“Because he was an intern trainer, I wasn’t very convinced by him at first.
Then he suggested we partner up for a chase-and-sprint training session on the track.” Jet Speed scratched her head.
“And the result?” A.P.
Indy pressed on.
“What was the outcome?”
“Of course I won!” Jet Speed pouted.
“You wouldn’t want to hear that I lost, would you?”
“But you probably didn’t win by much?” A.P.
Indy smiled.
“Otherwise, Jet Speed, you wouldn’t have said that just now.”
“Indeed, I didn’t win by much.” Jet Speed shrunk back.
“Only half a second.”
“That’s really not much.” A.P.
Indy, who had just been joking, changed her expression upon hearing the exact difference.
“You’re a G1-winning Uma Musume, you know.”
“That’s why I said that just now… but you still didn’t believe me.” Jet Speed also felt very wronged.
“Who knew an intern trainer could run that fast.”
“No wonder he was using crutches throughout his internship.” A.P.
Indy complained.
“So that’s why.
No wonder when I asked the trainer at the time, he refused to answer.”
“The human body is still too fragile.” The Uma Musume beside them chimed in.
“To need crutches after just one sprint — it’s really not good enough.”
Only Pay Butler remained silent on the side.
She was secretly comparing herself to Jet Speed in her heart and quickly deduced the gap between herself and her senior.
If it were an 800-meter sprint, she would probably be left behind by 1.5 seconds — a gap of nearly ten horse lengths.
“An intern trainer could only be half a second behind…” Pay Butler bit her lip.
“Wouldn’t that mean he could easily beat me?!”
“Sure enough, I don’t have the talent of a Uma Musume?!” She clenched her fists, silently following behind her seniors.
The night in Los Angeles was still noisy, but Pay Butler felt incredibly lonely at this moment.
===
Yugi was still unaware of his reputation at the West Coast Tracen Academy.
For him, the most important thing now was to train Oguri Cap well and help her achieve better growth.
However, the plans of Trainer Sagami Masayuki in the dream world and Yugi in the real world for Oguri Cap were completely different — this bothered him greatly.
“If he could directly arrange for Oguri Cap to challenge Nagoya like I would, although the difficulty would be higher, she would definitely get better rewards.
Now she only gains intimacy every day… does this really have any effect on training?”
Yugi walked, lost in thought, while holding a notebook, ready to record Oguri Cap’s split times during training… A month had passed since Oguri Cap successfully debuted at Kasamatsu Racecourse.
Unlike his peers in other academies, Yugi chose not to have Oguri Cap race frequently at Kasamatsu Racecourse.
This matter even alarmed the administrators of Kasamatsu Tracen Academy, and the academy chairman personally inquired about Yugi’s plans.
Facing the chairman’s words — “There is an inseparable relationship between our academy and Kasamatsu Racecourse.
Since a new future star has appeared in the academy, the audience at Kasamatsu should watch her race more often” — the young trainer, however, stuck to his plan.
“To ensure the Uma Musume’s health, the minimum frequency of races must be once every half month.
The academy surely wouldn’t ask me to disregard the safety of the Uma Musume I’m responsible for and make them race every week, would it?”
“Once every half month would be perfect.” The chairman of Kasamatsu Tracen Academy smiled and followed Yugi’s words, offering his suggestion.
“Does the chairman’s expectation for Oguri Cap only limit her to the Kasamatsu stage, like other Uma Musume?” Yugi also narrowed his eyes.
“Does the chairman not hope for the academy to produce an existence who can proclaim Kasamatsu’s existence to all Twinkle Series fans on a broader stage?”
“Do you think Oguri Cap can become such an existence?” The chairman put away his smile and became serious.
“Kasamatsu Tracen Academy has never had a Uma Musume successfully challenge Central — not even Nagoya could do it.”
“She is still a bit too green right now.
If she were to challenge Central, I wouldn’t have much confidence.” Yugi admitted this fact.
“If I want Oguri Cap to become Kasamatsu’s number one idol, I need time.”
“How long?” The chairman pushed up his glasses, leaning slightly forward.
“Uma Musume don’t have many years in their active careers.”
Yugi held up an index finger to him.
“I only need one year.”
