The next morning, Shirayuki opened her eyes in a daze and sat up unsteadily.
Looking at the somewhat unfamiliar dorm room, Shirayuki rubbed her eyes, opened her small mouth, and yawned. After pausing for a few seconds, she finally remembered where she was.
She had been sleeping at Chiya's place so often lately that she had almost forgotten what her own room looked like.
Wait, did I sleep here last night?
Shirayuki walked into the bathroom and washed her face a few times.
The cold water gradually cleared her head.
Right. Last night, she had arranged to train with Treve, but at some point, she had fallen asleep.
She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that she was wearing sleepwear.
That did not seem like she had simply dozed off by accident.
Her clothes had been changed.
Shirayuki scratched her head, confused by the gap between her memory and reality.
Click.
The door opened, and a lively orange figure walked in.
Treve looked toward the bed, then toward the bathroom. When she saw Shirayuki, she greeted her cheerfully.
"Good morning, Shirayuki. I bought breakfast. Let's eat together!"
The two sat side by side at the table. Shirayuki ate a croissant, and while they chatted, she asked what had happened last night.
Treve, who was spreading cheese, had her hair fluff up suddenly. Her fair cheeks instantly turned a little red.
Last night…
How should she describe it?
Although Shirayuki had already fallen asleep, her instincts were still there. Not only were they there, they were surprisingly strong.
When Treve had tried to comfort her using the methods she had learned, she had not expected Shirayuki to hold onto her unconsciously.
Shirayuki held on tightly and gave her no chance to pull away. With no other choice, Treve had been forced to keep soothing her until Shirayuki finally turned over in satisfaction. Only then was Treve freed.
After that, she went to the bathroom, washed her face a few times, and cooled down. Then she took out a handkerchief, tidied the bed, and lay down beside Shirayuki, hugging her as she fell asleep.
Hearing Shirayuki ask about it now, those embarrassing memories instantly surged into Treve's mind. Her face turned bright red, and after thinking for a moment, she said,
"I spent last night with you."
"With me?"
Question marks appeared in Shirayuki's eyes.
Did that mean the two of them had already finished racing?
Why did I have no memory of it at all…
Last night, she had slept deeply.
Very deeply.
She had dreamed that she was soaking in a bathtub full of slimes. Her fingers, feet, and every part of her body had been wrapped in warm, smooth sensations. That constant, overwhelming comfort had made her not want to wake up at all.
It was the most comfortable sleep Shirayuki had ever had.
But no matter how comfortable it was, it should not have made her lose her memory.
It was not as if she had been with Chiya.
Did we really race?
Her body did feel like it had exercised. When Shirayuki woke up in the morning, she felt sticky all over, and there was a faint scent of sweat on her body.
Clearly, she had done quite a bit of movement.
While eating her bread, Shirayuki continued asking, "What time was it?"
"Eleven."
Eleven.
Shirayuki was certain she had already fallen asleep by then. She had gone to bed at eight.
But why did she not remember anything at all?
Could it be that she had entered the zone?
When uma musume entered the zone, they had no memory of it at all. Inside the zone, they did not even know who they were. Thanks to Agnes Tachyon's VR device, Fujiwara Chiya had been able to sense the body's state during the zone through memory synchronization. The most direct feeling it gave him was "emptiness."
He could hear nothing.
See nothing.
Before his eyes, there was only a point of light compressed to its limit.
But having no memory of going to the racecourse and coming back was still too strange, right?
Could it be not the zone, but sleepwalking?
At the moment, that seemed like the most likely possibility.
Treve had no reason to lie to her. When Shirayuki woke up, she was wearing sleepwear. It could not possibly have been Treve who changed her.
After eliminating all impossibilities, sleepwalking was the only truth!
Shirayuki was impressed by her own intelligence.
After completing this mental reconstruction, she asked, "Last night, which of us was faster?"
Treve thought for a moment.
"Fast?"
Shirayuki probably was not talking about speed, was she?
Treve remembered that in Japanese, "fast" could also carry the meaning of feeling good or pleasant. Was Shirayuki asking which of them had felt better last night?
Shirayuki…
She really is an incredibly bold girl!
Treve did not dislike it.
"You were faster."
"Me?"
Shirayuki confirmed it again.
Treve had indeed said that.
In other words, last night, she had surpassed Treve!
Shirayuki's heart thumped.
Even if Treve had only used ninety percent of her strength, the fact that Shirayuki could surpass her meant she had a real chance in the official race.
Shirayuki clenched her fist in excitement.
Seeing her like that, Treve lightly covered her cheek.
Was being comforted by me really that enjoyable?
Although I was happy too.
This was Treve's first time dating someone, and it felt quite nice.
Shirayuki's scent was wonderful.
She was sweet.
Taking out a handkerchief, Treve thoughtfully wiped the oil from the corner of Shirayuki's lips. The way she looked at Shirayuki was like someone looking at her own treasure.
"Then I'll go now, Shirayuki. See you later."
"Mm."
Shirayuki waved to Treve.
Right now, she was full of confidence.
By the afternoon, Fujiwara Chiya began training.
Shirayuki's speed was now steadily increasing. Her feet had already adapted to the heavy turf here.
Experience, technique, and talent.
To challenge the European racecourses, not one of these three could be missing. Fortunately, Fujiwara Chiya had all of them. He used his male body to test and refine movements, then used Shirayuki's body to run them. By alternating between both bodies, Fujiwara Chiya's training efficiency multiplied.
He had now overcome the turf, the course, the time difference, the food, the away-field pressure, and the nervousness.
He was no longer like when he had first arrived, overwhelmed by a new city and not knowing what to do.
He had contacted the staff at Longchamp Racecourse and obtained permission to train there. After the exhibition race, he had also grown used to the atmosphere of racing here.
At present, only two issues remained unresolved.
The first was that he only knew a few French words and was still unfamiliar with the language.
The other was the condition of the racecourse.
Here, "course condition" did not refer to the soil or the race distance, but to the fact that the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was usually held as the final major race. Before it took place, the ground would already have been trampled into a rough and uneven state.
In other words, during the Arc, the uma musume would mostly be running on rough, churned-up turf.
It was already an extremely high-level race, and the bad ground made an already difficult race even more uncertain.
Before the race, Fujiwara Chiya needed to train Shirayuki's adaptability to bad ground.
Now that they had already built a movement framework for heavy turf, the next step was to improve her rhythm, starts, and fine details.
Originally, Fujiwara Chiya felt that time was tight and was not sure where he should focus.
But Treve's words had given him a shot of confidence and made him decide to spend that time on the ground conditions.
As it happened, Fujiwara Chiya had found a good stretch of bad ground.
More accurately, Byerley had found it.
It was in a remote area far from the city, and Fujiwara Chiya had no idea how Bayley had discovered it.
In the few days before the race, he would take Shirayuki there and begin bad-ground training.
Before leaving, he also asked Mei to buy several parachutes to increase the training intensity.
Next came Shirayuki's time for rapid leveling.