After parting ways with Offside Trap in the cafeteria, Shinji headed back toward the dorms.
To be fair, the life of a trainer was exhausting in one sense—he had to spend no small amount of mental energy thinking about how to guide his horse girl, step by step, toward her peak. But if he had to call it easy, then that would not be entirely wrong either. The actual time he spent shouting on the training grounds or poring over materials in the office every day was not all that much.
Shinji figured that was probably because he did not have enough horse girls under him yet. Thinking of how Toko Hana no longer had the time or energy to keep improving the older girls on her team, he felt he ought to cherish this relatively leisurely period while it lasted.
There was no way he was going to roam the world forever with only Offside Trap at his side. If he were being honest, he wanted to try building a full team too—and, in time, make a run at the Dream Trophy League.
Once Little Offside's leg is healed, maybe I should start looking for another suitable girl?
[That part is up to you. I don't mind either way.]
The system's offhand reply left Shinji momentarily at a loss for words.
[Honestly, you should have started looking ages ago. You spent forever searching before you found Offside Trap too.]
The reminder gave him a headache. As for taking on a new horse girl, Shinji's feelings were complicated. At the moment, it was highly likely that Little Offside would be heading overseas next year, while any new horse girl he picked up probably would not.
That would increase his workload all at once, and the thought alone made laziness start creeping over him.
[Oh, right. I should remind you—you still haven't opened those two reward packs.]
Shinji slapped a hand to his forehead. After the Autumn Tenno Sho victory, he had received two major rewards: one for his first G1 title, and another for his first Autumn Tenno Sho win.
At the time, though, he had been too busy worrying about Offside Trap's state of mind and then dealing with the post-race interview. That very night, the issue of System Blessings had come up, and the two reward packs had completely slipped his mind.
His steps quickened. Before long, he had reached the trainers' dormitory. The lady at the front desk was nowhere to be seen; the door to the duty room stood open. As he entered, he even glanced curiously inside.
And so he completely missed the shadow trailing him from behind—the long ears now fully exposed. If he had only turned his head, he would have seen them immediately.
But Shinji's mind was fixed entirely on the reward packs, and he went upstairs without a backward glance.
He hurried up to the second floor and pulled out his key. The crisp metallic click masked the faint rustle of shoes against the floor behind him. He opened his door, slipped inside, and shut it behind him with a solid thud.
Only then did the horse girl crouching by the stairwell corner reveal herself. Offside Trap glanced at the number plate on the door, a bright gleam flashing through her eyes.
"Two… two… seven."
Murmuring the number under her breath, she slowly backed away and headed downstairs.
As she passed the duty room—now once again occupied—the lady inside had just managed to settle back into her seat. The instant she saw Offside Trap, however, the pleased look on her face changed dramatically.
She jerked to her feet, then lost her balance and dropped right back into her chair. Taking a deep breath, she forced her expression into one of grandmotherly warmth and asked with a smile,
"Dear, are you looking for your trainer?" She even lifted the logbook from the desk. "I have records here. If you don't know where your trainer is, I can call him for you—or tell you his room number."
Offside Trap tilted her head slightly. Her eyes looked blank, yet for some reason they sent a chill down the woman's spine.
"Hello, ma'am. I wanted to ask—are the trainers' dorms separated by gender?"
"Of course they are. So, are you here to see your trainer?"
"Mhm. I'm looking for Mr. Nishizaki Ryu."
The answer came so smoothly that the woman let out a long breath of relief. Putting on a pained expression, she glanced down at the records and shook her head.
Her voice was so regretful it almost sounded genuine.
"Him? I think he went out today. You should ask around and see where he is now."
There was a crack in her tone, though. It was painfully obvious she wanted Offside Trap gone as quickly as possible. Offside Trap's expression did not change in the slightest.
"Thank you, then. I'll go look for him again. He hasn't answered my calls."
"Yes, yes."
