In the end, Shin didn’t press his forehead against hers.
After all, it was too intimate.
Across two lifetimes, only his mother and the orphanage director had ever done that to him.
Doing it to a girl he’d barely known for a day was completely inappropriate.
So he just patted the top of Teio’s head.
Teio felt a tiny pang of disappointment, but she didn’t say anything.
She suppressed her petty feelings, didn’t force him to do it, and quietly rested her head against his warm palm.
After a moment, Shin pulled his hand back.
Looking at her still somewhat youthful face, he couldn’t help but think: Head pats seem pretty intimate too.
If not for the Umamusume instructor in class saying, “To build a relationship with your trainee from scratch, try head pats or treating them to a meal,” I never would’ve felt comfortable doing it.
Snapping back to reality, he looked curiously at the refreshed Teio.
“By the way, why did you want me to touch your forehead again?”
Teio’s face stiffened for a second, then she straightened her expression.
“I felt like your body temperature was a bit high.
I wanted to check again.”
“Wouldn’t using your hand work?”
“Let me try.”
Teio immediately raised her right hand.
After her knuckles touched his forehead for a moment, she said seriously, “Your temperature seems off.
Crouch down, let me check more carefully.”
Shin looked at her, speechless, and gently lowered her hand still resting on his forehead.
“No need.
I’m perfectly fine.”
He didn’t know what she was aiming for, but he didn’t want to push it.
Her expression had shifted when he asked, like she was hiding something.
So it was best to leave it.
But there was one more thing to ask.
“Why were you shaking so hard earlier, but now you’re fine?” Shin asked, looking her up and down with the extra layer he’d put on her.
“I was sitting alone in the back row and got chilled by the wind.
I’m fine now.”
After answering, Teio immediately took off the jacket.
She held the pale yellow casual shirt with the Mount Fuji pattern and pressed it into Shin’s hands.
“Even though you say you’re fine, you should wear this.
It’s October, and the weather’s getting cold.”
With that, Teio turned and trotted off onto the turf, not giving him a chance to hand it back.
Shin looked down at the shirt, shook his head, stuffed it back into his bag, and followed Teio down from the stands.
Yesterday, he’d accepted her shirt only because his uniform was covered in mud, and it was better to meet people in clean clothes.
Now that his clothes were clean and intact, why would he need to wear hers?
He definitely didn’t have a habit of wearing girls’ clothes.
Even though this one was unisex.
While walking toward the track, Shin opened the system to check the support card reward that had popped up after completing the quest.
He clicked claim.
Seeing he could choose the card’s stat type, he immediately picked Speed.
Screw whether the system’s copied event had patches or not.
In campus run mode, I’m not familiar with those universal stat builds.
Betting on Speed cards with multi-stat distributions is still king.
On the card art, Urara stood panting after crossing the finish line, hands on her knees, too exhausted to even smile, reaching her arms out to the crowd.
Behind her, Tamamo Cross and Oguri Cap were shaking hands, their eyes meeting with sparks flying.
In the distant stands, everyone’s gaze was fixed on the two red-and-gray legends.
Even Tokai Teio was looking their way.
[Strive, Advance!] [Source: Urara] [Stat: Speed] [Skill 1 – Learn, Strive!: Training effects receive an extra boost.] [Skill 2 – Butterfly Grace: Running on turf becomes as light as a butterfly.] [Note: I want to win.
If I win, my Trainer and everyone else will definitely be happy, right!]
Seeing Skill 1, Shin immediately switched to the training interface to check how much the extra boost actually was.
He calculated it quickly.
The boost was about fifty percent higher than the non-campus run mode.
Great, great, great.
The cheat was only getting bigger.
Shin smiled and kept looking at Urara’s card.
He was a bit surprised that Skill 2 just recycled the turf running technique she’d just learned.
The system was really cutting corners.
And these notes…
Why did everyone else’s cards just have their inner thoughts, while mine was a whole poem?
It felt like whoever wrote it was subtly calling me depressed.
Isn’t it a modern trend for young people to act old and old people to act young?
Look at Musaka and his nephew.
I’m young and ambitious.
My sights are set on the Arima Kinen and an undefeated Triple Crown, not the Tokai Derby or the Akan Lake Special.
Once I make enough money, I’m heading home to build a ranch and become a rich man.
Shin smiled, closed the system screen, walked over to Urara and the others, and pulled out two stacks of paper from his bag, handing one to each.
“These are your training plans.
Urara, you need to build the stamina and speed for long-distance front-running within these three months.
Teio, you’ll adjust your training intensity based on your physical condition.
I’ll help you arrange that.
Then, early next month, you’ll run your debut race.
After that, I’ll see if we can go straight to the Hopeful Stakes.
If not, we’ll run some OP or G3 races to build up first.”
Hearing him casually mention running majors, even G1 majors, in the future, Teio was too shocked to even look at the training plan.
“I’m running a G1?!”
“What else?” Shin looked at her, confused.
Not to mention that in the game, he only ran G1s anyway.
In reality, riding White Lily, he easily won majors below G1.
Only G1s posed a real challenge.
Before transmigrating, his record was locked at 7 races: 1 win, 3 seconds, 2 thirds, with the last one finishing in the top 5.
Now, with the system, he didn’t need to worry about Teio’s legs.
It would be weird if he didn’t aim for G1s.
Teio stared at him blankly, momentarily speechless.
Her original goal was just to win her debut race.
Now, skipping that step and jumping straight to winning a G1…
Could she really do it?
Seeing her doubt, Shin immediately gave a thumbs up.
“Don’t worry.
I’ve got you.”
“I’ll handle your regular training.
I’ll make sure you get maximum results with minimal workload to reduce injury risk.
I’ll also get help to learn how to protect your legs.
You just go all out in races and take the win.”
Even though she felt uneasy, Teio nodded upon hearing this.
After all, she didn’t just want to win her debut race anymore.
She wanted to stay by Nakajima Shin’s side.
As long as possible.
So…
She looked down at her legs and whispered to herself, “Legs, you better step it up.
Don’t break again.”