Chapter 57: White and darkness together—somehow it looks unbeatable.

After various twists and turns, I obtained the privilege of being called by a nickname by my trainer.

…Well, to be fair, he still calls other Uma Musume by nicknames in his head, so on its own, maybe it doesn’t quite qualify as a “privilege.”

But when you factor in the promise I secured amid the chaos—“When it’s just the two of us, I’ll call you by your nickname”—it becomes an enormous advantage. Honestly, you could even call it a safety lead at this point.

Whether or not the trainer has romantic feelings aside, I believe I’ve successfully defended my position as the number-one favorite in the Love Derby: the Horino Ayumu Stakes.

Of course, just like in racing, popularity doesn’t always translate into results when it comes to love. Complacency is the enemy, always leave yourself some margin, and all that—but setting that aside.

With the Trainer–McQueen-senpai issue resolved, there was another problem I needed to tackle next.

Huh? The Me–Rice-chan problem? No, that one’s basically unsolvable at the moment, so we’ll shelve it.

Japan Cup preparations? I’m already training hard, so that’s fine.

No—what I mean isn’t something so tangible.

Surely you haven’t forgotten that Hoshino Wilm still has one more very, very big challenge ahead.

"Hoshino Wilm-san, I’ve received a message from my brother. He says, ‘I’ve been called in by the URA Project Production Department today, so there will be no post-training meeting. After doing appropriate stretching together with Mihono Bourbon, you may go home.’"

"Thank you for your hard work today. Here are a towel, some water, and salt candies. I’ll inform my brother about the equipment issues, so there’s no need for you to worry."

As she said that, Masa-san smiled beautifully.

…Yes.

Hoshino Wilm has to deepen her relationship with her—with Horino Masa-san.

Horino Masa-san.

The younger sister of my trainer, Horino Ayumu-san.

From what I heard while I was hospitalized, she’s the eldest daughter of the Horino family—and also the youngest among the siblings.

A sister who was cute as a child, and as she grew, became strong and intelligent—someone he’s proud of. Though she’s picked up a few rough edges along the way, at her core she’s a serious and kind woman… or so he said.

Honestly, the trainer’s evaluations aren’t very reliable. There aren’t many people as bad at judging others as he is.

So I took that assessment with a grain of salt… but—

After observing her myself, I do think Masa-san is indeed a “strong, intelligent, serious, and kind woman.”

…More precisely, I should probably say that she wears a mask like that, at the very least.

"Brother, if we’re expensing the sports drink, which category does it fall under? Consumables? …Okay, bundle it with the other consumables, got it."

"I think there’s a typo here. It says Speed 6057—are you sure that’s correct?"

"…Phew, paperwork’s finally sorted. Time for a brea—what? More? In an hour? …Haaaah."

"You’re turning your notes into documents, then digitizing them again? That’s doing things twice. It’s ridiculous. If you just managed things properly, you could cut down on the workload, couldn’t you?"

Sure, her mouth can be a little—no, fairly—no, honestly, quite sharp…

But even while enduring the absurd workload imposed on trainers—a form of torture… I mean, “rigorous training”—she never grows bitter, steadily chipping away at her tasks.

She openly points out improvements she notices and actively works to streamline operations—a proactive attitude.

And that’s not all. Her communication with us trainee Uma Musume is also…

"Hoshino Wilm-san, this is the acrylic keychain that’s going to be made for you. Please check whether you’re satisfied with the design and texture. If there’s anything at all, feel free to say so. …You’re right, it might be the lighting, but the color around the ear accessory is a bit off. It’s fine—this level can be fixed in editing."

"Mihono Bourbon-san, the pool’s circulation and purification system has broken down, so today’s swimming session from 13:00 to 15:00 has been changed. You’ll be doing squats and treadmill training in the gym together with Hoshino Wilm-san. Here’s a towel—please use it."

"Both of you, good work on today’s training. I bought some pudding from a delicious shop behind the station. It’s in the trainer room refrigerator—please eat the one with your name on it. When you’re done, just put the container back in the fridge as it is."

