From the moment she woke up that morning, Nase Fumino had been in a terrible mood. Her face remained stiff, and the way she looked at people carried a few extra shades of hostility. Recently, some of her colleagues had noticed that her attitude seemed to have softened slightly and tried to come over to greet her, only to be glared back into silence.
Only when she was facing her own Uma Musume did her expression become a little better.
"Fumino, what's wrong?"
Fujiwara Chiya stepped forward to ask, only to be struck by her sharp gaze and instinctively take half a step back.
"Nothing." Seeing that the person who had come over was Chiya, Nase Fumino brushed her bangs aside.
Fujiwara Chiya cleared his throat. He suddenly remembered what Ryuu-aniki had once said when Trainer Tojo scolded him: women always had a few days like this, so it was best to just leave them alone.
But as her childhood friend, Chiya still wanted to help her sort out her mood. So he began looking for a topic.
"Right, Fumino. I heard that Hideto-san—"
Snap!
Before he could finish speaking, Nase Fumino grabbed him by the collar.
"Don't… say his name in front of me." Her voice was low, and her expression looked rather furious. However, she quickly realized what she had done and immediately let go. Her eyes shifted around in panic for a moment before she finally spoke softly. "Sorry."
"It's fine." Fujiwara Chiya shook his head.
The two of them stood there together. Looking at the man beside her, who neither asked questions nor pried any further, Nase Fumino sighed and spoke again.
"I hate that guy."
"Are you two not on good terms?"
"We're on very bad terms. Ever since the day I moved away, it's been bad."
"Why…?"
Nase Fumino leaned against the railing. She did not want to recall what had happened that day, but since Chiya had asked, she also felt like taking this opportunity to complain a little.
"We had a huge fight. For the next few days, we basically didn't speak at all. After that… that man went off to work." When she reached that point, Nase Fumino clenched her fists. "That man's thoughts were never on me. All he cared about was his work. He almost never came home. Every time he did, he would only take a quick look and leave again. We didn't even say a single word to each other."
"You hate him because he didn't pay attention to you?"
"No." Nase Fumino shook her head. If it were only that, she would not have hated him to this extent. The real issue was what came afterward.
"Didn't I make a promise with you that I would become a trainer? I succeeded. But do you know what the people around me said…? They said, 'As expected of Hideto's daughter.'" Nase Fumino showed an expression that was both angry and almost amused. "That irresponsible father. That father who didn't come home for months at a time. That man who never looked after me at all. And yet everyone treated him as the key to my success. What does me becoming a trainer have to do with that guy!?"
Nase Fumino's emotions surged fiercely. Chiya had never seen her this angry before.
And yet that very father—the father she had finally managed to break free from—had now come running back from Europe. Nase Fumino's mood had never been worse.
Not knowing how to comfort her, Fujiwara Chiya could only gently pat her back. He understood the reason Fumino hated him now. In fact, he had made the same mistake.
He had taken Fumino's success for granted. He had seen her as a genius beyond the reach of ordinary people. He had ignored the effort hidden beneath the halo of Fumino's "genius." The effort she had put into becoming a trainer was far greater than anyone else's.
And yet all of that effort had been casually brushed aside by a single sentence: "Because you're Nase Hideto's daughter." Everything she had given was buried beneath her father's radiance.
Nase Fumino hated those people. And even more than that, she hated Nase Hideto, who had neglected her completely and poured every bit of his energy into his career.
Fujiwara Chiya gently patted Fumino's back. He could only resent his own poor emotional intelligence. He could not find the right words to change Fumino's mood. All he could do was comfort her clumsily like this.
A few minutes later, Fumino's emotions finally calmed somewhat. She said to Chiya, "Sorry. I snapped at you earlier. I shouldn't have taken this out on you."
"It's fine. If it were me, I'd definitely be angry too." Fujiwara Chiya shook his head.
"In that respect, Trainer Zenya is countless times better than that guy."
"Dad? What about him?"
"He's a very low-profile person. He doesn't like standing in the spotlight, and he knows how to care about others. That guy, on the other hand… cares about nothing except his career."
As she spoke, Nase Fumino gritted her teeth. Whenever she referred to her own father, she always used "that guy."
In truth, Chiya's family was very similar to hers. Both of them had an Uma Musume mother and a trainer father. The difference was that Chiya had grown up under the care and protection of both his parents, and Chiya himself had inherited his father's personality: once he decided on something, he would see it through to the end.
Fumino, on the other hand, had grown up almost completely neglected, raised as if left to fend for herself. The reason she had not strayed onto the wrong path was entirely because of the promise she had once made with Chiya, and because of her desire to get back at her father.
"One day, I'll surpass him and cast off the title of 'Hideto's daughter.' I'll overtake every single one of his so-called genius achievements. In the future, when people mention Nase Hideto, the only thing they'll think of is that he is Fumino's father."
The one who had broken the record for youngest trainer was her. The one who would break the record for youngest senior trainer would also be her.
Nase Fumino intended to completely overshadow him with her own brilliance. She planned to participate in next year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. She would have her Uma Musume win that race, and then obtain Central's highest honor.
That was Nase Fumino's determination.
And in that race, there was one opponent she had to face.
Nase Fumino looked at the black-haired man beside her.
Fujiwara Chiya.
"You are an opponent I absolutely have to defeat. The next race will be a duel between our two teams, Chiya… I won't hand that spot over to you."
Nase Fumino made her stance clear. She would not go easy on him because of her relationship with Chiya. Even if there was a large gap between their trainer ranks, Nase Fumino would use all of her strength to defeat him.
Leaning against the railing, Fujiwara Chiya quietly listened to her words. He had never known that Fumino and her father had such a history between them. Fumino had always lived in her father's shadow, and through her own effort, she had reached this point.
Thinking of that, Fujiwara Chiya spoke softly.
"All this time, I treated your honors as if they were only natural. I thought you were smart, that no matter what you did, you could learn it quickly, including training. But that wasn't really true… You simply worked harder than other people."
Fujiwara Chiya looked at her seriously.
"Fumino, you aren't a genius. But you're even more amazing than one."
Nase Fumino was an ordinary person. Every honor she had earned had come from something hard-won.
"But just like you said, you want to prove yourself to others and surpass Hideto-san. I'm the same." Fujiwara Chiya put his feelings into words. "I'm also an ordinary person. I'll desperately chase after the things I want to do. If your goal is Hideto-san, then my goal… is you."
Fujiwara Chiya clenched his fist and said to Nase Fumino, "I'll put everything I have into surpassing you. I don't have such a heavy past, and I'm not doing this to prove anything. I just want to fulfill the promise I made with you back then. So—"
Fujiwara Chiya took a deep breath.
"Not as Nase Hideto's daughter. Not as a genius trainer. But as my opponent—as Nase Fumino—I want to surpass you."
Looking at the man whose gaze burned so brightly, Nase Fumino widened her eyes.
The various titles that had bound her body disappeared. It was as if an invisible flame had ignited inside her heart, making it beat hot and fierce in her chest.
"I've thought this since long ago, Chiya."
"What?"
"You really are… hopelessly stupid."
Along with a soft impact, Fujiwara Chiya realized that Nase Fumino had already pulled him tightly into her arms. Their lips met.
Neither of them knew how much time passed.
Eventually, Nase Fumino let go. A girlish blush spread across her face.
"Then chase after me with everything you have, idiot."