Leaving Aoi's training grounds, Chiya secretly calculated.
According to her, Special Week would likely learn those techniques.
It would be a bit troublesome if she really learned them. At school, she could cling to him as much as she wanted, but on the track, he didn't want to get tangled up with her.
One clash would consume a lot of stamina. Two clashes and they wouldn't even need to race.
I'll have to pay more attention to that in the future.
With this thought, he found his second colleague.
Nase Fumino.
The Horse Girls under her, Tokai Teio, El Condor Pasa, Grass Wonder, and Narita Top Road, were all contemporary rivals of Shirayuki. It could be said that Kiryuuin Aoi and Nase Fumino accounted for seventy percent of his rivals in his racing career. Half of the Horse Girls he would encounter in the future would be under them.
The rest were his good friend Katsumura Yota's TM Opera O, Nishizaki Ryu's Mejiro McQueen, and Kuronuma's Mihono Bourbon.
Most of this year's contemporary rivals were acquaintances. Some were trainers from Tracen with whom he had little interaction, and some were from the central division.
In this situation, information became something that could turn the tide of a battle.
He walked to her training grounds and looked up. He saw a pair of cool, blue-green eyes staring at him.
"Trainer Nase."
She nodded slightly.
He was very grateful to this colleague who had saved him and wanted to have a deeper conversation with her. But standing in front of her, he felt like a block of wood, not knowing what to say, unable to find a topic.
Mejiro Dober was the same, but although she seemed to push people away on the surface, she secretly liked childish things.
Like anime and comic books. Her cabinet was filled with Magical Carrot merchandise.
But Nase Fumino was thoroughly cold, inside and out. There was no contrast at all, which made it impossible for him to even open his mouth.
"I'm just wandering around..."
"You're here to watch our training, aren't you?"
She ruthlessly exposed his pleasantries.
"Yes... that's right."
"Come over here. You can see better."
He sullenly walked over. Then he saw a strange bird wearing a mask running on the track, making strange noises.
"This is my wrestling spirit! Deeesu—!!"
He didn't know what running had to do with wrestling, but she just liked to shout that.
Following her, Grass Wonder ran behind, her eyes looking as if she were waiting for an opportunity.
Turning his head, he looked at the inner lane. Tokai Teio was practicing squat jumps. Not far away was another Horse Girl with golden hair.
She had star-shaped earrings on her ears.
"That's Narita Top Road, right?"
Nase Fumino replied softly.
The other girl was stretching her legs. Seeing the angle of her bend, he couldn't help but praise, "What amazing flexibility."
"She has the potential to win a graded stakes race."
She never exaggerated. If she said so, then the other girl must have formidable strength.
After observing for a while, he asked, "Trainer Nase, do you know about what happened at the exchange meet?"
"The central division has already sent out a notice," she said. "If you want to ask if my training methods have changed, then I can tell you clearly, they have."
She looked at him.
"I agree with the central division's approach. The previous racing methods were too gentle. We set the race rules according to Western standards, but when it came to execution, we were much stricter than the West."
Her blue-green pupils reflected his figure.
"We have always been binding ourselves. The real race is much more intense than it is now."
From the beginning, the central division had held an unrealistic naivety about the racetrack. It wasn't until the pioneer of overseas expeditions, Sirius Symboli, was defeated with a fourteenth-place finish in last year's Arc de Triomphe that the central division finally realized the gap between Japan and the world.
"My goal is the Arc de Triomphe. My goal is to become a Senior Trainer. Trainer Chiya, we are the real rivals."
She tucked her hair behind her ear and spoke to him.
There was no need to doubt. Her serious tone had already made everything clear. He understood that she was serious.
"Have you taught those techniques to your Horse Girls?"
"Yes. Both pressing and blocking techniques have been added to the training schedule."
The main purpose of these two techniques was to make the opponent uncomfortable, to block their sprinting position, to make them miss their acceleration timing, and to prevent them from performing at one hundred percent of their ability.
By weakening strong competitors, one could increase their own chances of winning.
This was commonplace in Western countries, but in Japan, it was not well-received.
"What do you think, Trainer Chiya?" she asked. "Do you think my approach is correct? To have the Horse Girls actively interfere with their opponents and forcibly disrupt their race rhythm."
He thought for a moment.
"From the beginning of racing, tactics and countermeasures have been a part of it. These methods are experiences we have summed up within the scope of the rules. They are a way for the Horse Girls to win. There is no right or wrong."
He answered.
"I think a truly strong Horse Girl would not be afraid of these techniques. Since there is a way to set a problem, there must be a way to solve it. The Horse Girls who can overcome these difficulties will become more and more astute. Their execution and judgment will definitely be greatly improved compared to before."
As expected.
If it were him, he would have added this sentence.
"'A trainer is the shadow of a Horse Girl. They always stand in a place where they can't see the light, reaching out and pushing the Horse Girl to a faster and farther position. This is their duty.'"
Their two voices overlapped.
He was taken aback for a moment.
"Trainer Nase... how did you know what I was going to say?"
"A long time ago, someone told me the same thing as you, Trainer Chiya."
"Really..."
He had learned this from his old man. When he had declared that he wanted to be a trainer, his dad had said this to him in a very serious tone.
To this day, he still regarded it as his motto.
"I understand your thoughts, Trainer Chiya," she said. "Since you have no objection, then when it's time to race, we will decide the winner in our own ways."
"Yes. That's what I was thinking too."
She silently watched him leave. After he had disappeared from the track, she retracted her gaze.
I've already made it so obvious, yet you still don't remember anything.
You're so dense... Chiya.
....
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