“One year from today, I guarantee that Oguri Cap will become a Central Heavy Prize-winning Uma Musume.” The young man’s tone contained immense confidence.
“Furthermore,” fearing that the chairman wouldn’t agree to give him such a long time, Yugi added, “In my plan, Oguri Cap will attempt a regional exchange Heavy Prize in the second half of this year — as long as she wins that, the chances of her attempting and winning a Central Heavy Prize next year will be very high.”
After articulating his thoughts, he could hear his heart pounding.
For Yugi, who wanted to go to Central based on Oguri Cap’s achievements, Oguri Cap was the first ray of dawn he had seen in the past six months.
He would never allow any external factors to force him to abandon his goal.
And now, convincing the chairman of Kasamatsu Tracen Academy was Yugi’s top priority.
“I will not directly promise Yugi-kun one year.” The chairman pondered for a moment, then looked up and met the gaze of the young man he had taken in from the “Emperor” of Central. Read the latest chapters at novelping . com.
“Since Yugi-kun says Oguri Cap will win a regional exchange Heavy Prize in the second half of this year, then let us wait and see for now?”
“Then I hope that at least until the end of this year, Mr.
Chairman can allow me to freely arrange Oguri Cap’s training.” Yugi began to bargain.
“That is natural.” Saying “until the end of this year” actually only left half a year.
The chairman could naturally afford to wait — if Oguri Cap won a Central Heavy Prize, no, even if it was just a regional exchange Heavy Prize, that would be an unprecedented feat for Kasamatsu Tracen Academy.
“It’s even possible that a ‘Oguri Cap Memorial’ could be established in Kasamatsu in the future.” He thought to himself.
Since reaching an agreement with the academy chairman, Yugi felt much more relaxed at the academy.
At least he temporarily didn’t need to worry about the rumors circulating among his colleagues — such as “Oguri Cap is weak, so her race appearances were reduced to conceal this problem,” or “She ran too hard in her debut race and suffered minor injuries, so she needs to recover.”
If a debut-year Uma Musume only raced in Kasamatsu, the prize money for an ordinary race victory would only be 850,000 yen.
To challenge races with higher prize money, she would have to wait until the Heavy Prize Youth Crown Race in early October.
But even for the Youth Crown Race, the prize money for a victory was only 2.4 million yen.
In contrast, the Wakakoma Sho, which Yugi had signed Oguri Cap up for next week as an OP race, had a winning prize of 3 million.
“Winning this race is equivalent to more than winning three races for other Uma Musume in Kasamatsu.” He muttered to himself.
“If this race is won, it’s time to consider buying some gifts for Oguri Cap and Berno Light.”
Yugi did not disclose his agreement with the academy chairman to the Uma Musume in his team.
He believed that even without knowing about this, Oguri Cap would still diligently strive towards the goal of dominating the regional exchange Heavy Prize.
“After all, she’s already working very hard now.” The young man held a stopwatch, timing Oguri Cap’s laps.
Oguri Cap, who was about to face her first OP-level challenge next week, had not had her training intensity increased by Yugi in recent weeks.
Aside from the number of times she ran the Slope Road at the shrine increasing from once a week to twice, this month’s training was virtually unchanged compared to last month.
This made her, who was jogging at a pace of 20 seconds per 200 meters, very worried.
“I’m going to challenge a higher-level race.
Is it okay to continue training at this intensity?”
Yugi on the sidelines noticed the gray Uma Musume’s posture showing hesitation.
He cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouted loudly, “Oguri Cap!
Don’t get distracted during training!”
Hearing her trainer’s call, Oguri Cap shivered, snapped back to attention, and resumed running.
“Trust the trainer,” she tried to convince herself in her heart.
“Since he’s not letting me increase the intensity of my training, he must have a reason.”
===
Although winning this Wakakoma Sho was a necessary condition to participate in the Hokkaido Yushun Himba in Hokkaido, after browsing the information on the opponents in the Wakakoma Sho, Yugi began to consider how to let Oguri Cap win this OP race while minimizing her exertion.
“Although this race is very important, there are no notable Uma Musume in the lineup.” Yugi shook the printed list of participants and sighed.
“The new generation of Uma Musume in Nagoya seems to have average talent this year.”
