By the time Offside Trap and Goodbye Halo had finalized all the details of the race outfit, two full hours had already passed.
Shinji could understand that girls cared about looking good. But because he was the one who had been waiting, the moment Offside Trap came out, she could clearly sense the impatience hidden beneath Terazumi Shinji's calm expression.
She walked softly over to where he stood half-turned away from them, hesitated for a moment, then lightly poked him in the waist.
Caught completely off guard, Shinji instinctively dodged and jumped a whole step away.
The reaction was so exaggerated that both Offside Trap and Goodbye Halo could not help smiling.
"Your horse girl has good taste," Goodbye Halo remarked. "She has ideas of her own."
"But she isn't trying to become a designer."
Goodbye Halo's expression froze for a second, a touch of indignation surfacing on her face, but Shinji paid it no mind. After thanking her quietly, he turned and walked out.
Offside Trap hurried after him at once. Seeing that, the now-free shop assistant came over to Goodbye Halo's side.
"It doesn't really seem like her trainer likes her very much."
Women tended to notice small things, and the assistant had gleaned a fair bit from the little details in how they interacted.
"Maybe," Goodbye Halo replied noncommittally, watching Offside Trap's retreating back with something complicated in her eyes.
She knew a little of that horse girl's story already, and that was precisely why she hoped to see her finally shine.
The assistant glanced at her manager in surprise, easily catching the note of expectation hidden in her tone.
But she asked no further questions. This shop had seen far too many horse girls come and go. Some were meteors that flashed and vanished. Others became famous far and wide. When she had first started working here, the assistant too had once felt excited and exhilarated whenever she came into contact with them.
Now, though, she had long since grown used to it.
No matter what kind of future those horse girls might have, it would have nothing to do with her.
As Goodbye Halo turned and walked back into her office, the assistant cast one last glance toward the escalator, where the pair had already disappeared from sight, then quietly gathered herself and returned to her station.
…
"Trainer, where are we going next?"
Offside Trap asked with a trace of anticipation. Finalizing the race outfit had indeed taken quite a while, but there was still plenty of time left in the day.
"We're going to take the photo, and then we're heading back to the academy."
Shinji answered in a level tone, pretending not to notice what she was really hoping for.
"All right."
She clicked her tongue softly in disappointment, but said nothing more. Instead, when she saw him looking for a photo booth, she took the initiative and led the way.
This was Terazumi Shinji's first time using a self-service photo booth.
Back when he had just finished his trainer certification exam and was about to become a trainer, the photo he submitted with his registration form had not been the official kind required at all. It had only been a simple selfie.
The student council had originally wanted him to resubmit it properly, but thanks to his grades—and some help from Hayakawa—his form had ultimately been accepted as it was.
Looking back on it now, aside from Hayakawa's assistance, a person's grades and reputation really did matter. Even a place like the student council, which valued its authority so highly, could still make exceptions.
[That's why I said you used to be stupid. With results like yours, you should've chosen a horse girl with real potential. Resources only ever get better and better. You missed too many opportunities.]
The system's merciless ridicule echoed through his head.
Shinji pressed his lips together and offered no rebuttal. The system was being too bluntly truthful, and no matter how irritated he felt, he could not come up with any elegant response.
"Trainer?"
Offside Trap, who had been just about to press the button to take the picture, noticed that Shinji's expression had suddenly turned rather unnatural.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
She could tell he probably had something on his mind, but she did not ask. Instead, she simply smiled at him.
"I just wanted you to smile a little. You'd look better that way."
Uh—
Shinji had not intended to smile. But thinking of the faint disappointment she had shown earlier, he forced one out anyway.
Offside Trap immediately broke into a happy smile.
Even though Shinji did not actually look any better when he smiled, she still felt that, in that moment, her trainer seemed much more endearing.
That slightly awkward, half-hearted smile made the usually severe man seem a little more approachable.
Click.
The sound of the shutter, the instant flash—although he had been prepared for it, Shinji still ended up blinking at the last second.
He let the smile fall from his face and watched as the photograph slowly slid out of the machine.
The man in the picture really did not look very good when he smiled.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji glanced at Offside Trap's expression, only to find complete satisfaction on her face.
For a moment he stood there in a daze.
He had never realized that horse girls could be satisfied so easily.
[What, finally realized how completely wrong you were?]
Something like that. I underestimated how much resentment she carries inside toward this world's unfairness.
The system's laughter was completely unrestrained, making Shinji feel a little embarrassed and annoyed.
So he lifted the curtain of the photo booth and strode out in one large step.
Behind him, Offside Trap held the photo in her hand. She looked at the man in the picture, then at the man beyond the curtain, where his right leg was fidgeting slightly up and down with visible unease. A hint of amusement rose in her eyes.
Sakura Laurel had not been wrong. Those first impressions that lived only on the surface would always begin to change the more time one spent together.
She followed him out slowly.
That momentary embarrassment of his had not escaped her at all. Was it because he thought he looked bad in the photo? Or because one of his rare smiles had been captured forever?
Offside Trap did not know.
But her trainer probably needed a little "comfort" right now.
Those newly debuted horse girls did not understand it yet, but if one set aside the fact that trainers trained them, those trainers were still people too—with their own emotions, their own frustrations, and all kinds of things they found difficult.
When necessary, they needed comfort from the girls as well.
Thinking of the meaning hidden behind Sakura Laurel's smile when she had said that, Offside Trap remembered that Laurel had always had an excellent relationship with her own trainer. Even though he later took on many more horse girls, not one of them had ever managed to displace Sakura Laurel in his heart.
No wonder Sakura Laurel had once dismissed them as "just a bunch of little girls."
Trying to appear natural, yet also careful, Offside Trap looped a hand around Shinji's arm. Starlight shimmered in her eyes as she asked in a sweet voice under his startled gaze:
"What's wrong? Do you want to take it again?"
Shinji did not quite react at first. It was only when Offside Trap waved her other hand in front of him that he finally came back to himself.
Instinctively, he pulled his arm out of her grasp.
He was just about to say something when, in the instant he withdrew, he saw Offside Trap's expression change slightly.
And so the words that came out were gentler than they otherwise would have been.
"There's no need."
He turned away.
Though his steps had matched hers until then, they unconsciously quickened now. Shinji himself did not understand why the expression she had just worn left him feeling strangely unsettled. Or perhaps, in that brief daze, he had seen the past flow before his eyes again and simply did not know how to respond.
Behind him, Offside Trap looked down at her now-empty hand.
His reaction had been more or less within expectations, yet for some reason it still left a faintly unpleasant taste in her heart.
"This photo is enough."
At Shinji's explanation, Offside Trap nodded. Whether he saw it or not, she did not know. She only turned her face slightly away and looked off to the side.
"I'm going to submit the form in a bit. Do you want to come?"
"No… I probably don't need to."
The conversation had suddenly become awkward. Shinji pressed his lips together.
"Get some good rest after you go back. The training from here on is all going to be hard."
"I understand."
Her answer was calm and even.
Shinji looked deeply into her eyes. They were still bright—no different from before.
"That's good then. Let's go."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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