and stepped in.
The moment the door opened, a dizzying, heat-laden scent hit her.
"You..."
One look at Obey Your Master's completely bare upper body, the faint flush still lingering on her pale skin, and Tony Bianca instantly understood what she'd been doing before she came in.
"Do you seriously not know how to avoid being seen?"
A look of disgust crossed Tony Bianca's face.
Her mouth twitched slightly as she glanced at the damp traces on the blanket draped over Obey Your Master.
I mean, sure, I've heard Umamusume in America are pretty open-minded... but you only just got back to America. How are you already doing this??
You never looked like the type to be this wild, either!
Seriously! Looking at this battlefield, how are you any different from a succubus?!
"Oh my, I thought you'd have braced yourself before opening the door, Tony."
Obey Your Master laughed lazily.
"How was I supposed to expect you'd do something like this the instant you got back to America...?"
Tony Bianca sighed and silently stepped back out of the room. Trying to talk to Obey Your Master like this, with her practically naked, was just too weird.
"Oh, right. Since you're here—where's Sakuraba Ryo?"
"Sakuraba went out wandering~"
"Is that so...?"
Tony Bianca shook her head.
"Then hurry up and get yourself together. You're still a special instructor at Nishikino, and that means you represent Nishikino's image. I don't have any standing to meddle in your private life, but as the investor backing Nishikino Academy, Sakuraba Ryo probably doesn't want the teacher he hired to look like... this."
"In any case, don't disappoint Sakuraba Ryo too much."
With that, Tony Bianca quietly closed the door.
Listening to Tony Bianca's footsteps gradually fade away outside, Obey Your Master finally burst out laughing.
"Don't disappoint Sakuraba, hmm?"
She lifted the blanket slightly, revealing Sakuraba Ryo pinned between her long legs, his head resting against her soft lower belly.
Smiling, Obey Your Master asked,
"Sakuraba, how are you feeling right now?"
"...What do you mean, how am I feeling?"
With his cheek pressed against her soft stomach, Sakuraba answered flatly.
"Tony's right! I didn't hire a special instructor for this kind of thing! You're a disgrace to teachers!"
He tried to push himself up so he could properly point a finger at her.
Unfortunately, Obey Your Master's legs were clamped too tightly around him, and all he could do was remain sprawled across her stomach.
"Then, dear Sakuraba, as the investor who hired such a disgraceful teacher, shouldn't you punish me a little~?"
Her fingers lightly traced along his cheek.
Expectation flickered in her eyes as she looked at him...
As for what exactly she was expecting, that was harder to say.
Sakuraba let out a sigh, then blew a warm breath against her lower belly. Obey Your Master's waist instantly went weak, and her legs loosened on reflex, finally letting him escape.
He sat up on the bed and looked at her seriously.
"Obey, what you did went too far."
"..."
Faced with his rebuke, Obey Your Master quietly turned her eyes away.
She had known all along that, for Sakuraba, his feelings had not reached that point yet.
But she had done it anyway.
Obey Your Master couldn't stand watching Sunday Silence have Sakuraba all to herself.
In her eyes, Sunday Silence was the one who came later.
So even if she had to use underhanded means, she wanted Sakuraba for herself.
What she'd told him before—that the two of them were accomplices...
That had been wrong.
It was only her wishful thinking that made her believe they were accomplices.
In truth, from beginning to end, she was the only one at fault.
Sakuraba was nothing more than a victim.
So if he really wanted to blame her, she would have no grounds to complain at all.
"..."
Looking at Obey Your Master with her head lowered and her tail tucked tightly behind her, Sakuraba didn't know what to say.
Scold her?
He could, but it wouldn't mean much.
Cut ties with her from now on and never see her again?
He couldn't go that far, either.
After thinking it over, Sakuraba realized he didn't have any better way to handle it.
So he could only raise a hand and lightly tap her on the head with his finger.
"I'm going to tell Sunny about this."
"But not now."
"After she's finished the Triple Crown, I'll tell her everything."
That was the best way Sakuraba could think of to handle this.
He absolutely had to tell her.
But he couldn't let it affect Sunday Silence's career.
At the very least, he had to wait until she'd finished those crucial Triple Crown races before telling her.
"Then... after you tell her, what will we be?"
Obey Your Master looked at Sakuraba as she asked.
"..."
Truthfully, it wasn't as though Sakuraba had no feelings at all for Obey Your Master.
If she had been the one to confess to him first, then maybe she would have been his girlfriend now.
In the end, it was only a matter of who came first.
When Sakuraba woke up and saw that the one who had done this to him was Obey Your Master, he had actually felt a little relieved.
At least he hadn't ended up getting taken the other way. That was something.
But just as Obey Your Master had said, once he came clean to Sunday Silence, then the relationship between him and Obey Your Master would have to be properly sorted out.
"I'll talk it over with Sunny."
Finding the clothes Obey Your Master had kicked under the bed, Sakuraba spoke as he pulled them out.
"I won't give you up, and I won't give up Sunny either."
"I'm sorry."
"When it comes to this, I'm a real scumbag."
"Whether it's you or Sunny, I want to answer both of your feelings."
"Asking me to choose just one of you... that's too harsh a decision to force on me."
"Sorry. I'm a greedy man."
"So I won't give up either of you."
"I want both."
Once he'd gotten dressed, Sakuraba said all of that to Obey Your Master with complete seriousness.
She stared at him, stunned.
She had thought he was going to scold her...
But instead, he had gone right past that and started thinking about whether the three of them could still go on from here...
The unease inside her gradually eased, replaced by warmth welling up like spring water.
Yes.
This was exactly why she had fallen for him.
Obey Your Master walked over to Sakuraba and looked up at him with shining eyes full of tenderness.
Maybe all she'd really wanted was to be with him.
As for whether she was first or not... maybe that wasn't so important after all.
"I like you, Mr. Scumbag."
Sakuraba answered her at once.
"I won't give you up either, my dear Ms. Scumbag."
---
T/N: i.... can't fault sakuraba for his decision :sob: LIKE what obey your master did was FUCKED UP, but sakuraba is the victim so in the end he gets to choose how to respond to such a thing, and i also understand the whole not making anyone sad by rejecting them... its brought me a fair few trouble back in my day................
THIS IS FUCKED UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
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