Chapter 10: Camarero

Ren stood alone in the middle of the theme park, holding six ice cream cones in both hands.

"…Seriously?" he muttered.

He had only left for a few minutes to buy ice cream and somehow, all six horse girls had completely disappeared.

Ren let out a long sigh.

And to make things worse…

This isn't even the Belmont Park I was thinking of.

Dream Journey had mentioned Belmont Park, before but this one was in San Diego, a seaside amusement park. The actual racetrack where War Admiral would race was all the way in New York.

Two places. Same name. Completely different purposes.

Did she mix it up…? Or is this just her way of making us 'spend time together'?

Ren rubbed his temple.

Either way, he was now alone.

And the ice cream in his hands was already starting to melt.

"…At this rate, I might as well throw them away," he muttered. After all, it wasn't like strangers would want to eat something he had already been holding for this long—

"Hello… are you going to eat all that?"

A young voice interrupted his thoughts.

Ren turned to his side.

Standing there was a horse girl with black hair tipped in white. Her eyes were locked onto the ice cream in his hands—and there was very obvious drool at the corner of her mouth.

Her tail swayed uncontrollably, completely betraying her excitement.

Ren blinked.

"…Ah. No. Do you want some?"

"Can I?" she asked cautiously, eyeing him with suspicion—as if expecting a trick.

But her tail was practically wagging.

"Yes," Ren said simply. You came to me, not the other way around…

Shaking his head, he handed five of the cones over to her.

The girl didn't hesitate.

She immediately started eating.

Ren watched for a moment before taking a small bite of the one cone he kept.

After a few seconds, the girl suddenly paused.

"Ah—sorry!" she said quickly. "I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Camarero! And thank you for the ice cream!"

Then she went right back to eating.

Ren chuckled lightly.

"It's fine. Honestly, I should be the one thanking you."

"Hm?" Camarero tilted her head, confused.

"I was about to throw them away," Ren admitted. "So you saved them."

"Ah! That would've been a waste," she said seriously, nodding as if that was a grave crime.

Then she looked at him.

Not casually.

But very… intently.

Ren blinked. "…Is there something on my face?"

Camarero didn't answer.

She just kept staring.

Ren raised a hand and touched his cheek.

Wait… don't tell me—

He quickly pulled out a small mirror from his pocket and checked his reflection.

Clean.

No marker.

Gold Ship's "artwork" was completely gone.

"…Then what is it?" he asked.

Camarero finally spoke.

"What's your name, sir?"

"Ah." Ren lowered the mirror. "You can call me Ren."

"Nice to meet you!" Camarero said brightly, finishing the last of her ice cream.

"Nice to meet you too."

There was a brief pause.

Then Camarero leaned slightly closer.

"By the way… are you a trainer?"

Ren blinked in surprise. "Yes… but how did you figure that out?"

Camarero pointed at him.

"Smell."

"…Smell?"

Ren frowned slightly and lifted his sleeve, sniffing himself.

He smelled like… coffee, sunscreen, and maybe a bit of vanilla from the ice cream.

"…I don't get it."

Camarero simply nodded, completely confident in her answer.

“Forget the details!” Camarero waved it off quickly. “By the way are you a professional trainer? Or… like, one who already trains G1-level horse girls?”

Ren shook his head. “I’m still new.”

“I see, I see…” Camarero nodded thoughtfully, as if filing that information away.

Ren smiled a little. “Enough about me. What about you? Have you debuted yet?”

“No,” she answered honestly.

Ren blinked. “No? Why not? Don’t most horse girls dream of racing?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Camarero said, folding her arms. “It’s just…”

She hesitated for a second, then puffed out her chest proudly.

“I don’t want to ruin my winning streak if I lose my debut race!”

Ren paused. “…Your winning streak?”

“Yep!” she said confidently. “I’m aiming to beat her record!”

“…Whose record?” Ren asked.

“You should know! She’s super famous!” Camarero insisted.

Ren thought for a moment.

