Shinji Teraizumi had to admit that everything about today had left him utterly baffled.
The several horse girls standing in front of him made it hard for him to even know where to begin.
[Negative Emotion +70]
As the system prompt flashed through his mind, Shinji looked at Offside Trap's puffed-up cheeks. The horse girl was obviously unhappy, yet the others beside her were acting as if they saw nothing at all.
His gaze moved first to Shijiaji. The horse girl who had just been defeated in the Japan Cup looked as if she had already adjusted her mood, greeting Shinji with bright, full energy.
He passed over the faintly resentful girl who had not received any response and looked toward Haomeng instead. The dark circles under her eyes made it obvious she had not slept well the previous night.
But if you didn't sleep well, why are you here joining the chaos?
Then his eyes shifted once more, toward Ming Huajia and Saintly Halo, standing on the other side of Offside Trap. Ming Huajia probably had something to do with those two European horse girls—
"What exactly are you here for?"
Looking at Saintly Halo's stubborn expression, Shinji almost felt like an outsider might mistake this for some scene where he was coercing a horse girl into something and she was heroically refusing to submit.
"I'll make you acknowledge me!"
"...?"
Shinji looked around to either side. The arcade across the street was thriving with customers, while the owner of the ice cream shop nearby lounged with her chin in her hand, leisurely watching the little performance unfold.
"Acknowledge you... for what?"
"Acknowledge me as your trainee horse girl. I understand it now—compared to some vague, illusory pride, what I really want is to become a first-rate horse girl."
It sounded stirring enough.
And yet Shinji only felt more confused.
Then why are you telling me this? Didn't I already reject you?
"Yes, yes, very spirited. But we came out today to have fun..."
"I'll follow you seriously. I'll study from you seriously."
Shinji could tell that the horse girl really had changed a great deal. She was no longer letting that pride make her miss what truly mattered most.
But wasn't this a bit too extreme?
"No, seriously—we came out today to relax and have fun. Why are the four of you following us around?"
His dissatisfaction was plain in his voice, but the four horse girls had clearly already made up their minds. Not one of them said a word, which only made Offside Trap even more humiliated and irritated.
All she had wanted was to enjoy a little post-race one-on-one time with her trainer.
Why was that so hard?
Shinji rubbed a hand over his face helplessly. It was not that he was too embarrassed to tell the others to leave. It was that they were so shamelessly determined to stay that he had no way to deal with them.
Thinking back to what had just happened at the claw machine—how Offside Trap had kept failing because of the four intensely focused stares fixed on her, until she had finally gotten angry and stormed off—he let out a sigh and looked at her.
"Should we head back?"
"Mhm!"
Offside Trap answered with a heavy little snort. She herself did not understand why, just moments ago, she had almost lashed out at Shinji instead.
And she knew perfectly well that if she really had done that, someone with Shinji Teraizumi's personality would absolutely not have given her a pleasant response.
Besides, the current situation was not his fault at all. The real issue was that the horse girls around them had somehow convinced themselves that her trainer possessed some kind of secret technique and had begun tailing him with blind determination.
And yet—
she had wanted to take her anger out on him anyway.
She had felt as if her trainer ought to accept those emotions, soothe her, comfort her.
Why is that...?
Without once turning back, Offside Trap led the way ahead, her mind full of her near-loss of composure just moments ago. She had already decided that once she got back, she would ask her friends about it.
As for what was happening behind her—
Shinji Teraizumi could no longer endure the four unwavering lines of sight fixed to his back.
"You all... could you maybe watch where you're going?"
"We are watching!"
Haomeng was probably so sleepy she was barely thinking before speaking at all, which only made Shinji feel this outing had turned absurd beyond belief.
He waved a hand.
At this point, he knew their original plans for the day were completely ruined. He also found himself overtaken by a strange sort of fatigue.
Because once he imagined a future where, after some race, an entire team of horse girls all insisted on going out together...
there was no way a normal human being like him could keep up physically.
So how exactly did Ryuu Nishizaki manage it?
...
After parting from the still-fuming Offside Trap, Shinji Teraizumi slowly made his way back to the dorms.
Only after he stepped through the entrance of the building did the four horse girls who had been following him finally stop.
Watching the three European horse girls depart, along with the one horse girl who still stood there stubbornly refusing to move, Shinji felt another headache coming on—but he also knew he would have to adjust to this properly.
At worst, tomorrow he would just take Offside Trap somewhere remote to have fun in secret.
As he climbed the stairs, the corridor of the dorm building echoed with a chaotic mess of footsteps, as if someone were running around with great effort. Curious, Shinji had already turned his head toward the noise before he even fully reached the next floor.
"Ms. Tazuna?"
He looked in confusion at Tazuna Hayakawa, who was carrying two enormous paper bags as if they weighed nothing at all.
Then he compared that to Ryu Nishizaki, who was struggling even with a single box behind her, and he could only stare in shock.
"Oh? Shinji, you're back?"
Tazuna Hayakawa was not even breathing hard. The warm smile on her face brightened with a little surprise.
"Wait just a moment. I'll be right back."
"What's going on here?"
Still somewhat bewildered as he watched Tazuna walk briskly away, Shinji turned to look at Nishizaki.
"She's... helping me... move..."
Ryu Nishizaki was clearly exhausted. Seeing that, Shinji hurried over to help him lift the impressively heavy box.
"Why are you moving all of a sudden?"
"No idea. The dorm supervisor told me I had to move out as soon as possible. I don't know if they have some other plans for that room or what..."
Nishizaki looked deeply depressed. Ever since he had recruited his very first trainee horse girl, he had lived in that room and never once changed dorms. He truly had no idea what had gotten into that dorm matron—she had suddenly insisted he move out as quickly as possible, as if something truly terrible would happen otherwise.
"Then I've got no clue either."
Today only kept growing stranger and stranger.
Nothing made sense.
After helping Nishizaki move the rest of his luggage into his new room, Shinji found Tazuna Hayakawa already waiting for him in the hallway.
The elegant secretary stood there without a speck of moving dust on her, nor the slightest trace of fatigue. Shinji even found himself absurdly imagining that if Tazuna were wearing only a tank top, perhaps her arms would be covered in solid muscle.
"Shinji."
Tazuna seized him eagerly and began pulling him downstairs. She had actually come looking for him in the first place, but had happened upon Nishizaki moving and given him a hand along the way.
"I need to tell you something. You're definitely going to be happy."
Scratching his head, Shinji looked at her curiously. Any good news personally delivered by the academy's chief secretary had to be genuine.
And it had to be very good.
"The academy has already decided to give you a team."
"Huh?"
That was more than Shinji had expected.
Originally, he had assumed that dominating the Japan Cup might win him some extra resources or something along those lines. He certainly had not expected to be handed an entire team outright, and that made him raise his brows.
"And you don't need to worry about the team's starting resources, either. Since you currently have so few trainee horse girls, the academy will cover your team's first-year resources for you. Though after that, I may need to ask you for a favor—you'll need to find sponsors who can support your team's resources starting in the second year."
The information in Tazuna's words struck Shinji hard.
Getting a team at all was already an excellent reward.
But having the first year's resources covered as well—
With Offside Trap set to go overseas next year, and with Shinji already planning to recruit a second trainee horse girl, having the board's resources backing him would make everything far more secure.
As for that "favor," given Tazuna Hayakawa's personality, Shinji did not believe for a second that she would ask him to do anything truly difficult or something that would put him in an awkward position.
He nodded.
Taking the phone Tazuna handed him, Shinji felt the bad mood he had been carrying around all day finally begin to lift.
"In that case... thank you very much."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 132)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter140)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter95)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter165)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 145
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 135
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 95
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 155
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 125
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 105
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 62
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 80
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 80
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 62
Uma Musume: I Want All 65
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
Summoning an Evil God, but the 41
Supernatural Multiverse 45
My Harem Is Indescribable 35
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 46
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 26
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 36
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