"Meek, that lily you've been raising is growing really well."
Shirayuki looked at the soft, snow-white petals blooming in front of her and offered an honest compliment. Back when she and Meek had gone wandering around town, they had stopped by a flower shop on a whim and picked out a few flowers they liked. Shirayuki had bought daffodils, which were now sitting on Chiya's office desk. Meek had bought a lily.
And now, she wanted to plant that flower in the garden.
Shirayuki gazed at the white petals, then reached out and touched them gently. Her movements were so careful it looked like she was afraid even the lightest brush of her fingers might hurt it. Beside her, Happy Meek stared at Shirayuki with her pink eyes, completely unblinking.
"There. That should do it." Shirayuki clapped the dirt from her hands and wiped a smudge of soil from her cheek.
Since she finally had some free time lately, Shirayuki figured she should spend more of it with her friends.
Originally, she had wanted to go find Chiya. But recently, Agnes Tachyon had been dropping by his office every chance she got, and if Shirayuki went there too, she had a feeling Tachyon would tease her into the ground again.
For the sake of her pitiful sense of shame and what little remained of her dignity after it had shattered into pieces, Shirayuki decided to behave like a good girl for a while.
Once Tachyon got bored of hanging around there, or once Shirayuki's own desires grew strong enough that she no longer cared about Tachyon observing from point-blank range, she would go back.
"Mm. Very impressive flower-planting technique. As expected of Nee-san."
Happy Meek clapped her hands. Under that blank, emotionless expression, her mouth opened slightly in an upside-down triangle.
Shirayuki smiled.
"Is there anything else you want to do? I'm pretty free lately, so you can tell me anything you'd like to do, Meek."
"How about picking apricots?" Meek pointed toward the training grounds. "The apricots over there are ripe. We can pick them and eat them."
"Aren't those the ornamental apricots Director said we're forbidden to…" Shirayuki paused. "Actually, never mind."
As the Director's younger brother, no, younger sister! Tracen was basically her house. What was wrong with picking a little fruit at home? If Chiya said he wanted to eat some, would the Director even be able to say no?
As long as Shirayuki wanted, she could practically strut sideways through Tracen.
Of course, she would not actually strut sideways. Shirayuki was still very careful about her image. In her own mind, her role was that of a soft, adorable, lovable girl, not some chaotic little tyrant. If Chiya's personality had been closer to Orfevre's, then after becoming an uma musume, he probably would have immediately challenged Symboli Rudolf, toppled the throne, and conquered all of Tracen.
Shirayuki's personality was much more easygoing. She liked everyone getting along peacefully. She helped Rudolf handle student council work and miscellaneous tasks, and even though her reputation was already more than enough to make her the next student council president, Shirayuki still wanted to stay comfortably as vice president rather than shove Rudolf off her seat.
Her ambition just was not that strong.
And when it came to racing, Shirayuki felt more or less the same way.
On the track, they were opponents. Off the track, they were friends. Giving everything against an opponent was instinct. Getting along with everyone afterward was character. Strong, yet humble. Sharp, yet gentle. That was the ideal image in Shirayuki's heart.
The ideal girl.
And also, the ideal uma musume.
She was starting to like herself more and more.
Shirayuki cupped her cheeks, happily humming a little tune. Her light, soft steps bounced along like a butterfly. Beside her, Meek blinked, her naturally pink eyes shifting toward Shirayuki. A faint, thoughtful glimmer passed through the depths of her gaze, then vanished back into calm.
They arrived under the apricot tree. Shirayuki grabbed the trunk, then nimbly jumped up onto it.
"Meek, I'll knock them down. You catch them."
She snapped off a branch, and for a moment, Shirayuki felt like she had gone back more than ten years. Holding the branch in her hand, she swung it down from above. Her flexible arm turned into a whip, driving the branch through the air.
Crack!
There was a crisp sound.
The apricot burst apart.
Under the tree, Meek spun in place and dodged every drop of juice that splattered toward her.
Seeing Meek's movement, Shirayuki raised an eyebrow. She swung the branch again, this time snapping the stem of an apricot. It fell precisely behind Meek. Yet as if she had eyes on the back of her head, Meek reached behind herself and caught it without even looking.
"…"
The other day had been the same. Meek had avoided that high-speed softball with only the tiniest movement. It had clearly come from her blind spot, but she had reacted as if she had known it was coming all along.
Shirayuki believed Meek had been in the Zone back then. That was why she had been able to pull off something so ridiculous.
And the movement just now had the same flavor to it.
Could Meek be in the Zone right now too?
Wasn't that a bit absurd?
If spacing out and entering the Zone still had some overlap, then the Meek playing with her right now was neither spacing out nor running. And yet she still seemed like she could sense everything.
Shirayuki swung the branch again.
In one instant, she cut down four apricots at once.
Shirayuki closed her eyes. When she opened them again, time seemed to slow. Leaves drifted gently through the air. The severed apricots fell in slow arcs.
And Meek…
Her eyes did not move at all.
It was as if she already knew exactly where everything would land. She simply reached out, one after another, and caught them all cleanly.
"…"
"Nee-san?"
After a short silence, Meek tilted her head and called out to the white-haired girl perched on the branch.
Shirayuki tossed the branch away and jumped down.
"That should be enough. Let's eat some first."
The two of them sat down on the grass.
"Meek, I met someone really amazing in Paris. Her name was Byrley. She was basically unknown, but the moment she entered a race, she broke a world record." Shirayuki bit into the tender apricot flesh and continued, "I've always believed that the uma musume who appear on the racecourse aren't necessarily the strongest uma musume. They're just more famous than everyone else. The moment you start thinking you're amazing, there'll always be someone even more amazing out there."
Shirayuki had won the Japan Cup with ease and become number one in all of Japan.
But did that mean there was truly no one stronger than her in the whole country?
Impossible.
In pure speed, the short-distance king Sakura Bakushin O would leave her in the dust. In pure stamina, Rice Shower could win a three-thousand-meter race by a massive margin. In pure strength, she was not even as strong as her male body, Chiya.
Even in technique, there were uma musume better than her.
Her senior, Yaeno Muteki, for example.
None of Shirayuki's individual abilities were truly at the top. But her overall ability was strong. With her exceptional experience and a body tempered through countless trials, she had climbed to the summit of Japan.
But Shirayuki knew very well that she still had a lot to learn.
She was nowhere near the point where she could look down on every rival beneath the sky.
And now, someone worth learning from had appeared right beside her.
When it came to the Zone, Happy Meek had already reached the peak. She could enter it anytime, anywhere, without any preparation at all.
"Can you teach me, Meek? How do I become like you?"
Happy Meek half-lidded her eyes.
"Does Nee-san want to become strawberry cotton candy too?"
"That's not what I meant!"
She was not strawberry-flavored.
That expressionless poker face seemed to smile just a little.
"Tomorrow, Nee-san should come wander around and space out with me."