Chihaya Yui blinked and stayed frozen for a long while.
That song was definitely suspicious.
No matter how she listened to it, it was a love song. Absolutely a love song.
Which raised the obvious question: who was Seiun Ryoka in love with? Who had she been singing that song for?
Without thinking, Chihaya bit down on the nail of her thumb.
She cared. She cared a lot.
As Seiun Ryoka's trainer, and as someone who had already kissed Seiun Ryoka, she felt she had every right to know the truth.
And then came the problem.
She had been with Ryoka almost constantly ever since Kasamatsu. In theory, anyone Ryoka knew, Chihaya knew too. She ought to have been able to pick out the suspicious candidates immediately.
But no matter how hard she thought, nobody quite fit.
Was there anyone truly "far away" from Ryoka?
Those two from America, maybe?
But no matter how she looked at it, Ryoka's relationship with them seemed purely friendly. Yes, they had specifically gone to Britain and France to watch her races...
But still. Ryoka had never acted especially intimate with them. At most, she had sent them off with a song. They shouldn't have been the ones she'd wanted to dedicate a love song to.
Which meant...
Could it be a horse girl back in Japan?
Chihaya narrowed her eyes and thought as hard as she could.
Ryoka didn't actually know many Japanese horse girls. The ones she did know were either Kasamatsu girls or Symboli Rudolf.
And Symboli Rudolf was impossible. Ryoka's attitude toward her had always been distinctly cold. There was no way that could turn into romance.
As for the Kasamatsu side...
Fujimasa March didn't quite feel right. And the others had even less chance. They all looked more like ordinary friends.
...It couldn't be Oguri Cap, could it?
Chihaya felt like she was losing her mind.
Anybody seemed possible, yet somehow none of them seemed right.
And while she was spiraling like this, a dangerous flash of realization struck her.
She had promised Ryoka she would stay obediently at the hotel.
So where was she now?
At the racecourse.
"Oh no. If I don't get back quickly, she's going to find out."
She immediately fell into a panicked scramble.
And then, as if fate itself wanted to mock her, the next disaster arrived.
A voice she knew all too well spoke up behind her, sounding gentle and yet somehow cool at the same time.
"Miss Chihaya, still recovering from illness—where do you think you ought to be right now?"
"..."
The moment she heard that voice, Chihaya went rigid from head to toe.
She fell silent at once.
Because she had no idea how to answer. No idea how to explain herself. It was awful.
She was Seiun Ryoka's trainer. Even without turning around, she would have recognized that voice instantly.
She had to admit it: she was sweating bullets.
She had no idea why Ryoka had suddenly appeared behind her, but compared to figuring that out, what she really wanted was to awaken some kind of superpower and teleport straight back into the hotel bed, where she could pretend to be a good girl sleeping peacefully.
Ryoka wrapped her arms around Chihaya from behind and let out a soft sigh.
"Honestly. Did you want to watch my race live that badly? I really don't know what to do with you. Just this once, okay?"
As she spoke, she rested her chin on Chihaya's shoulder and gently rubbed her cheek against the trainer's face, which had tensed up so badly it was almost stiff. It seemed she was trying to soothe her.
Chihaya secretly let out half a sigh of relief.
The other half would have to wait until she confirmed what Ryoka really meant.
She felt like a rusty wind-up doll, turning her neck little by little, and asked, "Um, Miss Seiun... what you meant just now was... 'I'll forgive you this once, but there won't be a next time,' right?"
She sounded incredibly tense.
If someone didn't know better, they might have thought Ryoka was about to "discipline" her by pinning her to a bed and forcing her into all sorts of poses.
Ryoka saw the tension in Chihaya immediately, but she genuinely had no idea why Chihaya was this nervous.
That was fine, though.
Her mischievous streak flared up in an instant.
The silver-haired girl tilted her head and offered a warm smile.
"Maybe?"
"Ugh!"
Chihaya let out a tiny cry of despair on the spot.
But she refused to give up.
"Um, Miss Seiun, there's something I really, really want to know. Please, at least let me clear that up first. I'm begging you. This is genuinely very important to me!"
Her words came out in a rush, as if she were racing against a countdown only she could hear.
But staying in the racecourse any longer was obviously a bad idea.
There were still other races to come, for one thing—and she and Ryoka were internationally famous trainer and horse girl. If they lingered, fans would inevitably crowd them for autographs and photos. If that happened, it would absolutely cause trouble for the event staff.
So Ryoka scooped Chihaya up without hesitation.
"I've got no idea what this is about, but let's move somewhere better for talking first, Yui."
As she said it, she leaned in close to Chihaya's ear and, almost casually, licked her earlobe.
She found the nervous Chihaya unbearably adorable, and now she wanted to make the trainer's condition even worse.
Sure enough, the instant Chihaya felt that damp little touch, her whole body shuddered, then went even stiffer than before.
Though saying so might not be especially kind, Chihaya's reaction had successfully lit a spark under Ryoka's mischievous streak.
She suddenly wanted to make the trainer's state even more "hopeless."
"For now, let's do this instead, Yui. I'll listen to your question properly, and then I'll decide whether I'm going to answer it—and if I do, what exactly I'll tell you."
With that, Ryoka broke into a light run, carrying Chihaya away from the racecourse.
Hit by the cold wind head-on, Chihaya instinctively wrapped her arms around Ryoka's neck.
She had wanted to clear everything up right away, but Ryoka had left her absolutely no chance to do that.
Though, honestly... Ryoka did have a point.
If they got trapped in the racecourse, the situation really might get even messier and more uncontrollable.
Not that things didn't already feel completely out of control.
Just then, as the two of them brushed past someone on the way out, a certain familiar horse girl blinked in confusion.
"Was that just... that mysterious five-crown champion?" Better Loosen Up murmured.
join here to read ahead.
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