Shinji idly shook the medium-sized plush in his hand. He did not recognize all that many other horse girls, but he did know that the plush Offside Trap was now clutching to her chest was of this year's new Derby-winning horse girl: Special Week.
The plush wore a somewhat vacant, adorable expression, and the odd little curve of its stitched smile made Shinji unable to understand why Offside Trap looked so delighted holding it.
Lying back on the grass—whether it was actually clean or not was anyone's guess—Shinji turned his head and looked up at the sky before him, already wrapped in the colors of sunset.
The clouds were dazzlingly vivid, and the restless urge he had felt earlier about heading back to the academy gradually faded away. Pink light poured down across everything, and with it came a kind of quiet romance.
"Lunch was so good, Trainer."
Still gazing at the sunset, Offside Trap smacked her lips lightly, clearly recalling the meal Shinji had treated her to earlier. The rich beef and the perfectly balanced sauce were enough that just thinking about them now made her mouth water again.
"I wonder when I'll get to eat like that next time…"
"After you win some prize money, maybe. I'm out of cash, anyway."
Shinji's answer stirred a flicker of curiosity in her. She turned to look at him, her gaze burning with the lively brightness of youth. It was almost impossible for him not to look back.
"Trainer, if your skill is really this good, why did you choose me?"
There was clear hope in her voice. Her hair had fallen loose, and with the fading light around her, Offside Trap looked as if she had stepped straight out of a manga panel, beautiful in a way that fit the whole setting perfectly.
Compared to the horse girls famous for their looks, she was not the kind of girl who would be called breathtakingly beautiful on sheer appearance alone.
And yet, at this exact moment, she was stunning enough that Shinji instinctively shifted his gaze away.
"Maybe because you didn't have any results to speak of yet, so you were easier to recruit."
His tone remained calm, but no notification for negative energy came to him. Offside Trap simply blinked those wide eyes at him and smiled.
"What are you smiling at? That doesn't really sound like a compliment worth laughing over…"
"I just think you look cute when you act all stubborn like this, Trainer."
"Stubborn?"
Shinji frowned slightly. Naturally, he was never going to say the real reason had more to do with the system's setup. But as far as he was concerned, what he had said did not seem especially wrong.
"Yeah. You definitely saw something special in me, found something good about me, and that's why you went out of your way to recruit me and take care of me."
"…You really are good at painting yourself into pretty pictures and flattering yourself."
Shinji let out a helpless little laugh.
He had no idea what had gotten into her today, but Offside Trap was giving off an intensely girlish air. It was the first time he had ever felt that side of her so strongly.
Perhaps he had simply forgotten that, even though she had already battled on the track for years, once you stripped away the setbacks and suffering, she was still not all that old.
Offside Trap watched Shinji turn his head away again.
His profile held a certain sharpness that made her want, irrationally, to reach out and touch it. This man always presented himself as calm, but she could sense that the calm in him now was layered over emotions different from his usual ones.
"Trainer, you still haven't really answered my question."
"What question?"
"The one about why you picked me."
Shinji paused, and a trace of impatience seemed to enter his tone.
"Didn't I already answer that?"
At last, with enough energy and focus in her now, Offside Trap caught it—that impatience did not sound real.
Excitement rose in her.
She had always felt that there was something unreal about her trainer. Was his real self perhaps gentle and patient after all?
Was that harsh face he constantly wore only an act, something he deliberately put on in order to push her harder and make her stronger?
"It's not that, though. With your ability, you could have found a much better horse girl. Even Brian keeps saying how skilled you are. If she can recognize it, then finding other horse girls shouldn't really have been difficult for you at all."
There was nothing false in her words.
For one brief instant, Shinji felt dazed.
In that moment, it was as though he had gone back to the time when he had first gained a horse girl of his own. Back then, after one day's training, that lively girl had looked at him with the same curiosity—praising his ability while asking why he had chosen her.
At the beginning, she had acknowledged him too.
It was only later, as time passed and she saw more of the world, that she gradually began to understand how much he lacked.
Learning to acknowledge one's own insufficiency was a lesson everyone had to learn eventually.
But back then, he himself had lacked enough experience. He had only ideals, textbook knowledge, and a head full of hot blood, hoping to force a miracle into existence.
He had not realized that lesson.
Naturally, he had not taught it to her either.
And she herself had never learned it.
So in the end, she blamed everything on him…
His gaze returned to Offside Trap's eyes. They were bright and moist, carrying a playful spark that never appeared during training. Without fatigue or pressure weighing her down, she was finally showing him her ordinary self—the one she truly was.
This horse girl, shaped by years of pain and setbacks, had already learned through time itself the very lesson he had once failed to teach someone else.
"My record is just a single G3," Shinji said at last. "Back at the beginning, you didn't agree right away either, did you?"
"Hm? But that wasn't because I doubted your ability."
"Then why?"
"Well… I just thought you weren't very gentle…" She stuck out her tongue a little, her cheeks growing faintly warm. "If you were just a bit gentler… I've actually always thought highly of you."
Shinji gave no direct response.
Slowly, he propped himself up on one arm and looked toward the children splashing around in the shallow stream ahead.
A few kids, shirts off, were playing in the water reflecting the colors of sunset. Their faces were flushed from horseplay, and even when the evening wind brushed over them, they seemed not to notice the chill at all.
"Hey, be careful you don't catch cold!"
Shinji suddenly shouted to them, making Offside Trap jump in surprise before she, too, pushed herself upright.
The children in the stream responded enthusiastically to a man they had never met. Though they were at the most unruly age, they still listened and climbed out onto the bank, quickly pulling their clothes back on.
