At last, Glory Dyna completed the hardest part of her swimming training.
There had been plenty of near-drownings along the way, of course, but Opera O and Van Gogh had hauled her out of the sea every single time. After being tempered by the waves themselves, Dyna's heart and lungs were now more than capable of handling the 3000 meters of the Kikuka Sho. If she really thought about it, she could probably even manage next year's Tenno Sho (Spring).
But "long-distance specialist" had already been firmly crossed out in Dyna's notebook.
"Your turnaround swim met the target time. That means every goal we set for this summer camp is now complete. We achieved what we came here for. Very nice."
Wada stopped the timer the moment Dyna's feet hit the sand, and he looked more than satisfied with the result. There were still a few days left before the end of August, and their scheduled flight would not leave for another three days, so the remaining time effectively became a holiday for the horse girls.
Wada, however, could not relax.
After summer camp, Noble Lady's debut race was right around the corner. For any horse girl, aside from standing on a G1 stage, one of the most important moments in her racing life was her very first new filly race.
So while he adjusted himself back to the time zone in advance, he was also busily preparing for Noble Lady's debut.
As for what the other girls under his watch were doing… naturally, he had no energy left to care.
"Woooow."
Van Gogh, as always, was stuck right by Dyna's side. This time, though, her amazement came from the clearly defined abs that had appeared on Dyna's stomach.
She remembered perfectly well that when they had first met, Dyna's belly had been all soft, squishy flesh with no real shape to it.
"Dyna, Dyna Let me touch it, just once It looks all hard now, doesn't it?"
Van Gogh reached out at once, only for Dyna to catch her by the wrist.
After a whole month, Dyna had already learned that Van Gogh's behavior could exceed all normal expectations, so whenever Van Gogh was nearby, part of her attention had to remain fixed on her.
Still, this time she relented.
"You're only allowed to touch it a little, okay? If you start groping around, I'll make you regret it."
The threat sounded severe, but Van Gogh understood exactly what it meant. Much as she wanted to slide from Dyna's stomach up to her chest, or maybe very accidentally brush against that soft, jiggly mound, she managed to hold herself back.
The moment she touched what she had been dreaming of, Van Gogh let out a completely un-noble little giggle. Under her fingertips, Dyna's abdomen felt firm at first, but if she pressed a little harder, it would give slightly.
Meanwhile, Dyna had already raised her phone again. Since she trusted that Van Gogh would not do anything too outrageous, her attention shifted back to the news article on the screen.
"Trainer Iketoe and Orfevre announce they will target the Kikuka Sho trial race, the Kobe Shimbun Hai."
"Hm. So Orfevre still hasn't given up? I thought she'd switch over to the Autumn Tenno Sho instead…" Dyna muttered. "Still, if she wants to keep coming after me in the Kikuka Sho, I'm more than willing to oblige."
Van Gogh, who had been in absolute bliss touching Dyna's stomach, froze at once when she heard that name.
She had heard the name Orfevre more than once already. Dyna had mentioned her before. Trophée had explained things too. Van Gogh had even gone to Opera O specifically to ask about her.
If she remembered correctly, this was the extremely nasty horse girl who had elbowed Dyna in her debut race and never even apologized for it.
How awful.
Van Gogh decided she would glare very hard.
"Dyna, Dyna, this Orfevre you're talking about… she's that really annoying horse girl, right? The arrogant, overgrown kind who has no idea where her limits are?"
Van Gogh pulled out every insulting phrase she could think of, though in truth none of them seemed vicious enough.
Dyna lowered her phone, surprise showing on her face. "Huh? Little Van, how do you know that? You've never met her, have you?"
Van Gogh proudly tapped her temple. "Heh-heh, because I've heard her name way too many times already. You told me. Trophée told me. I even asked Miss Opera O. Put all that information together, and the image of that big golden demon practically formed itself in my head."
Dyna pressed a fingertip to her lips and laughed softly. "All right, all right. 'Big golden demon' actually suits her pretty well. But I've already beaten all the spirit out of her. The Spring Stakes, the Satsuki Sho, the Japanese Derby… if she wants to run in the Kikuka Sho too, then maybe she's just aiming for the glory of three straight second-place finishes?"
"Pff—"
Van Gogh burst out laughing.
Most people saw three straight victories as glory. Hearing Dyna calmly frame three straight runner-up finishes as some kind of honor for Orfevre was just too funny.
Of course, Van Gogh herself could not win the same race three times in a row, but she could keep a lifelong undefeated streak going until retirement.
