"I had a feeling... but I never thought you'd actually be the same kind of person as me, Suzuka-san."
In the darkness, Mr. C.B.'s expression shifted from initial disbelief to gradual understanding. She finally realized why Suzuka—who was usually unexpressive and would never speak ill of others—had suddenly complained to Kitano in his room and so openly expressed her concern for him.
It turned out they were the same. They were both people who had experienced a tragic life once before and were desperate not to repeat the same mistakes...
"You and I are both accidental existences in this world, aren't we?"
"You could say our trainer is someone who creates 'accidents,'" Suzuka replied. After receiving Mr. C.B.'s confirmation, her suspicions were finally validated. Just as she thought, Mr. C.B., like her, shared a past life with Kitano.
However, upon learning the truth, Suzuka felt no sense of alarm towards Mr. C.B. Instead, once her questions were answered, a relieved smile graced her lips, and her tone became warmer and more intimate.
"We're also both people who were drawn in by Trainer-san and have hopelessly followed him all the way here."
"Yes... hopelessly," Mr. C.B. echoed, feeling a similar sentiment. Just that afternoon, she had been agitated and suspicious of Suzuka's behavior, thinking she was hiding some secret about Kitano. Now, her mind was much calmer. She even felt a sense of curiosity as she asked Suzuka:
"So, Suzuka-san, how far did things go between you and Trainer-san back then?"
"Well..."
The same Suzuka who had confidently grilled Mr. C.B. in Kitano's room now lost all her "Great Escape" boldness when the topic turned to herself. In that moment, she was like a girl experiencing her first love—timid and shy. Facing Mr. C.B.'s direct gaze, she hesitated for a long while before answering with a blush on her face.
"It was just... letting him massage my feet, do acupuncture, being able to lean on his back... and taking him back to Hokkaido to spend New Year's with my parents..."
"That's... all it was."
"That's ALL?! I never even took him home for New Year's!"
As expected, when Suzuka whispered her past "progress" with Kitano, Mr. C.B.'s eyes went wide. She almost shouted the words, and even though she kept her voice down, she couldn't hide her astonishment... or the sense of imbalance in her heart.
Of course, Mr. C.B. had also introduced Kitano to her parents and had dinner with them. But that was just a normal meeting. While her parents had tried to set them up at the dinner table, Mr. C.B. hadn't acted on it.
But Suzuka's actions were completely different. Not only did she take him home to meet her parents, but they also spent New Year's together! In Japanese culture, that was practically screaming to your parents, "This is the son-in-law I've found for you!"
As for the foot massages, acupuncture, and leaning on his back, Mr. C.B. had already tuned those out. Those were things she couldn't have even dreamed of in her and Kitano's era. If their relationship back then hadn't been purely platonic, if they had crossed any physical boundaries, their reputations would have been ruined, no better than her own parents' had been.
Therefore, Mr. C.B. couldn't help but feel a little envious of Silent Suzuka, who, living in a later era, could be so openly close to Kitano.
"No... it was just a very normal relationship."
A shy Suzuka fidgeted with her fingers, her head bowed as she answered softly. "Trainer-san probably knew how I felt... but he never responded to it. So, Trainer-san and I never crossed that line."
"...Speaking of which, what about you, Chigiri-senpai? How far did you and the trainer get? I feel like... Trainer-san cares more about you than he does about me."
"—He was going to propose to me."
Perhaps spurred on by Suzuka's story, or perhaps feeling a bit stung, Mr. C.B. immediately played her trump card to reassert her place in Kitano's heart: the proposal that ended before it even began.
As expected, her words sent a shockwave through Silent Suzuka. Elsewhere, the sky-blue figure who had been listening to their conversation trembled involuntarily, clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp of surprise.
"You're lying... Trainer-san was going to propose to you, Chigiri-senpai?"
"Of course, it's true. Although... I didn't accept it at the time."
Seeing Suzuka's stunned expression, Mr. C.B. finally felt a sense of balance return to her heart. Feeling that she had won this round, she let out a long breath, allowing her frayed nerves to relax.
This back-and-forth confrontation with Suzuka had clearly been stressful for her. She knew Suzuka held a significant place in Kitano's heart and had been worried she wouldn't be able to measure up.
Fortunately, it seemed she was a step ahead for now. While neither of them had managed a happy ending with Kitano, the "value" of being proposed to by him was much higher than having her feelings tactfully ignored.
