She lightly ran her hand over the towering statue.
The sculpted faces of the Three Goddesses were solemn and majestic, enough to make any horse girl who looked upon them instinctively feel reverence.
Tazuna Hayakawa did not.
As the secretary gazed at the part of the statue she had just touched, a trace of something unreadable lingered on her face.
"This place wasn't nearly this pretty in the old days. Looks like Symboli Rudolf really did put a lot of care into fixing it up."
Tazuna's remark left Narita Brian puzzled, and she could not hold back her question.
"Do you rarely come here, Secretary? This outfit of yours has been the same for five or six years already."
"Has it really been that long?" A fleeting haze passed through Tazuna's eyes, and then she gave a small shake of her head before turning to Brian. "I really do come here only rarely. Back when we were first building this academy, the statues of the Three Goddesses weren't nearly this refined. Back then, they didn't even have the function of granting blessings. We just put them up because foreign academies all had statues like this, and we were copying the model."
Narita Brian lowered her head slightly.
Back then, Japanese horse girls had been so hopelessly far behind the rest of the world that the gap was hard even to comprehend. It was only after the grace of the Three Goddesses began to spread through Japan that Japanese horse girls were given a chance to catch up.
"How many blessings have you received?" Tazuna asked.
"Three."
"Already three…" Tazuna clicked her tongue, then casually asked, "Have you thought about a fourth?"
Narita Brian could not help but smile bitterly and shake her head.
By now, the effect of the Three Goddesses' blessings on her had become extremely faint, yet the burden they imposed had not lessened in the slightest. Back in her Classic year, she had thought that strain was simply the inevitable pressure that came with sudden power, something the body had to adjust to. But as she came to understand the blessings more deeply, she realized that burden did not really come from strength itself.
The very act of receiving a blessing carried a cost.
She did not dare imagine what it was like for horse girls who had gained very little from blessings from the very beginning, nor did she care to think about whether monsters might exist who could gain more from a single blessing than others could from many. She only looked at Tazuna and asked,
"Is it because the effect is already too weak?"
Narita Brian's eyes flew wide open.
The secretary, who had acted from the start as though she were unfamiliar with the Three Goddesses, had just spoken like a veteran horse girl. Brian stared at her in open disbelief.
"Looks like it is," Tazuna said with a sigh, then sat down on a bench beside the statues.
The place was quiet, not because the students lacked respect for the Three Goddesses, but precisely because they revered them so much. By unspoken agreement, they kept their distance, unwilling to disturb the goddesses' peace.
"Do you know why I asked you that?" Tazuna returned to her earlier question.
Narita Brian had her suspicions, but still shook her head.
"Take a guess. Otherwise, where's the fun in it?"
Tazuna seemed oddly cheerful, and Brian was not sure if she was imagining it, but she genuinely felt a faint yet unmistakable happiness radiating from her.
Usually, Tazuna Hayakawa greeted everyone with the same gentle smile. Yet this was the first time Narita Brian had felt such an obvious, almost overflowing note of joy from her.
"Is it because of the Japan Cup?"
The Japan Cup…
To Brian's surprise, Tazuna shook her head.
"The Japan Cup? Yes, the opposition is strong. Even horses like Doremi and Country Lover have come. But that isn't why I came to see you." She noticed the shock on Brian's face and patted her shoulder lightly. "Relax. The board has a lot of cooperation with JURA, but in the end, we are not the same department. As far as the board is concerned, what matters most is whether the Japan Cup's outcome will seriously affect the academy itself. And with opponents this strong, I believe that even if none of our girls can step up, all it will do is make everyone more motivated and more united."
It was a way of thinking entirely different from the student council's. Narita Brian touched her nose. The bandage stuck there made the smile in Tazuna's eyes grow warmer.
"What do you think of Terumi Izumi Shinji?"
"Terumi… Shinji?"
The first image that rose in Narita Brian's mind was that man walking out of the underground passage after the Autumn Tennosho with Offside Trap. His smile had looked as though it ought to be clean and invigorating, yet for some reason it had sent a chill down her spine. It was not because she had still been confused by Offside Trap's change, nor because she had read too much darkness in the man's smile.
It was simply that ever since that day, whenever she recalled that smile, she found herself feeling a strange urge to draw closer to it, as though she recognized something in it.
