By late September, the weather had already begun to turn cool. Terazumi Shinji had tied a light jacket around his waist, just in case.
Offside Trap followed behind him. The number 6 pinned to the front of her outfit marked her gate number for this race. Around the field, quite a few other horse girls were also inspecting the course.
"Trainer, what do you think?"
"What do I think about what?"
"The track."
Shinji nodded and gave her an encouraging look.
"The inner lane is in good condition. That's to your advantage. Seiun Sky is definitely going to set the pace this race, but you don't need to worry. After all the simulated-race training you've done, you'll be fine."
His words gave Offside Trap another measure of confidence. The light in her eyes seemed to flicker brighter.
"Same plan as always. Once the race starts, just stay with Seiun Sky. Don't let her get too far away. If she speeds up, you speed up. If she slows down, you slow down. Keep her within a distance you know you can catch."
A trainer passing nearby looked utterly baffled.
Shinji's tactical instructions were so unconventional that even this trainer—hardly a famous one himself—could not believe he was hearing such an arrangement for a G2 race.
Of course, he had no idea where Shinji's confidence came from.
Before they had even begun inspecting the track, Shinji had already switched Offside Trap's active bond to Noble. It did not merely raise her attributes—it also rendered Seiun Sky's greatest strength, her tactical manipulation, completely useless against her.
No pace whatsoever could affect Offside Trap now.
That was the confidence the Noble bond gave Shinji.
He continued toward the finish. Offside Trap followed quietly behind him.
When they reached the slope ahead, Shinji climbed it with slight difficulty, but after feeling the firmness of the turf beneath his feet, he still nodded in satisfaction.
He turned back toward Offside Trap, intending to give her a few final instructions—only to realize that his horse girl was staring at him with complete concentration.
The light in her eyes was clearly fixed on tracing his image, and for a moment Shinji froze.
He had to admit it:
it was difficult not to swallow back the words he had been about to say when faced with those seemingly pure, transparent eyes.
"Trainer."
"Mm?"
"Has anyone ever told you that sometimes your eyes look very gentle?"
Shinji shook his head and started down the slope again. Offside Trap smiled softly and stayed close at his side.
Not far away, Mejiro Bright was following behind Mejiro Takamine, listening to her senior's guidance, when she happened to glance over and see Shinji and Offside Trap already leaving the field.
"Is it time already?"
The question slipped out reflexively. Mejiro Takamine frowned, then flicked Mejiro Bright lightly on the forehead with one finger.
"Ow~"
Covering her forehead, Mejiro Bright immediately realized her mistake. Someone as careful and serious as Mejiro Takamine would never have gotten the timing wrong, so her question had only revealed that she herself had been distracted.
Tucking away the image of that horse girl she had just seen, Mejiro Bright blinked.
Everyone's really fired up today, huh~
…
Watching Offside Trap stop at the entrance by the field, where all the horse girls would later enter officially once the race began, Shinji took a deep breath. Even he could feel a trace of tension in his mood.
He headed toward the upper stands.
Thanks to Narita Brian and Maruzensky, Shinji did not have to squeeze into the packed general stands but could instead watch from the second floor, where the view was wider and clearer.
As he looked at the increasingly noisy spectator area, he slowly made his way upstairs. He had heard that today, all of Offside Trap's generation-mates were coming to watch her race. He wondered whether they would stay at the front rows downstairs to cheer for her up close, or choose the second floor for a bit more peace and quiet.
"You're here?"
The moment Shinji appeared at the top of the stairs, Maruzensky greeted him. Her great waves of hair swayed behind her as she beckoned him over with the easy familiarity of an old acquaintance.
"Did she bring it?"
"She did."
Standing beside Maruzensky, Narita Brian was asking whether Offside Trap had brought the bandage with her.
Shinji did not think much of this almost talismanic sort of behavior, but if it could have even a slight psychological effect, then he had no reason to object.