They did not know that those thin clothes could not hold in the warmth the stream had stolen from them.
Just like they did not know who Terazumi Shinji was.
And yet, before leaving, they all grinned and laughed at him.
The smiles were a little silly.
Shinji clicked his tongue in mild disdain.
"Gentleness is for kids their age."
"But you actually are a very gentle person."
The voice beside him made his eyes widen slightly.
"…Right?"
She added that last bit uncertainly. Unable to see his expression, the girl edged herself closer to him instead.
The air was cool enough now, yet Offside Trap felt faintly hot all over. She wanted to move even closer, but worried he might hear how hard her heart was pounding.
"Hahahaha!"
The children must have started joking about something else, because their laughter carried over from a distance—but Offside Trap could not spare it a single bit of attention now.
She was about to see his face.
The upper body she had pushed upright tilted back ever so slightly. She did not know why she suddenly felt guilty. A horse girl wanting to be close to her trainer was not something all that strange, was it?
"What are you doing?"
Shinji suddenly turned his head and frowned at the horse girl who had somehow ended up sitting right beside him.
"I'm just a tiny bit cold, so I thought I'd sit a little closer~"
Offside Trap improvised in a rush.
"If you're cold, then go back to the academy. Staying out here and freezing just because you're cold is ridiculous. Be careful not to catch a cold."
Shinji immediately started to get up.
Offside Trap forgot all about her embarrassment. Whatever thoughts had been circling in her head were thrown aside in an instant as she grabbed him firmly.
Shinji only felt himself suddenly pinned in place by a surprisingly powerful force, landing right back down on the grass with a thump.
Her grip made his arm ache, so strong that it felt impossible to break free—
But a few seconds later, the force gradually softened.
What had begun as a grab turned into an embrace. Like she was hugging the plush doll, Offside Trap wrapped both arms around Shinji's arm instead. Warmth flowed into him, along with the softness pressed against him, dissolving the ache in his arm with a guilty sort of tenderness.
Only the Special Week plush had been abandoned on the grass, its odd little smile staring straight at Offside Trap, who had already forgotten all about it.
"You won't blame me, will you?"
"No. And you won't blame me when I increase your training volume, right?"
"I won't."
Shinji froze.
Even the system, which had been quiet for quite some time, was startled awake by that answer.
[Huh? What's going on? She's producing literally zero negative energy right now?]
A shadow of concern crossed Shinji's eyes as well. After a moment of silence, he asked,
"What's with you today?"
"What do you mean, 'what's with me'?"
"I mean…" Shinji searched for the right words. "You're not acting much like yourself."
"Am I?" Offside Trap tightened her hold around his arm a little more. "Then do you think it's a good thing or a bad thing?"
"..."
For the first time, Shinji found her difficult to handle.
Those questions came at him with an almost physical pressure, and he genuinely did not know how to answer.
"Hehe~"
Her laughter rang clear and light.
As if she had already seen that he was struggling, Offside Trap chose not to press the matter. Instead, she carefully tried resting her head against his upper arm.
She leaned in with exaggerated caution, as though afraid he might jerk away the way he had that day in the mall.
Though really, she knew perfectly well that with the way she was holding him now, he was not escaping no matter what he did.
There was no resistance from him at all. He simply allowed her to settle there.
Her hair fell across her cheek. She wanted to brush it aside, but she could not bear to give up even this brief touch.
Then a hand reached over and gently moved the troublesome strand away for her.
He still had not answered her earlier question.
But perhaps, in his own way, he already had.
"Trainer, I'm really happy today."
"Mm."
"When I had just debuted, my dream was to win the Derby. So today, when I managed to get a Special Week plush, I was really, really happy."
"Mm."
"And also, also—the race outfit is beautiful, and I really love it. Lunch was amazing, and I really loved that too. And today you've been really good to me, not like when you're always scolding me, and I really loved that too."
"Where did you leave your race outfit?"
"..."
Offside Trap inhaled deeply.
"I asked the clerk to send it to the academy for me."
"Mm."
[Negative Energy +20]
[Shinji, it's back! It's all back!]
The corner of Shinji's mouth lifted slightly.
Then he felt a fingertip poke his cheek.
"You know all of this perfectly well, Trainer, but you still deliberately tease me. You're awful."
"You were just saying how good I've been to you today."
"A girl's heart changes quickly. You definitely know that."
"I definitely don't."
The girl beside him did not reply. She only rubbed lightly against his arm.
[I have an idea. Ask her whether she put on makeup today. Especially powder.]
Too vicious. Think of another plan.
[…]
The system laughed angrily, then went silent again.
Satisfied, Shinji raised a brow and gently stroked the girl's head. Her soft scent drifted toward him, and for a moment it felt as though even the sunset itself had started to shimmer.
"Wash your hair again tonight. You sweated a bit this afternoon."
[Negative Energy +5]
"Washing it too often is bad for your hair."
"Mm."
[Negative Energy +5]
Offside Trap gave his arm a light bite. It did not hurt the way her grip had earlier; instead it carried a strange mixture of warmth and coolness.
Shinji had no words for the sensation. That mingling of hot and cold made him go still for a moment.
"Does it hurt?"
Her voice came out muffled.
"Don't you know your own strength?"
"Hmph."
This Offside Trap felt so much more alive than usual.
She was no longer only the girl who always looked exhausted, ragged, and worn out during training. She had all sorts of emotions now, and words, and thoughts of her own.
Shinji blinked.
"Now I'm going to have to rinse off again when I get back. What a pain."
"Hmph!"
The sulkier sound that followed came together with the system's notification.
[Negative Energy +10]
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 (Chapter108)
"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 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
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 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
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