McQueen and Gold Ship each had their own goals; Gold Ship just wanted to cause some chaos, while McQueen wanted to satisfy her curiosity about love.
As a young girl who had been confined in the Mejiro Estate for many years, she had only lived alongside her siblings and grandmother who were all Uma Musume, as well as the servants who were also all beautiful young women; McQueen rarely even had the chance to interact with a person of the opposite sex.
The most exposure she had with the opposite sex back then were the baseball players on TV... but that had nothing to do with romance, and McQueen would never tell anyone that she, an Uma Musume of the esteemed Mejiro Family, actually liked baseball...
And of course, McQueen wouldn't forget the other mission entrusted to her by Grandmother, besides the mission to win the Tenno Shos.
As the Uma Musume most likely to win the Tenno Sho among all of her sisters, Mejiro McQueen's genes were naturally determined to be good.
Of course, Mejiro McQueen would never be forced into anything like a "political marriage"; on one hand, they were just Uma Musume in the end, far from the realm of country-changing politics, and on the other hand... the mere notion of something like an arranged marriage would make even a hardened veteran like the Mejiro Family Head feel disgusted.
Thus, the Family Head would never let any of her family members be forced into a marriage they didn't consent to.
McQueen was also very clear that her grandmother was giving her time to choose the person she liked, and therefore, these three years in Tracen Academy were the perfect place to plan her future.
However, McQueen was completely clueless about how to fall in love, and she couldn't possibly consult the other girls in the team.
Meisho Doto? Although McQueen could tell she liked Wada, Meisho Doto herself wasn't even very clear about it, so asking her would be pointless.
T.M. Opera O? She had clear goals, but she was a glass cannon—high attack but paper-thin defenses, completely defenseless against Wada; one could say they were a perfect match.
Unfortunately, asking her would probably be no different from asking Seiun Sky; McQueen felt that she would only be led astray by them.
Curren Chan seemed like an expert at love, but McQueen worried that if she asked Curren Chan, her matter would immediately spread throughout the entirety of Tracen in no time.
Gold Ship was Gold Ship.
As for Tokai Teio... she was basically like a kid who treats everything like a race. McQueen didn't expect her to be of any help.
Therefore, the only reasonable option she was left with was Orfevre. Of course, she wasn't here to snitch on Orfevre and Curren Chan or help them; she was just here to learn, to see what a girl in love truly looked like.
Was it really like in those novels, with her heart pounding non-stop, or running away with crimson cheeks...?
"They've caught up to Trainer Ikezoe, let's follow them."
"Mhm, mhm, let's go."
Just as McQueen and Gold Ship had left, Tokai Teio, holding a large honey drink in one hand and a tree branch in the other, poked her head out from a bush even further away and laughed to the not-hiding-in-the-bush Imanami next to her.
"Hehe, didn't I tell you Trainer? McQueen and Gold Ship are definitely doing something fun behind our backs; how can I, Teio-sama, miss out? Trainer, let's hurry up and follow!"
"Although I don't know what McQueen and Gold Ship want to do, how can we miss out on something like this?"
"Alright, alright."
Imanami also nodded, amused. He had been dragged along by Tokai Teio, but since it was a day off and he wasn't very busy, it was fine to occasionally mess around with the kids.
Moreover, it was good that he came along; he could stop Gold Ship from doing anything too extreme. If he was present, the situation would likely not get out of control.
Incidentally... Imanami was actually also very curious about the rivalry between Orfevre and Curren Chan, with his junior unfortunately being caught in the crossfire. With that, Imanami followed Tokai Teio, trailing behind Gold Ship and McQueen.
However, what the two didn't notice was that behind them, three equally curious figures holding tree branches in each hand were also hiding in a bush even further away, slowly trailing behind them.
In actuality, they had zero idea what was going on; they just chose to follow out of curiosity.
Currently, only Fumino Nase, the newest member of their team, had actually stayed at her post among the entire team...
"Hi, my dear Kouhai-kun, it seems like you managed to escape smoothly again today~"
A distance outside Tracen's gates, Maruzensky was waiting for Ikezoe to arrive, just like last week.
Upon spotting Ikezoe, Maruzensky, wearing sunglasses, also caught sight of several—no, scratch that—a lot of figures quietly hiding behind him.
Maruzensky paused slightly at the absurd sight, but quickly reacted and then looked at Ikezoe, who hadn't noticed anything, with an amused smile, saying:
"Kouhai-kun, you really have it rough, huh?"
"? Senior Maruzensky, what are you talking about?"
Ikezoe, however, had no idea what Maruzensky meant by that, but Maruzensky kindly gave him some hints:
"It must be very difficult to be a Trainer with 'clingy' children, isn't it? One spoiled child is fine, but two spoiled children is quite a handful."
"Ah... that, I think in my team, only Curren Chan acts spoiled; Orfevre is quite independent all things considered."
Ikezoe said with a sense of empathy upon hearing this, and after getting into the passenger seat of the sports car and fastening his seatbelt, he said to Maruzensky:
"Still, Orfevre's attitude towards me has been shifting lately. Although she acts less timid when interacting with the others in the team, which I'm happy about, Orfevre's behavior towards me is really... getting worse day by day."
Ever since her victory at the Hakodate Junior Stakes, Orfevre had become more and more confident each day, most likely because she now knew that she really had talent.
She had finally found her footing in the team and is now armed with the reassurance that her talent is indeed great. But it's unclear if awakening this talent also brought over some of her Racehorse version's personality.
Though Orfevre did not treat Ikezoe with gentleness, she does occasionally show her vulnerabilities and fears to him. Now, even that occasionality doesn't happen. She even started to be uncooperative with daily training!
Ikezoe at the very least used to be able to approach Orfevre, but lately, whenever Ikezoe got within about a meter of Orfevre, she would quickly turn around as if she had eyes in the back of her head, and her legs would start twitching like crazy as if she was about to kick him...
And thus, Ikezoe no longer dared to approach Orfevre as he used to. Although his body had been strengthened by a significant amount, he was still afraid of pain, okay?
"Senior Maruzensky, do you know how I can get along with Orfevre? Although I'm happy that she realized her talent, her not listening to my instructions isn't a good thing either."
"Hehe, well, that's something that not me, but you have to figure out on your own, Kouhai-kun."
"But in my opinion, if an Uma Musume acts like she hates your guts, but stays in your team anyway while also showing concern for you, she most likely doesn't actually dislike you."
"Because the highest form of dislike would be to simply ignore you as if you don't exist."
Saying this, Maruzensky glanced at the two Uma Musume currently hiding around the school gate wall, a gossipy smile appearing on her face.
"—Alright, my dear Kouhai-kun, buckle up now; big sis is about to accelerate!"
WHOOOOSHHH—!
Before Ikezoe could even reply, Maruzensky already stepped on the accelerator, sending her car speeding forward at an astonishing pace. The next moment, Orfevre and Curren Chan both walked out.
"Damn it—it's Maruzensky! Why her of all people!" Watching Ikezoe and Maruzensky leave in the car, Orfevre stomped her feet in anger.
However, before Curren Chan beside her could even speak her mind, Orfevre got into a running stance and said to Curren Chan:
"Curren Chan, let's hurry and follow! We're racing against time now!"
"Eh?! I'm—"
Unfortunately, before Curren Chan could say a word, Orfevre ran off like a gust of wind, and Curren Chan's outstretched hand slowly retracted, saying helplessly:
"I'm a sprint Uma Musume... And didn't I say I can track his location with my phone? Wouldn't it have been better to just follow slowly?"
Curren Chan watched Orfevre, who had run far away, and sighed helplessly, only hoping that Orfevre, with her monstrous stamina, would be enough to support her throughout the entire chase.
As for her... she only has the stamina to run in sprint races; of course she couldn't chase them on foot. It would be better to wait for them to arrive at their location and then call a taxi to take her there.
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Ikezoe: Huh? What do you mean other people are here? All I see is multiple conspicuously placed bushes.
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.