The Trainer With Little Time Left Just Wants to Live [17]

“Trainer Kitano… You truly frightened all of us today. From now on, may I expect you not to do anything that places too great a burden on your body again?”

One day later, after receiving treatment and careful care at the Mejiro family’s private hospital, Kitano had finally recovered a little strength. It was just that, with his illness worsening on top of everything else, his condition was even worse than before he collapsed. He had even reached the point where sitting in a wheelchair was difficult.

And Kitano had also taken a moment to check his remaining lifespan—eighteen days.

Just as the Three Goddesses had said, forcing himself to cook for Oguri Cap this time had directly cost him a week of his life. If Nakayama Festa failed to win her debut race in a few days, then he might really have to go back and meet the Three Goddesses, then quickly begin his next twenty years of life.

Fortunately, the Three Goddesses had helped him adjust his mindset in time. Now, Kitano was no longer as anxious as before about the possibility of facing death again. What came would come. If his lifespan had to be bought by binding Nakayama Festa’s nature and making it impossible for her to run freely and happily for the rest of her life, then Kitano would rather not have it.

And now, the arrival of two figures before him left him rather surprised. Symboli Rudolf and Mejiro Ramonu—two Umamusume Kitano knew well, yet did not quite dare face—had appeared together in his hospital room. Rudolf, who had been his “childhood friend” in a previous loop, spoke to him one word at a time with unprecedented seriousness.

“It makes all of us worry. Please don’t treat your own life like a joke.”

“…I understand, everyone. I’m very sorry for worrying you.”

Although Kitano was very surprised that Rudolf and Ramonu, two people who should have had nothing to do with him in this loop, had appeared here, he still nodded under the gathered Umamusume’s gazes to show he had taken it to heart.

“—Well, everyone, let’s not be so tense. Trainer Kitano is all right, and that’s the happiest thing, isn’t it? The atmosphere is far too serious.”

At that moment, Mr. C.B., who had been keeping watch in front of the hospital room since yesterday and had not slept all night, finally became cheerful again now that Kitano was out of danger. As if to lighten the mood, C.B. shot Rudolf a teasing glance and immediately said,

“Trainer Kitano, you don’t know this yet, do you? Yesterday, you scared everyone half to death. Especially our dear President. She rushed over from the academy in such a hurry, and when she saw your heartbeat stop…”

At this point, C.B.’s gaze also caught the way Rudolf’s expression stiffened, as well as the grief Rudolf had shown earlier, which had clearly gone far beyond normal limits. Something became even more certain in her heart, but her tone did not change at all as she teased,

“Honestly, that was the first time I’d ever seen Rudolf cry. Trainer Kitano, if I didn’t know the two of you only met two days ago, I’d have thought you were some childhood friend from long ago~”

Mr. C.B.’s seemingly “unintentional” words made everyone, who had only just calmed down because of Kitano’s recovery, belatedly notice something was off. Rudolf also immediately sensed that everyone’s gazes had gathered on her at once—especially the gazes of Nakayama Festa and Mejiro Ramonu beside her, which felt particularly piercing.

In truth, how could Rudolf herself not be confused? She and Kitano had clearly only known each other for two days. Even if she felt a one-sided guilt toward him, she should not have been like that yesterday… At the time, when she heard the news of Kitano’s death, she had unexpectedly felt a pain like her heart was being cut by a knife.

That pain had even made it somewhat difficult for her to keep standing. If she had not left the hospital room immediately, she might have collapsed to the floor then and there, unable to control her grief.

But none of this made sense. Now that she had calmed down and recalled those things again, Rudolf also felt her reaction had been unbelievably excessive. At this point, she increasingly suspected that Ryuichi Kitano was hiding some kind of secret.

Combined with the way Mejiro Ramonu had acted the day before yesterday, as if she knew some secret about Kitano… all of this made Rudolf suspect even more just what sort of connection existed between her and Kitano.

“…C.B., you weren’t much better than me. I remember you were completely stunned at the time.”

However, although she was full of doubt, Rudolf was not inferior in verbal sparring. Maintaining her usual dignity, she kept her gaze straight ahead and countered Mr. C.B.

“If I didn’t know you had only gotten acquainted with Trainer Kitano a few days ago as well, I would have thought some family member of yours had died. To think you were unable to accept it to that extent.”

“Rudolf?!”

