"Miss Machikane Fukukitaru…?"
Light Dyna called out cautiously, but Fukukitaru shrank back as if she were trying to avoid the blazing sun.
"S-sorry!! The light around you is way too dazzling, miss customer—I need a moment to adjust!!"
With the help of her sunglasses, Fukukitaru finally got used to the brilliance radiating from Dyna. She was now absolutely certain that if she'd had even half of Dyna's fortune-light back when she first debuted, she never would have gotten beaten so badly right out of the gate.
Once she had composed herself, Fukukitaru's gaze moved back and forth between Dyna and Zoff.
"Are both of you here for a reading?"
Not only did Machikane Fukukitaru have a crystal ball, she had also studied a bit of feng shui from Copano Rickey. In other words, she had integrated the strengths of multiple schools.
"Hmm… but this just looks like a perfectly ordinary crystal ball? My master says these things are all scams."
Zoff examined it over and over, completely convinced it was just a very common crystal ball. Even the base was nothing more than cheap gold-painted plastic.
The moment she heard that, Fukukitaru got a little offended. She immediately stared fixedly at Zoff.
The three of them fell silent for several minutes.
Then Fukukitaru suddenly declared, "This young lady will become a horse girl whose name is remembered for generations! However, her racing career will be completely ill-fated, and that will start showing from the moment she debuts next year!"
"Huh?"
Zoff froze on the spot, and then Fukukitaru said nothing further, instead turning toward Dyna.
"As my response to your doubt! I won't charge you for this reading. Usually this would cost two carrots."
She muttered under her breath, then put on yet another pair of sunglasses, finally suppressing Dyna's piercing radiance into something she could bear.
This abnormal specimen had completely captured Fukukitaru's interest. If Copano Rickey were here, she probably would not have been able to stop herself from rushing over and poking at Dyna all over. Fukukitaru decided to have Dyna touch the crystal ball and see what exactly she was made of.
"Miss Light Dyna, touch this!"
She pointed at the crystal-clear ball, while inwardly fearing that Dyna's hand might cause it to explode.
"Huh? Oh… okay."
Although she had no idea why Fukukitaru was acting so strangely around her, Dyna still did as she was told.
She removed one glove and gently placed her fingers against the cool surface of the crystal ball.
The scene Fukukitaru had imagined—light bursting forth in all directions—did not happen.
Instead, the crystal ball began to turn cloudy.
So alarmed that she nearly jumped out of her seat, Fukukitaru hurriedly told Dyna to take her hand away. The moment Dyna did, the ball returned to its original clarity.
Fukukitaru stroked her chin, baffled, then removed one layer of sunglasses.
"How strange. The light coming off you is so intense, but inside the crystal ball it turns this murky. Weird!"
Dyna was just as confused. Was not Fukukitaru supposed to be the one explaining all this? Yet from the look of it, Fukukitaru herself had no idea what was going on.
Still, at least the crystal ball had not broken.
Zoff shook her head. "See, Dyna? Most of this really is just bluffing."
"Hmm… I think I'd rather believe it," Dyna said. "When something mysterious happens and there's no explanation for it, maybe that just means the Three Goddesses have their own intentions."
Deep down, she had already formed a rough guess. The crystal ball turning cloudy was probably because she herself was still lost, still drifting without any clear goal.
Perhaps wanting to salvage some of her dignity, Fukukitaru patted her chest and declared, "Ahem! Even if there was a little accident just now, I can still read your fate line, your love line, and things like that! I learned this from Copano Rickey herself, so it's absolutely accurate!"
As she said that, she grabbed Dyna's still-raised hand and pulled it closer.
But after only two glances, Fukukitaru stopped understanding what she was seeing.
"Hmm… ah, your career line is extremely good. Your life line too… but… but… your love line is kind of…"
She carefully considered her wording, then finally said, "A total mess."
"?" 2
Both Dyna and Zoff froze.
You could say a love line was short, or long, or maybe nonexistent—but "a total mess" sounded genuinely terrifying.
"Um… Miss Fukukitaru, are you sure you're not reading it wrong? How could something like that even be a mess?"
As if to prove her point, Dyna lowered her head to inspect her own palm. Her lines looked perfectly normal.
Fukukitaru, however, shook her head. "Anyway… I'm not lying! This is Copano Rickey's skill, and it absolutely cannot be wrong! So the only advice I can give is this: Miss Light Dyna, pay close attention to the relationships around you!"
After saying that, Fukukitaru sat back down in her seat. At last, she truly understood how Copano Rickey must feel when she kept running into bizarre and inexplicable things.
Dyna was definitely bizarre.
But at least she was not the kind of bizarre that made the back of your neck go cold.
So the moment it was time for her break, Fukukitaru immediately shut down the stall and headed for the cafeteria.
Right now, she only wanted a bowl of hot soup.
Zoff shrugged. "See? Just like tarot cards, it's fine if you treat it as something fun to look at. Besides, you don't really need to worry, do you, Dyna? Someone as amazing as you doesn't need to care about whether some line is all messy, right?"
There was a subtle note of reassurance in Zoff's voice, as if she were trying to confirm it for herself as much as for Dyna.
But Dyna's mind was still stuck on what Fukukitaru had just said, so she only responded with a distracted pair of hums.
After that rather unpleasant fortune-telling session, neither of them felt like staying in the festival area any longer. So the two walked together to a quieter part of the grounds.
The wooden benches were covered in snow, so Dyna and Zoff ended up leaning against two wooden posts instead, waiting for one of them to break the silence.
"Zoff, what do you think it's like to race in Japan?" Dyna asked first.
"In Japan? It doesn't suit me at all," Zoff replied. "I grew up learning how to run on European turf. Asian tracks are way too firm for me. I just can't get used to them."
That really was the truth.
The difference in turf varieties, and the resulting hardening of the track, was not something easily overcome. Just as Japanese horse girls struggled to adapt to Europe's soft, soggy grass, the reverse held true as well. It was an environmental limitation.
"Ahem! Forget that! Dyna-chan, since you got back, I've already heard that you won a graded stakes race. Have you found your trainer yet?"
"Of course I have. Though we're more like… in an employer-contractor relationship, I guess?"
"Eh? 'He'? What kind of trainer is he? Is he amazing?"
"Mmm… he's Oguri Opera's trainer. His fundamentals are extremely solid, and the training plans he sets are all very comfortable. He's also really handsome. A very good-looking middle-aged man."
Wada did not really have any one overwhelmingly memorable trait. If she had to name one, it would be that he was like a well-aged wine—the older he got, the better-looking he became.
"Middle-aged man."
The moment she heard those words, the tension in Zoff's calves visibly eased.
So she had just been worrying too much after all.
The two kept chatting like that, a little here, a little there, while the snow fell harder and harder.
And just as they moved beneath the school building to shelter from the wind and snow, they came face to face with a horse girl who held an undeniable place in both their lives.
That brilliant orange hair swayed with her movement.
And the instant she saw Dyna, the motions in her hands came to a stop.
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 115)
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 (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
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 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
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 80
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 74
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 48
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 50
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 47
Uma Musume: From Beginner 42
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