Fujiwara Chiya had seen it just now.
Meek had dodged that softball as it came flying in. Her movement had been precise, quick, and accurate. There was no way that was a coincidence.
The Zone...
Only an uma musume who had entered the Zone could sense things outside her field of vision. At that moment, her body would be taken over by instinct. Her instinct had sensed danger, so it reacted.
But was that really possible?
Could someone enter the Zone just by sitting in a chair?
The key point was, Chiya had not sensed even the slightest aura from Meek. She was still the same squishy strawberry marshmallow who looked like anyone could poke her and leave a dent.
Weird.
Way too weird.
"Trainer Chiya! Sorry!"
Two uma musume ran over and bowed their heads to him. Chiya did not know their names, but he vaguely remembered that this group had once asked him to deliver cookies to Shirayuki for them. He would also give them some training advice whenever Shirayuki was too busy to help.
"We were playing catch earlier and the ball slipped out of my hand," the pink-haired girl said anxiously. "It didn't hit you anywhere, did it, Trainer?"
"I'm fine. Totally fine."
Chiya's body was pretty tough these days. A super high-speed ball thrown by an uma musume hitting him barely hurt at all... Okay, fine, it still hurt a little. And if it had gone a bit lower, that would have been dangerous.
Chiya meant the ball.
"I told you to throw slower," the orange-haired uma musume beside her grumbled, giving the pink-haired girl a shove. "What if you broke the Trainer? Were you planning to take responsibility?"
"Broke him...? If I broke him, then I guess I'd just have to take responsibility for the rest of his life!" The pink-haired girl's eyes lit up.
"You!"
"Trainer Chiya, do you want me to rub it for you? If it hurts too much, I can take responsibility for the rest of your life too, you know."
"I'm telling Her Majesty the Empress!"
"I was joking! Joking, okay?!"
These uma musume really were getting bolder by the day. Now they even dared to tease a trainer.
At this point, Fujiwara Chiya had absolutely none of the authority a trainer was supposed to have in front of them.
Even after all this time, he was still the only trainer in Tracen who mingled with uma musume like this. A new batch of trainers had arrived at Tracen last month, and when Chiya took a look, even the youngest among them was already in his thirties. That guy was married, too.
There were barely any people his age among the trainers at Tracen. Aside from Nase Fumino, Chiya was practically at the very bottom in terms of seniority. Because of that, other than occasionally exchanging a few words with Katsumura Youta and the others, almost all of Chiya's social time was spent with uma musume.
He had already been molded into the shape of an uma musume. Tied tightly to them, surrounded by them, whether they knew him well or not, whether they were close or just casual acquaintances, as long as they were uma musume, they would gather around him.
Chiya was like that.
Shirayuki was like that too.
Who exactly caused things to end up like this?
Was it me?
Fujiwara Chiya frowned in thought. For some reason, he felt as if there were an invisible hand behind the scenes, subtly pushing him into this position, making him come into contact with more and more uma musume, until finally, relationships happened.
Those two uma musume from just now were the same.
Chiya did not even remember their names, yet in the middle of a joke, they could reveal a half-serious willingness to take responsibility for the rest of his life.
When did he accidentally raise their affection points that high?
Maybe Gold Ship really was right when she said that if he confessed to ten girls, more than half of them would say yes.
But no matter what, Fujiwara Chiya did not want to add more burdens to himself. The more love he received from others, the stronger that sense of self-love inside him became. Even amid his countless relationships with others, only Shirayuki could give him the feeling that he did not have to worry about anything.
After watching those two girls leave, Fujiwara Chiya sat back down beside Meek.
That little interruption had not disturbed her in the slightest. Her pink eyes gazed up at the sky as Meek quietly enjoyed the peace.
Fujiwara Chiya was sure of it now.
This was Meek's Zone.
It was completely different from every Zone he knew. This was a Zone reached purely by relaxing the mind, by entering a state of selflessness.
Chiya copied her and tilted his head back to look at the sky.
Warmth brushed against his arm. Then Grass Wonder's voice reached his ears.
"Yuki-chan, is there anything you want to eat? I'll make it for you tonight."
"I want carrot hamburg steak!"
"I wasn't asking you, Spe-chan."
"But Shirayuki likes that too! Back then, I ate it together with Shirayuki, and I even gave her half of my carrots!"
"Is that so? What an unnecessary thing to do, Spe-chan."
"Huh??"
I can't calm down at all.
Fujiwara Chiya opened his eyes.
"Trainer... do you like spacing out too?"
Happy Meek suddenly spoke.
"I didn't really care for it before, but lately, I've started to like it."
"In that case, would you like me to teach you, Trainer? You look troubled. Your thoughts are very messy."
"What should I do?"
Meek patted her lap, telling Fujiwara Chiya to lie down.
"Trainer, look at that cloud. Watch its shape. Watch how it changes. Wait until that strand of white disappears, and another cloud appears..."
Breathing in the sweet scent coming from Meek, Fujiwara Chiya did as she said.
Time slipped by, second by second.
Before the man's eyes, an endless blue spread out.
Meanwhile, Shirayuki, who was being hugged and cuddled by Grass Wonder, suddenly sensed something. Her movements froze.
"Yuki-chan?"
Grass Wonder blinked in confusion when she saw Shirayuki stop moving.
"I can't feel it anymore..."
"Can't feel what?"
Shirayuki looked down at her own hands and took a deep breath. Her heart beat strongly. Her body felt brand-new.
Chiya's side had become a pure, boundless blue.
And right now, she was Fujiwara Shirayuki.
That detached, crystal-clear sensation lasted for less than two seconds before vanishing. Shirayuki once again caught the sweet scent coming from Meek.
"Shirayuki, are you okay?"
Grass Wonder leaned closer in concern and reached out to touch Shirayuki's forehead.
She remembered that a few days ago, Shirayuki had fainted on the racetrack. The entire school had fallen into chaos. During the next few training sessions, Shirayuki had also kept falling over, throwing everyone in Tracen into a state of constant panic.
Right now, Shirayuki was Tracen's pillar.
She supported half the academy.
If she collapsed, it would be a massive blow not just to the school, but to Japan's entire racing world.
Yuki-chan has way too much on her shoulders.
Grass Wonder hugged Shirayuki tighter.
She saw it all, and it hurt.
Shirayuki's poor condition was not only causing mistake after mistake in training, even her daily life was starting to suffer. In the past, whenever Grass Wonder bathed together with Shirayuki, all she had to do was nuzzle her a few times and Shirayuki would turn bright red.
But now, Shirayuki felt nothing.
Her face stayed perfectly calm.
Shirayuki was so exhausted she had lost interest in girls!
This was a huge problem.
Grass Wonder made up her mind.
She would join forces with a few other uma musume and submit an application to the student council, asking them to give Shirayuki a few days off. They would have Shirayuki put down her duties as vice president of the student council and give her more free time to relax.
With that time to unwind, Yuki-chan would go back to normal.
Right?