In the quiet training room, trainer and Uma Musume were conducting a special exercise.
Kenji’s fingertips traced along Silence Suzuka’s back.
Her back was soft, but not in a loose or slack way, it was firm and elastic, tightly wrapped over toned muscle.
When his fingertips pressed down, he could feel the faintest resistance beneath her skin.
Afternoon sunlight spilled across her school swimsuit, and through it came a warmth from her skin, like water that had just cooled to a perfect temperature.
At the turns of each stroke, his nails occasionally brushed her skin.
Suzuka’s horse ears twitched lightly; her back straightened, shoulder blades drawing inward, and the shallow groove along her spine deepened as her muscles tensed.
In total darkness, Silence Suzuka focused all her attention on her own back.
She especially liked this wordless exchange of information.
Carefully, she traced the growing familiarity of his touch with her senses, as if listening through her back itself.
Just like her name… Silence Suzuka.
When he finished the final stroke, she gently exhaled the breath she’d been holding, and her back relaxed along with it.
“Haa…”
“What did I write?”
“It was… your name, Trainer.
Written in kanji.”
“Correct.”
Kenji glanced at his task panel and saw the required count had been met, the task showed as completed.
[Task Completed]
“Good.
A hundred percent accuracy today.
It seems you’ve learned how to focus your attention on a single point, Suzuka.”
“Yes… I feel like I’m becoming more focused myself.”
Suzuka felt her cheeks burning, but it wasn’t entirely from embarrassment.
More than that, the trainer’s fingers had given her a special kind of sensation.
At first it was slightly ticklish, but later it became… an intense warmth.
Where his fingertips passed, the skin cooled for a split second before quickly heating up again, so much so that she couldn’t tell if it was her own body temperature or his.
It felt as though their warmth had reached a dynamic balance, blending together.
“Then I’d say this training exercise is wrapping up for now.”
Kenji nodded in satisfaction.
He was in a good mood; everything was unfolding exactly as he had planned.
The moment Suzuka removed her blindfold and heard Kenji say the training was over, implying they wouldn’t be doing it anymore, a sudden sense of loss washed over her.
“Huh?”
Is it really ending?
Will we never do this kind of training again?
Her disappointment showed plainly in her horse tail drooping downward.
She was still craving more of it, wanted to keep doing this special training, keep feeling the trainer’s warmth.
But… right… This is training after all, not a couple’s teasing game.
Noticing her reluctance, Kenji smiled and comforted her.
“If there’s an opportunity later on, we’ll move on to advanced versions of this training.”
After all, the current task wasn’t meant for learning a new skill, it was designed to ‘lock in’ one.
Moreover, Kenji had discovered that this skill could be pushed even further; once evolved, it would become Suzuka’s exclusive ability.
That was why he’d spared no expense, spending a full thirty Uma Coins to solidify this skill into place.
“Yes!”
This is great!
We’ll be able to keep going… What kind of training will the advanced version be?
Covering her ears too?
Tying up her hands and feet?
Or maybe… touching other areas?
Suzuka’s cheeks flushed red again at the exciting fantasies running through her head.
A young girl in bloom couldn’t possibly resist such ambiguous, intimate interactions… I mean, training.
“So then, Suzuka, what is it you want me to do for you?”
Kenji hadn’t forgotten his promise.
Now was the time to ask what reward she wanted.
Suzuka remembered as well.
She stared at her fingertips, lowered her gaze, and shyly brought it up.
“Um… from now on, could I call you by your name?”
“That’s all?”
Kenji bit back a laugh.
He hadn’t expected her request to be as simple as changing how she addressed him, this was nothing at all.
“Y-Yes!
I’ve been under your guidance for a month now, but calling you ‘Trainer-san’ feels a bit distant… So I thought I’d take this chance to start using your name…”
The real reason was that Suzuka had felt a little jealous when she heard Special Week casually call him “Kenji-san.”
Special Week certainly hadn’t meant anything by it, she was just naturally warm and forward, but shy Suzuka couldn’t do that.
She needed some kind of opening to make the move.
But he was her trainer… yet she could only call him “Trainer-san”… It made it feel like their hearts were growing farther apart.
With so many trainers at Tracen, if you shouted “Trainer!” on the field, eight or ten would turn around.
Suzuka wanted to distinguish him from all of them, to call only her own trainer by name.
Now, afraid he might refuse, she carefully watched his expression and asked again in a pitifully earnest tone.
“…Is that not okay?”
“Heh, of course it’s fine.
Honestly, I’ve been hoping you’d call me by my name for a while now.
Even my mother calls me ‘Kenji’ at home.”
The moment she got his permission, Suzuka’s face lit up.
Gathering her courage, she finally called him by name for the first time.
“Then…!
Kenji-kun… Kenji-kun!”
“Eh?”
No ‘-san’, but using ‘-kun’ instead?
Feels like she’s making me sound younger…
Kenji scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed himself.
In Kenji’s memory, the only person who ever called him that was his childhood friend from when he was little.
But after deciding to become a trainer, his mother and Aunt Lan had brought him to Tokyo, the biggest city, to transfer into the nation’s best training academy.
That move had cut off contact with her.
Now that he was a trainer at Central Tracen Academy, he wondered sometimes… what happened to her?
Seeing his surprised expression, Suzuka hurriedly waved her hands and explained.
“Um!
Since you’re so young, I thought using ‘-kun’ instead of ‘-san’ would be better… It’s not that I’m looking down on you or disrespecting you…!
I really didn’t mean it like that!”
‘-San’ was the most common and universal honorific; regardless of age, gender, or status, using it conveyed politeness and respect.
‘-Kun’, on the other hand, was usually used by elders or seniors toward younger males, like teachers addressing students, to show both respect and closeness.
Among peers, it could also signal that their relationship was close enough to drop formalities.
But between a trainer and his assigned Uma Musume, with Kenji being the senior party, it was technically inappropriate… or at least unusual.
“Even if I only call you that in private… Is it really not okay?”
Suzuka’s nose turned slightly pink.
Her horse ears twitched nervously, and she bit down on her lower lip until a faint blush spread across it.
Worst of all were those blue-green eyes, her long lashes glistened like butterfly wings dampened by rain, shimmering with unshed tears.
Her gaze was filled with hope and quiet pleading.
That expression was completely unfair!
Who could possibly refuse a request from such an endearing Uma Musume?
“It’s fine even in private.
I’m just a rookie trainer, I don’t have the right to act superior.
Suzuka, call me however feels most comfortable for you.”
“Yes…!
Kenji-kun… Kenji-kun!”
Watching her, overjoyed, hands clasped at her chest like she was praying as she repeatedly called his name… Kenji felt that their bond had grown wonderfully strong.
At first, he’d only been after her stats.
But now that he was personally invested in raising Suzuka, Kenji had developed a proud sense of ownership as her trainer.
He didn’t want to see her hurt, didn’t want to watch her lose races, and even less did he want to see her cry.
He had to guide her successfully, to make Suzuka a legendary Uma Musume whose name would go down in history!