If she and Glory Dyna ever truly met on the track, then carrying the honor of being a noble lady and Qatari royalty, she would absolutely make Dyna taste defeat.
There could only be one winner in a race. Dead heats were vanishingly rare. And if a dead heat happened, then as far as Van Gogh was concerned, that meant she had lost.
"Well then, I'll be looking forward to the Kikuka Sho Even if the time difference is annoying, it won't matter if it's for Dyna's sake If I happen to be free by then, I might even go watch in person, you know?"
Van Gogh really did want to be there when Dyna completed the Japanese undefeated Triple Crown. The problem was that she still had no idea which race her deadweight trainer would send her to next, so everything remained uncertain.
That said, if it came down to it, Van Gogh could always spend a little money and arrange a surprise in Japan. Her family in Qatar had a decent relationship with the JRA, after all, and that opened up all kinds of possibilities.
Of course, the only reason she had access to connections like that in the first place was because of her own talent and achievements.
The last few days in England passed in complete freedom for the horse girls. Without the crushing weight of training or Wada's supervision, even staying up late and not getting enough sleep could be forgiven.
At the airport, Van Gogh once again arranged a private route for them.
Before they parted, Dyna gave both Van Gogh and Trophée a farewell cheek-kiss. Trophée reacted normally enough, but Van Gogh's face instantly went as red as an apple.
So that was it—she was one of those high-attack, low-defense types. In that case, handling her in the future might actually be easier than expected.
"Well then~ See you next year, all right? Either on a racetrack in Britain, or somewhere else. Next time we meet, we might be fighting each other for the title."
The way Dyna phrased her goodbye to Van Gogh was special. She was already looking ahead to the duel that might come next year.
Van Gogh, naturally, would never back down from that.
"I, Lady Van Gogh, swear it! If we ever meet on the racetrack, I'll fight you with every ounce of strength I have! There can only be one strongest horse girl in this world, and I will never share that position with you!"
That was how youth and passion ought to sound. Even after boarding the plane, Dyna still found herself quietly pleased.
But once the excitement faded, the fatigue hit all at once.
By the time the plane took off, Dyna and the others were asleep so completely that only Wada remained awake. The rest of them slept through the entire flight and only woke when a flight attendant came to tell them they would soon be landing at Narita Airport.
They disembarked, left the airport, and piled into a taxi Wada had called.
Only when Dyna finally stood in front of her little shop—her home, a place she had not seen for nearly three months—did that odd, drifting feeling inside her finally begin to fade.
"Ahh… I'm finally home. Funny, I don't feel sleepy at all…"
It was already close to midnight. Dyna opened the shop door and dragged her luggage upstairs to her bedroom. Even after three months without her personally taking care of the place, everything was spotless, and the warm smell of baked bread still lingered downstairs.
Well, of course. Her employees had been working the whole time. As long as the pay was good enough, they would absolutely perform at their best.
Without even unpacking, Dyna flopped onto her bed face-first, burying her cheek in the soft, fluffy quilt. It still carried a faint sun-dried scent.
She had told Oguri Cap in advance that she would be coming back, and asked her to air out all the bedding thoroughly in the sun. It had probably only been brought in that afternoon.
So comfortable.
She had just been thinking that she wasn't sleepy at all, but wrapped in the softness of her own bed, with her clothes still on and the blanket not even pulled over herself, Dyna fell asleep again almost instantly.
The next time sunlight woke her, it was already ten in the morning.
"Mmh… I said I wasn't going to sleep, and yet I fixed my jet lag in one night. No matter what, my own little nest is still the most comfortable place in the world~!"
She got up, stretched, and went to wash up. Feeling lazy, she did not bother changing clothes. She even put on a little makeup in front of the mirror for once.
Her complexion looked poor, and she needed to cover that a bit.
When she came downstairs, she found Oguri Cap sitting at the front playing on her phone as usual, along with the newer employees.
"Morning, everyone~ Busy as ever, huh?" Dyna greeted them, then could not help letting out a tiny yawn. From everyone else's perspective, though, it only made her look ridiculously cute.
Oguri Cap set down her phone. "Boss, long time no see. How was England?"
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Dyna's cheeks seemed thinner than before.
Oguri had long heard that Europe served pitifully small portions. Did that mean it was actually true? Had the boss failed to get enough food over there and ended up losing weight?
