Once he had been pulled out of the crush of people, Shinji looked back and realized just how many had gathered around the fireworks festival. Compared to the scale of the event itself, attendance had probably already exceeded what the organizers had expected.
It still wasn't anything like the mountain of spectators at the racecourse, but just remembering that shoulder-to-shoulder chaos made him feel lucky. The horse girl beside him hadn't just stopped Sansho Drum—she had also kindly dragged him clear of the crowd.
The only headache left was finding his three trainees.
After a moment's thought, Shinji decided the best option was simply to wait here until the fireworks ended. The three of them would naturally come looking for him then. If he started wandering around instead, they might just miss each other and make things worse.
Only then did he turn his attention to the girl beside him.
The instant he had caught sight of her profile back there, he had been surprised. And now he more or less understood why Sansho Drum had looked the way she did.
After all, both vice presidents of the Student Council had appeared at his side now.
How could Sansho Drum not feel the gap between then and now?
"Are you okay?"
Seeing him just staring at her face, Air Groove's earlobes flushed faintly red. She turned her face away.
"What are you looking at?"
"I'm just surprised you came to see the fireworks too," Shinji said honestly. "And surprised you stepped in to help."
He wasn't about to deny what she had done just because they had clashed before, or because he had never liked her cold, cutting attitude.
"Thanks," he said sincerely. "For earlier."
"It was nothing…"
Air Groove's expression turned a little awkward. The two of them had been on opposite sides for so long that talking to each other politely like this felt strange even to her. To Shinji, too, it felt oddly unfamiliar.
"You're Brian's trainer now, after all."
In the end, she pinned the credit on Narita Brian, then gave a small, satisfied nod before casually sitting down in an open patch nearby.
The night breeze lifted her short hair, revealing the delicate curve of her profile.
If not for that perpetually haughty attitude, and the sharpness she always wore on the surface, Air Groove really was beautiful. That was one reason she had so many fans.
Shinji looked at her, sitting there quietly and watching the fireworks. Even though no emotion showed openly in those eyes, he could still read a trace of melancholy in them.
"So why are you here by yourself?"
After a long silence, Air Groove finally broke it. The tips of her ears were still red. She shot him an irritated glare. He had been staring at her with that calm, assessing look for quite a while now, and it had left her both self-conscious and strangely unable to get angry.
There had been no hidden intent in his gaze at all. He had simply been looking at her, as though thinking about something.
"I came with them," Shinji replied. "We just got separated."
Air Groove realized she had never really noticed this side of him before.
In her mind, Teraizumi Shinji had always been a petty man who never let slights go, a hot-blooded schemer good at stirring people's emotions.
"You happened to run into her just now…"
"I got unlucky. That's all."
The offhand way he said it made Air Groove snort with laughter before she could stop herself. He hadn't even been trying to be funny, but for some reason that made it even funnier.
"And you?"
Shinji tilted his head slightly, then sat down a few body lengths away from her.
He wasn't Seiun Sky. There was no way he was going to stand around like an idiot forever.
"My mood's not great," Air Groove said. "So I came out to clear my head."
He hadn't misread her. Her mood really was awful. The sadness he had sensed in her hadn't been his imagination.
His gaze drifted to her legs.
They were straight and powerfully shaped. She wasn't delicate in build, but there was still a clean, elegant beauty to them.
The only flaw was the few medicated patches stuck to them.
Air Groove glared daggers at him, but Shinji ignored it perfectly. He only studied where the patches were placed, and roughly understood her condition.
Not optimistic. But not catastrophic either.
"We saw what happened with you and her," Air Groove said suddenly.
Once again, she was the one to break the silence.
Shinji had begun to notice something interesting about her. For all her composure, Air Groove wasn't actually someone who could sit with silence forever. If the air stayed quiet too long, she would always find some topic to fill it.
"And?" he asked.
"It looked to me like she still likes you a lot. Depends on you a lot."
