Stepping around Shijiaji's stiffened body, Teruizumi Shinji descended the steps at an unhurried pace.
The horse girl behind him was no longer acting as headstrong and spoiled as she had been a moment ago. After a brief silence, she simply followed him soundlessly down onto the field.
By then, the horse girl training below had gradually slowed to a stop after that confrontation. One lap did not take long, and Offside Trap looked at Shinji—and at the horse girl trailing behind him—with open curiosity.
She was dressed rather strangely. It was not as if Offside Trap had never seen eccentric fashion before, but between the smoky eye makeup and that wild, explosive hair, she had to focus hard not to burst out laughing.
Perhaps sensing the amusement she was trying to suppress, Shijiaji shot her an irritated glare. If Offside Trap's training had not looked so promising, she would never have taken an interest in her in the first place—nor would she have ended up getting verbally shredded by Teruizumi Shinji and then silently mocked by Offside Trap right after.
Still, none of that was what mattered most right now.
Shijiaji's gaze settled once more on the man's back. He did not look especially imposing, yet there was an intense confidence about him that seemed to come from nowhere.
He had not said anything outright, but from the calm he had maintained all this time, Shijiaji could feel it.
Just as Shinji was about to give Offside Trap instructions for the next lap, she suddenly spoke.
"How did you know?"
"What?"
"Don't play dumb. You know exactly what I'm asking."
"I'm asking what you said. I don't understand your language."
The fire in her chest nearly burst free. This trainer was infuriating. He had just answered her in her own language, and now he was claiming he had no idea what she was saying.
After Shinji translated that for her, Offside Trap finally lost the fight and laughed out loud.
The longer she stayed around him, the more she realized just how talented her trainer was at driving people up the wall.
"Tell me," Shijiaji demanded, staring at him without blinking, "how did you know I'd already gone through four blessings?"
She watched his face closely, unwilling to miss even the slightest change.
To her disappointment, his expression did not shift at all. He merely looked back at her with a faintly amused gaze.
Shijiaji understood what that meant.
He had no obligation to tell her.
"I can run a practice race with her."
The arrogance from before had vanished from her voice. A flicker of interest passed through Shinji's eyes. The way she had acted earlier had made her look like nothing more than a beautiful idiot. But the Shijiaji standing here now… perhaps this was the real one.
"I don't need that."
"You do," she said immediately. "With her level, it won't be easy to find good sparring partners in Japan. And she's one of those rare geniuses, isn't she? If she's improving that fast, then having a training partner is the best way to help her understand where she stands right now."
"Mmm."
Shinji nodded as if considering it seriously.
What she said was true. A person who hid her lucidity beneath an act of mindless recklessness probably had not made it this far on blessings alone.
No truly strong person was a fool.
"But I still refuse. A practice race is one thing. Telling you why is another."
"Why?"
The question came out before she could stop it. Shijiaji felt her irritation spike. If he had no intention of agreeing, then why had he bothered looking so thoughtful, as if she had just made a brilliant point?
"Because the practice race is a mutual exchange. Your side needs her data too, don't you?"
Shinji's gaze drifted up toward the platform. There, a horse girl adjusting her glasses happened to meet his eyes for the briefest instant before quickly looking away.
That one's good at analysis, then?
He tilted his head slightly. The girl on the platform only turned further to the side, refusing to let him see her eyes.
Grinding her teeth, Shijiaji looked at the man in front of her and thought, with absolute sincerity, that he did not feel like a local at all.
A slippery, calculating, impossible man like this ought to have been tucked away in some giant corporate group overseas, spinning schemes and plotting how to undermine rival teams. What was he doing in a place this primitive?
"Even though I haven't raced much myself," she said after a pause, "I can have my partners run with us too. In terms of race experience, that should help her."
"She's a veteran," Shinji said flatly. "She doesn't need anyone teaching her about experience."
Shijiaji looked at him as if he were an idiot. She had been trying, for once, to offer something meaningful, and he could not even be bothered to come up with a convincing excuse.
"If she were really a veteran," she shot back, "she wouldn't be this unknown."
"Of course she would. The student council has been doing everything it can to suppress her."
Rather than explain Offside Trap's past, Shinji chose to splash mud all over the student council instead. He had no intention of missing a chance like this to blacken their name.
"?"
Shijiaji scratched her head, clearly puzzled. She found it hard to imagine that a horse girl whose quality was obvious at a glance—simply from watching her train—could be suppressed by the student council of the local academy.
Shouldn't someone like that have been cultivated as the next generation of high-ranking student council talent instead?
A suspicion even flickered through her mind that Offside Trap might simply be one of those training-ground monsters who never translated that strength into official results.
Thinking of the two student council executives who had received their group earlier, she casually asked, "That one with the eye makeup almost as dramatic as mine—she's some sort of student council officer, right? She definitely can't beat you."
She hesitated for a moment, then added, "And that older one who looked one level above her probably can't beat you either. Hard to tell clearly, though. Don't know how much of her peak strength she still has."
"The older one?"
Shinji froze for a beat—then finally broke.
The moment he realized she was calling Symboli Rudolf an old lady, he could not hold it in anymore. It was so funny that his impression of her instantly improved.
Back then, when Yama-shōko's betrayal had nearly cost him his trainer's license, every time Rudolf had pressed down on him with that sanctimonious nonsense about "student council authority" and "rules," he had wanted to tell her she was nothing but an unreasonable old hag.
And now, at long last, someone had said it aloud for him.
He actually applauded.
Seeing his delighted reaction, Shijiaji believed the story about suppression even more. She strode over with a look of righteous indignation, acting as though she were about to stand up for justice on his behalf. Offside Trap quietly turned her face away.
Had no one ever told this European horse girl that if you spent too long playing one type of persona, it became very hard to convincingly play another? That righteous fury of hers was so exaggerated it was almost painful.
"It's fine," Shijiaji declared grandly. "I can't stand this kind of bullying. Worst case, you can just come race in Europe—"
As she said that, she casually dropped a hand onto Shinji's shoulder.
[Negative Emotion +20]
"Where exactly do you think you're putting your hand?"
Until now Offside Trap had remained silent, but she suddenly stepped forward and slapped Shijiaji's hand away, cutting off her train of thought so abruptly that the European horse girl just stood there staring.
"Enough, I get the idea," Shinji said, catching Offside Trap by the wrist before she could do anything more. He waved one hand lightly. "Tomorrow. Same place. She's done enough training for today."
Shijiaji came back to herself and finally nodded.
After all, even if she had not gotten what she wanted, it was not as if she had gained nothing.
Thinking that, she instinctively grabbed Shinji's wrist as he turned away again.
[Negative Emotion +25]
"If you really don't feel comfortable staying here," she said, "then honestly, the two of you really could come to our side…"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 95
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 89
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 61
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 65
Uma Musume: From Beginner 61
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 37
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