After breakfast, the table was filled with laughter, the mood as warm and easy as spring sunlight.
As they chatted, Almond Eye suddenly remembered something. She sprang to her feet and blurted out excitedly, "Oh, right, right—Kita-senpai, and Trainer!"
"My mom and dad want to invite you to dinner, Trainer! They also want to talk with you about signing an agreement!"
By the time she got to that part, her face was already glowing with barely contained delight.
"And also, the entrance exam for Tracen Academy hasn't started yet, but I'm super confident. I know I'll pass!"
"That means in two more months, I'll be a student at Tracen Academy. I'll really be Kita-senpai's kouhai then!"
A flicker of surprise passed through Yasui Makoto's eyes, and the corners of his mouth rose before he noticed.
He knew perfectly well that, sudden as it sounded, this invitation was only natural.
He had expected as much already. After all, now that Kitasan Black had achieved one brilliant result after another under his guidance, his reputation had begun to spread. It was only normal for Almond Eye's parents to change their minds.
At the same time, he ran through the timeline in his head. Almond Eye's debut year happened to be the same year Kitasan Black retired.
So if she enrolled a year early and trained in advance, the timing lined up exactly.
After a moment's thought, he gave a small nod and replied,
"No problem. I'm looking forward to meeting your parents as well. When were they thinking...?"
Seeing him agree so readily, Almond Eye beamed at once and answered, "That can depend on your schedule, Trainer. Mom and Dad know you're injured too, so they specifically told me to pass along that they want you to focus on recovering first. There's no rush on their side."
Across from them, Kitasan Black was smiling too.
Somewhere along the way, while the two of them had been making breakfast together, those strange, tangled little feelings she'd had had quietly disappeared without a trace.
Realizing that, she could not help laughing at herself inside.
Why had she thought like that? Why had she felt so miserable?
Training together with little Almond Eye was something she had always looked forward to.
And with a Trainer as outstanding and capable as him, how could he possibly end up neglecting either of them? There was no way he would fail to take care of both her and Almond Eye.
With that thought in mind, and seeing how thrilled Almond Eye looked, she reached out with a smile and patted her on the head.
"Then you'd better study hard and pass the exam, little Almond."
"If you do, we can train together at the academy and hang out together too.
"I really can't wait for that day to come."
Almond Eye had been smiling too, but the moment she heard that, her expression turned aggrieved for a second, and she muttered in dissatisfaction, "I told you already, senpai, don't call me little Almond. I'm really not little anymore..."
"Uh... it's just that the Almond-chan in my memory is still this tiny..."
"But, but... then tell me, senpai—what exactly about me is little now?"
"Uh, I mean, you're not little, so I said in my memory..."
"Then stop calling me little Almond!"
"Uh... o-okay, little Almond..."
"Senpai, why are you calling me that again?!"
Probably because she cared a lot about how much she had changed before and after coming into full form, Almond Eye puffed out her cheeks and immediately refused to let the visibly awkward Kitasan Black off the hook.
Watching the scene, Yasui Makoto had just been thinking how funny and heartwarming it was when he suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
He took it out and glanced at the screen. His eyes shifted slightly, and he rose to his feet.
He had meant to say something to the two Umamusume, but seeing that they were still tangled up in their "little or not little" argument, he smiled soundlessly and headed into the bedroom on his own.
He closed the door behind him. Just as he was about to answer the call, it ended, and a message came through instead.
[Tokai Teio]:How are your injuries, Yasui? Call me back when it's convenient. Video call if possible.
After thinking it over, Yasui Makoto called back with a video call.
The connection went through quickly, and Tokai Teio's face appeared on the screen.
And not just hers. Mejiro McQueen, Deep Impact, and Orfevre were there beside her as well.
...That was quite a lineup. What exactly was this about...?
Yasui Makoto could not help staring in surprise.
Before he had time to react, Tokai Teio, looking full of concern, spoke first from the screen.
"Yasui, how are your injuries? Are you feeling okay?"
Her eyes were full of worry as she asked, even her high ponytail swaying with the movement, making her concern all the more obvious.
Warmth stirred in his chest, and Yasui Makoto answered with a smile, "The examination results say it's nothing serious. As long as I rest properly, I'll recover. And with Kita taking care of me, she's handled all three meals from yesterday through today, so I think I'm doing fine."
Relief appeared on Tokai Teio's face, and she nodded.
"That I know. I personally approved Kita's leave slip, and I told her to take good care of you."
"With her there, it really does put people at ease."
But after saying that, she abruptly changed tack, and her expression turned serious.
"Even if it's not really a good time to bother you... there's something important we really need to discuss with you."
By now, Yasui Makoto already had a guess.
Tokai Teio and the others all knew about his injury. For the last two days, they had deliberately avoided disturbing him while he was getting checked and recovering, and they had even helped turn down all sorts of miscellaneous obligations like interviews and banquets.
Under those circumstances, for them to call him on video now—and even gather everyone in the student council with real decision-making authority—meant it had to be something major.
And when he connected that with the matters Deep Impact and Orfevre each oversaw, he began to see the direction this was heading.
Sure enough, Tokai Teio went on to say, "Yasui, have you given any thought to an overseas campaign?"
At the words "overseas campaign," Yasui Makoto nodded in understanding, then frowned without meaning to.
It was not as though he had never thought about racing overseas. Nor had he failed to consider that Tokai Teio—or rather, the academy and the Association—might eventually bring it up to him.
Japan's Twinkle Series had gotten its start rather late. Compared with Britain, for example, where organized racing first took shape, it was more than a century behind.
Because of that, the race structure here, the training philosophy, and even the commercial side of the industry had all basically been designed with reference to places overseas where the sport had already fully matured.
And beyond that, this kind of borrowing had also fostered a certain admiration throughout the industry, both spoken and unspoken: admiration for overseas races, and for overseas Umamusume.
Put simply, achieving success in Japan's Twinkle Series was certainly enough to call an Umamusume strong.
But if one truly wanted an evaluation no one could dispute, then she had to compete overseas—in Europe, America, and elsewhere—defeat the Umamusume there, and win an international G1.
That admiration had not come from nowhere. The weight the industry placed on overseas Umamusume had left its own clear traces.
The Japan Cup was the earliest G1 to open itself to the international stage, and once overseas Umamusume began taking part, not a single winner in its first several runnings was Japanese.
Not just the winner—at the time, Japanese Umamusume could not even finish near the top.
That remained the case until the emergence of Katsuragi Ace and Symboli Rudolf. And after those two, the Japan Cup once again fell under the domination of overseas Umamusume.
That was why, for a time, "the winner of the Japan Cup won't be Japanese" had practically been treated as common sense.