Like this—she might seem curt at first glance, but she’s actually very considerate.

I especially appreciate the snacks she brings us after training. Bourbon-chan and I always enjoy them together; they add a little color to our everyday routine.

They’re a bit pricey—nothing I’d buy for myself—but they make me genuinely happy in a quiet, understated way.

That’s a strength she has that our emotionally oblivious trainer lacks. Well, to be fair, that obliviousness is part of his charm.

…Come to think of it, even though they’re siblings, the two of them have completely different personalities. I’ve been an only child in both my past and present lives, so I don’t really know, but maybe that’s just how it is.

Anyway, back to the point.

Masa-san is beautiful, kind-hearted, and almost feels like some kind of perfect superhuman.

…That said, of course, there’s no such thing as a perfect person in this world.

At best, what she shows is a mask, and whether it reflects her true feelings is unclear—but setting that aside.

I need to get as close to her as possible.

After all, Masa-san is the real younger sister of the trainer I’m in love with, Horino Ayumu-san.

From the perspective of my ultimate goal, building a good relationship with her is essential—not only to shorten the path to that destination, but also to ensure a smooth and happy new life once I get there.

There’s a saying about shooting the horse before the general… though in a world where Uma Musume aren’t used as cavalry, that proverb probably doesn’t exist.

In any case, I want to build at least a decent relationship with her—and if possible, deepen it to the point where we can call each other friends.

However, there is one extremely pressing problem standing in the way.

That problem is…

"…………"

"Um, is something wrong, Hoshino Wilm-san? If you stare at me like that, it makes me a bit self-conscious."

"No, please don’t worry about it."

"That’s not very reassuring…"

I am not good at making friends.

Let me tell you about Hoshino Wilm.

I’m a reincarnated Uma Musume with memories of my past life.

A special, borderline-cheat existence with several times the life experience of ordinary Uma Musume in this world.

But even so, I’m still just one incomplete life among many. There are things I lack, areas I’m bad at—those definitely exist.

And the biggest of them is experience and skill in communication.

I have very few friends. …That sounded like the title of an old light novel, but it’s an undeniably cruel fact.

In my past life, I had literally none.

Maybe because my home environment was complicated, I didn’t like being around people or communicating with them.

And despite not even liking those things, I still longed for friends like everyone else—yet my thinking was weirdly rigid, so I never tried to make friends myself or participate in events… yeah, remembering it now gives me a headache. I was the textbook definition of a gloomy loner.

Naturally, someone like that wasn’t going to make friends, and my life ended in solitude.

From that experience, I learned that if you want something, you have to work for it yourself. Friends, achievements, and even love. Proactiveness is the most important thing. Source: me.

And in this life… I’ve been blessed with two precious friends: Nature and Teio.

Yes—I finally succeeded in making friends.

…But.

Whether that can truly be called my own accomplishment is honestly debatable.

With Nature, I did try hard myself, so I think I can give myself some credit. Though she was a little put off, and it probably wasn’t the best approach.

But with Teio, it was completely the flow of events. Being rivals in the classic races, being hospitalized together, talking because we were bored—those factors combined, and we just happened to become close.

Which means I lack experience points when it comes to making friends.

On top of that, judging from Nature’s reactions back then, I’m probably not very good at this.

I don’t even have a clear sense of what friendship really is, or what the “goal” looks like—how you know you’ve become friends.

For me, it’s like being given a proof problem without being told what you’re supposed to prove. There’s only so much you can do in that situation.

If I mess this up, there’s a real chance Masa-san will be put off, just like Nature was back then.

That would be bad. Very bad. Unlike Nature, whose trainer liked me and kept things close, Masa-san is in a position where she can easily take a step back.

If that happens, improving our relationship any further would be difficult. An irreversible game over.

In short, “getting close to Masa-san” is an important mission that I absolutely cannot fail—despite having neither experience nor talent.

…Still, if I stumble over something like this, I’d be disqualified as a reincarnated cheat Uma Musume.