"That child is someone I think very highly of," Tazuna said softly. "He has remarkable ability, and a very kind heart—much like Symboli Rudolf did in her younger days. I believe he will become one of Tracen's finest trainers in the future." She shot Brian a faintly amused look, making the latter flinch. "Which is why I said earlier that after being abroad for so long, it seems a great many things have changed."
At last, Narita Brian understood why Tazuna had seemed so happy.
A junior she thought highly of had finally proven himself. Of course that was worth being happy about.
And yet…
Shouldn't she also feel angry and wronged on Offside Trap's behalf after what had happened to her after the race?
Not understanding, Brian lowered her head—only to see an open hand extended toward her.
Tazuna had guessed what she would do.
She truly did understand her far too well.
"Do you want to make one more run at it? It doesn't have to be the Japan Cup." Tazuna's palm was soft and pink, an unmistakable invitation. "With him."
"What do you mean?"
Narita Brian jerked her head up, her gaze instantly sharpening as it fixed on Tazuna.
Tazuna looked back at her with obvious interest, then slowly rose to her feet and turned to the Three Goddesses. This time Brian saw clearly: there was not the slightest trace of reverence in Tazuna's eyes when she looked at them.
Or perhaps whatever reverence had once existed had long since vanished after some past event.
"Your trainer is very clever. I watched her climb past one veteran trainer after another, until she became the best in Japan," Tazuna said softly. "She can tell what you're thinking just from your performance. And after asking you that question just now, I think her judgment of you was not wrong."
Tojo Hana already had too many responsibilities piled onto the first and second tiers of her stable—Taiki Shuttle, Air Groove, El Condor Pasa, Grass Wonder…
Tazuna's blunt honesty left Narita Brian unable to argue from beginning to end.
If she kept following Tojo Hana, there would be no second charge forward. Tazuna knew it, Narita Brian knew it, and somewhere in Rigil's lounge, Tojo Hana herself knew it too.
"Is this your trainer's idea?" Brian asked.
"No. This is mainly mine."
That answer startled her yet again. Narita Brian rose to her feet as well, facing Tazuna as she waited for an explanation.
"There is no longer any road forward for you on your current path. But I think that with your persistence, and your focus and love for running, you should not be stopping here."
"And besides, a student council ought to have voices that differ from one another. That would only make your decisions more thoughtful and more complete, wouldn't it?"
As she spoke, Tazuna drew closer. The fragrance that clung to her made Narita Brian unconsciously lean back and avert her gaze.
"Of course, I also have my own selfish reasons. I think you could help me."
Tazuna tilted her head, still wearing that same gentle expression. Yet in her grace and composure, there was something many gentle people and horse girls could never hope to possess.
"That child seems to have grown overly wary and suspicious. I think it has made his path bend a little out of shape. You'd help guide him back, wouldn't you? And if you can't, then that's fine too. At the very least, if you're there, the two of you will be able to keep going together."
Narita Brian pressed her lips together, but did not speak.
Tazuna's face, however, had already taken on the smile of someone who knew she had won.
She understood that Narita Brian had, at the very least, begun seriously thinking about it.
"He won't agree. He can't possibly agree."
Sometime during their conversation, a light drizzle had begun to fall from the sky. Brian's voice came out hoarse—perhaps from nerves, perhaps from excitement.
As her heartbeat began to pound violently, Tazuna laid a calming hand over her chest.
"Don't rush to reject it with excuses. Tojo Hana and I have everything prepared. Even if you don't go, I already have a team ready for him."
"There's no loss in trying once, is there?"
Tazuna pointed in a certain direction.
To anyone else, the gesture might have meant nothing. But Narita Brian had a vague sense of what it indicated.
It was probably the direction of Fuchu Racecourse, standing there for so many long years already.
"I'm not asking you to give me an answer right away. You can think about it properly."
Her voice grew dim in the falling rain, and Narita Brian's gaze wavered.
"If you want to find the answer in your own heart, then perhaps you should enter this year's Japan Cup too."
"Go and see it for yourself, out there on the track—that girl from your own generation."
"She should be able to give you the answer you've been searching for all this time."
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 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
Uma Musume: I Want All 35
I Can Copy Unique Skills 36
A Guide to Aid in the Underwor 26
Summoning an Evil God, but the 27
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