The Trainer With Little Time Left Just Wants to Live [35]

“Achoo—!”

A clear sneeze rang out in the cafeteria without warning, followed immediately by a bout of violent coughing. Many Umamusume in the cafeteria could not help turning toward the very conspicuous figure in the wheelchair.

“Hey, don’t catch a chill.” Sitting beside Kitano, Nakayama Festa lightly patted his back while pulling the cotton shawl a little more securely around his shoulders. Her tone was cold, but not without concern. “Honestly, after I won yesterday, you looked a lot better. How did you get this weak again overnight?”

“Look at those dark circles. With that body of yours, you still dare to lose sleep? Do you think your life is too long?”

Nakayama Festa was indeed complaining, but only because she was not good at expressing her feelings too directly in front of the person concerned. Fortunately, after spending several years with Festa, Kitano understood her temperament. After wiping his nose with a handkerchief, he finally recovered a little and said softly:

“It’s nothing. I just had some strange dreams yesterday… and they’re still bothering me a little.”

Kitano had not expected that one day, he would dream about things from a past cycle again. Even now, his mind was still filled with bits and pieces about Rudolf and C.B…

How should he put it? Regarding Rudolf’s matter, Kitano truly had been hurt back then. After all, in that cycle, in order to enter Tracen Academy, he had tried every proper route he believed was feasible. But because his physical condition did not meet the requirements, even with all his theoretical knowledge, he had never been given the chance to interview.

However, after Kitano met C.B., a small part of him had actually felt relieved. Thank goodness Rudolf had not recognized him. Otherwise, at that time, he really would not have known how to explain what had happened between him and C.B. And given what he understood of Rudolf’s fiercely competitive and jealous personality… Rudolf would probably have treated him and C.B. as mortal enemies.

At the time, after being rejected by Tracen again and again, Kitano had been nearly in despair. He had thought he would never be able to fulfill his promise with Rudolf, and had planned to try his luck at a local Umamusume academy—because he had remembered that, in the historical record, Oguri Cap’s jockey from the local circuit seemed to have entered Central through some kind of special clause.

Although Kitano did not know what that special clause was, and although he also felt the odds of him living long enough to meet Rudolf were extremely low, at the time, he truly had no other options—until he met Mr. C.B.

When Kitano had nearly given up, it was Mr. C.B., who had never met him before, who reached out to help him and gave him confidence and support. And that support had not been a mere push from behind. As a newly debuted student, C.B. had taken the initiative to seek out Shinzan, the student council president of Tracen at the time, and directly tied her own future to Kitano.

“He is the Trainer best suited to me. Aside from him, I won’t accept any other Trainer from the academy. Otherwise, I’ll just keep running on my own.”

Even now, Kitano still remembered how C.B. had stood beside him and said that to Shinzan with such absolute certainty, ultimately winning him that special exception.

It was also from that moment that Kitano saw a sliver of hope that he might endure until the day he met Rudolf. And from that same moment, Kitano had already resolved that he would repay this girl who, in the historical record, had become the stepping stone for the Emperor’s title defense, and whose end had been so bleak.

Only, not even Kitano had expected that his wait would last another year. Nor had he expected that during that year, so many… unforeseen things would happen between him and Mr. C.B.

And now, if Kitano had to explain the relationship between C.B. and Rudolf from that cycle, he could only say this:

Rudolf gave him his first ideal and hope. C.B. gave him the first courage and confidence to keep walking toward that ideal.

In that cycle of Kitano’s, if either Rudolf or C.B. had been missing from it, he could never have gone so far. Without their initial support, even Kitano did not believe he would have had the courage to keep cycling onward after experiencing so many failed cycles.

…Unfortunately, what I could give them was far, far too little. The arrangements I made before I died were nowhere near enough to make up for what they gave me.

“Trainer Kitano… Is something wrong? You look a little sad.”

Just as Kitano showed a trace of guilt because of that past, Special Week, who was sitting in front of him with an equally heaping plate of food, put down her chopsticks for the first time and asked him worriedly.

Ever since Kitano had met the Junior Division Umamusume at Nakayama Festa’s race yesterday, Special Week had shown a strange sense of closeness toward him. That made Kitano, who had run into Special Week at the cafeteria today, wonder whether something similar to Oguri Cap’s situation had happened to her.

However, after Kitano briefly tested her with a few questions about cycles where he had interacted with Special Week, she showed no sense of familiarity at all, which finally put Kitano at ease.

—Though, now that he thought about it, in the cycle with Special Week, even meeting Special Week had been pure coincidence. He had only been in intermittent contact with her for about half a year. Even saying he had trained Special Week would be quite a stretch.

Compared to Oguri Cap, whom he had once brought from the local circuit to Central, Kitano’s contact with Special Week truly counted as incidental. How could he possibly have left as deep an impression as he had on Oguri Cap?

Even if he had, it should have been with Suzuka.

Thinking this, Kitano’s gaze shifted toward Suzuka, who sat beside Special Week with an extremely calm posture. Seeing that even this Umamusume, whom Kitano had once risked his life trying to save, showed no strange reaction toward him, Kitano felt much more settled.

