After a whole morning of shopping, Mizuno's group had bought a mountain of food for tonight's victory feast.

There were steaks, pork chops, chicken wings, lamb—everything that ran on land.

There were lobsters, hairy crabs, sashimi, abalone—everything that swam in the sea.

Most important of all, of course, were carrots, beloved by every Uma. To make sure Urara and the others could eat their fill, Mizuno bought several whole crates. Altogether—half a ton of carrots.

At that moment, Mizuno glanced at his wallet.

Mm. Not a single coin left.

But he didn't feel even the slightest sting.

After all, he didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't go clubbing, didn't charge money into games. He ate the free meals provided by the Academy. So aside from spending on his own Uma, he had no use for money. His needs were small—so an empty wallet brought him no pain.

Besides, all this money had really come from Mejiro McQueen, that little rich lady who, feeling guilty for drinking his honey drinks every day, slipped him money from her monthly allowance. Just pocket change to her. That made Mizuno even less pained.

"Let's head back."

"Okay."

The original plan was to have lunch on the shopping street before returning, but Mizuno feared that if he left Tokai Teio alone too long, something terrifying might happen. So he decided to return first, to see if she had woken up.

And once Mizuno left, the others didn't feel like hanging around either, so they all went back with him, taking the train back to Tracen Academy.

Then came the time to prepare the cooking.

Since the training room was only for storage and training plans, without any cooking facilities, they had to borrow a school cooking classroom to process the food.

After placing all the ingredients there, Mizuno excused himself, leaving the group, and walked alone toward the Team TAC training room.

The main avenue of the Academy was quiet. No Uma in sight—completely different from the outside world. Probably because today was Saturday, all the trainers had already been dragged off on "dates" by their Uma (tragic).

Mizuno reached the Team TAC training room and pressed his ear to the door, listening carefully.

After half a minute, he heard nothing.

"Still asleep…?"

He reached out and put his hand on the doorknob.

But before he could open it, a shadow burst out from inside and tackled him flat.

"Awake?!"

Mizuno froze stiff in shock—but when he looked closely, it wasn't Tokai Teio sitting on his stomach. It was…

Gold Ship?!

"Ship-bro?" Mizuno blinked in confusion.

Why was she tackling him?

"Mizuno-dono, we were apart all morning. Let me check if you're missing any parts~" Gold Ship grinned wickedly, running her hands up and down Mizuno.

But she was only acting—she didn't really mean to mess with him.

Mizuno caught on to her intention and played along, resisting lightly.

"Ship-bro! What are you doing!"

"Be good… let me check!"

"No!"

"Don't, Ship-bro! Ship-bro!"

They played like that for about a minute, until Gold Ship got bored and climbed off, even pulling Mizuno up to his feet.

"Thanks." Mizuno dusted himself off and asked:

"By the way, where's Teio?"

"There." Gold Ship pointed into the training room.

Following her finger, Mizuno saw Tokai Teio curled up on a chair, hugging a carrot-shaped pillow, fast asleep.

She seemed to be dreaming of eating carrots—her teeth nibbled the pillow, leaving a wet patch.

Mizuno asked, "So she's treating the pillow like a real carrot?"

Gold Ship shook her head. "No. That carrot is actually you."

Mizuno: "?"

He touched his own face, then looked again at the pillow being clutched and chewed, pointing at himself in disbelief.

"That carrot… is me?"

Gold Ship nodded seriously.

"Because I used [Trainer Mizuno Mint]. So she thinks that carrot pillow is you."

"?" Mizuno was even more confused.

[Trainer Mizuno Mint]? That sounded all kinds of wrong!

Gold Ship, seeing his thoughts, pulled out a small bottle filled with glowing blue liquid.

"This was one of my failed products while trying to make the honey drink. It imitates the sweet scent your coat gives off. Spray it on something, and as long as the Uma doesn't open her eyes, she'll believe Trainer Mizuno is right here. So I call it [Trainer Mizuno Mint]."

"Whoa! That's amazing!" Mizuno was impressed, then asked,

"So, Ship-bro, did you manage to make the honey drink itself?"

"No…" Gold Ship lowered her head sadly.

"It's too hard. No matter how I mix, I can't get it right. But I did invent a bunch of useful failures. Like this [Trainer Mizuno Mint]. If I hadn't sprayed it on that pillow, Teio would've woken up five minutes after you left."

"I see." Mizuno nodded.

No wonder Teio was still sleeping peacefully after a whole morning away. Ship-bro had made him a substitute pillow double. Otherwise, the one being bitten would've been him.

"Thanks for the hard work, Ship-bro."

"Eh, it wasn't that hard." She shrugged.

"Just boring, staying here the whole time. But you—why didn't Urara or Rice Shower come back with you? Aren't you worried it's dangerous?"

"Ship-bro, you're overthinking. I don't have some habit of stripping in public, you know. I've always gone around like this. What danger could there be?" Mizuno smiled confidently.

Gold Ship stared at him silently for a long while. At last she sighed.

"…Fine. Maybe I really was worrying too much. I'll ease up a little on you from now on."

"Then tonight, can I have ten minutes for my bath?"

"No. Five."

"Fine…" Mizuno deflated.

That wasn't easing up at all…

"Anyway, everyone's in the cooking classroom prepping ingredients. Let's go help."

Mizuno stepped into the training room, intent on waking Tokai Teio.

As he drew near, Teio's nose twitched. She sniffed the air.

"Hm? Two Trainer Mizunos?"

She blinked sleepily, realizing she was hugging a carrot pillow, while Mizuno and Gold Ship stood nearby, looking at her.

"!" She jolted upright.

Eh?! She had fallen asleep?

She glanced down at the pillow damp with her drool, then up at Mizuno. Her cheeks instantly flushed scarlet.

So while she slept, she had been treating the pillow as Mizuno—and her sleeping face had been seen by him the whole time?!

So happy… wait, no! So embarrassing!

"Anyway, weren't we supposed to go shopping together? Trainer Mizuno, let's hurry and head out now!"

She flung the pillow aside, sprang to her feet, and dashed for the door, trying to cover her shame with a change of subject.

But Mizuno spoke.

"Teio, actually… we already went and came back."

Teio froze mid-step, turning slowly. Her eyes dimmed.

"Eh?"