At Tracen, Good at Doing Time

Was it because Air Groove and Daiichi Ruby told you a bunch of things you couldn't understand, including that a trainer thought of you as his wife, and then your head started hurting?

"I have a friend."

Girl, that opening was ancient. Put some effort into it!

Why not just say it was Special Week?

"She really wants to find a trainer."

Holy shit, was she asking me to dox myself?

Come on, Tamamo!

Listening to Silence Suzuka, Zhou Yuang began to panic.

He couldn't keep his composure over this.

"That trainer and my friend met online. They've already talked about meeting in person, but she didn't realize the trainer had gone to find her."

Huh?

"Then, in real life, my friend met another trainer. He seems a lot like the trainer she met online, but she doesn't know how to bring it up. So, Mr. Z..."

"What should that Uma Musume do?"

Trainers Are the Educators Who Guide Horse Girls!

Silence Suzuka's words made Zhou Yuang's scalp prickle.

She'd met a trainer online and planned to meet him in person, but they hadn't met. Then she'd encountered a trainer in real life who looked a lot like the one from online...

Tamamo! Wait a second!

"Uh, sorry. Let me sort this out first."

If that "friend" was Silence Suzuka herself, then the trainer she'd met online... was his AT account, wasn't it?

Silence Suzuka had promised in the game that they would share everything, and he'd accepted that promise.

He'd even said he wanted to marry Silence Suzuka in real life.

And after that, she'd run into...

Silence Suzuka was in the Livestream Room? And she figured out back then that it was me?

No, what was going on?

This wasn't how he'd imagined it.

Zhou Yuang had realized something terrifying, and he needed to verify whether it was true.

But first, he had to answer her question.

"Generally speaking, the internet is complicated. Some people show one face online and another in real life."

His account had two million followers. Of course he couldn't tell her to stick with an online romance.

That would be a bad lesson for a whole bunch of Uma Musume.

For one thing, the internet put a filter over people. It also kept their online lives separate from reality.

Online relationships weren't easy to sustain. Even long-distance relationships could go wrong, let alone one where you hadn't even seen each other's faces.

But Zhou Yuang's stomach hurt at the thought that if Silence Suzuka had been watching the Livestream Room, her online love interest was him.

He admitted that gaining Silence Suzuka's affection through the livestream would be a good thing.

But as an advice host, he absolutely couldn't encourage online romance like that.

Misleading all those naive Uma Musume listening to the show for his own benefit was something he could never accept.

He hadn't forgotten why he'd become a trainer in the first place.

Trainers were educators who guided Uma Musume onto the right path!

"My opinion might offend some decent people, but I still have to say it. Some people say one thing online and another in real life. Very few people find it easy to be the same inside and out."

Anyone could make grand promises. Keeping them was much harder.

People weren't saints. Unless someone was truly simplehearted, who could always make their words match their actions?

"If your... friend is willing to trust that online trainer, she should urge him to act soon. If he can't follow through, then he can't be trusted, and I'd advise her to give up on him early."

"As for the trainer in real life who seems like him..."

Zhou Yuang hesitated. The case of the two Uma Musume sisters earlier was a good example.

The older sister wasn't stupid, but even an upright judge would struggle with a family dispute.

When it came to his own affairs, Zhou Yuang couldn't come up with an answer quickly either.

He would need to examine himself again and again from an outsider's perspective, but he couldn't simply set aside his own point of view.

He thought for a moment and remembered how much he despised trainers who used underhanded methods to compete for talented Uma Musume.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Yuang silently swore to himself.

He would never use this identity to benefit his career as a trainer!

And while this identity wasn't that of an educator, it was still someone who helped others find their moral footing!

"He may look like the same person, but without evidence, you can't confirm that he is. What you can do is observe him and decide whether he's a good trainer."

"But I have to stress one thing: choosing a trainer is very important."

"An Uma Musume only gets one shot at those three years, and she'll probably have just one trainer in her lifetime. A trainer, on the other hand, will meet far more than one Uma Musume. The time each side commits is nowhere near equal."

Unless a trainer encountered an Uma Musume he was especially devoted to, he would train many Uma Musume.

Choosing a trainer was a gamble for an Uma Musume. A trainer chose an Uma Musume because he wanted to.

That distinction mattered.

There was an imbalance in the choice itself, too.

Of course, sometimes both sides chose each other wholeheartedly.

Some trainers might marry an Uma Musume after raising her through her racing career, but they were always a minority.

Most trainers continued working at Tracen for a long time.

The game's official setting said Tracen was desperate for talent and recruited many trainers every year.

