"Good for you both."
"If you had noticed, you could've told me."
"It would've been unwise to speak out."
I glared at Hello-san, who was lounging in the trainer room like nothing had happened.
Judging by her reaction when I was making chocolate, she clearly saw this coming. The Valentine's Day confession, the tail-touching, the sleepover. She could've warned me.
"Viola didn't seem interested in that sort of thing."
"Yeah, but still—Thank You, you could've said something too."
"It was more fun to watch."
Apparently, they both knew. And they both chose entertainment over intervention.
"Don't you have a partner like that?"
"Nope. I like human woman, but I haven't met the right one."
I'd been slightly worried about the heart-shaped chocolate Thank You gave me, but it seems it wasn't romantic. Just affectionate. So I was relieved.
Relationships between horse girls are normal, but not necessarily the majority. Most horse girls end up with human women, and there's a fair number of horse girl–horse girl pairings too.
At Tracen Academy, horse girls vastly outnumber everyone else, so the Valentine's buzz feels like a festival for a minority group. Most of the serious relationships happen after graduation.
"But when I see two people in love, I admire them."
"I'm not in love though."
"Nope, you've been flirting nonstop. You bathe together, wash each other, comb tails…"
"?"
"Viola-chan, only parents or lovers are allowed to touch your tail."
"Is that so!?"
Another revelation: I apparently lack basic horse girl common sense.
Rice-chan had been touching my tail since day one. And now, thinking back, she always smiled so sweetly when she did. I don't think I can win against that.
"Hello, can't you handle a good encounter?"
"Why are you asking me!?"
"Well, wouldn't a beautiful, kind person like you have three or four lovers?"
"If you have more than one lover, it's a shambles…"
"Aha, ahahahaha."
Hello-san interacts with tons of people through her job, but she doesn't have a lover. In fact, she once drunkenly screamed that she didn't have one, which basically confirmed her relationship status = age. Thank You didn't seem to know that.
"Because I don't have a lover…"
"So you're going on a blind date? Take me!"
"I think it'd be a problem if I brought students along, Thank You."
Thank You's curiosity about love is endearing. I hope she finds someone kind—but I also hope she doesn't fall for someone strange.