Dyna felt that over the past few days, she had lost quite a bit of weight.
Every day, she spent extra time running with Zhuofu on the academy's training grounds, yet the amount she ate remained exactly the same as before. A horse girl's energy expenditure during exercise was so intense that the fat in all the less-important areas of her body had quickly been burned away.
The important places, however, had stayed exactly the same size.
The trainers at French Tracen had also begun paying more attention to the quiet little chestnut-haired horse girl who was always at rising-star Zhuofu's side.
They could all tell that she had almost no real racing technique to speak of, but under Zhuofu's guidance, her improvement was strikingly obvious.
"Hey, Moya. Haven't seen you come by the track to watch them in a while. Finally got some free time lately?"
"More or less," Moya replied. "At least I'm not quite as busy as before. I can finally put my whole body and mind back into this work."
He came up to the rail and casually leaned both arms against it. France had been drenched in rainy weather lately, and the turf had not been in good condition for days.
Moya was absolutely one of the biggest celebrities in French Tracen Academy. At such a young age, he had already earned his Tracen trainer's license, something most people would never obtain in their entire lives. Though he was still a rookie, he was nothing like other new trainers who struggled to find a single horse girl willing to sign with them.
The reputation of being a genius earned a great many points.
And the privileges were obvious too. He was allowed to recruit horse girls at any Tracen Academy in Europe, meaning he could try his luck anywhere he pleased.
The older trainers chatted away merrily, while Moya simply watched in silence.
"That's a horse girl I haven't seen before. Is she a new transfer? And Miss Zhuofu is actually coming out of her dorm to exercise every day now."
The trainers were quite interested in that. The chestnut-haired horse girl was secondary; what mattered was that the longer Zhuofu spent outside, the more opportunities there were to recruit her.
Of course, signing Zhuofu would mean facing even greater pressure from the noble house behind her, but these old hands had plenty of confidence in their own ability.
Out on the track, Zhuofu only had to turn her head slightly to see Dyna following behind her at the rear flank. Though drenched in sweat, her expression was far better than it had been at the start.
Zhuofu knew perfectly well how exhausting it was to run on French heavy ground. She had never imagined that a horse girl with no formal training at all could adapt this well under such third-rate teaching. It really did seem that Dyna's natural foundation was excellent.
"Whew...! Let's take a break!"
Gradually slowing from a run to a stop, Zhuofu wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at Dyna, who had stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees, panting hard. Zhuofu's heart was full of delight. She leaned against the rail, not caring in the slightest that mud had splashed all over her body. She was already dirty, so what did it matter before going back to the dorm?
Dyna's mouth kept filling with saliva as she gulped for air. It took a good while before the flush on her cheeks finally began to fade.
"No matter how many days I practice here, I still think the turf is way too soft and sloppy."
She had wanted to compare it to a rain-soaked farm field, but that felt vaguely rude, as though she were calling them mud-footed yokels.
"Right? I think so too. But this is just how it's always been here, generation after generation, so we've adapted pretty well. For a foreign horse girl like you, though, it really is a disaster. But you've adapted amazingly well..."
As Zhuofu spoke, her eyes kept drifting elsewhere. Dyna after exercise was a little too dazzling. Zhuofu did not want to look at her directly. It was bad for the eyes.
"Have you ever thought about studying in France?"
"Huh?"
The abrupt suggestion made Dyna's brain stall for a second.
"No, that wouldn't work... I'm not even attending school in Japan."
She smiled faintly, stepped forward, and braced both hands on the railing, letting it support her chest as she gazed toward the school buildings in the distance.
"Even though, aside from a little bakery back in Japan, I don't really have anything tying me down... I still don't want to be bound by a place like a school. Besides, the employees in that bakery are my friends too."
Dyna scratched lightly at her cheek with one finger, but in order to avoid trouble later, she decided to say it plainly.
Zhuofu went speechless.
She had not expected one careless suggestion to drag out something this heavy, and it made her want to slap herself twice.
Aside from the shop, I don't really have anything tying me down.
Wasn't that basically the same as saying she was an orphan?
What ordinary horse girl talked like that? Wouldn't a normal answer be something like, My parents would never feel comfortable letting me come so far away to study and race, or the like?
Zhuofu! You really are awful! You should've realized this the moment you saw she could come all the way to France as Nakayama Festa's accompanying cook and caretaker! Idiot!
"Ahem... Sorry. I didn't know any of that..."
