Some time later.
In a coffee shop not far from the training grounds, two figures sat opposite each other, the atmosphere strange.
After returning each other's phones, Shinji and Digital had both made excuses to leave the training field. And because one of them was Digital, no one suspected anything.
Nearly an hour had passed since the two of them left the training field. Even the coffee in front of them had gone cold, but the silence continued. No one knew how to start.
Then, after about another quarter of an hour, Digital finally couldn't hold back any longer and was the first to speak.
"Um, Trainer Kitahara, that [Anonymous Reply B], that was you, right?"
"No, you saw wrong," Shinji replied instantly.
"...Are you trying to deceive me, or yourself?" Digital sighed, then continued. "And, according to the information I found, that [Anonymous OP] and [Anonymous Reply A] seem to be the same person as [Anonymous Reply B], which means... that post, you posted it yourself, and it was all a self-directed play?"
Shinji was silent for a moment, then replied, "If I said it wasn't, would you believe me?"
"...No."
"Then that's that." Shinji leaned back in his chair, his expression gradually becoming melancholic. "If you have anything else you want to ask, just ask directly."
When in trouble, go full slacker.
But even though he said that, Digital still did not ask any questions. She just stared at the coffee in her hands, her thoughts unknown.
Admittedly, she had a lot of questions in her heart now, like why he had posted that, why he had deliberately slandered himself, and even had a high-intensity online debate with her... But the problem was, she could tell that he didn't want to talk about these things.
Although they both had the surname Agnes, Digital and Tachyon had completely different personalities. The latter preferred to do as she pleased, doing whatever came to her mind. Digital, on the other hand, was more considerate of others' feelings and rarely acted rashly—except when she was hnnngh-ing at horse girls.
So, even though she had thousands of questions in her heart, in the end, Digital did not choose to express them.
"I... have no questions." Her tone was hesitant. "And, I can swear in the name of the Three Goddesses, I will not reveal this matter to a second person."
Shinji raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. "Are you sure? This is your only chance. Next time, I won't answer even if you beg me."
"...I'm sure."
When she said this, her expression was extremely hesitant, and her tone was very difficult, as if she was going through a very intense internal struggle.
Shinji was amused by her expression. After laughing twice, he met her resentful gaze and cleared his throat. "Alright, alright. It's not convenient to tell you the specific situation, but you can roughly understand it as I did it for Eclipse."
This was not a lie. After all, it was also for Eclipse, to prevent her from finding opportunities to stuff people into his team. It's just that Shinji didn't know how Digital would understand it after hearing this. Anyway, he was telling the truth. As for how she would understand it, that was her own business.
And, as he had expected, after hearing his explanation, her expression indeed changed. It just didn't look like she knew he was on guard against Eclipse, but more like she had understood it as something else.
"So that's how it is..." she muttered to herself, a blissful light flashing in her eyes.
"This is too precious..."
So what exactly did you understand?
Shinji was very curious about this question, but he didn't dare to ask.
After this topic ended, the atmosphere between the two began to ease. After finishing the already slightly cool coffee, Shinji ordered two new cups, as a reward for Digital helping him keep his secret.
Digital didn't stand on ceremony and readily accepted this bribe.
Then, after a while, she spoke again. "Trainer Kitahara, I'll just pretend that what happened just now never happened. But I wonder if you could help me with another question."
"What question?"
Digital was silent for a few seconds, then looked up and said seriously, "You... are actually a very amazing trainer, aren't you?"
"I'm not," Shinji replied instantly.
Agnes Digital: "..."
This person really lies with a straight face.
Seeing him like this, she also for once did not act politely. "I don't believe you." Her tone was serious.
"So far, besides the newly established teams, I have been on most of the teams in Tracen. I have also had contact with most of the trainers, including those who have already resigned. The trainers who can enter the main Tracen campus are basically the elites among trainers, and those who can form teams are the elites among the elites. But even so, I have never seen anyone like you."
"To be able to easily confirm a horse girl's physical condition with just the naked eye, and quickly give a training plan based on the confirmed information, and even complete the running form improvement in such a short period of time..."
"It's no exaggeration to say that you have even broken out of the category of a trainer and are more like a 'legend'."
"Or, should I call you, the living urban legend, the walking horse girl wish-granting machine, Mr. Shinji Kitahara?"
