From the very first time Seiun Sky met Shirayuki, she felt it.
This girl was way too much like Trainer Chiya.
Her eyes. Her movements. Even the look she gave Seiun Sky when she came over to talk.
That expression practically said, Ah… this girl's sleeping again.
Seiun Sky wasn't Chiya's assigned uma musume, but she was still one of the uma musume who knew him best. She had met Fujiwara Chiya not long after he arrived at Tracen, and even after that, their strange little connection had continued.
Sometimes, Seiun Sky would bring him fish she had caught from the river and say, "Today's haul was pretty great, y'know?"
Chiya would accept them with proper praise, cook them, then share the finished dish with her.
That was their relationship.
They didn't spend every day passionately discussing dreams, ideals, or the glittering future. They didn't have some dramatic ambition tying them together either.
Most of the time, they just talked about nothing.
Pointless things. Silly things. Lazy things.
But Seiun Sky liked that.
That easygoing atmosphere where she could say whatever she wanted without bracing herself first, that was the kind of comfort Seiun Sky had always searched for.
That was why she had once wanted Fujiwara Chiya to become her trainer.
They were compatible.
Very compatible.
Unfortunately, the final result had left Seiun Sky deeply, deeply disappointed.
That day, she had sounded him out, half joking and half serious, asking whether he wanted to become her trainer.
His answer had made Seiun Sky's whole world dim.
Well… things like that happened sometimes.
You waited with hope in your heart, only for the ending to turn out like that.
In that case, Trainer Chiya, don't blame Seii-chan for moving on.
You were the one who dumped me first.
After that, Seiun Sky stopped bringing up the subject of signing a contract with Chiya. The two of them still talked, but not as often as before.
Then, one day, a transfer student suddenly appeared in their class.
Her name was Fujiwara Shirayuki.
Chiya's younger sister.
And in Shirayuki, Seiun Sky found traces of Chiya.
More than that, she found the same strange, fascinating sense of security.
Shirayuki, huh…
She feels pretty nice too.
There were very few people who could make Seiun Sky feel that way.
Among trainers, the only one who could nap with her, fish with her, and indulge her nonsense was Fujiwara Chiya.
Among uma musume, Fujiwara Shirayuki had now joined that tiny, exclusive list.
As expected of siblings, they were alike even in that respect.
No, honestly, it had already gone beyond "siblings."
There were plenty of times when Seiun Sky felt the person beside her wasn't Shirayuki at all, but Chiya.
The only difference was that one called her "Sky," while the other called her "Sky-chan."
Other than that, the feeling they gave her was exactly the same.
What a coincidence.
The moment I gave up on Trainer Chiya, someone else showed up.
It was almost as if the heavens had snatched away her most important meal, then immediately cooked her another serving.
Their genders were different. Their appearances were different.
But their pull on Seiun Sky ignored all of that completely.
Especially later, once Shirayuki gradually reached the peak of her true form, her body began giving off a scent that made people feel ridiculously comfortable. It softened the last bits of resistance in Seiun Sky's heart.
And so, Seiun Sky made her move on Shirayuki.
The dissatisfaction of being abandoned by Trainer.
The disappointment of never signing a contract.
The joy of losing something, only to find it again.
She quietly poured all of it onto Shirayuki while Shirayuki slept.
The older brother's debt will be paid by the younger sister.
That was what Seiun Sky had mischievously thought at the time.
Yet under those circumstances, Seiun Sky slowly began to notice something strange.
Shirayuki's movements were too precise.
Her awareness of the whole race was too complete.
Sometimes, watching her run gave Seiun Sky the feeling that someone far away was guiding her with an invisible hand.
That feeling was so strong that Seiun Sky couldn't ignore it even if she wanted to.
It was as though Shirayuki had a second pair of eyes.
That thought quietly took root in Seiun Sky's mind.
It was strange.
Ever since she noticed Shirayuki's abnormality, no matter what she said or did, Seiun Sky felt as if there was an invisible wall between them.
The two of them could never quite touch each other's true selves.
Even when Seiun Sky held Shirayuki tightly in her arms, that distance refused to disappear.
Back then, one of the reasons Seiun Sky had been rejected by Trainer was her own inaction.
She liked waiting on the sidelines.
She liked pretending she wasn't in a hurry.
And in the end, she missed her chance to become his uma musume.
Seiun Sky had learned from that mistake.
Before the wall between her and Shirayuki grew into a real barrier, she went to find Trainer, hoping to hear about Shirayuki from his own mouth.
And while she was at it, Seiun Sky also let some old grievances spill out.
Although she smiled every day, she had, in fact, been very unhappy that he had not signed a contract with her back then. When she spoke, a faint complaint slipped into her voice.
But the problem back then had mostly been on her side, not Trainer's.
So Seiun Sky only mentioned it briefly.
She didn't press him any further.
The past was already the past.
Seiun Sky had given up on him and turned her attention toward Shirayuki instead.
And under Seiun Sky's emotional prodding, Trainer finally opened his mouth and revealed Shirayuki's secret.
At first, Seiun Sky had assumed that the two of them were so similar because they had grown up together.
Even if she exaggerated a little, she might have imagined their ability to read the racecourse came from some mysterious sibling telepathy.
But the truth went far beyond anything Seiun Sky had imagined.
The person she had finally found.
The person who made her feel at ease.
Was actually Trainer.
Trainer, in another body.
At first, Seiun Sky didn't believe it.
But after confirming it herself, she knew Shirayuki had not lied.
And with that, every strange thing about Shirayuki finally made sense.
Why Shirayuki looked at her sleeping in random places as if it was nothing new.
Why Shirayuki was so familiar with the people and events in class.
Why Shirayuki felt embarrassed in the girls' changing room.
It was all because Shirayuki was Trainer.
How ironic.
I gave up on Trainer Chiya, only to become interested in another Trainer Chiya.
Is this compensation for me?
Or did I just fall into the same mistake again…?
Seiun Sky opened her eyes.
A few birds chirped from the treetops.
Without her realizing it, the sky had already shifted toward dusk.
Seiun Sky found herself on a girl's back.
Under the glow of the setting sun, the girl's white hair had been dyed a dazzling reddish gold.
As Shirayuki walked, Seiun Sky instinctively tightened her arms around her neck.
"Sky-chan, you're awake."
Feeling the strength in her arms, Shirayuki turned her head slightly.
"I can't believe you slept through the entire day. You even slept through the whole sports festival."
Shirayuki couldn't help complaining.
"I was going to leave you there and go back by myself, but even while you were asleep, you refused to let go. Also, I already told you everything, didn't I? Don't you have any thoughts about it? At least react a little."
Listening to Shirayuki's dissatisfied grumbling, the corners of Seiun Sky's mouth curved upward on their own.
In the end, the one Seii-chan chose was still Trainer Chiya…