"Teacher Fujimura, don't you want to know? The true meaning of ultimate speed—"
Agnes Tachyon's eyes gleamed with curiosity toward the unknown.
Though Fujimura Hikaru had no particular interest in the experiment she was talking about, he could still understand the emotion behind it.
She was serious.
"All right, I think I understand what your experiment is about now…"
Fujimura Hikaru scratched his head and summed it up.
"To put it simply, you're running these experiments to save time, which is why you don't want to attend class or participate in the qualifying races, right?"
"That's right The whole reason I enrolled at Tracen Academy was to better understand horse girls And to observe more powerful horse girls, the Twinkle Series is an indispensable part of that. As long as I can compete in the Twinkle Series, I'll be able to gather data on even more elite horse girls, which will speed up my research."
Tachyon tucked her hands into the sleeves of her white coat, covering the lower half of her face as she smiled.
"But right now, you're facing the risk of being forced to withdraw. If you get expelled, then you won't be able to participate in the Twinkle Series at all, will you?"
Fujimura Hikaru had keenly picked up on the flaw in her logic and pointed it out.
"That's true. Not being able to enter the Twinkle Series would be a major inconvenience… my research progress would suffer too. But in the worst case, I could just transfer to another Tracen Academy, couldn't I? The Americas, Europe, Dubai, Hong Kong? There are powerful horse girls everywhere. Wouldn't collecting data in any of those places amount to the same thing?"
Agnes Tachyon seemed not to care much about the prospect of being expelled.
Rather, expulsion itself seemed to have already been factored into her calculations.
"You make it sound easy, but in practice, it's probably not nearly that manageable, right?"
That was what Fujimura Hikaru said.
A transfer was already troublesome enough as it was, let alone an international one.
And besides, with the way Agnes Tachyon behaved, even if she transferred abroad, there was still a high chance she'd end up receiving another expulsion notice.
"…"
Sure enough, Agnes Tachyon fell into an awkward silence.
She clearly understood that continuing like this would not do her experiment much good either.
And yet, from her expression, Fujimura Hikaru still saw no sign that she intended to change her mind.
She really is stubborn…
That was what he found himself thinking.
"I have a way to solve your problem."
"Oh?"
At his words, Agnes Tachyon narrowed her eyes slightly.
"And what brilliant method does Teacher Fujimura have in mind?"
"Join my team first."
"Didn't I already say it… I don't need something like a trainer."
"Just hear me out first."
Fujimura Hikaru cleared his throat and continued.
"You'd only be affiliated with my team in name. I won't interfere much with your training plans… it'd just be a title to deal with the school's review process. Once you have a responsible trainer on record, you won't be expelled, right?"
"Hmm… that doesn't sound like it has any real downside… so what would I have to do?"
Agnes Tachyon understood perfectly well that nothing good simply fell from the sky. If Fujimura Hikaru was willing to take her under his name, then naturally he would have conditions of his own.
"Of course, I do have conditions for putting my name on the line for you."
Fujimura Hikaru spoke seriously.
"Since the reason you avoid qualifying races is because you find them troublesome, then my condition is simple. You only need to participate in one qualifying race per week. I'll handle everything else related to the other qualifiers for you, but you must maintain a minimum attendance of one race a week."
"I can't do much about your academic classes, but when it comes to qualifying races, I still want you to keep participating at at least the bare minimum. If you find a trainer you really like later on, then you can decide to leave at that point."
"…"
Agnes Tachyon fell into deep thought.
What Fujimura Hikaru was proposing was, in essence, just a delaying tactic.
It did not fundamentally resolve the contradiction at the heart of Agnes Tachyon's situation.
But as a temporary measure to handle the pressure coming from the academy, it was a fairly decent stopgap.
"As long as it doesn't interfere with my experiments, I don't have any major objections~"
After thinking it through carefully, Agnes Tachyon gave her answer.
Becoming Fujimura Hikaru's horse girl in name only would not cause her any real loss. On the contrary, she could use that status to avoid expulsion.
The only real issue was ensuring she showed up at least once a week…
And compared to being expelled and having her experiments delayed, that was a much easier inconvenience to accept.
Agnes Tachyon might be extreme, but she wasn't stupid.
"Though having to go up on that qualifying stage every week like some caged bird for others to watch… I can't exactly say that feels good~"
Agnes Tachyon hated that feeling of being put on display. It reminded her too much of animals in a zoo, observed at will by strangers.
"Teacher Fujimura's proposal is certainly interesting, but it's not as if I absolutely have to be under your name, you know? I may look like this, but you're hardly the only trainer who's approached me."
Yes—Agnes Tachyon's exceptionally outstanding speed had already drawn the attention of quite a few trainers.
In fact, if she were to simply let it be known that she wanted a trainer, a flood of them would come rushing in.
For most horse girls, they were the ones being chosen by trainers.
But in her case, she was the one choosing the trainer.
That was the difference in treatment talent brought.
A gifted horse girl naturally had more room to choose.
"But then again, affiliating myself with Teacher Fujimura's team isn't impossible either~"
Agnes Tachyon said this with a smiling face, and for a moment Fujimura Hikaru almost imagined the ponytail behind her as a fox's tail.
"I have one condition. If Teacher Fujimura agrees to it, then I wouldn't mind joining your team~"
"What condition?"
Fujimura Hikaru raised an eyebrow. He had a bad feeling about this.
"While you're serving as my trainer, I want you to cooperate with some of my experiments You know, it's not exactly easy to find someone at Tracen Academy willing to test medicine for me"
As she said this, Agnes Tachyon cast a glance toward Manhattan Cafe behind Fujimura Hikaru.
Manhattan Cafe shrank back under her gaze.
"…"
A thin sheen of sweat appeared on Fujimura Hikaru's forehead. Looking at the glowing green potion sitting on the table in front of Agnes Tachyon, his brow twitched.
Cooperate with her experiments…
Don't tell me that means I'm supposed to drink that stuff…?
Fujimura Hikaru suddenly felt that his days were numbered.
....
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