"Palmer, stop running."
!!!!!!
Upon hearing the familiar voice and name, Mejiro Dober immediately brings out her notebook and sneaks closer to the source. Like her namesake, Dober sniffs the faint smell of the young man and Palmer's perfume until she finds a slightly open door.
Like a kunoichi, she quietly peeks into the room to see the scene for herself and sketch them in her notebook. She saw her 2 targets standing by themselves on a balcony of an empty room.
Perfect!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Stop… Running…
You want me to stop running…
Why?"
The young man had expected the umamusume to be slightly distressed, so Palmer's reaction wasn't out of his expectations.
"Palmer, do you know the term domain dependence?"
"No…"
"It's a term to describe what most university graduates go through just after their graduation."
Igo Heita had gone through university twice. Once in his previous life and once in this life. He knew well what it felt like to graduate from a university, and how scary it is. Unlike the acceptance rate of postgraduate would like to suggest, most graduates would like to continue studying after graduations. One of those reasons is domain dependence.
"In universities, all of your problems could be solved by the solutions you were taught according to your major.
You get used to it. You get tricked into a sense of security that you picked the right major and that your future should be of no concern because you have been solving your problems.
But the thing that most of them don't know is that those problems are curated because you are in a learning institution."
"..."
"Once you graduate and face the real world, you find out the truth. That the solution you have been taught the entire time would only work once out of the billion times you face a problem. This shook them to the very core.
The graduates feel despair as they could not see anywhere else they could go except back to the university, where their solutions can be used one hundred percent of the time. Where they feel like their effort will bring them the solution. Where their brain can actually be useful.
But you can see why that is nothing more than a bandage on a very serious problem."
"They would eventually need to return to society and face the same problem…"
"Yep! But even worse! This phenomenon becomes worse the more you sacrifice yourself to a single thing.
Just like you and running."
"I see…"
Palmer lowers her head. The young man couldn't see her face, but he knew she was contemplating her choices right now. For an umamusume who loves running, being stopped from doing the very thing she loved so much is similar to death.
"I do not suggest that you stop running, period.
I suggest that you take a break from running to broaden your worldview, Palmer.
You have two choices now.
Continue running, and burn out to the point that you will hate running,
Or stop running for a short period of time to find your ground in this world.
Those are the only options I see for your future."
"Is breaking a young umamusume's heart your hobby, Trainer Igo Heita?"
"Of course! After I break your heart, I will come with a solution. I will become your only light in the darkness, and then you will fall in love with me."
"That is called Stockholm Syndrome, you know?"
"I call it love with a little bit of an extra step."
"Is this how you seduce, McQueen?"
"And you too."
"Ahahahaha!! I guess I should be more mindful when talking to you.
I might be lulled into a sense of security, but in reality, you were just trying to make me your concubine."
"Will you?"
"If you help me love running again, sure! I will sell my soul and body to the man who rekindles my love for running!!"
"The fact that you said it as 'selling' kinda pisses me off… Did you take me as a horrible person?"
"You are."
"So how does it feel to be stuck and only have a horrible person as your guide?"
"It's much more lovely than I initially thought." The pair shares a small giggle. "I'm no longer a small princess waiting for a knight to pick me up. What I want now is a playboy who'd help me for his own selfish reasons." Palmer nuzzled her head and put her hands on the young man's chest. "Just for this moment, can I be your McQueen?"
"What a twisted suggestion." The young man put his hands around Palmer's waist and pulled her into himself.
"It seems… that I have been more corrupted than I initially thought…
Say, dear, can we dance here? I didn't dance during the first and second session."
"Sure… Let's move somewhere more spacious."
The pair move into the room and stand in the middle of the wide-open space. The music from the ballroom is extremely faint, but they can still hear it because the atmosphere is so silent.
With the faint music in their ears, the pair begin to waltz in the dimly lit room. With no one watching, it wouldn't be a big problem if either of them made a mistake, yet each step is in perfect sync.
If anyone were to witness the pair now, it would remind them of when the young man was dancing with McQueen. Perfectly in sync, as if they had spent years together. They know each other's small habits like the back of their hands.
Palmer should be feeling weird. She should question how the young man can know her so well. Surely McQueen didn't tell everything about her, so it should be a major question as to how the young man knew of Palmer's little habit.
But she doesn't care.
Because she herself should be questioned as well. Why does it feel so natural to dance in his arms? Why does it feel so wonderful to be alone with him? Why does she feel regret about not being his trainee?
If he is fated to be a trainer of a Mejiro Umamusume… Why couldn't it be me?
If there is one thing Palmer wished that she could do is to regress to the start of the year. The year the young man entered Tracen Academy as a rookie trainer.
McQueen was bawling her eyes out when she got recruited by the young man through blackmail, but that quickly changed to gratefulness.
Yes, McQueen still complains about her trainer's antics, but she also understands just how amazing he is.
Palmer then didn't realize just how big of a chance she had missed. If she could return to that time, the first thing she would do is replace McQueen and be the young man's first trainee–even if she has to flash her panties at him.
I wish… I could regress…