The minor disturbance soon passed, and the days began to flow forward in a steady, peaceful stream.
Twin Shine had successfully transitioned into a logistics Horse Girl, exactly as she had wished. Although she preferred the title "Logistics Girl," since Fujimaru Ritsuka wanted her to maintain her status as a racer, she kept it. She would do her absolute best to live up to his expectations!
Crucially, her role as a logistics assistant allowed her to move alongside Fujimaru Ritsuka, even granting her one opportunity after another to be alone with him.
To seize these chances, Twin Shine worked exceptionally hard. Soon, her meticulousness and efficiency earned her the trust of the team and the heartfelt praise of Fujimaru Ritsuka.
He even complimented her, saying, "I knew you had a talent for this, Shine. In a few years, you might even become a fully-fledged Trainer."
On the surface, Twin Shine beamed at the praise from Ritsuka and the others, her face lighting up with a shy, happy smile.
But in her heart, she was thinking: Become a Trainer? No way. I just want to be the Trainer's assistant—to be his logistics Horse Girl. Because...
A young girl's feelings are a poem in themselves.
And so, the distance between her and Fujimaru Ritsuka shifted quietly through their daily, close collaboration.
At first, she had stood respectfully on the other side of the desk, listening to Ritsuka analyze data, assign tasks, and record key points. She would scribble notes furiously, only sitting down after Ritsuka insisted multiple times.
By the second day, Ritsuka would gesture for her to sit before they even began.
Later, they began watching training footage together, analyzing data, and discussing various issues. Of course, it was less of a "discussion" and more of Ritsuka "feeding" her knowledge to cultivate her skills.
Twin Shine was stiff at first, sometimes failing to grasp the main points, but gradually, she began to stumble through her own observations and occasionally achieve real insights.
Facing the rapidly growing girl, Ritsuka always listened intently. Most of the time, he would nod seriously, using a look of approval to encourage her to think deeper. Other times, he would push further with follow-up questions, prompting her to reconsider the core issues.
However, from beginning to end, those deep blue eyes held nothing but pure academic interest. This allowed Twin Shine to build her confidence bit by bit, and she eventually began to relax.
At some point, the thought took root: Being with the Trainer is so comfortable. It's wonderful. Having a Trainer like this lead me forward is truly a blessing.
The happy smile on Twin Shine's face became a permanent fixture. At home, her family even suspected she was secretly seeing someone, which made her quite nervous.
Eventually, when drafting the weekly training plans, Fujimaru Ritsuka would simply push the blank forms toward her, preparing her for the next stage of her development.
Twin Shine was overwhelmed. She stammered and waved her hands in a frantic refusal. "I-I-I can't do it, Trainer, I..."
Seeing her so tense, Ritsuka reached out and caught her wrist. His voice grew even gentler, yet it carried a firm "strength" that brooked no argument.
"The Horse Girls in their debut year develop quickly, and their weight fluctuates significantly. Starting next week, Oguri Cap needs to strengthen her cornering stability. Based on her previous stamina data, what do you think would be the appropriate intensity and frequency?"
He asked directly, leaving her no room to back out. His voice held the steady calm of someone deep in thought, implying: Shine, you aren't fighting alone. I'm right here with you.
But implications are just that—they can be misinterpreted or decoded incorrectly due to differences in how people think.
And so it was for Twin Shine. Her face turned beet-red, the color as exaggerated as something out of an anime!
She felt her heart thumping—dokidoki—so fast it could have outpaced a car doing eighty kilometers an hour. The sensation was almost suffocating.
In the face of Ritsuka's concern, Twin Shine's internal explanation was: The Trainer trusts me so much to give me such a great internship opportunity. I'm so moved! I'm so excited!
In reality, there was another reason—likely a much more important one.
They were very close. The air Ritsuka exhaled practically brushed against the girl's ear.
Twin Shine had to try incredibly hard to concentrate, forcing her focus onto the forms and the data rather than the clean scent of soap on his sleeve, the way he held his pen, or anything else.
If she weren't worried about Ritsuka discovering her subtle ulterior motives, she would have spent the whole time staring at his profile.
She could only comfort herself: Shine, now is not the time. Endure!
From then on, they frequently discussed the training schedules together.
Picture it: evening approaches, and the office—and the entire Kasamatsu Tracen—gradually grows quiet. Outside the window, the sky turns from bright to orange-red, then slowly to a deep ink-blue. The atmosphere naturally becomes... intimate.
Anyone would think that a man and a woman alone in a room at this hour would be like a spark near a pile of dry wood, right?
But whenever the mood reached that point, Ritsuka would suddenly "click" the lights on, letting the bright glare illuminate the open notes, charts, and densely packed plans, effectively shattering the romantic atmosphere.
It wasn't a huge problem, though. Twin Shine was studying hard. By now, the sounds of discussion weren't as frequent as they had been at the start. The office often fell into a thoughtful silence, broken only by the scratching of pens on paper or the light tapping of a keyboard.
Twin Shine loved this feeling. In these moments, the office seemed to shrink until it was just large enough to hold the two of them. Oh, and the weekly schedules they both cared about.
Sometimes, Ritsuka would suddenly remember something and reach naturally across her to grab a document from the other end of the bookshelf, his arm briefly brushing her back. This sent Twin Shine's heart into a flutter, making her wonder if he was finally going for a kabedon.
Sadly, that never happened.
It left her a bit dejected. But she wasn't the kind of Horse Girl who would just sit around waiting for happiness to knock on her door. She quickly thought of a way.
For example, she would suddenly point out a contradiction in the data and ask for his help. At that, Ritsuka would lean in close to examine the reports.
In those moments, the tips of their hair almost touched. Twin Shine felt her heart skip a beat and would instinctively hold her breath. As this happened more often, the flutter in her chest didn't fade; instead, it began to feel sweet.
She would still be secretly happy for half a day because of a single approving glance from him, and she would worry when he occasionally looked tired, quietly brewing him a cup of tea at the perfect temperature.
And then... naturally, she would receive his sincere thanks.
Whenever that happened, Twin Shine would give a slightly silly laugh and wave her hand dismissively. "This is just part of my duty as a logistics Horse Girl."
"A logistics Horse Girl supporting her Trainer—isn't that only natural?"
Just thinking about it made her feel incredibly blessed.
Twin Shine didn't realize that in those moments, her face radiated a happiness that was truly captivating. She only knew one thing: in these daily, grounded efforts, her initial admiration and gratitude were slowly settling, transforming into something much deeper.
She wanted to be his indispensable assistant. She wanted to share his burdens. She wanted to protect these peaceful moments of fighting side-by-side. She wanted...
In short, as long as they could stay together like this, and she could slowly take over more of his work so he relied on her more and more, it would be enough!
Perhaps... this was a form of possessiveness?
Because she wanted to continue sitting together quietly, letting their thoughts mingle on the pages, letting the evening sun and the office lights overlap their shadows...
Twin Shine suddenly remembered a quote: The speed of falling cherry blossoms is five centimeters per second. At what speed do the hearts of two people grow closer?
She didn't know the answer, but she knew the warm, fulfilling feeling of two hearts drawing closer was wonderful. However...
Sometimes, Twin Shine couldn't help but wonder. He's let me plan everyone's daily and weekly schedules, so why are the reports the Trainer has to handle only increasing? He says he's helping friends with their plans, but clearly, it's more than just that.
What kind of "friend" had so little tact that they called every night, as if they were checking in on him? And the calls would cycle through English, French, and various other languages. How could she not be curious?
But she couldn't help it. Twin Shine could only carefully hide her true feelings deep inside, because those "foreign horses" were simply too formidable.
On one side, there was a Horse Girl launching an expedition in her debut year, getting right in the faces of the British racers. On the other, there was one seizing GI titles that most Horse Girls couldn't get in a lifetime—and she had taken two of them at once.
Not to mention a certain senior Horse Girl who had easily secured three consecutive major victories, "decapitating" several European middle-distance powerhouses and looking poised to take the throne as the queen of European middle-distance racing.
They were all so powerful. How could a plain logistics Horse Girl like her compete? If she could, Twin Shine really wanted to say: Just you wait until I send Oguri over to blow all of you away!
Unfortunately, the current Oguri Cap was only a debut-year Horse Girl. While she was already aiming for the regional Grade 1 (Jpn1) races and fighting for one of only two representative spots, she clearly hadn't developed enough to face those monsters yet.
The girl felt a chill of reality, and she could only comfort herself: The road ahead may be winding, but the future is bright!
At the same time, Twin Shine found something else strange.
Being busy at night was one thing—the international Horse Girls were abroad, so remote guidance had to deal with the time difference. But Fujimaru Ritsuka was incredibly busy during the day too, as if he had taken on someone's commission or an extra mission.
The weird part was that Ritsuka didn't talk to his "good assistant" about it. He was being quite mysterious, which she felt was unnecessary.
Twin Shine was dying of curiosity. She couldn't help but wonder: What is the Trainer planning? Gathering data on opponents?
But Ritsuka would usually only be out for a few hours, or at most from morning till evening. He would bring back special metals to make horseshoes for Oguri Cap and Ardnane. Logically, it should just be a supply run—not him seeing another Horse Girl behind her back, right?
After all, she couldn't smell anything "wrong" on him.
But as it happened more and more, Twin Shine couldn't help but mutter, "He's out again today. What exactly is the Trainer plotting?"
She felt as if a naughty kitten had moved into her heart, scratching and pawing until she was completely restless.
She was so curious, so very curious...
Under the bombardment of these thoughts, Twin Shine finally couldn't suppress her anxiety anymore. She went to find Oguri Cap, hoping to get some clues from the Horse Girl who was closest to him.
The child was an airhead; surely she would leak some intel easily, right?
But Twin Shine quickly realized she was wrong. Oguri was an airhead, yes, but that meant her way of thinking was vastly different from a normal person's. As for "clues" or "suspicious points," there were none—because as long as the Trainer was by her side, she was perfectly happy and didn't think about anything else.
"I... I see. Haha..." Thinking it over, Twin Shine—who was practically sweating from the stress—decided to try a small probe. She couldn't leave empty-handed.
She asked, "Hey, Oguri. If—and I mean if—the Trainer ended up with another Horse Girl and couldn't live with you anymore... EEK?!"
Oguri slammed a hand against the wall. The force was so great that the tile she hit shattered into pieces that could never be put back together. A dark mist seemed to swirl at the corners of her eyes. As she leaned forward slightly, Twin Shine felt a massive surge of pressure.
She waved her hands frantically, trying to explain. "It—It's not real! Nothing like that is happening! I'm just saying maybe, perhaps! And even then, it's just not living together—he'd still be Oguri's Trainer!"
Twin Shine gestured wildly, and it took quite a while to calm Oguri down.
She wiped her forehead, finding it soaked with cold sweat. She couldn't help but complain to herself: She had no reaction when I mentioned him being with another girl, so why such a huge reaction to not living together? What is Oguri actually thinking?
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Musume: Oguri Cap Grand Order (119 Chapters – Ongoing)
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