"Good morning, Shirayuki."
Today, Treve came to find her as usual. After a week in France, she had finally said something Shirayuki could understand.
"You can speak Japanese now?"
Treve tilted her head and gave an embarrassed smile.
Apparently, that was the only phrase she knew.
Shirayuki had not expected her to spend time learning Japanese. Was it because she wanted to talk to her, or did Treve have some interest in going to Japan? After giving a simple greeting, Shirayuki opened the translation app. To defeat an opponent, one first had to understand them. Learning French would take too much effort, so for now, Shirayuki could only rely on outside tools.
"Do you want to watch my training later?" Treve asked.
"Of course."
There was no way Shirayuki would let such a good opportunity slip by.
When they arrived at the training ground, Shirayuki saw a familiar figure again.
A middle-aged trainer in a suit.
Nase Hideto.
He was also Treve's trainer. The moment Shirayuki saw him, she instinctively turned away and tried to leave, but Treve caught her hand.
The look in Treve's eyes was full of confusion. Shirayuki understood what she meant. She was probably asking why Shirayuki wanted to run away.
How should she explain it?
She and Nase Hideto had quite a history. Strictly speaking, it was Fujiwara Chiya's history with him, but even after changing bodies, she could not stand beside him as if nothing had happened. After signalling that she would stay here, Treve nodded.
Then she ran over to Nase Hideto. The two of them said something, and Treve began warming up. Soon, she started running on the track.
So light…
That was Shirayuki's first impression of her running form.
Treve's footsteps were like feathers, tapping lightly against the turf before her body transformed into a beautiful flowing line, gliding swiftly across the course. Her nimble figure, along with the absolute confidence on her face, left Shirayuki staring for a while.
Amazing.
Even as another uma musume, Shirayuki could not help admiring her running style.
Compared with others, the most direct impression Treve gave her was agility. Her movements were clean, sharp, and free of hesitation.
It was clear that Treve's style focused on mobility.
Most foreign uma musume Shirayuki had seen possessed fairly solid physiques, and their running styles were wild and powerful. The moment things got heated, they would charge in directly.
A large part of their stamina was burned away through collisions.
Treve had chosen the complete opposite route. She relied on flexible positioning to avoid intense body contact with other uma musume, then used the stamina she had preserved to overtake her opponents in the end.
During this period, Shirayuki had watched all of Treve's race footage and had more or less understood her pattern.
In a race, Treve maximized her strengths and avoided her weaknesses as much as possible.
That was similar to Shirayuki.
Her own body was not suited for violent physical clashes either. She usually advanced by retreating, avoiding direct conflict whenever possible.
Just as Shirayuki was gathering information on her opponent, someone suddenly hugged her from behind.
A tall, soft chest pressed against the top of her head.
This height, this weight…
She had never experienced this before!
Shirayuki immediately grew alert. She turned her head and looked at the person holding her.
A blue hooded hair ornament entered her vision.
It was Montjeu.
"Hello, Shirayuki."
"H-Hello…"
Montjeu had just hugged her, right?
Shirayuki already knew about Montjeu's relationship with her mother. The two of them were senior and junior from the same academy. But Montjeu should not know about…
Wait.
Shirayuki suddenly showed an expression as if her tooth hurt.
Her mother wouldn't have told her about this too, would she?
"This is the first time I've heard Northern Dancer mention that she has a daughter."
She did!
Her mother had told someone else about this.
Although Montjeu probably had not been told about the connection between her and Chiya, merely saying that they were mother and daughter was troublesome enough.
Shirayuki did not deny her relationship with her mother. But in terms of blood, the connection did not match. This body had no genetic relationship with anyone in the family. Only the soul could be considered family.
That made explaining things extremely troublesome.
Shirayuki preferred to avoid unnecessary problems whenever possible.
Also, if her mother had even told Montjeu something like this, did that mean the two of them were closer than Shirayuki had imagined?
They were probably not just ordinary senior and junior. They were close friends who knew each other's important secrets.
"When Northern Dancer first said she had a child, she only sent us a photo of a boy."
My God!
My mother even sent this person my photo!
Shirayuki covered her face.
"Then a few months ago, Northern Dancer suddenly said she had a daughter too. That shocked all of us. Did she hide your existence from us for more than ten years on purpose?"
Montjeu stroked Shirayuki's head.
"Mm… us?"
Shirayuki immediately caught the problem in her words.
Her mother had not only told one person?
"That's right. Northern Dancer mentioned you in our group chat. Me, Nijinsky, Saddler's Wells, Danehill… we're all juniors of Northern Dancer, and also her friends from Tracen in America."
"I see…"
Shirayuki had not known her mother had a friend group like that. From the sound of it, they also kept in touch often.
"I heard from your mother that you're entering the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe."
"Mm."
"In that case, you'll be fighting my student."
"Student?"
Montjeu nodded. She looked toward Treve, who had already run several laps on the training ground and still showed no sign of fatigue.
"She's my student. That child has been learning how to run from me. I'm the one who taught her running style."
At this point, Montjeu could not help laughing.
"Northern Dancer's daughter and my student. I really want to know which one of you is stronger. This race truly feels arranged by fate."
"It really does…"
Who could have imagined that after going around in such a large circle, this genius uma musume from the other side of the world would actually have some connection to her? And not a shallow one either.
In that case, Shirayuki had even more reason to defeat her.
The closer an uma musume was to someone, the more ruthless she became. Against an unfamiliar opponent, she would use one hundred percent of her strength. Against a close friend, she would bring out one hundred and twenty percent.
Every opponent Shirayuki had faced was like this. Without exception, anyone who had a good relationship with her would erupt during a race. And the closer they were, the more violently they would explode.
Their eyes would look as if they wanted to devour her alive.
This was why Shirayuki thought uma musume were all yandere in some way. They had a pathological obsession with people they were close to.
That also proved what Darley had once said.
Uma musume feelings were simple.
And precisely because they were simple, they were terrifying.
Shirayuki felt that, as an uma musume, she should have similar feelings too.
But right now, she did not feel especially obsessed with anyone. Not even Treve, her greatest current opponent.
Could it be that I'm still incomplete as an uma musume?
Shirayuki closed her eyes and thought about who she was most likely to be obsessively attached to.
Slowly, a figure appeared before her eyes.
That person was none other than herself.
Chiya.