In April, Dyna always spent half the day at Tracen Academy, completing the training tasks Wada had assigned her.
Wada himself had long since taken Curren Cima to Takarazuka City. At the dirt training grounds there, he dragged other horse girls into side-by-side workouts with her every single day, and the results were visible to the naked eye.
The training room had become Opera O's personal kingdom. With no Wada around to keep her in line, her schedule over the past few days had become rather unhealthy, but at the very least, once Dyna arrived at the academy in the afternoon, she could still manage proper training instruction.
And after Dyna left in the evening, no one knew what time Opera O actually went to sleep. After all, staying up late was practically a horse girl's instinct—remove all restraints, and it came out very easily, even in the "Overlord."
Late in the morning, Opera O was still asleep on the floor mat in the training room when the phone by her pillow suddenly rang, jolting her awake. The moment she saw the caller ID, her drowsiness vanished.
"Moshi… Wada?"
Since it was not a video call, Opera O naturally did not bother fixing her disastrous bedhead. She merely got up, grabbed the cool boiled water sitting on the desk, and drank it in one gulp to soothe her dry throat.
"Good morning, Opera O. Has everything been going smoothly these past few days?" Over on his end, the training grounds were temporarily closed for maintenance, so he had an extra hour to spare. That was why he had decided to call and ask how things were going. Hearing her voice, he assumed she had been overworking herself and was worn out.
"Mm… more or less. Dyna trains harder than most academy horse girls. She's been following the plan you set quite smoothly, and I think she'll have no problem performing on the Tokyo course. I do happen to have won a Tokyo 2000-meter race before, after all."
The moment the subject came up, Opera O's voice filled with pride. As the first horse girl in history to achieve the Autumn Triple Crown and an undefeated five-G1 campaign in her older season, the experience she had accumulated was something perhaps only the Emperor could rival.
As for "Teio," Tokai Teio—whose child was that again?
Once he understood the situation, Wada finally relaxed. It seemed Opera O really did have what it took to become a trainer. Since everything was proceeding according to plan, then according to the schedule…
Wada looked at the delivery date the tailor had given him.
"Oh, right. They should be done with Dyna's race outfit today. At this point, she ought to start practicing running in it."
"Hm? Now that you mention it… yes, it is about time. I'll take her there myself today. Curren Cima's design turned out surprisingly good in the end."
Opera O had to admit that Curren Cima—who usually resembled an elderly woman in daily life—had displayed astonishing creativity in clothing design. It was the last thing she would have expected.
And since Opera O had been present during Dyna's outfit design discussions, she knew even better than anyone how… bold and provocative that race outfit actually was.
It also happened to demand a very particular body type.
"Mm, then I'll leave it to you. Ah… they're letting us onto the grounds now. I'll call you again when I have time. Bye."
"Mmm~"
Her reply came out sounding oddly like a mother seeing off her son. After hanging up, Opera O got out of bed, rolled up the mat, made herself a cup of instant noodles, washed up while waiting for it, and returned to full Overlord form.
After breakfast, she brushed her teeth, bagged up the trash, and left the training room, tossing it out along the way.
When Dyna was not around, Opera O was bored.
She had no idea what Admire Vega had been doing these past few days, but she had not come by once. The Overlord duo had not gathered together in quite a while.
"Well then, I suppose I'll go take a look at the shop."
With a light pat to the hem of her school uniform skirt, Opera O followed the whim.
"Thank you for your patronage Please come again"
The last customer left, and Dyna looked at the empty display shelves with deep satisfaction. Cleaning up the crumbs and washing all the trays afterward would be a bit of a hassle, of course, but as long as one worked with passion, there was no such thing as tiredness.
The one thing still troubling Dyna, though, was that the shop's reputation had already spread far and wide, while production capacity had failed to keep pace with its rapidly rising fame.
Every morning, as soon as they opened, crowds poured in like a tidal wave, only to leave in a rush once everything was sold out. Then came closing time.
"Should I open a chain store…?"
That question had been circling in Dyna's mind all while she and Gold Ship were cleaning the display shelves.
If she opened branches, that would inevitably mean a mountain of troublesome management issues. More importantly, the bread sold in her shop did not rely on any secret technique. The only special thing about it—if one insisted on naming something—was the passion put into making it.
But how many people in society, besides her current staff, would really possess something that vague and intangible?
