A few days later.
Ireland, Gildune Manor, First Training Ground.
Today, the afternoon sky was still piled high with heavy clouds, and the air carried the damp, earthy scent of wet soil.
A light drizzle had taken nearly two hours to fully stop. And the moment it did, several lithe figures were already tearing across the training ground at full tilt.
"Haa… hah…"
At the end of the track, Oguri Cap—fresh off a long-distance endurance set—took the water bottle Berno Light handed her and drank in big gulps.
Her ash-gray bangs were soaked through with sweat and stuck to her forehead, but her face was nothing but pure satisfaction from running all-out.
"Good. She's adapting faster than I expected."
Kuroha stood off to the side, looking over the rows of recorded times in his notebook. His brows eased as he nodded, firm and unequivocal.
"The extra stamina drain from this thick turf—she's getting it under control."
As he spoke, Kuroha glanced at Oguri Cap's ankles, half-buried in mud and grass, and a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"And the bad ground… probably won't be a problem anymore, either."
Wet Conditions ○!
Back when Kuroha was still in Kasamatsu, this was a skill he'd deliberately gone out of his way to route in, just to truly put it into practice.
Turf ○ to master the foreign turf beneath their feet, and Wet Conditions ○ to withstand the foreign climate and track state.
Now, it was finally starting to pay off.
No one could say just how awful the conditions at Leopas Racecourse would be on race day.
But at least Oguri Cap had a way to answer it.
"Haitoshi, full speed!"
Right then, Lisi's voice carried over from a short distance away as she coached Haitoshi.
Kuroha turned to look.
On the neighboring lane, the hoofed girl ran down the straight with a light, flowing stride.
But at the instant she was about to enter the left-handed corner, Haitoshi's body gave a tiny wobble—barely noticeable, but enough to break the smooth rhythm she'd had.
Still, she corrected quickly, and in the end she finished the set Lisi had assigned without much strain.
"Nice! That time's way better than before!"
Lisi checked the stopwatch and didn't hold back her praise.
"Hehe…"
Haitoshi beamed at the compliment. She wiped sweat with her towel, but her eyes—like a thief—snuck a cautious glance toward Kuroha.
The moment she realized Kuroha was looking right back at her, a blush flashed across her cheeks. She snapped her gaze away and hurriedly put on an obedient face, pretending she was listening intently to Lisi's review.
Lisi caught the whole thing. Amused, she smiled to herself—then nodded in satisfaction.
"Honestly, Haitoshi's improvement these past days has been largely thanks to Kuroha's guidance."
That young trainer from Central Tracen was a monster.
With nothing but his eyes—without any equipment at all—he could precisely judge the exact running form and breathing rhythm that fit a given horse girl best.
Over these past few days, Lisi had followed the direction Kuroha pointed out, focusing on teaching Haitoshi how to correct her posture and adjust her breathing cadence.
And sure enough, the results were obvious.
If not for that…
For a horse girl like Haitoshi, who'd only just entered True Blooming and still hadn't solidified her fundamentals, there was no way her times would have leapt this dramatically in just half a month.
"Looks like this 'joint coaching' deal… I'm the one who came out ahead," Lisi thought, quietly relieved.
…
"…That won't do."
Not far away, Kuroha let out a soft sigh and pulled his gaze back.
First, he went to Oguri Cap and spent a bit of time correcting a tiny flaw in her cadence from that endurance run. Then he instructed:
"Light, keep supervising Oguri through the remaining two core sets. Make sure she doesn't slack off—or sneak in extra."
"Yes! I'll keep an eye on Oguri!" Berno Light nodded seriously.
With that side settled, Kuroha walked toward Haitoshi, who was resting between sets.
"Lisi-nee."
He greeted Lisi first, then looked to the girl seated on the chair.
"Training's been going well, huh, Haito?"
"Of course! I'm a genius!" Haitoshi lifted her chin proudly, her ponytail swishing side to side.
Kuroha smiled and didn't argue. Instead, he shifted the topic, voice calm and measured.
"Though, that last lap—when you entered the corner… your adjustment speed felt a little slow."
"Huh?"
The pride on Haitoshi's face stiffened. She hesitated and rubbed her thigh.
"Umm… maybe a little. I'm just not used to it?"
"This is probably a proficiency issue," Lisi cut in, analyzing. "Haitoshi used to train mostly on right-handed tracks."
"And today's left-handed. She probably isn't suited to left turns yet—might need a lot more reps to adapt to the centrifugal force."
Haitoshi nodded too, clenching her fist with confidence.
