The Hearing: Reign

Kitasan Black's gaze swept across more faces, some familiar, some strangers, and the shock in her heart grew larger and larger like a rolling snowball.

Her eyes caught sight of a rather distinctive Horse Girl.

She wore a neatly tailored white suit-style Victory Outfit and a small, stylish bowler hat, her long hair draped loosely over her shoulders. Her whole bearing carried a casual laziness utterly at odds with the solemn atmosphere of the room.

With her head slightly tilted, she seemed to wear the faintest hint of a smile. Her relaxed eyes surveyed the hall, and she looked less like someone here for a decisive hearing than someone who had happened upon the place during a stroll, found it lively, and wandered in for a look.

Then a blazing red flashed into Kitasan Black's sight.

It was a Horse Girl dressed in a fiery orange-red Victory Outfit, its design dashing and clean-cut. She stood tall, her stride vigorous, radiating sunlike energy and an infectious warmth.

As though she had noticed Kitasan Black's shocked and curious gaze cast her way, the red-clad senior turned without the slightest reserve, pinpointed her in the crowd, and gave her an extremely familiar one-eyed wink. A bold yet friendly smile curved across her lips, and she even sent a playful air kiss from afar.

That unexpected, lively exchange made Kitasan Black's heart skip a frantic beat, and warmth rose uncontrollably to her cheeks.

There were more figures still—some legends she vaguely remembered catching a fleeting glance of in historical footage or reports, while others were complete strangers.

Yet the calm and power they all exuded, honed through the very highest levels of competition, merged into a silent torrent.

Kitasan Black had long since stopped breathing.

These were—seniors even I had only heard about? Why