After being relentlessly pestered, Kagura eventually ran another lap with Mr. C.B., but this time she didn't horribly mess up the start, finally giving Mr. C.B. her desired experience of chasing a true front-runner.
Having thoroughly enjoyed herself, a very cheerful Mr. C.B. kept her promise. She patiently explained all the key points of the Triple Crown races to Kagura and Rudolf Ojou-sama, who was watching nearby, and even demonstrated optimal running strategies and track tactics in person.
Trainer Tojo felt that today's gains were already extraordinary. Many of the insights and data she'd gathered today were normally impossible for her to obtain. Yet she couldn't feel happy at all—her mind was filled with worry for Kagura's condition. After all, this kid wasn't even at maturation yet but had still run two intense laps back-to-back. Worse still, the second run was in the aggressive daitō style, notoriously taxing on stamina.
"Kagura, come here for a moment. Rudolf, you stay there and listen first."
"Alright!"
Rudolf Ojou-sama nodded. She understood exactly why Trainer Tojo was calling Kagura over. Kagura's recent exertion had been alarming; Tojo was surely concerned and would want to inspect her carefully.
"Tojo-san, is something wrong?"
"Kagura, you were way too reckless just now. You haven't even reached maturation yet, but you dared to run back-to-back laps like that. Are you really alright?"
"It's really fine…just a bit tired. It's not every day we get a chance to interact directly with Mr. C.B.-senpai, right? Our team urgently needs these data-collecting opportunities."
Kagura genuinely didn't feel overly exhausted. Although she'd broken into a heavy sweat during the runs, she'd already recovered quickly. On the other hand, Mr. C.B. was still a bit flushed and seemed rather excited.
"But even so, we can't let you tire yourself out like this…you really…"
"It's part of my job to support Ojou-sama anyway. What's the big deal? At worst, I'll just slack off a bit and sleep in longer tomorrow~"
Seeing Trainer Tojo's visibly apologetic expression, Kagura waved her hands dismissively, even bouncing lightly a few times to show she was perfectly fine. To her, she'd simply done what fell squarely within her responsibilities.
"No, that's not good enough. Kagura, don't go cooking dinner tonight. I'll have Rudolf go eat at the cafeteria following your recipes. You just head straight back to your dorm and rest."
Though she knew Kagura had remarkable endurance, Trainer Tojo firmly insisted on not letting Kagura take on any more work. Without allowing room for argument, she promptly sent Kagura straight back to her dorm.
…
"So this is where you live, Kagura-chan? Pretty nice place~"
Training over, as evening fell and the sun slanted westward, Kagura left the track. Knowing how taxing it had been for a kid Kagura's age to run two races back-to-back against her, Mr. C.B. had volunteered to escort her back to her dorm, just in case anything unexpected happened.
"Yeah. Senpai, you live alone off-campus, right?"
"Yep. Nothing strange about that, right? Maruzensky from your Ojou-sama's team lives outside too."
"That's true… but aren't Tracen's dorms pretty good? Why bother moving out?"
"Well, maybe I just like the feeling of living alone~ Besides, my place isn't too far away. Feel free to drop by sometime when you're free, Kagura-chan."
After spending some time with Kagura, Mr. C.B. had realized this adorable kid was genuinely quite interesting and unexpectedly compatible with her. Kagura's soft, gentle demeanor somehow always stirred an impulse in Mr. C.B. to tease her.
"Visiting Senpai's house…maybe when I have free time. But next, Ojou-sama has the open races coming up in November, so I'll be busy again."
"You really care a lot about your Ojou-sama, huh…"
"It's my duty, after all. I'm Ojou-sama's Support Uma. Letting her fully focus on victory—isn't that exactly why Support Umas exist?"
Mr. C.B. was momentarily stunned. Kagura's expression was completely sincere—not a hint of exaggeration. Under Kagura's puzzled gaze, Mr. C.B. sighed lightly and then reached out, gently pinching Kagura's soft cheeks and stretching them outward a bit.
