BAD ENDING 004: The Tamed Mare
Fluttering brown ears thrust forward, a soft brown warhorse tail swaying gently behind her, the D-class hero Military Horse Sonia struck a pose before the glittering camera lens.
Click! …Click!
Cold mechanical sounds rang out in succession as a flash of light swept across Sonia's body. Riri checked the camera's tiny LCD screen and let out a moan that bordered on pure ecstasy.
"Kyaa…! It suits you so perfectly, Sonia unnie…♥ Haa… haah… I've never seen a Military Horse this well-matched…! Military Horse Sonia… unnie…♥ Can you move this tail… however you want?"
"I've never tried… Hang on a second…"
Following Riri's words, Sonia focused her awareness on the brown tail that sprouted perkily from the base of her spine, right above the cleft of her rear.
An awkward sensation, as if she had grown a brand-new limb. The moment she thought about moving it, the tail swayed left and right as if by magic, tracing a soft, elegant curve. At the sight, Riri's eyes lit up with an even more frenzied gleam.
"Haa… The shoes have heels as high as stilettos… and weird decorations stuck all over them… and these strange rings hanging from the ears sticking out… Running like this… wouldn't it be way too hard?"
Sonia muttered as she looked down at the bizarre shoes fitted to her feet. The nearly vertical heels made even standing feel precarious, and the ornaments wrapped around her ankles and insteps threw off her center of gravity.
"Taking first place in exactly that kind of outfit is the secret to becoming a huge hit!"
Riri declared firmly and pressed the shutter once more.
Just like that, Sonia had become the model for a private photo shoot, dressed in the idol-performance costume that would be added to Riri's "mare collection."
Before beginning the strengthening massage for a Military Horse, Riri had begged her—under the pretext of a "reward"—to please, just once, try on the competition outfit she had specially prepared. Unable to refuse those pitiful eyes, Sonia had ended up putting it on.
The outfit Riri had brought was far more blatant than the leotard-style restraint training suit Sonia was currently wearing.
A high-leg cut so deep the inner thighs were almost fully exposed, and a decorative skirt that did nothing to cover her rear and instead only emphasized its presence.
Overall it gleamed with a glossy purple neon light that shifted color depending on the viewing angle, giving the impression of something woven from cybernetic technology.
The shoes on Sonia's feet were no ordinary high heels. Crafted from a special alloy that wouldn't take a scratch even if scraped with a fingernail, their design deliberately evoked a horse's horseshoe.
"There's nothing high-tech about them—they're just heavy hunks of metal… Still, the way the parts click and lock onto my calves every time you press the button is pretty cool."
When Riri pressed the small button on the side of the shoe, a mechanical click… click…! rang out as the separated parts precisely locked into place along the lines of Sonia's calf muscles.
A sensation as if her legs themselves were being converted into mechanical components. The subtle pressure and the mechanical coupling process sent a thrill racing down Sonia's spine.
Promising over and over that none of this would ever leak outside, Riri panted heavily as she kept hammering the shutter at the Military Horse in her competition outfit.
"…♥ Sonia unnie, standing there like it's nothing even in an outfit like this… you're truly the best… truly…♥ Now, please sit over here, Military Horse Sonia unnie…"
Riri's voice was sweet as fruit steeped in honey. The heat contained within it bordered on madness.
A gaze of pure worship licked over every inch of Sonia's body.
It was no mere admiration. It glittered with the creative hunger of a craftsman who had discovered perfect material, and the obsessive possessiveness directed at a living statue that would realize her ideal.
"I still don't understand how I'm supposed to run in this thing… I just can't figure it out, Riri…"
Sonia muttered, frowning at the crushing weight pressing down on her body.
The competition outfit was less clothing than a meticulously assembled set of restraints. Cold metal ornaments along her shoulders and collarbone pressed against her skin with a chill, and every time she moved her arms, tiny servo motors whirred softly as they assisted the joints.
The parts flowing with purple neon light looked beautiful, but each one felt like a heavy counterweight.
