Why was I assigned to be a horse girl?

Kotobuki Toru did not hide his somewhat tragic life story from Hitoko Amber.

"Oh, what a coincidence, me too!" Fei Tu Hu Po smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Perfect, let's go see it together. I'm scared to go alone."

"Haven't you already let it go?"

Hitotsu Amber walked ahead, leading Kotobuki Toru out of the park, explaining as they walked: "Being open-minded doesn't mean I can solo a women's clothing store... but if someone's embarrassed with me, it doesn't seem so difficult. Let's go, we'll be there in twenty minutes."

After saying that, Fei Tu Hu Po lightly jumped twice on the spot, and then stretched as if warming up.

While clumsily tying her hair, Fei Tu Hu Po pointed with her chin to the bus stop not far away: "You take the bus, I'll run! Let's see who gets there first!"

Kotobuki immediately pulled out some change from his pocket. "No, please. To save a few hundred yen... I'll treat you to a ride."

Fei Tu Hu Po hopped onto the bus stop platform with a grin: "Oh~ I'm really grateful."

The two were also lucky; they didn't have to wait long before a bus arrived at their stop.

There weren't many people on the bus, and there were plenty of empty seats, so the two of them unanimously chose to sit at the very back of the bus.

Hitoko sat by the window, while Kotobuki Toru sat near the aisle.

As soon as she sat down, Qin Fukito's palm touched something soft and delicate. Upon closer inspection, it was the beautiful red tail of the Hitotsu Amber.

"Waaah... Don't touch me!"

Kotobuki Toru helplessly raised his hand in mid-air, "Can't you move your tail to your right side? Does it have to be between you and me?"

But after hearing Kotobuki Toru's words, Hitobuki Amber still didn't move her tail, but just hugged it tightly in her arms. "I don't want to move it... I feel like it would be very uncomfortable to move my tail to the right."

"Hey, you have this kind of fetish?"

"Anyway, I don't know how I suddenly developed this quirk..."

Kotobuki Toru thought for a moment and explained, "Actually, this situation is quite common among Uma Musume (horse racers). There are many reasons for this. It's said that Uma Musume have a stronger ability to sense magnetic fields. When these strong magnetic field users cut magnetic field lines with their tails, their tails become electrified and uncomfortable..."

Hitotsu Amber tilted her head: "I don't understand. I didn't know that horse girls' tails could be used like this? I thought they could only be used to collect fallen hair to stuff into pillows, or to be used as hand warmers."

Kotobuki Toru's gaze fell on Hitoko Amber's extremely thick tail. In just a few days, the harsh winter of Hokkaido would arrive, and when the heavy snow fell and the weather turned freezing cold.

I wonder if I can get a turn too...

But what will my relationship with Hitotsu Amber be like then?

After Hitoko Amber's match ends, the two will continue to be these strange friends.

Or... will Hitotsu Kohaku find her ideal trainer and then go to another place?

Thinking of this, Kotobuki Toru felt a slight heaviness in his chest, as if a stone was pressing down on it.

After taking a deep breath, Kotobuki Toru looked up and asked, "By the way, where are we going? You haven't told me our destination yet."

"Oh, right, do you know the store called Venus? Someone recommended it to me."

"..."

As Hitotsu Kohaku had expected, Kotobuki Toru's answer to her question would be one of two things: either he knew or he didn't.

But why did this person suddenly freeze?

His expression was strange, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

So Hibiki Kohaku grabbed her fluffy tail and gently shook it in front of Kotobuki Toru. The pale gold tip of the girl's tail drew a playful arc in the air.

"Wei? Zaima? I want to switch to human assistance?"

"Uh... I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Kotobuki seemed to wake from a dream, shook his head, but his expression remained strange. "You actually chose this shop..."

Chapter Twenty-Five: You share the same surname as this tycoon!

The ears on the top of Fei Tu Hu Po's head twitched: "What...is there a problem with this place?"

Fei Tu Hu Po didn't doubt that the noblewoman was trying to trick her... After all, the noblewoman was from a wealthy and powerful family, and even if she was bored, she wouldn't make fun of her like this.

Besides, the name Venus sounds impressive, high-end, and classy.

Sitting next to Hitsuko, Kotobuki Toru, after hearing Hitsuko's question, pondered for a moment and shook his head, saying, "It's not that there's a problem... the quality of this store's shoes is absolutely top-notch, and buying from here is a very good choice, it's just that this store is..."