"Yeah! It's just temporary unfamiliarity. If I run it enough and build the muscle memory, I'll adapt!"
…That was way too amateur.
After listening, Kuroha shook his head, helpless, and said quietly, "It's not purely a proficiency issue."
He paused until both of their attention gathered, then explained:
"It's because Haitoshi's dominant leg is her right."
"Dominant leg?" Both of them looked confused.
Kuroha stepped closer and pointed at Haitoshi's right leg.
"Just like people can be left-handed or right-handed, horse girls have a dominant leg when they run."
"In motion, the leg that does most of the driving—the one that leads the shift of your center of gravity forward—that's your dominant leg."
"After watching you these past few days, I can say for sure—"
Kuroha's tone turned certain as he looked Haitoshi in the eye.
"Haito, your natural dominant leg is your right."
"So, naturally, you're more comfortable on right-handed tracks. In a right-handed corner, your outer leg—your left—handles support, while your inner leg—your right—leads the drive and cuts in. That matches your body's instincts."
Haitoshi's future breakout race—the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, held at Longchamp Racecourse—was a classic right-handed course.
"…"
Lisi's brows knit slightly.
In this era, there were indeed theories and speculation about leg drive.
She'd read some of those books, too. But using it as effortlessly in real training the way Kuroha did—turning theory into practical application on the spot—was another matter entirely.
Maybe, in another age, this would be basic knowledge.
But in this era, habit and perspective alone were enough to box in most trainers.
"So… if my right leg is dominant, does that mean I don't have to practice left-handed turns?" Haitoshi blinked, asking innocently.
"Bonk—"
"Completely wrong." Kuroha didn't hold back as he flicked her forehead.
"Ow!"
Haitoshi clutched her forehead, pouting in wounded protest.
Kuroha dropped the smile and explained seriously:
"Even if you only run right-handed tracks in the future, that doesn't mean you can ignore training your left leg as a secondary dominant leg."
He drew a simple diagram in the grass.
"Think about it. Even on a right-handed course you're good at—if, in the corners, you spend a long time relying on only your right leg as the dominant leg to fight centrifugal force and hold speed, what happens?"
Haitoshi stared at the diagram, blank.
But Lisi's eyes sharpened—she immediately caught on.
"Muscle fatigue!"
"Exactly."
Kuroha gave Lisi an approving look. She might be limited by her era's horizons, but as someone who'd one day raise a Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse girl, her thinking was sharp.
He continued:
"If you keep the same dominant leg for too long, that leg's muscle endurance and freshness get burned down under repeated full-load output."
"By the time you exit the corner and hit the final deciding straight, your right leg is already half spent."
"And if you don't understand how to 'switch feet' during a race—"
Kuroha's gaze turned keen as he stared straight at Haitoshi.
"Then all you'll feel is heavier and heavier the longer you run, and you won't be able to explode into top speed at the finish."
"That's why plenty of horse girls have enough stamina on paper, yet still get cut down hard in the final sprint."
"So the real technique is…"
Kuroha lifted two fingers and made a quick alternating motion in the air.
"On corner entry, use the dominant leg that best matches the track's centrifugal force to maintain balance and speed."
"And the instant you exit the corner into the straight, you must smoothly switch—immediately—to the other leg as the dominant one!"
"Only then can the fatigued muscles rotate and recover, letting you squeeze out the real top-end speed and burst that's actually inside your body on the final straight!"
These fundamentals were the most basic common sense among the Chasing Light horse girls under Kuroha.
But for a young horse girl like Haitoshi—barely two months into True Blooming—it was priceless theory.
As she listened, the shock in Lisi's eyes slowly sank into silence.
"Switch… switch feet…"
Haitoshi murmured, looking down at her legs as a light gradually ignited in her eyes.
If I learn this… I'll be able to run even faster, won't I?
"Alright. Theory time's over."
Kuroha clapped his hands, snapping her out of her trance, and smiled.
"Next, Lisi-nee, you'll need to revise your training plan. You've got to add targeted work for Haito's left-leg dominance."
"As for methods, I'll organize a document for you in a bit. Just follow it."
"…Oh. Okay."
Lisi nodded blankly, still a little dazed, watching Kuroha walk off with satisfied ease as she fell into thought.
Weird… why do I feel like I just became this kid's assistant coach?
The middle-aged woman scratched her head, then glanced at her own horse girl—still staring at the diagram at her feet, looking troubled.
This kid… getting to meet a trainer of that caliber—and the team he leads—in this era…
No idea whether that's lucky… or unlucky.
(End of Chapter)
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