Under Kitasan Black's sophistry, not only did Satono Crown fail to uncover the truth—she ended up completely confused.
"If there's nothing else, let's end this here, Crown-san."
"Yes. I'm truly sorry for my thoughtlessness. As an apology, let me treat you to tea sometime."
"No need. Just don't look at me through those rose-colored glasses anymore."
Kitasan Black had zero interest in having tea with Crown-ojousama.
She absolutely would not trigger any event that might raise affection levels.
"..." Satono Crown silently watched Kitasan Black.
Was it really just my prejudice?
She didn't understand. She only felt she couldn't see through Kitakami-san at all.
Though she did think Kitasan Black's words had some logic, deep down she still felt Kitasan Black hadn't been truthful. Because she sensed not a shred of frustration from Kitakami-san—was that really how someone who'd lost a race should act?
"Goodbye."
Kitasan Black had no intention of getting closer to this young lady. Problem solved, she chose to exit immediately.
She left Satono Crown behind and headed back the way they'd come.
Satono Crown instinctively wanted to stop her, but couldn't find any reason to.
Her outstretched hand hung in the air, then fell in disappointment.
Her mind was a jumbled mess. She needed time alone to think things through.
And so, the conversation ended there.
After both Kitasan Black and Satono Crown left, Satono Diamond carefully peeked out from behind a tree.
She hadn't expected to overhear such explosive news.
(Crown... actually thinks Kitakami-san was holding back in that race?)
Knowing Crown's personality very well, Satono Diamond didn't believe Crown would accuse Kitakami-san without any basis. And though Kitakami-san's response had been impeccable and Crown herself had been talked in circles, Diamond sensed something was off.
Something was wrong.
With both of them.
Crown wasn't some capricious young lady. She wasn't the type to act on whims.
So if she thought Kitakami-san had been holding back, there must be some basis for it—she just hadn't stated it for some reason.
In Diamond's heart, Crown was an incredibly reliable older sister figure—a superhuman who could accomplish anything.
Because no matter what Crown attempted, she always succeeded in the end.
Even when she occasionally made things worse through carelessness, she'd always manage to sort it out perfectly.
Satono Diamond actually admired Crown quite a lot.
So in her view, Crown couldn't possibly be mistaken about someone so easily.
Though Crown had been a bit impulsive this time.
But Diamond still believed in Crown's judgment. She believed there had to be a reason!
And Kitakami-san's behavior really was suspicious.
Based on her previous observations, she'd concluded that Kitakami-san was an energy-saving minimalist with absolutely zero passion—the type who wouldn't waste effort explaining herself even when misunderstood, as long as it didn't affect her life.
Satono Diamond even felt Kitakami-san had no concept of passion whatsoever. A hopeless case.
So Kitasan Black's reaction just now seemed rushed in Diamond's eyes.
That eager defense, even aggressive—this wasn't how Kitakami-san normally behaved at all.
Not only had she firmly denied Crown's suspicions, she'd deliberately used verbal tactics to pressure Crown.
Cold, detached—fitting Kitakami-san's public image perfectly. But it completely contradicted what Kitakami-san was like in private.
Unless Kitakami-san was also wearing a mask when they interacted in the dorms, Diamond couldn't believe that reaction had been genuine.
And if Kitakami-san was putting on an act even in the dorms, that only proved there was something wrong with her.
(So... do I think Crown is right? That Kitakami-san really was holding back?)
That would mean denying her own hard-won victory. But Satono Diamond couldn't forget what those two reporters had said.
"Number 4's performance was the best in the entire race."
"She'll definitely become an outstanding uma musume in the future."
Satono Diamond knew who that reporter was.
The senior reporter was the chief editor of a major publication. His eye for talent was even sharper than some trainers'.
And then there was Father's unusual reaction.
Before today's race, Father had viewed Kitakami-san as merely his good friend's daughter. He'd arranged her transfer here only because of his friendship with Mr. Kitakami—his actual opinion of Kitakami-san herself wasn't high.
But today, Father had suddenly changed his view of Kitakami-san.
Father, who normally couldn't care less about elementary school races, was overjoyed specifically because she'd beaten Kitakami-san.
If Father still held his previous opinion of Kitakami-san, given his awful personality, he would have taken it for granted that his daughter would win.
With so many people seeing something special in Kitakami-san, Satono Diamond had to start wondering if she'd missed something.
That race—Kitakami-san really had been holding back.
She hadn't actually won at all.
Not only that, she hadn't even noticed Kitakami-san was holding back.
(Crown's distraction at the end... was that because Kitakami-san affected her?)
Thinking about it made Satono Diamond's mood plummet.
What was this supposed to mean?
What was that race supposed to be?
Her victory was actually this laughable?
Unforgivable!
She couldn't forgive herself for not seeing the truth, for being pleased with such a hollow victory!
And even more unforgivable was the person who'd tainted the sanctity of competition!
What did that person think racing was? What did she think everyone's feelings were?
Never had Satono Diamond hated someone this much.
(Kitakami-san, someone like you has no right to be an uma musume!)
Having just returned to the training grounds, Kitasan Black suddenly felt an eerie chill, as if something bad had already happened.
She nervously scanned her surroundings.
Just my imagination?
Or has Crown-ojousama already calmed down and figured something out?
The very thought exhausted her.
