"When I feel tired, when I feel I can't hold on... can you let me act spoiled like a few days ago? Let me release all this pressure?"
...Yesterday, the conversation with Rudolf was still fresh in Kitano's mind. Even though he had now returned to Tracen Academy and was supervising the training of Nakayama Festa and Gold Ship for the Japanese Derby in a month's time, he was still a bit absent-minded, which also exposed the wavering in his heart.
The promise made in a moment of emotion, when his reason had regained the upper hand, made him realize the seriousness of the matter a little...
If Rudolf remembered what had happened a few days ago when her mind had regressed to childhood, and she had still said such a thing to him... was she hinting at something?
Could it be that she meant that when they were alone, she still wanted to interact in the same way as in their childhood? To let her cast off all kinds of labels and constraints, and just be a horse girl named Symboli Rudolf with him, just like in her childhood?
Speaking of which, he recalled the situation of taking care of the regressed her a few days ago. His and her conversations were all centered around their childhood in that playthrough. And during that time, the emotions he felt from her... no, it should be the strong feelings, could almost be summarized as "like" and "cherish."
When he was with her in the past, he hadn't felt it. But in these few days, the her he had seen, who was always acting spoiled towards him, almost wanted to stick to him every moment. Even when brushing her teeth and washing her face every day, she wished she could stand on top of him—just like a certain OP of Conan, the scene of Uncle Mori and Conan standing at the same sink brushing their teeth and washing their faces. It's just that with her height, her head would have hit his chin, so it was of course impossible to replicate this scene.
She had become clingy, and even a little troublesome. During that period, he had indeed felt her affection for him, which was even more cherished than in her childhood... this also made him unable to help but start to fantasize.
"Could it be... that she actually cherishes our childhood life more than I thought?"
"She's even more clingy than in her childhood. Could it be because of her later experiences? Even if her mental age has regressed, she is still influenced by her memories, which is why she is clinging to me so much?"
"Speaking of which, I don't seem to know at all... about her life in the Symboli family as a horse girl after we separated."
It must have been very bitter and hard, right? Having been a trainer for so many playthroughs, although he had never successfully entered the Symboli family, he could still, based on his experience at the Mejiro family, come to this conclusion—being a horse girl with extremely strong talent, as recognized by the family, was a very hard thing.
It's just a pity that although he had once been Ardan's trainer, because of her physical constitution, her training progress was not on the same level as her sisters'. The Mejiro family's thinking was always to first ensure her health, and on this basis, talk about training and racing...
After all, it was impossible to find a second existence like him, who could sacrifice himself in exchange for a horse girl's health. But even so, in his daily training, he had also tried his best not to put too much burden on her. Only during races would he repeatedly encourage her to run forward without fear—because before every race, he would almost always contribute a part of his life to her, so that her body could persist in finishing the race.
For this, he had had a conflict of opinion with the Mejiro family head more than once... fortunately, at that time, she had always stood with him. No matter how much the family head... she really couldn't stand her granddaughter's liking...
"Huh?" Just as his thoughts were drifting far away, a piece of clothing suddenly placed on his shoulder made him turn his head subconsciously. And a sky-blue figure also quietly appeared beside him, saying in a quiet voice, "Spring is not over yet. The weather is still a bit cold, Trainer Kitano."
Quietly, Ardan stood beside him, watching the horse girls galloping on the track with him. While a hint of unconcealable envy flashed in her eyes, she also said with concern:
"Especially since you've just taken care of the president not long ago and haven't fully recovered yet."
"Thank you, Ardan."
And he, who had just been thinking about her, his eyes lit up when he saw her. He took the initiative to walk up and ask his former charge about the family secrets he had not been able to get involved in.
"Ardan, if it's convenient, can you share with me what kind of training the Mejiro family gives to extremely talented horse girls?"
"Huh? Trainer Kitano... why are you suddenly asking this?"
And faced with him, who was suddenly interested in the inner workings of the Mejiro family, Ardan, who had originally just come to deliver a piece of clothing, was also slightly taken aback. And after thinking for a moment, he also found an excuse and explained:
"After all, everyone in the Mejiro family has been very active recently. And your older sister, Mejiro Palmer, is a filly horse girl who can compete with Rudolf."
"I think if the Mejiro family has any secrets for training horse girls, they can be applied to the training of my several charges. Invincible and Golshi should be very suitable for the Mejiro family's training methods."
"...I see."
Huh? Why does it feel like Ardan's expression has changed from confused to a little unhappy? He didn't know what he had said wrong for a moment. He, who considered himself to have been able to break through with her in the past, was definitely not just relying on his lifespan to brush up her affection. After all, when she had noticed his "life return," it was almost time for Invincible to be born. He should be one of the top three people in this world who knew her best.
But now, this girl, who was as gentle as water in his impression, how could he not grasp her personality?
And in fact, Ardan herself did not know why her mood would suddenly become subtle when she heard him praise her sisters. Especially when she heard him praise her sister, Palmer, the hint of sourness in her heart almost made her pout and show the sulky expression she only showed in front of her grandmother.
Especially since she knew very well that in the few days he had been taking care of Rudolf in the hospital, her three younger sisters, McQueen, Zenshin, and Ryan, had all participated in that fateful race, the Tennō Shō (Spring).
