After seeing Special Week off, Silence Suzuka closed the door, returned to the training room, and still wore a faintly gloomy expression.
She gripped her other arm with one hand and asked Kenji, who was currently taking out the next training equipment and an air pump from the cabinet: “Trainer-san… um, do you really want Spe-chan to become your assigned Uma Musume?”
Kenji didn’t turn around, so he missed the worried look on Suzuka’s face, the kind that said ‘What if someone else takes my favorite doll?’ He replied with what was completely normal for any trainer: “If it were possible, I’d naturally want to guide her myself.
Little Spe clearly has a lot of potential.”
“As expected… that’s how it is…” Suzuka lowered her head, looking disheartened.
She’d done something wrong… As an Uma Musume, she had no right to interfere with the trainer’s recruitment choices.
If he truly wanted to guide Spe-chan, even if it made her uncomfortable, she’d help persuade her anyway.
It was partly to ease her own guilt.
Besides, if it were Spe-chan, Suzuka felt she could tolerate it.
After all, they were close dorm mates; Special Week acted like Suzuka’s little shadow, always looking out for her.
With that in mind, Suzuka made up her mind: she’d agree to let Special Week join the team.
“Um… Trainer-san…”
“But since she already has a trainer, it’s none of my business.” Kenji turned toward Suzuka while pumping air and smiled.
“Plus, my situation doesn’t allow me to actively recruit Uma Musume anyway.
So for now, I’m still your ‘exclusive trainer,’ Suzuka.
Right now, all I care about is developing you so you can win every upcoming race.
Nothing else for the time being.”
Those were Kenji’s honest words.
While he was definitely tempted by Special Week’s stats, his current situation didn’t allow him to open a second “mine” (manage two teams).
After all, all the Uma Coins from his initial mission had already been invested in Suzuka.
Even if he could convince Special Week’s trainer and get academy approval for her transfer, Kenji wouldn’t have extra resources to develop her anyway.
“…!” Suzuka: Mood ↑↑, Excellent Condition!
“Yes!
I’ll train hard and bring victory back to you, Trainer!” As if to show her determination, Suzuka immediately zipped down her sportswear jacket and took it off right there.
She’d grown comfortable enough around Kenji to suppress her embarrassment and undress efficiently.
Of course, under the sportswear wasn’t athletic wear, it was a school swimsuit.
True enough, a real girl in a school swimsuit radiates an overflowing sense of youthfulness.
The tight material also gave Suzuka’s otherwise flat chest a subtle curve, adding a strange but undeniable allure.
Yeah… school swimsuits are truly humanity’s treasure.
But she wasn’t wearing it because it triggered Kenji’s fetish; he hadn’t requested any specific outfit.
Suzuka had suggested it herself, saying it would help with the upcoming exercises.
Kenji watched this scene and silently thanked himself that Special Week had only barged in during basic training.
If she’d seen the later exercises, he really wouldn’t have been able to explain it away easily.
“We should start formal training now.
You’ve finished the pen-spinning task I sent you before, right?” “Yes.
I completed it last night… For a moment, it felt like I understood something…”
As expected, there’s a change.
Kenji already knew Suzuka had completed his first 10-Uma-Coin mission.
[Difficulty F: Complete clockwise pen-spinning with the left hand for 1,000 rotations (Completed)] The task content wasn’t set by Kenji; it was auto-generated by the system.
By spending Uma Coins on Suzuka, Kenji had already figured out how they worked.
First, he filtered skills she could currently learn from the master skill list, selected one, and a popup showed the required Uma Coins and difficulty level.
Then he confirmed to publish the task; the system deducted the coins and auto-generated the content.
All Kenji had to do was relay it as his “training guidance” in his capacity as trainer.
Though tasks had no deadline, once published they couldn’t be canceled or changed, only completed.
No take-backs.
This meant Kenji had to think carefully: choosing skills most useful for Suzuka’s current stage while balancing difficulty and limited Uma Coins to optimize her build.
It wasn’t a mindless power-up cheat; it depended on his planning.
After careful consideration, Kenji spent all his Uma Coins selecting three skills, issuing three tasks, and over the past month had been assisting Suzuka in completing them.
Yesterday, she finally finished one and gained a new skill.
If things went smoothly, she’d finish the others today too.
Once all tasks were done, it’d be time to register her for the next race.
Then came the positive loop: ‘Run → Win → Earn!’
“Good.
Remember that feeling, you’ll need to bring it out during races.” “Yes!”
Though Suzuka had completed her first task smoothly, the next two wouldn’t be so simple, and they weren’t tasks she could do alone.
[Difficulty E: Blindfolded, identify characters written on your back 30 times (Current progress: 25/30)]
Hmm… feels like some kind of playful tease… but this is already one of the simpler ones.
And this task cost a whopping 30 Uma Coins, whether she wins her next race depends entirely on it.
The reason Suzuka was wearing the school swimsuit was because at first, with clothes in the way, it was hard to guess what Kenji wrote; progress was worrying.
So she decided to wear something that let her feel his finger movements more clearly.
After thinking about it, a school swimsuit made sense, she couldn’t just strip down to underwear, could she?
Even if coverage is similar, for girls: swimsuit = okay to be seen in; underwear = not okay.
“Ready?
Suzuka, training starts now.” “Y-Yes…!”
Though they’d done this many times already, thinking about what was coming inevitably made her nervous.
She stiffly sat on the chair and put on the blindfold Kenji handed her.
Kenji looked at the beautiful Uma Musume in a school swimsuit sitting there with a blindfold… It definitely had a doujinshi vibe to it… Yeah… feels like it’s missing a rope, though.
With her vision blocked, her other senses became hypersensitive.
Suzuka could almost hear Kenji’s breathing… and her own heartbeat, loud enough that she worried he’d notice.
Stay calm…!
The trainer said this was training for concentration… Don’t let your mind wander!
She tried to steady herself but couldn’t clear the stray thoughts from her head.
Finally, she couldn’t help but voice a small request: “Um… Trainer, if I guess all the characters correctly today… can I make one little request?”
“Oh?
Sure.” Kenji agreed immediately.
Suzuka couldn’t see the task panel; she had no idea what completing these strange exercises would actually bring her.
He felt she deserved some reward for always cooperating so diligently.
As long as it wasn’t monetary/material, he’d allow it.
“Okay…!
I’ll do my best today!” With Kenji’s approval, Suzuka felt a surge of motivation.
She gathered her orange hair behind her back and brought it forward over her shoulder, openly exposing the nape and her back.
Her shoulder blades were clearly defined; they shifted subtly with every movement.
A shallow groove ran along her spine.
Her waist was slender, the swimsuit cutting two arcs at her sides, diagonally dividing her thighs from her rounded hips.
Against the deep blue fabric, her bare limbs looked snow-white, almost glowing.
Kenji had to work hard to keep his composure looking at this defenseless Uma Musume girl… This is just for completing tasks; don’t overthink it.
Next, Kenji grabbed a chair and sat behind Suzuka, pressing his index finger into the groove along her spine… “Ah~” “…” So… stop making that breathy sound!
It’s totally misleading!