Thank You, Trainer

At the very front of the spectator stands, Trainer Yasui, who had been holding his binoculars from start to finish, finally lowered them and let out a relieved, excited light laugh.

"Heh, to make such a fool of herself right after crossing the finish line to win... I really don't know what to say."

Hearing this, Satono Crown, who was stunned, and Satono Diamond, who was pleasantly surprised, both looked over.

Satono Crown sighed and said:

"...Trainer Yasui, isn't it a bit inappropriate to talk about your own Horse Girl like that?"

At the same time, the pleasantly surprised Satono Diamond grew worried.

"Elder sister, let's put that aside for now...

"Trainer Yasui, Little Kita took a tumble... aren't you going to go check on her?"

From a rational perspective, Trainer Yasui wasn't worried that the fall would cause Kitasan Black any issues.

By keeping a close eye on all sorts of Race Data every day, he was well aware that this Horse Girl of his had a terrifyingly strong constitution.

Furthermore, a few things he had accidentally overheard Kitasan Black mention while eating in the cafeteria only served to confirm this.

Back then, when the topic of physical constitution came up, Kitasan Black had mentioned that she had been very robust since she was a child.

She had almost never been sick, nor had she ever really been injured.

Whether it was climbing mountains, trekking through forests, or going on long hikes by the sea, even when her companions were exhausted and collapsed, she would still be frolicking about with high spirits.

When she was in elementary school, she and her classmate Satono Diamond once discovered a kitten in a tree.

The kitten seemed unable to get down, and when Kitasan Black tried to rescue it, she slipped and fell from the height of a three-story building.

The result was nothing more than a few scrapes.

She did, however, leave a shallow crater in the ground where she landed.

In short, she was perfectly fine, though she had scared Satono Diamond half to death.

In the end, she even added that the training intensity she received on a daily basis wasn't high enough, and she hoped Trainer Yasui would increase it.

Trainer Yasui certainly wouldn't change his training schedule on a whim.

In his plan, the intensity would increase gradually; there was no need to rush.

But reason is one thing, and seeing Kitasan Black fall with his own eyes made it impossible to suppress his worry.

So, upon hearing Satono Diamond's words, he gave a slight nod and quickly headed toward the back of the spectator stands.

Satono Diamond followed for two steps, worried, before she felt her wrist being grabbed.

"Elder sister...?"

Looking at Satono Crown in surprise, she asked, "What's wrong...?"

"...There's something I want to ask you."

Satono Crown looked toward the Display Board.

"Look at the Race Data up there.

"1:51.9, 34.1—those are Little Kita's finish time and Last Spurt data."

Looking at the Display Board as well and confirming her sister was right, Satono Diamond became even more confused.

"That's right, but I haven't debuted yet, so these numbers... I don't think I can make much sense of them."

Satono Crown fell into deep thought.

"If I told you that my debut race finish time was 1:50.0, with a Last Spurt of 33.5 seconds, and it was on this same 1800-meter track, would you have any thoughts?"

Satono Diamond was stunned.

"Wait, that means Little Kita...

"Is actually not as fast as you were, sister?

"But why does it look like... she was so much faster than you were at that time?"

On the day of her sister's debut race, she had of course gone to the venue to cheer her on, and she had watched the entire race from start to finish.

Her sister had won beautifully, and the race data was also excellent.

But for some reason, she just felt that her friend, who had a slower finish time and a slower Last Spurt, was intuitively faster than her sister.

"I don't know either, and I thought that since you and Little Kita are roommates, you might understand, which is why I wanted to ask you. But you're right—I can't even figure it out, so it's even harder for you, since you haven't debuted yet."

Shaking her head, Satono Crown looked in the direction Trainer Yasui had left.

"Little Kita is in the same class as us, and we've always been able to see her Training Situation.

"And for the past month, her special training has been under the charge of that trainer.

"It's very obvious that the methods used by that trainer, who looks so young, are very different... from everyone else's.

"It seems that the root of what neither you nor I can understand might just lie with that Trainer Yasui."

Trainer Yasui found Kitasan Black in the infirmary, though it wasn't because his Horse Girl had any actual problems.

Every race is highly intense, and routine physical check-ups are mandatory both before and after each event.

Especially since everyone saw Kitasan Black take a nasty spill right after the race ended, the staff certainly wouldn't be negligent.

The results of the examination were exactly as Anjing Zhen had expected; his Horse Girl was perfectly healthy, as if she hadn't been the one tumbling on the track at all.

The moment she saw Anjing Zhen, Kitasan Black displayed an incredible amount of energy, not at all like someone who had just finished running 1,800 meters; she bounded over in a few strides and threw her arms around him.

"Trainer! Did you see it?! I, I... I won!"

"I... cough, cough... I saw you win, congratulations... but could you please let go of me first...?"

"Ah? Oh, I'm sorry, I, I was just too excited..."

After a moment of shock, Kitasan Black realized Anjing Zhen's face was turning a bit flushed, so she hurriedly let go and stepped back a few paces, looking him up and down with a guilty, flustered expression.

"Are, are you okay, Trainer...?"

Anjing Zhen moved his body and realized only his arms felt a little numb; he sighed in relief and shook his head with a wry smile.

...What incredible strength. If he hadn't known a few techniques for dissipating force, his arms would have at least been dislocated just now.

"I'm fine. Congratulations, Little Kita, you've won the first championship of your career."

Following his head shake, he congratulated her once more.

Afterward, he took the excited Kitasan Black to thank the doctor before heading toward the lounge.

Along the way, the Black Haired Girl was excitedly chattering away.

One moment she was saying she didn't feel anything when she crossed the finish line and only realized she had won when she heard the cheers.

The next moment she said she wished she had let Grandpa and the others come to watch in person, though they must have been watching the live broadcast on TV.

Then she added that Teio-senpai might have watched it too, but regardless, she would call her idol later to share the good news.

After that, she brought up the "Winner's Stage."

This was an indispensable part of Horse Girl racing.

Just like in other idol industries, Horse Girls have singing and dancing performances in addition to racing, and the academy's Dance Hall was designed specifically for this.

There were also individual concerts, endorsements, merchandise, and other projects.

Beyond that, a performance was held every race night, with all participants taking the stage.

The stars of each performance were the winners of their respective races; this was the "Winner's Stage."

Speaking of the Winner's Stage, the Black Haired Girl suddenly stopped in her tracks, her clear, jewel-like red eyes fixed steadily on Anjing Zhen.

"Hey, I said so much just now, but I suddenly realized I haven't said the thing I wanted to say the most, hehehe..."

With a habitual silly laugh, she walked over.

Just like in the Infirmary, she reached out her arms and hugged him, pressing her cheek against Anjing Zhen's chest.

Compared to last time, her movements were significantly slower and her strength much lighter.

"I thought of so many words of gratitude, and I even wanted to write them down while I was in the Infirmary.

"But after thinking for a long time and trying to type them out on my phone, I realized I didn't know how to say them at all.

"Hehe, anyway, the Trainer probably knows that I'm actually quite clumsy.

"So, it must have been really hard for you to lead such a clumsy me to win the race.

"So, thank you, Trainer."