Narita Brian seemed to relax a little, then cast a glance toward the far side of the stands, where Symboli Rudolf stood with arms folded in dignified silence. Beside her, Air Groove wore the same cold, severe expression as always. She flicked Shinji a single glance, then paid him no more attention.
"How are the preparations? Are you confident…?"
At Narita Brian's low question, Shinji merely nodded.
If Offside Trap could not win the Kyoto Daishoten even with attributes like these, then given that her untapped stat ceilings had still not even been raised, Shinji felt she probably would never win a graded race in her life.
"Relax. In the last few training sessions, Xiao Yue was already almost catching up to me. I think she'll be fine."
Maruzensky's reassurance made the worry in Narita Brian's eyes subside somewhat.
A trainer, after all, could only guide and prepare a horse girl. He could not test her personally enough to determine her exact strength.
But Maruzensky could.
Hearing approval from someone like her naturally helped Narita Brian breathe easier.
"The student council made a little wager today… President thinks Mejiro Bright will win. Air Groove is leaning more toward Seiun Sky. I'm backing Xiao Yue. So it all depends on you now."
"Watch Offside Trap, not me."
Shinji shrugged with an indifferent expression, making Maruzensky cover her mouth and laugh.
The more she got to know him, the more she found his temperament fascinating. When he was strict and serious, no one could outdo his intensity. But when he relaxed, no one could be more easygoing either.
"Good afternoon, viewers. I'm Akasaka Misato, today's live commentator! Welcome, everyone, to Kyoto Racecourse…"
The sudden voice from the loudspeakers cut short the conversation among the three on the platform.
Down below, the horse girls had already gathered at the entrance, waiting for the officials' signal to enter.
The freshly crowned Satsuki Sho winner Seiun Sky leaned sleepily against the rail. Mejiro Bright cast a languid, half-smiling look over the rest of the field. Golden Journey's cold stare had left an empty patch of space around her, as though no one wanted to get too close.
Shinji lifted his binoculars and turned them toward Offside Trap.
The girl was still moving her body, warming herself up, but from the rhythm of her breathing, he could tell she was nervous.
Unlike many of the opponents around her, she was still a horse girl who had never even won a graded race. Compared with all these rivals who had already made their names on the track, she was unquestionably the challenger here.
"And now, the horse girls will begin entering the field. First to enter is…"
Everything proceeded in orderly fashion according to the usual flow.
Shinji's eyes never left Offside Trap.
Once she stepped onto the field, her warm-up drifted subtly toward the edge of the course again and again, while her gaze kept wandering.
He knew she was looking for him, and that left him feeling a little helpless.
"I'm going down."
Lowering the binoculars, Shinji was already heading for the stairs.
Behind him, Maruzensky and Narita Brian exchanged a glance and decided to go as well. The front rows were already packed to bursting; without their help, it would be hard for Shinji to push through to the front.
None of the three noticed that as they turned to leave, Symboli Rudolf had already shifted her gaze toward them. Watching the three descend the stairs, her eyes held both puzzlement and regret.
She gave no voice to either feeling, and so Air Groove—who caught that trace of emotion in Rudolf's face—did not ask.
The two horse girls simply stood there listening to the swelling cheers and support rising from the field below, until, at one moment, their eyes happened to meet.
"How's Offside Trap's condition lately?"
"It's hard to tell from the workout times alone. Somewhere around the middle of the pack."
A complicated look flashed through Rudolf's eyes as she watched Narita Brian, who had already squeezed her way into the front row. Brian looked completely different today than she usually did. In her, Rudolf thought she saw a trace of the Narita Brian from her memories.
A girl in the full flush of youth.
A girl who laughed freely and lived with spirit.
She had not seen that side of her in a very long time.
"This ill-fated generation… she is the last one still fighting against fate."
Air Groove did not answer.
She cared more about the actual strength of the horse girls at the academy, so the sharpness at the corners of her eyes remained unchanged, red makeup only making them seem colder.
"Then let's wish her luck…"
Join here to read ahead.
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