"Everyone, we're back."
"Welcome back! Ah, Kitano-chan, where did you get that scarf around your neck? It looks very pretty~"
And when Kitano returned to the buffet restaurant with Tamamo, Oguri Cap, and Special Week, the conversation between Suzuka and everyone had already ended long ago. Everyone was digesting the news they had learned from her, so the atmosphere was particularly dull. Everyone was looking down and eating silently.
And this scene, in the eyes of the returning Kitano, was a completely different understanding—seeing his four charges so quiet, he was also relieved. He had originally been worried that Festa and Golshi would not be able to adapt to the addition of Suzuka and Invincible. After all, their personalities were relatively indifferent, and their compatibility with the Gold Family's hereditary boisterous nature was too poor, which might lead to some conflicts.
But now it seemed that they could get along well. Relieved in his heart, under Gold Ship's lively greeting, he also pulled the scarf around his neck and answered softly:
"This is a custom-made gift from Suzuka. Thank you, Suzuka. It must have been a lot of trouble for you. I like this gift very much. I believe I will always wear it when the weather turns cold."
"No... it's just a small gift, not much trouble." And when Suzuka saw him wearing the scarf she had given him as soon as he entered the door, she couldn't help but show a joyful expression. But she controlled her emotions very well and answered softly with a little shyness:
"But if Trainer-san is willing to wear it when it's cold... please do."
"Heehee, I've never seen Suzuka-san go to such lengths before~" And at this time, Special Week couldn't help but tease a little. Her dark eyes were completely narrowed with a smile, her tone and expression showing no abnormality at all, as she teased him:
"Trainer Kitano, you have to cherish her gift. You're probably the first person she has ever actively given a gift to. This is a treatment that even I don't have."
"Spe-chan..."
And faced with her harmless teasing, Suzuka also wanted to stop her "revelation" with some embarrassment. But what she didn't notice was that Special Week had "unintentionally" exposed her special treatment of him, and her obviously unusual feelings for him...
Unfortunately, Special Week had miscalculated a step. Now, besides her, the other three charges had no mood to dwell on the meaning of her words. And Tamamo and Oguri... their attitude seemed to be indifferent. On the contrary, this ash-haired comedy duo seemed to be satisfied just to be by his side and did not have any extra thoughts like Special Week.
And this time, even the usually sharp Kitano did not react to her words. He now had one thing he had to make up his mind to explain to her, while everything... could still be salvaged.
"Suzuka, there are some things I want to talk to you about alone now."
"Huh?"
And the moment he said this, it immediately attracted everyone's attention. This time, even Nakayama Festa and Invincible were pulled out of their thoughts. Several pairs of sharp eyes, filled with doubt and inquiry, immediately locked onto him.
And even Suzuka was a little surprised. She subconsciously blinked her eyes. From his solemn expression, she seemed to understand what he wanted to say. She immediately showed her usual smile and said softly:
"Of course, Trainer-san. Please sit here."
"Um... should we avoid this?"
And seeing that he had already sat in the seat next to her and was looking particularly serious, Tamamo Cross also realized that the topic they were about to discuss might be quite serious. She immediately raised her hand and asked in a low voice.
And under everyone's gaze, after a moment of hesitation, he turned his gaze to Invincible, Oguri Cap, and Special Week on the side. Looking at these horse girls who had had countless entanglements with his life, his expression, after becoming uncontrollably gentle, also silently nodded and said:
"It's okay. Actually, I've said this to Festa and Golshi before. Now I'm just emphasizing it again."
"This is actually something I have to confess before signing a contract with every charge... Although everyone is very clear, but now, I have to explain it to everyone again."
Saying this, he also turned his gaze to Suzuka. Faced with this former charge of his, even though she had already made a choice before, but after feeling that she was once again beginning to cross the line with her feelings for him, he still wanted to give the Suzuka of this life another chance... a chance that might allow her to avoid pain.
"Suzuka, you and everyone have been in the team for a while. About my situation... I believe you already have some understanding."
"As you can see, although my condition seems to be stable now, I am a person with an incurable disease, a person who doesn't know when his condition will worsen and he will die, who doesn't know when his time will be up."