Then what had the whole summer camp been for? That was practically horse-girl abuse—making someone train without even feeding her enough…
"It was great, honestly. The only part I couldn't get used to was being by the sea. The humidity was awful. Every day after training, I felt like I'd been marinated in salt all day. Other than that, it was fine. They had a professional chef team, so the food was excellent too."
Three months away had left Dyna a little rusty, but watching how skillfully the employees coordinated with each other, she had a sudden thought:
Could she just become a hands-off owner now?
There really was no need for her to personally make everything anymore. She could sit on the sofa every day and just serve as the shop mascot.
"If the food was good, why do I feel like you got thinner anyway…?" Oguri asked.
"Hm? Ah, that. Training, of course. I ate a lot, sure, but the training intensity matched it. I may look slimmer, but my strength actually went up, you know?"
Oguri was skeptical, but then again, she herself could eat endlessly without gaining any weight at all. Maybe Dyna losing a lot of weight while gaining strength was not that hard to believe.
So she decided not to dwell on it, and instead started reporting all the little things that had happened over the past few months.
The serious matters, like the weekly financial reports that had already been sent to Dyna, did not need to be repeated. So the conversation turned naturally toward the more trivial day-to-day matters, which made it far more enjoyable.
"Oh, right, Boss. The branch in Takarazuka City is doing really well under Sakura's management. On race days at Hanshin Racecourse, it gets fully booked every single day. She's in the kitchen from morning to night as the manager."
Dyna nodded. "Then I guess it's time to start thinking about opening more branches We should look for people better suited to being store managers, then promote Sakura into a regional manager role to oversee the chain… and then keep expanding Spread everywhere?"
Oguri Cap had come here specifically to enjoy life. Even if Dyna offered her some grand position, she would never accept it. For Oguri, sitting here every day collecting money, playing on her phone, and receiving boss-made sweets was already the ideal life.
On top of that, she got to bring desserts home to Super Creek and Kitahara every day.
Absolute bliss.
After all, just her prize money and merchandise revenue alone were enough to let her laze around for ten lifetimes.
"I think you can do it," Oguri said. "As your fame keeps growing, more and more fans are going to be interested in your stores. If you don't expand, sooner or later this entire shopping street is going to end up overflowing."
After spending enough time around Dyna, even Oguri's intelligence had started rising. The once spacey horse girl had become the kind of good student who now scored in the 80s on exams.
"Mm-hm Then I'll think about it after the Kikuka Sho." Dyna clapped her hands and drew everyone's attention. "Everyone What do you want for lunch today? I'm cooking myself. Just tell me how much you want—there'll be enough for everyone."
Oguri Cap's eyes lit up. "Sukiyaki! Enough to make me full!"
With Oguri taking the lead, the now-comfortable employees all began chiming in one after another with the dishes they wanted.
Dyna wrote everything down, then headed out to buy groceries. Though, with that many elaborate dishes requested, "lunch" would probably end up being served in the afternoon.
Still, for the employees, good food was worth waiting for.
By night, the store had gone quiet again.
As Dyna rinsed plates in the sink, she could not help laughing when she remembered the way Sakura had practically drooled earlier. But really, Sakura was probably the one working hardest of all. Managing one store while also compiling financial reports for both branches every day and packaging them for submission… according to her, she had been staying up until well past midnight every night.
"I really need to find Sakura an assistant soon, or she's going to collapse."
She stacked the clean plates into the cupboard, dried her hands, and returned to her bedroom. Then she opened her laptop and logged onto Tracen Academy's public forum.
Since she had no access to the academy intranet, this was the only way for her to check on horse girls she was interested in.
And there was really only one person she was checking on.
Orfevre.
As Dyna expected, Orfevre would be running in the Kobe Shimbun Hai. Thanks to her runner-up finishes in the Satsuki Sho and Derby, she had the right to go straight to the Kikuka Sho if she wanted.
But she had still chosen the Kobe Shimbun Hai.
"Hm. If nothing unexpected happens, Orfevre will probably win this one. Her top win will go from a mere maiden to the Kobe Shimbun Hai. But…"
Dyna thought of the nickname-hat Orfevre would probably end up wearing for who knew how long, and a quiet laugh spilled from her lips.
"How long that Kobe Shimbun Hai hat is going to stay on your head… that's another story entirely."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 150)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter190)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter225)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 195
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 225
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 210
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 100
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 75
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 71
Checking In in Demon Slayer 75
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 35
The Uma Musume Who Became 30
I'm Definitely Not the King of 25
After Maxing Out Every Class 25
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin