The race was over. I blankly watched the backs of the girls who hadn’t been chosen, then blankly stared at the dirt as the dust settled.
“Didn’t find anyone you like?”
I turned toward the voice. A girl—no, an Uma Musume—was there, leaning one arm on the fence and staring blankly at the dirt. She wore a neat suit, but she had an unmistakably foreign air about her.
“Miss Fine Motion?”
She gave a faint smile.
“Trainer, you’re really handsome.”
“...Thank you.”
I had no idea how I was supposed to react to such a sudden compliment. I looked at her more closely. There was a white comet-like pattern at the end of her bangs. Her tail was neatly trimmed straight. Wasn’t she supposed to be the princess of the Kingdom of Ireland? She was an Uma Musume with an elegance I couldn’t quite put into words.
“From Ireland all the way here... is that a trip you can make in one day?”
“Even on a regular flight, it doesn’t take twenty-four hours.”
The conversation didn’t flow easily. Even so, her expression was remarkably calm. She seemed to like the silence quite a bit.
“How do I look in this outfit? Does it remind you of anything?”
“I’m sorry. I think it suits you very well, but... I don’t know anything about princesses.”
She moved her lips as if she wanted to say something, then let out a long sigh. Then she got straight to the point.
“I have about a year left until I fully bloom. I want to make a contract with you. The races I want to enter are Sakura, Oaks, Shuka Sho, Elizabeth, Osaka Hai, Takarazuka, and Arima.”
Hearing those G1 races come out of her mouth made my head spin.
“Princess... the races you just mentioned...”
“Call me Fine. You may call me by name, too. I’ll allow it especially for you. Hm hm... for you. That means you don’t need to use honorifics.”
She glanced at me and gave a hazy smile so handsome it was almost enough to make me fall for her.
“It means speak casually. Shall I say it’s an imperial order?”
Was she really a teenage girl? The nobility in her words and tone, the pressure she carried in between them—I felt like I was being overwhelmed by it. Was this what royalty was like?
“...Miss Fine, do you know what those races you just mentioned are?”
“I told you to speak casually, you’re so stubborn... Sakura is at Hanshin, a mile race. Oaks is at Tokyo, 2400 meters. Shuka Sho is at Kyoto, 2000 meters. There’s no need to explain Elizabeth and Osaka Hai, is there?”
She spoke with complete composure. I wanted to say something about how casually she was talking about the G1 stage, the dream of every Uma Musume, but for some reason she gave off the feeling that she had every right to say it, so I had nothing to say.
“Spend a year training in Ireland. If you want, anywhere in Europe is fine, so is there somewhere you’d like to go? You can work under a team Trainer as a sub, or if you want, I can give you the chance to learn a lot as a sub-Trainer for a top-ranked Uma Musume. England and Ireland are more comfortable, aren’t they? You can’t speak French or German, after all... ah, don’t worry about the cost. I’ll support you as your patron.”
I looked at Fine Motion as she spoke as if she had already made up her mind. If I hadn’t met Oguri, if I hadn’t met Tachyon, if I didn’t already have an assigned Uma Musume, it would have been an offer impossible to ignore.
“May I ask why you’re supporting me this much?”
“You have plenty of time, so think about it slowly. I’ll give you six months. Once you’ve bumped into enough walls and been broken enough times, your mind will change. If you spend your time without an assigned Uma Musume and without even working as a sub-Trainer, does the reason really matter? At Tracen, you’ll be studying under the name of a dispatch-and-exchange program to Ireland, then coming back. I hope you’ll think it over carefully, Trainer.”
She spoke as if she were holding everything in her hands. I couldn’t understand why she was offering me conditions this good. It was the kind of thing that, if I were left drifting and unable to do anything, I’d have no choice but to nod and take if Tracen offered it...
“I’m fine.”
“I see, I see. You’re stubborn, Trainer. I’ll wait patiently. Shall we go on a date? There’s a good ramen shop around here.”
It felt awkward to keep using honorifics. Maybe I was the one who should have been the first to say we could speak casually.
“The girl assigned to me is waiting, so I should go. Thank you for the offer. As for the Ireland exchange and study-abroad opportunity, I really don’t know how to thank you...”
“...Assigned?”
Fine Motion asked back, sounding puzzled.
“Yes. I’m not much, but a girl named Oguri Cap has agreed to be my assigned Uma Musume.”
“Oguri Cap...? Why would she?”
“Do you know Oguri? I don’t know why such an outstanding girl chose a rookie Trainer like me, but I’m going to do my best for her.”
Fine Motion looked at me without saying a word.
“You bastard.”
The atmosphere changed. The weight of that one sentence pressed down on my shoulders. With her head tilted slightly, Fine Motion’s eyes had turned beastlike, as if she might lunge at me at any moment.
“Are you mocking me?”
“Mocking you...?”
“Why is Oguri-senpai, who should be in Kasamatsu, coming out of your mouth here?”
Her ears drooped. This was dangerous. I instinctively shrank back.
“Oguri may be from Kasamatsu, but she’s a student of Tracen Academy and an Uma Musume of the Central circuit.”
“Boring.”
She took a step closer. Without thinking, I stepped back.
“Trainer. I am extremely favorable toward you. I’m bringing up old memories and even forcing myself to speak politely in a way that doesn’t suit me, and you just keep spouting boring jokes.”
“I don’t know what you mean, princess.”
Fine Motion took another step forward. I retreated to keep the distance.
“Study abroad in Ireland, fully funded. It’s an offer worth considering, but are you refusing it by telling such lies?”
“...Oguri Cap is my assigned Uma Musume.”
Fine Motion let out a long sigh.
“Rather than going to the provinces, how about going to Europe with me? I have some documents prepared. I’d like you to read them.”
“...It’s not the provinces, and I’m planning to run with Oguri in the Central...”
“How frustrating.”
Fine Motion cut me off.
“Do you think I’m making a joke when I make this offer? Do you think it’s a scam because it’s too good to be true? Would you only believe me if I swore on the name of the royal family? I’ll throw a party for you at the palace in Ireland. Then you’d believe me, wouldn’t you?”
“...Princess. Are you listening to me? I’ve already decided to become Oguri Cap’s assigned Trainer. I’m not lying, and I’m not going down to the provinces.”
Fine Motion said nothing. She just looked at me for a long while, and then...
She laughed.
“Ahaha, I guess I misunderstood. Yes, Trainer. How was that performance? Did I seem like a princess of a nation?”
At that innocent-looking laugh, I let out a long sigh. That pressure from a moment ago had been real. But the smile she was showing me now was real too.
“Oguri-senpai... I’d like to meet her once. Could you arrange that?”
Her voice was gentle as she stepped closer, but I stayed where I was and looked at her. Dangerous. But it was fine. I couldn’t explain it, but that was the feeling I got. Looking at her, I suddenly started remembering things I’d never experienced before.
Like Oguri, like Tachyon, like Dia—she was the kind of girl who strangely made me feel attached to her.
“...I was actually on my way to talk about the contract. Want to come with me?”
“Yes~ I want to see Oguri-senpai too~!”
Fine Motion nodded. For some reason, her using honorifics felt incredibly awkward.
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