"Chiya! You brat, get out here!"
Fujiwara Chiya opened his eyes in a daze.
Last night, he had drunk until dawn. By the end, he could barely even walk, and Nishizaki Ryuu and the others had carried him back.
A long journey, alcohol, and jet lag on top of that.
Fujiwara Chiya's mental state had never been this low.
He opened the door, and Katsumura Youta immediately started yelling at him.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you!"
"What happened?"
Fujiwara Chiya leaned against the doorframe and yawned.
"You said you bought me souvenirs, and in the end, you bought me two cans of surströmming? And two bags of shark skin?"
"Aren't those souvenirs?"
"Souvenirs, my ass! You went to Paris, didn't you? Not Sweden! And the cans of surströmming are bulging!"
"They said the bulging ones have more flavour."
"Damn it! You might as well have bought me two hand grenades! At least then I'd die quickly!"
Katsumura Youta cursed nonstop.
Last night, when he opened the package and saw two swollen cans of surströmming, he had almost wet himself from fear. He was terrified that the things would start leaking. If they did, the dorm would become unlivable, and the smell would linger for three whole days without fading.
He had immediately covered the things with plastic sheets and waited for professionals to come and deal with them.
"Didn't I also buy you a few baguettes for self-defence?"
"Yes, compared with the surströmming, those really are good things. I've already prepared to stab you to death with them once you let your guard down."
After arguing about souvenirs for a while longer, Katsumura Youta finally got to the main point.
"Chiya, last week before you came back… no, I guess it should be the week before last. Tracen held admissions."
"Mm, I know."
He had already heard about it from Rudolf. No wonder there were so many new faces around Shirayuki.
"Don't forget what you promised me."
"What did I promise you?"
"What? You brat, you're pretending not to remember!"
"At least explain it properly. I've promised you plenty of things, and I haven't fulfilled a single one of them."
Katsumura Youta was so angry his teeth itched.
"I'm talking about that little foal from my relatives' family. Cesario. She has already enrolled, and she said she wants to become your uma musume. She wants you to sign a contract with her."
"Ah…"
When he heard that, Fujiwara Chiya remembered that blue-haired little foal.
She was a fan of Shirayuki and was supposed to enrol in September this year.
Aside from her, there was also another child, the brown-haired little foal, Rhein Kraft. She was also entering in September, and Fujiwara Chiya had promised to sign a contract with her too.
"Don't you dare say no."
"I can do it, but I'll need to test her first."
"Test her, then. That child's talent is really strong."
"Then I'll increase the difficulty."
"You bastard…"
Of course, Fujiwara Chiya was only saying that.
He would definitely do what he had promised. Besides, it really was the recruitment season now.
He still remembered last year, when Fujiwara Chiya could not recruit a single person.
This year, he would make a fresh start.
"I'm telling you, Chiya, the students who came this year all have very strong personalities."
"What happened?"
"They don't listen. One of them beat up the instructor."
"Hm?"
Not listening was understandable.
After all, when Fujiwara Chiya first started, almost none of his uma musume listened properly either.
But beating up the instructor was something Fujiwara Chiya was hearing for the first time.
Was her personality that fierce?
"It wasn't that serious. Maybe to an uma musume, it was about the same as giving someone a push. But for a human, that was too much. She directly left a palm print."
"Oh…"
Fujiwara Chiya's heart did not waver at all.
After experiencing so many storms, things like this no longer counted as incidents.
Have you ever eaten an uma musume's elbow strike?
"The important thing is, that child's strength is also extraordinary."
"How extraordinary?"
"In the new student entrance exam, she beat second place by five lengths."
"How many?"
When everyone had only just started and had not gone through systematic training yet, she could rely purely on her own ability to beat her opponent by that much?
It seemed that among this year's new students, there was an incredible uma musume.
Then he really had to go take a look.
While he was at it, he could add a few more uma musume to strengthen his team. With Shirayuki around, recruiting uma musume should not be difficult.
"In any case, don't forget about signing with Cesario. Take good care of her for me, got it?"
"I know."
Fujiwara Chiya yawned. He rubbed his eyes, preparing to go back and sleep a little more.
Right now, everything he looked at had double images.
However, things were not over yet.
Katsumura Youta had only just left when Fujiwara Chiya's phone rang again.
Looking at the caller ID, Fujiwara Chiya immediately answered.
"Is this Trainer Fujiwara Chiya?"
"Yes, speaking."
"Hello. I'm calling from the Japan Uma Musume Association. There are several important meetings we hope Trainer Fujiwara can attend."
"All right. When?"
"This weekend. The location is the third-floor hall of the Central Office Building. The time is nine in the morning."
Fujiwara Chiya put down his phone.
It should be his commendation meeting, as well as the qualification review for senior trainer status.
Although Fujiwara Chiya had not won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, his second-place result was still enough to earn him a senior trainer badge in Japan.
Senior trainer…
He still remembered how, a little over a year ago, he had been a complete rookie.
And yet, in such a short time, he had become a true senior trainer.
All of this was thanks to Shirayuki.
Those two different identities had allowed him to absorb a tremendous amount of experience in a short period. His training ability had naturally risen along with it.
But it still was not enough.
If he wanted to win the Arc, he needed more experience.
The higher the level of the racecourse, the more clearly he could see his own shortcomings. Whether it was Shirayuki or himself, both of them still had plenty of room to improve.
Fujiwara Chiya had discovered something.
During intense physical clashes, Shirayuki could not open her Zone.
She could not concentrate.
Even after reform, Japanese races were still too gentle. They could not simulate Europe's fierce racing environment at all.
Next, he had to overcome that problem.
Otherwise, Shirayuki would never be able to surpass her limits.
By afternoon, Shirayuki sat up in a daze.
Her biological clock was still in Paris, instinctively thinking that it was morning. When she saw the clock on the wall, Shirayuki was a little confused. It took her quite a while to remember where she was.
Dragging her still aching body, she put on her clothes.
She walked into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and washed her face.
Stimulated by the cold water, Shirayuki became much more awake.
She looked at the white-haired girl in the mirror.
Her sky-blue eyes were clear and bright.
Her snow-white hair fell down her back.
Her originally medium-length hair had grown into long hair, adding a little more maturity to her. The impression she gave was becoming more and more like Air Groove.
The student council.
She had officially become vice president, completely taking over Air Groove's burden.
From now on, she would live at Tracen as a guide for the students.
That would not be easy for her.
But this was her own choice.
To become an excellent person.
Whether as a trainer or as an uma musume, that was the same.
Before leaving Paris, Byerley had come to find her and told her one thing.
"You ran well. You are seriously becoming an uma musume. You did not betray this body's wish."
This body's wish?
Shirayuki had not understood, and Byerley had not explained.
She had simply said, "I look forward to your performance," and left.
Was Byerley talking about my instincts as an uma musume?
The wish to chase victory with everything I have?
Or perhaps…
As Shirayuki wiped her face, she heard a knock at the door.
When she opened it, a straight-backed blue figure stood outside.
Seeing Shirayuki, the girl bent at the waist.
"Hello, Shirayuki-senpai. It has been a while."
Shirayuki raised her head and looked at the girl in front of her, who was even taller than she was.
"You are… Cesario?"