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“Hmm… what should I do?”
I muttered to myself while clacking away at the keyboard and glaring at the screen.
Displayed there were documents concerning the team I was in charge of.
A few years ago, I had been a rookie trainer who barely knew left from right. Then I met the girl I was assigned to, spent three years running alongside her, and we managed to leave behind quite a few results.
Though honestly, most of that was because the girl I trained was amazing.
Perhaps those achievements were recognized, because this year I was promoted into a trainer in charge of an entire team. That sounds impressive, but in reality, it just means I have more work, while my pay only went up by a sparrow’s tear. Well, the job does feel meaningful, so I suppose it is fine.
That was how my new team began operating.
More girls wanted to join than I had expected, and so far I would like to say things were going smoothly. But compared to the other distances, our depth in middle-distance runners felt a little thin.
“…Ah, now that I think about it, it’s almost that season.”
I opened my desk drawer and took out several documents. Written across them were the words: Special Transfer Application Form.
“Maybe I’ll recruit with this. Oh, perfect timing…”
As I murmured that while looking over the paperwork, someone knocked at the door.
I gave a light reply, and the door opened quietly. One Umamusume entered, her beautiful gray hair flowing and her amethyst eyes shining.
“Good day, Trainer-san.”
Her name was Mejiro McQueen, the Umamusume I trained.
“Hey, McQueen. I have something to talk about, so sit down, sit down.”
“Yes.”
At my prompting, she perched neatly on a nearby folding chair. Even that posture seemed to overflow with dignity, and to a commoner like me, she looked dazzling.
As expected of a Mejiro Umamusume.
“So… what did you wish to discuss?”
“Yeah, actually, I’m thinking of recruiting more girls to join the team.”
“…Oh? Did you not recruit before?”
“I did, but there are a few places where our roster feels a little thin. Specifically, I’d say we’re weak at middle distances.”
“Middle distances.”
“Yeah. And it’s almost time to apply for Special Transfers, so I figured the timing was perfect. I was just going to think about what sort of recruiti—”
“I-in that case! Teio! What about Teio!?”
McQueen cut me off, kicked her chair back, and practically shot to her feet as she declared it. The poor chair she had launched behind her bent at an angle that suggested it would never again fulfill its duty as a chair.
…Right. Of course. If I said something like that to McQueen, this was always going to happen.
“McQueen, calm down a—”
“Teio is a truly wonderful Umamusume. As you know, Trainer-san, she won two Classic crowns undefeated, and even after a blank period of a full year, she achieved a magnificent victory in that Arima Kinen. I have raced Teio myself in the Tenno Sho Spring and elsewhere, but no one makes my heart thrill the way Teio does. She is truly my one and only rival.”
“I-I see, but wait a—”
“At long distances I have the advantage, but at middle distances there are very few Umamusume who can defeat Teio. If I run long distances and Teio runs middle distances, our team will become a constantly victorious team that knows no defeat! I am sure it will be a splendid team…”
“Okay, I get what you—”
“And during races, Teio is so cool that one would never imagine it from her usual adorable self. That gap makes my heart flutter, and when I see her gallant expression mid-race, it inspires me as well. Ah, but Teio is cool in her usual life too. When we went out into town on our day off recently…”
“Stop! I get it! You’ve made it very clear that you love Teio!”
Once her eyes began to sparkle and she veered away from Teio’s ability as a racer into an eloquent lecture on her charms in everyday life, I stopped her.
If I let her keep going, it would be nighttime before she finished. That was not a joke. It was lived experience, which made it impossible to laugh.
“Ah… M-my apologies… I became a little heated…”
(…A little?)
“Y-yeah… it’s fine. For now, you want Teio to join, right?”
“Yes! Of course! Rather, is there any need to invite anyone except Teio?”
“I mean, normally there is… But I have some slightly disappointing news.”
“Yes?”
“…This is really hard to say, but with Special Transfer, you can only narrow the conditions down so far. I don’t think you can recruit while targeting a specific individual.”
“Wh-what did you say!?”
For a moment, her face stiffened at that shocking truth.
Then she collapsed to the floor in despair, her ears drooping so dramatically that even I could understand them.
