Offside Trap staggered toward the underground passage, her body trembling. The noise behind her still rose and fell in waves, and with every echoing cry, the straightness of her back bent a little more.
There was so much in this world she could not understand. She knew that much.
She only felt suddenly, overwhelmingly tired.
So many things she had once believed without question—only after living through them herself did she realize how hollow they were.
It turned out that victory did not always guarantee cheers.
And the post-race ceremony was not necessarily prepared for the winner alone.
With unfocused eyes, she finally saw Terazumi Shinji leaning against the wall inside the passage. He was watching her quietly. During that long, dragging walk from the track, he had not spoken once to interrupt her.
"Your decision before entering the final straight was excellent, Koshie…" His voice sounded distant, though Offside Trap knew that was not because of him—it was because her own mind was already on the verge of breaking. "Silence Suzuka's condition today was extraordinary. Better than ever. You beat her fair and square."
Ordinarily, that affirmation would have filled Offside Trap with fierce joy.
But now she still kept her head lowered, walking until she stopped in front of him as if nothing unusual had happened at all.
There was pity in his eyes. She could see it clearly.
And that was why she carefully buried her head against his warm chest.
Her long, fluffy ears brushed against his nose, and the ticklish touch made his expression flicker for an instant.
"Trainer…"
"I'm here."
The disappointment inside her swelled and swelled. The harder she clutched at the fabric over his chest, the deeper the folds she left in his shirt. But her own heart was far more wrinkled, far more torn.
"I'm not a bad person, am I?"
The question came out shattered.
Shinji lowered his head, pressing it gently against hers. The girl in his arms trembled, and the wetness soaking into his chest was hot.
"Of course you're not."
The moment he said it, her sobs burst loose at last.
The heat against his chest grew more intense. Shinji almost started trembling himself, but he forced it down and endured.
"I'm not a bad person—I shouldn't have been treated like that!"
"Ahhh!"
Her cries rang through the entire underground passage.
Shinji could no longer keep the tenderness on his face intact. The warmth there slowly cooled into something cold and distant.
Not because of Offside Trap.
Long before this—when public opinion online had already become overwhelmingly one-sided, when he had seen how desperately the fans and racegoers longed for Silence Suzuka's victory—he had already anticipated this scene.
And yet now that it was unfolding before his eyes in such a complete form, so much harsher than even he had expected, he found he still could not control his emotions.
[Congratulations. After this, she'll never be able to leave you.]
The system sounded amused.
It truly was a heartless thing.
Shinji should have replied immediately, but for a moment he only stayed silent.
'Don't start gloating at a time like this.'
Was it regret, then?
Offside Trap could never have avoided facing Suzuka in the Tenno Sho Autumn. But if he had gone to speak to Nishizaki Ryu himself before the race… if he had made explanations during the interview, if he had shown some humility, yielded a little…
Then perhaps things would not have gone this far.
Shinji half-lowered his eyes. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke softly.
"People only ever want to see the ending they already hoped for…"
The girl in his arms did not answer, but her sobbing gradually weakened.
[Negative Emotion +100]
She was listening.
"It's just like now…" he went on. "What does it matter that you won? Life is the same. Even if it looks like you've achieved success, what waits for you afterward is not always applause or praise."
Her crying came to a halt.
Little by little, Offside Trap drew herself out of his embrace. Her tear-filled eyes—beautiful even now—lifted to meet his.
There was hurt in them, pure and wet and obvious.
For the first time, no new system notice appeared.
Shinji instinctively looked away.
"Was that how it felt for you too back then? After winning your G3… when instead of gratitude, all you got from her was betrayal, without even a word beforehand…"
[Hiss—]
The system made a sound, but Shinji only closed his eyes.
For some reason, after those words of concern left her lips, he no longer dared to look at the girl before him.
"I understand how you felt now."
Seeing the look on his face, Offside Trap thought he had been wounded by the same pain she had. So she reached up gently and touched his cheek.
He did not avoid her.
The noise outside the underground passage was beginning to fade. Shinji opened his eyes, his voice rough as he suddenly grabbed her wrist.
His grip was too strong, almost out of control.
But Offside Trap did not resist. She simply let him hold her, her hand still resting against his face.
"Does it hurt?"
She knew what he was asking.
She looked straight into the darkness in his eyes. She could not understand his gaze, nor the emotions buried inside it, so she answered honestly.
"It hurts."
"It hurts a lot."
"Then remember this feeling. Remember the disappointment on their faces. Remember the hatred."
His voice was low and heavy.
His eyes, bloodshot now, were not the eyes she was used to seeing.
And yet Offside Trap did not dislike this version of him.
On the contrary—something dark inside her responded.
It stirred up a desire for revenge, and along with it a vivid, intoxicating fantasy of triumph.
[Negative Emotion +100]
"There has never been such a thing as absolute fairness in this world," Shinji said in a low voice. "Even the human heart leans to the left."
Offside Trap nodded lightly.
The light in her eyes was different now.
