The day after Urara's Teio Sho victory.
I was in the club room from the morning, leisurely reading the sports newspaper I bought at the convenience store while drinking coffee... but my usual routine was on hold.
Now that Urara's Teio Sho was over, a personnel review was scheduled to be held in the Chairman's office.
(This time... well, I guess it can't be helped if my evaluation goes down.)
Both Urara and King achieved excellent results by winning G1s. But there's a clear minus point: two new students joined the team but left in less than a month.
I've been called in to talk about it once, but I'm pretty nervous about how I'll be evaluated. Huh? Is this a nervous flutter? Or am I just not feeling well because I was too excited about Urara's victory last night to sleep?
Thinking about how I couldn't sleep from excitement when King won the Takarazuka Kinen, I knocked on the Chairman's office door. I announced myself and was let inside. My eyes met the Chairman's and Tadana-san's... and they looked startled.
"We're about to start the personnel review, but... Trainer-san? If you're not feeling well, we can do it another day."
"No, I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep because I was so excited about Urara's race yesterday..."
"Confirmation! Are you really not sick?! Tadana! What's his recent work situation!?"
They're genuinely worried about me. When I checked myself in the morning, I only had a few bags under my eyes, so I thought it was just one of those days...
"His recent work situation has been calm, but... Trainer-san, you haven't been secretly working overtime, have you? Or taking work home with you? Please be honest; I won't be angry."
This is bad; they don't believe me at all... But since Urara had a race yesterday, they don't seem to doubt that I didn't take work home. It seems Tadana-san and the Chairman are just genuinely concerned.
"No, I really just couldn't sleep... I was that happy about my Urara winning and seeing her grow."
I said that with a wry smile. If I were in a state where I couldn't sleep every night and had insomnia, I would go to the hospital without hesitation. For a working adult, their body is their capital, and for a trainer, being healthy is a minimum obligation. Besides, if I weren't healthy, I wouldn't be able to withstand Urara's charges...
"If that's the case, that's good... but please rest properly when you can, okay?"
"Yes, of course. I don't want to make Urara and the others worry."
Besides, the Tracen Academy will be starting its summer vacation soon. I'm planning to do a summer training camp like last year, so it's a good opportunity for me to get some rest.
But getting to the summer vacation part is the hard part.
(Now that Urara's Teio Sho is over, all the interview requests are...)
I've been turning them down with the excuse that I had to wait until Urara's race was over, but I can't use that reason anymore. At most, I can only refuse interviews from reporters and publishers who have a bad reputation.
By the way, these interview requests don't come directly to me. They first go through the Tracen Academy, so they filter out the ones with bad reputations, and even if their reputation is good, they'll turn them down if there's been some past conflict.
But it wouldn't be a problem if they would just back off after that. It's cute when they wait around the Tracen Academy to do a surprise interview, but lately, it feels like they've figured out where I live and are staking out my neighborhood.
I think that will naturally calm down if I just answer the interviews... but right now, the personnel review in front of me is the top priority.
The Chairman and Tadana-san seemed to think so too, as Tadana-san handed me an envelope. When I checked the contents, it was the usual personnel evaluation form.
"First, your evaluation as a trainer..."
"Perfect score! A flawless rating!"
Oh, the Chairman made a circle above his head with both of his arms. It's a surprisingly cute gesture for a person with his appearance.
"King Halo-san challenged the Spring Senior Triple Crown and came in 2nd in the Osaka Hai, 1st in the Spring Tenno Sho, and 1st in the Takarazuka Kinen... With that, she won G1s in all distances. And Haru Urara-san won 1st place in the Teio Sho yesterday... Including her victories in the JBC Sprint and the February Stakes, she has won G1s at all distances in the Twinkle Series dirt races. Therefore, you get a perfect score."
Tadana-san said this with a big smile. Oh, so Urara also won G1s at all distances on dirt... Even if she wanted to challenge a long-distance dirt race, there are no long-distance G1s in the Twinkle Series. The longest is an open race at 2100 meters.
"Next, the team's evaluation... This one is 90 points, including additions and deductions."
Do you know the reason? Tadana-san asked, and I nodded. It's too bad that the new students left in less than a month, so I guess it can't be helped.