"It's probably because I did something wrong in my last life, so in this life, I am a person who has been carrying a debt since birth. When the debt is paid off one day, I will be free."
He had long since accepted everything about himself, so he did not feel any discomfort when talking about his suffering. But he did not notice that when he was talking about these things in a calm tone, all the horse girls present felt a blockage in their hearts and showed either sad or silent expressions. The scene suddenly fell into silence.
"But my own debt can only be paid by myself. I want to live a spectacular life, but I also don't want my destined death to cause a second harm to the people I care about..."
"My parents gave up on me a long time ago. For me, I have spent my whole life on the profession of a trainer. For me, you are the people I care about most in this world."
Saying this, he also couldn't contain his true feelings, and a few tears even seeped from the corners of his eyes, which was extremely rare. However, he quickly concealed his emotions and immediately said to the silent Suzuka in front of him the heartfelt words he had once said to her and every one of his charges.
"Suzuka, I don't have much of a future, but you still have a long future ahead of you. I don't want my future death to become a stumbling block in your future."
"So, listen to me. If you feel that in the future, you can't accept the sudden death of a person you've been with for several years, while we're still not that close, and we haven't had time to get along for a long time, you still have a choice. You can... leave this team."
"Don't wait until the future, when we've been together for several years, and then be hurt and troubled by my death. That's not what I want to see."
"I say this, can you... you all understand?"
His voice slowly fell, and the whole scene fell into a strange silence. However, before he could sort out his feelings, he suddenly found... that everyone's expression seemed to be a little different from what he had expected?
In so many playthroughs before, whenever he finished saying all this to a horse girl who wanted to be his charge, there would probably be two situations. One was to be very rational and understand that she could not accept the death of a person she had lived with for several years, and chose to give up.
The other... was the horse girl who later really became his charge in every playthrough. Most of them were either indignant or moved to tears. Some would even cry and angrily grab his collar or hand and tell him that she would accompany him to the end...
But now... he looked at the smiling Suzuka in front of him, and the horse girls who were all looking at him with a strange gaze, but he always felt that something was wrong.
However, how could he know that when he left, Suzuka had already told Festa, Golshi, and Invincible her analysis and his secret. Now the four girls had already understood how to save him.
And even now, among the seven horse girls present, except for the first-life Nakayama Festa and the memory-locked Tamamo Cross, all the others more or less knew his secret. Therefore, when he threw out this statement again now, for these seven horse girls, his true purpose had already been guessed clearly.
"Silly Trainer-san."
"Eh?" And suddenly, a sentence from Suzuka pulled his thoughts back. He saw her silently wipe away a tear from the corner of her eye, slowly extend her hands, and gently grab his slightly thin hand, saying, word by word:
"At this point... do you still think you can get rid of me, Trainer-san?"
"Trainer-san, from the moment you extended a helping hand to me, a stranger, when you let me, who was not favored, regain my courage, I was destined to be your contracted horse girl. This will not change, nothing can change it."
Her words were very gentle, but her tone was exceptionally firm. And upon hearing this, he also understood that what she was talking about was this playthrough, the series of efforts he had made for her to return to the track... and this was also the origin of his renewed interaction with her in this playthrough.
However, what he did not expect was that what she was talking about... was actually everything they had experienced in the last playthrough. She knew very well that from the moment he had broken into her world and reached out to the weak her, who was developing late and was not favored by everyone from the beginning, she had already been his eternal charge.
"It was you who encouraged me to stand up, it was you who gave me courage, you let me see the view from the front again."
It was you in the last life, and it is you in this life. It was you who gave me the courage to run, to see the view from the front... I only know now that you, Trainer-san, are the one and only "view from the front" I have always wanted to see.
So...
"So—don't even think about running away, Trainer-san."
She took the initiative to extend a finger and pressed it against his nose. This Silence Suzuka, who had always been pure of heart and even made people feel that she had nothing in her heart but running, once again said the oath she had once said to him in the same scene in her previous life.
"Even if you want to run, you can't outrun me. You understand, right? Compared to you, I run faster."
"Absolutely not, understand?"