Zhuofu shook her head, clearly flustered. Dyna, on the other hand, just smiled gently.
"It's fine. I'm very happy now."
Their conversation sank into an awkward silence.
Off to one side, Cody's Wish stroked her bird and spoke up.
"You really won't consider entering a G1 in France?"
"Guh! Miss Cody's Wish, you're thinking far too highly of me. I barely managed to win my debut race. How could I possibly have the ability to jump straight into a top-level race?"
"In Europe, there are always lots of high-grade races and comparatively few horse girls running in them. Japan only has a little over twenty G1 races, so naturally they feel intimidating to you. But in France, a rookie-season G1 might only attract eight or nine runners."
Cody's Wish explained it matter-of-factly. She truly wanted to use a race like that, one capable of carrying dreams, to awaken the fighting spirit buried inside Dyna.
Dyna bit her lip and said nothing.
But to Zhuofu, that silence looked exactly like she had been hurt by some tactless remark.
What do I do, what do I do... Zhuofu, think of something! How did you let something this stupid come out of your mouth without passing through your brain?!
Zhuofu's heart felt like an ant on a hot pan.
At that same moment, Dyna—who had been listening to Cody's Wish—was distracted by a different voice entirely.
[Bond with Zhuofu increased: 10 → 15!]
"?"
Even Cody's Wish blinked. "What is it?"
"N-no, nothing. Let's talk about that later. I want to ask Zhuofu about this in more detail first."
"Mm. Then Cody and I will rest for a bit."
Cody's Wish vanished from sight.
Dyna took a deep breath, then asked,
"Zhuofu... if I wanted to enter a rookie-season G1 in France, what race would you recommend? Or are there restrictions?"
Enter a race? In France? Rookie season? A G1?
Zhuofu, who had been in full internal panic a second ago, instantly had her drooping ears snap straight upright. Tilting her chin up over the mountain range in front of her, she stared at Dyna.
"You want to run in a G1 in France...?"
Silence fell between them.
Just as Dyna was starting to think there might be no way for her to enter even if she wanted to, Zhuofu suddenly lifted her bowed head. Her eyes were shining brightly.
"Of course you can! There's actually a G1 coming up soon that still hasn't filled all its slots!"
"You really want to enter?!"
"I-I mean... kind of? I want to try..."
So there really were G1 races where even the field could not fill to maximum capacity?
Europe sounded much more relaxed than Dyna had imagined.
Competition truly was a horse girl's instinct. The moment the topic of racing came up, Zhuofu's entire brain got hijacked by it.
"The Prix Marcel Boussac. Turf, 1600 meters. It's the race just before the Arc itself~ Right now... if I remember correctly, only eight horse girls have entered. If you sign up, that makes nine. The competition isn't fierce at all!"
She counted it all out on her fingers as she spoke.
And the more Dyna listened, the more she started to feel like maybe—just maybe—she really could do it.
After all, in her debut race, she had gone toe-to-toe with the future Tyrant. And that Tyrant went on to finish second in the Arc. So Dyna herself could not be that bad, right?
She bit at her nail and muttered,
"Maybe... maybe I should just sign up and give it a try? It's Europe, after all... even if I lose, no one will really care!"
"Okay—! Come on, come on! I'll take you to register! The entry rules for a G1 like this are super relaxed. You can even register the day before the race! I'll cover the registration fee too—save your subsidy money to build up your body!"
Before Dyna could even react, Zhuofu grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her off the training ground at a run.
The trainers watching were left standing there in confusion.
What had just happened?
The Tracen Race Registration Office.
Dyna had been dragged all the way there in one breath and was now slightly short of oxygen.
The clerk looked at the two mud-spattered horse girls and, as usual, handed over a registration tablet.
"If you want to register for a race, fill in your personal information first, then choose the event. If you don't meet the requirements, you'll be screened out, okay?"
Even with Zhuofu present, the clerk still did not look especially confident in this particular pairing, and so he added,
"It's usually best to have a trainer choose for you."
Zhuofu waved a hand.
"No need~ She's an independent horse girl, and she won her debut race in a single go, okay? So she can clear the screening for anything she wants to enter!"
Taking the tablet, Zhuofu pulled Dyna over to a bench on the side. After casually wiping some of the mud off on her clothes, she tapped a few times on the screen and then handed it over.
"Here~ This is the Prix Marcel Boussac. Just fill in your information here in Japanese!"