“How could this be… Does destiny intend to obstruct me once again!?”
“That’s a little dramatic…”
Seeing McQueen bite her lip and shed tears of frustration, I couldn’t help saying that.
“I mean, if you want to be on the same team that badly, why don’t you just tell her directly? Teio is free right now too, if I remember right. If you ask, won’t she gladly join?”
“Th-that is… well…”
In complete contrast to a moment ago, she shyly averted her eyes, pouted, and began tapping her fingertips together.
I had noticed this while training her, but this girl’s expressions changed more than you would expect.
“T-to tell Teio directly would be… um… embarrassing. Would it not make me seem like an immodest woman who loves Teio so much that she is desperate to be on the same team?”
“How cute. (Isn’t that accurate down to every word?)”
“Cute!?”
Oops. My true feelings and what I should have said had gotten reversed.
More importantly, she spends every possible opening sticking close to Teio, flirting and clinging to her, to the point that people call them the academy’s premier stupid couple. And yet there are still things she finds embarrassing?
She flirts that much in public, so I thought she had nothing left to fear.
Well, McQueen probably has something she refuses to compromise on. Surely. Let’s decide that must be it.
“Then should I go say it for you? That McQueen wants to be on the same team as you.”
“If you say that part, it is no different from my saying it directly, is it!? In fact, that would make Teio tease me even more!”
“Well, yeah, true… Then I guess you have no choice but to pray she comes through Special Transfer.”
“Ugh… Is there no good method…? Could you let me see that paperwork for a moment?”
“Yeah, sure.”
When I handed her a copy of the form, McQueen snatched it from me and began staring intently at the document, as if she refused to let a single word escape her.
I wish she would direct even a little of that passion toward her everyday weight management.
Several minutes after she began reading, McQueen broke into a bright, beaming smile.
“…Trainer-san, how wicked of you. With this, one can narrow it down fairly precisely.”
“Huh? Y-you can?”
“Yes. Now! Let us recruit with these conditions at once! I am sure Teio will come!”
“Let me see… Ahh, I get it…”
I looked over the paper she returned to me while she proudly puffed out her chest.
…It was true that these conditions narrowed things down quite a lot.
Though whether Teio would actually come was probably up to luck.
“Now, the moment has finally arrived… I am growing nervous…”
“I mean, there’s no guarantee she’ll come right away today.”
The day after we submitted the application, we were having that conversation in the trainer’s office.
The Special Transfer system works like this. First, you submit an application listing the conditions of the Umamusume you want for your team.
Next, that application is posted on the academy bulletin board.
A trainer or Umamusume who sees it takes that paper to the person recruiting, and then an interview is held.
Both Umamusume who are not currently on teams and Umamusume who already belong to teams can use the system, so adjustments have to be made to avoid causing trouble.
And this time, the condition McQueen had produced in order to target Teio as precisely as possible was…
“‘An Umamusume who won two Classic crowns undefeated’… I mean, isn’t that basically saying who it is?”
“Not at all. But the probability is high, yes?”
“Well, yeah, but… Is this going to make me look like some needlessly intense, try-hard trainer…?”
As we were talking about that, someone knocked at the door.
“Huh!? Someone came already!?”
“See? My plan was correct after all!”
“Y-you think? C-come in!”
“Excuse me.”
The door slowly opened. While McQueen watched with eyes overflowing with expectation, the one who appeared was…
“Hello. I am Mihono Bourbon. I saw the recruitment paper and came because I would like to join the team. Is this the correct place?”
“Next, please.”
“McQueen!?”
McQueen said that with eyes like dead fish. Her excitement had dropped visibly because the visitor was not Teio.
“…Status ‘confusion’ confirmed. Judging that I have been ‘turned away at the door.’ Requesting presentation of ‘the reason I am being sent away without explanation.’”
“Ahh… umm, the thing is… and so on and so forth…”
“Understood. Interpreting cause as ‘I have harmed McQueen-san’s mood.’ Beginning ‘appeasement of senior team member.’”
“Huh…?”
“Then please excuse me.”
With that, Bourbon strode into the room. She approached McQueen and took something from her pocket.
