Though she was still a little unwilling to accept it, Teio adjusted to reality pretty quickly.
"Mhm! As long as I'm still better than McQueen, that's enough!"
After comforting herself like that, the two girls started strolling through the shopping district.
Before long, after helping Mihono Bourbon pick out a few properly fitting outfits and change into them, Tokai Teio and Mihono Bourbon were each holding a cup of honey water.
Together, they returned to the Mejiro training grounds.
The moment she stepped inside, Teio's gaze was drawn to the track not far away.
At that moment, a petite Uma Musume was standing there, pretty as a picture.
Her soft black wavy hair swayed gently in the breeze.
And right then, Kuroha was standing there with a notebook in hand, looking down as he earnestly instructed her on something.
"Trainer!"
Teio's eyes lit up, and she immediately dashed over.
Half a step behind her, Mihono Bourbon turned her head slightly and looked at the somewhat familiar black-haired figure.
With her keen powers of observation, she seemed to notice something.
On that face that almost never showed much expression, a faint curve appeared, so slight it was barely there.
Then she set off after Teio at an even, unhurried pace.
"I'm he...re?"
Teio came to a sudden stop as soon as she got close enough and finally saw the petite Uma Musume standing beside Kuroha clearly.
Her voice stretched out at the end, and there was a very obvious note of confusion in it.
Still, thanks to having just gone through the "lesson" of Mihono Bourbon's sudden change earlier, Teio's brain completed the match the moment her eyes landed on the little blue rose hat tilted at an angle on the girl's head.
"You're Rice Shower?!" Teio cried out in surprise, eyes wide.
"Y-yes!"
At those words, the black-haired girl's body gave a sudden little jolt as she replied timidly, "I'm Rice Shower, Teio-senpai…"
At the side, Kuroha smiled and explained at just the right moment:
"Rice Shower only completed her True Blooming last night. She came over first thing this morning to report it to me."
As he spoke, his gaze passed over Teio and landed on the chestnut-haired girl walking over from behind, and a hint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.
"Bourbon, you came too."
Mihono Bourbon stepped forward and stood straight in front of Kuroha, then said softly:
"I am currently in standby status, Master!"
...
Inside the trainer's office, three Uma Musume sat together in a row on the soft long sofa, all of them perfectly well-behaved.
Kuroha, meanwhile, had pulled over a chair and sat directly across from them.
Following the normal course of history, Rice Shower should have completed her True Blooming earlier than Bourbon.
But it seemed that, because of the customized fundamental athletic development plans Kuroha had created for them, their potential and physical foundation had both been improved enormously.
Instead, that had caused their True Blooming to arrive earlier.
This was not without precedent.
McQueen and Teio were the best examples.
Nearly two years of scientifically structured development had pushed their True Blooming forward by at least several months.
As for why Bourbon's increase had been greater than Rice Shower's...
At that thought, Kuroha silently looked at the black-haired girl sitting across from him with her head lowered.
Even after completing her True Blooming, even though her figure had become taller and fuller than it was back when she was a tiny little girl, that ever-present timidness still clung to her from head to toe.
Talent, effort, willpower, conviction... all of those qualities and more were important factors in creating that gap.
And that, in turn, had made Rice Shower the girl with the weakest base qualities in Chasing Light right now, aside from the still-not-grown-up Suzuka.
This was not simply a physical gap.
Poor physical qualities could be made up for through rigorous training plans and proper diet management.
But this was a gap of the spirit.
Rice Shower.
Aside from Silence Suzuka, she was the only Uma Musume in the entire Chasing Light team who had not even stepped onto the very first stage of Domain.
...
Rice Shower was different from Mihono Bourbon.
As she was now, deep in her heart, she still had not found her own reason for running.
The strongest feeling inside her was only a kind of yearning that even she herself did not fully understand.
A yearning for Mihono Bourbon, that friend of the same age as her.
Maybe there was envy mixed into it. Maybe admiration wrapped around it.
But what it lacked, and completely lacked, was her own desire to win.
In the original timeline, Rice Shower's greatest glories in life were twofold.
One was defeating Mihono Bourbon in the Kikuka Sho, cutting off her path to an undefeated Triple Crown.
The other was defeating Mejiro McQueen in the Tenno Sho (Spring), bringing an end to her bid for three straight Tenno Sho victories.
At that time, she had been one of Central's top Uma Musume, with dreams of her own, convictions of her own, and beliefs of her own.
And in that timeline, the one where Kuroha had never interfered, she had also been one of the very few Uma Musume to briefly step into the second stage of Domain through her own power.
But the Rice Shower of now...
She simply had too many shortcomings.
In the past, because Rice Shower had not yet undergone True Blooming, Kuroha had not been in a position to interfere too much or forcibly adjust her mentality, lest he end up pulling up the seedlings to help them grow.
But now, since she had already stepped into this brand-new stage, perhaps it was finally time to properly deal with that problem.
With that thought in mind, Kuroha raised his head and smiled gently.
"I really didn't expect Bourbon and Rice Shower to complete your True Blooming on the same day."
"Rice... Rice didn't expect it either."
The moment Trainer called her name, Rice Shower secretly lifted her eyes.
But she just so happened to meet Kuroha's gaze head-on.
Like she had been shocked by electricity, the girl hurriedly lowered her head again and pressed her lips tightly together.
Sitting beside her, Mihono Bourbon did not notice Rice Shower's inner nervousness at all. Instead, she calmly asked:
"So then, Master, can my training plan now be changed to the specialized plan for Chasing Light's active Uma Musume?"
(End of Chapter)
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