But surely Tracen wanted trainers and Uma Musume to work together one-on-one?

You shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. If someone was applying for jobs or schools, Zhou Yuang would recommend sending out plenty of applications.

But educating Uma Musume was different. If he said that to them, would some start trying to keep several options on the hook?

No, no. He absolutely couldn't say something like that carelessly. It would teach them the wrong lesson.

"You need to think carefully before you choose. Have you heard of the wheat field story?"

"The wheat field story?"

Silence Suzuka didn't seem familiar with it.

It was a story about the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates.

Three of his students asked how to find the ideal partner, so he sent them into a wheat field.

Each had to pick the largest ear of wheat they could find. They couldn't turn back, and they could only choose one.

The first student chose in a hurry, thinking he'd found the largest. Looking back, he saw many that were far bigger than the one in his hand.

The second kept hesitating. By the time he reached the end, he realized he'd passed up a very large ear of wheat.

The third divided the field into three sections. In the first, he only looked and made a plan. In the second, he checked whether his plan held up. In the third, he picked the one he liked best.

His choice might not have been the largest or finest in the field, but it was the one he was most satisfied with.

"Life is like walking through that wheat field. We only get one chance, and we only get one chance to choose someone important to us."

An Uma Musume's racing career was brief and happened only once.

After the basic three-year career prescribed by the central association, retired Uma Musume could make a comeback in a Twinkle Series event held for them that didn't count toward their career records. But those were exhibition races, not the same as the central association's regular competitions.

"Most Uma Musume can only choose one trainer. So you have to keep your eyes open, see who deserves your trust, and make a choice you're prepared to stand by."

"Once you've thought it through, walk up to the ear of wheat you want and carry it out of the field."

"Look carefully, make a plan, and then act without wavering. After that, you won't regret it."

"You may have regrets about your youth, but all we can do is try our best. It's all right to wish something had gone differently. What we can't do is look back knowing we failed to act."

Zhou Yuang gave Silence Suzuka his advice on how to handle it.

How she would judge him as AT and as a trainer was up to her.

Only a good-for-nothing with neither talent nor character would fret over what he might gain or lose. Would someone with real ability fear a challenge?

Zhou Yuang didn't consider himself a gentleman, but he could learn to become one.

At the very least, he couldn't lead an Uma Musume astray as her trainer.

"Mr. Z, thank you so much. I understand now!"

There was a hint of excitement in Silence Suzuka's voice.

Teacher, I get it now!

I think I know what to do next.

Silence Suzuka thanked Zhou Yuang.

As an Uma Musume, she really did need to choose the trainer who suited her best.

The next time AT went live, she planned to speak up and talk to him.

But before that, she would find out whether Mr. Zhou Yuang was AT.

Then she would observe him. After all, according to Zhou Yuang, people could have two different faces.

Though she couldn't rule out the possibility of a third.

But if she liked his other side too, wouldn't falling for him mean liking him twice as much?

Now Silence Suzuka could sleep peacefully.

She planned to turn in early and go find Zhou Yuang tomorrow.

Zhou Yuang, meanwhile, was still working. He had to finish his allotted time before he could stop.

Silence Suzuka thanked him and ended the call.

That left everyone else in the Livestream Room listening to Zhou Yuang's relationship advice show.

Time passed quickly. After dealing with a few more cases, it was time for Zhou Yuang to end the stream.

Beside a tent in a mountainous area, a black-haired horse girl out camping sighed at the phone in her hand. She had entered the number but never called.

She backed out of the call screen and stopped listening.

In an Uma Musume dorm room, another Uma Musume with short black hair turned off her device and looked at her roommate in the bed opposite.

Her chestnut-haired roommate lay sprawled across the bed in an absurd sleeping position. For an Uma Musume who wanted to become an idol, she certainly slept without a shred of grace.

She hoped her roommate's antics wouldn't wake her tomorrow morning and throw off her plans.

"..."

In a rather lavish room, a mature-looking Uma Musume listened to Zhou Yuang's voice.

She lifted an elegant cup and took a sip of tea. When Zhou Yuang's stream ended, she turned off her device.

She gazed at the moon outside her window, silently considering what to do next.

The Uma Musume and trainers who had tuned in closed the stream with some reluctance and returned to their own affairs.

Zhou Yuang himself wondered what he should do.

Silence Suzuka was bound to do something next. As for him...

"Why worry about all that? Time to fire up that French masterpiece!"

Without another word, Zhou Yuang launched his accelerator, ready for a round of Rainbow Six.