Chapter 37 — A Mare’s Heart and the Spring Sky
It was May.
Around the end of Golden Week, the cherry blossoms in Shizunai finally decided to bloom in earnest.
Whenever I explain that to people from outside Hokkaido, they always give me a look that says, “Wait, cherry blossoms in May?”
But bloom they do.
The whole town feels like it’s introducing itself by saying, “We’re the town of horses and cherry blossoms.”
I kind of like that.
And so, in the middle of that spring scenery, I found myself back at Gold Farm.
“Thanks for today.”
As soon as I got out of the light truck and said that, Kanemochi, who had come out to greet me, looked conflicted for some reason.
“Ah…”
His response lacked its usual enthusiasm.
Normally he’d say something like, “Leave it to me!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well…”
Kanemochi let out a long, deep sigh.
“Ever since then… Custard has genuinely become cooperative during breeding.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“You think that’s enough to settle the matter?”
“It settles it.”
“It absolutely does not!”
Lively as ever this early in the morning.
Behind him, one of the staff members gave an awkward laugh.
“Young Master has actually started checking the percentage of gray mares lately…”
“Quiet!”
“But honestly, that would make things much smoother.”
“That’s exactly what irritates me!!”
It sounded like life at Gold Farm had been rough.
Despite all the facilities and manpower they had, everything still revolved around feelings in the end. That was simply how the horse-racing world worked.
Kanemochi straightened the collar of his expensive-looking coat and looked at me with unusual seriousness.
“You really are…”
“Yeah?”
“…Never mind!”
For some reason he stopped himself.
“I’m not going to lose over something like this, you hear?!”
“Lose at what?”
“Everything!!”
“Everything” really is a convenient word.
“I don’t really get it, but I’m counting on you to take care of Stone today.”
“Yes.”
For that one sentence alone, Kanemochi nodded with complete seriousness.
“Leave that to me. As for Custard… well, for now, it seems like he’s motivated.”
“‘For now?'”
“Horses can change their minds without warning.”
“That, I completely understand.”
The moment he said that, several of our foals immediately came to mind, so I couldn’t really argue.
Just then, a low, supremely confident voice rang out from nearby.
“Hey, kid.”
“Oh.”
Here he came.
Custard.
“Custard, thanks for today.”
He proudly puffed out his chest.
“Heh. Today I’m going to give it my all.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“You should be grateful.”
He snorted with satisfaction.
“Listen up, kid. There are two kinds of men.”
“That’s sudden.”
“The ones who perform when it counts… and the ones who don’t perform when it counts.”
“Isn’t the second group a bit bad?”
“Today, I’m the first kind.”
“That’s reassuring.”
Then, all at once, Custard froze.
His ears pointed forward.
His nose lifted.
“…Hm?”
“What is it?”
The instant I asked—
Stone appeared at the far end of the walkway.
A staff member was leading her toward us.
And then…
Custard’s expression completely froze.
“…Hey.”
He slowly turned to me.
“Yeah?”
“Kid.”
“What?”
“That’s old lady Stonebreak!! Nobody told me!!”
Custard shouted at the top of his lungs.
Wow.
That was even louder than I expected.
Stone stopped dead too, eyes wide.
“Shut it!! I don’t want anything to do with you either!!”
Huh?
You two know each other?
No…Judging from this, they definitely do.
Before I could say anything, Custard violently shook his head.
“Kid!! I told you I wanted a gray mare!!”
“I never said I was bringing you one.”
“Damn it!!”
He looked genuinely devastated.
When a legendary horse makes that face, the gap is incredible.
Beside me, Kanemochi looked genuinely worried.
“I-Is everything going to be all right? If Custard gets injured, we’ll be in serious trouble!”
Fair point.
If Stone kicked him here, it’d be a disaster.
I called out to Stone.
“Stone.”
“What?!”
She was in a terrible mood.
“Don’t hurt him, okay?”
“Ugh…”
The moment I said it, she visibly choked.
“I-I know! I’m not that childish!”
“Then I’m counting on you.”
“Grr…!”
Stone snorted in frustration.
“I know!! Work is work! I’ll do my job!”
Custard growled from beside her.
“So will I!! My motivation has hit rock bottom because it’s the old hag, but a promise is a promise!!”
“Who are you calling an old hag?!”
“Age-wise, it’s you!”
“Shut up!! I’ll sew that mouth of yours shut!!”
“Kid!! She’s terrifying!!”
“I know.”
Nearby, several experienced broodmares poked their heads out of their stalls, watching the scene with obvious amusement.
“My, those two are certainly energetic.”
“It’s entertaining to watch, but I wouldn’t want to be one of the staff dealing with it.”
“Hang in there, dark bay!”
“Don’t lose, graded-stakes mare!”
Easy for you to say.
Well, it was other horses’ business, I supposed.
…Not the time for horse puns.
Naturally, none of the staff around understood Horse Language.
Still, from the atmosphere alone they could tell that something wasn’t quite right.
“Young Master, should we give them a little more time?”
“No. If we interrupt the flow now, it’ll probably just make things worse.”
“I see…”
Even Kanemochi was calmly making on-site management decisions.
Life at Gold Farm really was tough.
â—‡
What happened from there was…
Well… the sky was blue.
Oh, Gold Farm had huge cherry trees too.
Because, seriously—
At someone else’s ranch, two horses that knew each other were yelling,
“Shut up! You’re too close!!”
“It’s work!!”
“I know, idiot!!”
“Who are you calling an idiot?!”
while all the humans around them kept saying, “Easy now, calm down…”
…and I was the only person there who understood every single word.
What exactly was I supposed to do?
In the end…
After a great deal of commotion…
It somehow worked out—or rather, we forced it to work.
More accurately, the experienced staff handled everything with practiced efficiency.
Once the job was done, Custard wore an oddly satisfied expression.
“Well?”
“Don’t ‘well?’ me.”
Seriously. How could he look so proud after that?
“I kept my promise.”
“And I’m grateful for that.”
Stone let out a long, tired breath before speaking.
“Kid.”
“Yeah?”
“If it’s this guy in the future… give me some warning beforehand.”
“Sorry.”
I honestly didn’t know the two of you knew each other.
“Really.”
She sounded exhausted, though there was also a hint of reluctant admiration in her voice.
Custard immediately cut in.
“Old hag!! Don’t make me sound like some kind of monster!!”
“You are a monster!!”
“Call me a legendary horse!!”
“Don’t call yourself that!!”
Those two really had endless energy.
Even after everything was over, they were still going at it.