“…McQueen-san. I will give you this, so could you please improve your mood?”
“It is not as though I am displeased… Th-this is!?”
“A bonus sticker from the Umamusume gummies released the other day. It is a secret rare of Teio-san.”
“Welcome, Bourbon-san! We are delighted to have you!”
“Huh…”
The dead expression from moments ago vanished, and McQueen shook Bourbon’s hand up and down with a dazzling smile. I could only stare in confusion. She was more easily won over—or perhaps more mercenary—than I had expected.
“Yes. I look forward to working with you. Is this acceptable to you as well, Trainer?”
“Y-yeah… Bourbon, I’m surprised you had something like that.”
As McQueen held up the sticker she had received and happily danced a little in place, I whispered to Bourbon.
“Yes. Prior research confirmed that this team belongs to McQueen-san. I prepared for unforeseen circumstances.”
“I-I see… Then take a seat, and we’ll start discussing the details.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Now! Teio may not have come yesterday, but today will be the day!”
“I told you, she won’t come that quickly… Right, Bourbon?”
“Yes. However, there is a small possibility.”
“You think so…? Well, we did change the recruitment conditions a little…”
“Yes! ‘An Umamusume who ran in the Tenno Sho Spring together with Mejiro McQueen’! This should be certain!”
Isn’t that almost the same as naming her outright?
It is true that Teio fits this condition, and other girls fit it as well. But everyone knows the relationship between the two of them, and with this wording, frankly, I think it is nothing but a direct nomination.
Had she become so desperate to achieve her goal that she had forgotten why she was doing something this roundabout in the first place?
“Trainer. Why are you doing something so roundabout? Would it not be better to ask Teio-san directly?”
“Yeah… well, lots of things are going on.”
“Understood. From the situation, judging that ‘silence is golden.’ I will pretend I did not see the doubt in my data.”
As we were having that conversation, the office door was knocked on again.
“See! This time it must be Teio!”
“I wonder… Based on the flow, I don’t think so… Come in.”
The door slowly opened.
Standing there was…
“H-hello. I’m Rice Shower…”
“Why!? Why is it you, Rice-san!?”
“Yeah… I kind of had a faint feeling this would happen…”
I murmured that while watching McQueen pound the desk and wail.
Naturally, having this reaction directed at her made Rice look extremely frightened.
“Eek! I-I’m sorry! Right… Rice isn’t good enough…”
“N-no, it’s not that…”
“Rice is a bad girl… Rice stopped your third consecutive victory…”
“Rice, that is incorrect. Whether or not McQueen-san holds a grudge about that matter aside, the reason she is in this state is something else.”
“Huh…? What do you mean, Bourbon-san?”
“Yes. To explain in detail… and that is what happened.”
“I-I see… I’m glad… It wasn’t Rice’s fault…”
“Of course. In the first place, this would all be resolved if McQueen-san did not do something so roundabout…”
“Hgh.”
“Y-you’re right! Rice understands how McQueen-san feels a little, but instead of waffling around like that, she could just say it directly!”
“Hngh.”
“If I wanted to be on the same team as Rice, I would speak directly to Rice without hesitation.”
“Yeah. Rice would surely do that too.”
“U-um… you two, that’s enough…”
Their merciless verbal attacks seemed to tear McQueen’s heart to shreds. She had collapsed completely onto the desk. I could even hear what sounded like faint sobbing.
“…Sniff. What is this… Are you saying this is my fault…?”
“In order to achieve one’s objective, it is natural to take the shortest route. You understand that thoroughly as well, do you not?”
“Yeah. Rice thinks so too.”
“Ugh… I understand…”
Saying that, she slowly stood and staggered toward the door.
But after placing her hand on the doorknob, she stopped moving. Then she turned back toward us.
“H-however! One more time! If Teio does not come with the next recruitment, I shall go to her directly!”
“She ran away.”
“She ran away.”
“She does have B aptitude in Escape.”
“You there! Be quiet!”