I can’t say I can do everything… but I am a reincarnator who can handle most things, at least.

I need to properly become friends with Masa-san and march toward a bright future—let’s go!

And for that, first…

"…………"

"Hoshino Wilm-san?"

"What is it?"

"No, I mean, that’s kind of my line…"

Yes—before anything else, observation was the key.

According to my beloved reference book, Even an Idiot Can Understand How to Make Friends, the most important trick to making friends is taking an interest in the other person and getting to know them.

"If you take an interest in someone, naturally you’ll want to know more about them. And once you want to know more, you’ll start asking them all kinds of questions without even thinking about it. Makes sense, right?

Most people feel good when they get to talk about themselves. So if you ask questions and get them to open up in a comfortable way, you learn about them while also making them feel good. It’s basically like a hostess club!

After that, as long as you maintain a high degree of flexibility and respond appropriately to the situation, making friends becomes easy! Instead of slacking off reading books like this, you should start by actually talking to people!"

The tone is downright condescending—like it’s calling me an idiot and looking down on society as a whole—but the actual content is hard to argue with.

If you boil it down, the ultimate goal of communication is mutual understanding. If you don’t keep that firmly in mind, then even if you do manage to become friends, you might fail to maintain the relationship later on.

With another Uma Musume, you can achieve mutual understanding by clashing territories or letting them overlap—but when the other party is a normal human, that’s not an option.

Observation, conversation, and sharing experiences together are the only ways to truly understand each other. When you think about it, communication is pretty inconvenient.

The real difficulty here is… even if I try talking to Masa-san right now, there’s no guarantee things will go smoothly.

A lot of the time, when you’re starting something new and someone says, “If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask,” the real problem is that you don’t even know what you don’t understand.

That’s exactly where I am now. I have no idea what I should even be asking Masa-san.

Favorite color? Favorite season? Dogs or cats? If you had to choose, Hokkaido or Okinawa?

Where do I start? How do I keep the conversation going? I have no clue.

So for the time being, I’d been observing Masa-san, hoping to find some kind of entry point—but then…

All of a sudden, Masa-san stood up.

As I tilted my head, wondering if she was tired from work, she said something completely unexpected.

"…All right. Hoshino Wilm-san, shall we talk for a bit?

Brother, I’ll be stepping out for a while. I’m borrowing one of your girls."

"Huh? Ah, sure. Hoshino Wilm was scheduled to be off today anyway, so if she’s fine with it, I don’t mind."

"A conversation…? Ah—yes. I’ll go."

And just like that, an opportunity for dialogue was abruptly arranged.

This is bad. I’m totally unprepared. I can’t think of a single good topic.

…No—this is a gift from the heavens. There’s no way I’m not taking advantage of it.

I’ll do whatever it takes to win Masa-san’s heart—well, that sounds a bit off, but at the very least, I’ll grab hold of this chance to become friends…!

At Masa-san’s request, I returned briefly to my dorm room and changed into my disguise outfit.

Wondering where on earth she planned to take me after making me change out of my uniform, I tilted my head—only for her to whisk me out of the Tracen grounds and toward the city before I could even process it.

"Um… is this really okay? Going out like this in the middle of the day…"

"Students of Tracen Academy are, in principle, allowed free time after noon. Officially speaking, your training and meetings are considered activities you choose to do during that free time."

"That’s not what I meant—I was thinking, you’re leaving even though you still have work, right?"

"…I see. You were worried about me. Don’t worry—trainers and sub-trainers are granted a certain amount of freedom so they can stay close to their Uma Musume. Even my brother leaves the academy on weekdays fairly often, doesn’t he?"

"Now that you mention it… yeah, that’s true."

My trainer often goes out with me while I’m running, or heads to the URA to smooth things over—he leaves the academy pretty frequently.

If that kind of flexibility weren’t officially permitted, he wouldn’t be able to do any of that.

"I may only be an intern right now, but my role is treated as that of a sub-trainer. This level of freedom is allowed.

