For the next several days, Akihara Tōru became noticeably more neurotic.
Ever since discovering the existence of this so-called "Appraising Eye," he had grown more and more convinced that he was under surveillance by that mysterious academic-clique family.
Whenever he walked along the paths of Tracen Academy, he would suddenly whip his head around.
"…"
There would be no one behind him.
Only the leaves, rustled by the breeze, whispered softly overhead.
Tōru narrowed his eyes and stared at a particularly suspicious-looking tree for a long while.
"I can see you. There's no point hiding."
He said it to the empty air.
And then—
Nothing happened.
Tōru resumed walking as if nothing had occurred.
After a few steps, he abruptly spun around again.
"This time I've got you, right?!"
Still nothing.
A chestnut-haired horse girl passing nearby was startled by his sudden movement. She gave him a strange look, then hurriedly took a detour around him.
[Is this trainer… mentally ill or something?]
Tōru heard her thoughts, but paid them no mind.
What did these horse girls understand?
They had no idea what kind of terrifying enemy he was dealing with!
That was the academic family that even the chairwoman and her secretary treated with wary silence. The mysterious force capable of secretly photographing him in the library without a trace—
They had to be lurking in the shadows at every moment, watching his every move!
…
These days went on for a full week.
Tōru ended up suspecting almost every corner of Tracen Academy.
The shrubbery by the training grounds? Suspicious!
The trash can in the corner of the cafeteria? Suspicious!
Even that oddly tall bookshelf in the library—he felt sure someone could be hiding behind it!
And yet—
Aside from the occasional horse girl who happened to witness this behavior and shot him a weird look before taking a route around him like she was avoiding a dangerous eccentric,
Tōru found absolutely nothing.
"Could it be…"
He started doubting his own conclusions.
"Have they changed tactics?"
Maybe that academic family realized he was on guard, so they had temporarily backed off?
Once he thought of it that way, Tōru calmed down a little.
That made sense.
After all, these were people powerful enough to stir up storms within Tracen itself.
If they truly wanted to monitor him, they wouldn't use methods so easy to detect.
By acting so nervously, maybe he had actually played right into their hands.
"Stay calm. Calm down."
Tōru took a deep breath and told himself that.
He could not let their threat throw him off balance.
Right now, the most important thing was still to keep training Urara properly and make sure she won her debut race—
At that moment—
That sensation of being watched suddenly returned.
"—!?"
Tōru's pupils contracted sharply.
This time the feeling was stronger than ever before.
That gaze felt almost tangible, plastered tightly against his back.
He did not turn around immediately.
Instead, he pretended nothing was wrong and kept walking forward.
His pace quickened.
The gaze followed.
He quickened his pace again.
The gaze still followed.
"Got you."
The corner of Tōru's mouth lifted slightly.
This time, he could finally be sure.
Someone really was tailing him!
And whoever it was did not seem particularly good at it.
All he had to do was speed up a bit, and they sped up too, without even trying to maintain proper distance.
That level of stalking skill…
Frankly speaking, it was pretty lousy.
Had the academic family sent a beginner?
Or maybe the person hadn't even intended to hide?
Either way—
A sharp light flashed through Tōru's eyes.
He already had a plan.
He fixed his gaze on a turn just ahead.
His steps sped up again.
Turn.
Press against the wall.
Hold his breath.
Tōru's movements flowed together perfectly, and in an instant he disappeared into the shadow at the corner.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Footsteps drew nearer.
Sure enough, not long after, a shifty figure appeared.
The person poked their head out cautiously, looking around as though searching for something.
Now!
Tōru leapt out of the shadows without hesitation and reached out in one swift grab!
"Got you! Talk—who sent you, and what are y—"
He was just about to shout his interrogation when the words died in his throat the instant he saw the other person's face.
Golden twin-tails.
Emerald eyes.
And a face currently filled with panic.
"Triangle Ruler!?"
"It's Triangle Laurel! And what the hell are you doing, suddenly grabbing people?!"
The captured Triangle Laurel struggled furiously, trying to shake off Tōru's grip. But Tōru had no intention of letting go just yet.
His expression turned grave.
"So it was you after all."
His voice grew cold.
"I thought you were just a bit tsundere, but at least a horse girl with some dignity and self-respect. I never imagined…"
He drew in a breath, disappointment seeping into his tone.
"I was seriously wrong about you, Triangle Function."
