Uma Musume: To The Top!!

Chapter 336 336: 447

The psychological guidance Young Dancer gave Dancing Brave was, of course, beyond Kuroha and the others' knowledge.

After escorting Mejiro McQueen and the other two girls back to Ireland, he boarded a plane alone and returned to Tokyo.

There were three main things he had come back to handle this time.

First was the lingering concern over Tokai Teio's old injury.

Although the race had ended several days earlier, as Teio's trainer, Kuroha had been worn down by her pestering and had helplessly agreed to give her some compensation.

Second was his wedding with Maruzensky.

Among his own Uma Musume, she had voluntarily placed herself second from the end.

Well, Oguri Cap had joined the team too late, and Fumino Nase was not an Uma Musume, so those two were separate cases.

Third was to conveniently replenish Dali Arabian and Byerley Turk with some Blessing Power.

After all, even Godolphin Arabian, who had been by his side the whole time, felt like she was running out of mana. The state of the other two was easy to imagine.

If he did not top them up, the next time they met, they would probably have turned back into two points of light again.

However, when he decided to come back, he had wanted to surprise his girls, so he had not informed them in advance.

Because of that, he had assumed the people picking him up would once again only be a few high-ranking association officials.

Instead, he saw two figures who surprised him quite a bit.

"Hidehito-senpai, Ginjirou-senpai, what brings you two here?"

Down below, apart from several association staff members, Hidehito Nase and Ginjirou Musaka were standing at the very front.

Ginjirou was still dressed in his usual casual clothes, with his ever-present sunglasses perched on his nose, a round hat on his head, and a cane in his hand.

If someone who did not know him saw him at a glance, they would never think this old man had once been a veteran trainer famous throughout Central. They would probably assume he was some old farmer from the countryside.

As for Hidehito, he was still in a suit and tie, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared straight ahead with a stern, meticulous expression.

"Yo, Kuroha!"

Looking at Kuroha as he walked down the airstairs, Ginjirou tugged at the corner of his mouth. He seemed to be in a rather good mood, the wrinkles on his face bunching together as he smiled like a chrysanthemum in full bloom.

"I had drinks with those old URA fossils a few days ago and heard you'd booked today's flight, so I figured you were probably coming back. I was idle anyway, so I came to pick you up."

As he spoke, he tugged at Hidehito's clothes beside him.

"As for this guy, he happened to want to come pick you up too, so I brought him along."

"..."

Hidehito glanced sideways at the cane-wielding old man, lowered his eyes, and said calmly, "I originally had an overseas itinerary yesterday. He forcibly dragged me here today."

"Can't you let me save face once in a while?"

Ginjirou's veins jumped as he snapped back in annoyance. "And what use is you going overseas? You can't even win a G3. Embarrassing."

"I am merely stating the facts," Hidehito said, his tone still even.

"Haha, all right, all right." Kuroha smiled and stepped forward to mediate. "Since both of you senpai rarely come looking for me, why don't we find somewhere to sit?"

...

After they arrived at a nearby café, Kuroha sat down and asked with a smile, "Speaking of which, how have you two senpai been lately?"

"Pretty... smoothly, I suppose."

Ginjirou pulled his sunglasses down a few inches, added a lethal amount of sugar cubes to his cup, and said, "Most of the team's affairs are handled by Jo now, so I get to enjoy some leisure."

"Oh? Kitahara has already taken over your team?" Kuroha was somewhat surprised to hear that familiar name.

"What's so strange about that?"

Ginjirou waved dismissively.

"Ever since Oguri went to your place, what active Uma Musume do I have left in my team? They're all newly recruited girls from this year."

"It works out. A rookie trainer leading rookie Uma Musume. This old man just has to cover for them from behind."

At that moment, Hidehito, sitting beside him, took a sip of coffee and suddenly cut in.

"That boy named Kitahara has average fundamentals, but his thinking is fairly flexible. Much better than you are now, Ginjirou."

"Are you trying to start a fight...?" Ginjirou stared gloomily at his old rival.

Kuroha could only helplessly try to calm them down.

After all, one was a senior who had helped him before he officially joined Central and had entrusted Oguri Cap to him.

The other was Fumino's father and his future father-in-law.

There was no way he could take sides, so he could only play peacemaker.

After the brief argument settled down, Hidehito set down his cup. A sharp glint appeared in his lifeless eyes as he looked at Kuroha.

"I originally had no particular business, but since Ginjirou dragged me here, there is one question I want to ask."

Kuroha was somewhat puzzled. "Please go ahead."

