"Hey, hey, are we really supposed to be here right before the Derby?"
"Why wouldn't we be? As long as the boss lady hasn't closed the shop, then customers are obviously welcome to come in and buy things, right?"
Two men and two horse girls came to a stop outside Dyna's bakery.
The two horse girls had been the ones to plan the trip. They'd become friends with the two guys after running into them at one G1 race after another—and by now, they'd even reached the point where they could camp out in front of racetracks together.
"That's right~ We just came because we heard the bakery was famous and wanted to try some bread. It's not like we've got any ulterior motives," said the lively little black-haired horse girl with white streaks in her hair, as if trying to reassure the tall, skinny man.
The chestnut-haired little horse girl with the white diamond marking in her hair, the most proper and composed one of the group, added quietly, "As long as we don't do anything excessive, there shouldn't be a problem."
The short, stocky man nodded. "Exactly. No need to worry. If Miss Kitasan Black and Miss Satono Diamond both think it's fine, then none of us are going to do anything over the line, right?"
The tall one still wasn't entirely convinced, but the other three were all in agreement. If he alone backed out now, he'd just look awkward, so in the end he decided not to overthink it.
The doorbell chimed.
Kitasan Black pushed the door open first.
Since Dyna had already completed all the training Wada had assigned her, she'd had a lot more free time during this last week before the Derby. So she'd been staying at the shop, handling all kinds of miscellaneous tasks. The moment the little black-haired horse girl stepped inside, Dyna recognized her at a glance.
The future seven-crown queen—Kitasan Black. The horse girl people would one day call a true iron-willed fighter.
And behind her came the brightest diamond in the Satono family—Satono Diamond, the girl who would eventually snatch what should have been Kitasan Black's eighth crown right out from under her nose. And yet, fittingly enough, the two of them were still incredibly close off the track. Once race day came, though, they turned into mortal enemies.
"Welcome~"
Dyna was seated on the sofa near the entrance, half a pot of flower tea in front of her. The rich scent of fresh bread filled the shop, laced with a faint, dry floral aroma from the tea. It made for an odd blend, and to the four visitors—none of whom had ever worked in a place like this before—it felt strangely memorable.
But when Dyna's gaze shifted to the two men behind the girls, the look in her eyes sharpened even more than it had for Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond.
The two of them were true aces among racing fans—legendary amateur commentators, practically. Every G1 in Japan, whether central or local, they attended without fail. Their commentary from the stands was sometimes more professional than the official announcers.
So the first thing Dyna said was to the two men.
"Hi~ I remember you two really clearly, you know?"
"Us?" they asked in unison, both pointing at themselves, clearly stunned. Why would a horse girl remember two ordinary fans? They'd never even gotten the chance to interact with Radiant Dyna face to face before.
Dyna nodded and set down her teacup, getting a little carried away and momentarily forgetting to ask why they'd actually come. They didn't really look like they were here just to buy something.
"That's right~ Because the two of you show up all the time in the recordings after races. Maybe even the reporters think you're professionals?"
"To be remembered by Miss Radiant Dyna herself—this is incredible… I'm so happy I could die."
The two men practically floated on air.
They'd followed plenty of horse girls over the years, but almost none of them had ever remembered them the way Dyna apparently had. Of course, the two little girls beside them both wanted to attend Tracen Academy in the future too—but judging by where they were now, it was hard to say how far they'd really go.
After all, neither of them had finished growing yet, and with the age for entering Tracen almost upon them, they were both still tiny. As big-brother types, the two men couldn't help worrying a little.
Satono Diamond at least had the Satono family behind her. Even if racing didn't work out, she still had other paths in life. She could inherit Sega if she had to.
Kitasan Black, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.
There was no way the Kitajima family's yakuza business would be an easy inheritance.
Fortunately, the two men really did focus most of their attention on horse girls and racing. They treated the two little girls more like adorable luggage with legs than anything else. If either of them had gotten any strange ideas, the Kitajima family probably would have turned them into concrete pillars by now.
