The Reason She Cried

An incredulous look appeared on Kitasan Black's face.

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She tried several times to speak, but it was as if something had caught in her throat.

After a long while, she finally stammered, at a loss:

"Contract termination... dismissal... why?

"Takarazuka's results are pretty good.

"Trainer said she's won twice and come in second twice so far...

"Ah, she should have come in second three times now, and third twice.

"Anyone who places in the top five appears on the scoreboard. With results like that... why would her trainer be transferred?"

"Well..."

Vodka paused to think.

"Do you remember? At lunch on the day of the race, Senior T.M. Opera O said that Takarazuka's trainer... had 'sort of' been her trainer once."

She put extra emphasis on the words "sort of."

Kitasan Black noticed at once, but she didn't understand why her senior had stressed that point.

Vodka didn't keep her guessing.

"You should know about Senior T.M. Opera O's record.

"She won fourteen races in her career, including seven G1s. Since the Shining Series began, she's been one of the few 'Seven Crown Champions.'

"But before her debut, she was actually a lot like you. No one thought much of her."

Kitasan Black was astonished.

"N-no way! A senior like T.M. Opera O... she went through something like that, too?"

Daiwa Scarlet cut in:

"It's not hard to imagine, Little Kita.

"Senior Oguri Cap went through something similar.

"My main trainer used to be one of Senior Oguri Cap's trainers. They knew each other from the regional circuit.

"You know what my trainer is like. You could say he's one of the best trainers still active.

"And yet even he didn't recognize Senior Oguri Cap's talent at first. He never imagined she could win central graded stakes and G1s, let alone so many of them.

"Especially after he realized how incredible Senior Oguri Cap's talent was, he was willing to terminate their contract himself and urge her to move on to the central circuit, even though he knew what kind of honor he could gain by keeping her as his trainee.

"So it's not hard to imagine a talented racing girl being denied a chance to show what she can do. It's not rare, either. It happens all the time."

Until now, Kitasan Black had never heard of anything like this, especially not the seniors' private histories.

Hearing it all so suddenly, she was stunned and didn't know what to say.

"It was more or less as Daiwa said."

Vodka continued:

"After being rejected by so many trainers, Senior T.M. Opera O didn't give up. She looked for opportunities everywhere.

"That was when she met the only person willing to support her."

Kitasan Black fell silent for a moment.

"Was it her trainer...?"

She didn't really want to call her "sort of" or "once" his trainee.

In her eyes, shouldn't a trainer and a racing girl trust each other, work hard together, and see things through to the end, the way she and Anjing Zhen did?

Sensing her feelings, Vodka didn't press the point.

"Yeah, that's right.

"But at the time, she was still a student at the Trainer Academy, assisting several seniors who had just passed the trainer exam.

"I don't know exactly what happened between her and Senior T.M. Opera O. Probably only the two of them know.

"Anyway, thanks to her efforts, one of her seniors agreed to sign Senior T.M. Opera O and give her a try.

"You know what happened after that. Senior T.M. Opera O went from being completely unknown to becoming a racing girl famous throughout the world, and the person who supported her eventually got a trainer's license, too."

Kitasan Black thought it over. She nodded as if she understood, then shook her head.

"I think I get it, but..."

She hesitated.

"If that trainer met a genius racing girl like Senior T.M. Opera O before she debuted, she must have learned a lot from her. She should be a great trainer now.

"If that's the case, why would she be dismissed...?"

She couldn't finish.

The three seniors in front of her had all made the same strangely peculiar expression.

The expression seemed familiar. She quickly remembered that at lunch on the day of the race, Anjing Zhen, Daiwa Scarlet, and Vodka had worn the exact same look after she'd said something similar.

"Little Kita, let me ask you something... or rather, take a guess."

Vodka took a deep breath, then suddenly changed the subject.

"Over the years since that trainer got her license, how many G1s do you think the racing girls she coached won?"

Though she knew nothing about the matter, Kitasan Black could vaguely hear the pessimism in her senior's tone.

She pursed her lips, hesitated, then raised a hand.

"Senior T.M. Opera O won seven G1s. Even if the racing girls that trainer coached later weren't as good, she must've helped them win at least five G1s, right?"

Vodka stared at her hand for a moment, then gave a strange smile and shook her head.

"Nope. Guess again."

"Not even five...?"

Kitasan Black froze.

"Then... four? No, three?"

She lowered two fingers in succession. When Vodka still shook her head, she couldn't help feeling shocked.

"Could it be... just one? That's way too..."

She was about to say it was way too ridiculous, but her expression stiffened.

Vodka was still shaking her head.

"The right answer is... none at all."

Once again, Kitasan Black fell silent.

She'd never expected that answer, but she knew Vodka wouldn't lie to her.

Especially since Daiwa Scarlet and Einis Fushin both looked deeply moved and said nothing, as if they accepted it. There was no reason to doubt it.

Shocked by the revelation, she also understood why the Satomi family had dismissed that trainer.

They didn't usually talk about it in depth, but from bits and pieces she'd heard from the Satono Sisters, she could tell the family had very high expectations of them.

By a strange coincidence, just like that trainer's record over the years, the Satomi family had been part of the Shining Series for years without winning a single G1. It was easy to imagine the pressure her friends were under.

That pressure wouldn't just affect the racing girls. It would naturally affect their trainers, too.

If they couldn't win races, they'd bring in someone else to coach them.

That was probably how the Satomi family viewed its trainers.

A family like that had enough resources to do just that.

But even if she hadn't won any races, that trainer must have given Satono Takarazuka a lot, just as Anjing Zhen had given so much to her.

Perhaps some of her earlier victories had come from all that hard work.

So Satono Takarazuka must have been grateful to her trainer, just as Kitasan Black was grateful to Anjing Zhen.

Now her trainer had been dismissed after a single failure. That must be why Takarazuka had been crying...

Senior T.M. Opera O, Crown-chan, and Diamond-chan must have been trying to comfort her...

Thinking about it, Kitasan Black couldn't help thinking of Anjing Zhen, and then she began to understand.

"...So, Trainer..."

Looking toward the rental apartment where Anjing Zhen lived, the black-haired girl murmured to herself.

"He must know all about this.

"When I asked him that day, he didn't tell me. Maybe he didn't want to put pressure on me, or make me worry about him..."