Kitahara pondered for a moment.
"About forming a team, I didn't originally have a concrete plan."
He had only thought about matters outside of training—leaving technology to Belno Light, medicine to Miyamura Kyoko, and industry to Konan Tomomi. Those were things he had pushed forward consciously or unconsciously, while he himself focused on arranging training and races.
But ever since he promised Oguri Cap that he wouldn't stay up all night anymore, he had already been worried about how little time he had. After listening to Komiyama's words, he seriously thought about it and realized that training probably couldn't rely solely on himself either.
He was just an ordinary person—at most with a slight advantage in foresight.
Even if he devoted himself to training-related work 24 hours a day without stopping, at any one time he could only properly care for two, maybe three Uma Musume.
In fact, his limit was really just two.
When it was only Oguri Cap and Belno Light, he could keep things organized. But once Super Creek came to Kasamatsu, it was hard for him to personally tend to her injuries.
Not being able to take care of her personally was also due to his limited medical knowledge, so before Super Creek officially joined training, it was basically Miyamura Kyoko who handled everything.
Having gone through this firsthand, Kitahara clearly realized that he needed help.
"But since you brought it up, I now believe building a team is very necessary."
He gestured toward the table nearby, where the horse girls were happily devouring their meals.
"From my experience, I can only properly care for two. Any more than that, and someone will be neglected."
"Each horse girl faces different situations at different times."
"Oguri Cap's weight training, Tamamo Cross's psychological issues, Super Creek's leg strengthening, Inari One is fine for now, but honestly, if she runs into trouble later, we could very well end up dealing with four different training or rehabilitation cases simultaneously."
"One person's energy simply isn't enough."
He brought his gaze back, looking at Komiyama and the others nodding repeatedly, and continued:
"Aside from the issue of energy, there's also efficiency and gains."
"Efficiency and gains? You mean how the girls coordinate during training?" Komiyama asked, touching her chin.
"Exactly. You must have noticed it by now."
Kitahara nodded.
"Even if there were small frictions at first, training together as a group yields better results than training alone."
"Komiyama, Yuzuhara, and I are all professional trainers, with a decent sensitivity to data. You've likely all noticed that their stats have improved significantly lately—something solo training could never achieve."
He then turned specifically to Miyamura Kyoko.
"Kyoko, you're not a trainer, but from a medical perspective, is it showing the same?"
"Yes, Kitahara-san," Kyoko agreed.
"Body shape indicators, heart function, flexibility… I've thoroughly compiled all nine major physiological metrics."
"If you look only at the growth curve, the increase doesn't seem dramatic, but when you perform a 'significance test,' whether in year-over-year or period-over-period terms, the differences in Oguri Cap and the others' data exceed 0.01, even 0.05."
"In other words, my data also shows that their training effect is clearly better than when they were training alone."
Kitahara nodded in satisfaction and was about to continue when Komiyama suddenly raised her hand as if answering a question in class.
"Question—what exactly is a 'significance test'? And what's with this 0.01, 0.05, year-over-year, period-over-period stuff…"
Kyoko blinked, touching her chin and thinking about how to explain it, but Kitahara instinctively answered:
"That's statistical terminology."
"'Significance' refers to the level of risk you're willing to accept when rejecting the null hypothesis if it's actually true—it's also called the probability level or significance level."
"Simply put, Kyoko compared the horse girls' data from solo training to their data from group training, ran the calculations, and found the error values exceeded 0.1% or even 0.5%."
"In statistics and medicine, once you exceed those thresholds, you can generally consider the difference meaningful."
"As for year-over-year and period-over-period, as the names suggest—they compare the same period against the previous year, and different periods within the current year, respectively."
Hearing Kitahara's explanation, Komiyama nodded thoughtfully.
"I see…"Then she laughed.
"Didn't think you were so knowledgeable in medicine, senpai. I already thought it was impressive you could understand Uncle Koku and Yuzuhara's medical plans, but to know even this…"
Uh… this isn't strictly medical, actually. It's statistics—mandatory in business and psychology programs…
Not knowing how to explain that, Kitahara cleared his throat and steered the conversation back.
"Anyway, whether from a training or medical perspective, the data shows group training outperforms solo training. Therefore, forming a team becomes even more essential."
"That's my take. Yuzuhara, anything you'd like to add?"
Everyone turned their attention to Yuzuhara Taro.
"I have two things to add."
He held up two fingers, then lowered one.
"First, about the future for rookie trainers like us."
He glanced at Kyoko, then added:
"And also for newcomers to the medical field like Kyoko."
His expression grew serious.
"We all know the competition among horse girls is fierce—some might even call it brutal."
"It's the same for rookies like us."
"The Nishizaki family, the Nanjou family, the Minamisaka family, the Kuronuma family, the Naze family, the Tojo family—Japan's Uma Musume industry started late, but with the backing of various conglomerates, in just a few decades numerous trainer dynasties have arisen."
He began counting on his fingers.
"Overseas, the Uma Musume industry has been around far longer, and the historic families are countless."
"Among those I've personally come across are the Terrence, Ulysses, Rhodes, and Locke families, deeply rooted in Europe and America—and there are even royal and noble lines."
"They not only have an endless stream of new trainers but also highly mature teams."
"For rookies like us, the level of opposition—or competition—we face might in some ways be even harsher than what the Uma Musume themselves face."
His expression grew increasingly grim.
"We're all from ordinary families. At best, only my mother or Kitahara's uncle have the experience to lean on."
"But my mother is merely a local trainer, and Mr. Musaka also came from the provinces. Honestly, compared to those big families, we lack a foundation."
"I think, for ordinary rookies like us to establish ourselves smoothly after entering the central circuits, besides pouring our hearts into raising our horse girls, the best way…"
He clasped his hands together.
"Is to form a team, to pool our strength."
Kitahara had now fallen into deep thought.
He truly hadn't considered what Yuzuhara was saying before.
His previous thinking had been limited—only considering the competition between horse girls, forgetting that between trainers… there was competition too!Even more brutal, even more complex.
Uma Musumes' wins and losses were laid bare on the track, easy to see. But wins and losses among people were far messier and more troublesome…
Yuzuhara is right. I need to consider my competitors, or else I won't be able to properly help Oguri Cap and the others.
The best way, as Yuzuhara said, is for rookies like us to unite.
As he thought that, Kitahara was just about to voice his agreement when Yuzuhara Taro looked directly at him.
Yuzuhara Taro raised two fingers again.
"And the second thing I want to say is—I hope you, Kitahara, will become the core of our team."
(End of Chapter)