Of course Shinji Teraizumi was not about to stand on ceremony with Tazuna Hayakawa.
He accepted her reward without the slightest guilt.
If he had to put it into words, then aside from the fact that Tazuna had always treated him well, the significance of this Japan Cup was simply too great. Shinji felt that he and his people had more than earned this reward.
His eyes fell to Tazuna's phone.
The English letters displayed there made his expression sharpen.
"Kochab?"
[The Pole Star.]
The system's translation made Shinji nod in satisfaction. A team's name mattered too. If the name had sounded awful, he absolutely would have made Tazuna change either the name or the team itself.
"Well? Do you like it?"
She could clearly see the satisfaction on his face, and a tiny trace of smugness appeared in Tazuna Hayakawa's eyes. That openly expectant, almost praise me look finally made Shinji laugh.
"Of course I do."
"Then it's settled."
At Tazuna's decisive words, Shinji was struck by a brief moment of daze.
Not long ago, he had merely been on track to become a middle school instructor. Now, all at once, he had become the trainer of an entire team. For others, such a leap might take years, perhaps more than a decade.
He had crossed that distance in a single autumn.
"From now on, you're the trainer of a real team. You'll need to carry yourself like one~"
Seeing him still somewhat absent-minded, Tazuna teasingly reached up and smoothed a strand of his hair—
only to snatch her hand back the instant she did it.
That unconscious little gesture had almost made her forget that they were not in Shinji's office or her own, but out in the open where anyone could see.
She knew perfectly well what certain horse girls were thinking, and that was exactly why she feared being seen and misunderstood.
Guiltily, Tazuna glanced around.
By sheer bad luck, her hopeful look happened to meet the eyes of King Halo at the entrance, mouth slightly open in shock. Normally, the girl who cared so much about poise and grace would never have let herself be seen in such a state of disarray. That blank, stunned expression made Tazuna's face redden.
"You're still here?"
It was Shinji who broke the awkward tension.
He glanced at the clock—it had already been nearly two hours—and frowned at King Halo. This horse girl, who had left him with a very poor impression before, was proving strangely persistent today.
"Please give me one more chance."
She had already pulled herself back together. Her focus now was almost frightening. Everything else had been pushed aside for the sake of the one thing she had decided she must accomplish.
Her expression grew even more serious as she spoke again, each word full of absolute resolve.
"Please, I'm asking you to give me one more chance. I will succeed."
Tazuna Hayakawa was astonished.
She had never seen King Halo like this before. She had no idea what kind of shock or provocation the girl had received to suddenly change so completely.
At this moment, the stubborn persistence in the girl reminded Tazuna a little of her roommate, Urara.
"Why?"
Shinji Teraizumi looked directly into the girl's eyes.
A person's eyes, more than anything else, reflected what they truly thought and felt—and horse girls even more so. Other than words themselves, their eyes were the second most direct way they expressed emotion.
"..."
"Give me a reason."
Though Shinji had not spent much time with King Halo, he could still sense the enormous change in her. Into the patience he had nearly exhausted, a small, fresh spark of curiosity had been poured.
"—Because classic year is ending, and I still have nothing to show for it. I want—really, truly want—to become a G1-winning horse girl."
King Halo hesitated for only a moment before saying it.
But the man before her merely shook his head.
"That's not enough. And that's not your real reason."
As he spoke, Shinji stepped right up to her, bent slightly at the waist, and took her by the shoulders, forcing the two of them into close eye contact.
"How strange. A horse girl who obsesses over grace, manners, and pride—where exactly did you learn how to hide things?"
The heat of his palms against her shoulders made King Halo instinctively want to grab his arms and throw him away. She had never been held like this before.
But she forced herself to suppress that impulse and met his gaze head-on without flinching.
What kind of eyes were those?
For one fleeting instant, King Halo thought they were the finest eyes she had ever seen on any trainer.
They were so deep they threatened to pull her under, and yet at the same time they felt like the shallow waters of a shoreline—something she could step into barefoot without fear.
She drew in a deep breath.
In the end, she closed her eyes.
"I want to surpass my mother. I want to prove to her that I can become a first-rate horse girl..."
"I want to show her that I can decide my own life. That I can do better than she did. That I am not some useless disgrace who tarnished her name and shamed her."
"I don't want every meeting with her to be nothing but endless scolding anymore. I want—"
The raised hand that suddenly stopped right before her face cut her off. The faint stir of air made her eyes snap open.