"There were various opinions among the higher-ups at the Tracen Academy, but we decided that it wouldn't be a good example for other trainers if you got a perfect score."
"The girls who left our team caused some trouble for my juniors. I think that's a reasonable evaluation."
The higher-ups at the Tracen Academy probably need to maintain a balance among all the trainers. I also think I handled the situation poorly when those two left, so I accept the evaluation as a matter of course.
By the way, the two new students ran in the maiden races in the latter half of June and both got first place. Their relationship with the juniors seems to be good, and I'm sure they'll continue to grow.
As a side note, when I handed the juniors the materials for the two of them, they looked at them, made a serious face, and said in unison, "Senior, you're smart, but you're also crazy, aren't you?" so I just smiled and told them they were the same.
As I was reminiscing, Tadana-san sighed with her hand on her cheek.
"You don't whine much, Trainer-san... It's helpful for us, but do you have any requests, like a raise or more budget for the club?"
"Huh? No... I don't have any in particular."
I tilted my head at Tadana-san's words.
For trainers who haven't formed a team, their training budget is lower, and their requests to use the Tracen Academy's facilities have a lower priority, but our team has no problems right now.
In fact, if the use is appropriate, they'll cover the expenses, and even if we do something that costs over a million yen, like a summer training camp, they'll cover it... A raise? I'm already getting a salary and a bonus that you wouldn't expect for a young trainer in his third year... And the numbers in my bankbook from the prize money Urara and the others won are scary.
(Requests... requests... Hmm... Was there anything...)
Come to think of it, should I use a more solid partition to divide the space where Urara and the others change in the club room... You can't see them from the outside unless you try to peek, but lately, they've been casually sticking their heads out while changing. Maybe I should install a door?
But the club room has limited space. Should I install a smaller but more solid wall or door... If I were to do something about the club room, I should ask Tadana-san to introduce me to a construction company, not the shopping district...
It would be fine if I just left the club room, but it's a lot of time and effort to leave for 5 to 10 minutes before and after every training session.
"For the club room renovations..."
"The expenses will be covered, but are you going to do something? We can arrange for a contractor right away."
She bit at my words before I could even finish. Your reaction time is scary, Tadana-san.
"I was thinking of installing a wall and a door around the lockers our girls use... I've been thinking for a while that we don't have a proper changing room."
"Question! I would think a request like that would come from the horse girls themselves early on, but it didn't!?"
I was just casually talking to Tadana-san since the atmosphere was no longer about a personnel review, but the Chairman also got interested.
"It didn't come from Urara or Rice. King also said a few things at first, but everyone just stopped caring at some point..."
Hmm... that's right. When King first joined the team, she would get angry at Urara for being indecent, and I would also leave the club room... but at some point, we all just stopped caring.
"Q-question! Did the horse girls really not say anything?!... Really?"
"Yes, really."
"C-confirmation! You're actually a woman, not a man... Is that not the case? Are you really a man?"
I asked in a completely serious tone without thinking.
I was a she, not a he...? No, I don't even know what I'm saying, but I think most men would be confused if they were asked, "Are you a man?"
I'm a decent height, my body is reasonably trained, my voice is low, and I have an Adam's apple. I grow a beard, and my shoulders are broad. Objectively, I don't think there's anything to suggest I'm a woman... Oh, dear, should I change the way I talk?
No, no, there's no way I'm not a man. So, the Chairman, as a man, thought that since Urara and the others were casually changing in the same room as me, the reason for them being so casual was that I was the same gender as them...? Isn't that a bit of a stretch?
"Please draw up a diagram of the materials and layout and submit it to the office with an application. The contractor will start right away."
Tadana-san said that, brushing off the Chairman's confusion. I replied, "Understood," and left the Chairman's office.
Well, with that said, it's time for work. I would normally be staring at my computer, creating documents and summarizing information, but today's work is dealing with reporters. In other words, interviews.
For now, I'll deal with the reporters who want to interview me alone during the day, and the ones who want to interview me with Urara and the others in the afternoon.
I'll start by apologizing to the reporters I've interviewed before for making them wait.
They were the ones who requested the interview, but horse girl racing is, in a way, a business with customers. URA and Tracen Academy have a lot to say about it, and I have to deal with reporters to a certain extent.