"…What?"
Triangle Laurel, who had just been about to explode, immediately shrank back instead.
[Don't tell me… he found out?]
Just as I thought!
A gleam burst into Tōru's eyes as he barked,
"So in the end, you really did throw your lot in with that academic family and become their lackey!"
"…Huh?"
Triangle Laurel's expression turned extraordinarily strange.
Her mouth opened and closed, as if she wanted to say something but had no idea where to begin.
[He… didn't find out?]
Too bad. I figured it out long ago!
"You—you idiot!"
Realizing he had completely misunderstood everything, Triangle Laurel's face flushed crimson, though it was hard to tell whether from embarrassment or rage.
"I have no idea what you're talking about! What academic family? What lackey? I was just passing by!"
Then she turned and tried to leave.
"Trying to run? Feeling guilty, are you?"
Tōru sneered.
"You think your little tricks could fool me? I've already seen through the truth!"
Having fully convinced himself she was one of the academic family's agents, Tōru had no more inclination to treat her gently.
Without hesitation, he reached out and grabbed one of her twin-tails.
Why?
Because it was close at hand.
"Just admit it already! What kind of reward did they offer you to make you come spy on me?!"
"Let go of my hair!"
With her hair in his grasp, Triangle Laurel was now red with both shame and fury. Her emerald eyes glared daggers at him.
"I told you, I was just passing by! Who would spy on a lunatic like you?!"
[Even though I was tailing you, that part is true! But no one ordered me to do it! You complete idiot of a trainer!]
Hearing that thought, Tōru's movement paused.
Wait.
No one ordered her?
So she wasn't sent by the幕后 family?
"…"
Tōru fell silent.
A bit guiltily, he let go of Triangle Laurel's twin-tail, and his expression turned awkward.
"So… you just came to see me?"
"Who would come all this way just to see you? Didn't I already say I was just passing by?!"
Triangle Laurel rubbed at the twin-tail he had yanked, her slightly red eyes darting everywhere except at him.
"Since when does passing by mean coming to see you? Aren't you way too full of yourself?"
[Damn it, damn it, damn it… why did I get caught again?!]
Was that previous incident really not enough to make her give up?
The whole thing left Tōru speechless—but also somewhat puzzled.
"Wait."
He suddenly thought of something.
"Where's your trainer?"
"…What?"
"I mean, doesn't your trainer keep you in line?"
Tōru frowned at Triangle Laurel.
"How do you always have time to come running over here? What about training? What about races? Is your trainer's schedule really that empty?"
As far as he understood, a horse girl as talented as Triangle Laurel should have been fought over by trainers everywhere.
Especially considering that she'd claimed the other day that she had rejected an invitation from an S-rank trainer—
With her level of ability, even if she turned down an S-rank trainer, plenty of A- and B-rank trainers should still have wanted to recruit her.
So why did she look like she had endless free time, forever drifting around near him?
At that question, Triangle Laurel's expression abruptly stiffened.
"Trainer…"
She turned her face aside and lifted her chin haughtily.
"A horse girl as strong as me doesn't need a trainer in the first place."
[It's not because after getting rejected by this guy, I just didn't want to look for any other trainer or anything!]
"…"
Tōru had no response.
What was with this textbook-tsundere line?
"You don't mean…"
He probed tentatively.
"You're still hoping to sign with me, are you? Let me say this first: as a G-rank trainer, I can only sign one horse girl a year. My slot for this year is already gone."
"N-no, that's not it!"
Triangle Laurel's face went scarlet in an instant, emerald eyes full of panic.
"I just think all those other trainers are beneath me! It has absolutely nothing—not even one tail hair's worth—to do with you!"
[How did he figure it out? I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead… isn't a clingy horse girl like this way too pathetic?!]
The corner of Tōru's mouth twitched.
What, did Ms. Triangle here seriously think her acting was convincing?
"Then what's your situation now?"
He pressed on.
"You can't seriously still be without a trainer, right? Doesn't Tracen require horse girls to have a trainer before they can debut and race?"
"Hmph."
Triangle Laurel snorted, a trace of pride in her tone.
"I've already found a name-only trainer. As for actual training, I do that myself."
"A name-only trainer?"
Tōru blinked.
He vaguely remembered that Tracen did, in fact, have a hidden workaround like that.
