Zongman, working as a teaching assistant in Trasen

"Say that again!? Screw you, you little fat pony, I'm going to scrape the fat off your belly and light a sky lantern!?"

"You!!??? Humph!!!"

Furious at the casual curse thrown out by Uozuka Saburo, Mebai McQueen stood up immediately, not knowing how to refute. He could only turn his little face red and turn away, refusing to look at the irritating teacher.

And Uozuka Saburo? He was looking forward to it!

She flung the cigarette butt aside and stomped it out, then leaned back onto the bluestone platform. With a comfortable sigh, she turned her eyes to McQueen and asked, "Hey, little girl, how come you're so used to the smell of cigarettes? Even that guy from the Golden Ship made a constipated face when he heard we were going to smoke, but you don't react at all—could it be that you're secretly smoking?!"

"No way! Don't spit bloody words at me, you irritating teacher! Humph!"

Still turning his head away from Uozuka Saburo, McQueen honestly sat down again, folded his arms, and said with confidence, "Identifying and familiarizing yourself with tobacco is part of the etiquette of the Mejiro family. Whether it's low-quality cigarettes or high-end cigars, we've been exposed to it since childhood. Otherwise, if we encounter a guest or enemy who likes to smoke, won't we lose our composure and end up losing everything? The pride of the Mejiro family will never allow us to become like that!"

"Wow...does this sound plausible?"

Uozuka Saburo's eyes rolled, and he continued, "What's going on with that Golden Ship? Didn't she grow up with you and receive the same education?"

"The Golden Ship... well, how can I put it?"

When this name was mentioned, Mebai McQueen's emotions suddenly cooled down. He sighed and said, "That happened when we were kids. Her father..."

"Hey, hey, hey, stop it! Stop it! Don't say any more! I won't listen!"

“…What are you doing?! I’ve finally managed to build up my emotions!!”

"Huh? I don't care about you!"

Uozuka Saburo held his head in his hands and said arrogantly, "Teacher, I've heard too much about tragic pasts today. Now I just want to take some time to relax. I can't mobilize my emotions to empathize with you at all. Just find a sunflower and talk to it by yourself, and then move yourself!"

"What?! You were the one who asked me, Teacher! Why are you the one who didn't... Uh-huh!!!"

The entire ponygirl group was completely enraged. Mejiro McQueen no longer cared about anything else. He straddled Uozuka Saburo, grabbed his collar, and yelled, "Mo!!! Why are you always so cold and mean to me?! From the first time we met... You're so approachable to the other ponygirls, and even get along well with that golden ship, but why are you singling me out?! You idiot teacher! Idiot!!!"

"...Why bother asking? There can only be one reason, right?"

"......Eh?"

Chapter 103: Damn! Still coming!?

Not caring at all that she was pressing on his wound, Uozuka Saburo looked at the starry sky and said in a deep voice: "Because you... are the most special..."

"...What do you mean? Could you please explain it to me more clearly?"

"In Tresen Academy, you're definitely not the most talented, nor the most self-disciplined. But your family background, your resources, and your vision are enough to make you one of the strongest in the entire academy—but that requires an obstacle, one that can help you break through."

Raising his hand and pointing a finger at Mejiro McQueen, Uozuka Saburo said seriously, without a trace of a joke in his tone, "Your life is simply too good, too perfect. You simply cannot understand or empathize with the feelings of those ponygirls who come from poor backgrounds and have nothing but running. You also cannot comprehend the thoughts and determination they bring to the competition, determined to fight tooth and nail for every first place."

“Me…Me too!”

"I know that every horse girl is impatient, and every horse girl has her own position to strive for and a goal that she will never give up."

Pointing his finger at Mejiro McQueen's forehead, Uozuka Saburo looked into her starry eyes through his sunglasses and said seriously, "But if you want to win the championship and take first place, this kind of desperate mentality, even risking your life, is essential - you can't develop this mentality yourself."

"...And so, you're going to be that obstacle, constantly frustrating me?"

"Yes. I'm a novice at training horses, but I'm not a novice at training people."

Uozuka Saburo looked at her without yielding, and said firmly, "I've seen many geniuses who achieved great success at a young age, but died young or even went astray because their careers were too smooth and they couldn't handle the pressure. I will never let such a lamentable regret happen to me again!"

"Even if it means earning my hatred?"

"Yes, even if I'm hated by you, I will continue." Zhongzhong nodded, and Uozuka Saburo narrowed his eyes and said, "Don't underestimate the determination of a middle-aged uncle, girl!"

“…Puff.”