If new employees treated this as nothing more than a job, the bread would lose that certain warmth and flavor. It was the difference between handmade craftsmanship and machinery.
Lost in thought, Dyna's hand slipped. The plate she was washing dropped toward the floor—only for Nagasakura to catch it cleanly before it hit the ground and set it back on the rack.
"Boss Lady, what are you thinking so hard about?"
"Huh? Miss Nagasakura… mm, I was just thinking about the chain store issue. Right now, our production simply can't support the name we've built… and with Kira's livestream promotions on top of that, it's gotten even worse…"
Dyna smiled helplessly. These days, the most urgent thing was fulfilling online orders. Every morning, several large boxes of bread left the shop—but even when Dyna went home and worked overtime for hours afterward, she still could not clear the backlog that piled up in a single day.
Fatigue was starting to accumulate, and it was beginning to show. Recently, she had been growing absent-minded even during work and training.
As an experienced pastry chef with plenty of life experience, Nagasakura immediately understood Dyna's predicament. The boss lady was one of the few people she had ever met who had entered the trade with genuine passion—and had never once let that passion burn out. So Nagasakura knew exactly what Dyna was afraid of.
She was afraid that if she opened branches, some irreversible mistake in management or operations would cause all her hard work to go to waste.
But that was not even the worst of it.
What she feared most was that the fans would lose faith in her "Wuyou" brand.
"Mm… in that case, Boss Lady, I recommend doing it!"
"Huh? But…" Dyna froze. She had never expected steady, reliable Nagasakura to be so supportive. After all, opening branches would mean that even if the stores were nominally under her control, how they actually ran would depend entirely on the shop managers and employees she hired.
Nagasakura smiled faintly.
"You need to have more faith in your own influence, Boss Lady. You're always so willing to believe in other people, but when it comes to yourself, you start hesitating. That's pretty strange, you know."
"Ugh… I…" Dyna fell silent. Nagasakura was absolutely right. Sometimes, she simply lacked the courage to bet on herself.
Knock knock.
"Ah, Miss Opera O. Good morning!"
Even though they were closed, someone had knocked at the door. Dyna turned and saw Opera O walking in.
For the moment, she set thoughts of chain stores aside. She quickly finished what was in her hands and sat down with Opera O. Gold Ship and Oguri Cap exchanged a glance, then silently went back to their own tasks.
As long as the people coming into the shop were not members of the Golden family, the boss lady was absolutely safe.
Well—Gold Ship did not count. Gold Ship was unquestionably pure-hearted and harmless.
Opera O immediately noticed the fatigue Dyna had failed to hide. Though she accepted the drink Dyna handed her, her gaze remained fixed on the younger girl.
"Dyna, have you been resting badly lately?"
"Huh? No, no, nothing like that… why are you asking all of a sudden, Miss Opera O?" Dyna denied it on the spot, patting her cheeks before gulping down her tea. The bitterness flooded her tongue, and she had to fight not to stick it out.
Opera O set the cup down and crossed her arms.
"If you're truly tired, then you can rest for a few days. We don't lack that much time. You've already done more than enough. Your biggest enemy in the Satsuki Sho is still Golden Giant, but since you've beaten her twice already, then surely you can grind her beneath your heel a third time."
Perhaps sensing that her phrasing was not quite right, Opera O pursed her lips and amended herself.
"Though… no, perhaps that's not right either. Strictly speaking, Golden Giant isn't really much of anything in terms of actual results. If I remember correctly, besides you, the favorite for the Satsuki Sho is Swiss Watch, winner of the Yayoi Sho."
At present, the only popularity voting underway was for the Oka Sho, and the top favorite there was Whaling Voyage—the girl who had beaten Golden Giant in the Fuyo Stakes. After the Fuyo Stakes, Whaling Voyage had gone on to run in three more graded races, winning one G3 and finishing second in a G1.
Compared to Golden Giant, the contrast was absolute.
More importantly, Whaling Voyage was also one of Trainer Ikezoe's horse girls.
After thinking it through, Opera O realized that Golden Giant had been kicked around by more than just Dyna since her debut. The fact that she still held a spot in the Satsuki Sho field was honestly rather… pitiful?
"Ahem. Miss Opera O… it's always best to prepare for the worst. Who knows? Maybe this race Golden Giant will suddenly awaken some mysterious power, start shouting things like friendship and bonds, and come charging up from behind…"
Dyna's impression of Golden Giant's Triple Crown run was still deeply engraved in her mind. She genuinely could not say whether, under these special circumstances, the Three Goddesses might hand out some bizarre buff.
