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A week had passed since we had borrowed the equestrian club facilities and started receiving training from Mikazuki.
I had been borrowing my helmet and riding boots from the club, but Aritomo had bought a set for herself and one for me as well.
Naturally, I had protested, but she insisted, saying, “I consider these necessities for the competition.” I accepted and offered her my gratitude. I had started a part-time job and would only be able to pay her back a little at a time.
As for the riding lessons themselves, I came to the challenge with my past life experience, and Aritomo, a decent athlete, gradually got better at gripping the reins.
We rode our horses side by side. Aritomo seemed much more comfortable.
“Now how did you get so good at riding?” she asked me more than once.
Ohohoho, I’ll never tell. I couldn’t come out and say that it was something I took an interest in in my past life.
...And then I suddenly remembered.
Now that I thought back on it, Aritomo once told me she, too, was reborn after a past life. She said this was the world of an otome game she had played. This world likely hadn’t been as different for her as it had for me. Perhaps she would actually believe me if I told her of how I had reincarnated.
“Um, Aritomo... I, well...”
“What? Just say it!”
All right, but where do I start? I know...!
“About this whole otome game thing...”
“Oh, that? It’s coming along just fine. The Ojousama Challenge is moving right along.”
Wrong choice of words.
“No, not that... I was referring to your past life. Do you have any memories of it?”
“Hm? Memories? Well, the game’s setting has mostly been as I remember, with little changes here and there. Like Oboro and the sweets thing, or the Prince’s personality.”
That’s not it! I didn’t want to talk about the otome game, but her memories of everything else and the reincarnation... Huh? I lost my train of thought. I needed to get off my horse and get my thoughts together.
The sun was just beginning its descent anyway, so it was time for us to return the horses to the stables.
We handed off Galileo and Roselila to the stable hands and were on our way to the clubroom when we spotted three indistinguishable figures.
“Huh, are those second-years? Urara, do you know them?” Aritomo asked, her eyes surprisingly sharp, but I wasn’t sure.
Their ties were not the bourdeaux-red color we first-years wore, but the khaki the second-years wore. They weren’t anyone I knew. However, if they had come so far off school grounds out here, then surely they must be on the equestrian team.
Mikazuki mentioned that most of the female equestrian team members were never around. If they were in fact team members, then it seemed appropriate to introduce myself, so I gave them a bow.
“Hel—”
“Who exactly are you two? Just where do you come from?”
They cut me off. And asked about my house again. This was déjà vu.
I glanced at Aritomo. She looked as if she had swallowed a bug. Ah, she must have recognized them.
“Well, I’m from Ikem—”
“Isn’t it good manners to give your own name first before demanding someone else’s?”
Aritomo, you cut me off! Again! When I asked Aritomo who they were, she gave me the stop signal without another word.
“I’m benevolent, so I’ll overlook your transgression for now.”
You clearly are not overlooking it.
“Fine,” she said, then continued: “I am Shizuku Aritomo. And this is Urara Tendou.”
On hearing her name, the other girls exchanged glances and burst into giggles. It didn’t sound as if they were laughing with Aritomo, either.
“Oh, we’ve heard of you. You’re the daughter of the head of...AT Solutions, was it?”
“Good. So you’ve heard of me. But I’d appreciate it if you actually remembered the company name properly. It’s ATN Solutions.”
It was looking as if they were about to go to war.
Spurred on by Aritomo’s barb, the girl at the center, a second-year with her long hair in a tight braid, glared at us.
“My apologies. I simply wasn’t familiar with the name of such a neophyte company. I am Suzushiko Hattori.”
Aritomo’s face tightened at the insinuation that her family association might not have passed their test.
So this Hattori person’s family was richer or more powerful, then. I had never heard of her. Being unaware of family politics made life easier.
“So, what do you want? You must have some reason for coming over to us—something you need to ask, perhaps?”
That was the Aritomo I had come to know. Her pushiness was her strength and allowed her to go head-to-head with Lady Chouko, even.
“Well! I wouldn’t say we needed to ask you anything...”
“In that case, could you excuse us? We’d like to get changed,” Aritomo spat, grabbing my arm and guiding me toward the clubroom.
“Hold on a second,” one of the girls flanking Hattori shouted after us.
“We may not have anything to ask, but we still have a problem. Specifically, you using our clubroom without asking.”
I knew it: these were the “silent” team members. I nodded to myself, satisfied, as the third one spoke.
“We have certain requirements for joining the equestrian team, and as it stands...you two fall just a bit short. So we don’t want you anywhere near our stables.”
We had been outright rejected. Sure, I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone actually taking part in equestrian team activities, but...
“Oh, well, maybe you should bring that up with Ui, then? Ui-Ui was the one who told us we could use the clubroom since no one else was.”
She was trying to provoke them with everything she had. Aritomo, this is not the time to be calling him “Ui-Ui,” though.
The vein near Hattori’s temple was throbbing. Aritomo’s own breathing had become ragged as well.
I could hear something that sounded like snarling. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but it still left me on edge. I was genuinely worried about how we were going to make it out of this unharmed.
“Your usage of Mikazuki’s first name is vulgar enough, but to think you’d use a nickname like that...”
“Oh dear, does ‘Ui-Ui’ really bother you so? That’s too bad. I have his permission, after all,” Aritomo said, giving a satisfied laugh through her nose.
She didn’t necessarily have his permission. More like she had gradually worn him down over time. Well, at least Mikazuki didn’t seem to mind all that much.
The three second-years were trembling at Aritomo’s words. It was obvious they had more they wanted to say, but the idea of Mikazuki’s permission blanketed Aritomo like an impenetrable force field.
I needed to diffuse this tension somehow. I tried to draw their attention to me.
“Um—”
“A-NY-WAY!”
Again. Had I been afflicted with some curse? The Curse of Perpetual Interruptions, perhaps...?
“Well, the rest of the team have their own feelings on the matter. We’ll leave it at that for today, but just because Mikazuki gave you permission does not mean we’re okay with it.”
They turned and walked away.
“Wow, obnoxious much?”
Once we were finally able to enter the clubroom and change, I could see a look of exasperation in Aritomo’s eyes.
“Were those girls in your otome game?”
I vaguely recall seeing similar character types in the books Kirara lent me.
“You mean Hattori? It wasn’t that type of game, so no. Someone like that would usually play the villainess.”
Ah, I thought the same thing.
Aritomo went on to tell me that Hattori was the daughter of the head of a massive textile conglomerate, Hatsubou. She hadn’t recognized the girl’s face, but she knew the name. Hearing the name, I realized I had heard of the company as well.
After the previous day’s events, I prepared myself for a confrontation in the morning, but morning practice went on without incident. I was optimistic that the day had been enough for tempers to cool, but my hopes were summarily dashed after school.
“Oh dear, this room is only for use by team members.”
When we made our way to the clubroom that afternoon, we found all our riding gear in a heap in front of the door.
There were seven or eight girls in the clubroom, most of them upperclassmen whom I didn’t recognize. I recognized one girl from our class, but when she saw us, she quickly made herself scarce.
This was a classic case of trying to freeze someone out. No matter what world, what time period, I recognized this technique all the same. Even after experiencing this in my past life as a poor noble, I wondered how I had ended up in this situation once more.