…Besides, since I’m not being paid, I technically don’t count as a worker. Strictly speaking, I can’t even be ordered to ‘work.’"

As Masa-san shrugged with a slightly playful air… I finally found one question I wanted to ask above all else.

"Um… why is it that… how should I put this… you’re so prickly toward my trainer…?"

As I asked—fully aware of how awkward the question was—I thought I saw Masa-san’s back twitch, just slightly.

"That’s because…"

However, before the words that followed could take shape, she came to a stop.

"…We’re here. Shall we continue our conversation inside?"

With those words, the place I was invited into was… a very famous, stylish café.

A slightly dim, moody atmosphere. The main color scheme was black, but white accents were woven in to keep it from becoming too dark, and the warm glow of incandescent lighting tied the whole space together. With my limited vocabulary, that’s about as well as I can describe this fashionable environment—but in any case, this place is…!

"It’s that Star-bucks place…!"

"Hoshino Wilm-san?"

I instinctively took a small step back, prompting Masa-san to tilt her head at me in puzzlement—but surely anyone of the same introverted persuasion would understand how I feel.

Introverts are, fundamentally, bad at adapting to the mood of a place. Or rather, maybe it’s more accurate to say that because they’re bad at adapting, they become introverts in the first place. Well, that’s just personality, and it’s not like living in sync with others is some absolute moral good—introverts should live however they like, too… but anyway.

The point is, introverts are weak against “atmosphere.”

That’s exactly why spaces like this—places where you’re expected to “go with the vibe and have fun”—inspire an instinctive sense of fear and rejection.

As for me, in my past life I had absolutely no connection to places like this. Or rather, I should say I had no connection to anywhere outside my room. Even after becoming Hoshino Wilm, the fanciest places I’d gone to were slightly upscale restaurants I treated my trainer to—and even those leaned more toward the romantic side, not full-on, unapologetically stylish like this.

Which means this is unknown territory. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it an unexplored world for me.

"Uh, this is the place where you have to chant a spell, right?"

"A spell?"

"L-like… fra-dance? Shot? Papi-pupe-po? Something like that?"

"…Pfft."

"Hey—wait, you laughed just now, didn’t you!? J-just because I’m a beginner, you’re making fun of me!?"

"No… sorry. I misunderstood a little. Hoshino Wilm-san, you’re surprisingly cute."

"C-cute… you’re totally making fun of me, aren’t you!"

In the end, I ordered whatever Masa-san recommended.

…No, seriously, it really is like a spell. What even is a Dark Mocha Chip Cream Frappuccino with almond milk, extra chocolate sauce and white mocha syrup, tall size?

Dark—I get that. Darkness. A word deeply familiar to nerds in more ways than one. Mocha chip—well, I don’t know the details, but I can imagine it. Sounds sweet. Cream—easy enough. The stuff you put on cakes, right? Frappuccino—what is that? I’ve heard the word, and I know it’s some kind of drink, but beyond that I have no clue. Tom yum goong is easier to picture. Almond milk—I’ve heard of it, never tried it, but I can tell it’s probably sweet and tasty. Chocolate sauce—finally, a reassuringly clear word. It feels like coming home. What if it turns out not to be the chocolate sauce I’m imagining? Like expecting Japanese curry and getting Indian curry instead—no way, right?

And then there’s white mocha syrup. That sense of comfort lasted less than a few seconds before dying out. It’s one of those words that feels like you almost understand it, but not quite. Also, why does “dark” show up at the beginning, only for “white” to appear later? Even Pokémon split things cleanly into Black and White—what kind of greed is this?

And to top it all off: tall. Who are you supposed to be? Why does a god suddenly show up? From the sound of it, it seems to mean “medium size,” but if tall is medium, what’s above that? Odin? Or maybe the Norns or the Disir? A mythological war to determine who ranks above and below whom is about to begin.

…Yeah, no. This is still unfamiliar and incomprehensible. What is this army of words? It really is a spell.

"Hoshino Wilm-san, had you never been here before?"

