Two weeks later.
Inside Tracen Academy, in a green shade once frequented by Agnes Tachyon.
Kitahara Shinji sat on a stone bench, a melancholy expression on his face.
A full two weeks had passed since the day they discussed merging the teams.
The next day, after sobering up and remembering what had happened, Yui's entire being went into a state of shutdown.
Causing a ruckus at the izakaya, burrowing into Kitahara Shinji's arms, and even agreeing to the team merger and volunteering to be his assistant trainer...
She even briefly considered submitting her resignation to the director.
But considering the three horse girls under her charge, she calmed down and abandoned the thought.
Later, faced with the requests of the twelve horse girls from both teams combined, and coupled with certain emotions in her own heart that were hard to articulate, she ultimately did not refuse the team merger.
And then...
"Do you guys want to join our training camp?"
Unlike the other horse girls under Kitahara Shinji, while Tokai Teio excelled in both racing and academics, it was precisely because she focused all her energy on these two areas that her emotional intelligence was, to put it mildly, quite lacking.
Never mind sneaking ahead herself or noticing others doing so; the very concept of "getting a head start" didn't even exist in her mind.
She still thought that, due to everyone keeping each other in check, this training camp was just a simple training camp.
So, for the sake of liveliness and having more teammates for gaming, she directly invited them.
Faced with her invitation, the scheming Super Creek naturally agreed on the spot.
As for Tamamo Cross, although she felt something was off, she agreed partly out of a desire to protect Kitahara Shinji.
And partly because she felt that with so many people going, it would be unsociable not to, so after some hesitation, she followed along.
As for Oleander, with all eleven horse girls of the team going, she, who liked to follow others' decisions, naturally didn't refuse.
Yui was a bit shy and initially wanted to decline.
But with the agreement of her original three charges, especially with Tamamo Cross's encouragement, she ultimately couldn't resist the temptation and nodded shyly.
Thus, four more beds were added to Kitahara Shinji's dorm. The once-spacious trainer's dormitory and office began to feel a bit crowded.
But the lack of space wasn't the biggest problem. The biggest problem was the developments after the four of them joined.
Or, to be more specific, the developments after Super Creek joined.
In the first few days after Super Creek joined, because the teams had just merged, she acted very restrained.
As for the other horse girls under Kitahara Shinji, although they felt she posed a very 'big' threat to them in certain aspects, that was the extent of their concern.
However, as time went by, the other horse girls gradually began to notice that something was wrong with her.
Waking up startled in the middle of the night to find Super Creek standing by her bed, smiling at her...
Being a picky eater and refusing to eat an apple, only to find something in her mouth a moment later, with Super Creek smiling at her from the side...
Reaching the time limit for gaming and begging Kitahara Shinji to at least let her finish the current match, only to have her vision go black the next second, suffocated in that embrace and almost running out of oxygen...
And those strange items—the milk powder, the baby bottles, the children's clothes, the rattles—and the way Tamamo Cross and the others trembled all over when they saw those things...
Unlike Sunday Silence, who was scary at first but became reassuring with more contact, Super Creek was the type who seemed gentle and safe at first glance but became more frightening the more you got to know her.
Forget everyone else; besides someone like Grass Wonder, who could take perfect care of herself and needed no looking after, even Eclipse was starting to get spooked by her stare. Recently, Eclipse had been constantly nestled in Kitahara Shinji's arms, using his care as a way to avoid being targeted by Super Creek.
And no one else found Eclipse's reaction strange.
After all, even before the training camp began, Eclipse had always been by Kitahara Shinji's side, never hiding the intimacy between them.
And during the training camp, although Eclipse held back a bit to accommodate others, at least she didn't make any overly bold statements in front of everyone.
But she was still inseparable from Kitahara Shinji day in and day out, and things like hugging and cuddling in private were a common occurrence.
Today, partly to hide from Super Creek and partly to soothe his mood, Kitahara Shinji once again came to this green shade.
The difference was, this time there was no lonely girl and her ghost friend.
Only a melancholy young trainer and his inseparable charge.
So why didn't I firmly reject the suggestion to merge the teams back then?
Recalling the events of the past two weeks, and especially the thought that this situation might continue, Kitahara Shinji's heart was filled with regret.
Fortunately, although Super Creek was terrifying, she had joined the training camp in mid-August.