Watching the two of them sitting shoulder to shoulder, the clerk scratched his head.
So this was a foreign-debut horse girl choosing France for her very first G1 afterward?
That really was the convenient thing about independent horse girls. More than that, she was a foreign horse girl.
Not only could she pretty much apply for whatever race she wanted, she also received priority in the draw.
The only real problem was the entry fee.
"All right. I'll fill it in."
Under Zhuofu's guidance, Dyna carefully entered all of her information.
But when she got to the section for the account used to pay the registration fee, Zhuofu snatched the tablet right out of her hands. Only after the system gave a little ding did she hand it back.
"I told you already—I'm paying the registration fee this time!"
When Zhuofu smiled, she showed a row of perfectly white teeth. The bench was a little tall, so she could swing her legs back and forth while she sat. Dyna's legs were too long for that.
It seemed there really were quite a lot of friends who hoped she would keep running.
A warm feeling spread through Dyna's chest. She nodded hard, then finally pressed her thumb onto the digital fingerprint panel and submitted the application.
The whole process was complete.
The clerk took the tablet back and returned it to the front desk. After giving the automatically generated profile on his monitor a casual glance, he said,
"Registration complete. Barring any problems, you should receive notification tonight. Just follow whatever steps are listed then. And..."
He opened a drawer, pulled out a card, slid it through a reader, and handed it to Dyna.
"This is your race subsidy card, Miss Shining Dyna. It's registered under your real name. Once the funds are used up, the card will automatically deactivate, so please use the money wisely."
"Oh? Oh... right, okay."
Dyna accepted the card and then left with Zhuofu.
"Hm... from being the fourteenth favorite in Japan and winning her debut, to coming all the way to France to prove herself?"
The clerk stared at the file, as though he had just found something unusually interesting.
It was the first time he had ever seen a horse girl choose a race schedule like this.
And according to the note in the file, the original winner of her debut had only lost the title because her result was annulled for interference—and had even been handed a ninety-day suspension as punishment.
There were only a few days left until the Arc.
That meant Dyna did not have much time remaining.
Zhuofu had said that Dyna's basic drills had been going well these past few days, and that next she would start teaching her theory. So from here on, they would probably spend more time staying in the dorm.
That made today's physical training session the end of it. Together, the two of them returned to the dormitory.
"Miss Cody's Wish... um... do you understand turf racing?"
Inside the bathroom, Dyna struggled a bit as she peeled off the clothes stuck to her skin. Once that layer of restraint was gone, her chest felt a hundred times lighter. At the very least, now she could take a proper deep breath.
"Not really. But I understand mile races. If you do an approximate conversion, a dirt 1600 is about equal to a turf 1800. Close enough."
Cody's Wish was inside the bathroom with her too, yet she paid Dyna's figure no mind at all. After all, living inside Dyna's head meant there was nothing left that she had not already seen.
Standing beneath the shower, Dyna let the warm water run over her while Cody's Wish stared up at the soft bathroom light through the fogged glass.
"For Europe, where there are more races than there are horse girls to fill them, you can just go all out in a low-profile G1 like this without worrying."
Water gathered along Dyna's collarbone and then streamed down into the deep valley below.
Where there are ridges and hollows, rivers naturally form in the valleys.
"I hope I can get a good result too. I don't want to disappoint Miss Zhuofu after everything she's done for me."
"That child has tremendous potential."
"Mhm... Miss Zhuofu's helped me so much. I can't just waste a kindness like that."
Tilting her head, Cody's Wish thought to herself that Dyna had at least clearly found the goal for this race now.
And if that was the case, then it would be very easy to help her.
"Then I'll give you some special training tonight. I'll teach you a few things Zhuofu hasn't yet. Remember to drink a big glass of hot milk."
"Huh? Milk?"
Though she had no idea what Cody's Wish intended to do, Dyna still heated up a huge glass of milk before bed and gulped it all down.
It really did make her sleepy.
Dyna flopped facedown onto the bed and quickly fell asleep. After that, Cody's Wish turned her over onto her back.
Otherwise, before long, she would wake up feeling suffocated again.
"All right... time for special training! There are still three days before the race, so let's train one thing per day. Dyna, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Cody's Wish interlocked her fingers and stretched outward with a crack of joints.
Then, as night deepened, her figure vanished from the room.
Only the face of the sleeping Dyna gradually began to twist.
American-style special training...
It ought to be pretty effective, right?
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
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin