Chapter 1437: NO．53：An Indeterminate Peace

NO．53：An Indeterminate Peace

Huh? Am I the last one?

As Oumu looked out over the early spring breeze, the out‑of‑breath Chimei, representing the team, had just arrived at the training field.

This time, instead of meeting in the activity room, they gathered directly at the training field—a rare change over the past few months.

First‑years from the high‑school division, together with upperclassmen and retired second‑years from the university division, trained together—for the first time in three months.

Such uniqueness not only fails to explain why the brown‑haired girl arrived last, but actually gives cause for blame.

But the trainer simply replied, expressionless:

At least you're not late.

It's unclear whether he was being sarcastic or lenient as he pointed to the three figures on the nearby track.

If you're interested, you could try to catch up to them; even their warm‑up isn't full effort.

The two brown and one black silhouettes racing ahead at high speed looked somewhat blurry to the naked eye, but both knew they were the symbols of Rudolf, Sirius, and Narita Shin.

It was also because classes were in session for the junior and senior high divisions; otherwise, Oumu would never have allowed such an eye‑catching formation to appear on the public training field.

Of course, there were still other horse girls and trainers present at the training field.

At that moment, they mostly became spectators, their frozen‑in‑place stances also being why Chimei wondered if she had arrived last.

After all, just a glance in that direction reveals the trio; ordinary vision can't make them out, but the horse‑eared girl with a little hat on her right forehead can see them clearly.

Not only could she see them clearly, she also declared:

Sure! Just remember to time me separately!

Without protest or further explanation about being delayed by the infirmary's sudden situation, the girl simply said that and sprinted onto the track, leaving him a fluttering silhouette of hair and tail.

"Really stylish," someone muttered, walking up to him and shooting him a resentful glance, "but isn't this a bit of special treatment, Guinea Pig‑kun?"

"What do you mean?" Oumu calmly asked Miss Hayashi, looking at his several timers running in parallel on the screen.

The person beside him then flicked his arm with a sleeve, saying, "You weren't so calm and collected just ten minutes ago!"

If the victory uniform's fabric were to slap someone, it might sting, but facing Oumu's similarly special‑material coat only amounts to another kind of teasing.

"Is that so?" He withdrew his gaze from the screen, turned to the person handing him the portable tablet, and the demon's tone seemed amused: "I actually felt pretty calm back then; it's the lady opposite who seemed anxious."

"What's there to be anxious about? I'm just insisting the data speak."

"Indeed, the data speak," Oumu said after looking at the tablet and passing it back to Hayashi, "What do you think? Could this count as preliminary proof?"

"We still need to accumulate more rounds of raw data," Hayashi replied irritably.

"But based solely on this run's data, average speed, uphill, and sprint figures all show clear improvement."

"But since daily training hasn't stopped, we can't wholly credit the dream," Oumu said, reaching to take the insulated cup offered by the tea seat.

Having said everyone was training, Bourbon and Aiori were also there on the side.

Their usual training slot in the high‑school division, whether in time or location, doesn't overlap with that of the senior veterans; while they were warming up over there, they had just finished two sets of stretches and came over during their break to take a look.

Of course, saying they came just to look, but to their observant trainer eyes, it meant everyone had something to say and was paying attention to others.

Especially Aiori and Bourbon.

When they stood aside, wanting to speak but holding back, their glances toward the tea seat were noticeably more frequent than usual.

Regarding this, Oumu was both surprised and not surprised.

He was surprised that Hayashi hadn't explained this clearly to them, since in his usual impression these girls should have their own little circle without him.

This fit his stereotype of girls' dorm groups.

But now, that little group seems not to have fully shared yesterday's information...

That's precisely why it's not surprising—this selective sharing of information also fits the stereotype, doesn't it?

But in his view, there's really no need for it.

Monster cards are something everyone has; they may pose a risk for dream adjustment, and everyone should have them—they're not some trivial secret we keep among ourselves.

If we think that way, such a basic mistake doesn't seem like something Hayashi would make.

"Yeah, you can't draw a conclusion from just one experiment," Hayashi muttered, slipping the tablet into the large pocket of her victory uniform, which held far more than its appearance suggested.

"In my opinion, I should spend these two days verifying this."

"There's not really any conflict, after all, since this verification method overlaps with training; it just depends on your and the tea seat's original schedules."

"... I'm fine."

As soon as Oumu finished speaking, the tea seat voiced his opinion, drawing Aiori and Bourbon's gazes back to her; Hayashi, unfazed, glanced over and replied, "What arrangements could we have?"

"Your busy‑person standard doesn't apply to high‑school girls."

Oumu, hearing that, didn't bother to complain that many central Treisen JKs have professional‑level hobbies.

Examples like the model from Golden City, the DJ from Dai Taku Solar God, and the large doujin circles from Alice Digital—when they get busy, each can have schedules just as packed as Oumu's.

He only said, "I thought Miss Hayashi's experiment had always followed some strict regulations."

"I don't employ people, so where would a deadline come from?"

Oops, I ended up mocking her...

Although he doesn't really employ people either, many trainers do set their own deadlines; his smile turned a bit forced as he simply unscrewed the insulated cup and took a sip.

"All right, then we'll settle it like that—but have you talked it over with your teammates?"

"We have," Hayashi said, turning to Aiori and Bourbon with a remark that surprised Oumu, "You all know about practicing monster cards in dreams, right?"

"Hmm… I know."

"Hmm…"

"Hold on, it's not about practicing monster cards," Oumu realized, grasping the point, "Strictly speaking, it's about letting monster cards vent one's emotions to promote an alternative form of psychological therapy."

"By the way, Hayashi should have told you this isn't happening right now, correct?"

"Yeah, just a heads‑up in advance," Aiori nodded.

The illusory figure beside her also nodded in sync: "We know."

According to Suzi's classmate's notice, they'll find us in a few days. Bopang added.

A few days is too short; we need to let her and Chazuo's experimental data clearly show its value before this plan becomes necessary to popularize, perhaps taking a week.

Where would we need a week! Actually, that just shows you're being too pessimistic, Tunshu Jun.

The person involved is very optimistic: "After a week, we'll have to consider special training for the Canaan Cup!"

Grabbing a slot isn't too urgent; the Spring Ancient Horse isn't a battlefield one should challenge in a year of their career, and the winning edge symbolized by Sirius is greater than yours.

Huh? She also secretly signed up?

It's not really secret; she @'ed me in the group to help her with the paperwork, I think someone still noticed.

It was at 4 p. m. on the 26th of last month. Bopang raised a hand, drawing surprised looks from the other three.

That's how it is.

Raising a hand to pat Bopang's head, Aomo looked somewhat regretfully at the other three.

It seems everyone happens to be at a critical point of real-life busyness, with no time to pay attention to the team chat.