After the voice abruptly stopped, Kitasan Black fell silent.
When she had asked just now, she had not thought much of it.
Only after the words left her mouth did she belatedly remember that during the Tenno Sho Autumn race with Stay Gold, Silent Suzuka had suffered a serious accident after passing the fourth turn, fracturing her leg.
Although she had recovered after lengthy treatment, fractures were forever something every Horse Girl found hard to come to terms with and wanted to avoid at all costs.
For a moment, she regretted speaking without thinking.
Yet just as remorse surfaced in her heart, she felt a warm, soft hand rest atop her head.
She looked up in surprise and met Silent Suzuka's eyes, which held a comforting smile. She froze.
"Suzuka Senpai..."
"You don't need to care about it so much, Little Kita."
Smiling, Silent Suzuka said softly, "They're all things of the past. I don't care about them.
"Rather, it was precisely because I went through something like that that I became a rehabilitation specialist.
"Fractures are certainly something no one wants to encounter. We all want to run freely, forever.
"I can't predict the future. Since that's the case, doing everything I can to prevent things even more heartbreaking than accidents from happening is probably what I should do.
"At least, that's what I think."
Kitasan Black was even more surprised. She had not expected her senior to be so indifferent toward the past.
At the same time, Rice Shower looked over with a comforting gaze as well.
"Rice's thoughts... are similar to Suzuka's.
"At the Takarazuka Kinen, Rice also went through the same thing as Suzuka...
"Rice isn't as amazing as Suzuka, but Rice wanted to do something for everyone too, so after retiring, Rice wanted to become