"That's exactly why I went looking so hard for a strong mare! A powerful, strong mare!" Riri answered as if shouting.
The "products" selected through rigorous screening, then professionally trained and educated until their pasts were completely erased and they were reborn as sturdy luxury mares, were far too expensive.
"They" boasted perfect specs, but for that very reason they had no individuality. Every movement and reaction stayed within a predictable range based on data.
Their performance was high, true enough, but in the end they were all the same—the limitation of the luxury horse market. That was why Riri had searched for a mare who, even if lacking in other abilities, possessed overwhelming raw strength.
Like hunting for treasure in a garbage heap, she had applied for android security services for safety and played the part of an oblivious paperboy-capped girl while browsing the market for good merchandise.
Even when the mare exchange staff quoted absurd prices, the genius paperboy-capped girl had taken it in stride—and what she ultimately brought home was no ordinary mare. It was a genuine Military Horse certified with the Horse Spirit's own mark of approval: Sonia.
"I think things need to change. This whole system has to be different from now on."
"You suddenly told me to sit next to you, so I sat… Um… eeh…"
Clomp, clomp. It wasn't quite as heavy as the restraints put on a slave, but the fluorescent devices that glowed with a brilliant purple even under bright lights, and the mechanical parts that evoked a robot, made this competition outfit far heavier than any other clothes.
Every time Sonia walked toward the sofa, the horseshoe ornaments on her high heels struck the floor with a metallic clack, clack.
"It sparkles like an expensive gaming keyboard… so it'll definitely draw eyes."
"Right? That's exactly it! I knew Sonia unnie would get it!"
To the D-class hero with a question mark floating over her head, Riri began explaining her future goals and her grand plan for "institutional reform"—without anyone having asked.
"Right now, at the very beginning, we have to overhaul the entire mare racing idol system from the ground up if this scene is going to grow any further!"
"…Haa… In what specific ways?"
At Sonia's question as she leaned back against the sofa, Riri's eyes sparkled as if she had been waiting for exactly that, and she launched into the fundamental problems plaguing mare racing.
"Everything's been corrupted! It's supposed to be idol mare racing, but everyone just obsesses over the racing itself for unimportant reasons like the clothes being heavy or wind resistance being too high when they run—and nobody focuses on the most important part, the 'idol' side of it!"
Wind resistance, ergonomic design… Of course the subjects weren't ordinary people, but the reality of more and more mares showing up in tight bodysuits and spats designed purely for speed, like a swimming competition, had Riri on the verge of despair.
"The idol performances only happen after the race is over, after they've completely changed clothes and gotten ready all over again to go on stage! So in the end it's just a matter of time!"
Mares in tight bodysuits couldn't simply go straight into an idol performance the moment the racing ended, so they needed time to change and prepare—that was the explanation.
…So… something like a full-body bodysuit, then…? …I'd kind of like to see that, actually…
Sonia blushed as she absently entertained an imagination that stirred her own fetish.
"The outfit unnie is wearing right now is exactly what I designed to solve that problem! It's heavy, yes! But if you win while wearing this outfit and then go straight up on stage to perform in it, monopolizing every eye is a given! You'll make a spectacular debut as the most anticipated new mare in an instant! Of course it's heavy! But someday I will find a powerful, strong mare who can win while wearing this outfit, unnie!"
As more and more mares and trainers in ergonomically designed tight suits—focused solely on speed like a swimming competition—became the mainstream, the "idol performance" segment was steadily shrinking.
If things continued this way, it would inevitably sink into nothing more than an ordinary regional racetrack. That was why Riri had set her ambitious goal of creating an overwhelming mare who could win in full idol-performance costume and rewrite the entire scene.
"Well! It'll work out somehow! Now, come over this way! No, no. Just stay right there! I'll come to you!"
Riri patted the sofa with a series of soft thumps, then climbed up onto it and slipped in behind the seated Sonia. Wedged like a sandwich between Sonia and the plush sofa back, Riri began combing through Sonia's hair little by little, as if stroking her would earn points that stacked up.