"This really is strange…"
During training, Mejiro Dober looked at Chiya and muttered to herself.
"What's strange?"
Gold Ship leaned in beside her.
"Trainer and Shirayuki. Don't you think they've been too close these past few days?"
Training had just ended, and Chiya was already crouching beside Shirayuki, massaging her calves. Even if he was taking care of his uma musume, surely he did not need to go that far.
"True. Why isn't Trainer massaging mine? This great Gold Ship-sama is tired too! Damn it, I'm going over there too!"
With that, Gold Ship strode toward them.
"That's not what I meant…"
"Trainer!"
Gold Ship plopped down beside Shirayuki.
"Hurry up. Serve me."
"What illness are you acting up with now?"
"You're already doing this for Shirayuki, so are you planning to just ignore the rest of us? Or do you only favor Shirayuki? We're all brothers who have shared hardships together, you know. Isn't it too much to act like a scumbag who plays with us and throws us away once you're bored? I'm telling you, the resentment of an uma musume is very strong!"
"There's a reason for this. I'm following a medical process."
"What process…"
Gold Ship suddenly leaned close to him and pulled his ear, whispering,
"What exactly are you trying to do, Trainer? Didn't we agree that you and Shirayuki would build a harem together? Now you and Shirayuki have gotten together, so what happens to the harem? You two are satisfied, but won't the others go crazy? I advise you to turn back before it's too late, or you won't even know how you died."
What the hell!
I'm running around doing everything for the race, and Gold Ship's head is full of nothing but dirty nonsense!
"In any case, more and more people are getting dissatisfied with you now. If you know what's good for you, you should share the favor equally. Emotional intelligence, Trainer. Emotional intelligence."
Emotional intelligence, my ass!
Fujiwara Chiya almost ground his teeth to pieces.
But it was true that these past few days, all of his effort had gone into Shirayuki. After all, she was going to challenge the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and the Arc was also twenty-four hundred meters, the same as the Oaks. In other words, if Shirayuki had the ability to conquer the Oaks, then she also had the potential to run the Arc.
That was why Fujiwara Chiya was so focused on her.
But focusing on Shirayuki also meant spending less energy on everyone else.
Fujiwara Chiya turned his head and looked at Rice and the others. Their eyes seemed to carry a faint trace of envy. Rice especially looked like a little animal that had been abandoned.
Fujiwara Chiya glanced at Gold Ship's grinning face, then finally pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You all… whoever wants it, come here. I'll help you relax a little."
"Rice wants to!"
"Um, I-I'll try too…"
"Guinea Pig-kun, I'll leave my side to you as well."
Everyone made the same request.
The corners of Fujiwara Chiya's mouth twitched. For the first time, he felt, So I actually have this many uma musume.
Come to think of it, ordinary trainers would never do this kind of thing. It was not like he was their caretaker.
Fujiwara Chiya massaged Rice Shower's calves. Her face turned faintly red, and she let out soft, delicate breaths. While he kneaded, she even raised her foot and lightly brushed it against Fujiwara Chiya's arm, murmuring "Onii-sama~" under her breath before showing a smile.
Although, maybe caretaker was not quite the right word either…
"Guinea Pig-kun."
When it was Agnes Tachyon's turn, she asked Fujiwara Chiya,
"During the last mock race, you seemed to have successfully entered the Domain. Could it be that you have already grasped the trick?"
Fujiwara Chiya pressed her leg while answering,
"I guess I've grasped a little. It feels like I can actively enter that detached state, but the success rate isn't high. I tried during previous training, but it didn't work."
"Even so, your success rate for entering the Domain is already dozens of times higher than others. But I don't think this is necessarily good news."
"Why?"
"The stimulation of potential places extremely high demands on the body. Given that you have two brains, one becoming overly concentrated should not cause the other to lose consciousness. I lean toward the idea that when you entered the virtual reality state, the two brains were disconnected. So I think this Domain is different from a true Domain."
"A true Domain…"
"That's right. Like the one Rudolf displayed, drawing out the body's potential without reservation. You saw her strength too. She is unquestionably number one. I asked Jingu-kun to run calculations using your body data. In the last race, your maximum speed should have been three to five meters per second faster."
But Shirayuki had not achieved that.
"Well… saying this now won't help. We still need more experiments to see exactly where the problem lies."
Agnes Tachyon moved her ankle, signaling for Fujiwara Chiya to massage that area, then continued,
"I'll call you once everything is ready. Keep some time open."
Finally, it was Mejiro Dober's turn.
She sat in front of Fujiwara Chiya with her face completely red.
In the past, she had even scolded Trainer for being a pervert who harassed people because of this kind of thing. Yet today, she was sitting here herself.
"How has your body been recently? Is training going all right?"
Fujiwara Chiya asked as usual.
"Thanks to you, Trainer-san, it's been all right."
"I should explain this, Dober. I'm not massaging Shirayuki because I'm favoring her. Her constitution is special."
"Yes, I know…"
Looking at Fujiwara Chiya as he carefully helped her, Mejiro Dober felt an itch in her heart. This was the first time a man had touched her like this, but what Mejiro Dober felt was not fear or disgust.
It was embarrassment and happiness.
At the same time, Mejiro Dober confirmed something.
She could fully accept Trainer.
After treating everyone in the same way, Fujiwara Chiya let out a long breath. The surrounding trainers all cast envious looks at him.
Having uma musume line up for you to massage their feet.
This was already the peak of being a trainer.
If Fujiwara Chiya knew what they were thinking, he would definitely curse at them. Do not treat this as some beautiful thing. No matter how pretty an uma musume was, after they had just finished running, their bodies were warm and damp. Touching them felt sticky. The smell of sweat, soap, and body scent all mixed together and spread out through their socks. It was not exactly what one would call pleasant.
Even Rice, who smelled the best, had a milky scent mixed with a bit of saltiness.
Fujiwara Chiya had kept a stern expression the whole time because he was afraid that if he smelled the scent from their legs, he might show a strange expression and be noticed. He was genuinely afraid of being beaten half to death by an embarrassed and angry uma musume.
Just as Fujiwara Chiya was standing in the breeze and taking a breather, Hayakawa Tazuna walked over with medicinal ingredients in hand.
"Chiya, I brought them."
"Thanks."
"What do you need these for?"
"They're for Shirayuki. I want to take better care of her body. I checked last night. Shirayuki's body is excellent. If we can improve her one weakness, it'll be even better."
Hearing that, Hayakawa Tazuna showed a strange expression.
"Um… if I understood correctly, Chiya, did you do something to your own female body?"
"More or less."
"Eh? But Chiya, that's still you."
"Right. What's wrong with that?"
Why do all of you act like the sky is falling whenever Shirayuki and I do something?