In the afternoon, Chiya stood in front of his team.
"Today is endurance training. The destination is Shinjuku. Everyone will run to the top of the mountain in Shinjuku and back. It's about thirty kilometers."
"What?! Thirty kilometers?"
That was enough to kill someone!
Gold Ship wailed.
"Thirty kilometers is nothing for you. It's something for me," he said, patting the bicycle behind him. "I'll be following behind the whole way. No one falls behind. There will be a half-hour break in the middle. Understood?"
""Yes, sir.""
Even though she had complaints, Gold Ship answered along with the others.
After organizing the team, he looked at his Horse Girls.
Mejiro Dober stood at the back.
Compared to the first day, her relationship with the others was not as distant. She could even answer a few questions.
More importantly, she was willing to stand there, looking at him, her trainer. That was progress.
He nodded to himself.
It seemed his choice was not wrong. A step-by-step approach was the right way.
"Alright everyone, without further ado, let's set off."
With that, he got on his bicycle. Just as he pushed down on the pedal...
Crash!
He and the bike fell over.
Lying on the ground, he stared blankly at the sky.
"What are you doing, Trainer? Did the chain fall off?"
The others, who had just started to leave, turned back.
No, this wasn't a problem with the chain.
He checked the bike, then got on again, unconvinced. The moment he pushed down on the pedal...
Crash—
He fell to the ground again.
"Trainer, don't tell me you don't know how to ride a bike?" Gold Ship's eyes widened.
It was unbelievable. A grown man in his twenties who couldn't ride a bike.
"I can ride, but... what's going on?" he asked, bewildered. The moment he got on the bike, his center of gravity just vanished.
He tried a few more times and found that the center of gravity for riding was on the pedals, while for walking and running, it was in his body. This contradictory feeling made him feel as if his two bodies were completely separated. It was like learning to ride a bike for the first time; he couldn't get the hang of it and kept falling.
"Trainer, maybe you should figure out the bike first."
"Wait a minute. Movement is muscle memory. Even if a person has amnesia, they won't forget how to ride a bike."
After falling over a dozen times, a disheveled Chiya finally started to pedal forward. The two different centers of gravity merged within his body, and he slowly adapted.
"Alright, let's go."
"You learned that fast?"
"Onii-sama... is amazing," Rice Shower said with admiration.
"It's nothing," he sniffed.
He had a feeling that this kind of mishap would happen often in the future.
...
"Doto, keep up with the group! We're almost at the rest stop, just a little further."
"Yes!"
Hearing the urging, Meisho Doto quickened her pace.
She was drenched in sweat, her body overheating. Being more buxom than the others, and with the two heavy weights on her chest, her running consumed much more energy.
But even so, she was still keeping up with the team, which showed that her skill was not inferior to the others.
"Alright, this is it."
In front of a convenience store, he called out. "Let's take a break here. We'll head back in half an hour."
He parked his bike in front of the store.
"Boss, I'd like... five bottles of tomato juice."
"Alright."
Inside the store, the white-haired shopkeeper nodded.
To have a shop like this in the middle of these deep mountains was a kind of miracle. When he had first come here to map out a training route for the Horse Girls, he had thought it was a temple. But when he went inside, he found it was filled with all sorts of goods.
"Young man, are you here to pray?" the white-haired old man asked as he handed him the five bottles. "If you are, it's best to offer some fried tofu. The deity will give you a blessing and bring you good luck."
"I'm not here to pray. By the way, is there a shrine nearby?"
"Of course. That path leads to the shrine," the old man said, pointing out the window to a small path hidden in the woods. "In recent years, fewer and fewer people have come to pray. Maybe everyone has forgotten there's a shrine here."
"I see..."
He thought for a moment.
Although the shrine might not be dedicated to the Three Goddesses, he knew that the gods in this world were not illusory; they would perform various miracles.
If it could bring him good luck, it wouldn't hurt to pay a visit.
With that thought, he said, "Then I'll have a bag of fried tofu."
"Thank you for your patronage."
Walking out of the store and handing the juice to Rice Shower and the others, he said, "You guys stay here. I have something to do, I'll be right back."
"Got it."
He began to climb the steps to the shrine.
So long...
After climbing three or four hundred steps, he stood panting at the entrance.
No wonder no one came. This place was hidden, and the steps were ridiculously long.
Whatever. Since he was here, he would pray for good fortune.
He decided he would say, 'I hope to train a Horse Girl who can conquer the Arc.'
But before he could enter, a strange cry suddenly came from inside.
"Ooooooooooh—!!"
Then, a brown figure ran to his side.
"This shining badge on your collar, this uniform that represents Tracen Academy! That means you're a trainer, right?!"
Hearing the excited voice, he was taken aback.
He never would have expected there to be someone else here.
Looking at the conspicuous star-pupil eyes and the daruma hairpin, he felt like he had seen her somewhere before.
"To meet you here... does that mean you are my fated person?!"
"Fated person?"
What kind of bizarre, classic, yet somewhat novel pick-up line was this?
But to meet in such a deep mountain forest did have a certain sense of fate to it.
"Who are you?"
"Ah! I forgot to say! My name is Machikane Fukukitaru! I have been waiting here all this time for my fated person to arrive! And finally, I have met you!"
The girl's eyes sparkled.
"The fated person you're talking about... it's not that kind of lifelong commitment..."
"That's right! It's to become my trainer!" she interrupted his unrealistic fantasy. "Great fortune, great luck! My fated person, sign a contract with me and become my trainer—!"
-------
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