Why did someone always have to come disrupt her peaceful life?
"Kita-chan, did you have a good talk with your classmate? The misunderstanding should be cleared up now, right?"
Her mother seemed to think she and Crown-ojousama had some kind of falling out.
Kitasan Black nodded. The matter was settled, for now.
But contrary to what her mother thought, there had never been any bad blood between her and Crown-ojousama. They were just ordinary classmates.
At that moment, the old man came back from next door looking annoyed.
"What's wrong?"
"It's that Osamu. He had the nerve to gloat about his daughter beating Kita-chan."
He didn't mind his friend bragging about his own kids.
But putting down his precious daughter in the process was something he couldn't accept as a father.
"Kita-chan just started training. Losing isn't strange. That Osamu really is small-minded."
"Oh, you. Don't you show off about Kita-chan to them all the time? This is karma."
"I just can't stand that smug look on his face."
He'd gone over to congratulate the man on his daughter's win, only to be mocked. That guy's emotional intelligence was as low as ever.
He really couldn't figure out how someone like that had managed to build such a large company and catch the eye of the Satomi family head. Even he found the guy insufferable despite owing him a favor. That the man had survived this long without being beaten to death was honestly a miracle.
Kitasan Black nervously hid behind her mother. The old man had just been needled by Chairman Satomi—surely he wasn't going to push her harder now?
After all, not being able to stand seeing other people's kids excel was a trait all ambitious parents shared.
But her father didn't say anything like "you have to beat the Satomi girl next time." He complained about Chairman Satomi for a bit, then dropped the subject.
In his view, this was between him and that guy—it had nothing to do with the Satomi girl or Kita-chan.
He just hated Satomi's low EQ. Back in their school days, Satomi's emotional intelligence hadn't been great either, but at least it wasn't this bad.
But the current Satomi... honestly, after these few encounters, he had absolutely no desire to see the man again.
Because interacting with that guy seriously gave him high blood pressure.
After the remaining races concluded, the afternoon sports day moved on to general events.
Satono Diamond had signed up for fencing, while Satono Crown did volleyball.
Both performed brilliantly.
Their opponents all felt these two young ladies were even stronger than usual—they couldn't steal a moment of the spotlight.
It was easy to predict that many publications would soon be featuring stories about the new generation of Satomi heirs.
But none of that concerned Kitasan Black.
She was browsing the stalls. Though this was a sports day, they'd set it up like a festival, with vendor booths everywhere you'd normally only see at celebrations.
After extracting some cash from the old man, Kitasan Black hit up the stalls to eat and drink to her heart's content.
What surprised her, though, was that quite a few of these stalls belonged to her family.
"Little apprentice, try some of your senior's special takoyaki! Guaranteed to remind you of home!"
"And take some of my candied apples! Here, take more and share with your friends!"
Kitasan Black touched the unspent bills in her pocket, then stared in bewilderment at the mountain of snacks now piled in her arms.
She'd never imagined her senior disciples had gotten in as vendors. No wonder they'd been making such a ruckus earlier without attracting security. For a moment, she almost felt like she was back on the shopping street near home.
"That's enough! I can't carry any more!"
Looking at her enthusiastic senior disciples, she had no choice but to beat a hasty retreat.
She couldn't bring herself to tell them she hadn't made any friends here yet.
Saying that would just be weird, considering she had plenty of friends back home.
Looking at the pile of snacks in her arms, Kitasan Black felt a headache coming on. Even she couldn't eat all of this.
And snacks weren't like regular meals—eat too many and you'd definitely gain weight.
Most of these were either fried or grilled, all high-calorie foods.
So Kitasan Black steeled herself, and whenever she saw a classmate pass by, she'd randomly select an item to give them.
Quite a few students were baffled by her behavior.
Why is she giving me food?
Does she want to get on my good side?
Several young ladies watched with interested expressions.
But after seeing Kitasan Black do this to nearly every student she encountered, their expressions became harder to control.
Just how many relationships is she trying to cultivate?!
After giving away most of the food, a much lighter Kitasan Black breathed a sigh of relief.
Good thing she had thick skin. Otherwise she'd really be stuck.
If McQueen-senpai encountered this situation, she definitely couldn't handle it the same way.
Thinking about it, she was curious how McQueen-senpai would deal with something like this, given how that person always maintained her perfect lady image in public.
Then an image popped into Kitasan Black's mind.
A cold-faced McQueen walking to a trash can and mercilessly dumping everything inside.
(No, no, no. Even McQueen-senpai wouldn't go that far, right?)
Though if it were McQueen-senpai, she'd probably just coldly refuse when someone tried to give her food in the first place.
Kitasan Black thought, if only she could do that too—then she wouldn't need to keep up this pretense.
Because if it were McQueen-senpai, and her family really tried to force her into something she didn't want, she'd absolutely dare to rebel, even leave home.
But Kitasan Black couldn't bring herself to reject others' goodwill. She couldn't even ignore someone in trouble when she saw them.
It was precisely because she was this kind of person at heart that she wore this mask. Because if she didn't, she'd never have a peaceful life.
"I heard you can get free snacks from Kitakami-san?"
Satono Crown, having finished her volleyball match, heard her classmates discussing this on the snack street and immediately found Kitasan Black.
She just couldn't stop thinking about Kitakami-san after all.
Kitasan Black: "..."
...
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