The bus stopped at the gates of Tracen Academy. Tahara stepped down first, one hand braced on the door handle, while several of his trainees followed after him one by one.
At the sight of the familiar academy entrance, Tahara finally let out a breath of relief. The horse girls always looked forward to training camp, but for trainers, every camp was a brutal test of both stamina and nerves.
At last… it's over…
With that thought in mind, he turned to look back at the girls behind him. They were all laughing and joking together, clearly delighted with how this camp had gone.
"Little Gu, just look at that face of yours~" one gray-haired horse girl said, pointing at the girl beside her. "You're smiling so hard you can barely keep your mouth shut."
"Am I?"
The girl being teased scratched her head.
"You are!"
The gray-haired horse girl hurriedly pulled out her phone and held it up for her roommate to see for herself.
The girl's face was full of satisfied, joyful laughter, the corners of her eyes practically sparkling with excitement.
"Maybe it's because I feel like I've improved again…" she said, before turning hopefully toward Tahara. "Trainer, where do you think I'll place in the Autumn Tenno Sho?"
At that, Tahara quietly sighed. The fleeting emotion in his heart passed too quickly for her to notice.
"Little Gu, racing is never absolute. But after the improvement you made at this training camp, I'm sure you'll get a very good result."
"Really?"
Her eyes lit up at once, and even her roommate felt happy for her. She knew better than anyone how much the girl had sacrificed for her G1 dream. In her mind, a G1 title was the only reward worthy of all the hardship her roommate had endured.
"All right, everyone, head back and get some proper rest," Tahara said. "The training these past few days has been pretty intense, so we'll resume the day after tomorrow."
The moment he finished speaking, he was already heading off campus. He could not wait to get home, collapse, and recover his exhausted mind and body.
"Little Gu, want to go shopping this afternoon?"
Seeing the trainer leave, the gray-haired horse girl's eyes lit up with mischief, and she immediately tried to drag her roommate off to the mall.
"Sorry, Oguri… I've got something to do this afternoon…"
The girl apologetically patted Oguri's hand, but her thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
Her gaze turned toward a certain place inside the academy. Throughout the entire training camp, she had been looking forward to this moment.
I wonder how he replied. Someone as good at encouraging horse girls as he is must have written a lot…
…
As usual, Bugu Wenhui had come to collect the mail.
The academy's dedicated mailboxes were a maze; anyone visiting for the first time would almost certainly lose their bearings among the twists and turns. But Wenhui moved through them with practiced ease and found her own box immediately.
She mostly corresponded with her family by letter, especially since her parents disliked using mobile phones. That was why she was one of the few regulars in this area.
Seeing the two letters inside, Wenhui's smile softened at once. Just thinking of her parents filled her with motivation. They had always loved watching horse racing, so her goal had always been to become a G1 trainer—to give them the chance to see one of her own horse girls stand on top of a G1 race.
She slipped the letters into her bag, swung it onto her shoulder, and then, out of habit, opened the mailbox next to hers—Terazumi Shinji's.
In the past, Wenhui had often collected his letters for him, like an older sister looking after a younger brother. When Shinji first arrived at the academy, he had genuinely not expected official notices to still be delivered by post. Yet the academy really did maintain a place like this.
Seeing his mailbox empty, Wenhui nodded in satisfaction and closed it again.
"What should I have for dinner tonight?" she murmured, patting her flat stomach.
Even though she felt she had eaten quite a bit at lunch, somehow the moment she left the dining hall, she started feeling hungry again.
Still talking to herself, she turned around—and found her gaze colliding with a pair of eyes staring straight at her from close by.
"Ah!"
Wenhui nearly fell backward in fright, stumbling back several steps before she finally recognized the striking green hair and clutched her chest in relief.
"Sansho Drum, don't you know you could scare someone to death like that?!"
There was both rebuke and dissatisfaction in her tone. Her feelings toward the girl before her were undeniably complicated. Back when Sansho Drum had still been with Shinji, Wenhui had truly treated her like a younger sister and had been very good to her.
But after everything that happened later, Wenhui had never managed to find the right place for herself in relation to Sansho Drum.
"Sister Wenhui, did Shinji get my letter?" Sansho Drum asked shyly, scratching her head before taking hold of Wenhui's hand and gently tugging it. "I checked my mailbox just now, and he still hasn't written back…"
He didn't even read your letter.
Wenhui did not know how to say that to the girl looking at her with such hope in her eyes.
In her heart, she absolutely stood on Shinji's side. But even so, she simply could not bring herself to say something cold and decisive to the girl before her.