As expected, Oguri Cap’s case was the special one. Most Umamusume in a new cycle really did have no memories related to him, just like before.

“Don’t worry, Spe-chan—Special Week. I’m not sad. I’m probably just a little tired.”

“Really? Trainer Kitano, if you’re feeling unwell, you really shouldn’t force yourself alone.” Special Week stared at Kitano with a suspicious look, apparently still uneasy about his condition. The Umamusume Kitano had once lectured was now the one lecturing him, saying very solemnly, “Trainer Kitano, you mustn’t make all of us worry. If anything is troubling you, as long as we’re here, you can call us over to help anytime—right, Suzuka?”

“Huh?” Suzuka, who had been thoughtfully picking at her food and had already mashed an entire plate of fish into paste, finally came back to herself when Special Week suddenly turned a big smile on her. When she noticed Kitano’s gaze, however, she instinctively lowered her head again and said awkwardly:

“Y-yes… Trainer Kitano, please don’t push yourself.”

Perhaps because Special Week’s scrutinizing look beside her was too piercing, Suzuka’s expression was somewhat uneasy. Under the table, even the tips of her slender bare toes instinctively curled to the left.

Spe-chan… did she notice something? Did she guess what I’m trying to do? Faced with Special Week, who had been even clingier than usual ever since waking up this morning, Suzuka, who had spent all night thinking before finally making a decision, could not help beginning to suspect that her intentions might have been seen through.

Yesterday, after asking Nakayama Festa for the answer to the source of her courage to run, Suzuka had thought for a long time in the dorm about how she should recover the courage she now lacked to run again.

In the end, after a night of thought, Suzuka had made a bold decision—to join Kitano’s team. She wanted to try and see whether Kitano, who could give Nakayama Festa courage, could also bring her enough courage.

That was why she had gotten up early today to wash and prepare, wanting to go to the cafeteria early and wait for Kitano’s arrival so she could voice her request. But to her surprise, just after Suzuka had finished washing up, moving with the practiced quiet that normally would never wake Spe-chan, who always slept in, Special Week had somehow already opened her eyes and was waiting for her on the bed.

“Suzuka, let’s go to the cafeteria together! I remember there’s an especially tasty set meal today! I really want to hurry up and eat it!”

…And just like that, Suzuka’s plan was ruined by Special Week’s unusual early rising. She had even been forced into the current role of accompanying Special Week, reduced to tagging along with her just to stay near Kitano. That made it truly impossible for Suzuka to voice her request in front of Nakayama Festa, Kitano’s trainee.

Because Suzuka could see that Nakayama had a certain dependence on her Trainer… And judging from Nakayama Festa’s performance on the track, she must value her relationship with her Trainer greatly. For that reason, Suzuka would not bring up joining in front of Nakayama Festa. Doing that would only make the relationship between the two of them extremely strained.

I shared my secret to certain victory with you, and you turned around and tried to steal my Trainer—it would definitely develop into that, wouldn’t it? Even if Suzuka herself believed that her first priority was running freely, not choosing a partner for herself, that kind of thing could not be explained to a jealous Umamusume.

But there was one thing Suzuka could not quite figure out. Even if Special Week had seen through her intentions, what reason would Spe-chan have… to stop her?

“What’s wrong, Suzuka?”

Facing Suzuka’s unusually serious scrutinizing gaze, Special Week tilted her head slightly. But she did not know that as Suzuka’s eyes narrowed, Special Week’s image in Suzuka’s eyes seemed to quietly change.

For one dazed instant, as Suzuka stared closely at Special Week, it was as if a television screen flickered. Special Week’s honest and gentle little face suddenly became mature, cold, proud, and irritable.

Although it was only an instant, like an illusion, Suzuka still felt her heart skip a beat. Reflexively, she lowered her head again and said nothing.

Who… was that just now? It was like Spe-chan suddenly grew up by a few years.

But why do I feel like that version of Spe-chan… is so hard to look at directly? Why is my heart trembling? Why do I feel guilty?

While Suzuka remained completely puzzled, the cafeteria doors suddenly opened again. This time, however, the people who walked in drew some attention—because they were not wearing any clothing related to Tracen Academy, and judging from their faces, they looked more like someone’s parents or guardians.

“—Excuse me, may I ask which of you is Trainer Ryuichi Kitano? Is he here?”

“Hm?”

Kitano, whose name had just been called, instinctively shifted in his wheelchair. When he saw the two people looking for him, he uncharacteristically froze for a moment.

…Aren’t those C.B.’s parents? As someone who had once served as Mr. C.B.’s Trainer and had interacted with C.B.’s parents quite a bit, Kitano recognized the two of them at a glance. But now, when he noticed the couple’s gazes fixed on him, he inexplicably ducked his head guiltily.

At that moment, Kitano seemed to return to the cycle with Mr. C.B.—to the guilty feeling he had when he first met C.B.’s parents, only to hear that the couple had learned of his trainee relationship with their daughter from rumors they had seen on television. That guilty feeling washed over him all over again.

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!