If you write an article about the popular horse girl of the moment, it will sell like hotcakes, and if you put her on TV, you'll get good ratings. So, reporters are generally polite and respectful, and as long as I'm polite, there's no problem.
"This is just magnificent! Haru Urara-san! Rice Shower-san! King Halo-san! Just being able to see the training of the members of Team Kitalpha—!"
Yeah... there's no problem. But even if we're all polite, there are some eccentric people...
For now, I've accepted interviews from reporters I'm on good terms with... or rather, people whose contact information is in my phone and I can contact them if something happens. But Otonashi-san is still Otonashi-san.
There are other reporters who sent me a message asking if Rice was okay when she fractured her leg in last year's Arima Kinen, but they're all smiling wryly at Otonashi-san.
"Otonashi-san is a beautiful woman, though..."
"Her articles are popular with die-hard horse girl fans, but if only she didn't act like that..."
The reporters' murmurs made it clear just how Otonashi-san, who looked like she was about to roll her eyes and faint, was being treated. Also, since there's no live TV broadcast today, her replacement isn't with her when she leaves. In other words, there's no one to stop her.
"By the way, Trainer-san, what's the upcoming race schedule for your horse girls?"
"If I tell you, you'll write an article about it right away, won't you? Well, I can tell you that Rice will be running in the Summer Dream Trophy."
"Oh, come on, she graduated from the senior class, but she hasn't retired from racing, so it's a given that she'll run in the Dream Series."
The fact that she's asking about the upcoming race schedule disguised as small talk shows that she's still a reporter, even though we're familiar with each other.
Also, even though I don't mind answering, Tadana-san has instructed me not to. It seems they're concerned about too many powerful horse girls avoiding the Spring Senior Triple Crown this year.
If this continues, more trainers and horse girls will avoid races if they hear a strong horse girl is running, and they'll run in races that don't match their ability.
Even though they have the ability to run in stakes races, they run in open races because they think they can't win... This is a judgment call by the trainer and the horse girl, so it seems the higher-ups at the Tracen Academy can't complain much, but as a result, open races are always full, and many horse girls can't run in a race for a while because they can't even get in after a lottery.
Trainers are the ones who apply for a horse girl to run in a race, so some trainers will make their horse girls run in open races even if they want to run in a stakes race, saying it's because they can't win. It seems this trend has been getting stronger recently, and Tadana-san is also on guard.
As a result, some horse girls who can't run in open races try to register for a G1, but since no powerful horse girls have applied, they can register without a lottery. By the way, they can't run in the back of the pack, so they forfeit in that case. It's not a challenge; it's recklessness.
The situation seems to be similar in G2s and G3s, and some girls will forfeit if a powerful horse girl is going to run in the race as a warm-up, or they'll run with the goal of coming in second from the beginning.
(No... that's not good.)
I thought so after hearing that, but maybe I can only say that because I'm training Urara and the others. Some trainers are in the business just to make a living, and some horse girls think they can't beat strong horse girls.
Since that's the case, I can't say anything... but it seems that the number of horse girls who want to transfer to my colleagues' and juniors' teams has been increasing recently.
The junior who is training Crazy in Love, or "Clay-chan," has been getting passionate love calls, or transfer requests, from classic-class horse girls. When he asked me what he should do, I told him to have a good talk with his horse girl about it. It's not because I was scared of the look in Crazy in Love's eyes. I'm being serious.
Some horse girls avoid races when a strong horse girl is going to run, but of course, there are also some who are not like that. It's natural for them to want to transfer to a trainer or a team that can help them get stronger and aim higher.
And the number of my colleagues who are forming teams because they've accepted transfers from compatible girls and now have more than five horse girls in their team is increasing. As a result, half of my colleagues have their own teams now. The girls who want to transfer are those who want to aim higher and have already had some training, so for the trainers who accept them, as long as they're compatible, there are few problems.
Also, some of my juniors have also formed their own teams. When I went to talk to them, worried, they told me that they had more time to prepare than the people who formed a team in their first year as a trainer, so they should be fine. It makes me happy to have such excellent juniors.
By the way, Team Kitalpha hasn't received any transfer requests. It seems there's a rumor that we're a dangerous place.
A junior told me that people are spreading rumors that we're doing human experiments, but since we thoroughly train horse girls' bodies to make them suitable for racing and to win, isn't that a form of human experimentation? When I answered that, he just made a serious face and said, "I guess so."