"Oh, right~ I got so caught up talking that I forgot to ask what you came here for."
From behind the register, Oguri Cap finally looked up from her phone and turned her gaze to the four visitors.
At this point she was effectively the only trusted subordinate left in Dyna's main shop. It was her duty to protect Dyna's safety. Still, these four looked so harmlessly airheaded that none of them really registered as a threat.
That said, the plain-looking little black-haired, red-eyed girl among them clearly had remarkable potential.
Oguri's horse-girl instincts could already sense the power lying dormant inside her. She was going to become a very strong horse girl someday. Her body was already so sturdy that Oguri had the distinct feeling she could fall from the fifth floor and walk away without a scratch.
"W-we came…" Kitasan Black scratched at her head.
She obviously couldn't just say they'd come to pester Radiant Dyna.
Satono Diamond, the smartest person present, smoothly picked up the conversation for her.
"We came because we'd heard so much about your shop 'Wuyou' Bakery is famous both in Japan and overseas now, you know? But we never imagined we'd actually get a chance to buy anything here"
"That's because everyone's pretty considerate, I guess? I'm not sure why, but customers who've already bought something once in the same week usually don't come back a second time. They say they want to leave a chance for people who haven't managed it yet. Even so, we still use up all the day's ingredients every single day."
As she said that, Dyna couldn't help feeling a little touched by how considerate her customers had become.
Oguri, meanwhile, said nothing—but the grudge inside her was very, very real.
Back when she used to queue for bread, she had suffered. Truly suffered.
Every day, she'd stand there with the shop right in front of her, only for the owner to come outside, flip the sign to Closed, and say apologetically, "Sorry, we've sold out for today. Please come again tomorrow~"
Oguri had spent countless sleepless nights with that pain gnawing at her stomach.
Why had people back then not had this same self-restraint?
Her resentment burned deep. Especially because Mejiro McQueen had once managed to become the first horse girl to reserve dessert every single day.
That was the first time Oguri had ever felt, from the depths of her appetite, resentment toward a racing family.
"Mm? Is Oguri feeling unwell?"
When Dyna came over to pick up the price list, she noticed the strange aura around Oguri and tilted her head.
Oguri answered with complete sincerity.
"I remembered those days. Every time the boss lady looked me right in the face and turned the sign over to 'Closed'… Back then, horse girls didn't have any of this self-restraint. I starved for a very long time. So whenever I remember it, I suffer."
Dyna raised the price board and hid the lower half of her face behind it, coughing lightly.
"Ahem. I really didn't think my bakery would get that famous back then. And when it was only me running the place, production really couldn't go any higher. But now we've got more staff, a bigger store, upgraded equipment… it's not nearly as bad as it used to be."
"Wow~ So Oguri Cap-senpai actually went through the cold and cruel early phase of Miss Radiant Dyna's bakery?" Kitasan Black blurted out without thinking.
Satono Diamond immediately drove an elbow into the back of her head.
Bang.
Kitasan Black clutched her head and dropped into a crouch.
"Kita! Don't ask such rude questions!"
"Owwww…"
But as Satono Diamond drew her hand back, Dyna noticed that the redness blooming over her knuckles was even redder than Kitasan Black's eyes. Clearly the rebound had hurt Satono Diamond even more—because Kitasan Black's skull was absurdly hard.
Dyna couldn't help laughing.
"It's fine~ What she said is basically true. But later on, after Oguri started working here, I made it up to her."
Oguri stayed quiet. She really didn't want to revisit that period in too much detail. Otherwise the hungry ghost sealed inside her might awaken again.
"Oh, right! Like we said, we really did come to buy bread! Could you recommend something for us, Miss Radiant Dyna?"
The skinny man smoothly shifted the topic, and Dyna pressed the price sheet against her chin in thought.
After a moment, she answered, "If I'm the one recommending it, I'd say just go with the ordinary fruit cream buns~ They're not flashy at all, but they're really good."
