Early in the morning, Dyna gently pushed open the door to her room. After several days of readjusting, she had finally recovered completely.
And after coming back from France, she had even started spending less time lazing in bed.
Even if she never touched the prize money Nakayama Festa had given her, the hundred thousand euros or so that Dyna had won through her own ability was already enough to keep this little shop afloat at a loss for a very long time.
So she had decided to save the money Festa gave her and absolutely not use it unless it became truly necessary. Living a life where she exercised a little every day and then went back to running the shop felt wonderfully comfortable.
That was, of course, assuming she ignored the reporters who kept crowding around the storefront every day.
Thanks to them, the shop's name recognition had indeed risen even higher, but what it brought Dyna was more trouble than anything else.
Thankfully, the reporters still had enough professional ethics not to stake out the place twenty-four hours a day, so Dyna's daily morning run along the river embankment remained completely unshakable.
"Whew... I still haven't quite gotten used to running without Miss Zhuofu beside me."
Dyna slowed her pace and began walking along the embankment. The towel around her neck was already damp. October had arrived, the weather had turned colder, and today, for the first time, Dyna actually felt a little chilly in her athletic T-shirt.
Once the autumn wind had blown over her for a while, most of the sweat had dried, leaving only a sticky feeling across her chest. She would need to take another shower later.
As reliably as though she had a fixed spawn point, Cody's Wish appeared in front of Dyna again, idly stroking that round little blue bird.
"Have you ever thought about practicing at a proper training facility?"
"Eh... Even if my daily morning workouts barely make a difference, I'm already very satisfied! As for more professional training, I guess only a trainer could really set that up, right?"
Dyna smiled lightly, fairly content with her current situation. Self-studying training plans was certainly possible, but seeing immediate results from that was not.
Central Tracen Academy was definitely the best place to pursue the absolute peak.
But Orfevre would probably show Dyna exactly what Japanese-style bullying looked like.
Cody's Wish nodded. "Mm... If it were dirt racing, I could probably give you more advice. But turf? Sorry, I can't really help."
"It's fine. I haven't even decided what race I want to run next... If possible, I'd rather wait until the end of the year. I really don't want to end up on the same track as Orfevre again."
—
Orfevre's suspension lasted until September. In mid-September, she entered a maiden race and crushed it easily, but judging from the photos, she was not happy at all. If anything, she looked as though she wanted to eat the reporters interviewing her.
Then, as if trying to prove something, she ran again in early October in the Fuyo Stakes, only to lose to the fifth favorite, a gray horse girl named Whale Catcher. According to certain insiders, when Orfevre had to prepare as a backup dancer for the winner's stage, her whole face had gone as red as an apple, though the accuracy of that report remained questionable.
After the Fuyo Stakes, Orfevre's trainer announced that she would continue on to a G2 stakes race in November, the Keio Cup Novice Stakes.
Bearing the Gold family name, Orfevre's record of one win from three starts was honestly a major disappointment to her fans.
What was even harder for people to process was the fact that she had elbowed Dyna in her debut race and ended up earning herself a three-month suspension for it.
And the horse girl she had elbowed?
That horse girl had now gone on to win a French G1.
Quiet, diligent, hardworking.
When she was not racing, she was busy making cheap and delicious bread for the girls of Tracen. Whenever a camera showed up, she turned shy. She was a proprietress, a horse girl, and an irresistibly wholesome chestnut-haired bun of a girl all rolled into one...
Who could possibly reject a horse girl like that as a wife?
Dyna's business was getting better and better. With autumn racing season approaching, the horse girls who were training harder than ever loved coming by to buy a sweet little cake for a quick energy boost. As a result, some trainers began visiting the shop as well—not to recruit Shining Dyna, but to sign long-term supply contracts.
Later, Dyna heard from other students that it was actually the horse girls in those teams who had forced their trainers to come.
As for whether that was true or not, Dyna could only say she had no idea~
"A world without sorrow, never giving up on love... mm-hmm~"
Dyna hummed a familiar tune while brushing the crumbs out of the display case. The shop was just about to close for the day, and Oguri Cap was already so hungry that she had gone limp over the counter with her cheek pressed flat against the tabletop.
"You all worked hard today too~ But production still can't keep up with demand. It's such a headache."
After confirming that the display case was spotless, Dyna went into the baking room and brought out a tray of special cookies. The moment the aroma hit her nose, the gray-haired glutton instantly sat upright in perfect posture, waiting for the boss lady to give the order to eat.
Gold Ship spun her chef's hat on one fingertip. She was not especially interested in the cookies right now. She was waiting for the final batch of pre-ordered bread to finish baking. The person who had placed the order was Wada Ryuji, a trainer from Central Tracen Academy.
Ever since Opera O retired, though, he had been quiet for a long time.
Wada had trained many horse girls over the years, but his results were never especially impressive—basically just class-race level. So Gold Ship had no particular interest in him.
When people talked about Wada Ryuji, their first impression was always: that's Opera O's trainer, not Opera O is his horse girl.
Recently, Wada had been focusing his efforts on training Kireijun, but the results there had been equally touching in all the wrong ways...
The two girls beside her had already begun crunching away at the cookies.
Dyna pinched one between her fingers and waved it in front of Gold Ship's eyes.
"Not eating?"
"Hm? Mmph!"
Gold Ship did not even have time to answer before the cookie was shoved straight into her mouth. Its rich fragrance pressed her tongue back, making it curl inward, and for a brief moment, her tongue brushed against Dyna's somewhat rough fingertip before her mouth filled with nothing but buttery sweetness.
The cookie softened as she held it in her mouth, then crumbled into bits and slid down her throat.
After swallowing, she picked up another cookie and stuffed it into her mouth herself.
But somehow, the aroma was not quite as rich as before.
"Well, you're both my employees~ There's no need to be so stiff. If you like them, I'll make more tomorrow."
Jingle—
The shop door opened, and the bell rang.
Dyna turned around and immediately saw an extremely conspicuous white forelock—except the girl attached to it looked terribly timid.
"Hello..."
Doto peeked her head in. Beneath her academy uniform, her extremely impressive figure hit Dyna's eyes with enough force to make her a little dizzy.
Generally speaking, wherever Opera O appeared, Meisho Doto tended to spawn beside her soon after.
And sure enough, the anxious bean hesitating at the doorway was pushed onward the next instant by the Overlord behind her.
"My subject, blocking the doorway is hardly the behavior of one who intends to shop! Besides, we are here to collect the items our trainer ordered."
"Ah! S-sorry, I got a little nervous..."
Meisho Doto shuffled into the shop, moving with awkward, uncertain limbs under the gaze of the three people inside.
But very quickly, their attention was pulled away from her and over to Opera O instead.
With a graceful flick of her striking orange hair, Opera O extended one hand elegantly.
"This young lady would like to ask whether the bread Trainer Wada ordered is ready yet?"
"Ah... n-not quite. It still needs a few more minutes. Would you like to sit down? I've also got some cookies that just came out of the oven."
Dyna had the distinct feeling that this pair had not come all the way here just to pick something up.
If Doto did not have some sort of guilty conscience, there was no way she would be this scared, 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
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
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