Kuroha did not reject Bourbon's request. Instead, he smiled and nodded.
"Your training intensity was already close to that of a fully Bloomed Uma Musume, Bourbon."
"Now that you've gone through a true transformation, shifting you to a more formal training plan is only natural."
"Besides, I already promised that once the two of you completed your True Blooming, I'd officially treat you as active racers."
At that point, Kuroha's voice paused slightly.
From the corner of his eye, he glanced at Teio, who was sitting nearby with her ears perked up, listening with obvious delight.
"Teio, how long are you planning to keep eavesdropping? Shouldn't you be at the training grounds already?"
Kuroha sighed helplessly.
"The plans for Bourbon and Rice Shower's rookie year don't really have anything to do with you as their senpai, do they?"
"Mmph... Trainer, you're so mean!"
Teio puffed out her pale cheeks in immediate protest.
Still, even though she complained out loud, she obediently put away her excessive curiosity, stood up, and headed out toward the training grounds with her usual springy steps.
After sending the restless little girl away, Kuroha straightened his expression slightly and looked back at the two Uma Musume in front of him.
"All right. Since both of you have completed your True Blooming, I'll go to the academic office this afternoon and officially register you as active Chasing Light racers."
"Starting now, you'll be able to take part in full active-roster training."
At that, both Bourbon and Rice Shower showed clear delight.
But before the joy in their eyes could fully spill over, Kuroha's next sentence, spoken in a slightly more serious tone, interrupted it.
"However, Bourbon, and Rice Shower too. Before you officially step onto the track and become active Uma Musume, I want to ask you a question first."
Kuroha turned his gaze to the left.
"First, Bourbon."
Mihono Bourbon immediately straightened her body like a precision machine receiving an instruction. With a solemn expression, she responded,
"Master, please instruct me."
"The first question."
Kuroha looked at the cute little cyber girl in front of him, gazing into those clear blue eyes as he asked softly,
"Bourbon, now that you've become an Uma Musume racer, what is your goal?"
Bourbon froze for a moment.
But almost immediately, the confidence in her eyes returned, and she answered at once:
"Report. Goal: 'Become a Triple Crown Uma Musume.' This goal was established before I even enrolled and has never changed."
Kuroha was not surprised by that answer.
He nodded, then immediately asked his second question.
"Then what kind of Uma Musume do you want to become?"
"...?"
Bourbon tilted her little head slightly, and the ahoge on top of her head swayed with it.
Then she asked in a puzzled tone,
"Master, what is the difference between those two things?"
"There is one, Bourbon."
A faint light flickered in Kuroha's eyes as he answered gently.
The cyber girl frowned slightly, clearly thinking hard.
After a long pause, she slowly shook her head.
"Unable to parse the meaning contained in Master's words. Therefore, unable to answer."
"Mhm..."
Seeing that not only Bourbon, but even the already timid Rice Shower beside her, also wore a lost, innocent expression, Kuroha paused and decided to explain it in a more direct way.
"Put it this way. Teio's goal is actually very similar to yours, Bourbon. What she wants is the Classic Triple Crown."
Once he saw Bourbon nod to show she understood, Kuroha continued:
"Then do you know what kind of Uma Musume your Teio-senpai wants to become?"
Now that she had a concrete reference point, clever as Mihono Bourbon was, she quickly searched her mind and found the answer.
"Teio-senpai's wish is... to surpass President Rudolf, and to surpass every achievement earned by the senpai in Chasing Light so far."
"To ultimately become an unparalleled Uma Musume whose glorious name will be remembered forever by the history of future generations."
"Exactly. Put simply, it's the difference between a signpost and the finish line."
Kuroha nodded in satisfaction and brought the topic back around.
"So, do you understand now? Then tell me, Bourbon. What kind of Uma Musume do you want to become?"
This time, Mihono Bourbon fell into a long silence.
After quite a while, she finally spoke, a trace of uncertainty in her voice.
"I don't know."
Mihono Bourbon.
As an Uma Musume, she had always possessed an introverted personality that was almost robotic.
She had very little true will of her own.
All her life, she had simply followed the expectations of her parents, teachers, and other adults around her, living step by step according to the path laid out for her.
Until one day.
On a television broadcast, she saw the first undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume in history, the Emperor, Symboli Rudolf.
Saw the way she ran away from the field in a G1 graded race.
In that moment, it was as though some kind of current pierced her cold internal circuitry.
For the first time in her life, she experienced the emotion called yearning.
And that was why Mihono Bourbon clung so tightly to the goal of becoming a Triple Crown Uma Musume.
Because winning the Triple Crown was one of the very few things that had ever truly belonged to her as her own will.
But now, when asked about anything beyond that one desire called Triple Crown...
The girl's internal dictionary had run completely dry.
"Is that so?"
Kuroha smiled, without the slightest intention of blaming her.
He knew his question itself was a little abstract.