"…Alright. I won't disturb your rest any longer. If you ever want to find me again, just message me directly—I'll always reply when I'm free."
"Got it~"
Kagura watched Mr. C.B. leave, then turned around—only to see a crowd of Uma Musume at the dorm entrance and stairway, all jostling at the door, heads peeking curiously toward her.
"Uh…"
Kagura suddenly had the feeling that she might not be able to get back to her dorm room anytime soon.
The sheer tenacity of teenage fangirls was far beyond Kagura's imagination. She was quickly swarmed, peppered with endless questions about Mr. C.B., but since Kagura herself knew very little, she couldn't really provide many answers. Most of her responses were head shakes or helpless "I don't knows."
"How did Kagura-san get to know Mr. C.B.-senpai anyway? Senpai seems to like you so much."
"Me? Honestly, before the cafeteria incident, I didn't even know Senpai… She suddenly approached me one day to help President Rudolf get lunch. That's how we met. Besides, Mr. C.B.-senpai is naturally super friendly and easily gets along with everyone."
"Really…?"
The Uma Musume around her all nodded thoughtfully, half-understanding, half-confused. Kagura felt as though their eyes were desperately trying to detect what exactly Mr. C.B. liked about her. But Kagura herself could only give a helpless smile—she herself had no idea why Mr. C.B. was so spontaneously friendly, let alone explain it to others.
Finally answering the last question, Kagura exerted some effort to escape the eager crowd and finally returned to her room. As she opened the door, she saw Mejiro Ardan inside, dressed in sportswear, performing high-knee exercises. Covered in sweat, Ardan seemed to have been at it for quite a while.
"Ah, Kagura, you're back. It was pretty lively downstairs just now—did something happen?"
Seeing Kagura return, Ardan paused and wiped her sweat with a towel nearby.
"Mr. C.B.-senpai escorted me back to the dorm. Then her fans noticed she was here, and suddenly they all rushed over to watch… Basically that."
"Mr. C.B.-senpai? You mean… that Mr. C.B., the one who won this year's Triple Crown?"
Seeing Kagura nod, Ardan raised her eyebrows in surprise. Although she'd heard Kagura had met Mr. C.B. in the cafeteria a few days ago, she hadn't expected that after just a few days Mr. C.B. would already be personally walking Kagura back to her dorm.
After hearing Kagura explain the events of the afternoon, Ardan's mouth fell open and refused to close for quite a while.
Kagura-san ran against the legendary Triple Crown winner and finished just two lengths behind? Even after racing two laps consecutively, she still only lost by two lengths each time?!
For someone as fragile as Ardan, the concept of racing two back-to-back 2400-meter runs sounded like science fiction. Even Mejiro McQueen wouldn't dare attempt that, yet Kagura, who was only one year older than McQueen, managed it seemingly without strain!
And Kagura-san hasn't even reached maturation yet, right?!
Realizing this, Ardan's gaze turned strangely intense as she stared at Kagura.
"What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like you've seen a ghost?"
Kagura tilted her head, puzzled by Ardan's strange reaction. Quickly realizing her slip, Ardan hurriedly shook her head, signaling Kagura not to mind it.
"It's nothing… Um, Kagura-san, you'll probably want a shower first, right? Go ahead—I'll keep exercising out here for a bit."
"Thanks, Ardan-san~"
Kagura didn't refuse. After all that intense exercise, her clothes were soaked through, and she desperately needed a refreshing shower.
Watching Kagura retrieve a set of clean clothes from her wardrobe and head into the bathroom, Ardan stood thoughtfully, lost in contemplation. Suddenly, she felt she understood why her older sister and grandmother had both tried so hard to adopt Kagura previously.
No wonder Obaa-sama and Onee-sama took a liking to Kagura-san… She's just a Support Uma, but her talent is terrifying…