The Reason She Cried

An expression of disbelief appeared on Hokubu Genkoma's face.

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She tried several times to speak, but it felt as though something were stuck in her throat.

After a long while, she finally stammered in confusion:

"Terminate the contract... fire her... why?

"Satono Diamond's results are pretty good.

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

"Ah, that should be three second-place finishes now, and two third-place finishes.

"The top five all appear on the results board. With results like those... why would her trainer be transferred?"

"Well..."

Vodka pondered for a moment.

"Do you remember? At lunch on the day of the race, Good Opera said that Satono Diamond's trainer had once 'sort of' been her trainer too."

She emphasized the words "sort of."

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

Vodka didn't keep her in suspense.

"You should know Good Opera's record.

"She won fourteen races in her career, including seven G1s. She was one of the very few 'Seven-Crown Champions' since the Shining Series began.

"But before her debut, she was actually a lot like you. No one had much faith in her."

Hokubu Genkoma was astonished.

"N-no way! A senior like Good Opera... she went through that too?"

Yamato Akagi chimed in:

"It's not hard to imagine, Xiao Bei.

"Oguri Cap went through something similar.

"My main trainer used to be one of Oguri Cap's trainers. They knew each other back when they were in the local circuit.

"You know how good my trainer is. You could say he's one of the best active trainers.

"But even he didn't recognize Oguri Cap's talent at first. He never thought she could win Central's major races and G1s, let alone so many of them.

"Even after he realized how astonishing Oguri Cap's talent was, he knew what keeping their partnership would bring him. Still, he was willing to terminate the contract himself and encourage her to do the same. That's how Oguri Cap eventually made it to the Central circuit.

"So it's not hard to imagine a talented Uma Musume never getting the chance to show what she can do. It's not rare, either. It's actually quite ordinary."

Until then, Hokubu Genkoma had never heard of anything like this, especially the many secrets surrounding her seniors.

Learning it all so suddenly left her stunned, unsure what to say.

"That's more or less what Yamato said,"

Vodka continued.

"After many trainers turned her down, Good Opera didn't give up. She kept looking for opportunities.

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

Hokubu Genkoma fell silent for a moment.

"Was it her trainer...?"

She didn't really want to say words like "sort of" or "used to."

In her eyes, shouldn't a trainer and an Uma Musume trust each other, work hard together, and stay together until the end, the way she and Yasui Makoto did?

Vodka seemed to sense this, so she didn't press the point.

"Yeah, that's right.

"But at the time, she was still a student at the Trainer Academy, working as an assistant to several seniors who had just passed the trainer exam.

"I don't know exactly what happened between her and Good Opera. Only the two of them probably know.

"Anyway, thanks to her efforts, one of her seniors agreed to sign Good Opera and give her a try.

"You know what happened after that. Good Opera went from an unknown to an Uma Musume famous throughout the world, and the person who supported her went on to earn a Trainer License."

Hokubu Genkoma thought it over. She nodded as if she understood, then shook her head.

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

She hesitated.

"If she met a genius Uma Musume like Good Opera before her debut, that trainer must have learned a lot. She should be really good now.

"If that's the case, why was she fired..."

She couldn't finish.

The three seniors in front of her had all made the same deeply strange expression.

The expression looked familiar. She quickly remembered that on the day of the race, after she'd said something similar, Yasui Makoto, Yamato Akagi, and Vodka had worn the exact same look.

"Xiao Bei, let me ask you something... or, make a guess."

Vodka took a deep breath and abruptly changed the subject.

"Of all the Uma Musume that trainer coached after earning her license, how many G1 races do you think they won?"

Although she knew nothing about the matter, Hokubu Genkoma could faintly hear the pessimism in her senior's voice.

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

"Good Opera won seven G1s. Even if the Uma Musume that trainer coached afterward weren't as good, she must have helped them win at least five G1s, right?"

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

"Nope. Guess again."

"Not even five...?"

Hokubu Genkoma froze.

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

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

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

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

Vodka was still shaking her head.

"The right answer is... none."

Once again, Hokubu Genkoma fell silent.

She hadn't expected that answer at all, but she knew Vodka wouldn't lie to her.

Especially since Yamato Akagi and Aunise Fuujin looked moved by the story and didn't say anything, as though they agreed. There was even less reason to doubt it.

Along with the shock, she understood why the Satomi Family had fired that trainer.

They didn't often discuss it in depth, but from a few things the Satono Sisters had said, she could tell their family had high expectations of them.

By sheer coincidence, just like that trainer's experiences over the years, the Satomi Family had been competing in the Shining Series for many years without a single G1 win. She could imagine the pressure her friends were under.

That pressure would affect not only the Uma Musume, but their trainers as well.

If they couldn't win, they'd find someone else to coach them.

That was probably how the Satomi Family saw its trainers.

A family with resources like theirs could afford to do that.

But even without any wins, that trainer must have given Satono Diamond as much as Yasui Makoto had given her.

Maybe those hard efforts were what had brought some of their earlier victories.

So Satono Diamond must be grateful to that trainer, just as she was grateful to Yasui Makoto.

Now that her trainer had been fired after one failure, Satono Diamond must have cried because of it...

Good Opera, Crown-chan, and Light Diamond-chan must have been comforting her...

Thinking about all this, Hokubu Genkoma found herself thinking of Yasui Makoto. Then, little by little, she began to understand.

"...So Trainer..."

Looking in the direction of Yasui Makoto's rented apartment, the black-haired girl murmured to herself.

"He definitely knows about all this.

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