She watched Offside Trap leave the dormitory, and the moment the horse girl was out of sight, her carefully composed expression collapsed. She shot up from her chair and sprinted upstairs, pounding the stairs and floorboards so hard they rang out beneath her feet.
"Nishizaki Ryu, you really are something!"
…
Shinji, meanwhile, had no idea what was happening outside. He vaguely thought he heard the dorm manager knocking on Nishizaki Ryu's door next door.
If memory served, Nishizaki had taken the whole of Team Spica out for fun that afternoon. Shinji shrugged, hesitated, and ultimately chose not to step outside and tell the dorm manager.
After all, he could not guarantee his information was accurate—and besides, he had more important things to do.
His gaze locked first onto the reward pack for his first Autumn Tenno Sho title. The package itself was utterly plain, clearly because the system could not be bothered dressing it up, and Shinji rather approved of that.
No matter how pretty a reward box looked, if opening it only gave him a dozen or so stat points and a few dozen PT, then he would much rather it look plain and actually contain something useful.
Open it.
Rubbing his hands together, Shinji stared with eager anticipation. Then the unadorned box burst with black light.
As the system notification sounded in his ears, he stared down at the pitch-black pendant now sitting in his hand—sleek, polished, and strangely elegant—and slowly frowned.
[+100 Emotion Energy]
[+25 Attribute Points]
[+120 PT]
[Eternal Night Pendant: Greatly alleviates the burden placed on a horse girl by the Blessings of the Three Goddesses.]
Shinji was speechless.
Offside Trap had never received the Three Goddesses' blessing in the first place, and once a horse girl entered his system's path, she had even less to do with the Three Goddesses than before. That meant the pendant was effectively useless to her.
Maybe he could only give it away.
So he tossed it aside for the moment and eagerly turned to the second reward pack—the one for his first-ever G1 victory. In theory, when a beginner accomplished something genuinely difficult for the first time, the game ought to hand out a very solid reward.
That was what a first G1 victory meant to Shinji.
[+500 Emotion Energy]
[+50 Attribute Points]
[+200 PT]
[Bond-Field Anklet: For each active Domain during a race, grants the horse girl 10% resistance to Domains.]
"Hm?"
Now that looked interesting.
The silver anklet dangled from his fingers, swinging in the air with a clear, delicate chime. Though no one was wearing it, the sheen of the metal somehow made him imagine a pair of long, smooth legs stretched out before him—an ankle slim enough to encircle in one hand, the contrast of pale skin and fine bone lending it an undeniable allure. Shinji narrowed his eyes.
Is this really some kind of proper equipment?
[I honestly thought you were about to lick it.]
"?"
Startled, Shinji flung the anklet to the floor. Yet the feeling was absurdly vivid, as though he had shoved away those imagined pale legs themselves. The flash of pain, the reproachful look in those phantom eyes—even the system seemed awkward afterward.
[Equipment that resists Domains having a little… subjective functionality should be normal, right?]
Its defense was so weak that Shinji rolled his eyes. He bent down and picked the anklet back up.
It seemed almost delighted to be in his hand again. Feeling that strange response, he found himself absently stroking its delicate surface.
And at that exact moment, just as a horse girl was about to step into her own dorm building, she suddenly turned her head to look back toward the trainers' dorms.
For a brief instant, she had felt a wave of discomfort and irritation for no clear reason.
Standing nearby at the dorm entrance, Fuji Kiseki looked curiously at the horse girl who had suddenly gone stiff. Of course she knew exactly who this was.
"Are you going in?"
Shifting politely aside, the cool and composed Fuji Kiseki asked with impeccable gentlemanly grace.
"Thank you."
Offside Trap slowly drew back her gaze, clenched her fist lightly, and headed toward her room.
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 126)
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 (Chapter130)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter89)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter157)
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 133
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 125
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 84
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 143
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 115
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 99
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 75
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 75
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 52
Uma Musume: I Want All 51
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
A Guide to Aid in the Underwor 26
Summoning an Evil God, but the 27
Supernatural Multiverse 27
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