"Hiss—be gentle! That hurts!"
"It wouldn't hurt if you relaxed, Festa. Acupuncture is something to be enjoyed. If you keep your whole body tensed up, I'm not going to do it for you."
Night fell. After a long, lively day at the school festival, everyone on Kitano's team was exhausted. But instead of letting them go back to their dorms to rest, he had them gather in his room again for a round of acupuncture therapy.
His previous physical condition hadn't allowed him to do this. Just performing acupuncture on Suzuka with his ailing body had cost him a day of his life. But things were different now. With two years of life, his physical condition had recovered a lot, enough for him to do many things he hadn't dared or had been hesitant to do before.
Now, not only could he cook for the three big eaters—Oguri Cap, Special Week, and Muteki—but he could also perform acupuncture on all the horse girls in his team without much problem.
"The most acupuncture can do is improve blood circulation, help you rest better, and eliminate fatigue. This is also helpful for alleviating many of your hidden injuries."
"Especially you, Suzuka. It's been a while since your fracture healed, but you still have many hidden injuries. So even when I'm not watching, don't secretly add to your training like you used to."
While Kitano was busy with the acupuncture on the shy and somewhat resistant Nakayama Festa, who was reluctant to have her feet held, Suzuka had already finished her session. She lay on his bed, panting slightly with a lingering satisfaction. Perhaps because of the improved blood circulation from the acupuncture, her cool face was now a little flushed, her breathing a bit heavier. Even her previously flat front-line equipment had a slight rise and fall.
Suzuka was overjoyed, a little excited. Not long after regaining her memories, she was finally experiencing the acupuncture from him that she had always enjoyed in the past. Unlike the nervousness she had felt before regaining her memories, this time, she could be said to be completely enjoying the process. But it wasn't because of the physical changes brought by the acupuncture, but the feeling of his touch.
For a horse girl, her feet and legs were undoubtedly her most important and sensitive areas. If someone she didn't trust touched them without permission, the best-case scenario would be a kick, and the worst-case, a fatality.
Suzuka still remembered the first time she had acupuncture. She had been just as nervous, her heart pounding. She even remembered the first time he had cautiously touched her foot, her almost reflexive kick. If he hadn't been prepared, she might have attended her trainer's funeral much earlier that time.
And after that terrifying experience, he had stopped rushing to give her acupuncture. Instead, he had let her get used to the process of having her legs and feet touched. As for how she got used to it... naturally, it was through repeated contact, slowly becoming accustomed to it.
Suzuka had gotten used to the feeling of her feet being held by him through his repeated, careful contact. From being a little shy and resistant at first, to getting used to it and learning to entrust her entire body and soul to his care, she had eventually come to enjoy the process.
For this reason, she had later deliberately run her legs to exhaustion so she could spend more time alone with her trainer... Of course, now that she knew the truth, she would never do anything to increase his burden again. On the contrary, the most she should do was to help him lighten his own.
"Alright, then, Festa. You lie here for a while too." After finishing with the somewhat rowdy Nakayama Festa, Kitano let out a long sigh of relief. This was his first time performing acupuncture on her. All he could say was... it had gone smoother than he had imagined.
He had thought that a difficult child like her would definitely throw a fit the first time he touched her feet. For this reason, he had specially asked Gold Ship to keep an eye on her... He never thought that Gold Ship's "Yay! After you, Sister Festa, it's my turn. I'll make sure Kitano-chan has no trouble" would make her so obedient.
"What great skill. It feels completely different from the Sasabari needling in Japan," Tamamo Cross and Ardan, who were watching with curiosity, couldn't help but remark. "It's similar to Sasabari, both using needles, but it doesn't hurt at all? And there's no blood?"
"I remember back in the day, Rudolf used the Sasabari method for treatment, right? Sirius said that Rudolf bit through her bedsheets in pain that day. This is really that effective?"
"Acupuncture and Sasabari are different. Mine can only be used for relief. It's only effective with long-term treatment. It can't achieve the immediate reversal of a horse girl's condition like Sasabari can," Kitano said, placing the used needles in boiling water to sterilize them while taking out a new pack. "But the good thing is, acupuncture is guaranteed to be effective. And I'm here now, and my stamina can still support me in doing these small things for everyone."
"Hee hee, this is no small thing. Especially with your physical condition, Mr. Trainer. It must have been harder for you to learn this than for others," Tamamo said with a bright smile. She looked at Kitano, who had a layer of sweat on his forehead but never mentioned his own fatigue. Her eyes couldn't hide her admiration and fondness for him. "You're amazing, Mr. Trainer. This is my approval, and it's definitely not wrong."
"Then I'll accept that compliment," Kitano said with a small smile. But as his gaze fell on Ardan and Tamamo, he heard the voices of Muteki, Oguri Cap, and Gold Ship, who were still in the bathroom. After a moment of hesitation, he asked tentatively, "But... Tamamo and Miss Ardan, are you sure you don't want to try? Or are you hesitant to experience acupuncture because I'm a man? It will have some effect on your injuries, I can assure you."
"—Ahaha, I'm fine," Tamamo said, her heart warming at his offer to perform acupuncture on her. But when her gaze fell on Suzuka and Festa, and she heard Oguri Cap's voice from the bathroom, she immediately suppressed the feeling in her heart and refused, her gaze a bit evasive. "I've been retired for a long time. This kind of thing is useless for me now. If I were still racing, you might have succeeded."
"That's right. You need to take care of your own body too, Mr. Trainer," Ardan said with a smile. But unlike Tamamo, with C.B. not present and the others either powerless or in the bathroom, she didn't hesitate to use a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead, her action so natural that even Suzuka on the bed didn't react. "You need to learn to rely on everyone more, Mr. Trainer, not to push yourself as soon as your body gets a little better. That's not good."
"Even if I can't help with the acupuncture, I can still supervise the training, clean up, and so on. Don't let my appearance fool you; I'm actually quite good at these things."
"Is that so..." Kitano, who had lived with Ardan for a short time, naturally believed her words. He believed she was a good wife and mother. And he believed she was a person who would temporarily ignore her own physical condition for the sake of her child and the people she cared about—but that was precisely why he didn't dare to let her do too much for him.
Her physical condition was not much better than his... Though he had passed away before her back then, he knew that because of Muteki, her health had also been deteriorating. Her fragility was no less than his...
But he would naturally find a way to fulfill her small wish. After some thought, he gave her a light task. "Then, could I trouble you to prepare some lunch for me sometimes, Miss Ardan? This work was originally done by Gold Ship and Festa, but now that they're aiming for the G1, I want them to focus more on their training."
"Please leave it to me." Being able to help him, Ardan showed a particularly joyful expression. But at this moment, Silence Suzuka, who had been listening to all this, saw Nakayama Festa still panting beside her, her arm covering her eyes, as if she hadn't heard their conversation at all. She finally couldn't help but speak in a soft voice, "Mr. Trainer, if it's possible, can you teach me how to do acupuncture?"
"Hmm?" Kitano was a bit surprised by her abrupt request and turned his head. But he saw her looking particularly solemn. "My foundation is a bit more solid than everyone else's... and my great escape tactic is already quite consolidated. As a senior, I also want to be of some help to everyone, to be of some help to you, Mr. Trainer."
"The acupuncture just now was really effective. I feel warm all over now. If I learn it, not only can I help you lighten some of your burden, but maybe I can also use it on myself in the future."
"—If you want to learn, Suzuka, I can teach you. But you can't use acupuncture on yourself, especially when you're inexperienced. That's very dangerous."
Kitano immediately agreed to her request to learn acupuncture. But that wasn't to say he was looking forward to her learning it. The point of his sentence was the latter half. He wanted to dispel her wrong idea of using acupuncture on herself.
He knew Suzuka well. If this child learned acupuncture, with her inexperience, she would definitely not use other innocent people as "test subjects." She would definitely use it on herself. He was worried that she would learn a little and then blindly practice on herself, and the effect would be counterproductive, which would be the same as self-harm.
"I can teach you in the future. But Suzuka, promise me, you have to wait until I think you're ready to try. Before that, never experiment on yourself with acupuncture. Understood?"
"...I understand," Suzuka replied with a gentle smile. But she added softly, in a voice only she could hear, "...This time, I won't do that again."
And after getting her nod, Kitano still felt a vague sense of unease in his heart. However, before he could emphasize it to her again, a slight commotion came from the door of his dorm, and a moment later, it opened with a creak.
Outside the door, Mr. C.B.'s figure slowly walked in. No one reacted much to her arrival. Clearly, in these few months, she had become very familiar with everyone on the team, so much so that no one found it strange for her to appear in his dorm now.
"C.B., you came to school so late? That's rare," Kitano said, vaguely sensing a subtle change in her expression. Her somewhat silent, almost smile-less face made him, who knew her extremely well, immediately understand the reason for her late visit—she had something to say to him alone.
And understanding this, in order not to arouse the suspicion of others, he pretended not to care about her behavior and said in a very relaxed tone, as if it were their usual interaction, "Then sit for a while. Wait until I'm done with Gold Ship and the others' acupuncture. You don't mind waiting a little longer, right?"
"...It's alright."
However, the moment he turned his back to her, a gratified smile appeared on C.B.'s placid face. She looked at his back, feeling so at ease in her heart, and muttered to herself, "I've waited for a long time. Waiting a little longer... doesn't matter."
She said this only for herself to hear. However, Suzuka, who was beside her, keenly noticed the change in her... this huge change in attitude towards him... she was very familiar with it, because not long ago, she had just experienced this transformation herself.
Could it be... that I have a real competitor so soon? Suzuka blinked her large, lively eyes, looking at the particularly serene C.B. before her. In her heart, an idea had quietly begun to form...
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