"Have you prepared for your wedding with Fumino next month?"

Kuroha paused, then nodded. "Naturally."

Although he had returned this time to complete his wedding with Maruzensky, in truth, not only Maruzensky's wedding, even Fumino's and Oguri Cap's weddings had already been fully arranged.

Though most of that had been prepared by Godolphin.

This blue goddess, who yearned for "love," had achieved enlightenment after assisting Kuroha with the previous weddings.

Not only had she taken full responsibility for all subsequent preparations, before this expedition, she had finished all of the wedding arrangements in one go.

They were so perfect that even Kuroha could not find the slightest flaw.

It could only be said that when the Three Goddesses of Uma Musume encountered something they liked, their capacity for action was truly beyond reproach.

"If only Godolphin had this much enthusiasm when assisting with training..." Kuroha sighed inwardly.

"I see... That is good." Hidehito nodded. "When the time comes, you can handle it as you see fit."

Kuroha frowned slightly. Suddenly remembering what Hidehito had said earlier, he hurriedly asked, "Hidehito-senpai, are you going overseas soon?"

The middle-aged man nodded calmly. "Yes."

"But my wedding with Fumino..."

"There is no need to concern yourself with me. I will return when the time comes."

Hidehito cut him off, then muttered to himself in mild distress, "Speaking of which, I do not know what has been going on with Fumino lately. She has not been very willing to see me. So I decided to go to America and meet some old acquaintances."

"..."

Kuroha fell silent.

He had not expected that even now, Hidehito still did not know Fumino genuinely disliked him.

His future father-in-law under the same roof...

Kuroha knew very well that even now, Fumino had not forgiven this biological father of hers.

There was nothing Kuroha could do about that.

If Hidehito had merely been focused on his career, that would have been one thing.

But he had been far too focused. He had devoted nearly his entire life to Central's Uma Musume training career.

As a result, he had missed almost every important moment in Fumino's upbringing.

Back when Kuroha had been playing Pokémon battles with Fumino and she had whispered complaints to him in bed, she had once grumbled about it.

When she was little, because Hidehito was constantly away from home, she had eaten dinner alone, slept alone, and spent most holidays alone.

Hidehito had been so extreme that he had never attended any of her entrance ceremonies, never watched her sports meets, never spent even one birthday with her, and never once given her even a single word of praise.

Even after he had officially given up overseas expeditions a few years ago, returned home, and taken charge of Bamboo Memory, the few occasional conversations between father and daughter still sounded terribly sarcastic to Fumino.

When Kuroha heard all this at the time, his scalp had gone numb. All he could say was that Hidehito being disliked by his own daughter was, to some extent, deserved.

"This is entirely your own fault!"

Beside them, Ginjirou immediately mocked him. He had never been merciful with words toward this old rival.

"And what do you mean, Fumino hasn't wanted to deal with you lately? Hasn't she always not wanted to deal with you?"

"If it weren't for the fact that Fumino and Kuroha's wedding still needs you to attend, you might as well not come back at all."

Hidehito glanced at Ginjirou without the slightest sign of anger. Instead, after thinking for a moment, he calmly refuted him.

"My relationship with Fumino should not be that bad."

Ginjirou: "..."

The old man sank into thought.

Back then, how had he even become acquainted with this guy?

"Oh, right, Kuroha."

At that moment, Hidehito suddenly spoke. "Have you considered making America part of your future expedition plans?"

"America?"

Kuroha paused at that, then thought for a moment before replying, "I had considered it before, but Chasing Light's current active Uma Musume are not very suited for that direction, so I haven't prepared to include it as a target for now."

"I see."

Hidehito nodded and said, "If you ever wish to develop toward that racing circuit in the future, I know quite a few American trainers, as well as several legendary Uma Musume."

"When the time comes, I can introduce you to them."

Kuroha did not stand on ceremony and nodded directly. "Then I'll be troubling you, Hidehito-senpai."

America...

Compared to turf courses, the mainstream tracks there leaned more toward dirt.

If he had someone like Smart Falcon under his command, then perhaps he might consider that direction.

Unfortunately, whether it was McQueen and Teio, who were currently at the peaks of their careers, or the three little ones who had just gotten started, Mihono Bourbon, Rice Shower, and Silence Suzuka, all of them were more turf-oriented in terms of aptitude.

Even Haito Star and Fine Motion, who he might possibly recruit into the team in the future, were mostly turf-oriented as well.

As for dirt...

All he could say was that he would leave it to fate.

(End of Chapter)

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