After my meeting with Tachyon ended, I wandered around the campus grounds. Watching girls her age laughing and chatting made me feel a little wistful. They were no different from us, and yet the fact that they were already running toward a dream made them seem cool, even if it was only from a younger perspective.
“Can you contract with me, Trainer?”
Oguri Cap appeared before I knew it and grabbed hold of me.
“Hey, Oguri Cap.”
“Yes. Hello, Trainer.”
Her expression was still impossible to read. There had been talk that gray horses didn’t run well, but the moment she stretched, I was certain that kind of story would become an old scandal.
“Contract with me, Trainer.”
“The weather’s nice today, isn’t it?”
“Huh? Yeah, it really is. Lunch was good too.”
Oguri Cap looked up at the sky and nodded calmly. It was the afternoon, and the heat was slowly cooling.
“Not that... be my assigned Uma Musume, Trainer.”
“What did you have for lunch today?”
“Carrot steak was served today. Even if it isn’t a major race, the cafeteria seems to pay extra attention during the selection race period.”
Oguri Cap laughed, patting her slightly bulging stomach. Her pure laugh, with not a trace of anything fake in it, made me laugh before I knew it.
“Ah, not that... can you be my Trainer, Trainer?”
“Oguri, like I said yesterday, I’m just a rookie Trainer who doesn’t know anything.”
“I know.”
Her answer made me feel like I might sigh without meaning to.
“You’re the kind of Uma Musume who could get the best evaluation in this selection race... no, you’re so incredible I can’t even think of this as your first race. You might be the strongest Uma Musume, with the skill of a Classic, no, maybe even a Senior.”
“Mm... this isn’t my first time. I’ve won at the Arima Kinen, the Mile Championship, and Yasuda.”
I looked at Oguri Cap. These were not races an Uma Musume who had just entered the selection race should casually mention. But I had a feeling that if it was her, she could do it. No, I could already picture her lifting a trophy. Was that just my imagination?
“Yeah, yeah. I believe you can do Arima Kinen and the Mile Championship too. As Oguri’s number one fan, I believe in you.”
“Uu...”
Oguri looked around as if searching for someone to help her, but there was only the two of us here.
“I need a Trainer.”
“I think so too.”
“...Are you pretending not to understand, or do you really not understand? I’m saying I need you.”
What had Oguri seen in me? I had seen a monster in her. Maybe that word didn’t suit a girl, but she was a monster. A monster that devoured everything and ran straight ahead.
She was so beautiful, so ruthless, that it looked like someone like me shouldn’t dare get close. I felt like I’d be swallowed whole by that talent, that monster. She was strong enough to be frightening.
“Trainer, d-do you maybe already have an assigned Uma Musume?”
“No, I haven’t managed to get even one yet.”
“Then assign me to you. I can run even better this time. Ah, is it because I’ve been eating too much? Then I can cut back too. Yes, it’ll be hard, but for the Trainer’s sake I’ll eat a little less.”
Seeing Oguri with her ears and tail drooping, I found myself reaching out to pat her head.
“You don’t need to painfully control your diet. You can just eat a lot and train a lot to match it. I looked over Oguri’s data, and you seem like the type who should eat a lot and train a lot.”
“That’s right! Yes, that’s right! That’s what the Trainer said last time too!”
Oguri beamed and suddenly hugged me.
“Ghk... it hurts, Oguri. Wait a second... I’m human, so if you hug me like that it hurts...”
“S-sorry. Sorry. I just got so happy...”
She apologized with her head bowed low, and I didn’t even get angry. No, she was cute. She felt like a little sister from when I was young.
“I’m not skilled. No, I’m not even proven. I have no experience, and no know-how. If I contract with you, it’ll probably be good for me. A strong Uma Musume like Oguri Cap will win even in G1 races.”
It wasn’t a race I had any right to speak of, but I believed the girl in front of me could do it. I could almost see her lifting a winner’s trophy as if I were watching it happen right there.