“Th-this time for sure… There is no longer any way back…”
“That’s so dramatic…”
“If we go this far and it still fails, forcing me to ask Teio after all, it will be the shame of a lifetime…”
To McQueen, was Teio someone whose relationship with her could turn a matter this trivial into lifetime-level shame? I think at worst Teio would tease her—by which I mean brag about the two of them as a couple—for about a week.
And the recruitment condition on which McQueen, now with her back to the wall, had staked her last sliver of hope was…
“‘A brown-haired Umamusume who ran in the miracle Arima Kinen and excels at middle distances,’ is it?”
“With this, only Teio-san probably fits!”
“Yes. However, in order to eliminate uncertain factors, I suggested adding ‘who has a white star,’ but the suggestion was rejected. Despite a majority vote being in favor.”
“Say what you will. This room is not a democracy.”
“Seeing an Umamusume around our age lie on the floor and throw a tantrum while crying was quite psychologically taxing.”
“Humans can throw away any amount of pride for the sake of their goal… If she can do that, why can’t she tell Teio-san directly…?”
McQueen averted not merely her eyes, but her whole face, from the half-lidded stares of the two of them and began whistling.
Surely she had something she refused to compromise on. Yes, let’s decide that was what it was. Otherwise, McQueen’s stock would stay limit-down after these last few days.
As I was thinking that, there came a knock at the door.
For the third day in a row.
“S-see! This time, it is certainly her!”
Unable to wait, McQueen rushed toward the door.
“I have been waiting for you! Tei—”
Beyond the door she flung open with a glittering smile stood a brown-haired Umamusume.
…An Umamusume whose fluffy reddish hair was tied in twin tails, with red ear covers on both ears.
“Oh, it’s McQueen. Heya. I saw the Special Transfer paper and came over.”
Yes, it was Nice Nature.
Once again, a different Umamusume.
“Why!? Why are you not Teio!?”
“Wait, McQueen, c-calm dow—abababababa!”
Her hope shattered pointlessly, McQueen half-cried while grabbing Nature’s shoulders and shaking her back and forth as she screamed.
Watching her made me feel, in some vague way, the sorrow of human existence, and I could not help shedding tears.
Naturally, interrogating Nature over it would not change the result. In the end, the conclusion was unchanged. Rather than taking a detour, she had no choice but to do it directly.
McQueen surely understood that as well, but perhaps she could not help asking anyway.
How sad.
“How tragic… If she had just asked Teio directly from the start, this tragedy never would have happened…”
“Yes. This is a good example that putting off problems leads to nothing good.”
“McQueen-san is a little pitiful… but it can’t be helped…”
“Yeah… Well, don’t you think that’s part of what makes McQueen cute?”
“Well, that is a fair—hm?”
Somehow, there had been one too many replies.
Thinking that, I looked toward the voice. There were Bourbon and Rice, who had already been there, and standing beside them with a cheerful smile was a bright-looking brown-haired Umamusume.
“Wait, Teio!? When did you get here!?”
“Yahoo, Trainer. And McQueen too.”
Teio waved lightly as she answered, as though to say she had been here the whole time.
“T-Te-Teio!? Wh-why are you here!?”
“Auu… McQueen, let go… I’m getting dizzy…”
“Ah… My apologies, Nature-san… Ahem… Good day, Teio. What brings you here today?”
After seating the dizzy and groggy Nature on a chair, McQueen greeted Teio with an elegant swish of her hair as though nothing at all had happened.
Impressive.
She was trying to make it seem as though the bizarre behavior from moments ago had never occurred.
Of course, Teio was not going to let her get away with that.
“Well, I heard McQueen just wouldn’t stop insisting that she wanted to be on the same team as me… and when I actually came to see, I found this.”
“O-on what basis are you saying such things…?”
Even at this stage, faced with Teio’s teasing grin, McQueen tried to feign innocence.
That bold composure was quite befitting a young lady of the Mejiro family.
That is, if one ignored the fact that her eyes were swimming everywhere and cold sweat was pouring down her like a waterfall.
“Huh? You’re still playing dumb? Even though you sent out stuff like this?”
“Th-that is!?”
To McQueen, who was determined to keep pretending, Teio took out what looked like a piece of paper and fluttered it.