"I can roughly guess it will be very expensive."

Fei Tu Hu Po pursed her lips, looking like she had made a big decision: "Money can be earned back... well, but I'd better see how expensive it is first."

As she spoke, Fei Tu Hu Po took out her phone and began searching online for information about the Venus store.

Kotobuki Toru silently sat beside Hitoko Amber, observing the girl's reaction.

As Fei Tu Hu Po pressed the search button on her phone screen, relevant encyclopedia entries instantly appeared on the desktop.

Venus is a world-renowned top-tier brand of equestrian model products, belonging to the Kotobuki Bussan Group.

When Fei Tu Hu Po Guang read the first sentence of the encyclopedia's homepage, he was completely stunned.

The girl looked up, blinking her shimmering golden eyes in a daze. She glanced at Kotobuki Toru beside her, who had a helpless smile on his face, and then looked down at her phone screen.

After repeating this twice, Hitoko Amber slowly opened her lips: "Their company name sounds similar to your surname. If I tell their staff that you also have the surname Kotobuki, could they give me a special price?"

"..."

Now he really didn't know what to do. Kotobuki Toru reached out and slapped his cheek with a "smack".

"Didn't you ever think of connecting me with this Kotobuki Products?"

"Come on, it's not like I haven't seen rich people before... They're chauffeured around, they drink imported mineral water, they're decked out in luxury goods from head to toe, and they talk about being aristocrats all the time... Plus, they have big breasts."

Fei Tu Hu Po glanced at Qin Chui Tou with disdain, "You're still pretending? If you were rich, would you be squeezing onto the bus with me? And secretly ordering takeout during class? There were so many Chinese students with the surname Ma in my high school, and none of them claimed to be rich."

Kotobuki Toru was both amused and exasperated: "That seems to make sense... There are indeed quite a few people with the surname Kotobuki."

However, at this moment, Fei Tu Hu Po also came up and nudged Qin Chui Tou with her shoulder: "As a person, there is no need to be so vain and envy others who are born into good families. For an orphan like me, it is good enough that I can live. Compared to me, aren't you already very good?"

Watching Hitoko Amber start joking about her past and scars, Kotobuki Toru felt a lump in his throat and a pang of pain in his heart.

Hitotsu Amber, shaking her head, continued, "Well, even though you're not as rich as them, you can still start working hard to pursue your dreams now. Who knows, you might achieve great success someday."

Kotobuki laughed: "Right now, I'm just a college student who hasn't graduated yet. It's not easy to start from scratch."

"I wouldn't say I started from scratch, at least I..."

"What's wrong with you?"

Fei Tu Hu Po shook her head, her crimson hair swaying in the breeze. "Nothing's happened yet. Speaking of which, this Venus is really expensive... but everyone online says it's worth the price. You have to help me choose a better value option later!"

"Don't worry, I didn't get my hoof-cooking certificate for nothing!"

"Hehe, that's good..."

Hitotsu Amber continued to laugh as she flipped through the articles on her phone: "After searching again, I found out that this Kotobuki Company is really rich. I saw in the gossip that this company is saying that it is going to acquire Texas in the United States and that it is going to build a Japanese-style American city."

"Don't listen too much to what others say when they're bragging, or you'll easily become a fool..."

The bus wasn't going very fast, and the constant swaying and bumping made the two of them dizzy. When they arrived at the station, Hitotsu Amber was too lazy to hold onto her big tail anymore. She casually let her tail dangle on Kotobuki Toru's lap and fell fast asleep with her head tilted back.

Qin Chuitou was caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to put his hand down or hold it up...

It's not that he didn't want to secretly put his hand on Hitoko's tail and feel the softness of the horse girl's fur; after all, he could explain later that Hitoko herself put her tail on it.

Unfortunately, this girl's tail seemed to have its own mind after its owner fell asleep; if you touched it even slightly, the tip of the tail would lash out like a whip.

The hand that was so swollen from playing the zither was almost bruised!

……

"Finally, we've arrived!"

As soon as the bus arrived at the station, Amber jumped off like a wild horse, stretching out its ears and tail as if it had been freed, and taking the opportunity to observe the bustling surroundings.

The two are currently in the central area of ​​Sapporo, and this place, where the Sapporo Shopping Center is located, can be called the heart of the central area.

The streets are filled with handsome men and beautiful women, and the air is filled with vibrant and noisy sounds.

Fei Tu Hu Po stood on tiptoe and peered around: "Every time I come here, I have to marvel at how many people there are... Now that I'm shorter, it feels like there are even more people."

"Actually, the most densely populated place is still Tokyo."

"I see there are quite a few horse racing competitions in Tokyo... Will I have a chance to go someday?"

Fei Tu Hu Po tiptoed around, looking for the legendary Venus store. "By the way, where is that store... is it somewhere out in the dark?"

"Take a few steps back and look up."

Qin Chui's suggestion came through the air.

Despite her doubts, Hitoko Amber followed Kotobuki Toru's advice and began to act.

After retreating several steps away from the crowd, Hibiki Amber faced the enormous department store and tilted her little head back.

"What could it be?"

But as she looked up, the enormous V-shaped structure came into view, and Fei Tu Hu Po was completely stunned.

She had been looking around but couldn't find any information about the store. But now, when she looked up, she saw a large billboard hanging in the middle of the department store. The billboard directly above her head bore the letter V, followed by the letter E about ten meters away, and then the letter N...

Although it's marked as a store on the map, all the shops along this street belong to them!

"With my meager savings, I'm sure I can afford it, right?"

Hitoko took another step back, looking at Kotobuki Toru with some nervousness, and then she was completely shocked.

"Whoa... What's with this outfit again? Why are you wearing a mask and sunglasses? Even the assassins who tried to assassinate the Japanese prime minister weren't dressed like this... Are you sure you don't need to be this embarrassed?"

"Ahem, let's not stand at the door, let's go inside?"

Chapter Twenty-Six: Venus

"Ding dong."

As the welcoming bell, reminiscent of the chimes of an ancient temple in the mountains, rings out, the translucent glass doors of the Venus store automatically open.

The store clerk sitting at the front desk looked towards the entrance.

Two seemingly unremarkable yet striking customers walked in through the doorway.

Leading the way was a crimson horse girl with long crimson hair and a matching tail, making her look like a flame spirit. The girl's beautiful and exquisite face was worthy of the name of a fairy.

If only she could be a little more outgoing. From the moment she stepped through the door, the scarlet-haired horse girl subconsciously shrank her slender shoulders, her bright, pale golden eyes filled with curiosity and... embarrassment.

And the girl's outfit...

As a service specialist at the Uma Musume Girls store, the staff felt that the girl's attire had a kind of simplicity that came from the soul... or rather, a rustic feel.

To be fair, if I were to wear this outfit out in public, or even to a crowded downtown area, it would be a difficult decision.

Then maybe I really could accept running naked.

The man following behind the girl was also dressed strangely, with a mask and sunglasses that made it impossible to see his face. He looked like a gangster who was trying to buy something for free or collecting protection money.

Overall, neither of them seemed to be particularly wealthy...

However, the shop assistant still greeted her with a smile: "Hello, Ms. Ma, welcome to the Venus Specialty Store Sapporo Branch. How can I help you?"

"Wow, they're so enthusiastic."

Fei Tu Hu Po was startled by the shop assistant who rushed up to her with a loud cry.

Logically speaking, shouldn't saleswomen in such luxurious and wealthy boutiques be arrogant and indifferent to customers like themselves who look poor?

But the enthusiastic shop assistant had already walked up to the two of them, bowed slightly, and said, "Feel free to ask me any questions."

Anyway, she said it was okay to ask!

Fei Tu Hu Po blinked and asked, "I feel... you guys are so enthusiastic. The staff at most shops like this aren't like this."

Kotobuki Toru, standing next to Amber, and the store clerk were instantly stunned...

She really did ask any questions. When the shop assistant said "feel free to ask," they meant things like the products. Why were they so enthusiastic about asking questions right away?

However, the shop assistant was quite lively. After looking around, she leaned close to Fei Tu Hu Po and whispered, "Actually, the shop assistants at Venus used to be very aloof, the kind who looked down on everyone. But one day, a middle school student dressed very plainly came in with a bowl of instant noodles and asked for hot water to make the noodles. He was kicked out by the shop assistant... A few days later, all our stores started to reorganize and attend training courses."

Fei Tu Hu Po tilted her head, still somewhat puzzled, and asked, "Hey, what does kicking out the students who wanted instant noodles have to do with the crackdown?"

The shop assistant continued with a smile, "That junior high school student said he was the future heir of our group... I reckon after all these years, that heir should be married by now."

Fei Tu Hu Po laughed out loud, "Pfft haha, there's actually such a thing."