After a tour of the stands at Monbetsu Racecourse, Zhou Tai'an and Silent Suzuka left.
Stepping out of the racecourse, Zhou Tai'an stretched and initiated, "Why don't we just get breakfast here? My treat."
"I appreciate the offer, Zhou-kun," the chestnut-haired Horse Girl gently shook her head. "But Sachiko-neechan's inn provides breakfast. It's probably better to save some money, right?"
Zhou Tai'an realized the issue and felt a sense of relief. "If Silent Suzuka's appetite were the same as Oguri Cap's, I would have been treading on dangerous ground just now."
He rubbed his cheeks. "You're right. Then please, Silent—"
"You don't have to use my full name to address me," Silent Suzuka interrupted him with a smile.
"Then please, Suzuka-san, take the lead," Zhou Tai'an readily (?) amended his address for the chestnut-haired Horse Girl.
"Alright," Silent Suzuka said with a smile, turned, and started jogging.
Zhou Tai'an followed without hesitation.
…
At the hot spring inn, after Oguri Cap got up and washed, she had originally planned to go for a warm-up run around the inn. But noticing that the Horse Girls from Central had also woken up and had the same idea, for reasons she couldn't quite explain, she chose not to run in circles around the inn for her morning practice. Instead, she went a little further, to a public park two kilometers away.
"I'll just do some simple warm-up exercises here and then go back to the inn for breakfast."
Brand New Shine was still sound asleep in their room, so Oguri Cap had no training partner. Therefore, she just did some basic exercises and quickly finished her morning practice.
"But speaking of which, is Trainer not awake yet either?" she wondered, surprised. "Is he getting lazy because it's summer vacation now? Otherwise, based on how things were at the academy, he should be up earlier than me."
With this question in mind, Oguri Cap started back to the inn.
On the way back, Zhou Tai'an and the now-familiar Silent Suzuka chatted as they ran.
But he was tactful enough to limit the topic of conversation to Kasamatsu and Hokkaido, not touching on Central Tracen Academy at all.
He had no desire to offend Tojo Hana. One, it was unnecessary. Two, they would be staying at the same inn for two months, seeing each other all the time. If things got awkward now, it would be difficult later. And most importantly, he wanted Tojo Hana to agree to have one of her Horse Girls do a serious chasing practice with Oguri Cap once or twice.
"Of course, that's assuming her team has a Horse Girl who's good on dirt. Otherwise, the training effect would probably be average," he thought.
His encounter with Silent Suzuka on her morning run was purely accidental. His attempt to get on her good side was, of course, partly because she was very pretty, but there were also other considerations—
"This inn is run by her relative. It's possible that Tojo Hana's team came here for their training camp at her suggestion. That would mean she holds a high position in Tojo Hana's heart. Building a good relationship with her might have a strange effect when I talk to Tojo Hana."
In short, apart from some genuine feelings, Zhou Tai'an was mostly thinking about "how to better prepare Oguri Cap for the Hokkaido Yushun Championship."
But as he was about to reach the inn, he heard a familiar, confused voice—
"Trainer, is this...?"
Zhou Tai'an turned in the direction of the voice and saw Oguri Cap standing there, her brow furrowed.
Silent Suzuka also stopped and turned around.
"This is the Horse Girl I'm in charge of, Oguri Cap," Zhou Tai'an first introduced Oguri Cap to Silent Suzuka, then turned back to greet her. "Oguri Cap, good morning! I just happened to choose the same morning run route as this young lady from Central, so we decided to head back together."
After hearing her trainer's explanation, Oguri Cap inexplicably found her mood improving considerably.
But her expression was still blank. "Oh, I see... I just finished my morning run too and was about to go back to the inn for breakfast."
"Where's Brand New Shine?" Zhou Tai'an glanced around. "Didn't she come out with you?"
"When I got up and washed, Shine was still fast asleep. I figured since she's not a racing Horse Girl anymore, I just let her sleep," Oguri Cap scratched her head. "Trainer, let's go back together."
"Mm!" Zhou Tai'an couldn't possibly refuse this suggestion.
Silent Suzuka didn't object either. In fact, after spotting Oguri Cap, she had been secretly evaluating the local gray-coated Horse Girl.
And the conclusion surprised her. "I don't feel like she's any weaker than the dirt Horse Girls at the academy... In fact, I feel like she's much stronger."
She suppressed her surprise and muttered to herself, "That makes sense. If she wasn't strong enough, Zhou-kun wouldn't have chosen to make the economically stressful expedition to Hokkaido."
Coming back to her senses, Silent Suzuka smiled and nodded at Oguri Cap as a greeting.
Oguri Cap just nodded back, without speaking.
Only Zhou Tai'an, caught in the middle, felt a sudden pressure from both sides.
He deliberately slowed his pace, came up beside Oguri Cap, and prepared to talk to her about the day's training plan.
"Although I know you really don't like it, swimming is still your main course for this period," Zhou Tai'an said, and Oguri Cap's face immediately fell.
He caught the change in her expression but had no intention of changing his mind. "At least until this Thursday, you have to train at the swimming pool near the inn."
"I'll do my best," Oguri Cap no longer refused, just nodded seriously, showing complete agreement.
"After Thursday, I'll start arranging training on the dirt track for you," Zhou Tai'an immediately "returned the favor," promising a plan that would make Oguri Cap happy.
"She's that happy about training?" Silent Suzuka glanced at the two behind her from the corner of her eye and couldn't help but feel envious of the gray-coated Horse Girl. "That's nice... to not have to think about all sorts of things in training, to just be able to leave everything to your trainer."
"I wish I could do that too," she pursed her lips, but knew it was impossible.
-------
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