As Yasui Makoto studied the dical report alongside Air Groove, thoughts spun quickly in his mind. Soon, he connected Durante's recent training camp location to the seaside.
Seafood had an especially high purine content, and considering the current situation, Durante's training diet probably involved plenty of fish and shellfish.
This was common during seaside training camps, yet few Uma Musu ever developed inflammation from it.
Looked at this way, Durante's constitution might be sowhat special.
The dical report ntioned this explicitly, adding a clear dical instruction that Durante must completely avoid seafood and other high-purine foods going forward.
Such advice was understandable and easy enough to follow.
But when Yasui Makoto read the next line, he couldn't help but frown slightly, throwing an involuntary, worried glance toward Air Groove beside him, then toward the office desk behind them.
Right now, the two of them were standing in the orthopedics examination room at Tracen Academy Hospital. Harsh, white ceiling lights glead down, illuminating a large skeletal diagram on the wall.
Under that sharp lighting, Air Groove occasionally stared at the report, then raised her eyes to glance at the skeletal chart. Her hands clearly trembled, and her brows had long since knitted into a deep frown.
Behind the desk sat a middle-aged doctor in a white coat, similarly holding a copy of the dical report.
His expression remained relatively calm. As he flipped through the pages, he quietly discussed sothing with an Uma Musu standing next to him.
When Yasui Makoto's gaze moved toward that Uma Musu, his eyebrows unconsciously twitched in surprise and confusion.
That was Doctor Agnes Tachyon.
She also held a copy of the dical report, seemingly discussing its contents with the doctor beside her.
But even as she spoke in a low voice, she occasionally glanced their way. Beneath her red eyes, apart from seriousness and thoughtfulness, was an elusive, strangely interested gleam.
Yasui Makoto had barely interacted with this Uma Musu since that initial diagnosis at the start of the year, and later in the student council office. It seed Agnes Tachyon had completely forgotten about him since then—even her earlier recomndation of Daiwa Scarlet had been dropped. She'd never reached out again.
If mory served correctly, wasn't Agnes Tachyon supposed to be a neurologist?
Why was she here in Orthopedics right now?
Surely, she didn't co all the way here just because of …?
"Air Groove-senpai, I think reducing her training load is still the safest choice."
Agnes Tachyon's voice interrupted Yasui Makoto's thoughts. Apparently, her discussion with the doctor had concluded. She picked up the cup of black tea from the desk, gazing over:
"I can probably understand Durante's yearning for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. I can also understand what she'll feel after hearing about this."
"No, more accurately, maybe I'm the only one here who truly understands."
"After all, forced to give up because of inflammation and such…"
Taking a slow sip of her tea, a vortex swirled in her red eyes, as if ti itself had begun flowing backward. A subtle smile spread across her face, one that wasn't really smiling.
"Sounds very familiar, doesn't it?"
That last sentence was extrely soft, yet it caused both Air Groove and the middle-aged doctor to look sharply at her.
Even Yasui Makoto couldn't help but stare deeply at Agnes Tachyon, suddenly beginning to understand why she'd appeared here, and even why she'd chosen to work at this very hospital.
After debuting, she'd blazed an incredible trail, winning four consecutive races, including the first leg of the Classic Triple Crown, the Satsuki Sho.
Each race she dominated like a fierce autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, overpowering the field and stunning the crowd. At that ti, Agnes Tachyon was truly a dazzling teor.
And indeed, she really was just a teor.
After the Satsuki Sho, she'd suffered tendonitis.
For an Uma Musu, this illness was incurable. And so, Agnes Tachyon departed the blazing stage of competition forever.
But this kind of scenario wasn't rare. Rather, it was all too common in the racing world.
Perhaps Agnes Tachyon had beco a doctor precisely to make up for her own regrets—and also, perhaps, to help younger generations facing similar fates.
"Tachyon…"
Air Groove's eyes trembled briefly, then quickly shook her head, gratitude and helplessness intertwined:
"Maybe I gave you the wrong impression. It's not that I won't accept reducing the training workload. It's just…"
She rubbed her temples and pointed outside the room.
"You probably don't know, but that child Durante… can sotis be extrely stubborn."
"Just recently, she had a big fight with her parents. And yesterday, she actually… kind of ran away secretly."
"If we hadn't coincidentally bumped into Yasui yesterday, who knows how much effort it would've taken to drag her back."
"I'm just thinking how exactly to explain sothing like this to her."
As Air Groove and Agnes Tachyon both implied, aside from cutting purine-rich foods, the doctor's other main suggestion was to greatly reduce training and switch to recovery treatnt.
The recomnded rest period wasn't extrely long—only three to four months. But even this relatively short break happened to clash perfectly with the major races of the second half of the year.
If Durante were to follow these dical instructions, never mind the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe or Kikuka Sho—she wouldn't even be able to race at all during this period.
"Just explain it exactly as it is."
Agnes Tachyon took another sip of her tea, eyes growing slightly colder:
"I'm not really soone who sugarcoats things, so let put it plainly—this current scenario is already fortunate for her."
"Air Groove-senpai, you should know very clearly just how troubleso inflammation can be."
"Let be even blunter. If that child continues stubbornly like this, bone fractures will be absolutely guaranteed."
"And even if she manages to recover, next year, during her older-horse year… she'll probably fracture again."
"If sothing like that happens again…"
Taking another slow sip of tea, a fleeting glimr of danger and bitterness passed through Agnes Tachyon's eyes:
"She'd better just prepare to say goodbye to the Twinkle Series entirely."
At those words, Air Groove's face showed both agreent and distress, and the doctor quietly nodded along.
Yasui Makoto couldn't help glancing sideways at Agnes Tachyon.
What this Uma Musu had just described was precisely the scenario from his mory.
In another tiline, after Durante's fracture during her classic year, she indeed recovered.
But the following year, during the Takarazuka Kinen of her older-horse season, she fractured again—this ti permanently losing all competitive ability, a true tragedy.
Yasui Makoto couldn't know what Durante, as a racehorse, thought back then.
But he was absolutely sure, if this scenario occurred in this world, the Uma Musu version of Durante would definitely find it incredibly hard to accept.
The difference was that Yasui foresaw these events through his mories; Agnes Tachyon likely deduced them from dical knowledge and experience.
Judging from the current situation, Durante's inflammation was discovered very early, aning the worst outco could still be entirely avoided.
However, if they hadn't found out now, or if they ignored it, next year's tragedy would absolutely repeat itself.
So… she really did beco a doctor specifically for the sake of helping her juniors and preventing tragedies like hers…
As Yasui Makoto pondered this, Air Groove's eyes suddenly flashed with determination.
"I understand. I'll have a proper talk with Durante."
"And… Tachyon, could you help persuade her?"
"Well, that's…"
Agnes Tachyon stood up lazily from behind the desk, stretching slightly, smiling leisurely:
"I just happen to be working on so research lately related to conditions like this, so consider this expanding my case studies."
"Let's go, Air Groove-senpai."
"Oh, right…"
Passing by Air Groove, Agnes Tachyon looked toward Yasui Makoto, acting as if she'd just noticed him. With a cryptic half-smile, she said:
"As for you, sir, please wait here for now. When I co back later, we'll discuss Kitasan Black's condition."
---
T/N: AGNES TACHYON IS MORE THAN A MOMMY HORSE!!! (shes not even a mommy horwse you are the one you that is taking care of ehr) SHE IS A DEEP CHARACTERRRRR
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