"All right, that's it for today's training!" Fujiwara Chiya called out to Rice Shower and the others.
"Trainer Chiya, thank you for your hard work."
The person in charge of the racecourse walked over and handed Fujiwara Chiya a bottle of water. Chiya thanked him and accepted it.
"We'll be troubling you for a while. You're even opening the place up for us on weekdays."
"Not at all." The man smiled. "For those of us who work in the racing industry, getting to watch the Empress train is a rare opportunity. After seeing the Empress race, even my daughter says she wants to become an uma musume in the future. Though, well, she's only in primary school right now."
"Time flies. She might be in primary school now, but before you know it, she'll be all grown up."
"Haha, you're right, Trainer Chiya. Children always grow up when you aren't paying attention." The person in charge sighed fondly. "These days, my daughter comes home every night and asks me when the Empress's next race is. I tell her to wait a little longer, that it'll be soon, but the more I tell her to wait, the more she pesters me. Then she tells me to buy the Empress's merchandise. She says the thing she wants most is an autographed photo of the Empress, but those are basically priceless now…"
"Sounds like your daughter really loves uma musume. It's just an autographed photo. That's easy enough. I'll have Shirayuki sign one for her later."
"I'm sorry to trouble you, Trainer Chiya. Kids can be so demanding sometimes." The man's face lit up immediately.
Merchandise themed after Shirayuki had already started hitting the shelves one after another. With her adorable design, everything sold out the moment it appeared. Autographed photos were even worse. Not long ago, Central held a signing event with a one-thousand-person limit, and people had started lining up three days in advance.
When Shirayuki arrived, she saw tents spread all over the ground.
It reminded her of the days when she used to fight for limited-edition goods herself.
Honestly, "war" was the only word for it.
From an uma musume's perspective, Shirayuki had already achieved fame and glory. From here on, all she had to do was run a few memorial races, move on to the Dream Trophy, and let the legend of an era come to a close.
But Fujiwara Chiya was not satisfied.
Shirayuki still had one race she had not won.
One enemy she had not defeated.
Before she overcame that opponent, she had to grow stronger.
Stronger than ever.
Shirayuki would not leave the stage with regrets. That was not only her wish as an uma musume, but also his long-cherished dream as a trainer.
After handing the signed photo to the person in charge, Chiya received a flood of thanks in return. The man even promised that the racecourse would always be open to him, even if he showed up in the middle of the night.
Once they left the racecourse, Gold Ship immediately made a suggestion.
"Trainer, let's grab something to eat!"
Osaka was known as the nation's kitchen. Its food streets stretched one after another, and the aroma alone could be picked up from hundreds of metres away.
Since they had come all the way to Osaka, Shirayuki was absolutely going to treat herself.
Chiya agreed to Gold Ship's request, and the group entered the food street.
For the first time in a while, Shirayuki ate to her heart's content. Part of the merchandise revenue went to Central, part of it went to Tracen, and another part landed directly in Shirayuki's pocket.
In other words, she no longer had to worry too much about prices when eating. There was no need to deliberately run off to buffet restaurants anymore. Even the buffets that had once blacklisted her had quietly put her back on the whitelist, lifting all restrictions on her entry.
Being famous sure was convenient.
Too bad Shirayuki had already lost interest in travelling that far just to save a bit of money.
I'm hungry…
No matter how much she ate, she still felt hungry.
That crawling, itching hunger refused to disappear.
"Onii-sama, this is so good," Rice Shower said cheerfully, sitting between Shirayuki and Chiya.
"Mm, it really is." Shirayuki smiled.
Beside her, Chiya was picking food up for Rice Shower. Seeing that, Shirayuki swallowed.
She really wanted to feed herself something.
Whether it was Chiya watching her eat with that fond look he got whenever she resembled a tiny animal, or Shirayuki watching Chiya personally eat the food she gave him, either one would have been wonderful.
Actually, the reason Shirayuki made lunch for Chiya was not only because of taste.
There was another reason.
Whenever she saw Chiya personally eat something she had made, a soft happiness would bloom inside her chest.
Her effort turned into sweet, savoury warmth, accepted without hesitation and carried straight into his stomach.
Because Chiya had spent so long as a trainer, taking care of uma musume had become second nature to him. But once the person being cared for became himself, he finally understood just how gentle that constant, careful attention felt.
Fujiwara Chiya suddenly understood why Rice Shower clung to him so much.
Being cared for like this really did feel amazing.
Looking at Rice Shower being fed, Shirayuki quietly turned her gaze away.
She had never expected that watching Rice Shower being fed by herself would actually make her feel a little jealous.
Everyone else could receive that from him.
But she could not.
Put others first, yourself last.
Fujiwara Chiya had always lived that way.
But once in a while, he wanted to be a little selfish too.
"Onii-sama?"
Seeing the melancholy on Fujiwara Chiya's face, Rice Shower blinked up at him curiously.
"What's wrong, Onii-sama?"
"No… it's nothing."
Fujiwara Chiya shook his head.
Across the table, Gold Ship watched the group.
"Oh yeah, Trainer, didn't you say you had something to do tonight?"
"Huh?"
"Didn't that bald old guy tell you something? He wanted you to go over tonight, right? It's definitely more Shirayuki-related stuff. What a pain. Fame's a double-edged sword, huh? People fear fame like pigs fear getting fat!"
What the hell are you even talking about, Gold Ship?
"You probably won't be coming back tonight, right? No big deal. We're outside anyway, so there's no dorm inspection. We can stay out as long as we want. Man, Tracen really is a prison."
Gold Ship crossed her arms and nodded deeply, as if she had just uncovered one of life's greatest truths.
"Onii-sama is going out?"
Fujiwara Chiya blinked, then looked at Gold Ship.
Gold Ship flashed him a thumbs-up and silently mouthed two words.
"Counselling session."
That was what she said.
"Yeah. Shirayuki and I have something to take care of, so we won't be coming back tonight."
"Eh? I see…"
Rice Shower looked at Shirayuki, who was sitting beside her with a gentle smile.
"Okay. Then I'll see you tomorrow, Onii-sama."
In the past, if she had heard that Shirayuki was going out with Onii-sama, Rice Shower would definitely have followed them. She would have assumed Shirayuki was trying to do something with Onii-sama.
But now that she knew Shirayuki was Onii-sama, Rice Shower felt perfectly at ease.
No matter what happened, Onii-sama would not go so far as to have that kind of relationship with himself, right?
If he said it was work, then it had to be work.
There was no way the two of them were sneaking off behind her back.
A little unfortunate, though.
Rice Shower had been planning to sneak into Onii-sama's room tonight.
Since they had finally come out like this, there was no way she would let the chance slip by.
But it was fine.
They had plenty of time.
Onii-sama was not going to run away with Shirayuki or anything.
What did she have to worry about?
And so, Rice Shower relaxed and enjoyed the moment.
After dinner, Fujiwara Chiya took Shirayuki and said goodbye to the other two.
Before they left, Gold Ship secretly slipped over and whispered into his ear.
"Trainer, you better turn Shirayuki back into the harem king, okay? Tracen's future depends on you."
"Gold Ship, you…"
Fujiwara Chiya opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he swallowed it back down.
"I'm going."
"Go on, Trainer!" Gold Ship waved, watching the two of them leave. "Make sure you remodel Shirayuki properly!"