Kitahara really couldn't handle his alcohol. And his drinking manners weren't much better, either.
After only two or three cans of beer, this guy started panting, forcing himself right up against Kuroha while slurring nonsense.
Watching the man who had already begun babbling at the brand-new uniform on his wall, Kuroha could only shake his head helplessly. He picked up the manuscripts that had fallen to the floor, left a bottle of water on the desk, and then headed out.
"Do your best..."
...
After that, Kuroha followed their agreement and brought the gifts to March's home.
He crossed a few streets. Unlike the area around Kitahara's place—
Compared to the chaotic mess over there, March's house sat in a quiet residential neighborhood.
It was just an ordinary working-family home, not luxurious.
But the yard was filled with flowers and greenery, the windows bright and spotless, and everything gave off a warm, lived-in feeling.
Ding-dong—
The moment the doorbell rang, hurried footsteps sounded from inside.
"Coming, coming!"
The door opened, and two faces beaming like blooming flowers greeted him.
"Oh my, Kuroha-san! You finally made it!"
March's parents were not horse girls. They were ordinary humans.
In this world, the mechanism behind horse girl births was remarkably strange.
Aside from a horse girl and a human having a horse girl child together—
Even two purely human spouses could, in rare cases, end up having a horse girl as their own child.
This phenomenon was known to the world as—
"The Blessing of the Three Goddesses."
March, in fact, had been born from that mysterious blessing.
Even though this wasn't Kuroha's first time here, every single time March's parents saw him, they greeted him with the sincerest manners and the warmest smiles.
"Please, come in! Come in!"
March's father took the gifts from Kuroha's hands. Her mother, smiling nonstop, warmly ushered him inside.
That level of enthusiasm didn't annoy Kuroha at all.
He remembered one time, when he and March's parents had gone drinking together at an izakaya.
After a few rounds, the middle-aged man—usually honest and mild—spoke his heart under the influence of alcohol.
Back then, when the doctor told them their newborn daughter was a horse girl...
Their first reaction was to send the child to a ranch, but in that instant, a deep worry surged through their hearts—
Would their daughter end up alone for the rest of her life?
After all, in the current world, horse girls were an extremely special group.
They possessed strength and physical ability far beyond ordinary people.
And because of their closed-off nature and unique circumstances, the "other half" for most horse girls was also usually a horse girl.
Yes. Horse girl with horse girl—when they were together, they could also be blessed by the Three Goddesses, and have children.
That kind of "rival becomes partner" situation was actually not rare at Tracen.
But when a child was born to horse girl parents, that was one thing—the family environment made sense, and there were quite a few such cases in the country.
For March's parents, though—traditional-minded, purely human—this was far outside their understanding.
You could even say it made them extremely anxious.
They feared that their daughter—strong like a bandit, yet a bit of a proud tsundere—might truly never find a place to belong.
Until—
Kuroha appeared.
Young, handsome, outstandingly talented, a legendary Central trainer, and most importantly, a human man.
When March first brought Kuroha home, blushing and awkward, and introduced him while stubbornly pretending not to care—
"My担当 trainer-san."
The couple looked at their daughter's shy expression, then at the impressive Kuroha, and the boulder in their hearts instantly dropped away.
It even lit a fire under their enthusiasm.
If they weren't worried about bothering Kuroha, and if their daughter hadn't been desperately trying to stop them at the side, the two of them would have loved nothing more than to march them to city hall the very next day to sign the papers.
They ate a simple home-cooked meal at March's house, then March's mother—treating him like a prospective son-in-law—clung to him and asked question after question for ages.
A full hour later, the two finally walked out the door under March's silent, pleading stare and her mother's delighted send-off.
Walking along the quiet street.
An early-summer breeze swept by, but it couldn't cool the heat on the girl's face.
March kept her head down. Her long, sensitive horse ears were dyed a deep crimson, swaying back and forth restlessly, and an uneasy little sound trembled in her throat.
She muttered softly, her tone carrying a mix of embarrassment and irritation.
"Trainer-san, too... Why do you always go along with Mom when she brings up those topics...?"
"What? Does March not like it?"
Kuroha lovingly pinched the girl's soft, delicate cheek, smiling as he asked.
"At this rate, if you get any stiffer, I'm going to pinch dents into your face."
"M-M-M... Mother-in-law and stuff..."
March's skin was thin. If you talked business with her, she'd get shy, but if someone close teased her a little, she'd turn into a steam-eyed mess almost immediately.
"Meow..."
She walked with her face burning, leaning toward Kuroha and whispering.
"Then, Trainer-san... what do you think?"
"Think what?"
"Just... it's... you know..."
Kuroha laughed outright.
"After we retire."
"After we retire?"
March stiffened, glancing at her trainer carefully.
"So soon? I... I can do it?"
"Soon?"
Kuroha laughed easily, rubbing her head gently—pressing down even the crimson ears with his palm.
"March, you're the strongest horse girl in the country."
"You've always been the strongest."
"We walked out of that tiny little jungle together. We crossed countless days and nights, and we've come this far."
"So..."
Kuroha leaned down slightly and met her eyes directly.
"Believe in me."
"And make sure you properly see me off..."
...
When the two returned to the Kasamatsu Tracen Academy gate, wrapped in an atmosphere of pink bubbles—
"Meow... nom nom~"
Cap had three skewers of squid dumplings in her mouth, cheeks puffed, as she looked at Kuroha and March.
"Kuroha, March, why are your faces so red? Is it too hot?"
"... It's nothing. We just went for a run."
March cleared her throat twice, then guiltily took the initiative and headed toward the parking lot.
Berno, meanwhile, looked back and forth with curiosity. Her gaze swept across the two of them once, and a sharp glint flashed in her eyes.
"Masaka?!"
Boom.
Her little head practically exploded, as if she'd understood everything.
Meanwhile, Cap crouched at the side and tilted her head, completely lost.
"Alright, alright. It's getting late. Ready? We're going to Kyoto."
"... Ready!"
"Oh—!"
(End of Chapter)
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