"I’ve been invited a few times, but my sense of aversion always won out…"

"I see. Then do you think you’ll be able to come again now?"

"No, if anything, I kind of want to come even less now…"

"That’s a shame. …Well then, go ahead—try drinking it."

"Thank you. …………Mm. I retract my previous statement. Next time, I’ll come with friends."

"That’s good to hear."

Masa-san looked at me with the corners of her mouth relaxed just a little. There was a faint air of adult composure about her that could have been irritating… but right now, I was completely absorbed in this unknown sweetness.

No, seriously—this is insanely expensive, but it’s really good. I’d thought paying six or seven hundred yen for a single drink was madness, but… yeah, if it’s this good, it might be worth it as a once-a-week treat. It feels a little too indulgent, but… h-heh, it’s fine, right? I do make a fair amount of money, after all.

"…I see. I was being overly cautious."

"?"

Still holding the straw in my mouth, I turned my gaze toward Masa-san. She kept her eyes on her cup and murmured quietly.

"You can tell if you watch closely—and I think you’ve realized it too. …Both you and I are good at putting on expressions."

"…Ah, um, you’re just going to say that outright?"

It’s true—I’d thought of Masa-san as the same type as me, someone who’s good at wearing a mask. And the fact that she said it outright meant we really were alike.

Subtle speech patterns, timing of movements, habits, faint traces of unnaturalness—we’re sensitive to those things precisely because we’re good at wearing masks. That’s why we’re quick to notice other people’s fabricated expressions… their masks.

Not even a full week had passed since we met, but it was more than enough time for both of us to reach that conclusion with certainty.

…Even so, saying something like that out loud is, well… kind of bold.

If I turned out to be wrong, it would be awkward. Honestly, it feels like a difficult thing to bring up.

"Since you’ve already seen through it, there’s no point in hiding it. More importantly, at our core, we’re not enemies—we’re allies. Rather than continuing to be unnecessarily wary, wouldn’t it be better to speak frankly and work toward mutual understanding?"

"That’s true… you’re right.

…Wait, but if you say you were ‘being overly cautious,’ does that mean you were… wary of me?"

"No, that’s… over the past few days, I’ve constantly felt your gaze. If it seems like someone is on guard against you, it’s only natural to be on guard in return, wouldn’t you say?"

"Huh?"

On guard? No, I don’t think I was being wary—

…Wait. My gaze. That gaze.

…Yeah. I was totally staring. Like, a lot.

"I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put you on guard… I just wanted, um, some kind of chance to get closer to you, Masa-san, so I was observing you, or rather…"

"…I see. So that’s what it was."

Masa-san smiled softly—small, unpolished, and natural.

I want to believe that there was at least a bit of her true feelings in that smile.

"I’m relieved. I was worried about what I’d do if the world’s undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume ended up disliking me."

"That could never happen! You’re always so considerate toward us, Masa-san."

"That’s only natural—ah, no, I see. Your standard is my brother, isn’t it? Honestly, that man…"

Masa-san lightly pressed a hand to her head.

It’s not like the trainer isn’t considerate at all. He’s just a bit oblivious to other people’s feelings—or rather, he tends to cause trouble because of it…

It’s true that he lacks subtlety, but both Bourbon-chan and I prioritize running above all else, so it doesn’t bother us much. And as a trainer, his skill is outstanding, so, yeah…

Ah—right. Speaking of the trainer, there was something I still wanted to ask.

"By the way, about what I asked earlier—why do you act so prickly toward my trainer?"

…The moment I asked that,

Masa-san’s atmosphere changed.

Objectively speaking, the change was small: her eyes lowered slightly, and the corners of her mouth fell.

That alone was enough to erase the faint warmth beneath her cool demeanor, replacing it with an air that was distant, cold, and hard to approach.

"There’s no complicated reason. It’s very simple."

She tightened her grip on the cup just a little, then closed her eyes.

"…I simply hate that brother of mine.

It’s not unusual to be cold toward someone you dislike, is it?"