"And that's exactly why we ended up on opposite sides."
He said it bluntly.
Air Groove glanced at him sideways. No matter how many times she dealt with him, she still found it absurd how directly he could say things that should have made both sides uncomfortable.
But after a moment, she realized that by saying it so plainly, he had actually made it easier for both of them to relax.
Her body, tense without her noticing, softened a little. A ripple passed through her gaze.
"What exactly happened back then?" she asked quietly. "From what we understood, she wanted to challenge the G1 stage, but you couldn't give her what she needed."
"Couldn't give her what she needed…"
A mocking smile appeared at the corner of Shinji's lips.
"If I couldn't, then I couldn't," he said. "But if that's true, then she still hasn't gotten it even now, has she?"
Air Groove fell silent.
He wasn't wrong.
Since that Autumn Tenno Sho, Sansho Drum hadn't even entered another G1. She had clearly understood the gap between herself and the truly top-level girls. She simply wasn't qualified to step back onto that stage yet.
And the cruel truth was that the one person who might actually have been able to give her what she wanted was the trainer she had chosen to abandon at the very start.
"You shouldn't have taken on only one trainee back then," Air Groove said at last, speaking with the tone of someone looking back on the past. "You entered Central Tracen as a trainer with outstanding exam results. You should've made full use of that chance. As the top rookie of your class, there would have been plenty of horse girls willing to choose you."
Shinji just shook his head.
Air Groove would never understand what he had been like back then. He knew that, so there was no point explaining further.
"Forget me," he said. "What about you? Are you still planning to keep racing in the Twinkle Series next year?"
"Keep racing for what?" Air Groove replied. "So I can be used as a stepping stone by the new generation?"
She gave a bitter smile.
"After I took that extra blessing before the Japan Cup, I already understood. It's impossible now."
"The farewell I already gave to my fans… I should at least let it mean something."
There was a softness in her eyes.
Shinji found himself thinking that if Air Groove had always spoken to him like this from the start, maybe they never would have ended up at odds at all. So many of the conflicts between them might never have happened.
"Do you think Offside Trap's overseas campaign next year will work?" Air Groove asked.
Shinji simply nodded.
His confidence was obvious. He didn't need to say anything more.
A hint of anticipation entered Air Groove's smile.
"That's good," she murmured. "I hope I get to see you two standing at the top of the world."
She paused, then added, "Back then, we thought we saw that hope in Suzuka. But now… it seems we found someone even better."
She gave a dry laugh, studying his face closely, but failed to find the slightest change in his expression.
"How foolish we were," she said softly.
Shinji didn't answer.
He understood what she was doing. She was explaining herself. But he had no intention of taking that hand.
Some things, once they happened, were not so easy to brush aside. Just like the hand Rudolf had offered him after the Arima Kinen.
Seeing that silence on his face, Air Groove only smiled, almost casually, and rose to her feet.
In the distance, the fireworks festival was finally nearing its end.
"Looks like I really am falling behind the times…" she said. "The next time we meet on a stage, it'll probably be the Dream Cup League."
At that moment, a familiar system chime rang in his head.
[Negative Emotion +50]
Shinji turned his head sharply.
There, standing not far away, were his three trainees.
All three of them looked like they had seen a ghost.
Everyone in the academy knew he and Air Groove couldn't stand each other. No one would ever have expected to find the two of them sitting together, actually talking.
"So they found you," Air Groove said. "Then I can head out without worrying."
For the first time, Shinji answered her immediately, though not to that remark.
"I hope you'll be much stronger next time," he said. "See you again at the Dream Cup League."
Air Groove froze for a moment.
Then a helpless smile spread across her face.
This man, and his trainees too…
They really only cared about races and results, didn't they?
Her gaze blurred for an instant, but somehow she found that not so bad.
At least next year, she could watch their races from home without any reservations.
She felt lighter just thinking about it.
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 139)
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 (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
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 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
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 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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