And now, after two weeks, it was the end of August.
The training camp would soon be over, and the official vacation would begin. Then, Super Creek and the other horse girls would have to return to their respective dorms.
As for the remaining races this month for Tokai Teio and Agnes Digital...
Since they were both landslide victories, there wasn't much to say.
Although Tokai Teio's race had formidable rivals and was a level higher in quality than Agnes Digital's, the "Supernova" title wasn't for show. She still won beautifully by a margin of four lengths.
After the victory, Tokai Teio happily reported to him and Rudolf, receiving a head pat as a reward.
As for Agnes Digital, she could even win a G1, and a G1 for three-year-old fillies at that. Participating in a regular OP-class race for second-year fillies was pure domination.
However, unlike other horse girls, Agnes Digital didn't run for victory, so she thoughtfully controlled her speed, ultimately winning by only three lengths over the second-place finisher.
After the race, besides the customary gift of shoes, Agnes Digital also gave Kitahara Shinji a formal suit as a memento.
Yes, the unfinished one she had mentioned before, which was originally intended for Kitahara Shinji to wear to her first G1 race.
But this suit wasn't something she had just finished. She had secretly made it during the week she was affected by Agnes Tachyon's potion, but she just hadn't found a reason to give it to him.
Even this OP-class race, though she said it was because a horse girl she was a fan of was participating, her main purpose was to find an opportunity to give him this suit.
As for Kitahara Shinji, since he was unaware of Agnes Digital's little thoughts, and because the suit wasn't bought but a purely handmade memento from her, he didn't refuse.
Afterward, he put it in his closet, planning to wear it as a spare when he had the time.
What he didn't know was that at the same moment he put that suit in his closet, a ladies' outfit that corresponded to his suit in many ways was hanging quietly in Agnes Digital's closet, waiting.
After all, as mentioned before, the reason Agnes Digital knew how to make menswear was mainly because she had shipped many horse girl x trainer pairings.
Or rather than saying she knew how to make menswear, it was more like she made menswear as a byproduct of making couple's outfits.
As for when she would wear that outfit...
To be honest, Agnes Digital hadn't decided yet.
But at least, after the training camp ended, when she couldn't see Kitahara-senpai at night, thinking about how he looked when he tried on that suit today, she could also put on the one in her closet to alleviate certain emotions in her heart.
And then, time moved on to the present.
With the end of August, after the training camp, the real Tracen vacation would begin.
Although due to the competitive culture, most horse girls and trainers wouldn't truly take a break, if there weren't any urgent races, they would relax the intensity of their training, and even take some time to go out and have fun.
As for Kitahara Shinji's vacation plans...
To be honest, he didn't know how he was going to spend it.
Although he would definitely be staying at Tracen Academy, he didn't plan on loafing around the training grounds all day like he was now.
—Because he wanted to loaf around in his dorm; he didn't even want to go to the training grounds.
He wasn't one of Tracen's workaholics. It was finally vacation; he definitely had to relax.
Although he usually wasn't responsible for much, basically just spending some time writing up the training plans and then letting the horse girls under him execute them.
His average daily work time was less than two hours; the rest of the time was spent slacking off and being lazy.
But even so, having fulfilled his duties, Kitahara Shinji felt he should have the same right to enjoy the vacation as everyone else.
So, after some simple thought, Kitahara Shinji made up his mind. As long as there were no races he had to be responsible for in the near future, he would absolutely not set foot in the training grounds during this vacation.
After deciding this, and with the end of the training camp approaching, the thought of being able to laze around peacefully in his dorm for a whole month, and also being able to use the opportunity to maintain some distance from the horse girls, and even lower their impression of him, much of Kitahara Shinji's gloom dissipated.
Although a lot had happened this semester, and the number of horse girls under him, including Sunday Silence, had reached thirteen, and he also had a formal assistant trainer in Yui, as time went by, he found that Tracen Academy wasn't as dangerous as he had initially imagined—at least on his end.
Take the four he considered the most "heavyweight" for example.
Tokai Teio was a well-behaved and sensible child who was occasionally a bit willful. And although Grass Wonder was a bit scary, a lesbian who was still hung up on Special Week was nothing to worry about.