“—You two are seniors, at least. Could you show a little restraint?”

Just as Rudolf and Mr. C.B. were about to start arguing, Mejiro Ramonu, who had maintained her cool, perfect smile at the side all this time, finally could not watch any longer and interrupted them. The treasure of the Mejiro family turned her intrigued gaze toward Kitano, and the smile on her face widened a little as she said softly,

“Still, Trainer Kitano, the fact that you are all right can be called a great blessing. This is the Mejiro family’s private hospital. If you need anything, please tell your attending physician directly. They will satisfy any request you may have.”

“Thank you, Mejiro-senpai.” Kitano also nodded solemnly. Yet the look he gave Mejiro Ramonu was filled with complicated emotions. Seeing this treasure of the Mejiro family again, this existence he could never be worthy of, made his feelings complicated to the extreme.

Yes, Kitano and Mejiro Ramonu had once shared a period as Trainer and trainee as well… However, compared with his other trainees, Kitano did his best not to recall that brief time with her. Every time he thought back on that period, he felt the blow to his self-esteem had simply been too great.

A Trainer “handed off” by his own trainee… Just remembering it was enough to make his face burn with shame. If another sister from the Mejiro family had not “taken over” Kitano later, he felt that he probably would never have wanted to go to the Mejiro family again in his life.

Fortunately, in this new loop, Mejiro Ramonu did not seem to have shown anything similar to Oguri Cap’s situation… But that made sense. The time he had spent with Ramonu was far shorter than the time he had spent with Oguri Cap. Back then, he and Oguri Cap could be called perfectly in sync, their bond deep. As for Mejiro Ramonu… Kitano had always felt that while Ramonu had been dissatisfied with him as her Trainer, she had also had some opinions about him.

Fortunately, in this loop, he had not had much contact with Ramonu, and he would not give Mejiro Ramonu another chance to look down on him.

“…Then please rest well.”

The moment Mejiro Ramonu’s beautiful eyes keenly noticed the complicated emotions in Kitano’s gaze toward her, her heart could not help skipping a beat. In that instant, she felt as if she were naked in Kitano’s eyes, with no secrets at all, and that every perfect surface she possessed had been seen through by this man at a glance.

However, Mejiro Ramonu was, after all, an Umamusume raised from childhood by the Mejiro family as its next head. She quickly brought her emotions under control, gave Kitano a slight bow, and did not forget to turn to Rudolf beside her.

“President, could I trouble you to step outside with me? There are some things I would like to discuss with you alone.”

“…All right.”

Rudolf looked at Ramonu’s back. After a moment of thought, she seemed to understand something and immediately followed Ramonu out of the hospital room.

The two Umamusume, tacitly understanding one another, walked all the way to an unnoticed corner of the hospital. Finally, as Ramonu slowly turned around, Rudolf folded her arms and asked her in an extraordinarily solemn tone,

“Ramonu, I’ll ask you one more time—what exactly do you know? How much do you know about Trainer Kitano?”

“…Rudolf, you felt it too, didn’t you? That Trainer Kitano is very special. He seems to have countless ties to many people, to the point that C.B., Oguri Cap, and the others are drawn to his side like planets orbiting the sun.”

This time, however, Ramonu did not dance around the issue with Rudolf anymore. Perhaps Kitano’s brush with death had made Ramonu fully believe everything recorded in that notebook. At the same time, it had also made her understand even more clearly that Kitano was far weaker than she had imagined, and many matters could no longer be delayed.

And now, perhaps one other person needed to know Kitano’s secret as well. Ramonu felt that Rudolf, who seemed to have some sort of connection with him, might be the one who could help Kitano escape the fate of that countdown to death.

“None of this is without reason, Rudolf… Perhaps after you read this book, you’ll understand why I wanted you to choose a more outstanding Umamusume for Trainer Kitano.”

“These stakes are something that even if I can afford to lose them, you, C.B., and Nakayama Festa cannot.”

With that, Mejiro Ramonu took that lost notebook from the bag she carried with her and handed it to Symboli Rudolf. Rudolf looked at the notebook that recorded part of Kitano’s secrets, not knowing that from this moment onward, she would begin a journey to search for her lost past.

T/N: ???????????? HOW MANY LOOPS HAS HE GONE THROUGH

This is a fan translation of 时日无多的训练员只想活下去 by 许氏子谦 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!