This life, I finally caught up with you. I won't let you run in front of me again, Trainer-san... for this, I am willing to pay anything.
Even if... I have to bet my legs again; even if I have to bet on all this so-called precious everything.
Quietly, she slowly opened her eyes. Her originally gentle and indifferent blue eyes, at that moment, lost all their color, leaving only an extremely strong stubbornness, the obsession to chase him back at all costs.
Some people said she was pure of heart, and in fact, it was true. Besides running, she had never been particularly obsessed with anything, because besides running, she had not "loved" anything, because she had not gained the same joy from other things or people as she had from running.
But now... besides running, she had her second precious "treasure"... and compared to this treasure that had brought her courage, joy, happiness, and relaxation, and had also made her experience pain, suffocation, and heartbreaking pain, abandoning "running"... was not impossible.
And to protect her treasure, the obsession shown by the pure-of-heart Suzuka would make her do many things she had never thought of...
At this moment, Suzuka, who had also suffered a huge trauma from his death, showed an "obsession" for him that was not inferior, and even more so than Special Week.
"...I understand."
And now, Kitano, looking at the particularly solemn Suzuka in front of him, did not notice the meaning behind her unchanged smile. He finally nodded gently and accepted the same answer from this former charge again.
And in the next moment, after she had inadvertently spoken the hearts of all the horse girls present, the newly joined Tamamo was the first to express her position, immediately saying:
"Don't worry! Kitano! I will definitely accompany you to the end! I will definitely not abandon you to face the illness alone!"
"Kitano, we will face all of this together. I will do my best to make the day of separation never come," Oguri Cap also nodded with a smile. However, under her seemingly gentle and plain face, there seemed to be a paranoia that others could not read.
"Heehee, although I won't break my promise, I won't let you wait so long alone for our meeting on the moon~"
And at this time, Gold Ship was as playful as ever, as if everything that had happened before had no effect on her. But in the next moment, she clenched her fists, rubbing her hands together as if facing a great enemy, and said, word by word:
"Isn't it just an illness? Watch me ora ora it away! If the god of death wants to take you, I'll beat him until he doesn't dare to take you!"
"...If you want to persuade me to give up now, it's already too late, Kitano."
And Nakayama Festa, who had been hesitating and unconfident all along, after listening to his monologue, also seemed to have finally made up her mind. Now that she finally knew the truth, her feelings after hearing his words were completely different from before.
In the past... he had actually said these things to her with the intention of not hurting her, right? It's just that at that time, she didn't know how to save him... but at that time, she, who didn't know the truth, still chose to bet on this seemingly losing gamble. From the moment she sat at the gambling table, she knew she would lose.
But now... this gamble seems to have a glimmer of hope. Since she might not lose, how could she give up at this time?
She, with an unprecedentedly gentle smile, showed him her gentleness that was only for him, and said softly and firmly:
"Once you're at the gambling table, you can't go back on your word before the game is over. I'll bet with you to the end, Kitano."
"...I can't help much, but when I can step onto the racetrack, I will definitely not back down."
And in the next moment, it was also from Suzuka's mouth that Invincible, who had just learned this secret, after a long silence, still chose to solemnly reply to him with her decision at this time, a decision that she had never been able to make before, but this time, she might be able to break through the obstacles of fate.
"Please live to see the day I step onto the racetrack... trainer."
"Great! Everyone—let's work hard together!"
And at this moment, Special Week, who was already in tears without knowing it, had long since circled around to his and Suzuka's side. She immediately hugged the two most precious beings in front of her. This bright-smiling, simple-minded horse girl, under everyone's gaze, said her wish, word by word:
"Every one of us will never be separated! Absolutely!"
"...Mm, never separated."
After a moment of surprise, Suzuka looked at this friend who was different from her previous life but should have been so simple and honest, and also replied softly with these words from the bottom of her heart.
However, in a quiet moment, Special Week and Silence Suzuka both opened their eyes in their hearts. Those two pairs of black and blue eyes both silently repeated this wish in the depths of their hearts—never separated.
With you... and with my most inseparable Trainer-san (father), let the two of us never be separated...
-------
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