As for exactly what Kitasan Black would say to Satono Crown, Yasui Makoto didn't press for details.
All his past experiences had taught him this much: as a Trainer, he could use his broad experience to dissect how things happened and offer advice that seemed appropriate to him—but he couldn't overstep and make choices for Kitasan Black.
To him now, this was a hurdle every Uma Musume had to cross on the road to growing up—one that, in a way, mattered no less than training and racing.
And a hurdle this important could only be cleared through living it personally and choosing for yourself. Only then could you truly transform, and face everything ahead with a tougher heart.
In fact, Kitasan Black's warm, sunny personality was pretty well-suited to handling things like this.
Plus, with what had happened before with Musee Alien, Yasui Makoto figured that once she understood the Satono family's situation and had her initial idea, she'd come up with her own way to deal with it properly.
If he stepped in again now, it would just be overdoing it.
After all, he was coaching an Uma Musume—not raising a daughter or anything. That was what Yasui Makoto thought.
And sure enough, when they returned to the field that afternoon, Kitasan Black came bouncing over with light, springy steps, humming some unknown cheerful tune, practically overflowing with energy.
"Trainer! Let's start afternoon practice already! What are we doing next?"
Her eyes sparkled as she clenched her fists, brimming with spirit.
Yasui Makoto didn't rush to explain the afternoon's schedule. Watching her hop around like that, a sudden curiosity rose up in him.
"So… about Satono Crown over there—have you handled it? She's okay, right?"
"Of course not—"
She'd smiled and only gotten half a sentence out before her expression suddenly froze. Her body stiffened too, stretched straight like she'd been pulled taut.
A long while passed with no follow-up. Yasui Makoto couldn't help feeling confused, and asked, "What is it? Did something happen again?"
"…Not really, it's just…"
Mumbling, Kitasan Black bit her lip, looking a little shy and awkward.
"Trainer, you… you suddenly care so much about Crown-chan…?"
He almost blurted out, That's because you looked so worried earlier, so I was concerned, but the words reached his mouth and he suddenly felt like that sounded kind of… ambiguous. He stopped himself in a hurry.
At the same time, he felt something weird.
Kitasan Black was giving off this strange vibe right now—hard to describe, and definitely something he'd never felt from her before.
Angry… didn't seem like it. Her ears weren't folded back.
Sad… even less likely. Her ears weren't drooping.
Her tail was swishing pretty fast, though… but what did that mean?
An Uma Musume's emotions were usually easy to guess—especially with those long ears and a tail.
When they were in a good mood, their ears would perk up; when they got excited, they'd tremble a bit. Their tails were similar.
When they were sad, their ears would droop forward, and their tail would hang weakly. For the extra-sensitive types, even the fluff on their ears and the color of their tail would dim a little.
If they were angry, their ears would fold back—the more they folded, the angrier they were. People called that "airplane ears."
Their tail would go stiff, then whip hard—and always toward whoever had pissed them off.
But right now, Kitasan Black's ears and tail didn't match any of those. Yasui Makoto was completely baffled.
Just as he was drowning in confusion, Kitasan Black suddenly started panicking. Her eyes darted around, and she spoke super fast:
"Um… caring is fine, caring is fine! Trainer is a really good person, so it's totally normal for you to care about other people…"
Why did that suddenly sound like she was handing him a "nice person" card?
Yasui Makoto was even more confused. Before he could ask, Kitasan Black hurriedly cut in again:
"Anyway, anyway…"
"At noon, I video-called Crown-chan. I told her everything I was thinking."
"And she smiled and said, yeah, that really is you, Kita-chan."
"But she also said there are some things I don't really understand, but she thanked me a lot for caring."
"I feel like she still really cares about the family's decision, you know? But she's training super hard too."
"When I saw her, she'd just finished training, and behind her I could even see Rasen training as well."
As she said that, fighting spirit ignited in Kitasan Black's eyes, and she continued, bright and energized:
"I also called Musee-chan and Hayate-chan yesterday—both of them are preparing with everything they've got for Kikuka Sho too."
"We really can't waste time, Trainer. Hurry up and start training!"
From the moment she heard Yasui Makoto "caring" about Satono Crown, Kitasan Black had felt this inexplicable sourness rise up from nowhere.
But she couldn't explain why it was there.
Still, after chattering on and on, she suddenly thought: her Trainer really was a big, big good person—and it had been her who got worried sick about Satono Crown in the first place.
So when Trainer asked like that, it had to be because he cared about her.
Once she thought that, her whole heart turned bubbly again, and that strange sourness vanished without a trace.
Yasui Makoto stared at the wildly motivated Kitasan Black for a while, the words so weird popping into his head. He couldn't help laughing a little and shaking his head.
Even though he still hadn't figured out what emotion he'd just felt from her, if his Uma Musume was demanding that they start training this strongly, then as her Trainer, he definitely couldn't drag his feet.
So he gathered his focus, thought for a moment, and pointed toward the field.
"Then I won't waste words. Go warm up first. After you're warmed up, we'll review the running style from St. Lite Kinen."
"Yeah! I'm going!"
Snapping to attention, she gave him an exaggerated salute. With a "heh-yah!" Kitasan Black charged toward the track.
Smiling without meaning to, Yasui Makoto lifted his tablet and watched her warm-up, falling into thought.
Treating St. Lite Kinen as a warm-up for Kikuka Sho—the result of that decision had been ideal.
From her performance in that race, Kitasan Black couldn't treat a Big Escape as her main running style. She really was still a little short on talent in that area.
Compared to a Big Escape, a slower lead, a normal lead, or taking the front in a more controlled way suited her better.
But that didn't mean the techniques of a Big Escape couldn't be used.
Take a slow lead as an example: the distance you can open up by simply leading is small. The key is finding the right moment in the middle to accelerate.
At that point, if most Uma Musume want to keep up with Kitasan Black, they'll inevitably burn more stamina. Their finishing surge won't be as sharp, and even the late-kick specialists' advantage will be weakened.
If they don't keep up, then it becomes the classic front-runner win condition—use the distance advantage to make up for a speed gap, and hold off the pack's charge in the final phase.
And if you add in Big Escape techniques at that moment—especially the explosive Break from the gate and opening-phase burst from St. Lite Kinen—then the odds of opening a stamina gap in the middle and resisting pursuit late go up even more.
What needed strengthening next was taking that tactic and sharpening it until she could pull it out at will in Kikuka Sho.
---
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl