"What else then? Haha..." Hayato felt like an idiot. Why did he tell the truth? It made him look spineless and emotionally clueless. He quickly changed his tune. "After leaving Tracen for a while, I had time to think about a lot of things."
"I've already done so much to help you all become recognized. But deep down, I'm still afraid, afraid that one day you might lose and fail to live up to the promises you made.
So the only way I knew how to deal with that fear was to be kind, to give advice, to support the other uma musume as much as I could. But in the end, that very attitude started to become a burden to me.
That's why I ran away with Maruzensky yesterday. I needed a quiet place. I needed time to reset my emotions, to breathe, to let go of all that pressure."
Hayato took a sip of tea. "That's why I'm late to this conference! Sorry, King!"
When Hayato looked at King Halo and the others again, aside from Daiwa Scarlet, who hadn't debuted yet, and whose promise with him still remained unfulfilled, they all looked as if they were about to cry.
"Don't worry. I won't give up being your trainer because of this. You're my uma musume. So… can you trust me one more time?"
"I trust you." King Halo quickly responded.
"I trust you, too." Silence Suzuka looked at him without hesitation.
"Hmph, I'm not accepting it that easily. But if you dare run again without contact..." Daiwa Scarlet gave him a fierce look.
"Trainer, I'll remember what you said. I hope you keep your word. It'd be best if you showed it through actual actions." Seiun Sky stood beside him, her blue eyes flickering.
It seemed this runaway had indeed left a bad impression on their hearts.
Hayato didn't want to overthink it. He was definitely in the wrong here, but what's done was done. It couldn't be changed.
To recover her condition, King Halo chose to stay at Tokyo Racecourse. Seiun Sky stayed behind, too. Hayato went back to find Urara and Grass Wonder.
He wasn't too worried about Urara. It was mainly Grass Wonder. She seemed calm as still water on the surface, but her thoughts ran deep.
In terms of learning ability, she was definitely no worse than Daiwa Scarlet. In terms of intelligence, she wasn't inferior to Seiun Sky either. She was just too low-key.
Titles like "Maruzensky Reborn" and "Monster II" didn't come from nowhere.
(In the anime, Grass Wonder sought Maruzensky for advice, while in the game, many characters compare Grass Wonder to Maruzensky, which displeases Grass Wonder. This is based on the real-life belief that Grass Wonder was supposed to be "the second coming of Maruzensky" due to his strength.[1])
In the evening, Hayato found her in front of a flower shop near the school.
She noticed Hayato's arrival but didn't turn to look.
"Grass Wonder..."
Just as Hayato was about to speak, she smiled and said, "Trainer, what do you think of these chrysanthemums?"
Her eyes indicated a pot of beautiful purple asters. Delicate, numerous petals surrounded the center. Each flower was a landscape unto itself.
"Very beautiful."
"Hehe, I think so too. I didn't expect to find such beautiful flowers here." She seemed to have been observing that pot for a long time and was happy to have someone share her sentiment.
"You like flowers?"
"Yes, I'm quite knowledgeable about flowers." She glanced at Hayato, unsure whether he liked listening to her lengthy discussions, and chose her words carefully. "Taking root, sprouting, blooming, bearing fruit. That's their entire life."
"They only bloom with proper cultivation. That's their most beautiful period. Then they turn everything they have into nourishment to raise the next generation... Such beautiful flowers, willing to sacrifice themselves for the next generation..."
Hayato was also familiar with flowers, just not as thoroughly as her understanding.
"Every flower's life is brief. This spirit is truly worthy of praise."
"Yes." Grass Wonder grew more enthusiastic. "Trainer, don't you think flowers are like a girl in her wedding dress at her most beautiful moment?"
"Hmm, a bit. They are similar. Because after blooming comes pollination time. If you're not pretty enough, even the bees won't pay attention to you. Only successful pollination leads to fruit or seeds."
"Right, exactly like that."
For some reason, Hayato felt Grass Wonder's gaze held deeper meaning.
Just a flower... how did we end up talking about marriage?
"I'm planning to buy some aster seeds to plant and put them on the balcony of the trainer's office. What do you think, Trainer?"
"Yeah, planting chrysanthemums on the windowsill is said to repel mosquitoes. There really are quite a few mosquitoes in the trainer's office at night." Hayato agreed with Grass Wonder's suggestion without objection.
"Ha! So Trainer, you're admitting you have a habit of staying up late?"
"Not all the time..." Hayato spoke honestly, not planning to hide it. "During the day, I'm helping you all train. A lot of things can only be handled at night."
"I see... then, I'll... buy them. But I'll keep them in the dorm first. Once I cultivate them and they bloom, I'll move them to the trainer's office."
"Looking forward to your masterpiece."
"Yes!" Grass Wonder smiled with her eyes narrowed.
Wait, did you forget about what happened the other day?
Hayato really wanted to ask Grass Wonder how she knew I'd returned to Tracen? Did the old ski tell her? But Grass Wonder didn't seem to know about that.
"Actually, I never believed Trainer would leave us just because of that reason. That was just a joke, wasn't it?" She looked into Hayato's eyes with a smile.
Hayato felt a bit embarrassed and didn't dare look directly into her eyes. "You trust me that much? Why? I don't feel I deserve that much trust, though I'm grateful."
"Because Trainer isn't the kind of person who would abandon his uma musume out of selfishness, right?"
"I'm really... terrible! I'm an awful person, right? Always doing pointless things just because of fear." Hayato felt hurt by his own actions.
They trusted him so much, and he'd hurt their feelings.
"That's not true, Trainer." Seeing Hayato's self-reproachful expression, Grass Wonder quickly corrected him. "Being able to not abandon your uma musume goals and choosing to come back is the most wonderful thing."
Just like seeing through Hayato, her eyes narrowed into slits as she continued, "This is a big part of why I chose you, Trainer. You're a great trainer, close to perfect. Please don't blame yourself without reason."
"Close to perfect?" Hayato hadn't expected Grass Wonder to have such a high opinion of him. Wasn't that a bit exaggerated?
The more Grass Wonder said that, the more embarrassed he became and lowered his head. He bowed respectfully to Grass Wonder. "I'm very sorry. I was wrong before. I couldn't keep my promise to you and ran away instead without contact. Can you trust me one more time?"
"Hmm?" Grass Wonder frowned slightly and returned the smile. Even though she'd been studying Japanese culture all along, she didn't like this kind of formality now.
Were they back to square one? Wasn't this a bit too distant? Did even our feelings have to start over from scratch?