"Welcome!"
Akikawa Yayoi wore a smile so happy it almost seemed excessive. She was not holding her fan, nor was she wearing that purple coat. It was simply a white dress paired with a purple-trimmed hat. For a moment, Fujiwara Chiya almost thought she was someone's little daughter.
"Come in, Chiya."
The door opened, and Fujiwara Chiya entered the small courtyard.
In all of Tracen, only the Director's home had this kind of setup. There was a small courtyard in front, with some flowers planted in it, and behind it stood a two-story residence. Fujiwara Chiya had only ever seen it from far away.
He nervously walked inside. Past the entrance was the living room, fully furnished with everything one could need.
"Change your shoes here."
As she spoke, Akikawa Yayoi took out a pair of slippers for him from the cabinet beside her.
This really is the Director's house!
The first floor had the kitchen and living room, while the second floor had the bedrooms.
And he would be sleeping next to the Director.
After bringing him upstairs, Akikawa Yayoi said, "From now on, you'll live here. What do you think of this room?"
"It's good… very good."
It was much bigger than his own dorm room. Everything that should be there was there. Outside, there was also a large balcony connected to the room next door. From it, he could see Tracen's two large flowerbeds, and farther away was the training ground. If this were anywhere else, it would undoubtedly be prime real estate.
However, Fujiwara Chiya could not really feel happy about it.
They called it a dormitory, but in reality, he was basically living together with Akikawa Yayoi. Especially with that balcony. If she wanted to look into his room, could she not do it whenever she pleased?
It felt like he had no privacy at all.
At this point, he might as well just sleep in the same bed directly.
"This is the key to the front door."
"Mm."
Fujiwara Chiya waited for a moment.
"Um… what about the room key?"
"There isn't one."
"There isn't!?"
"That's right. This room wasn't designed to be locked in the first place. Don't worry, Chiya. There are only the two of us here. As long as you lock the windows and front door, no one else will come in."
That's not what I'm afraid of!
Fujiwara Chiya's smile almost shattered.
Why did such a luxurious-looking room have a door that could not be locked? How had they installed this door back then? At the very least, could they not have added a latch?
"The room has no lock so it's easier for me to come in and check. Don't forget, you're currently under supervision. If you locked the door and refused to open it, I'd be quite troubled."
Fujiwara Chiya laughed dryly.
He was afraid that while he was doing something, the Director would suddenly come in and catch him red-handed. That scene would be even more awkward than his parents walking in on him while he was busy with private matters.
"In conclusion, you'll live here from now on. You can use whatever is in the living room. Just treat this place as your own home."
After saying that, the Director left.
Immediately afterward, the sound of a door opening came from next door. Fujiwara Chiya put down his luggage and collapsed onto the bed as if all his strength had left him.
From now on, he had to live with the Director.
If this was a nightmare, he wanted to wake up right now…
The only good news was that the room itself was excellent. As a dorm room, it was basically perfect. On the desk were books for training, as well as a brand-new computer. The protective film on the monitor had not even been peeled off yet. It looked like it had been bought recently.
Fujiwara Chiya checked it.
The specs were quite high, much better than his own computer.
Well…
No matter what, he would be living here for a while. He might as well get used to it early.
After putting away his luggage, Fujiwara Chiya prepared to return to his office.
As he passed by the Director's room, he saw Akikawa Yayoi lying on her stomach on the bed, eating snacks while reading manga. Her pale legs swung back and forth on the bed, forming a sharp contrast with her usual serious appearance.
The hat on her head had also been tossed aside, and her orange ears twitched lightly. Just looking at them made a person want to rub them.
Fujiwara Chiya suppressed the urge to reach out and touch them.
Seeing the Director like this, she really was just an ordinary loli!
The original nervousness of being supervised by his superior had somehow turned into the nervousness of secretly hiding a loli.
Wait, wasn't the Director older than me?
"Uwah?"
Akikawa Yayoi's ears turned slightly. She looked back and saw Fujiwara Chiya at the doorway.
"Are you going out?"
"To the office."
"Go early and come back early."
As she said that, Akikawa Yayoi turned over and continued reading her manga.
Fujiwara Chiya had thought the Director would be extremely strict even at home. He had already prepared himself to treat this period as military training. But it seemed the Director was very casual when she was at home. She even held out an opened bag of chips and asked if Chiya wanted some.
Maybe he did not have to be so nervous.
After organizing the training materials in his office, Fujiwara Chiya went to the library.
Recently, he planned to study the senior trainer curriculum. Calling it study was not quite accurate, though. The amount of knowledge itself did not increase that much. The difference between intermediate and senior trainer mainly lay in accumulated experience and understanding of uma musume.
"Complete Analysis of Uma Musume Running…"
Fujiwara Chiya found the book he wanted. Just as he reached out, someone beside him touched it first.
The aged skin was cracked from lack of moisture. The other person wore a round hat, and his withered face carried perfectly round sunglasses. Seeing the old man's appearance, Fujiwara Chiya immediately knew who he was.
There were only two people in Tracen who liked wearing sunglasses.
One was Kuronuma.
The other was the old man in front of him, Musaka Ginjiro.
He was also a senior trainer, and the trainer of the legendary uma musume, Oguri Cap.
The other man also noticed Fujiwara Chiya. He adjusted his sunglasses, both hands resting on his cane.
"Trainer Fujiwara," he said.
"H-Hello…"
Because the age gap between them was too large, Fujiwara Chiya had basically never spoken with him much. Even if they talked about training, with Chiya's experience, he would not be able to keep up with him.
The few times they had spoken, it had also been because the other man had asked several strange questions.
The first was, "Your surname is Fujiwara?"
The second was, "Are you Fujiwara Zenya's son?"
After those two sentences, they had no further interaction.
"Complete Analysis of Uma Musume Running. Are you studying the senior trainer curriculum?"
Musaka Ginjiro rarely continued the conversation.
"Yes."
"In that case, the place you should come to is not the library, but the racetrack. There is no better place to absorb experience than the racecourse."
He took the book down and handed it to Chiya.
"I heard about you from Shihandai. He said he had never met a trainer who went searching for the Domain at such a young age."
Fujiwara Chiya could feel those hawk-like eyes looking at him from behind the sunglasses.
"You are almost exactly like that fellow. He also began searching for the Domain when he was young, that damn brat."
Musaka Ginjiro gripped his cane, as if remembering something, then snorted.
"If you spend all day sitting in the library, you will never become a senior trainer in your life. Put down your books and go to the racetrack. Watch races. Watch the movements of those uma musume. That will be far more useful than this book."
After saying that, he left with his cane.