Opera O nodded slightly.
"Fair enough… Though it's rare indeed for a horse girl to awaken aura or field abilities as early as the Satsuki Sho. More often, that sort of thing happens in the Japanese Derby—the race where girls burn everything they have, wagering their entire racing lives on a glory they can seize only once in a lifetime."
The memory was still vivid for Opera O.
Among all the races she had experienced, Admire Vega in the Japanese Derby had ignited a field so fierce that even Opera O herself could not stop it. That girl had burned her body to the limit just to cross the line first at Tokyo.
Dyna nodded. She knew the story between Opera O and those two, so she knew exactly whom Opera O meant.
That was why Dyna intended to prepare perfectly. She had to be ready in case some "power of bonds" nonsense suddenly blew up in her face.
Then again…
Golden Giant did not really have any bonds to speak of, did she?
"Oh, right. Are you free this afternoon? There's no training today. I'm taking you to pick up the outfit."
Opera O took out her phone and showed Dyna the message from the tailor. It contained the finalized design drawings. The tailor really had produced the garment with speed and quality—truly, only her design sense ever held her back.
"Huh? It's finished already? Then of course I have time~"
With no training scheduled, going out to try on clothes would practically count as rest for Dyna.
After getting her answer, Opera O replied to the tailor. A few minutes later, the response came back.
Just in time—another client is coming too. Once I finish both of you off, I'm basically closing shop for the year.
After all, the busiest period for custom race outfits was the first four months of the year. Beyond that, the requests came only in scattered drips.
At noon, Opera O naturally stayed at the shop and shamelessly mooched a meal, then took Dyna with her to the Tracen Academy logistics department.
Though "logistics department" was something of a misnomer. It would have been more accurate to call it the tailoring department. The school's blacksmithing and other support functions already had dedicated horse girl courses under academy logistics, and horse girls with their own support teams rarely came here.
"Ah… I think her room should be around here somewhere…"
Even with the map in hand, Opera O was a little dizzy. Such was the fate of obscure tailors—when you actually needed them, finding them took forever.
After wandering around for quite some time, they finally arrived at the right door. Opera O knocked, with Dyna standing just behind her.
"Oh, finally. Miss Opera O and Miss Dyna, correct?"
Dyna looked toward the tailor's side, but with the light behind her, she could not make out the face at all.
"Perfect timing. Miss Golden Giant is here too. Did you arrange to come together?"
The tailor muttered this as she pushed a paper bag toward Dyna.
The moment she heard the keyword, Dyna froze on the spot.
"?"
That was the entirety of Dyna's inner state as she clutched the paper bag holding her race outfit. Still, she gathered her courage and walked toward the changing booth on the other side.
The tailor glanced down, settled the bill, and looked at Opera O.
"It seems her relationship with Golden Giant is pretty bad. Just hearing the name nearly made her fur stand up."
"Ah… let's just say it's extremely bad."
The horse girl who stepped out from the darkness was Dream Journey. She had accompanied Golden Giant here. The room had been so dark, and Dream Journey so short, that Opera O had not noticed her at all.
"Wow, so it really is a case of racecourse enemies. Ah, now I remember—Golden Giant was the one who fouled someone on debut, and then got kicked aside by Dyna in the Spring Stakes. Look at my memory. I've been making clothes for so long my brain's gone dull."
The tailor's casual remark struck directly at the Golden family, and Dream Journey's lips twitched.
But she had no rebuttal to facts.
Golden Giant's bad reputation was known to all. Her record of misdeeds was no secret.
Dream Journey was helpless.
It was not as though she could dump the tailor into Tokyo Bay over one sentence.
"So then," Dream Journey said, changing the subject, "what kind of design did Miss Dyna's race outfit end up with?"
"Ah… that." Opera O rubbed her chin. "I suppose you could call it understated."
Though once she remembered the little "window" Curren Cima had opened in the design across Dyna's chest, even understated no longer felt like the right word.
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 132)
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 (Chapter140)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter95)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter165)
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 145
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 135
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 95
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 155
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 125
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 105
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 62
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 80
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 80
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 62
Uma Musume: I Want All 65
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
Summoning an Evil God, but the 41
Supernatural Multiverse 45
My Harem Is Indescribable 35
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 46
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 26
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 36
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin