Chapter 124.
In the end, Shuta An summarized a total of seven questions.
Then, being polite, he called Admire Vega's family ahead of time and arranged a visit for two days later.
He left himself one free day to choose gifts for the visit. Since it was his first time coming over and he was asking about their daughter, he felt it would be rude not to bring something.
Although there was still plenty of time, I'll be going to Hong Kong the week after next to accompany Dober for her final preparations for the Hong Kong Cup. In practice, I only have this week.
I need to get it done early.
Still, he was already mentally prepared for a long-term standoff with Admire Vega.
If she was hiding something, he wanted to uncover it before extending an invitation to her.
Admire Vega's family lived in Kita Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, in Kansai.
They ran a demolition engineering company called Gobuild Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 70 million yen — clearly not a large enterprise.
When Shuta An saw the company's registered capital in the report, a strange idea even crossed his mind: maybe he could simply overwhelm Admire Vega with money.
Sure enough, I've been listening to Teio talk about those strange novels Mayano Top Gun reads a little too much lately.
He quietly scolded himself before returning to the report.
He was certain there were still persistent trainers at the Academy who intended to keep pursuing Admire Vega, but given her personality, such relentless pressure would almost certainly have no positive effect.
I hope tomorrow's visit goes smoothly.
That thought lingered in his mind as he looked at the shopping voucher for CafeFate, a famous dessert shop in Kita Ward, Osaka City, which he had received from Oguri Cap.
Honestly, it had been a long time since he had felt this way.
The next morning, after breakfast, Shuta An boarded the shinkansen for Osaka City.
After arriving in Kita Ward, he first went to CafeFate with the voucher and bought several desserts suitable as gifts. Once the shop had packed them neatly, he carried the boxes and headed for the address provided by Admire Vega's family.
It only took him about twenty minutes on foot to reach the destination.
Standing at the gate, he shifted the gift boxes to his left hand and pressed the doorbell.
Very soon, someone came out to greet him.
A well-kept woman stepped outside. The moment she saw the young man standing there, a flash of surprise passed through her eyes, but it vanished almost immediately. She quickly composed herself and opened the door for him.
"Good to meet you for the first time, madam," Shuta An said with a slight bow. "I'm a trainer from Central Tracen Academy, and my name is—"
"Good morning, Shuta-kun. Pleased to meet you."
The woman returned his greeting with a smile and a bow.
"My husband and I of course know your name. As a fan of Miss Oguri Cap, it would be impolite not to recognize you."
"You flatter me."
Shuta An handed over the gift boxes.
"I'm here today because of Miss Admire Vega."
When he had contacted the family, he had not given his name — only that he was a trainer from Central Tracen Academy.
Even so, Admire Vega's mother had not known exactly who he was.
But the fact that a trainer had taken interest in her daughter, who had only recently enrolled, was already a very welcome thing, so she had gone to the trouble of cleaning the house thoroughly the day before.
Now she was glad she had insisted that her husband stay home today.
After all, with the current top trainer in Japan coming to visit in person, she did not think she could handle it alone.
Later, seated on the sofa, Shuta An took a sip of the still-steaming barley tea.
He set the cup down on the coffee table, straightened his back, and looked across at Admire Vega's parents, who sat upright opposite him.
"Hello, Mr. Kondo. I don't think I need to introduce myself anymore."
Shuta An's tone was calm.
"I came here because I greatly admired your daughter's performance in the Central Tracen Academy mock race a few days ago."
"Excuse me, but as far as I know, trainers at Central Tracen Academy don't need to contact parents in order to recruit Uma Musume," Mr. Kondo said with a frown. "So did Ayabe do something that made Shuta-kun come all the way to Osaka Prefecture?"
"Well…"
Shuta An rubbed the side of his nose.
"At first, I intended to invite her after the race. But Miss Admire Vega publicly said she had no intention of joining any team."
Mrs. Kondo let out a quiet sigh.
Mr. Kondo's face also turned troubled.
His voice was filled with apology when he replied, "I'm very sorry. If Shuta-kun wants us to persuade Ayabe, neither of us can do that. It's not that we don't want to — we just can't."
"Eh?"
Shuta An was startled.
He had not intended to ask them to persuade her, but Mr. Kondo's words only made him more curious.
"Excuse me, but could you tell me why you can't persuade her?" he asked quickly.
"How should I put it…"
Mrs. Kondo's expression softened into memory.
"The old Ayabe was a child who loved to run. To support that hobby, we often took her to Tokyo to compete in various children-only races. Ayabe won often, and neither ordinary children nor Uma Musume could beat her."
She paused briefly.
"But two years ago, she suddenly told us that she no longer wanted to take part in those races."
"At the time, we thought she had simply grown tired of winning all the time, so we suggested she leave her previous elementary school and transfer to Central Tracen Academy," Mr. Kondo continued. "Ayabe agreed very readily, but she didn't actually enroll until this year, when she finally took the entrance exam."
Everything matched the findings from Shuta An's background check.
"So the key point is two years ago, then," he said.
"Ever since Ayabe told us she didn't want to join the Pony Cups anymore, she's felt like a different child," Mrs. Kondo said, pursing her lips. "She hasn't been as bright or cheerful as she used to be. Her whole demeanor became so much more melancholy."
She lowered her head, and her voice turned bitter.
"I truly don't know what happened to her."
"And I don't know who made the old Ayabe — the one who always smiled — disappear."
She clenched her hands slightly.
"I hate that person."
Shuta An did not push the matter further. Instead, he changed the subject.
"And I have one more question. Since Miss Admire Vega participated in so many Pony Cups, did she receive regular, thorough physical examinations?"
Central Tracen Academy naturally carried out a health check when an Uma Musume enrolled, but that only confirmed her basic physical condition. It did not examine anything more detailed.
If it had, there would not be so many unlucky trainers signing promising girls only to have them injured in a race later, and then discover a congenital issue at a follow-up examination.
"She has a physical examination every year, and Ayabe has always been very healthy."
Mrs. Kondo was very confident in her daughter's condition.
"After all, she loved running since she was little, so we started raising her with the methods used for Uma Musume very early on."
"Just ordinary physical examinations, then."
That thought flashed through Shuta An's mind.
But even so, it still did not explain everything.
"If possible, I suggest that Miss Admire Vega undergo a more detailed examination in Tokyo," he said. "I'm not saying there's something wrong with her body. It's only to be safe."
"I'll keep that in mind," Mr. Kondo replied.
Shuta An then took out his notebook and continued asking.
"Next question. Has Miss Admire Vega ever received coaching specifically for young Uma Musume?"
"No," Mrs. Kondo said with a helpless, bitter smile. "Actually, in Japan, unless it's an Uma Musume family, that kind of situation is very rare, isn't it? Our family's finances are not bad, as you can see, but when it comes to coaching children for competitions, not only would the salary be hard to arrange, finding a capable teacher would be even harder."
"That's true."
Only then did Shuta An realize that the coaching center he had invested in and supported in Kasamatsu was truly an exceptionally advanced idea.
After asking several more questions, he felt he had gained a fairly solid understanding of Admire Vega's circumstances.
He still could not say with certainty that this information would make him able to persuade her, but his confidence had returned.
However, before ending the visit, he had one last question.
"Does Miss Admire Vega have any siblings?"
That question had not come from Shuta An himself.
Oguri Cap had suggested it after learning what he was planning to do.
At the time, the Gray Uma Musume's reasoning had sounded quite reasonable.
"An only child and a girl with siblings will not be raised the same way, and their mindset will develop differently from a young age. It can't be said one is better than the other, but you have to approach them differently depending on the situation."
"I can already see from Admire Vega's background check that she has no siblings. She's an only child," Shuta An had answered without hesitation.
"What if she had siblings who died young?" Oguri Cap had countered.
The moment he heard that, a flash of intuition passed through Shuta An's mind, as if he had touched on something important.
But when he tried to think about it carefully, the feeling vanished without a trace.
Still, he wrote the question down and asked Mr. and Mrs. Kondo at the end of today's visit.
At that, Mrs. Kondo lowered her head, and Mr. Kondo's expression darkened as well.
"I'm sorry. If that question is difficult to answer—"
Shuta An raised both hands slightly.
Just by looking at their reactions, he could tell that something had happened in the Kondo family.
He could also guess that the reason for Admire Vega's change was likely hidden in the answer to this question.
"It's fine," Mr. Kondo said after a pause. "There's nothing difficult about answering it."
He took a breath and continued.
"My wife only gave birth once. At that time, she gave birth to twins. That is, Ayabe and her younger sister."
Shuta An's pupils tightened.
"Our youngest daughter had no heartbeat or breathing after birth. She was stillborn," Mr. Kondo said, closing his eyes. "So on paper, Ayabe is an only child, but that isn't the full truth."
"I'm sorry."
Shuta An lowered his head.
"Please accept my condolences."
"Ayabe knew about this since she was very young," Mrs. Kondo added. "She said she wanted to run for her sister, and she actively took part in many races because of that. So I don't think this is the reason she gave up racing two years ago."
She shook her head.
"I never intended to hide this from Ayabe, and I never meant to use it to provoke her either."
"She knew since childhood... then it's impossible for it to have only affected her two years ago," Shuta An thought, dismissing that possibility in his mind.
Shuta An stood up and bowed deeply.
"Thank you. This visit has really helped me a lot."
He lifted his head and looked at them seriously.
"I still want to recruit Miss Admire Vega to my team, and I'll do my best to help her become an Uma Musume who can succeed in the Twinkle Series."
"We're ashamed that we can't help persuade Ayabe ourselves, but we'll leave it to Shuta-kun," Mr. and Mrs. Kondo said quickly, standing and bowing in return.
"I'll do my utmost. It would be a terrible shame if such a talented Uma Musume could not shine in the Twinkle Series."
Even as he said this, Shuta An felt a faint sense of disappointment while leaving.
Today's visit had made Admire Vega feel more real to him, but he still had not grasped the core of the problem.
He still did not know why her personality had changed so drastically two years ago.
He was certain that only by understanding that would he be able to persuade her to join the team and accept training.
"What exactly is it for?" he muttered as he walked toward the station.
Meanwhile, in the dormitory of Central Tracen Academy, Curren Chan looked curiously at her roommate, who had just put down her phone, and tilted her head.
Just now, Admire Vega had answered a call.
Throughout the entire conversation, she had only spoken three times.
"I'm here."
"I see."
"I understand."
"That's very typical of Ayabe-chan," Curren Chan thought, since she was already used to it.
But she really could not imagine who would call Admire Vega at this hour.
After all, Admire Vega's social circle was still very simple.
She did not seem to have any stable private contact with her classmates.
"It really makes Curren curious," Curren Chan thought as she pulled on a pair of 80D gray velvet tights.
Soon, she would be taking some cozy promotional photos for a new shoe line from a Lolita brand founded a few years earlier.
And as Curren Chan put on her tights, Admire Vega's gaze unconsciously flicked toward them.
"These shoes don't feel fluffy at all," she judged in her heart, using her own standards.