Shinji Kitahara discovered that Agnes Tachyon was deliberately keeping her distance from him after the morning training session ended.
Because of their prior agreement, he now went to buy them suitable little drinks before the end of every training session, so they could have a small enjoyment while rehydrating. And it was during the distribution of these drinks that he noticed Tachyon's strangeness.
If it were the old Tachyon, after he bought the drinks, she would usually come over to get hers personally, take a sip on the spot to confirm if the sweetness was up to standard, and, by the way, find a chance to slip some potion into his.
But today, she sat in her spot, acting unusually, pretending to be overtired from training, and then had Agnes Digital take her portion for her. Furthermore, after he looked over with a puzzled expression, she simply turned her head away, clearly and deliberately ignoring him.
Did she start to dislike me because of what happened before?
After thinking it over, this was the only conclusion he could come to.
But he didn't pay it too much mind. After all, for him, a decrease in affection or being disliked was not a bad thing, but a good thing worth celebrating. On the contrary, if her affection were to rise, that would be a bad thing to worry about.
So he didn't pay too much attention to her situation, and thus did not notice the slight rubbing of her legs against each other, nor the unconscious swaying of her ponytail behind her.
Then, time passed.
Although there were some slight changes within the team, none of them, at least for the time being, had affected his daily life.
And so the peaceful daily routine continued, and the time soon came to the end of the fourth week.
On Saturday, as usual, he visited the old horse girl's place. Under her surprised gaze of "Only seven this week?", he received the racing silks for Special Week and Oguri Cap.
As for Eclipse?
Although hers was the first to be ordered, and her data had been collected early on, but...
"Do you think normal racing silks can withstand her wearing them?"
The old horse girl was also very helpless when she said this.
In fact, after she had talked to him about Eclipse's racing silks a few years ago, she had always been thinking about this matter. But the problem was, unlike him, she had realized long ago that Eclipse was not normal, and for certain reasons, she had a certain degree of understanding of her strength. And it was precisely because of this understanding that she could be certain that to make racing silks for her, the materials and equipment she currently had on hand were completely insufficient, so she had been procrastinating.
And this wasn't even a problem that money could solve.
She knew very well that even just to make a set of at least "qualified" racing silks for Eclipse, some high-end materials had to be used. And those things, from what she currently knew, even those top horse girl families didn't have much. It wasn't even enough for their own people, let alone for it to flow out.
"Anyway, just wait for now. I'll try to think of a way."
The old horse girl for once showed a troubled expression. On the other hand, Eclipse didn't seem to care much about this matter and was even comforting the old horse girl, saying that it was fine even if she didn't have racing silks.
After all, you can't lose with or without them, right?
Shinji complained in his heart, and then handed the two sets of racing silks he had received to Special Week and Oguri.
Their racing silks were similar to Tachyon's. Although there were some subtle differences from the original game version, on the whole, they were not much different.
Oguri's was a sailor uniform top with a blue short skirt, her legs covered in seemingly high-quality black tights, and a pair of white long boots on her feet. The differences from the original version were basically some small decorations on the top.
As for Special Week...
To be honest, her racing silks had the smallest difference from the original version. It just looked like a very ordinary white and purple dress.
But the problem was, she was quite a bit different.
Shinji wasn't clear when her hair had started to grow rapidly, but no matter how you calculated it, it couldn't have been more than a month. And in just this one month, her hair had grown from about cheek-length to a level where it could cover her shoulders when let down.
He used to not believe the saying that a change in hairstyle could change a person's image, but the problem was, she had really done it.
Along with the growth of her hair, her entire temperament seemed to have undergone some changes. The simple-mindedness in her eyes was decreasing at a visible rate day by day. Her originally silly actions had started to become cute, and even her grades in her culture classes had improved. She rarely failed her exams recently...
Could it be that long hair increases intelligence?
A joke-like thought flashed in his mind, and then he smiled and threw it out.
Then, after finishing with their racing silks, he went to the backyard with the old horse girl as usual and started chatting.
And when they were about done talking, a familiar knock on the door sounded, and then two small footsteps approached the backyard.
His heart skipped a beat. He turned his head and found that it was indeed Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond.
However, what made him breathe a sigh of relief was that through the subsequent conversation, he learned that these two had not come specifically to wait for him. It was just that Kitasan got along well with the old horse girl, so she would usually come to visit on Saturdays and Sundays when school was off, and Satono had just come along with her as bound equipment.
And more importantly, he found that despite having met several times, Satono still seemed to be quite wary and distant from him, and this had not diminished with multiple meetings. Although it wasn't to the point of disgust, it certainly couldn't be called close, perfectly meeting his safety standards, so he naturally wasn't too worried.
And then, as they were chatting, Satono led the topic to the race, and then stated that she and Kitasan had "coincidentally" watched the Maiden race on Wednesday...
If Satono had been very close to him from the very beginning, then he would probably be suspicious of the degree of this "coincidence."
But the problem was, her attitude towards him from the very beginning was not very good. And after that, even when she brought up the race that day, she did not show any admiration for him at all, let alone say that she wanted to join his team in the future.
She just simply and politely congratulated him, and then said that Kitasan seemed to have become a fan of that racehorse named Tokai Teio, so she might pay more attention to his team's related information in the future.
He was not surprised by this. After all, if you followed the normal world line, Kitasan would become a fan of Teio. And what Satono said was very logical, and there was no overly abnormal behavior. So although he had also been a little suspicious of her "coincidence" at the beginning, with the deepening of the conversation, and plus her stable performance, this suspicion also slowly began to dissipate.
Then, after they finished chatting, he bid farewell.