Whether they could answer it or not did not really matter.
He simply wanted to hear the most honest thoughts of his girls, so that in the days ahead, he could understand them better and guide them better.
Once he finished speaking with Mihono Bourbon, Kuroha turned his head and looked at Rice Shower, who had been sitting beside them with her head lowered the entire time, as if she had been counting how many germs lived on the floorboards.
"And what about you, Rice Shower?"
At that, Rice Shower's small shoulders trembled.
She hesitated for a while, but eventually gathered her courage and lifted her little head, speaking in a weak voice.
"I... I want to become an Uma Musume who can make Trainer-onii-san... and all the people who support me... smile happily."
By the time she reached the end, her voice had become as thin as a thread.
Rice Shower fidgeted awkwardly and scratched at her head, her cheeks turning red, as if she felt very embarrassed.
"Um... somehow, compared to Bourbon, Rice's wish sounds so unambitious..."
But when she nervously looked up, she found that the black-haired trainer in front of her showed not the slightest trace of mockery.
Instead, both he and Bourbon were looking at her with very serious expressions.
"Eh?! Wh-what is it?"
"Become an Uma Musume who makes others smile happily..."
Bourbon repeated the words softly, as if turning them over in her mind.
"You don't need to be embarrassed, Rice Shower. That's a wonderful wish."
Kuroha smiled and reassured her, then asked:
"Then, Rice Shower, what's your goal?"
"..."
Rice Shower lowered her head again in distress.
The answer was obvious. She had no idea.
Win races? Defeat others?
What races was she supposed to win? Which person was she supposed to defeat?
She had no idea at all.
And she did not want to say some grand, empty nonsense she did not truly believe.
Seeing that, Kuroha fell into thought for a moment.
Rice Shower was an extremely typical pure long-distance Uma Musume, with astonishing stamina, practically like a certain skylark's replica.
You could even say she was a more specialized version.
She had the air of, "If the race is under 3000 meters, I'm not running it. And if you make me run it, I'll lose just to prove the point."
But in the Classic-year race schedule, long-distance races were painfully few.
At 3000 meters and above, there was only the Kikuka Sho.
As the trainer of both girls, Kuroha naturally had no intention of making his two Uma Musume tear into each other on the same stage unless it was absolutely necessary.
And because the Kikuka Sho eventually fed into the road toward the Takarazuka Kinen, Rice Shower was almost certainly not going to beat Mihono Bourbon in the medium-distance battlegrounds of the Satsuki Sho and the Japanese Derby.
Arranging for them to consume each other internally would bring no benefit at all, only mutual damage.
More than that, according to Kuroha's original long-term plan, Rice Shower's true stage and true peak would come in her senior year.
Once McQueen eventually began her overseas campaign, the domestic long-distance throne McQueen had ruled would be passed perfectly into Rice Shower's hands.
In a sense, that too was a form of inherited will within Chasing Light.
With that thought in mind, Kuroha spoke first.
"In that case, Rice Shower, would you be willing to hear my suggestion? Would you let me set a goal for you?"
Rice Shower looked up in surprise.
"If you still don't know what direction you should be running toward, then for now, try aiming to fulfill my goal instead."
Kuroha looked at her, his voice warm.
"If Bourbon's goal is the Classic Triple Crown, then Rice Shower, how about you go win the Triple Tiara?"
Before Rice Shower could answer, Kuroha softly added:
"That way, even if someday Rice Shower feels she didn't achieve her own goal, and couldn't become her own hero... she could still become mine."
When those words fell, the office went silent for several seconds.
Only after saying it did Kuroha realize that the little black-haired girl in front of him was staring at him blankly.
Her light violet eyes were trembling with wave after wave of ripples, as though she had fallen into some kind of dazed trance.
"Rice Shower?"
"Ah? Y-yes! Rice Shower will absolutely complete the mission!"
"?"
A question mark rose over Kuroha's head, but seeing that it was getting late, he simply clapped his hands together and concluded:
"All right. Then it's settled."
"The two of you come with me to the training grounds now. I want to see your exact changes after True Blooming with my own eyes."
As he spoke, Kuroha stood up and headed out into the hallway first.
"Yes, Master."
Behind him, Mihono Bourbon immediately rose as well, ready to follow.
But after only one step, she stopped.
Bourbon turned her head, confused, and looked at the teammate beside her.
The petite black-haired girl had raised both hands stiffly to cover her cheeks.
Rice Shower's whole face was now red like a fully ripened apple, so flushed it looked ready to drip.
Steam practically seemed to be rising from the top of her head, her pupils spinning in circles, and her lips were trembling in a wavy line.
"H-h-h... hero?!"
"Rice Shower is going to be... Trainer-onii-san's... hero?!"
"?"
Watching Rice Shower nearly melt into a puddle right beside her, the adorably blank-faced cyber girl tilted her head, while three question marks began bouncing around inside her heart.
(End of Chapter)
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