As for Satono Diamond, although they were familiar with each other now, she had repeatedly hinted that her family had already arranged a trainer for her. Not only did she have no romantic interest in him, she would even deliberately maintain a distance between them.
And the most heavyweight of them all, Symboli Rudolf, although their first meeting was not pleasant, after getting to know her, he discovered her "slacker" nature, and they were now kindred spirits.
And although they had gotten closer because of Tokai Teio, Kitahara Shinji had also noticed.
Symboli Rudolf seemed to want to be friends with him, but she had been deliberately avoiding that kind of thing, and recently, her words had repeatedly hinted at recruitment.
This was clearly a sign that she had no romantic interest in him, but was only interested in his abilities, wanting him to work for the student council, or even the Symboli family.
Kitahara Shinji, of course, would not accept her proposal.
After all, as he had said before, unless he was an idiot, he would absolutely not voluntarily get involved with the Symboli family.
And since the four heavyweights were like this, then the other horse girls were even less of a concern.
Special Week was as dense as ever. Oguri Cap only cared about food. Nice Nature was so harmless that it made you want to tease her.
Agnes Tachyon's potions were scary, but after that lab accident, she had toned it down a lot. He had helped her test a few more potions since then, and there hadn't been any problems.
Agnes Digital was a pervert, but her perversion was directed at horse girls, not him.
The Sunday Silence targeting him was now very well-behaved and cooperative with his research, seemingly knowing how to act appropriately.
As for the three new additions, Tamamo Cross was a rare normal person. Oleander acted like a timid copycat, doing whatever others did.
As for the last one, Super Creek...
This one was indeed a bit scary, but just scary.
Although she appeared and disappeared like a ghost and acted strangely, it was only for the sake of taking care of others.
For example, after she joined the team, although many horse girls had been traumatized by her and had developed a fear of her, under Yui's supervision and Super Creek's execution, the daily routines and living habits of the horse girls under Kitahara Shinji had significantly improved. Some had even gotten healthier.
Although he was good at 'caring' and could solve many problems, Kitahara Shinji usually didn't manage the details of their lives. So even though he could solve their major issues through 'caring', it wasn't a panacea. They still had to pay attention to things themselves.
And Super Creek's arrival happened to fill this gap for Kitahara Shinji. Although her behavior was indeed a bit scary, all in all, her forced 'caring' was actually beneficial to them, and even further enhanced the overall strength of Kitahara Shinji's team.
It would just be better if she didn't always look at him when she was taking care of those horse girls...
Kitahara Shinji sighed.
Then, after sighing, looking at the green shade in front of him and feeling the quiet surroundings, Kitahara Shinji's mind gradually relaxed, and a trace of drowsiness emerged.
After a slight yawn, he didn't intend to fight it. Looking around and seeing no one, he prepared to lie down on the stone chair and take a short nap in the gentle breeze among the trees.
But just as he was about to lie down, he felt a finger poke him in the waist.
"What's wrong?"
He turned his head to look at Eclipse and saw her watching him calmly. After he turned his head, she patted her own legs.
Kitahara Shinji was stunned for a moment, then realized she wanted him to rest his head on her lap.
If it were any other horse girl, he certainly wouldn't dare.
But with Eclipse, they had even slept together before. To be fussy about this now would be pure pretentiousness.
So, after realizing this, Kitahara Shinji didn't stand on ceremony with her. He simply turned around and rested his head on her lap, his expression gradually relaxing.
It was warm, soft, and had a faint fragrance. It was indeed countless times better than the hard, cold stone chair.
Then, after making sure Kitahara Shinji was comfortable, Eclipse slowly reached out and gently hugged him.
Kitahara Shinji did not resist, just letting her hold him. After a short while, his breathing became deep and steady.
Forget another horse girl; even when he was sleeping by himself, he couldn't relax this quickly.
But with Eclipse, he could.
Even though he could never figure out her thoughts, even though he was occasionally threatened by her, even though he had been backstabbed by her several times since entering Tracen, her side was still the place where he felt most at ease.
As for Eclipse, after hugging him, she made no further movements. After he fell asleep, even her breathing became lighter, carefully guarding the peaceful sleep in her arms.
For a long time.
With the blowing of the gentle breeze, a fallen leaf drifted down and landed on Eclipse's shoulder.
But she still made no move, just looking down quietly at the person in her arms.
As if they were the only two people left in the world.
....
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