Under the academy's rules, horse girls were only allowed to officially train for debut and compete in races under a trainer's guidance, specifically to prevent them from overworking themselves in reckless pursuit of victory.
It was one of Tracen's key protective systems for horse girls.
After all, horse girls were often strong-willed and impulsive. Without a trainer to restrain them, they might very well grind their bodies into the ground in the pursuit of victory.
But the problem was—
Compared to the number of horse girls, there were simply far too few trainers at Tracen.
Every year, a huge number of horse girls failed to find a trainer willing to sign with them.
And it wasn't as though those girls could all just forfeit their debut forever.
So Tracen had quietly tolerated a workaround.
Some retired trainers who no longer actively coached could lend out their trainer slot to a horse girl in name only.
That way, a horse girl who couldn't find a real trainer could still debut and compete under the official status of "having a trainer."
Naturally, a so-called name-only trainer didn't actually guide the horse girl in any way.
All training plans and race strategies were decided by the horse girl herself.
In plain terms, she trained herself and raced by herself.
Triangle Laurel had become exactly that kind of horse girl.
Once Tōru understood this, a complicated emotion welled up in his chest.
If he hadn't rejected her back then…
Maybe Triangle Laurel would never have ended up making this choice.
With her ability, she should have been able to find a very good trainer.
Yet now she could only register under a name and handle everything alone.
"Um…"
Tōru spoke awkwardly.
"I know exactly what you're thinking right now, and I'm telling you, you're imagining things!"
Triangle Laurel cut him off immediately. Pride flashed brightly in her emerald eyes.
"Whether I have a trainer or not, I'll still become the strongest."
She raised her chin and looked down at him with that lofty, superior attitude of hers.
"I, Triangle Laurel, am not so weak that I'd need to rely on something as trivial as a trainer."
Judging only from her attitude, she really did look imposing—proud, cool, and full of confidence.
And yet—
[S-so? That impressed him, right? If he regrets it now, there's still time, you know.]
That was what her inner thoughts looked like instead.
This girl really was hopelessly insincere. Outwardly she said she didn't need a trainer, but inwardly she was thinking the complete opposite.
Just what part of me did you even fall for? If I change it, will that fix this?
Tōru very nearly said that out loud.
But he knew better.
For a horse girl as proud as this one, those words would only hurt her more.
So how was he supposed to make her give up cleanly without hurting her too badly?
Show off the solid bond between himself and Urara right in front of her?
If he did that, surely she'd have too much pride to try forcing her way in between them.
Wait.
Hadn't it already been quite a while since Triangle Laurel's mock race with Urara?
The last friendship training had triggered after that race.
If he counted it up, it had been almost a month now.
According to one of his earlier theories—the cooldown-time theory—maybe friendship training couldn't trigger again simply because the cooldown had not finished yet.
In that case, Triangle Laurel, who had already triggered it once, was the perfect test subject.
After all, if it happened again with her, that would confirm whether the hypothesis was correct.
And besides, it would benefit her too, wouldn't it?
She'd gotten stat gains from it last time as well.
At that point, he could consider it compensation for this horse girl who had completely lost her head over him.
"Triangle Pyramid."
Tōru's tone suddenly became serious.
"It's Triangle Laurel! Don't think you can provoke me with something that petty! I'm not angry at all!"
Her face plainly said she was furious.
"You've got enough time to come all the way over here specifically to see me, so you must be pretty free right now, huh?"
"When did I ever come specifically to see you? I already told you, I was just passing by!"
"Just answer the question—do you have time or not?"
Tōru had no intention of humoring her tsundere routine.
"If… if you insist on me making some time for you, then I suppose it's not as if I—"
"Then that's a yes. Come race Urara in another mock race."
Tōru said it seriously.
"I want to see how much Urara has improved lately."
"…Huh?"
Triangle Laurel froze.
She had absolutely not expected that request from him.
[Another race with that girl?]
[Even though it was humiliating to only win by half a length last time… if I can beat her again this time…]
"What, you don't want to?"
Tōru arched an eyebrow.
"If you're scared, then forget—"
"Who's scared?!"
Triangle Laurel exploded on the spot.
"It's just one race! Since when has I, Triangle Laurel, ever been afraid of something like that?!"
[This time I'm going to win beautifully! I'll show this idiot exactly how strong I am!]
"Then it's settled."
A small smile rose at the corner of Tōru's mouth.
She really was an easy horse girl to handle.
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