Shinji Teraizumi was finally showing an expression that carried a trace of interest—perhaps even the slightest bit of approval.
King Halo froze.
This was the first time Shinji had heard her true thoughts, the story hidden behind them.
And it was the first time she had ever seen him look at her like this.
"So... it sounds like you hate her?"
The question itself felt almost taboo.
King Halo's first instinct was to shake her head.
But the final scene lingering in her mind refused to fade.
She saw her mother sitting on that sofa, berating her mercilessly. And when King Halo, struggling to suppress her grievance and humiliation, tried to voice her own wishes—
her mother simply picked up a phone call and dismissed her as if she were nothing.
This was her life now. A life already in motion. A classic year already failed. She no longer had the luxury of stopping. She had to seize every remaining second and keep moving forward.
And yet her mother seemed not to care in the least.
Come to think of it, that scene had never been rare.
All her life, King Halo had experienced the same picture over and over again: that room, that sofa, that woman.
The only thing that changed was the King Halo standing in front of it.
From a little girl into a young woman.
Out in the world, her mother was a famed designer admired and respected by everyone. Her past honors had only added further legendary brilliance to her reputation.
But to King Halo, her mother was also the root of nearly every pressure in her childhood. Even in many of her dreams as a child, the images were always the same—her mother's criticism, her mother's punishment.
Silent, the girl first shook her head.
Then, after a beat, she nodded.
Because beyond that faint, undeniable hatred, there was also one thing she could never deny:
among all her goals, her mother's recognition—her mother, who had won seven G1s and been acknowledged by the world as truly first-rate—was of immense importance to her.
It was the weight of that admiration, born in childhood when she first learned of her mother's life, that had bred this bitter resentment. Because her dreams and ambitions had never once been supported by the very person she respected most.
A smile slowly spread across Shinji Teraizumi's face.
Beside him, Tazuna Hayakawa had been just about ready to step in and plead King Halo's case once more, but after seeing Shinji's expression, she said nothing.
She already knew.
This junior of hers had made up his mind to give the girl another chance.
And sure enough, Shinji straightened up. His voice dropped low, and King Halo's eyes stayed fixed on his face the whole time.
"Think it through, then say it properly. I want to hear you say it."
"I... I have..."
"You have what?"
Shinji's insistence now mirrored the same stubbornness King Halo herself had shown earlier. For the first time, she seemed to understand that her own persistence might have been just as irritating.
"I have—"
King Halo drew two hard breaths, then finally forced the words out.
"I hate her. I hate my mother."
As if afraid that would still not be enough for Shinji to accept, she said it again with emphasis.
"But even so... I still want her approval."
The last addition came weakly, almost no louder than a mosquito's hum, making Shinji shrug.
Then he brushed past her shoulder and started walking out toward the road beyond the dorms.
Behind him, King Halo stood there panting heavily.
It felt as though saying those few sentences had wrung every last ounce of strength from her.
She never heard him call her name.
Her shoulders slumped.
She had been honest. She could not bring herself to say she felt pure, unalloyed hatred—because beyond that not-so-deep hatred, what she longed for even more was for that woman to treat her with the same gentleness and kindness she showed everyone else.
So even if that honesty meant she still failed to win Shinji Teraizumi's acknowledgment, then so be it.
Her eyes shifted toward Tazuna Hayakawa.
The secretary was looking at her kindly—just the way King Halo's mother looked at the trainers and horse girls who came to commission race outfits from her.
Countless times, King Halo had imagined her mother turning that same gaze upon her.
Not once had that wish ever come true.
She would never be someone else's beloved child.
She could only ever be King Halo.
The sudden hand on her shoulder jolted her awake.
Startled, she looked up to see Tazuna Hayakawa tilting her head slightly, as if puzzled.
Then realization struck.
King Halo turned around in a hurry.
The man behind her had already stopped and was staring at her with a thoroughly impatient expression, his eyes full of silent accusation.
In the past, that sort of look would have been exactly the kind of thing King Halo hated.
But now—
it warmed the heart that had just been sinking.
She turned and ran toward Shinji Teraizumi in quick little steps.
Her stride was light.
It was the easiest, most natural her running had felt in quite some time.
So by the time she came to stand at Shinji's side, there was already a trace of a smile in her eyes.
That made Shinji click his tongue.
"My assessment is strict. You will only get one chance. Don't act like you've already passed."
"I understand!"
Her voice rang out brightly.
Behind them, Tazuna Hayakawa smiled and followed after, trailing just a little behind the pair who were now walking side by side.
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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