“I might just be someone who rides on your coattails. Is that still okay? Even if you do your best, I might not be able to help you. I might even get in your way.”
“Don’t say that! You’re my best partner! Even if I get hurt, even if I collapse, you’re the one who’ll keep leading me! You’re the best Trainer and the best partner! A hindrance? Riding on your coattails? If you say such mean things, I’ll punish you!”
Oguri raised a fist and made a threatening gesture. I couldn’t understand why she thought so highly of me, or why she thought I was someone who could lead her, but I could feel how sincere she was.
“Without a Trainer, I can’t run. I mean it...”
Oguri lowered her head as if she lacked confidence and only stared at the ground. I couldn’t just leave her like that. Thinking I couldn’t break this stubbornness, I was about to nod...
“I’ll wait for the Trainer. I’ll wait through the entire selection race period. If there’s an Uma Musume better than me, if there’s an Uma Musume who can be more helpful to the Trainer than me, I won’t force it.”
Oguri Cap looked at me as if making a declaration. Even if the selection race period ended, there would be plenty of Trainers willing to take her. No, it felt like the Trainers would be begging her to come to them.
So I wanted to be a little greedy. I couldn’t shake the unpleasant feeling that I was taking out insurance on Oguri, but I didn’t want to show this Uma Musume, who trusted me so much, that I had failed to find even one assigned girl and would simply accept her offer because of that.
“...You’re serious?”
“I am the strongest.”
Oguri nodded.
“I am the strongest. There is no Uma Musume stronger than me. So I can wait. There is no Uma Musume who can be more helpful to the Trainer than me. So I can wait.”
“...How audacious.”
She let out a small laugh.
“I know about the Trainer’s dream, so I won’t force it. Then I’ll come find you again tomorrow.”
With that, Oguri turned and left. She looked back once in the middle, but never returned, only walking forward.
Had I shown Oguri something? Looking at her, listening to her, something blurry passed through me as if it were about to surface. A terrible prickling feeling, a sense of déjà vu. Was I dreaming of the future without even closing my eyes, because of that overwhelming ability and talent?
“Trainer, there you are.”
Someone grabbed my sleeve. When I turned around, I saw a small child who looked to be an elementary school student, wearing a randoseru and staring up at me. Red twin tails, eyes that looked stubborn.
She was dressed like a little kid, but she didn’t really look like one. I even wondered if it was some kind of elementary school cosplay, but the name tag on her chest that read “4th Grade, Class 2, Daiwa Scarlet” made it seem like she wasn’t lying.
“Are you lost...?”
“Hah? What are you talking about?! Me, lost? Of course not! I came here first place to find the Trainer!”
“Mm... it seems a little early for things to get serious... Scarlet-chan? Scarlet-chan isn’t ready to be trained by a Trainer yet. Could you wait a little?”
“Ugh...!”
Daiwa Scarlet stomped her feet and looked around in confusion, as if she didn’t know what to do.
“You don’t remember me? I’m still small, but... even so, this should be enough for you to recognize me...”
“Sorry, I guess I have a pretty common face. Especially when other Uma Musume older sisters and younger sisters talk to me like they know me.”
“Playboy!”
“Huh?”
“Idiot! Moron! Fool! Playboy!”
I stared blankly at the Uma Musume who suddenly started insulting me. As she shouted, “I don’t know, idiot!” and ran off, I could only watch her in a daze.
It wasn’t that I was shocked by the way the little girl had suddenly appeared and then suddenly gone away. It was because even with that tiny body, I had seen “overwhelming talent” in the way she ran.
“Scarlet, was it?! You’re going to become an amazing Uma Musume! Even if I’m just a rookie Trainer, I mean it! Do your best!”
I shouted at the top of my lungs. It didn’t seem like the girl getting farther and farther away could hear me, but even to a rookie like me, that child had incredible talent.
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