Watching the rain outside grow heavier and heavier, Doremi's expression gradually turned grave, while Sejiki kept eating away as if nothing mattered.
Quite a few diners in the restaurant had already started glancing over at their table, but Sejiki could not have cared less. After a whole morning of training, she was already starving. If eating neatly could fill her up, then maybe she would not have been wolfing everything down so frantically.
When Sejiki looked up again and ordered yet another extra bowl of gyudon—a phrase she had already learned to say in Japanese—Terumi Izumi Shinji found it rather amusing. Then, in an offhand tone, he asked:
"Did we bring enough money?"
"Huh?" Sejiki whipped her head toward him, her face full of shock. Then she pitifully raised the plate she had licked clean and stammered, "W-We didn't bring any. You were the one who said you were treating us to a big meal..."
"You were the one who said that."
Shinji smiled without smiling, and Sejiki's face turned pale. She was genuinely afraid that this black-hearted man had come out with not a single yen on him just because the idea had been hers.
"Just eat in peace. If he were really worried about not having enough money, he'd be asking his own horse girl, not you. When he talks to you, his horse girl can't even understand half of it. He's just messing with you."
Famous Painter found Sejiki's reaction adorable. This junior from the same stable could be so adorably dense at times that even their normally stern trainer could not help laughing.
Realizing she had been played, Sejiki shot Shinji an annoyed glare, then happily accepted yet another heaping plate of gyudon and resumed devouring it.
"Mr. Shinji."
Doremi, who had been gazing out the window the entire time, suddenly spoke, drawing everyone's attention except Sejiki's.
The gray-haired horse girl's eyes flickered as she pointed outside.
"Is it normal for Japan to have torrential rain in November?"
Hm?
Shinji really had never paid much attention to that kind of pattern. As far as he remembered, Japan's November weather did not have any especially obvious tendency, so even trainers sensitive to climate would not normally make a big issue out of the weather ahead of the Japan Cup.
"It usually doesn't, I think. I can't remember ever seeing a Japan Cup run in a downpour." Half understanding Doremi's concern, Shinji waved a hand dismissively. "Relax. There's still some time before the Japan Cup. Even if it pours like this now, a week's enough for it to clear up."
Compared to an ultra-heavy Japan Cup track, Shinji also hoped the surface would stay in decent shape. If all the Japanese horse girls collapsed early, then even with Earthguard synergy and Deepsea Rhapsody boosting her, Offside Trap would still be under enormous pressure in the final stretch.
His eyes slid toward High-Rise Building and Benedee. Two Epsom Derby winners would definitely be fond of a rain-soaked Fuchu course.
"Trainer, help me ask them what it feels like to run in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, will you?"
Offside Trap, sitting beside him, had long since grown dissatisfied with how much Shinji had been chatting with the foreign horse girls. She had already generated quite a bit of emotional energy over it. Now, seeing no sign that the conversation was about to end, she finally could not hold back any longer.
Shinji looked at her in surprise. Japan's obsession with the Arc was something he had known for a long time, but he had not expected his own horse girl—who had never once shown any overt fascination with it—to actually hold such a longing for it herself.
Hearing Offside Trap's question, Famous Painter pondered for a moment before giving her answer.
"As for the feeling... there wasn't really anything all that special about it, honestly. Mainly because the year I won it, I was in outrageous form." As a horse girl who had broken the record while winning the Arc, she had every right to say that. "Really, you just have to watch out for the false straight. As long as it doesn't fool you, you just stick to your rhythm and fight it out on pure ability."
Sejiki, still focused on eating, nodded in agreement. As an undefeated Arc winner herself, she naturally did not regard the Arc with the same reverence other horse girls did. This world turf championship, which she had claimed so early in her career, was simply one line on a résumé that was not even very long yet.
So that was how it was?
Offside Trap was genuinely startled. To Japanese horse girls, the Arc felt impossibly distant, and yet in the eyes of these European powerhouses it was just another race, nothing all that special.
"Come and try it next year. With your strength, you'll definitely be fine."
Sejiki suddenly said that, and Offside Trap scratched her head. She did have thoughts of going overseas, but she also worried that after getting used to Japanese turf, she might perform badly in Europe.
She snuck a glance at Shinji. Her trainer's face showed almost no reaction, and that left her a little disappointed. In truth, she had been hoping for his stance—hoping her trainer would affirm her ability and support her desire to step onto the world stage.
"Really. I'm not lying. You'd be totally fine."
Sejiki's additional assurance made Offside Trap pause, then gently tap the back of Shinji's hand with her fingertip, drawing his gaze toward her.
"What does Trainer think?"
When Shinji heard that, he simply stared at her. He kept looking until the girl actually began to feel shy, and only then did he ask:
"What do you think?"
"Me?" Offside Trap hesitated for a second, then nodded.
She wanted to try. At the very least, she wanted to go out there and see it for herself.
"Then go."
Offside Trap had a look on her face that said she truly wanted to give it a shot, and as Shinji looked at her, even the way she lightly bit her lower lip carried a trace of coquettish charm.
"Really?"
"Of course. I was only waiting for you to tell me what you wanted." Shinji smiled and patted her lightly on the head. "You're not some weak little horse girl anymore, not someone who still needs her trainer to plan every last thing for her. Right now, you're one of the strongest horse girls in Japan."
"Can 'the strongest' and 'one of' even go together?"
"That's just the general idea. You know what I mean."
Their somewhat intimate exchange made Sejiki narrow her eyes mischievously.
"Oh? Painter, did you see that? There's definitely something going on here."
"Yep, yep, I saw it too~"
Famous Painter instantly understood what Sejiki was implying and joined in the teasing, making Offside Trap flush bright red.
"All right, out with it—what exactly is your relationship?"
Sejiki suddenly struck a stern pose, like some solemn judge presiding over court. Shinji rolled his eyes and replied with a single sentence that made her expression collapse at once:
"You can stay here washing dishes later."
"Nooo, Terumi Izumi Shinji!"
Sejiki lost all dignity in an instant and clung to Famous Painter's waist, looking as though she could not bear to be abandoned there alone.
Painter, meanwhile, patted Sejiki sympathetically on the back and put on a sorrowful expression.
"Don't worry. Big Sis will stay behind and wash dishes with you. We were just too innocent. The moment we came abroad, we ran into a very, very bad man..."
"Mm, then the two of you can stay here and wash dishes together."
"Are you even human?!"
Painter finally broke, and her protest sent Dream Well beside her into bright, open laughter. The horse girl's laugh was crisp and hearty, and once again many of the surrounding diners turned to look at their table.
Everyone at the table chatted and laughed, and for a while the atmosphere could not have been more lively.
Only Doremi's expression, if no longer exactly grave, still carried a certain helplessness.
Beneath the table, the phone in her hand was lit up. It showed a weather forecast app that was complicated, difficult to use, but extremely scientific.
Dream Well, seated beside Doremi, glanced at it casually—and her expression changed at once. The icon on the screen predicted around two rounds of heavy rain, even torrential rain, every week for the next two weeks. Seeing that, Dream Well instinctively looked into Doremi's eyes.
And what she found there was a tangle of relief... and regret.
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
Supernatural Multiverse 27
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