In that instant, Kato Akira felt as though he wasn’t facing a bottom tier horse girl, but rather the running figure of the “Emperor” he had once seen somewhere.
No, it was even more violent and intense than that.
If the Emperor was grand, dignified, and awe inspiring, then at that moment, Akira felt like he was standing face to face with a terrifying Tyrant.
But the red light vanished in a flash.
The trembling horse girl fidgeted restlessly like a little furball.
“Actually, I don’t really have any friends…Auuu…”
“…Eh?”
“Really…”
It must have been an illusion.
Orfe immediately dropped her ears, looking like she wanted to cry but no tears came out.
Her pure purple eyes welled up like little pearls.
Looking completely wronged, she spoke in broken sentences.
“Because of my sister, whenever I talk to anyone, they just assume I’m going to act like her, so they hardly speak to me.
Everyone says that if my sister is like that, I must be the same.
Plus, my birthday is pretty late in the season, so…”
“How pitiful.
Do things like this really happen at a horse girl school like Tracen Academy?”
“Ah, yeah, yeah, that’s just how it is.”
Orfe nodded earnestly, immediately putting on a smile as she leaned closer to Akira.
“But it’s okay now!
Since I have you, Ojisan, I have the confidence to do my best at school!
Just wait until my future is all sorted out—I’ll learn Mejiro McQueen-san’s elegance and manners and become a true high society lady!”
“…”
Seeing the young girl smile while happily twitching her ears, Akira gained a new understanding of the trainer system.
Uma Musume are like the spirits of this world.
They claim to be human, but they really aren’t.
Their emotions are stronger, more sincere, and far more passionate than ordinary people’s.
Therefore, trainers exist to provide trust and support, helping the horse girls find their inner pillar of strength so they can grow strong.
Even bottom tier horse girls like Orfe are essentially still children.
This very trust and reliance is exactly what drives them to give everything they have to win.
If you haven’t interacted directly with an Uma Musume, it’s hard to truly understand what trust and dependence mean just by reading the words.
In fact, in a way, a trainer might have the biggest influence on an Uma Musume—even more so than her parents, family, or friends.
But in the end, this is a cruel trial.
That is the world of Uma Musume.
If you don’t run, you will face countless pressures and eventually lose yourself.
You’re a horse girl, so you have to work hard.
Of course, that might sound a bit biased.
But right now, the only horse girl Akira could actually interact with was Orfe.
Judging by the situation, he needed to get close to a second girl as soon as possible.
After all, Orfe couldn’t seem to make any friends.
In that case, he had to find other horse girls to be the core of his grand expansion.
But where on earth was he supposed to find one?
As a school janitor, it wasn’t like he could just casually walk up and chat with the students…
Just as Akira was lost in thought, trying to conjure a magical solution, Orfe pulled a small electric heater out from behind her back with a playful smile.
“Oh, right, Ojisan!
Should we go rest over there today?
I even brought a small electric heater.
That way, it’ll be a little warmer.”
“You actually have that?
Haven’t you already brought a ton of stuff over there?”
“Well, we’re going to be staying there for three whole years, after all.”
Scratching her hair, a radiant smile bloomed on the little goldsmith’s face.
“Isn’t that our secret base?
Since it’s a base, I think it should be warm and safe.
Yep.
That’s all.”
“Three years?
I haven’t even become a trainer yet.”
“Then next year, when Ojisan becomes a trainer, it’ll be four years!”
“Training in a place like that for four years…
isn’t Tracen Academy a bit too scary?”
“Eh?
Is it?”
“What exactly do you think Tracen Academy is…
Never mind.”
“Ehe!”
Orfe smiled warmly.
Wagging her tail and twitching her ears, she hugged the electric heater she had brought.
The two of them walked from the corner of the building deep into the forest.
That was where they had first met—a small wooden cabin built in the woods to store old tools.
According to Akira’s judgment, it was highly likely an antique with decades of history.
After all, the school’s early days were pretty chaotic, and a lot of planning was left unfinished.
It was completely normal for a little room like this to be forgotten in the thick woods.
But the good news was that it was fully equipped with running water and electricity, and even had a hot water supply.
So, Orfe and Akira started using it as their secret base for daily life and practice.
The open space around it was quite large.
With some abandoned fences and sawdust lying around, it was no problem to set up a small 100-meter training track.
Actually, the strangest part wasn’t the lack of a proper garbage dump nearby.
It was why Tracen Academy had such a massive forest in the first place.
This was completely baffling to Akira.
To create a forest in a place where every inch of land was incredibly precious—it was so extravagant that it left people confused.
Wasn’t Tracen’s financial power a bit too ridiculous?
But just as he was pondering this, Akira suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow in the corner of his eye.
“…?”
Seeing a black haired Uma Musume hiding in the shadow of a large tree with her ears sticking out, a question mark slowly formed in Akira’s head.
Who is this person?
Why did he keep running into horse girls in the forest?
Are these horse girls like Pokémon that can only be found in specific areas?
But looking at Orfe, who was happily humming a tune while hugging her heater, Akira didn’t say anything.
Orfe was so excited about that electric heater she looked like she might break it, so he decided to just let the strange horse girl follow them for now.
However, the deeper they walked into the woods, the more Akira started to lose his cool.
“Rustle rustle, rustle rustle, swish!”
“Whoosh!”
“Staaaare—”
(Hold on a second, why is she dubbing her own sound effects?!) (TL:Cute..)
Watching a horse girl in a Tracen uniform holding two tree branches, voicing her own sound effects out loud while staring at them, Akira truly couldn’t handle it anymore.
“Orfe, stop for a second.”
“Eh?
Oh.”
“You, the horse girl hiding over there.
Come out so we can see you.”
“…”
The horse girl hiding behind the tree twitched her ears and pretended not to hear him.
How should he put it…
these horse girls sometimes fooled themselves in the most hilarious ways.
Signaling a confused Orfe to stand still, Akira walked over to the other side of the tree and lightly tapped the trunk.
Then, looking down at the petite, black haired horse girl who was hiding behind it with trembling ears, he spoke in a flat but polite tone:
“Excuse me, miss, but who might you be?”