That afternoon, after assigning the day's training, Fujimura Hikaru briefly returned to the club room and review the latest training data. Out on the field, only two horse girls remained—Mejiro McQueen and Xingmu—sitting as they warmed up.
Xingmu, newly equipped with her fresh pair of running shoes, was in blazing form. The comfort underfoot let her clearly feel every moment her steps met the track.
If the old shoes had felt like driving a tractor slowly through city streets, these new ones felt like flooring the gas pedal in a Bugatti Veyron on an open expressway.
The difference was night and day.
Xingmu couldn't help admiring her trainer's eye—his picks were always top-tier quality. As expected of the trainer she'd chosen: his professional competence was the real deal.
While she was privately basking in the satisfaction of how good the shoes felt, McQueen—also in the middle of warming up—caught her attention.
More precisely, it was McQueen's shoes that caught her attention.
Xingmu recognized the brand McQueen was wearing: a well-known manufacturer with a strong reputation for quality. The issue wasn't quality at all—Xingmu clearly remembered that over the weekend, Hikaru had brought back an extra pair of shoes. And that extra pair was not the style McQueen had on now.
"McQueen, aren't you changing into new shoes?" Xingmu asked bluntly, wasting no time.
"Shoes?" McQueen looked puzzled and lowered her head to glance at her trainers. "I only bought this pair not long ago. Switching already would be way too wasteful."
"Is that so…?" Xingmu frowned slightly. McQueen didn't look like she was lying—and besides, what would she gain by lying about something like this?
But if McQueen wasn't lying… then did that mean Hikaru had lied to her?
Xingmu distinctly remembered him saying the extra pair was for someone on the team.
There were only two people on the team right now… If it wasn't for Xingmu, and it wasn't for McQueen… then who else could it be?
"Don't tell me…"
A name flashed through Xingmu's mind.
TM Opera O.
Were those extra shoes meant for TM Opera O?
While Xingmu stood there, brow knit, trying to figure out where Hikaru's spare pair had gone, a figure approached from the far end of the training grounds.
"Tazuna Hayakawa."
McQueen looked up—and sure enough, it was Tazuna, dressed in a green office-style outfit.
"Good afternoon, McQueen. Good afternoon, Xingmu," Tazuna greeted them with a warm smile. The fitted professional attire added an air of mature, capable elegance to her presence.
So… mature…
Standing in front of them, Tazuna carried a distinctly adult aura—something completely different from the students' youthful atmosphere.
"Miss Tazuna, do you need something?" Xingmu asked. In her impression, Tazuna was always busy—why would she have time to come chat with them?
"I do, actually." Tazuna nodded, then turned her gaze to McQueen. "More specifically, I need to speak with you, McQueen."
"Me?" McQueen blinked, surprised.
"There's a visitor waiting for you in the academy reception room. Please come with me."
"But I'm in the middle of training…" McQueen hesitated. She still wanted to warm up a bit longer.
Xingmu, however, reached out and gave her shoulder a gentle push. "Go ahead. When Hikaru comes back, I'll explain. Just go with Miss Tazuna for now."
"…All right." Since Xingmu put it that way, McQueen could only stop her warm-up and follow Tazuna.
—
"McQueen, you're here."
McQueen followed Tazuna into the Tracen Academy reception room. The moment she stepped inside, a voice she knew all too well reached her ears.
"Huh? Grandmother? Why are you here?!"
McQueen stared wide-eyed at the figure seated on the sofa in the center of the room.
It was none other than the head of the Mejiro family—Mejiro Asama.
"I came to see how our McQueen has been doing here," Asama said with a kindly smile.
"I'm doing great!" McQueen beamed as she reported enthusiastically. "I get along well with my classmates, I've made friends, and I even found a trainer who really matches me. Everything's been going super smoothly!"
Within the Mejiro family, no one had cared for her more than Mejiro Asama. As McQueen's grandmother, Asama viewed her as the Mejiro family's hope for challenging the new era of the Tennō Shō, and had nurtured her carefully since childhood. Ever since McQueen could remember, Asama had always been the person who treated her with the most warmth—so McQueen was especially close to her.
And now that Asama had come all this way specifically to visit, McQueen was so happy she couldn't stop smiling.
"As long as you're doing well, that's enough," Asama said gently. "But remember to come home sometimes. Your sisters miss you."
Tracen Central was a boarding school; students' lives largely revolved around the academy. Since enrolling, McQueen had gone back to the Mejiro estate far less often than before.
"Hehe, I know," McQueen replied with a bright smile.
"By the way, there's one more thing I want to ask you."
Asama paused, her expression shifting slightly as she looked at McQueen.
"What do you think of your trainer?"
"Huh? You mean Trainer Fujimura?" McQueen hadn't expected that topic to come from her grandmother at all.
"Has he wronged you in any way? Have you suffered any grievances? If so, tell your grandmother. I'll teach him a lesson."
Asama's face remained calm, but her eyes made it clear she wasn't joking.
Behind McQueen, Tazuna—who had been silent until now—broke into a nervous sweat.
That protective instinct is… a little intense, isn't it?
"No, not at all," McQueen hurried to reassure her. "He treats me well, and he's very serious about training. He wouldn't bully me."
"Is that so…"
Asama studied McQueen's face. Seeing no sign of deception, she let out a small sigh, then beckoned to the butler at her side.
In response, the butler reached into a bag he carried and placed an item into McQueen's hands.
It was a jade bangle.
"Grandmother… what is this?" McQueen looked down at it, confused.
"Take it back and give it to your trainer," Asama said. "Tell him that I was discourteous the other day. This jade has a calming, soothing effect—consider it a token of apology."
"…Huh?"
McQueen froze.
So Grandmother and Trainer Fujimura… don't get along?!
-------
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