Race times are not always on weekends.
For example, the day after the Yayoi Sho, everyone still had to attend classes and training.
After training today, Lu Jue told everyone to go back and rest, while he stayed in the lounge to handle some documents.
Before he knew it, it was already 7:30 PM.
But he still hadn't finished.
Lu Jue sighed; he wondered when he would be able to shake off this habit of procrastinating.
Since things had come to this, he simply ordered takeout.
While waiting for his food, he could review the last race and see what improvements could be made.
......
Time seemed to pass faster in the lounge than at home.
Another hour passed quickly.
Lu Jue tidied up for a bit, preparing to leave, when his phone suddenly rang.
"Hello?"
The call was from a local number.
As a Trainer, he had left his phone number during class, so Lu Jue thought it might be a student calling and answered.
"Is this Trainer Lu Jue?"
"Yes, it is. Who is this?" Lu Jue felt the voice was a bit familiar.
"This is Rhombus Amazon. Sakura Laurel just told me that Seiun Sky hasn't returned to the dorm yet. Is she with you?"
Rhombus Amazon was the dorm leader of Meipo Dorm, and Sakura Laurel was Seiun Sky's roommate.
"Huh? She hasn't returned to the dorm? I dismissed them after training this afternoon."
Lu Jue was originally a bit sleepy after eating, but now he sprang directly from his chair, all sleepiness gone.
"She hasn't returned to the dorm, and she's not answering her phone either."
Lu Jue quickly calmed down. "How about this: I'll go look for her in places she might be, and you all contact the police to search together."
"Okay."
......
After hanging up, Lu Jue hurried out of the lounge.
It was so late; where could Seiun Sky have gone?
Lu Jue easily connected it to the failure in the Yayoi Sho, but Seiun Sky wasn't disheartened by it in the anime.
"No, that's not right..."
Lu Jue realized there was a problem with his thinking—he couldn't assume everything would follow the anime's plot.
But Seiun Sky shouldn't do anything foolish.
"If she wants to vent her feelings of failure, where would she go?"
A flash of inspiration struck Lu Jue, and he thought of two places Seiun Sky might go.
......
Venting frustration through training is a very effective method, so Lu Jue first ran to the training ground closest to the lounge.
The training ground was very dark at night, and he couldn't see anyone clearly, so he stopped and listened quietly for sounds.
Unfortunately, there were no sounds of running.
So Lu Jue hurried to the next location.
This location was between two teaching buildings on campus.
To allow the Uma Musume to vent their emotions, the school had built a well-like facility in the grassy open space between these two teaching buildings.
Only, the decoration of the wellhead made it look like a tree hollow. Whenever an Uma Musume failed, she would come here and shout into the deep tree hollow.
Lu Jue, relying on his memory, ran over without stopping, panting.
However, when he saw the familiar back sitting by the tree hollow, his suspended heart finally settled.
He first reported her safety to Rhombus Amazon and then didn't dare to make a sound, afraid of startling the girl.
It was Seiun Sky, who, upon hearing Lu Jue's soft footsteps, turned her head.
By the bright moonlight, Lu Jue clearly saw the traces of two lines of clear tears on Seiun Sky's cheeks.
Upon seeing Lu Jue, Seiun Sky was very flustered. She immediately turned her head back, then got up from the ground and haphazardly wiped her cheeks with her back to Lu Jue.
"Little Seiun..." Lu Jue cautiously approached.
"Trainer, why are you here?" Seiun Sky turned her head, adopting her usual tone.
"You hadn't returned to the dorm for too long, so your roommate asked the dorm leader to contact me."
"Oh, my phone ran out of battery and turned off. I'm sorry for troubling you all." Seiun Sky rubbed the back of her head, squinting her eyes and smiling, "I'll go back now."
As Seiun Sky spoke, she was about to walk past Lu Jue to head back.
But Lu Jue called out to her, "Is it because you lost the race? Can you tell me about it?"
"It's nothing, really. After shouting into the tree hollow, I feel much better." Seiun Sky still looked relaxed, but she didn't look at Lu Jue the entire time she spoke.
Lu Jue would not believe Seiun Sky's one-sided story.
If she had already resolved it, why would she stay here alone until so late?
"Trainer, let's go back."
Lu Jue didn't answer, just quietly stared at her.
Finally, Seiun Sky couldn't bear Lu Jue's intense gaze and raised her eyes to meet his.
And that calm, mirror-like face subtly twitched, as if ripples had appeared.
She tightly clenched her fists, her delicate nose flared, and emotions of sadness and unwillingness intertwined on her contorted face.
Grievance weighed down her eyebrows, and tears welled up in her eyes again, crystal clear under the moonlight.
"It was just one race! I never took it to heart. If I lost, I'll win it back next time! I'm not that fragile!"
"But..."
"Why do you make me feel like everything was specially prepared for Xiao Te! I was just an afterthought... as if you knew from the beginning that she would definitely win against me!"
Tears gushed from her eyes like a broken dam. Seiun Sky cried hysterically, her voice during crying sounding like the rapid scraping of a zipper's teeth across a card.
She took a step forward, closer to Lu Jue, and tightly grabbed his collar, pulling it down forcefully, as if wanting him to see her inner sadness and grievance through her tear-filled eyes.
"Why did you only give her pre-race precautions?! Why didn't you specifically remind me of anything?!"
"I'm also a member of 'Dream,' so why... do you only favor Xiao Te?"
......
Lu Jue froze, and a chaotic storm brewed within him.
He had always thought that Seiun Sky's negative emotions were caused by losing the race, never expecting that he himself was the culprit.
"I..." Now, it was he who was a little afraid to look directly into Seiun Sky's eyes and expression.
But as a Trainer, he couldn't avoid it.
The moonlight witnessed the determination in his eyes. Before Seiun Sky could react, Lu Jue slightly bent down and hugged her.
Seiun Sky's eyes suddenly widened, and her small mouth didn't have time to close when she heard Lu Jue's voice in her ear.
"Little Seiun, I'm sorry. It was my oversight and actions that made you feel prejudice and neglect... Not realizing your emotions were off was also my dereliction of duty as a Trainer."
"I've been a Trainer for a very short time. I know there are many areas where I'm still not good enough, still not doing well."
Lu Jue released Seiun Sky and looked at her sincerely, his tone even carrying a hint of pleading, "Can you not leave the team...? Can you give me a little more time? Can you... not give up on me as your Trainer?"
Seiun Sky didn't know that she had touched a painful spot within Lu Jue. She only felt that the Lu Jue in front of her was like a completely different person from his usual confident and self-assured self.
She saw vulnerability in his eyes.
......