Why was I assigned to be a horse girl?

Watching the black luxury car disappear into the morning light, Fei Tu Hu Po planned to hop home on one foot to change into a spare pair of old shoes.

Before that, Hitotsu Amber chose to skip and jump to the God's fountain pool to wash her feet and clean off the dirt.

After shaking off the water droplets clinging to her feet, Hitotsu Amber lifted her feet, took out her phone in the morning light, and turned on the camera mode...

……

At nine o'clock in the morning, Kotobuki Toru, who had just finished washing up, strolled through the campus in the autumn. As a university, on such a cool and clear day, the people walking on the road were mostly couples in twos and threes.

The saccharine scent of romance completely washed away the already thin academic atmosphere.

"Sigh, shouldn't universities be places for learning?"

"Why do you act like an old man? Let me tell you, you haven't even interned at the Racecourse Tracey Academy yet... The youthful atmosphere there is much stronger. Don't have an allergic reaction and faint when you go."

Before Kotobuki could even utter a couple of exclamations, his mentor's large hand patted him on the shoulder. "You kid, hurry up and find someone to date. You're being so cheesy... By the way, what happened to that girl you met yesterday? Did you ask for her contact information? I know you have an unusual background, but when it comes to relationships and finding a racehorse girl, it's not about your background."

“I didn’t want it, but she added me as a friend.” Kotobuki Toru told the truth, then took out his phone and turned it on: “Now that you mention it, I realized I haven’t checked my messages today.”

The tutor patted Qin Chuitou on the shoulder, "It's a good thing you don't have a girlfriend, and you're fast asleep with your phone off... That's a death sentence. In this situation, either your wallet will suffer, or your back will suffer..."

Kotobuki Toru reluctantly endured his mentor's torture and turned on his phone.

The moment the phone received a network signal, it immediately started vibrating like a purple mood playing at a high frequency...

【Amber has sent you a message】

【Amber has sent you a message】

……

A series of messages popped up in the phone's notification box.

The tutor beside him gave him a knowing smile. "You're making pretty fast progress, kid?"

Kotobuki ignored the gossipy old man and opened the chat on the social media app.

I've started exercising!

I did 350 squats. If it weren't for delivering food, I think I could have done a few more.

I did another 500 one-arm push-ups, and I feel more and more excited as I do them!

……

Hitoko Amber kept sending messages to Kotobuki, sharing her training plan and progress for the day. Judging from the messages, Hitoko Amber's self-training was going very well.

Kotobuki Toru quickly scrolled to the latest message, and after confirming that Hishiko had not reported anything unusual, she looked at her mentor in a retaliatory manner.

"You see, our relationship isn't as strange as you think. I shared some training advice with her last night, and now she's just sharing her training progress with me..."

"Ding."

As Kotobuki Toru was speaking, a new message popped up unexpectedly.

The dewdrops glistened like snowflakes, damp and misty... At first glance, the sound of the zither playing through the air made me think that Fei Tu Hu Po had finished exercising and was hungry again, so she went to the street to buy some freshly made tofu to eat.

But after looking at the whole picture again carefully... Kotobuki Toru was completely dumbfounded.

We were having a good chat, discussing professional topics like training and diet plans... but then suddenly the other person sent a picture of their bare, freshly washed feet.

This was something Kotobuki Toru never expected!

But this netizen is really good at getting along...

Unfortunately, the phone's camera resolution is indeed a bit poor, and there are cracks in the lens, so the photos it takes can't be appreciated in detail.

Sensing the strange look from her mentor beside her, Kotobuki Toru quickly explained, "Um, we're just friends, and I'm a gentleman... Can you believe me?"

"Do you think I believe it or not? A decent person would instantly save it to their favorites and then upload it to their cloud album?"

"Ahem, I accidentally developed muscle memory for it."

Chapter Twenty-Three: Come with me to buy a little dress!

"As a soon-to-be graduate of the Uma Musume major, it's only natural for me to care about the health of Uma Musume girls."

"That makes sense, absolutely makes sense."

The tutor patted Qin Chuitou's shoulder with unusual excitement, his tone filled with pride for his student: "Speaking of which, you kid, I never knew you had such skills... Yesterday, he stormed over, looking like he wanted to kill you, but today he's so smooth to get things done?"

"Um, actually I don't know why either."

Given Hitoko's carefree lifestyle, Kotobuki Toru had no idea why Hitoko would suddenly take such a selfie.

However, Kohaku's message immediately answered Kotobuki Toru's doubts.

[Hitotsu Kohaku: I'm going to buy a new pair of shoes for Uma Musume Girls. Could you take a look at my feet and give me some advice?]

"Director, look, they just asked me to take a look at their feet and help them choose shoes."

"only?"

The tutor reached out and tapped his slow-witted student on the head, saying with exasperation, "What ordinary young girl would casually pull out her phone to take a picture of her feet, especially barefoot..."

"But she's not just an ordinary racehorse girl... Ah, I can't explain that to you."

Kotobuki looked at the photo, then scratched his head in a somewhat troubled manner. "How can I possibly analyze anything from such a blurry photo with a cracked camera?"

Kotobuki Toru has never been one to take many photos, and for that reason, when choosing a phone, he doesn't have high requirements for the resolution; as long as it can meet his daily scanning needs, that's enough... But at this moment, he has truly begun to hate low-resolution phones, especially the one that Hitoko Amber is currently holding.

If the resolution were higher, wouldn't I be able to see it more clearly?

"Professor, I can't figure anything out about this photo either, could you help me..."

"Why would I help you look at something like that? Don't look at what you shouldn't. They only sent you the photos because they trust you, so I won't get involved."

His own mentor waved his hands and backed away repeatedly: "You'll definitely become a trainer who needs to stand on your own soon enough. How can you ask me for everything?"

Kotobuki Toru saw that his mentor was starting to make excuses, and that his own skill level wasn't yet at the point where he could assess a racehorse girl's legs and the type of shoes that suited her just by looking at a low-resolution photo, so he honestly replied to Hitokohaku:

[Kotobuki Toru: The resolution of your phone is really too low, and just looking at one photo, I can't see any special features or flaws at all.]

[Hibiscus Amber: Shall I take a few more pictures?]

[Kotobuki Toru: Taking more pictures won't make a difference... Besides, there's such a big gap above your phone's lens, it'll affect the shot no matter how you take it... So I suggest you find someone to test it on-site.]

After all, the purpose of opening a store is to make money. Therefore, in order to better promote and sell products, stores that sell racehorse girl-related equipment will more or less employ one or two fitters who are familiar with racehorse girl competitions and have knowledge of racehorse girl shoe equipment.

Even a novice like Fei Tu Hu Po can have an excellent experience once they go.

[Hibi Amber: It's definitely better to see it in person; you can see it much more clearly then...]

Kotobuki Toru nodded, typing what he wanted to say into his phone's chat box: "That's right, since you're going to spend money anyway, just ask the staff on site to help you..."

[Hibi Amber: That's perfect! Come with me to buy new shoes tomorrow afternoon!]

……

"Hey, Kotobuki, why are you suddenly frozen? What did Kohaku say?"

"Um, she said she wants to go buy new shoes with me tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, the tutor's face immediately lit up. "Isn't that great? They've already invited you!"

"I have a full day of classes tomorrow, and you have a class in the afternoon, so I'm not free..."

The mentor placed his large hand directly on Kotobuki Toru's hand, saying meaningfully, "No, you have time, you must have time."

"what?"

"What do you mean? My class is nothing! For you, is listening to Old Deng's lectures more appealing than going to buy new shoes with a racehorse girl?"

"Actually, I think the most attractive thing to me is sneaking a snack in your class."

"You little brat... don't try to talk nonsense with me."

The instructor lifted his leather shoe, assuming a ready-to-kick-and-blow-through-the-buttocks stance, and said, "You're almost graduating, and you don't really learn much useful knowledge in class anymore. Besides, you've already got your hoof maker's certificate, right? Why don't you go and put it to good use and gain some practical experience?"

The instructor decisively assigned Qin Chuitou the task.

"In short, you need to go and do some social practice!"

To prevent Qin Chuitou from skipping both his "social practice" and his classes, the instructor added, "I'll still be using the online attendance system tomorrow. If your attendance isn't at the shopping mall, I'll count it as an absence!"

"..."

Before Kotobuki Toru could answer, the instructor flung his sleeves and walked into the classroom. A moment later, Kotobuki Toru heard the old man's booming voice coming from the classroom: "You're almost graduating, and you're still here slacking off and playing games in class! Let me tell you, Kotobuki Toru already has a racehorse girl asking him out to choose shoes today! You should be ashamed! Ashamed!"

Not wanting to embarrass her mentor, Kotobuki Toru took out her phone and arranged a time and place to meet with Hitoko Amber the next day.

[Kotobuki Toru: Send me your address. I can't speak for other things, but I do know a lot about choosing shoes.]

[Hibi Amber: Hehehe, you're so reliable. I'm going to deliver food now, trying to save up more money to buy shoes.]

"Come on."

………………

The next day at noon, Kotobuki Toru, who was ordered to skip class, met with Hitoko Kohaku at the Three Goddesses Park.

"By the way, you haven't changed your clothes for the past few days, have you?"

Looking at the Hitotsu Kohaku in front of him, Kotobuki Toru felt that the girl's outfit was not so much similar as identical... but the shoes she was wearing were different.

I changed to an older pair.

"Um, actually I bought three of the same clothes."

Fei Tu Hu Po awkwardly stuck out her tongue. "But let's leave it at that! My plan for today is to buy a pair of shoes, and then some new clothes, sportswear... women's clothes and stuff."

Kotobuki Toru knew Hitokohaku inside and out, and he was still a little surprised when he heard the words 'cross-dressing': "But, cross-dressing!"

“Hmm…” Fei Tu Hu Po tilted her head and smiled, her expression nonchalant: “Delivery drivers wear oversized vests, customer service staff wear work uniforms, and students wear school uniforms. It’s not something you can just refuse to wear if you don’t want to or can’t accept it, so it’s normal for Ma Niang to wear women’s clothes.”

"And these past few days, I've been able to find a job so easily, deliver food hundreds of kilometers away, and even the uncle who buys vegetables is willing to sell me vegetable scraps at a low price. My landlady saw that my hair dryer was broken and gave me one she didn't need... All of this is because I'm a horse girl."

Kotobuki nodded. After all, the horse girl is a treasure of humankind, so people always show her more care in daily life.

"If I receive so much love and attention because I'm a racehorse girl, and then insist that I don't accept racehorse girl outfits... wouldn't that be like having a virtuous image but also being a hypocrite..."

Before Hitotsu Amber could finish speaking, the three goddess statues on the fountain suddenly made a "creaking" sound, and then the water that was flowing gently suddenly became violent... spraying Hitotsu Amber's mouth directly and interrupting the girl's not-so-refined speech.

"Gurgle gurgle gurgle... W-what's going on?"

Chapter Twenty-Four: Why Choose This Store?

I never expected that this silly horse girl would think so clearly about these crucial issues. Is this what they mean by being wise in a foolish way?

Kotobuki Toru thought this as he looked at Hitotsu Kohaku, who was vomiting by the flower bed.

"Ooh, oh, oh..."

After spewing water for a while by the sewer, Hitotsu Amber wiped her mouth and returned to Kotobuki Toru's side: "What's going on with these three goddess statues... why did they suddenly come towards me?"

"According to the plumber who came to fix the pipes, the water pump pipe inside the statue broke... but who knows if there's some mysterious force at play?"

Kotobuki Toru shrugged. He couldn't blame himself for overthinking, but what had just happened was just too coincidental.

Just as Amber was about to say something rather unrefined, she was sprayed with water from a burst pipe...

If there is any element of fate at play, then that precise and elegant water jet should have been the three goddesses' punishment and warning for Hitotsu Amber's use of foul language.

Kotobuki Toru slowly walked to the girl's side and handed her a tissue he carried with him. "But there wasn't that much water, was it? Did you really have to squat there and vomit for so long?"

Fei Tu Hu Po quickly took the tissue and carefully wiped her mouth. "Well... I usually wash my feet in this fountain after exercising. To put it bluntly, this is my foot bath water!"

Thinking of this, Hitoko immediately covered her mouth as if she felt nauseous again, but when she saw Kotobuki Toru's gaze, Hitoko forgot about feeling nauseous.

"Hey... don't stare at that fountain pool with that interested look on your face!"

Kotobuki blushed, withdrew his probing gaze, and continued to complain: "No wonder the three goddesses sprayed you in the face. You've got some nerve. A racehorse girl washing her feet in her own goddess's fountain. What's the difference between you and those cats that use incense burners in front of Buddha as litter boxes?"

"I thought the goddess would be very generous, but I didn't expect her to be so petty."

Hitotsu Amber wiped away the drool and foot-washing water remaining on her chest, looked at Kotobuki Toru again, and quickly moved in front of him: "So I'm counting on you today! Come shopping with me!"

"This...you didn't mention this when you messaged me yesterday. Let me ask first, what will happen if I refuse?"

Fei Tu Hu Po smiled slyly, her lips curving like a little fox: "I finally managed to pull you out, how could I let you run away? I'll drag you there even if I have to, but if you can outrun me, then you can leave."

Why should I even bother removing it?

"Well, let me make this clear first. In all these years, I've never actually been to a women's clothing store as a customer... I can pick out shoes, but when it comes to clothes, I don't think I'd stand a chance."