Even though Oguri Cap hadn’t run a 1400-meter race at this time, Yugi, who possessed the attribute viewer, knew that she would have no problems at all.
“If her mile adaptability was very low, I’d still hesitate, but as it is now, there’s nothing to worry about.” He glanced at Oguri Cap’s stats again.
In the dream world, Oguri Cap maintained a race frequency of one every half month.
Before each race, Yugi would hope to receive rewards other than intimacy after winning.
However, things didn’t go as he wished.
Perhaps because both races were just flat races at Kasamatsu, the post-race rewards were only more of Oguri Cap’s intimacy than daily training.
Now, Oguri Cap’s intimacy had reached 180, but in Yugi’s opinion, the relationship between him and Oguri Cap had only become slightly closer in the direction of trainer and Uma Musume.
“I wonder what the max value is, and what will happen when it reaches max.” He muttered to himself, then withdrew his thoughts and closed the stats viewer.
…On the other side, Oguri Cap, who had finished her training tasks for the day, received a bottle of sports drink bought outside the academy from Berno Light — incidentally, this was reimbursed by Yugi himself.
Kasamatsu Tracen Academy didn’t pay a cent.
“Thank you, Berno Light-chan.” After thanking her, Oguri Cap twisted open the cap and chugged the entire bottle in one go.
“Slow down, don’t choke.” While Berno Light reminded her, she reached out and stroked Oguri Cap’s back from top to bottom, helping her catch her breath.
“Don’t be so rushed.
No one is going to snatch it from Oguri.”
“I’m fine.
It’s just—” Oguri Cap wiped some sweat.
“The Wakakoma Sho is next Thursday, but the training volume Trainer gave me hasn’t increased.”
“Why don’t you just ask Trainer?” Berno Light blinked.
“I think Trainer has no reason not to explain it to Oguri.”
“When I see other Uma Musume asking their trainers questions, they always get brushed off,” Oguri Cap lowered her head.
“And Trainer’s previous training arrangements have all been fine, so I feel it’s not appropriate to question him.”
“But our trainer isn’t the same person as theirs.” Berno Light’s mouth twitched.
“Oguri, just be bold and ask.
Trainer won’t get angry.”
“Then I’ll try.” Oguri Cap put down the bottle, rubbed her cheeks, and walked towards the side of the field.
Upon hearing Oguri Cap’s question, Yugi explained without hesitation.
“Because it’s not needed.”
Unlike him, this answer was very brief.
“But didn’t the training volume increase for the debut race?” Oguri Cap pressed on.
“Trainer also told me that this race is very important, deciding whether we can go to Hokkaido, right?”
“With all due respect, Fujimasa March could also win this Wakakoma Sho.”
“Does Trainer think these opponents aren’t worth taking seriously, so we don’t need to treat them seriously?” Although Oguri Cap took the list, she didn’t look at it, but continued to stare intently at Yugi.
“Yes.” Being stared at like that by the cute Uma Musume, Yugi swallowed, responding with forced composure.
“I think it’s better to let you, Oguri Cap, rest well.”
Oguri Cap took another step forward upon hearing this, moving even closer.
It was June, the height of early summer, and the wind blowing from the training ground carried the heat from the sun.
But for Yugi at this moment, Oguri Cap’s breath, which assailed him, was far hotter than the scorching sun above his head, making even the scent of laundry detergent from her sportswear much more distinct.
He took a step back, wanting to avoid Oguri Cap’s breath, but his words wouldn’t back down.
“Oguri Cap, are you dissatisfied with my arrangements?”
Oguri Cap remained silent, but her face was full of “I don’t like this explanation.”
Yugi could read this emotion from her expression — or rather, Oguri Cap was simply not good at hiding her thoughts.
“Ha—” He sighed, took another step back, and skillfully raised both hands.
“Then Oguri Cap, you rest well today, and our training intensity will increase tomorrow.”
Yugi didn’t want to go against Oguri Cap on such a small matter.
“If it were something important, I definitely wouldn’t be so compliant with her.” He found an excuse for himself in his heart, even as he spoke softly.
The next afternoon, after warming up, Oguri Cap ran seriously on the academy’s training ground in front of Yugi.