As if she felt that the other person's tone of voice was unusually familiar, she inexplicably recalled the way they first met a few days ago. The eldest daughter of the Mejiro family could not help but loosen her hands, covering her mouth and chuckling.

With this smile, even the bright stars in the night sky lost their color, as if there was no other scene in the world more splendid and beautiful than this one, which is worth remembering forever in people's hearts.

————Of course, all this has nothing to do with Uozuka Saburo.

Now he just wanted to use his few brain cells as much as possible to create a perfect... or at least plausible, nonsense reason to get this little girl away and stop bothering him.

He is really exhausted today...

"Hehe~ Ahem. Since you've said that, today I'll... well, mercifully forgive your previous disrespect!"

Finally realizing how inappropriate her posture was, Mebai McQueen's face turned red. She hurriedly patted her skirt and stood up, saying, "Well, well... it's almost time. I should go back to the scene to help Grandma Kitano... I'll be leaving first!"

"Hey! Wait!"

"...Huh? What else do you want to do?"

"Can you get me an ashtray? This shabby house of yours...how come the trash can doesn't even have a piece of white sand for throwing cigarette butts?"

"...I'm sorry, but we at Mejiro are a small family, so we can't take every detail of our guests into consideration, okay?"

Mejiro McQueen pointed expressionlessly at Uozuka Saburo's mouth and said, "Don't you have a trash can with you? Why not just throw it in here?"

"Hey, even if it's just a joke, you can't just call someone's mouth a trash can. Teacher, I'll really cry in front of you, okay?"

"Oh, go ahead and cry. I'll record this awful scene of yours on my phone and play it over and over again every night before bed."

"...I really can't do anything with you..."

He sighed, reached out and groped to pick up the cigarette butt that had fallen on the ground. He folded it twice with one hand into a ball and stuffed it into the small transparent bag he carried with him. He closed his eyes and waved to McQueen, saying, "Is this all right? Hurry up and leave. Don't disturb my peace."

"......oh."

He nodded blankly, turned around and walked towards the house, his mind still recalling the slight sound of folding the cigarette butts and putting them into the bag.

...So that's how that strange sound came from?

No wonder I couldn’t find the cigarette butt no matter how hard I looked, it turned out to be taken away like this… hehe~

Lowering her head, the girl couldn't help but chuckle twice. Her expression became more charming and beautiful, and her steps became much lighter.

I finally caught your little tail~Mr. Big Hero~

"...Huh, he's finally gone."

Lying on the ground, feeling the fatigue coming from all parts of his body, Uozuka Saburo finally couldn't help but relax his body completely and enjoy this moment of tranquility.

...For some reason I miss my elder brother.

When I get back later, I'll take a shower, refresh myself, and then call my brother to report what happened today.

And then there's the other stuff... There's the relationship with Tresen Academy that needs to be dealt with, and the Mejiro family might need to help with follow-up work, and...

Tsk...it was clearly just an undercover mission, how did it inexplicably turn into such a tiring job?

The scale and difficulty of this job is not as good as following the boss to run field work and catch traitors...

At least he doesn't have to be the one doing the thinking... Unlike now, he has to figure out everything by himself and worry for a long time after taking action.

It's difficult...

"Alas... things will work out when the time comes."

After muttering a few words of comfort to himself, Uozuka Saburo felt that the time was almost up, so he urged himself to get up and return to the banquet to put a perfect end to today's actions.

But... I can't move!

Forget about mobilizing muscles to support his body, he felt like he couldn't even move a finger!!!

Wait, why does this situation seem so familiar... Could it be?

"Holy crap! Still coming!?"

Chapter 104: The Machine Soul is Displeased

I'd already injected extra horsegirl potion during the battle!? Why now... uh...

Feeling the familiar feeling of fatigue gushing out from all parts of his body like a tide, Uozuka Saburo was anxious. He tried his best to move his body with all his strength to open the hidden syringe on his wrist again, but he failed.

The huge body rolled on the ground like a maggot. If you didn't look at his face, it looked like a salted fish that was not yet dead, struggling on the ground to try to turn over. Not only was the strength of his twisting getting weaker and weaker, but even his breath gradually became weaker.

No... I'm so tired that even my head is trembling...

Is this the "price" that Tachyon guy mentioned? That's a bit too much...

He felt that if he continued at this rate, his heart would stop beating and he would go into shock and die. The strong desire to survive that was unique to the members of the dark world made Uozuka Saburo force himself to withstand the overwhelming fatigue and stay conscious, thinking quickly about how to ask for help.

Unfortunately, this small garden is located in a hidden and remote area of ​​the Mejiro family mansion, and few people would walk here...Mejiro McQueen must have come here to take a look after hearing what the golden ship said. Ordinary guests would never explore here casually.