The old horse girl got up and saw him out, leaving only Kitasan and Satono in the courtyard.
And then...
"Dia-chan, what's wrong with you? You seem so happy..." Kitasan looked at Satono with confusion.
Satono smiled and shook her head, not answering her question, then looked in the direction he had left, a strange light shining in her eyes.
We talked a lot this time...
Next time, I'll make some pastries in Kitasan's name and bring them over...
...
Meanwhile.
After leaving the old horse girl's clothing store, Shinji's group returned to the main Tracen campus smoothly.
They returned to school, chatted, ate at the cafeteria, and then separated.
Shinji returned to his own dorm, then opened his computer and began to prepare to design a running form for Ms. Grass.
Last Friday, taking advantage of the leisure time in the clubroom at noon, he had talked to her about designing a running form. Of course, although it was said to be about designing a running form, it was actually mainly about the week-long "useless person" period.
And the problem arose here.
When Oguri had been in her useless person state, it was him and her classmates at the time who had taken care of her. And for Special Week, it was Ms. Grass and Silent Suzuka who had taken turns. It seemed like it wasn't a big deal...
But the problem is, Ms. Grass had no friends.
Special Week counted as one, and she was on the same team and would definitely be willing to take care of her. In fact, Ms. Grass would also be very happy to be taken care of by her... But you expect a simpleton to take care of someone?
Although Special Week's hair was a little longer now, and the simple-mindedness in her eyes had also lessened, she was essentially still that foodie simpleton. She would even do some off-the-wall things in her own daily life. Even Ms. Grass herself had to admit that if she really handed her over to Special Week, then during this useless person period, if there were no accidents, she would definitely have an accident.
The second alternative was her roommate, a horse girl named El Condor Pasa. She was also very willing to take care of her, but Ms. Grass showed even stronger resistance to her than to Special Week.
"Well, how should I put it? Her personality might be a bit more 'lively' than Special Week's..." Ms. Grass said tactfully.
As mentioned before, she was not very good at getting along with horse girls with cheerful and outgoing personalities, and her roommate El Condor Pasa was one of them, and the degree of "liveliness" was quite high. In short, El Condor Pasa was a hot-blooded idiot, who rarely thought about random things, and whose behavior was sometimes even more off-the-wall than Special Week's, sometimes even reaching the point of being called death-courting.
For example, because she herself loved spicy food, once when Grass Wonder was showing her cooking skills, she had secretly squeezed a whole bottle of ghost pepper sauce into the pot, and hadn't closed the kitchen door, filling the entire room with the smell of spice and oil, even wilting the flowers she was growing. —Afterwards, she was chased by a naginata-wielding Ms. Grass for a full half an hour and almost died in the street.
However, although many unpleasant things had happened, she did not hate El Condor Pasa, and even considered her one of her few friends. But friend is friend. As for taking care of her, it was better to forget it.
It wasn't that she was worried about being messed with during her useless person period, but that she was worried that after she recovered, she might not be able to hold back and would slash her with her blade...
As for other friends, those who were not close enough, she was too embarrassed to trouble, and those who were close enough might not have the time. After thinking it over, she still couldn't pick out a suitable candidate.
And then, just as the two of them were troubled by this, an unexpected voice interjected.
"Then I'll do it."
Eclipse, who had been silent on the side, suddenly spoke up.
Hearing this, Grass Wonder and Shinji looked at each other, surprise in both their eyes.
What's going on? Did the sun rise from the west today? Eclipse is no longer afk?
"...What do you think of me as?"
"...A satellite orbiting Trainer Kitahara?"
"...Mobile air that eats a lot?"
Eclipse was silent for a moment. "Then you can find someone else."
"No, no, no, Eclipse, I was wrong, Eclipse."
Shinji grabbed her sleeve, and then together with Ms. Grass, they pleaded with her for a good while before she finally agreed to take care of her again, and then she shrank back and became air again.
And so it was settled.
Then, time continued to pass.
After finishing Ms. Grass's plan, it was already evening. Shinji browsed the forum and news for a while longer, and then his day's actions came to an end.
Then, the sun rose and the moon set, and the time came to Sunday.
For a rare occasion, no horse girls came to disturb him. Instead, the trainers in the group chat were discussing organizing a team-building activity.
Shinji, with the idea of getting along well with his colleagues, did not refuse.
However, although it was called a team-building activity, its nature was more like a roast session. It was basically trainers getting together for a meal and drinks, and then complaining or, under the guise of complaining, showing off their own charges.
Shinji didn't speak much. Because of the Maiden race on Wednesday, he had already spread throughout the trainer's group. Being too conspicuous now would have the risk of attracting hatred, so he just ate on the side and chatted with others about some irrelevant things.
Then, in this process, he saw Koyoi, who was lying on the table with a look of despair, Fudo Daichi with blood pressure medicine by his side, Yosuke Higashimori with some new injuries on his body, and Nishiguchi Ei sighing and complaining that her chubby horse had gained weight again...
How tragic.
Shinji couldn't help but sigh.
Fortunately, the ones in his team were more worry-free. He could just give them a plan and not manage them at all, and now they had even learned to keep their distance on their own. It couldn't be better.
After the team-building activity ended, he chatted with the other trainers for a while longer, and then returned to his own dorm. Just as he was about to rest, his phone suddenly vibrated.
He had thought it was a message from Eclipse or the old horse girl, but after taking out his phone, he found that it was from the Chairwoman.
Don't tell me she's going to cut my salary because I slack off all day...
He clicked on the message with some guilt.
And then, his expression gradually turned grim.
Horse girl hunting...
He had already come to the main Tracen campus. Why were these things still lingering like a ghost, following him?
-------
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