"That's your team's business. What I'm talking about now is your mistake. Why did you break a rule that was explicitly written down? Sakura Laurel, let me make this clear: Rudolf and Narita Brian have the authority to look at this register. You do not. This isn't just a Student Council rule. The Board recognizes it too."
The Student Council president's blatant partiality made Sakura Laurel instinctively want to step to Offside Trap's side. But halfway through that step, she suddenly realized that the girl standing opposite Offside Trap was also her good friend.
She looked over and saw Narita Brian's gaze dim in an instant.
Laurel had never seen Brian this vulnerable before, and yet here she was, exposing that weakness without the slightest attempt to hide it.
Back in her own era, Brian had never been afraid, even when the whole generation stood against her.
Sakura Super Creek, on the other hand, had no such hesitation. She had always been close to Offside Trap. And besides, when the whole generation had once united against Narita Brian, hadn't that happened too? More than that, Super Creek had always felt that the Student Council and the Board made far too much fuss about certain things.
This was between a trainee and her trainer. Why did they have to interfere so much?
From the corner of her eye, Rudolf noticed Brian lowering her head slightly. She clenched her fist, then slowly relaxed it again.
"Bakushin O, is this the Sakura family's position, then? You think this rule is unreasonable?"
Both Sakura Laurel and Sakura Super Creek's expressions changed at once. They were just about to speak up when Sakura Bakushin O, standing behind them, replied in a low, steady tone none of them had ever heard from her before.
"Perhaps it is. If the system is truly meant to prevent horse girls from knowing where trainers live, then the register should be kept by the Board, not the Student Council... After all, President Rudolf and the vice presidents are horse girls too, aren't they?"
Everyone present stared at her in shock. Bakushin O had always been an impulsive, energetic girl. This was the first time any of them had seen her like this.
"And besides, doesn't the president always say horse girls come first?"
"Bakushin O!" Rudolf grit her teeth. She had not expected that answer from her.
"Maybe it really is time to show Central a little disrespect for once. A family can't rely entirely on its own people forever. Investing outward might not be such a bad idea. Don't you think, President?"
It was an unmistakably direct response.
Rudolf looked at Bakushin O's raised head. The girl's face was calmer than it had ever been, completely unlike her usual fiery, energetic self.
At this moment, she truly carried the bearing of the current head of the Sakura family.
Perhaps Rudolf had grown too used to Bakushin O's usual self. The contrast felt almost surreal. She actually rubbed her eyes.
The room fell into a deadlock.
Sakura Laurel swallowed hard, abruptly overwhelmed by regret. Why had she ever egged everyone into coming here? Offside Trap and her trainer were obviously close enough already. There would have been plenty of chances later. There had been no need to rush tonight.
Just as she was thinking that, Narita Brian's pocket suddenly buzzed.
Brian reflexively pulled out her phone. The girls standing nearby could all see the screen clearly.
Trainer Shinji flashed brightly across it.
At once, the warmth returned to Rudolf's gaze. She truly had not expected that the first time she and Teruizumi Shinji would find themselves, in a sense, on the same side would be under these ridiculous circumstances.
Across from her, Offside Trap's body began to tremble faintly, all the emotion inside her on the verge of erupting.
The trainer she herself had been unable to reach earlier was now calling the friend standing on the opposite side of the room.
And that friend had just claimed that the trainer had told her nothing, that there had been no contact between them.
Offside Trap's eyes slowly reddened.
As if reaching some decision, she spun around and bolted out of the Student Council office.
The sudden movement startled every girl there.
No one even got the chance to stop her. She nearly slammed the door open with her shoulder, and in the next instant her figure had vanished down the hall, leaving only the shaking door behind, as though it were the one hurt and wronged by her departure.
Only then did Rudolf turn back to Narita Brian.
Brian stood there blankly, staring in the direction Offside Trap had disappeared.
She could not understand it.
She and Offside Trap had once been close. During those long days when Offside Trap couldn't win, Brian had encouraged her again and again.
So how had things become like this?
Had she really done something wrong? Or had she missed some crucial step along the way?
She could clearly feel the misunderstanding that now stood between them, but she had no idea how to explain herself—because even she herself did not fully understand where that misunderstanding had begun.
The phone finally stopped ringing.
The call Brian had waited all day for had ended just like that, missed at the last possible second.
When she had hesitated to answer it, fear had risen in her chest before she could stop it.