After all, no matter what had happened, she had sincerely cared for this girl like a little sister for years. For someone as soft-hearted and sensitive as Wenhui, that bond was not so easy to sever.
"Sister Wenhui… did something happen?"
Noticing the change in her expression, Sansho Drum slowly let go of her hand and asked in confusion.
"Something… ah, Shinji's been busy with race-related matters lately. Maybe he just hasn't had time to check it yet." Guilt rose in Wenhui's chest. This should have been something she could state clearly and decisively, but because of her own indecisive nature, it only became more tangled and painful. "He's still preparing for the Autumn Tenno Sho, so maybe—"
"Races? Preparing for the Autumn Tenno Sho?"
The girl's expression changed instantly. The hand she had just withdrawn grabbed Wenhui's wrist again, and this time the grip was uncontrolled. Pain shot up Wenhui's arm at once.
"He… he has another trainee now?"
Grimacing through the pain, Wenhui nodded.
She remembered Shinji had said he could handle it himself. So, this time, she did not hide the truth.
Only then did Sansho Drum notice the clear pain on Wenhui's face. She immediately let go, full of remorse, and gently rubbed the red marks already rising around Wenhui's wrist.
"I'm sorry, Sister Wenhui. I… I didn't mean to…"
"Mm."
Wenhui did not sound angry. She merely looked into the girl's eyes, which were already starting to fill with panic.
Truthfully, she had never been able to understand what this child had really been thinking. Back then, Sansho Drum and Shinji had been so close, so natural together—how had it all suddenly ended up like this?
Slowly, Wenhui pulled her hand back. This time, Sansho Drum did not stop her. Seeing the redness gathering at the corners of the girl's eyes, Wenhui took a deep breath.
She should not feel sorry for her. That would be unfair to Shinji.
No matter what Sansho Drum's intentions had been, the one undeniable fact was that במשך more than a year, she had never once gone looking for him. Perhaps she understood herself that what she had done was wrong, but the beauty of the past had made her cling to a foolish hope.
She had always wanted to explain herself only after achieving some result first.
But the truth was that the very moment she made that decision, all the pain had already been dumped onto another person.
That was something absolutely, absolutely unforgivable.
Wenhui turned her face slightly away and walked past Sansho Drum without looking at her again. She did not quite understand the source of the girl's feelings right now, but she no longer wanted to remain here. Even this short exchange had left her drained.
"Sister Wenhui, can you tell me where he is now?"
The voice from behind made Wenhui stop dead in her tracks.
She vaguely remembered hearing Shinji say that today he had increased Offside Trap's training even more, and that, as "compensation," he would take her to play crane games afterward. After the Kyoto Daishoten, Offside Trap's plush doll had finally started appearing in the machines.
"…"
Wenhui's silence was answer enough. Sansho Drum immediately realized that the woman in front of her knew exactly where Shinji was—she just did not want to say.
"He's with his trainee right now, isn't he?" she asked. Wenhui's body stiffened. This was exactly why she had wanted to keep it from her. She did not want Sansho Drum ruining Shinji's time with Offside Trap. "Please tell me, Sister. I can find him anyway. I know all the places he likes to eat, to play, to rest…"
There was hurt in her voice, but even more than that, there was determination.
Wenhui closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.
"Li… Sansho Drum. If only you'd had this kind of resolve earlier."
The girl behind her said nothing.
After a moment, Wenhui finally spoke again.
"At the mall. You know the place."
At last she heard movement behind her again. Sansho Drum walked past Wenhui with her head lowered. Wenhui could not see her expression, but she could feel the heavy emotion pressing down on her.
"Thank you. No matter what happens, in my heart you'll always be Sister Wenhui."
Perhaps sensing what was about to happen next, Sansho Drum's ears trembled as she spoke.
Wenhui did not respond.
She did not even open her eyes to look at her.
The girl before her had once inspired genuine affection, and Wenhui had cared for her because of that. But the girl seemed to have forgotten one thing.
Their relationship had begun because of Shinji.
The moment she chose to leave Shinji, it became impossible for her to still be "Sister Wenhui."
Wenhui might be soft, hesitant, even weak in some relationships.
But she was not someone who could not tell right from wrong, nor someone who would blindly go along with anything.
The heavy silence in the air seemed to tell Sansho Drum that she understood.
Her tail slowly drooped to the ground by her feet.
Then, with hurried, almost panicked steps, the girl fled from Wenhui's side, leaving only one trembling sentence behind in the wind.
"I hope you… become a G1 trainer soon…"
Wenhui opened her eyes at last. She used her palm to wipe at the corner of one eye, then rubbed them gently again.
"Thank you…"
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
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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