Needless to say, that familiar-looking paper was the Special Transfer document issued over the last few days under McQueen’s specified conditions.
“H-how do you have that!? I thought you had not seen it!”
“Actually, I noticed from the start that it was a recruitment notice naming me. But if you were naming me, it was really roundabout, and if you wanted to team up with me, you’d just say it directly, right? So I wondered why. Then I asked girls who seemed to fit the conditions to go instead. They were all free agents I happened to know too.”
“Wh—!? Then the two of you were in on it from the beginning!?”
“Yes. I apologize for doing something deceptive.”
“I’m sorry, McQueen-san.”
The two apologized while sticking their tongues out, and McQueen’s head drooped.
She had thought she was arranging things without being found out, only to learn that not only had she been found out, she had been dancing in someone else’s palm from the very start.
Mentally, that must have been quite painful.
“Ugh… How could this be… My perfect plan…”
“Now, now… You could’ve just told me directly from the start… Were you maybe embarrassed?”
“Urk.”
“Huh, bull’s-eye? Geez, McQueen. You’re so cute.”
With a sloppy grin of irrepressible happiness, Teio hugged McQueen.
By contrast, McQueen looked somewhat sulky.
“…I do not care anymore. I hate mean Teio.”
“Ehh!? Don’t say that… I only teased you a little.”
“I do not care.”
“I’ll take you to a sweets shop as an apology, so cheer up.”
“…………”
“Come on, you can order whatever you want to eat!”
“…You promise?”
“Yeah!”
“…Haaah… If it was going to turn out like this, I should have honestly recruited you from the beginning. So? Will you join the team?”
“Of course! If I weren’t going to, I wouldn’t do all this. If I’m on the same team as McQueen, we’ll never lose!”
“Yes. Let us sharpen each other together from now on, Teio.”
“Yeah! Let’s work hard, McQueen!”
“Fufu.”
“Ehehe.”
Saying that, the two laughed together, still hugging.
Well, whatever else had happened, I was glad things had settled peacefully.
And from my standpoint, this result was not bad at all. In addition to the rare genius Tokai Teio, we had gained the legendary hill-training prodigy Mihono Bourbon and the black-clad assassin Rice Shower for the team. In the end, I could call it a great success.
As for Nature, I would have to ask her first, but I would certainly like her to join the team as well.
“I’m happy for you, McQueen.”
“Trainer-san. I am sorry for all the trouble…”
“No, no. Don’t worry about it.”
“I am grateful to hear you say so. Now then, shall we go, Teio? There is a good shop near the station.”
“Ehh!? We’re going today!?”
“Yes. Good things should be done quickly. There is nothing good in putting matters off, after all.”
“Geez, okay. See you, Trainer! I’ll come by tomorrow or something for the team stuff!”
“Then please excuse us, Trainer-san.”
Saying that, the two ran off hand in hand.
There were still things I wanted to say, but well, that could wait. For today, I would let the two of them be alone.
“Ugh… Huh? Where am I…?”
“Ah, you awake, Nature?”
“Ahh, Trainer-san… Seeing as those two are gone, does that mean my role is done?”
“What about you, Nature? Do you want to join the team?”
“Ahh, what should I do… If you’re okay with me, then sure.”
“Of course. You’re welcome here, Nature. Then let’s talk details.”
“Right-o.”
Teio — at the sweets shop
“This is delicious… The sweets here are exceptional…”
“I’m glad. But aren’t you eating a little too much…? You might get chubby, and also my wallet…”
“There are no major races for a while, so there is no need to worry. Mmm, this Mont Blanc is also very delicious…”
“I-I see… (Looks like I can’t buy anything else this month…)”
As I watched McQueen devour sweets one after another without restraint, I regretted what I had done just a little.
“Ah, waiter! Next, this giant parfait, please! Teio, let us eat together. Even if you are paying, it would be a waste to eat something this delicious alone.”
…Still, when I looked at McQueen stuffing her cheeks with sweets so happily, somehow none of it mattered anymore.
“Yeah. I think I’ll have some.”
I took a bite of the cake I had ordered for myself.
Along with the sweetness spreading through my mouth, there was also the slightest salty taste.
Fin