"Then we'll all take one! No—wait, I want two!" Kitasan Black shot her hand up enthusiastically.
Satono Diamond let out a small sigh, but didn't object. The two men agreed too.
Packing everything didn't take very long. Soon each of them was holding a bag full of bread. Oguri rang them up properly, and they paid in full.
But of course, they hadn't really come here just to buy bread—they'd come because they were fans.
So before leaving, all four of them asked Dyna for her autograph.
Normally, Dyna refused that kind of thing in day-to-day life.
But Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond were special.
Maybe someday she would even become the idol they chased—the inspiration that pushed them forward into the world of racing.
So she signed for them all with sincere care.
Which meant the two guys were really just benefiting from Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond's luck.
After the four left, Oguri asked curiously from behind the register, "Boss lady, why did you treat those two little horse girls so differently?"
Dyna had turned people down plenty of times before.
"They're children I've got very high hopes for, I guess?" Dyna replied. "Kitasan Black is a very late-blooming horse girl, while Satono Diamond leans much more toward early maturity. They definitely won't be peaking in the same year."
Oguri didn't really have enough brain capacity to store the full explanation, so she simplified it immediately.
Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond were the boss lady's chosen successors.
Oguri understood perfectly.
"But by the time they really step onto the stage," Dyna said, poking at her own cheek, "I'll probably already be retired."
Really, their futures had very little to do with her.
Radiant Dyna didn't belong to any academy training team, after all. So she had no obligation to act like a senior raising the next generation.
That night, after showering, Dyna lay in bed holding her phone. This time, the one keeping her company was Sea the Stars, as distant and cool as ever.
"Hey~ Sea the Stars?"
Dyna lowered her phone and propped her chin on both hands as she looked toward the horse girl leaning in the doorway. There was a strange scent clinging to her.
A faint floral note—rose, maybe.
But in Dyna's mind, Sea the Stars definitely wasn't the type who liked flowers. Cody's Wish didn't seem particularly interested in them either.
"Hm? What is it?"
Sea the Stars had actually been thinking about something else entirely—how she'd coach Dyna through a full 2400-meter run if she ever made it to Longchamp. Dyna calling her name snapped her out of it.
"Don't you smell kind of floral lately? Like roses?"
"Roses?"
Sea the Stars lifted a hand toward her face and caught a trace of it even through her silk glove.
She knew exactly where the scent had come from. The question was whether she wanted to tell Dyna.
After all, she couldn't very well say that the smell came from the blood-red roses that had suddenly started growing all through the mental landscape ever since Dyna's confrontation with Orfevre at the press conference.
"This? Cody's Wish and I planted them," she lied smoothly. "That place was getting a little too plain, so we thought it needed some decoration. I just didn't expect the fragrance would carry over from there. Do you dislike it that much?"
Sea the Stars hoped to get through this and then, after Dyna fell asleep, quietly rein in the roses together with Cody's Wish.
Thankfully Dyna had been sleeping well lately and hadn't entered that space at all. If she did, she'd be shocked speechless by the fields of blood-red roses blooming everywhere.
After all, Dyna herself had absolutely no idea that her hidden mental state had already begun to change.
Maybe on Derby day, when she finally faced Orfevre and Ballet Triumph head-on, those roses would finally bare their thorns.
And tear Orfevre and Ballet Triumph to bloody ribbons.
"It's not that I dislike it," Dyna said after a pause. "Actually… I kind of like the smell. So you really can plant flowers there? Can you plant anything?"
"Hm? Unless something weird happens… probably?"
"Then could I ask you and Cody's Wish to plant something for me?"
"Tell me."
Dyna hesitated only a moment before naming it.
"Rosemary. Plant some rosemary for me, okay?"
"Rosemary…? Fine. I'll remember."
Gugu. Gaga.
Four straight days of full classes this week—someone's going to die already…
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 139)
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 (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
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 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
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 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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