As the existence who had the most information channels in all of Tracen Academy, and whose coverage was also the widest, Digital could of course find information about him.
But what was strange was that, logically speaking, if she wanted to investigate someone, especially a trainer, with her information search ability, one hour would be enough for her to investigate them from top to bottom. Even giving the urban legend some face, half a day would be the absolute maximum.
But in reality, she had been investigating him since the beginning of the school year because she was curious about Eclipse. And it wasn't until this weekend that she had barely managed to gather the information and confirm that he was indeed the legendary 'walking horse girl wish-granting machine'.
And, during the investigation process, she clearly felt resistance. And out of curiosity, she had investigated where that resistance came from, but the result almost scared her so much that she threw her phone away.
The Symboli family, and most likely the main Symboli family.
Involving such a monster family, Digital of course did not dare to continue investigating. She just couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Because she often tipped off Rudolf, she and Symboli Rudolf, although not very close, were at least acquaintances. After the rumor that 'Shinji is the emperor's canary' was suppressed by the Chairwoman, she had even chatted with Rudolf about it and found that the latter was not just unfamiliar with Shinji, but basically didn't know him at all.
And after investigating Shinji's matter clearly, she didn't dare to mention it to Rudolf. Because during the investigation process, she had vaguely discovered that the ultimate target of that resistance seemed to be Rudolf herself.
Digital considered herself just a small, ordinary horse girl and did not dare to get involved in the affairs of the main Symboli family, so she decisively chose to shut up and did not dare to say another word.
However, although she did not dare to participate in the affairs of the Symboli family, after understanding Shinji's situation, another idea arose in her heart.
"So what are you trying to say?"
Because of what had happened just now, Shinji didn't think she would say something like, "Trainer Kitahara, you wouldn't want your urban legend reputation to be known by others, would you?". But seeing her expression was rarely serious, even more so than when she was talking about their online argument on the forum, it made it a little hard for him to guess her thoughts.
But there was no need to guess, because in the next second, Digital gave the answer.
"I want you to be my master, Trainer Kitahara." Her expression was solemn, her tone serious.
"...What did you say?"
"I said I want you to be my master." Digital repeated, her tone serious.
Shinji's mouth twitched. "Can I ask why?"
"Because I want to become a trainer." Her expression was still serious.
"...And then?"
"And then I can find a charge horse girl as a trainer, and then eat with them, train with them, help them massage after training, squeeze their little feet, help them wash their clothes, and by the way, keep the ones they don't want..."
As she was speaking, her expression began to change, her eyes became dazed, and drool flowed from the corner of her mouth. "If we win a race, we can celebrate together. If we lose, I can hold them and comfort them. If there's a chance, we can even go on a hot spring trip, and go through all sorts of things together... hehehe..."
Seeing her like this, Shinji's eye twitched. "Then why don't you just go to a dedicated trainer school?"
"Because there are no horse girls there," Digital replied instantly.
Shinji's expression gradually became complicated. "So, you just want to hang around horse girls now, and then after you graduate, you want to come back as a trainer and continue to hang around them?"
"That's right! You're very understanding, Trainer Kitahara." Digital blinked and gave him a thumbs up with a smile.
Shinji was silent for a moment, then spoke. "Then why don't you find someone else? Didn't you have contact with many trainers before?"
"There are many reasons..." Digital thought for a moment. "Most trainers and their charges are very close. It's fine for me to join a team, but it's not very appropriate to ask them to be my master..."
"And among the remaining small number, many also think I'm a horse girl. After hearing my idea, they advised me that if it really doesn't work, I can be a reporter, a caregiver, or a culture class teacher, but I should never be a trainer. They are not very willing to teach me..."
"And most importantly, I think that if I become a trainer one day, I probably don't want to make my charge sad."
"Although it would be nice to have her cry in my arms, I still prefer to see her smile, to see her happy on the victory stage, and then I'll be down below cheering for her with a cheer stick..."
Shinji pinched his chin. "So, you think my ability is very strong, and you think that by learning from me, you can learn more than from others, and you might be more amazing in the future, increasing your charge's chances of winning?"
"Yes." Digital nodded, then said a little nervously, "So, Trainer Kitahara, I was wondering if I could..."
Before she could finish, Shinji shook his head decisively.
"You can't."
-------
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