"But, I've interviewed you a few times, but it's still amazing."
"I know, right? I'm used to it now, but I was surprised at first."
The reporters' gazes were on Urara and the others, who were running while pulling a huge tire. It's a training tool to strengthen their legs and hips.
Wait a minute? Wouldn't it be more effective to push that tire with both hands instead of pulling it? Oh, no, that's a bad idea. They wouldn't be able to see where they're going and might run over other horse girls.
"Look at the development of their hindquarters! And not only their legs but also their upper bodies have the right amount of muscle! The balance is just--! Oh, my!"
Both I and the other reporters averted our eyes from the very excited Otonashi-san and answered interviews or watched Urara and the others train. I was a little depressed, thinking about how tomorrow's interview would be with a reporter that the Tracen Academy barely approved...
"It's so wonderful that I'm just--! ...Phew... By the way, Trainer-san, this is just between you and me, but..."
I was quietly averting my eyes, but Otonashi-san suddenly came closer and lowered her voice. She's a beautiful woman, more so than a horse girl, and she's surprisingly good at her job, but if you ask me if I want to get to know her better, I'd have a hard time answering.
But Otonashi-san's face was serious, so I leaned in to listen, wondering what was wrong.
"A reporter friend of mine told me that a malicious gossip reporter is sniffing around."
"A gossip reporter?"
"Yes. A reporter who spreads things that are both true and false. Also, it's almost time for the summer training camp, right? I've been hearing rumors that some publishers and TV stations are planning to swarm the training camp location that the Tracen Academy uses every year to do a surprise interview."
"...I see, rumors."
It's not an exposé on some publisher's internal affairs, but rumors. Well, rumors can be carried on the wind.
"Team Kitalpha is an up-and-coming... or rather, a top-class team right now. Please be very careful."
"Thank you. I'll talk to Tadana-san about it too."
Otonashi-san was warning me with a serious expression. If only she hadn't made those strange noises and funny faces just now, I might have been smitten.
"By the way, it's impossible to completely avoid such trouble, but don't you want to have some insurance in case something happens?"
"Huh? Is there something like that?"
Otonashi-san was saying something incredible. I asked for the details, and Otonashi-san smiled brightly.
"It's simple. You have several reporters you trust accompany you. Even if a gossip article is published, several publishers will publish the truth. Some people... or rather, some people who want to believe the gossip articles will still believe them, but it will be much better, don't you think?"
"So that means..."
I realized what Otonashi-san was thinking and smiled wryly.
"An exclusive coverage of Team Kitalpha's summer training camp... I'm sure the magazine would sell like hotcakes."
Otonashi-san said that "exclusive coverage" doesn't mean they would be with us 24/7.
Monthly Twinkle has a large circulation, and it seems they're quick to jump on anything that looks like a good story... No, in Otonashi-san's case, I think she just wants to follow Urara and the others' training under the guise of work.
King won G1s in all distances, and Urara won G1s in all distances that can be run in the Twinkle Series dirt races. And with Rice running in the Summer Dream Trophy... as Otonashi-san said, it seems a lot of trouble is coming our way from the outside.
(What about other training camp locations... but the training facilities at last year's location are the best...)
In the worst-case scenario, we could stay at the Tracen Academy instead of doing a training camp. But if we do that, it won't be considered a training camp, so we'll have our usual work. I've already experienced how training in a different environment can help Urara and the others grow significantly.
When I think about how our rivals will go to a training camp and get stronger, it's frankly tough for us to stay at the Tracen Academy.
"...I'm not saying I'll accept, but please properly apply to the Tracen Academy, okay?"
After thinking about it for a while, that's all I could answer. All I want to do is focus on training my horse girls, but my worldly ties are increasing...
Otonashi-san nodded with a full-blown smile at my answer, and the other reporters who were listening also had big smiles on their faces.
--------------------------------------------
🚀 Want INSTANT Access & Bonus Content?
"Loving this story so far? You can read ALL chapters RIGHT NOW by joining my P4tr3on!
✨ Unlock instant access to the full completed novel
✨ No waiting for daily updates
✨ Support your favorite degenerate author (that's me!)
Only $5.99 for the full experience!
🔗 Check my profile for the Link!!