Whether it was only to be expected or exactly as he had foreseen, the result was the same.
The moment Urara, her eyes faintly red, tightly grabbed Urushihara Tōru's hand and declared, "This person is my trainer. No one can take him away," Tōru immediately felt the heavy atmosphere that had been lingering in the chairwoman's office quietly dissipate.
After that, Hayakawa Tazuna, the chairwoman's secretary, pulled Akiyama Yayoi aside and whispered something into her ear.
As a side note, although Tōru could not hear what the two of them were actually saying, he could hear the chairwoman's inner thoughts.
So this is a horse girl chosen by that person?
The emotion behind it was intense.
Who exactly was that person?
For even the chairwoman of Central Tracen to be this shocked—
Before he could fully think it through, he saw Tazuna step away from Yayoi's side.
"Splendid! The fragrance of the bond between horse girl and trainer, something that ought to take years to cultivate, has appeared between two people who only just met. Such passion born from the two of them running side by side—how moving!"
Akiyama Yayoi opened her folding fan, and at some point the characters on it had changed to Magnificent.
"Since both of you insist so strongly, then I shall acknowledge the contract you two have formed today."
After saying that, she waved a hand toward Tazuna.
"Tazuna."
With only her name spoken, the green-uniformed secretary instantly understood Yayoi's intent. From somewhere behind her—who knew where she had been hiding it—she produced a folder and took out three documents, placing them before Urushihara Tōru and Haru Urara.
At the top, in bold letters, was written:
Central Tracen Academy Assigned Partnership Registration Form
"There are three copies in total. One is kept by the academy, one by the trainer, and one by the horse girl herself. Under normal circumstances, these would first be reviewed by the personnel department before being submitted to the chairwoman's office. But today is an exceptional case."
When she said that, Tazuna's voice paused slightly.
Even though I did speak up for Trainer Urushihara, is this really for the best…?
Huh?
Was that Miss Tazuna's inner voice?
Tōru glanced at the utterly composed Hayakawa Tazuna.
According to all the testing he had done over these past months, his ability was supposed to work only on horse girls.
Could it be that after using it for so long, he had finally accumulated enough experience for the skill to level up?
Surely that had to be it.
There was no way Hayakawa Tazuna was actually a horse girl, right?
He certainly did not see any tail or ears.
After giving her a quick once-over and still failing to spot anything of the sort, Urushihara Tōru frowned slightly.
Though if he had to say something, both Tazuna's hat and her skirt were rather suspicious. Either one looked perfectly capable of hiding horse-girl ears and a tail.
But according to what he knew about horse girls, their ears were extremely sensitive. Hiding them under a hat once in a while might be manageable, but wearing one all day like Tazuna did would practically be torture for a horse girl.
So why would a horse girl working at Tracen Academy endure something like that just to hide her identity?
No, that made no sense at all.
Clearly, his skill had simply leveled up, and now he could hear humans' thoughts too.
"Trainer Urushihara, could I borrow you for a word?"
Hayakawa Tazuna suddenly asked this.
"…?"
Tōru looked at her blankly.
There were only four people in this office. If she wanted to "borrow him for a word," who exactly was she trying to avoid?
His horse girl, Urara?
To put it nicely, the girl was adorably innocent. To put it less nicely, she was a bit airheaded. What was there to hide from her?
Surely she did not mean to avoid the chairwoman herself?
Could she really pull something like that right in front of her boss without worrying her job might melt away like whipped cream?
Tōru sneakily glanced at Akiyama Yayoi, only to find that the chairwoman was acting as though she had not heard Tazuna's request at all. She did not even look over.
Instead, she was kindly teaching Urara how to fill out the registration form like some gentle elder.
I'll leave it to Tazuna.
So the chairwoman was pretending not to hear on purpose?
Scratching his head, Urushihara Tōru followed Hayakawa Tazuna out of the office.
The two of them walked quite a long way down the corridor before finally stopping.
Still, according to the knowledge Tōru had learned, horse girls possessed exceptional hearing. If not for the office door being in the way, this kind of distance would have been nothing to them—they could eavesdrop as easily as breathing.
"Trainer Urushihara, are you familiar with Tracen's special-admission student system?"
Tazuna was the first to speak.
"You mean the system for students who are unable to pass Tracen Academy's entrance exam, but are specially admitted because they possess outstanding ability in some other area, correct?"
After all, he had only recently passed the trainer qualification exam. This kind of written regulation was second nature to him.
"Exactly."
Tazuna nodded and continued.
"The horse girl you wish to sign today—Haru Urara—is one such special-admission student."
"I… see?"
Urushihara Tōru froze slightly.
Urara was a special-admission student?
