Although he would use any means necessary to slack off and goof around, when it was time to be serious, Shinji Kitahara never faltered.
Seeing him suddenly get into gear, the other girls were taken aback. Even Eclipse couldn't help but steal a few more glances at him. Tokai Teio's expression was particularly strange, her eyes filled with a mix of surprise and disbelief.
However, while his two charges were stunned, Special Week and Oguri Cap quickly accepted this side of him. After all, they had been trained by Shinji before. Although they hadn't heard of his various bizarre exploits, they knew of his capabilities as a trainer, so they quickly got into the right mindset.
Special Week was the first to be tested. She started with a simple middle-distance run, then tested her reflexes and power. Finally, she performed a set of movements Shinji had given her to demonstrate her body's flexibility and overall condition.
This was just the most basic test. After this, they were supposed to move to another training area for different assessments.
But after she finished, Shinji looked at the data in his notebook and frowned, showing no intention of moving on.
"Special Week."
"Here!" Shinji's serious tone gave Special Week a bad feeling.
In the next second, her premonition became reality.
"Did you, or did you not, follow the training plan I created for you?" he asked, looking up at her with a calm gaze.
She froze for a moment, then hurriedly shook her head. "No, no, I've been following it very strictly—"
"I'm not talking about the plan on the training field." Shinji frowned and looked down at her legs. "Have you been secretly snacking in the dorm?"
Like any athlete, a horse girl's off-field diet is just as important as their on-field practice. That's why, in addition to their training plans, Shinji had also set certain dietary requirements. It was obvious that Special Week had not followed them.
"I... I only ate a little bit..." Special Week's voice grew smaller and smaller as she slowly lowered her head.
Tokai Teio blinked, a dozen question marks popping up in her head. She tugged on Shinji's sleeve. "Trainer-san, how could you tell?"
It wasn't just Teio; even Eclipse couldn't figure out how he had seen it. Including Oguri Cap, all three of them looked at him with confusion.
"It's simple," Shinji said, capping his pen and using the tip to poke several spots on Special Week's thigh, waist, and arm. "If you had followed my plan exactly, the muscles in these areas should be a little leaner and firmer by now. But instead, they've become even rounder than before... You've gained weight, haven't you?"
Hearing this, the other girls couldn't help but look as well, but no matter how they stared, they couldn't see any change. Besides, Special Week had only been on that plan for a few days, and the intensity wasn't even that high. It was normal for there to be no change.
If Special Week hadn't admitted it herself, Teio would have been certain Shinji was just making things up. She had never heard of a trainer who could see so much with just their eyes. Even legendary trainers had to make physical contact to get a rough estimate of a horse girl's condition. Further refinement required more tests and data collection.
But up to this point, Shinji hadn't even touched her, let alone looked for more than a few seconds, yet he had directly concluded that she had been snacking. It was hard not to suspect he was just guessing—because this defied all common sense.
Special Week blushed and nodded slightly, then spoke in a small voice. "Um, Shinji-san, I won't do it again..."
"There's no need for 'next time'."
"Eh?!"
Special Week looked up in surprise, her expression panicked. "Um, Shinji-san, I know I was wrong, please don't be angry..."
"I'm not angry." Shinji shook his head, cutting her off. "Don't misunderstand. I mean I'm going to change your training plan. If you can't help eating at night, I can make a flexible plan for you later to burn off the extra nutrients. The training effect will be even better—of course, that's only if you can strictly follow it."
He tapped Special Week's head with the pen cap and sighed. "Also, tell me in advance next time this happens. If you feel there's a problem with the training plan or it's not suitable, you can talk to me directly. A training plan needs to be based on your actual situation. Don't hide things from me."
"...Yes." Special Week nodded, a little ashamed.
But Shinji wasn't done. He looked down at a few strings of numbers and diagrams in his notebook and continued, "Also, your current running form—I mean the way you run now, not your race strategy—is also a problem. It's barely usable. Today is Friday. If all goes well, I'll design three new running forms for you by next Monday: one for training, one for relaxation, and one for racing. It might be a bit difficult to learn, so be prepared."
"...Yes."
Hearing this, a hint of worry appeared on Special Week's face as she nodded slowly, not realizing that there was something not quite right about what Shinji had said.
But Tokai Teio, standing on the side, was stunned.
Special Week and Oguri Cap were both from the countryside and hadn't debuted yet, so they couldn't tell what was wrong with Shinji's words. But she was different.
Even setting aside the bizarre way he had somehow seen through Special Week's snacking, the matter of designing a new running form was not normal at all.
Because she planned to win the Triple Crown on her own, Teio had studied a lot about being a trainer, so she knew very well how difficult it was to design a new running form. For a horse girl, running was instinct. Unless they were exceptionally clumsy, they would definitely find a running style that suited them through years of running. That style might not be precise, but it was the result of years of natural selection and was certainly suitable for them to a large extent.
To change this running form required not only a vast amount of knowledge but also a deep understanding of the horse girl's physical condition. This was something that not even many veteran trainers could do, let alone a rookie.
And it wasn't just the difficulty; time was also an issue. Setting aside the time needed to accumulate knowledge, understanding a horse girl's body also took time. Most trainers, when they first start with their charge, can often only watch her train on her own and give a general plan. It takes a week to be able to refine and adjust the initial plan based on the collected data. And this refinement and adjustment is not the end, but just the beginning. For most of the time thereafter, a trainer must continuously refine and adjust the existing plan according to the charge's physical changes, while constantly collecting and updating data to deepen their understanding of her various conditions.
Then, only when this understanding and knowledge reach a certain level can a trainer possibly begin to try some other operations, such as race planning at a basic level, or changing the running form at a more advanced level. Race planning is relatively easy. As long as you have a general understanding of the horse girl's condition and her strengths and weaknesses, you can make corresponding arrangements to let her compete in her areas of expertise. Generally, after one or two months of training to get a rough idea, you can start planning.
But changing the running form is different. To change a running form, you need to have an extremely deep understanding of the charge horse girl. Physical fitness, muscle distribution, running preferences, reaction details, instinctive tendencies, even lifestyle habits... To change a running form that has been established through years of natural selection, you must first understand her body better than she does herself.
This is something most trainers cannot do, and those who can usually need at least a year of working together before they can even begin to prepare. And after preparation, a lot of time is needed for calculations and tests before a relatively reasonable improvement plan can be given. Even with an improvement, the level of enhancement brought to the charge varies depending on the trainer's skill. A poorly made improvement could even have a negative effect, let alone a complete redesign.
Of course, there is also the formulaic 'optimal running form,' which is to copy the classic horse girl running forms from textbooks, the choice of the vast majority of trainers. On one hand, it's safer and less prone to accidents. On the other hand, it saves time and effort, which can then be used to train other aspects.
And what was even more ridiculous was that Shinji had just said 'three sets' of running forms, and had even categorized them.
Tokai Teio felt she had reason to suspect that this trainer with a problem in his head was going crazy. So, to ensure her teammate wasn't harmed by his madness, she felt it was necessary to question his decision—this was just too ridiculous no matter how you looked at it.
"Trainer-san, when you say improve the running form, do you mean the ones from the textbooks?" Teio couldn't help but ask.
"Of course not. And it's not an improvement, it's a redesign." Shinji looked at her, puzzled. "You should have read the trainer's books too, right? You should know the difference."
It's because I've read them that I think you're going crazy!
Teio's mouth twitched, but she still reminded him tactfully, "But there's not enough time for that, is there..."
"Are you doubting my ability?"
Shinji saw right through her, not a hint of embarrassment on his face. "Right. In the past, many people have doubted me like you. After all, I don't really look like a very reliable trainer—but that's okay. We happen to have an example right here."
Under Teio's confused gaze, Shinji turned his attention to Oguri Cap. "Oguri, you're still practicing 'that thing' from before, right?"
Oguri quickly understood what he meant and nodded.
"Want to try running it here?"
"If you've been practicing, then give it a run. If not, don't. 'That thing' can be a bit dangerous if you're rusty."
"It's okay. I've always been practicing it, I just rarely use it."
As they spoke, Oguri Cap stepped onto the track under Teio's puzzled gaze and took on a slightly strange starting posture. It was strange because her body was pressed excessively low, even lower than the minimum standard for starting positions given in textbooks.
Then, in the next second, Teio understood why she was so low.
BOOM—
A muffled explosion of sound erupted, and Oguri's figure shot out like an arrow from a bow.
What was even more incredible was her subsequent running posture. Her body was so low it made you wonder if she was flying just above the ground. Her speed was countless times faster than what she had shown in her usual training, yet her footprints were shallower, meaning that while accelerating, her energy consumption was actually less than a normal run.
Tokai Teio blinked. After watching for a while, a look of astonishment gradually appeared on her face.
"This is..."
"A racing form I designed for her a long time ago. Although it's fast, it puts a bit of a strain on her body and bones. It's fine to use it occasionally, but she can't practice it too much. It's normal that you don't know about it."
Shinji watched for a moment, then lowered his head and began to write and draw in his notebook, sighing as he did so. "But that was a few years ago. Looking at it now, I was still too young back then. This running form has a lot of room for improvement. And she's grown, so a lot of adjustments need to be made based on her full-fledged development. Ah, just thinking about it is so troublesome..."
Hearing his words, Tokai Teio was silent for a long time, then spoke in a low voice. "How long did it take you to design that running form for her?"
"Are you referring to the pure design time? Or the time including testing her various data?"
"Everything included."
"Let me think..." Shinji thought for a moment with his chin in his hand and gave an answer. "Because I was also helping her recuperate back then, most of the time was spent on rest and rehabilitation, but I think I finished it within three days."
"...And the pure design time?"
"I don't remember that clearly. I just know I started writing it when she was taking a nap after a full lunch, and by the time she woke up, I had just finished. It probably... didn't exceed two hours, right?"
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