However, Suzuka's surprise lasted only a moment. She quickly composed herself and looked at Mr. C.B. again. This time, there was no trace of alarm or jealousy on her face, which surprised Mr. C.B.
"Suzuka... aren't you the least bit jealous?"
"A little," Suzuka admitted freely. "But right now, we have something more important to discuss than jealousy, Chigiri-senpai." She was indeed a bit jealous, but just as she had implied in the dorm room, her main concern was Kitano's difficult situation.
"Chigiri-senpai, I don't know if you're aware of Trainer-san's secret."
"Kitano's secret?"
Suzuka's words made Mr. C.B. blink in confusion. Not far away, Ardan, who was eavesdropping on everything, instinctively perked her ears, trying to quiet her own racing heart, terrified its pounding would give her away and cause her to miss this "secret."
"It seems you haven't noticed, Chigiri-senpai."
Seeing that Mr. C.B. was unaware of the issue with Kitano's lifespan, Suzuka gave a tactful smile. But there was a hint of pride in it—a small counterattack against Mr. C.B.
Trainer-san may like you more, but you don't know him as well as I do, nor do you care for him as much as I do. That was the message Suzuka wanted to convey. However, she quickly reined in her emotions and spoke to Mr. C.B., word by word.
"Chigiri-senpai, since you were also his charge, did you ever notice that whenever you won a race, Trainer-san's physical condition would miraculously recover?"
"I wonder if you ever experienced a situation like that, Chigiri-senpai? Where Trainer-san's health was so poor he was on the verge of death... but as soon as you won a race, his body would suddenly pull back from the brink, recovering as if he had never been sick at all?"
Silent Suzuka's judgment was based entirely on her own experiences. In her cycle with Kitano, she had won the Satsuki Sho and pulled him back from death's door. Suzuka knew she hadn't won the Satsuki Sho in this current life's record, so she quickly deduced that victory was the result of Kitano's intervention.
Since Mr. C.B.'s Triple Crown record certainly included the Satsuki Sho, Suzuka specifically chose that point. She guessed that Kitano's near-death experience before that race in her cycle had most likely happened in Mr. C.B.'s cycle as well.
And just as Suzuka predicted, the moment she mentioned it, Mr. C.B. shuddered as if she'd been struck by lightning. She fell into a long silence. In the darkness, Suzuka watched as Mr. C.B.'s eyes grew wider and brighter. As her pupils dilated, it was clear she had reached the same conclusion.
"Suzuka, are you saying... Trainer-san's lifespan and illness are directly linked to our performance?"
"It's very likely."
Suzuka nodded heavily. Looking at the one "comrade" she could find who would understand her, she finally revealed the rest of her thoughts.
"It was the same this time. Remember when I won the Mile Championship? Right after that victory, Trainer-san was suddenly able to stand on his own."
"At the very least, I believe our theory has merit. It's possible that Trainer-san's illness can truly be cured by our victories."
"...If that's the case, then why wouldn't he tell us?"
After a moment of silence, Mr. C.B. replayed her past with Kitano and became more convinced that this was the only answer. She clearly remembered his health improving for a while after she became an undefeated Triple Crown horse girl—that was their most carefree and mutually loving period. They had forgotten all the pain and worries, to the point that she had believed his illness had miraculously healed.
But if this was all true... why didn't Kitano just tell her back then? She could have run more races while she was at her peak! Even later, when her strength declined, she wouldn't have minded running in GIII or Open-class races! As long as he could live!
Why wouldn't he tell her?
"...I think... Trainer-san was worried that if he told us, we would push ourselves too hard and run our bodies into the ground."
Suzuka couldn't help but think of her own past, of Kitano exhausting his own life to save her on the racetrack... She knew that even when he was terminally ill and his life was hanging by a thread, he never forced her to enter any race. He had even begged her not to run in the Autumn Tenno Sho.
All of this was because he saw them as treasures more precious than his own life. And now that she understood, Suzuka would not allow that tragedy to happen again.
"Right now, perhaps only the two of us know this secret, Chigiri-senpai."
"I'm telling you all this because I hope you can help me... help Kitano... break free from the torment of this illness."
"After all, neither of us wants to lose him again. Right?"
Suzuka's voice was soft, but her resolve rang like thunder in the ears of Mr. C.B. and Ardan. At that moment, in the darkness, the three horse girls who had learned the "truth" and found the only way to change their fate, all simultaneously made their own silent resolutions.
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