By his understanding, that was like those Olympiad students from his previous world: people with severe weaknesses in some areas, but exceptional ability in the field they excelled in, such that they would still be specially admitted even if they failed the normal written tests.
Then again, once he remembered that Urara was a character who had appeared in the anime, the idea immediately felt perfectly natural.
If someone like Urara was not worthy of being a special-admission student at Tracen Academy, then what horse girl possibly could be?
But then why had Tazuna specifically called him out here just to tell him this?
This is not the horse girl you should be choosing, Trainer Urushihara.
The content of Tazuna's inner voice was hard for Tōru to understand.
The emotion hidden in those words was not arrogance, not any sense of looking down on him. If anything, it carried unmistakable sympathy and reluctance.
What did she mean by that?
No—wait.
That heavy sense of responsibility…
The "that person" mentioned by the chairwoman…
And the mysterious "him"…
The earlier thoughts of Akiyama Yayoi and Hayakawa Tazuna flashed through Tōru's mind one by one, and in an instant a clear path of logic appeared before him.
Why did Urara, a named character who had appeared in the anime, still not have a trainer contract?
Why, if Akiyama Yayoi could tell at a glance what kind of potential Urara had as a horse girl, had she left her in this unmanaged state?
Why, when he and Urara were only one stamp away from officially signing their contract, had Hayakawa Tazuna still felt the need to pull him aside and tell him Urara was actually a special-admission student?
There was only one answer.
Urara, as a special-admission student, had in fact already been reserved for some trainer from a powerful academic—no, horse-girl—faction family!
The "that person" in the chairwoman's thoughts referred to a trainer from that family!
That was why she had been so shocked upon hearing the news!
And that was why anyone who tried to approach Urara and sign a contract with her would be obstructed like this.
So why had Tazuna spoken up in his defense on the one hand, yet also tried to dissuade him from signing with Urara on the other?
The first was because she had been moved by his words.
And the second, naturally, was because she did not want to see a rookie trainer like him unknowingly suffer attacks from that family, so she hoped he would give up on his own before getting hurt.
What kind of joke was this?
Uma Musume was not supposed to be a story this dark!
If such a damned family really existed, then he—Urushihara Tōru—and his horse girl would kick open a path of light together!
"Miss Tazuna, there's no need to say any more."
A fierce fighting spirit rose in Urushihara Tōru's eyes.
"No matter what enormous obstacle stands between Urara and me, the two of us will overcome it together!"
"After all…"
"I'm the trainer Urara chose!"
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (261 Chapter) (Ending)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (130 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (80 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (130 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (120 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (78 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (189 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (135 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (145 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (102 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty...then Who Am I? (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (65 Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (90 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (70 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (90 Chapter)
Fuse with Me, Exusiai! (41 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail — After I Die, I Forge Their Madness (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Last Zeus Familia (95 Chapter)
Endfield: Arknights Heroic Spirit Summoning (75 Chapter)
Toyokawa Family Finances (105 Chapter)
Starting From DanMachi to Become Stronger (90 Chapter)
DanMachi: My Familia Is Made Up Entirely of Heroines from Every World! (75 Chapter)
Arknights: My Intel Refreshes Daily (110 Chapter)
Digimon : I Never Meant to Do Evil, Even Though I Wasn't Chosen (40 Chapter)
Miss Holmes Could Never Be the Losing Heroine! (40 Chapter)
Takayama Gamu at Tracen Academy (40 Chapter)
Legendary Trainer Takes on MYGO (40 Chapter)
Arknights : Yandere Game: The Operators Have Come Knocking (100 Chapter)
Arknights: This Dating Sim Is Seriously Wrong! (120 Chapter)
Arknights : Ch'en Hui-chieh, I'm Done Being the Good Guy! (50 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Wasn't This Supposed to Be a Family Simulator? Why Am I the Family Heirloom? (40 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail : The Trailblazer Only Wants a Peaceful Life (45 Chapter)
Arknights: The Unlucky Dad? But I've Got the Chronicle of Time! (55 Chapter)
The Wheelchair War God Is Speedrunning Hogwarts (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: The Elemental Blaster of Orario (45 Chapter)
Playing Honkai in Star Rail (30 Chapter)
As an Alien, I'm Solo Leveling in Warhammer 40K (30 Chapter)
Arknights: A Symbiote's Survival Guide (65 Chapter)
My Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck Is Built Entirely from Stuff I Picked Up (30 Chapter)
I Can Hear the Thoughts of Uma Mutsume (30 Chapter)
Dead-Men Chat Group: Winning the Resurrection Bracket (30 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero: Saving the World While Falling in Love! (30 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it