Hearing Tokai Teio's words, Deep Impact paused for a moment.
"...Kitasan Black?"
She looked at Tokai Teio. "What kind of Horse Girl is she in the President's eyes?"
"...Why are you suddenly asking that?"
After a moment of surprise, Tokai Teio quickly smiled.
"Little Kita... I'd say she's like the sun. Or perhaps a flame that will never go out."
Deep Impact pondered for a moment. "She sounds... warm and cheerful?"
"She's also very kind and sensible."
Tokai Teio added with a smile, gratitude and reminiscence flashing through her eyes. Reaching into her uniform collar, she pulled out an Omamori.
The edges of its indigo silk were covered in frayed threads. The stitching was crude, and it had clearly been altered again and again, yet it had been sewn together tightly.
As though its maker had not yet learned to write Chinese characters, the "o" embroidered on the front was written in katakana. Yet every stroke of that character and the character for "mamori" was remarkably neat.
For some reason, Deep Impact vaguely felt that the person who had made this Omamori was probably not good at handicrafts, but had put an immense amount of care into making it.
Still, she did not understand what Tokai Teio meant.
"This is...?"
"It was the day I first submitted my retirement application to the President. I remember it clearly."
Tokai Teio looked through the window at Central Treisen Academy's track, where figures were sweating and running with all their might beneath the orange-red light.
"It was also the first time I felt that I no longer needed to run when I stepped onto the track. That day, I went to the park, caught plush toys, bought new clothes, sang karaoke, took photo booth pictures, rode the little cars... For the first time,