She had been afraid that if she picked up, the misunderstanding would become real.
And she was even more afraid of the choice that would inevitably follow.
She knew with absolute certainty that if the man had to choose between Offside Trap and herself, he would never choose her.
It was an instinctive certainty.
Even though he had been dutiful and attentive toward her, there was still always the sense that he was hiding something from her. That hidden thing, she felt, was the real reason why her place in his heart was so different from Offside Trap's.
She looked at Sakura Laurel.
Her friend from the same generation still avoided her eyes. And in that moment Brian remembered the day Laurel, newly recovered from injury, had challenged her.
Back then, Laurel had treated her completely like an enemy.
This was different—but still, Brian's chest hurt all the same.
Forcing the twitch at the corners of her mouth into stillness, she spoke slowly.
"...Were you all together the whole time?"
"No," Laurel answered, startled that this was all Brian chose to ask. Relief flickered across her face, and she hurried to explain, "Offside Trap was supposed to... spend New Year's Eve alone, and we happened to run into her, so we just kept dragging her around with us."
That tiny pause before the explanation made Brian close her eyes.
Maybe Offside Trap really had been alone before that.
But there was no way the reason was because she wanted to spend New Year's Eve alone.
Otherwise they would never have come here.
Laurel was lying to her too.
At some point, it seemed that the only people Brian could no longer trust were not just the Student Council and her former trainer, who had already betrayed her—but even these once-close friends had started choosing their closer friend over her.
Suddenly, she understood what Rudolf had once said to her.
The price of defeating an entire generation—an entire era—was to inherit the loneliness of that generation, that era.
The undefeated Triple Crown winner who had towered over both generation and era alike—Symboli Rudolf must have learned that lesson earlier, and more deeply, than Brian ever had.
In their eyes, she had probably always been the sole lucky one in this unfortunate generation.
Probably.
She nodded once, then turned away.
All she wanted was to go somewhere alone and swallow down the pain and resentment now swelling inside her.
She never noticed that both Bakushin O and Rudolf had frozen in that same instant.
Narita Brian's back, under the desk lamp, cast a long, narrow shadow. Above her hung the plaque that read:
Ride ahead alone, and let all other horses be left in darkness.
Her thinning frame gained a strange weight beneath those words, as though this was exactly where she had always belonged.
Even Rudolf, standing there, felt like someone who should never be allowed to stand ahead of her.
Rudolf wet her lips.
Only now did she realize just how much thinner Brian had grown.
And taller, somehow, too.
Bakushin O waved a hand.
This time, she didn't argue. She simply tugged her two clanmates—and Sakura Glory—out with her.
Only after the door shut behind them did Rudolf walk slowly over to Brian's side.
She stopped half a step behind her.
"How does it feel?"
There was a gleam of expectation in Rudolf's eyes.
For the first time, she felt perhaps things had not yet passed the point of no return.
But to her disappointment, when Brian turned to look at her, those eyes still held the same determination as before.
And yet, perhaps something had changed.
Those eyes that had once been fixed only on running now held something else as well.
"..."
There was no answer.
Rudolf raised a brow and changed her angle.
"I never thought the Sakura family would support Offside Trap. If that's true, then even after she leaves for Europe next year, her team won't lack resources anymore."
Brian's breathing changed.
Rudolf noticed it immediately.
The Yamaji family had long since shifted its support away from the Narita line to another branch.
Narita Brian could no longer draw any resources from her main house.
"I never intended to compete with her over that."
"I know," Rudolf said. "But personally, don't you want to do something for your trainer?"
She moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Brian, both of them looking out at the academy beyond the window.
The lights were bright everywhere. Horse girls were laughing and running about in lively groups.
Rudolf's expression softened more and more.
It reminded her of the day she had first taken over the Student Council. Back then, Kashimoto Riko and Hayakawa Tazuna had stood beside her, supporting her as she stepped beneath that very plaque.
"The Student Council can be your strongest backing. And if you carry the Council's name, the Yamaji family will put resources in as well."
Brian glanced at Rudolf.
She couldn't reject that.
And she knew she couldn't refuse it.
"You can put all your energy into training first. After training, if you still have anything left, then come learn the current workings of the Student Council and the academy little by little."
Rudolf had just offered her the final straw.
Brian pressed her lips together.
"I understand..."
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 139)
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 (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
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 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
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 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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