How Trainers Differ from Uma Musume

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Sunday Silence was getting annoyed.

But on the screen, Nogami Zenkyō froze with her crutch still raised.

She turned to look at the ruined cake on the floor beside her. Only then did she realize how frightening she had been while her emotions had taken over.

She lowered her crutch and looked at McQueen.

"I won't forgive you. Never..."

As long as I'm still an Uma Musume, I'll never accept your apology.

Nogami Zenkyō forced herself to stay calm, suppressing her fear as she spoke coldly to McQueen.

She turned to leave. She did not want to see McQueen or speak to her. Either would remind her of the accident that had changed her life as an Uma Musume.

"Wait! What happened was entirely my fault. I'll do everything I can to make it right. Hit me, yell at me—let me take responsibility for all of it, whether it's the medical bills or..."

McQueen had not even remembered to thank Gold Ship. She hurried forward, trying to stop Nogami Zenkyō from leaving.

She reached out, but the distance between them was too great. She could not even catch the edge of Nogami Zenkyō's clothes and ask her to stay and talk.

Perhaps the moment McQueen had cut across her path in the Tenno Sho Autumn was the closest they would ever be.

"I don't need it!"

Nogami Zenkyō shouted her refusal without looking back. All McQueen saw was her desolate figure walking away on crutches.

With a little less luck, she really would have had no choice but to leave Tracen Academy.

McQueen tried to follow, but Gold Ship caught her by the shoulder.

"That's enough, McQueen. Going after her won't help."

*It's only natural that she won't accept your apology. If you crowd her