After finishing the 400-meter run, Zhou Tai'an called out to Oguri Cap, "You can go back to your room now. If I'm not mistaken, Brand New Shine should be waiting to have dinner with you. And then go to the hot spring together."
"What about you, Trainer?" Oguri Cap asked blankly, a question that made both Tojo Hana and Silent Suzuka, who were outside, feel embarrassed for her. "Aren't you going to the hot spring?"
"I'm going to stay outside for a bit longer, get some air, and go for a walk. You guys go ahead," Zhou Tai'an waved his hand. "Don't soak for too long."
"Okay," Oguri Cap said, realizing her invitation just now was also problematic. She nodded, turned quickly, and fled the training track.
After she had entered the inn's lobby, Zhou Tai'an turned to look at the corner where Tojo Hana and Silent Suzuka were hiding and smiled.
Although Tojo Hana was well hidden, Silent Suzuka's green ear covers were completely exposed.
The young man just thought it was Silent Suzuka hiding there to watch his training with Oguri Cap, didn't think much of it, and followed Oguri Cap's footsteps out of the training track.
However, he didn't go back to the inn. He planned to take a walk around the area and try some of the local Hokkaido specialty foods.
Although this was the countryside, because of its proximity to Monbetsu Racecourse, both Hiratori and Monbetsu towns were quite lively at night.
He wandered the streets alone, lost in thought, walking aimlessly.
"The end of August will be the test of whether our summer has been wasted or not," he thought. "If we lose, I'll have to make new plans."
In any case, he needed Oguri Cap to accumulate enough capital before the end of this year to be eligible for the Central turf Graded Races next year.
After a walk, Zhou Tai'an found a random shop and ordered a seafood fried rice for dinner.
While waiting for his food, he noticed three Horse Girls sitting at a table not far away.
He recognized all three of them. They were all Horse Girls from Central Tracen Academy, under Tojo Hana's charge.
Of course, he had never had any interaction with them and didn't plan to go over and talk.
He sat with his back to them, quietly waiting for his Hokkaido specialty seafood fried rice.
Just as he was about to turn his attention away from the three Horse Girls, he heard one of them, a chestnut-haired one, speak—
"I wish Dober-chan could have come to Hokkaido with us."
"That accent sounds like she's from America, just like me," Zhou Tai'an thought to himself.
"But Dober-chan isn't on our Team Rigil. How could she come with us for the summer training camp?" The handsome, dark bay Horse Girl sitting to her left took over. "See? I didn't even invite any of my own fans."
"That's right. And Dober-chan is a young lady from the Mejiro family. She definitely has to go to her family's summer villa in the summer. You can stop dreaming about spending the summer with her, Taiki Shuttle!" The dark bay Horse Girl to her right chimed in, her tone a bit rougher.
"But don't you think that local Trainer staying at the inn with us looks like he'd be a good Practice partner for Dober-chan?" Taiki Shuttle, as she was called, retorted, a little unconvinced. "Even our Trainer seemed very happy after chatting with him. You know how she usually is, right, Fuji Kiseki?"
"Emmmmm..." Fuji Kiseki bit her lip, silent.
The other Horse Girl seemed thoughtful. "That's true. Our trainer was in a pretty good mood during training this afternoon. Was it because she chatted with that local trainer?"
"Who knows what they talked about," Taiki Shuttle pouted. "Do you know, Fuji Kiseki?"
"I'm not sure," Fuji Kiseki wagged a finger. "But now that you mention it, Taiki Shuttle, if that local trainer can get our trainer to be friendly, maybe he really could talk to Dober-chan."
"It's a pity we don't have a chance to try," Taiki Shuttle pouted. "Dober-chan's androphobia has to be overcome before her debut. Otherwise, it will cause serious problems for her future career in the Twinkle Series and the Dream Trophy Series."
"That's a problem for the Mejiro family to figure out," the unnamed Horse Girl shrugged. "Dober-chan is your roommate, Taiki Shuttle, but she's not a member of our Team Rigil."
"Amazon..." Taiki Shuttle's voice became pitiful.
Zhou Tai'an took in the entire conversation.
"Androphobia?" He squinted, complaining to himself, "It seems Horse Girls are the same everywhere."
At the West Coast Tracen Academy, he had heard other colleagues mention that there were Horse Girls at the academy who would become nervous, unable to communicate, or even extremely aggressive when they met men.
Those Horse Girls would be specially assigned female trainers and staff, their dorms would be placed together, and warning signs would be set up to keep male trainers away.
"I just wonder what type that Mejiro Dober is," he mused.
Based on his "stereotype" of Japan from the past six months, he figured the young lady from the Mejiro family probably just got shy and unable to communicate normally around men.
"It's a pity I'm not short on money right now. Otherwise, I'd really want to find a chance to recommend myself and see if I can earn a 'treatment fee' to fund Oguri Cap's training," he thought.
…
Quickly finishing his seafood fried rice, Zhou Tai'an nonchalantly walked past the three Horse Girls from Team Rigil and left the restaurant.
The three, still chatting, had no idea that the local trainer Taiki Shuttle had been "eyeing" was right behind them just now.
The young trainer leisurely returned to the inn and opened his room door with his key.
"Aaaah—!" A scream hit him in the face.
Zhou Tai'an instinctively shut the door.
But the afterimage burned into his retinas was accurately transmitted to his brain—
Oguri Cap and Brand New Shine, wrapped in bath towels, had just stepped out of the hot spring, one after the other. A single towel could not completely cover their delicate, snow-white skin. He could even see droplets of condensed steam slide from their temples, cross their exquisite collarbones, and finally slip into that ravine.
"Ahem." Zhou Tai'an cleared his throat, trying to erase the image from his mind as much as possible, and then, as if nothing had happened, opened the door again.
The two Horse Girls had already fled into their bedroom, leaving only two lines of messy, wet footprints in the living room.
-------
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