And in this race, Mejiro Zenshin, who had been guided by him before and had started to train towards a "great escape horse girl," had actually shone unexpectedly. She had once led the pack in the Tennō Shō (Spring), and had even surpassed McQueen and Ryan, making the entire audience boil with excitement. Although she had lost speed in the final straight, she had still achieved a good result of fifth place in the Tennō Shō (Spring) with the lowest popularity.
By the way, the first place was the number one favorite, Mejiro McQueen, and the second place was Ryan. And this time, Zenshin's brilliant performance had really made people's jaws drop. Even the matriarch, who was far away at the Mejiro home, was startled by this news.
After all, compared to McQueen and Ryan, these two sisters, Zenshin was really not valued in the Mejiro family. Her previous performance could be said to be extremely poor. She had run her debut race three times just to win, and in her first major prize race, she had only gotten seventh place. And after that, she was found to have a fracture and had been recuperating for more than half a year.
When he had attended the Mejiro family gathering last year, it was also at the end of a classic year where Zenshin had achieved almost nothing. Compared to McQueen and Ryan, these two sisters, she was really a marginal character in the family. Ardan had even heard Palmer say that many trainers in the family were planning to propose to the matriarch to have her switch to steeplechase racing.
But at this time, he appeared. The training manual he had compiled for her situation, made her, who deeply believed in his theory, seem to have been reborn in just a few months. And this Tennō Shō (Spring) had become a key performance for her to test her growth, and also let her sisters re-acquaint themselves with her, this "tail-ender" of the family.
This result made Ardan have to admit his teaching talent, and also made the surprised matriarch call her for the first time to urge her, asking if her relationship with him had made any progress these few days.
Clearly, the matriarch's meaning was clear—such an excellent trainer, how could you not quickly tie him to the Mejiro family, Ardan?
And faced with her grandmother's "marriage urging" behavior, and more or less guessing that someone in the family must have proposed "letting him be Zenshin's trainer," her answer was very blunt, and even a bit petulant:
"No, he has been taking care of President Rudolf during this period."
"Rudolf? Ah, she fell ill before, right?" At that time, on the other end of the phone, the matriarch also, after nodding, quickly noticed that something was wrong and immediately asked:
"...No, that Symboli girl fell ill, why is it his turn to take care of her? It shouldn't be him, right?"
"I don't know." After she calmed down, she also reported to her grandmother with her usual gentle attitude, "It seems that only when he is by her side does she feel at ease."
"...Not right. That Symboli girl is probably up to the same thing as us?"
However, the matriarch, who had fought with the Symboli family both openly and secretly for so many years, quickly sniffed a motive in her behavior, a motive called "family struggle."
The reason was simple. Symboli Rudolf was the next head of the Symboli family. Her every move almost represented the will of the family. The matriarch found it hard to believe that the Symboli family head would be completely unaware of her rare and out-of-character behavior.
After all, unlike the Mejiro family, where the matriarch had so many granddaughters to dote on, the Symboli family only had a few seedlings. They were following a quality route. For their most promising granddaughter to be so close to a man, she really couldn't help but think more about it.
Even if this was really her personal behavior, it was still very bad. Her strength and status, only one Palmer in the Mejiro family could match. The matriarch was very worried that this weak and shy granddaughter of hers would miss a good opportunity, and in the future, when she recovered her memory but had no chance to make a move, she would regret it for the rest of her life!
How could that be? How could this precious granddaughter of hers bear such a blow? It must be changed!
"Ardan, remember what I told you before? You have to give him a chance to perform, so that you can know if his character is compatible with yours."
"Just in time, Zenshin's performance this time is not bad. You can, on behalf of our Mejiro family, express our gratitude to him. You can arrange the content yourself, but remember to convey our gratitude, understand?"
"...I understand."
However, after this phone call with her grandmother, she did not think as much as her grandmother. The only thing she heard was her grandmother's sentence, "that Symboli girl, her purpose is the same as ours."
President Rudolf... although I had a little bit of a premonition before, but... she really likes him too?
And he even took care of her with such painstaking efforts... then, he actually likes her too?
Thinking of this, her chest also couldn't help but feel stuffy. She felt that her behavior was very strange—she clearly didn't feel that she had fallen in love with him, but when she heard that he had fallen in love with someone else, she felt very heartbroken and helpless... but her reason could not obey her sensibility, because she knew that she and he were now just "nothing."
Under the torment of her heart and the repeated wavering of her reason, she took a deep breath. Her purple eyes, which were as dazzling as gems, seemed to have made some kind of decision. She turned to him and asked the question in her heart.
"Trainer Kitano, before that, please allow me to ask you a question, okay?"
Taking another deep breath, she couldn't hide her trembling heart and the sourness in her eyes, but she still insisted on asking him this question. "This matter you want to ask... is it related to President Rudolf in some way?"
"Please, don't lie. Answer me honestly... I just want to hear you speak your true feelings."
Even if it will break my heart, but I still want to hear that everything you say to me is true.
At this moment, Ardan's purple gem-like eyes were fixed on him. Her slightly bitten lower lip and the small action of slightly grabbing the corner of her clothes... all of this showed her undisguised "jealousy" towards Rudolf at this moment.
As if a gentle wife, after discovering her husband's extramarital affair, still painfully questioned him, "who is better, me or that third party," willing to give the person she loved deeply one more chance... and at this time, what could his answer be?
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