Daijin never imagined that Kazuo's workplace nearby would actually be this Horse Racing equipment shop.
She had originally planned to come and look at some items during her break, but she hadn't expected to meet him here.
The moment she was about to step into the shop, she heard Kazuo's voice and Daijin immediately tensed up, quickly turning to hide to the side.
Only then did she slowly peek her head out, cautiously observing the situation inside.
When she clearly saw who the familiar voice belonged to, she belatedly realized her carelessness.
This time, Daijin was helping her mother during her vacation, partly to reduce her mother's burden, and partly to save money to buy a good pair of running shoes for herself.
After all, for an athlete, the right equipment can achieve twice the results with half the effort.
Even though she had pulled through this time, she couldn't completely relax yet.
She could only say that she was starting anew, and there were many more challenges ahead.
So, the original plan was to come and check the prices today, but meeting Kazuo here made her quite awkward.
Ever since she learned at the flower shop that Kazuo was the one who had given her a push from behind.
She wanted to properly thank him for his help, but due to her personality, she could never face him frankly.
Her only active attempt was to ask Xiao Hai Wan for his LINE account, but that was limited to online communication.
In reality, she hadn't even thought about how to face this guy yet.
Once she saw his face, Daijin couldn't help but recall the computer room in the twilight that day, the confrontation on the track at night, and the daisy that she was still carefully tending to in her dorm room… "…"
She forcefully slapped her cheeks, as if doing so could dispel the distracting thoughts from her mind.
No… I can't be like this… Forcibly calming herself down, forcing herself not to dwell on these things, Daijin once again shifted her gaze towards the shop.
However, when she saw Kazuo surrounded by four girls, she suddenly felt a bit strange.
An inexplicable feeling of displeasure and tightness in her chest, an unprovoked annoyance made her involuntarily furrow her delicate brows.
The indescribable frustration made her feel annoyed, and with a slightly impatient tone, she muttered softly: "What's going on with that guy…"
Kazuo naturally didn't know that someone outside the shop was currently infuriated by his situation.
He was simply doing his duty, introducing the knowledge he had to the ladies.
After secretly watching from the window for a while, Daijin seemed to suddenly come to her senses, quickly shaking her head and saying: "No… Why am I caring about this guy so much… I'm just a customer… Can't I just go straight in…?"
Speaking of which, why was she peeking here? Wouldn't it be fine to just pretend not to see him and look at the products on her own?
"But if I do that, won't it look very strange…? But then again, he's Xiao Hai Wan's Trainer, right?! It's not appropriate for him to always be with other Uma Musume, is it?!"
Although she was trying to rationalize her behavior, Daijin was clearly unaware that subconsciously, she didn't categorize herself as "other" Uma Musume.
Convincing herself in this way, she quietly took out her phone, and as if possessed, she snapped a picture of the scene, and then somehow directly sent it to Xiao Hai Wan.
Watching the message send, Daijin felt an indescribable feeling in her heart.
But when she came back to her senses, she withdrew the message and canceled the image transmission.
"Excuse me…"
"Ah!"
Aoi stood beside her, carrying a bag of ice cream, but her sudden voice startled Daijin, making her phone drop to the ground.
She rarely let out such a girlish gasp, clutching her chest and panting.
"Uh, I didn't mean to scare you, I just saw you standing outside the shop so I wanted to ask what was going on…"
Aoi hadn't expected the girl to react so strongly and quickly explained.
But before Daijin could answer, Kazuo's voice came from inside the shop: "Is that Aoi outside?"
Realizing what was happening, Daijin secretly cursed, grabbed her phone, and sprinted out in a hundred-meter dash, leaving Aoi, who had no idea what had just happened, standing there watching the figure instantly disappear down the street.
"Did… I do something?"
.
"Welcome back… Huh, why do you have such a strange expression, Aoi?"
Aoi walked in with a subtle expression, seemingly still confused and looking back. Seeing this, everyone thought she had encountered some trouble.
"No… I'm just a little bothered…"
She muttered to herself, then slowly shook her head and said: "It's nothing, I must be overthinking it."
"Alright, never mind! Here's the ice cream you wanted!! I bought it!"
"Oh, thank you for your trouble…"
"Huh? Who are these two…?"
Seeing two new customers with excellent appearance and demeanor suddenly in the shop, Aoi immediately switched into customer service mode.
"Excuse me, do you two have any needs for coming to the shop?"
"Oh, Aoi, let me introduce you. These two are also students from Tresen Academy. This is Fine Motion, and this is Mejiro McQueen."
Kazuo cleared his throat as he spoke:
"This is also our Assistant Manager, Kiryuin Aoi. Like me… no, she's even more capable than me. At a similar age, she's already a Trainer at Tracen Branch School. And this sales assistant beside her, Happy Miko, is the Uma Musume she's contracted with."
"Eh hehe… I'm not as amazing as Kazuo says! It's all because Miko chose me!"
Aoi said, then affectionately rubbed against Miko again, holding her tightly. Miko, meanwhile, let her be embraced, calmly tearing open the packaging and eating her ice cream little by little.
"I bought a few extra. Kazuo, take these. See if any of them want to eat some."
Since she was holding Miko, it was inconvenient for her to move, so she handed the task to Kazuo.
Kazuo took the heavy bag. Had she bought at least a dozen of them?
While complaining inwardly, he took out a vanilla-flavored one and handed it to Rice Shower.
Then he looked at the two and said:
"There's ice cream here. Do you want some?"
As Kazuo spoke, he showed the ice cream in the bag to the two.
Fine Motion excitedly raised her hand and said, "Can I!? I want one! I want one!!"
"Do you have Uzaki Cake flavor!? Or Uji Matcha!?"
Kazuo explained, a little embarrassed, "Haha… Actually, Japan has more famous flavors than just these two…"
As for McQueen on the other side—
She stared intently at the pile of ice cream, swallowing her saliva with a conflicted expression.
Seeing her look, Kazuo took out a chocolate-flavored one and handed it to her, saying:
"How about this flavor?"
"...No...No!!"
Her hand was about to reach out and take the ice cream Kazuo offered.
But, struggling internally, she quickly pulled her hand back, firmly pressing down on her right hand with her left, and cried out, eyes closed, in some distress.
How to describe it—
In this state, compared to her usual elegance and composure, McQueen now seemed somewhat adorable.
PS: I must update three more chapters today. I was indeed quite busy before and received private messages urging new updates, so I must finish by 3 AM tonight.
PS:
Everyone has been offering suggestions in the review section, so I'll reply here. This holiday arc is about building various relationships. The first volume focused on portraying one character, which is why so much space was used to write about Daijin.
The second volume will gradually introduce various Uma Musume, so while the plot progresses, everyday life will slowly flesh out each character's image.
So, please be patient. This book is about races, the bonds between Uma Musume and Trainers, as well as human relationships, dreams, and youth.
Building more interpersonal relationships now is also to establish the images of these Uma Musume.
Moreover, the daily life in this volume is mostly concentrated in the first half. In fact, from the middle to the latter half, it's almost entirely main plot, so please continue to look forward to it. This is also laying the groundwork for what's to come, just like the first volume. The story of each volume will start to pick up rapidly from the mid-to-late stages.
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Thank you for following my story. If you want to read it first, please visit my Patreon — there are about 40 chapters waiting there. Your support really motivates me to continue to release more stories!
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