The next day, Zhou Tai'an noticed that Oguri Cap's behavior towards him was no different from usual. He was relieved, but also a little disappointed.
"So there's no change even after her Affinity passed 200?" he said to himself. "Or do I need to be proactive and investigate?"
But for him, the lack of change before an important race was a good thing. A positive change would be fine, but a negative one would be disastrous.
He also hoped that Oguri Cap could maintain a good psychological state before the race.
"In any case, winning an Open-class race in the dream just increased her Affinity for me to 201, with no other rewards. I guess if I want better rewards, I'll have to win a Graded Race in the dream world," he thought.
But in Brand New Shine's eyes, ever since the trainer had held Oguri Cap's hand last night, her behavior had been a little different.
"Oguri suddenly started keeping her distance from Trainer."
There were many reasons to support this conclusion. Just this morning alone, they included, but were not limited to—
"Usually, after Trainer finishes washing up, Oguri would use the bathroom next. But today, she let me go first."
"During training, the distance between Oguri and Trainer has become a bit wider."
"Oguri wasn't even focused on her breakfast."
"When Trainer walked into the room while we were resting in the living room, Oguri's posture immediately became rigid."
Brand New Shine understood a little more than a country Cinderella. She had a rough idea of what was happening to her friend.
"Trainer has really gone too far," she thought, pouting. "He knows Oguri has a race soon, but he still says all sorts of things to distract her. I really need to get to the bottom of this."
"And besides..." she had her own selfish reasons. "If it's really what I think it is, how should I act?"
So from the afternoon onwards, he noticed that the way Brand New Shine looked at him was not quite right.
"What's going on? I don't think I've done anything to her, have I?" he muttered to himself. "Why is she looking at me with such a strange expression?"
"Hiss—" a possibility suddenly occurred to him. "Don't tell me she found out about what I do at night?"
After all, the young trainer was still in his prime. It was normal for him to take care of some personal needs behind a closed door late at night—especially since there had been a lot of stimulation recently...
"But I always make sure to lock the door, don't I?" he sat on the edge of his bed, frowning in thought.
Just as he was wondering, there was a knock on his closed bedroom door.
"Who is it?" he looked up and called out. "Come in."
"It's me," Brand New Shine pushed open the door, gave him a slight bow, and then carefully closed it again.
"What's wrong?" he looked at the chestnut-haired logistics Horse Girl in casual clothes before him, then glanced at the clock on his bedroom wall. "Shouldn't this be your and Oguri Cap's nap time?"
"Oguri just fell asleep," she answered his question first, then stated her purpose. "There's something I need to confirm with you, Trainer."
"Confirm something?" he was taken aback. "What do you want to confirm?"
As he asked, he braced himself, on guard. The atmosphere around her was very strange.
"Anxious, nervous, suppressed, expectant... what exactly does she want to do?" Reading the complex emotions from her micro-expressions and movements, he entered full alert mode.
Brand New Shine had originally wanted to ask about Oguri Cap, but after facing him alone, she suddenly lost her courage and changed the subject to herself. "What kind of arrangements do you have for my future, Trainer?"
"Future? Arrangements?" he was quite surprised. "I don't quite understand what you mean."
"Oguri will stop being a Horse Girl one day, and you will leave Kasamatsu after that. What about me?" she said, gradually approaching him. "Will I be left alone at Kasamatsu, have to find another team, and start over?"
"On that point, I believe I've made you a promise, haven't I?" he frowned. "When that time comes, you'll come to Central with me."
"Just doing logistics and running errands for you forever?" she met his gaze for a moment, then looked down timidly. "In that case, you could replace me with someone else at any time, couldn't you?"
He realized what she was lacking—she was afraid of being replaced. After all, the position of logistics didn't require much learning, just attentiveness and a strong ability to execute.
"That's true," he admitted. "Continuing like this is not a solution."
He proposed an idea, "If you're willing, Brand New Shine, when we get back to Kasamatsu, you can start learning the knowledge required to be a trainer with me."
"In that case..." she bit her lip. "After you leave Kasamatsu, can I become a trainer myself?"
"If you want to stay at Kasamatsu when I'm about to leave, I will apply for a trainer's license for you," he replied.
"What if I want to go to Central with you?" she looked up, staring at him, the desire in her tone impossible to hide.
But he didn't pay much attention to her expression at this moment, cautiously proposing his own idea, "If you are willing to come to Central with me, I will apply for a spot for you to study logistics at Central Tracen Academy. After you graduate, I can give you the position of assistant trainer on my team."
"Because to be honest," the young man shrugged, "I don't think I'll be able to find an assistant as suitable as you in the future."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that he couldn't find one. For him, the three most important qualities in an assistant were—one, obedience; two, strong execution ability; and finally, trustworthiness.
The first two were easy to find. The last, a relationship of trust, was very difficult to build. In his opinion, helping Brand New Shine, who had no chance of winning a local race, achieve victory had been very helpful in building a relationship of mutual trust. He also hoped that she would always be worthy of his trust—unless something happened, he would trust her to the end.
"Thank you, Trainer," Brand New Shine bowed. "I am willing to study with you in the future."
"That's good," he grinned and asked, "Are there any other questions?"
She remembered her original purpose but didn't dare to ask now and could only shake her head awkwardly.
"I really can't bring myself to say it..." she muttered to herself as she tiptoed backward out of his bedroom. "And besides, Trainer is so good to me. I'm sure he would never hurt Oguri."
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