This isn't good... If I get a heart attack while lying in this damn place, I'll be in suspended animation within a few minutes, and brain dead in a quarter of an hour at most...

If that fat horse and the leather boat hadn't come, I would have died here in such a funny way!!!

Think quickly! Think quickly, is there any other solution?!

Even if it's to prevent Big Brother from getting so angry that he dies of laughter, I absolutely can't die! ?

But my body is completely exhausted, and my brain is a bit dull from lack of oxygen...

Don’t worry about anything!

"Hey, hey, hey, look what I found: a huge pig's hoof that's skinny and lean, without a single bit of fat!"

"...!?"

Who's that voice!? Bell... Uozuka Yumi!?

Didn't she say she couldn't come because she had a mission? Why did she suddenly appear here again, in such a remote place?

Could it be that she... had been playing with him from the very beginning!? ?

However, even though he had thousands of questions and hundreds of dark speculations in his mind, the powerless Uozuka Saburo could only temporarily put aside his desire to question the other party, and made a humming sound from his paralyzed mouth, hoping that the other party would notice his situation and come to reinforce him quickly.

Unfortunately, this mystical witch with a thousand faces had never done anything to his liking since he met her, and this time was no exception:

The tall lady in a dark nightgown walked gracefully to the burly man, squatted down, stretched out a strong and bony hand, and gently placed it on the tip of his nose.

Then, in front of the other person's terrified eyes, he gently applied force to block his last breath, causing him to roll his eyes in fear and anger, and then he completely fainted.

"Oh, my foolish Ou Doudou~ Even now, you still don't know that the most taboo in infiltration operations is to risk everything and put yourself in a completely dangerous situation without any backup plan?"

She withdrew her hand and gently wiped it twice on his black tuxedo. Uozuka Yumi, who was now in her true form, chuckled softly, snapped her fingers, and said, "Eggnog, keep an eye on this idiot with a brain full of muscles. Keep his 'little secret' secret. Got it?"

"Yes, I understand, Lord Vermouth."

The girl with pointed ears and a long ponytail walked forward with a gentle smile, chuckling softly, and said firmly and confidently: "I will make sure this 'son-in-law' has a wonderful night~"

"Hehehe~ Very good, very good~"

----------

"...Hmm, that's weird? Why is this happening?"

In the quiet science classroom at Central Tresen College, Alice Tsukuko tilted her head towards a machine shaped like a radio wave chart, raised her hand, and tapped it with a puzzled expression. "Could it be that there's no signal? Or has he discovered the transmitter and destroyed it? That's impossible!"

"What are you doing here again, Tachyon..."

"Oh~tea room, come quickly!"

Waving her hand, Alice said to the Manchester City teahouse, who was holding a cup of coffee, without even turning around, "This thing suddenly stopped working for some reason. No matter how I checked it, I couldn't find any problem. It's giving me a headache. Hurry up and use your metaphysical methods of 'machine soul learning' to help me check what's wrong!"

"...It's not 'Mechanicus', it's the Adeptus Mechanicus."

After taking a sip of coffee, he slowly walked over to Eliseko. Manchester City Tea House explained to her earnestly with a detached look on his face, "Everything has a spirit, and machines are no exception. Inside every machine resides a machine spirit, and everything will change according to the mood of this machine spirit, speeding up or slowing down, getting better or worse..."

"Okay, okay~ I'm not interested in the mystical knowledge you're talking about. I just want to use it to fill in the gaps I'm missing!"

"...It's because, Speedy, you're always like this that the Machine Soul is unhappy."

Muttering this, but not rejecting Souko's invitation, the black-clad horsegirl leisurely sat in the seat Souko had vacated. She tapped the machine she had never seen before a few times before nodding with understanding. Turning to the eager-eyed Airi Souko, she said, "The machine spirit told me you secretly mixed a micro-monitor into the portable potion you gave to Uozuka-sensei to collect its data... It's worried you'll be beaten to death by the black-clad strongman later."

"Hey~ I'll kill you if I want. For the sake of promoting the scientific and technological development of all mankind, my small sacrifice is nothing!"

She waved her asbestos sleeves nonchalantly, took two steps closer, and said anxiously, "We'll talk about what happened later. Hurry up and ask it what happened! Why is the data transmission completely interrupted? We can't even confirm the status of the detector."

"...The Machine Spirit said: 'This is the inevitable result of the detector itself being destroyed, annihilated at the atomic level.' Those are its exact words."

"...Huh!? Are you kidding me!??"