“…Man o' War?”

“Close but not her!” Camarero shook her head. “I mean Kincsem! She’s my idol!”

Ren’s eyes widened slightly.

“Kincsem… the one with 54 consecutive wins?”

“Exactly!” Camarero’s eyes sparkled. “I’m going to beat that record!”

Ren looked at her for a moment.

That wasn’t just a high goal.

That was absurdly high.

Still…

He sighed softly and gave a small, patient smile.

“That’s an amazing dream,” he said. “But if you want to reach something like that, you’ll need to race a lot. And as a trainer… my advice is take it slow.”

Camarero tilted her head slightly.

“Don’t rush just to chase numbers,” Ren continued. “Your health matters more than any record.”

“I know,” she said, nodding.

“Good. Then I should probably talk to your trainer too—”

“I don’t have one,” Camarero said quietly.

“…Hm?” Ren blinked. “Can you repeat that?”

She coughed awkwardly.

“Ahem… I don’t have a trainer yet,” she admitted, a bit embarrassed.

“…Ah.”

“…Ah.”

They both froze for a second then spoke at the same time.

Camarero scratched her cheek. “I haven’t enrolled in any horse girl academy yet, so I can’t debut… nor do i can have a trainer.”

“…Right,” Ren said, nodding slowly.

Now that explained everything.

“F-Forget about me!” Camarero suddenly said, flustered, waving her hands. “What about you? Do you have a trainee? If you do… has she won any graded races?!”

Ren couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Haha… you’re acting completely different now.”

“Guh—” Camarero froze, her face turning red. “D-Don’t laugh!”

Ren smiled, then answered properly.

“Well… my trainee just won her first G3 race.”

Camarero’s eyes widened.

“But,” Ren continued, a quiet confidence in his voice, “she’ll keep winning. Even G1 races.”

“Wow… G3…” Camarero muttered, clearly impressed.

Ren felt a strange sense of pride swell in his chest.

…Is this what being a proud parent feels like?

He nodded to himself.

“Who is she?” Camarero asked curiously. “Your trainee, I mean.”

“Seabiscuit.”

“…Seabiscuit?” Camarero repeated softly.

The name felt familiar.

Like something she had heard somewhere before.

“Yes,” Ren said. “She’s my trainee.”

There was a brief pause before Camarero spoke again.

“By the way, Trainer Ren… why are you here alone?” she asked. “You were even holding six ice creams earlier.”

Ren let out a tired sigh.

“I came with my trainee and a group of… acquaintances. But somehow, they all disappeared while I was buying ice cream.”

“I see…” Camarero nodded. “So those were for them?”

“Yeah. But it’s fine. You ended up saving them from being wasted.”

Camarero smiled a little at that.

Then Ren tilted his head.

“What about you? Why are you here alone?”

“Ah… well…” Camarero scratched her cheek awkwardly. “I heard there’s a small race held by the park. I was planning to enter and win the prize…”

Ren raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you didn’t want to race yet. Something about protecting your ‘winning streak’?”

“T-That’s different!” Camarero immediately protested. “This is just a casual race! It’s not official, so it doesn’t count!”

“Right, right…” Ren said with a knowing smile.

Without realizing it, he reached out and gently patted her head.

“…Ah.”

Ren froze.

“Sorry—! I didn’t mean to—”

Camarero stood completely still, eyes wide.

Her brain lagged for a second—

Then she quickly grabbed both her ears.

“I-It’s fine!” she said, trying to steady herself.

Ren scratched his cheek awkwardly.

…This is becoming a habit.

Maybe it was because horse girls reminded him of the cats in his old neighborhood.

“…Anyway!” Camarero cleared her throat quickly, changing the subject. “Do you want to watch my race?”

Ren smiled.

“Yeah. I’ll even bet on you.”

“Good!” Camarero puffed her chest confidently again. “Because I’m going to win.”

She said it like the result was already decided.

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(A/n: short chappy 1.4k word)