He lowered his head, looking at the split times he had recorded —
6F 83.0 — 67.9 — 52.8 — 37.6 — 23.8 — 11.7.
Excluding track conditions for now, and just looking at the split times, Oguri Cap’s data was comparable to some Central G1 Uma Musume.
But Yugi knew that training content couldn’t be viewed in such a simple way.
Firstly, Oguri Cap’s attitude this time was very serious; she could be said to be running the training as if it were a race.
Secondly —
He squatted down, pinched some mud and sand from the training ground, rubbed it, carefully felt the texture, and commented, “The moisture content of the track feels quite high today.”
The “dirt track” here in Japan, in essence, the higher the moisture content, the faster the Uma Musume’s speed on it.
One must not take the name literally and assume that a “poor” dirt track would mean Uma Musume’s speeds would be much slower than a “good” track.
Although Oguri Cap’s data, after combining these two points, was not as astonishing as it seemed, if one thought about it carefully, it would be too much to expect her, a Kasamatsu Uma Musume, to perform at the level of a Central G1 Uma Musume.
So Yugi closed his notebook, looked up, a brilliant smile on his face, and met the gaze of Oguri Cap, who was “gulugulu” rehydrating.
“The data is beautiful.
Maintain this state next Thursday, and victory will only belong to us.”
Oguri Cap raised her hand, indicating that she had heard him.
===
June 14th, Sunday.
Today was the race day for the Takarazuka Kinen, the first half-year final of the Japan Twinkle Series.
Yugi didn’t watch this Takarazuka Kinen with Kitahara-san, but stayed by the training ground, listening to the broadcast with Oguri Cap and Berno Light.
“Takarazuka Kinen, huh…” Oguri Cap’s tone held an envy she herself didn’t detect.
“That kind of stage must be even more spectacular than the Tokai Sakura Sho, right?”
“Don’t even mention the Takarazuka Kinen.” Yugi shook his head, correcting her idea.
“Win tomorrow’s Wakakoma Sho, and the Hokkaido Yushun Himba we’ll challenge at the end of August will be even livelier than that Tokai Sakura Sho.
Compared to the Tokai Sakura Sho, which is limited to Uma Musume from the Tokai region, the Hokkaido Yushun Himba, which supports local Uma Musume from all over the country to participate, is much higher in both competitive intensity and status — after all, it’s a G3 major race.”
“G3… The Takarazuka Kinen is G1.
Is the difference that big?” Oguri Cap was a bit confused.
“Of course it’s big.” Yugi already knew that Oguri Cap wasn’t very familiar with many common facts about the Twinkle Series, so he wasn’t surprised by her question.
“Most Central Uma Musume might not be able to challenge G1 throughout their entire Twinkle Series career, but for G3, you can challenge it as long as you win up to OP class.”
Oguri Cap said nothing more, but she silently lowered her head.
“It’s okay!
Oguri is very strong!
You can definitely challenge G1 in the future!” Berno Light immediately saw through Oguri Cap’s low spirits due to Yugi’s answer and quickly offered comfort.
“We will definitely stand on the G1 stage in the future.” Yugi also echoed — even if he wasn’t very confident about this point, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to pour cold water on Oguri Cap at this moment.
“But it would be great if we could really stand on the G1 stage.” He closed his eyes and couldn’t help but sigh.
The day after the Takarazuka Kinen, it was the day the Wakakoma Sho was held.
Early in the morning, Yugi drove Oguri Cap and Berno Light to Nagoya Racecourse.
Although she had been there once before, when Oguri Cap got out of the car, her calves were still trembling slightly as she looked at Nagoya Racecourse.
“It’s completely different from Kasamatsu,” Oguri Cap mumbled.
After parking the car and turning off the engine, Yugi got out and naturally patted Oguri Cap’s shoulder.
“This is just a Tokai region race.
There won’t be any problems.”
The gray Uma Musume took a deep breath and nodded.
“I will give it my all.”
“Compared to giving it her all, I hope she can conserve more energy while winning the race,” Yugi muttered to himself.
But he still followed Oguri Cap’s vow.
“Just make sure you have no regrets.”
…The Wakakoma Sho was scheduled to start at 4:25 PM, so Yugi simply took Oguri Cap and Berno Light to look around Nagoya Racecourse in the morning.