Whether hearts leaned left or right no longer mattered.
She did not care anymore.
All the hopes that had once been placed upon others—let them rot and die on the bodies of the rivals she would eventually crush.
And the self she once used to be—
let that girl die on the final straight at Fuchu, buried under the contempt of the masses.
[Shinji, something big is coming—the blessing…]
The system's voice sounded again, but Shinji ignored it. He only kept looking at Offside Trap.
Pushing himself off the wall he had leaned against for so long, he stepped forward. In the underground passage, the coolness of autumn had begun to seep into the air.
There were some things that could not be avoided.
He had no intention of letting Offside Trap refuse the award ceremony. That was something she had earned. The ones at fault were elsewhere.
They walked side by side out of the passage. Narita Brian and Sakura Laurel were waiting there, both of them wearing anxious expressions. They were clearly worried that Offside Trap might have been thinking too much.
After all the twists of fate, after finally enduring long enough to claw her way out—
she had been shown the cruelest face of the world at the very moment she should have been happiest.
Sakura Laurel thought that if she herself had ever gone through something like this, she might have lost all confidence in running forever.
"Come on… let's go to the awards ceremony…"
Narita Brian's voice carried careful hesitation.
Offside Trap looked at her, then smiled—the same smile she wore every day.
Narita Brian froze for an instant, then turned toward Shinji with open relief and admiration in her eyes.
She truly respected this man's ability to calm a horse girl down. In such a short time, he had managed to pull a girl out of the depths of an emotional collapse after such an absurd and brutal experience.
Shinji only smiled without a word.
He did not speak of the unspoken pact that now existed between him and Offside Trap, understood without being voiced.
Never imagine that an angel will claw its way up out of hell.
"Brian will present your flowers, and I'll hold your winner's sign!" Sakura Laurel added in a hushed but encouraging little cheer.
Offside Trap nodded.
The happiness on the surface of her face finally let Narita Brian and Sakura Laurel breathe easier. Both of them hurried to her side, wanting to guide her toward the podium.
Shinji understood why.
He estimated that when the victory stage began, the scene might well turn into something just like before. The stands were growing emptier by the minute.
"Koshie."
Offside Trap had nearly been pushed away by Narita Brian and Sakura Laurel when Shinji called out to her.
She turned back, tilting her head slightly in question.
"Let's go watch the moon tonight."
"Shinji, but Koshie still has the victory live this evening—"
"I'll go," Offside Trap said at once. "And I still want to go claw-machine hunting too."
Narita Brian's startled objection had not even finished leaving her mouth before Offside Trap accepted.
There was real joy on the girl's face now.
Only then did Narita Brian realize that this joy—this sudden bright delight—was far more genuine than anything the girl had shown while talking to them.
It was nothing like the strained smile from earlier.
Slowly, Narita Brian released the wrist she had been holding. A strange unfamiliarity suddenly settled over the girl in front of her.
And Offside Trap, having realized that Narita Brian had noticed something, made no effort to hide it.
A trace of coldness touched her eyes.
It was not directed at Narita Brian in the slightest, and yet Narita Brian still shivered.
She did not know at whom that gaze, passing right through her, was truly aimed.
She only felt that it was like an old, ruthless hunter—one instant of murderous light enough to make her body tense.
Sakura Laurel, puzzled, looked toward Narita Brian for an explanation.
Narita Brian gave none.
The girl beside her had already softened her expression again. She knew exactly who had treated her kindly and who had not. So in turn, she reached out and took Narita Brian's hand.
But unlike before, Narita Brian merely allowed herself to be held. She did not close her fingers around the hand holding hers.
Instead, she looked toward Terazumi Shinji.
[Negative Emotion +50]
Of course, she had no way of knowing what Offside Trap was feeling. Confusion still lingered in Narita Brian's eyes.
But she looked at him as if waiting for an answer.
As if she knew he had to know.
He gave none.
That smile of his had once seemed as fresh and sharp as the autumn wind.
For the first time, Narita Brian truly understood what kind of person he was.
And Offside Trap, at last, had become the same kind of being as the trainer she had longed for.
Only now—far too late—did Narita Brian fully understand the real meaning behind Shinji's contempt for the Three Goddesses during that interview.
"Well then?"
Offside Trap's voice sounded as if something deep inside her was being held down by force.
Narita Brian jolted back to herself, then nodded.
For some reason, she thought of Rudolf Symboli's decisive turn away after that brief moment of hesitation. The president who had always seemed to love every horse girl in the academy as if they were her own younger sisters had, in that moment, also become a stranger.
Maybe, as Tōjō Hana had once said, Narita Brian had focused too much on running, and because of that had lost the sharpness she displayed only while racing.
She truly could no longer tell.
The girl on the verge of collapse from before—
and the hunter whose eyes had flashed with cruelty just moments ago—
which one was the real Offside Trap?
She could no longer tell.
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 (Chapter116)
"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 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
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 80
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 74
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 48
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 50
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 47
Uma Musume: From Beginner 42
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