"Guinea pig-kun, how are the race preparations coming along?"
"Pretty well. Steady progress." Fujiwara Chiya held the phone to his ear. "How are things back at Tracen?"
"Same as ever. Though with you and the Empress gone, the place has lost more than half its spark. Quite a few students are complaining about why you had to leave so early. They keep saying you could have gone right before the race, yet you left more than three months in advance."
"Three months isn't that early, is it? Normally it'd be around two months anyway."
"Guinea pig-kun…" Agnes Tachyon's voice came through the receiver. "It seems you still don't understand. Let's put aside Mejiro Dober and Rice Shower hallucinating your voice because they miss you so much. Even the ordinary students can barely bring themselves to attend class without Shirayuki around."
"It's that serious?"
"Tracen cannot exist without the Empress. Just as the West cannot exist without Jerusalem. Can you imagine Tracen without Rudolf?"
Fujiwara Chiya swallowed.
Without Rudolf, half of Tracen would probably collapse.
And right now, without Shirayuki, Tracen was in that exact half-collapsed state. All those little foals who spent every day orbiting around Shirayuki had forgotten how to smile.
"At this point, they're addicted to Shirayuki. What are they going to do when she leaves?"
"That is a good question. But… why does she have to leave?"
"Huh? Shirayuki can't stay at Tracen forever. After this year, Shirayuki's racing career will basically be over."
"If she were an ordinary uma musume, yes. But don't forget, Shirayuki is you, guinea pig-kun. Even if her life as an uma musume comes to an end, her life as a trainer will only just be beginning. The former Empress becoming a trainer? That alone is enough to be printed on Tracen's recruitment pamphlet."
"Have Shirayuki become a trainer?"
"And why not? The moment she takes office, she'll already have veteran-level ability. Training uma musume would be child's play for her. And you alone could collect two salaries. What's there to complain about?" Agnes Tachyon's voice drifted over lazily. "Good thing you have two bodies, guinea pig-kun. Anyone else could train two teams and still only get paid once."
That was… hard to argue with.
Besides, Fujiwara Chiya still had connections at Tracen. If he talked to the Director, she would probably be able to arrange a position for Shirayuki. But if Shirayuki lived at Tracen, there was still one extremely troublesome problem.
"How are things on Hayakawa's side?"
Agnes Tachyon had promised to help Fujiwara Chiya get everyone to accept that he had chosen Shirayuki.
"I asked around in a roundabout way, and the result was a truly fascinating display of human emotion."
"What does that mean?"
"It was quite explosive, guinea pig-kun." Agnes Tachyon laughed. "Generally speaking, they cannot accept you and Shirayuki being together. They believe there is no real emotional foundation between you two, that you are together purely out of desire, and that it will never last. Naturally, they hope you will choose them instead."
"Yeah… that's how normal people would think."
"I don't see it that way, guinea pig-kun. Emotion is a complicated thing. Not only toward others, but toward oneself as well. You observed Shirayuki from the perspective of a third party, watched her words, her actions, every tiny gesture, and then became fascinated by her. There is nothing particularly strange about that. After all, people fall for others because something about their appearance, personality, or behavior stirs them."
"You're way too rational, Tachyon."
"In the past, I would have accepted that compliment with pleasure. But not now. If I were truly that rational, I would never have pulled both you and Shirayuki in together. I would have tied you down to an operating table and made you serve only me. After all, my preferences do not include girls."
Fujiwara Chiya had no comeback.
"I will continue providing psychological guidance on my end, to prevent Tracen from turning into hell once the truth comes out. Though personally, I think there is one very simple and direct way to make them accept it."
"What?"
"Just get Shirayuki pregnant with your child. Once that happens, they will have to acknowledge it whether they like it or not."
Fujiwara Chiya clamped his mouth shut.
As expected of Tachyon. Her thought process always managed to leap clean outside the boundaries of common sense.
"Both sides are you. Your child would possess your complete genetic makeup. As a product of self-fertilization, there would not be a single drop of outside blood in her body. Under those circumstances, no one would be able to say anything."
"No, no, no. That's way too… way too soon." Fujiwara Chiya wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
"Soon? I would say it is already rather late. You have been sleeping with Shirayuki quite often since going to Europe, haven't you? Considering the frequency, Shirayuki should have shown signs by now. Yet after all this time, there has been no reaction at all. How curious."
Feeling the conversation veering further and further into dangerous territory, Fujiwara Chiya quickly found a random excuse and prepared to hang up.
"Guinea pig-kun, it is still nighttime on my side. Could you say good night to me?"
"Good night, Tachyon. Sleep early."
"Now it seems I'll have pleasant dreams tonight."
After hanging up, Fujiwara Chiya let out a long breath.
He sat on the bench, watching the noisy uma musume on the training grounds.
"What are you doing here, Trainer?"
Orfevre walked over and sat down right beside him.
"I'm thinking about the future."
"The future?"
"How to explain things, and also… marriage…"
"M-Marriage!?" Orfevre's voice shot up an octave.
"No, it's nothing. Forget what I just said." Fujiwara Chiya shook his head. "I'm heading back first, Orfevre. I still need to talk with Trainer Nase in a bit."
"Oh… mm."
Orfevre stared blankly after Fujiwara Chiya.
Only after the man's figure disappeared did she lower her head.
Trainer just said marriage, didn't he!?
Could that person be… could it be me!?
With a loud mental bang, Orfevre's face flushed crimson. She cupped her burning cheeks in both hands.
No, wasn't this way too fast!?
She and Trainer had only started dating not long ago. Even if she counted generously, it had barely been two months, and he was already considering marriage!
She had only just entered her Classic year! At the very least, shouldn't they wait until after retirement?
Wait.
Who said an uma musume in her Classic year couldn't get married?
She could totally appear in races as the trainer's wife!
The ruler of turf. The tyrant of the racetrack. And also the trainer's wife.
Slap those labels onto her, and wouldn't the whole world's attention lock onto her at once?
At that point, she and Trainer would become the most famous people in the entire world.
Hold on.
If she was his wife, didn't that mean she would have to… take care of children?
Was she going to have to raise kids in the future?
What was she supposed to do about that!?
She had zero experience!
Was it still not too late to start reading parenting manuals!?
"Orfevre? Why are you still here?"
At dusk, Shirayuki returned from a run outside and found Orfevre still sitting on the bench. Her hands were clasped tightly together, her body squirming awkwardly as she muttered something under her breath.
"No matter what, I should call Aneue first," Orfevre mumbled.
She had not noticed the person beside her at all. She shot to her feet and ran toward the dormitory.
Shirayuki tilted her head.
A question mark practically popped up over her head.