Thank You, Trainer

At the very front of the stands, Anjing Zhen finally lowered the binoculars he had been holding up the entire time. He chuckled, relief and excitement in his voice.

"Heh, she won the race, then made a complete fool of herself at the finish line. I don't even know what to say..."

At that, the astonished Satono Crown and the delighted Satono Diamond both turned to look.

Satono Crown sighed.

"...Trainer Yasui, isn't it a little inappropriate to talk about your own horse girl like that?"

Meanwhile, Satono Diamond's delight turned to concern.

"Big sister, forget about all that for now...

"Trainer Yasui, Little Kita took a fall... Aren't you going to check on her?"

From a rational standpoint, Anjing Zhen wasn't worried that Kitasan Black's fall had caused any real harm.

He kept a close eye on all sorts of data every day, and knew very well that his horse girl had an astonishingly sturdy constitution.

Moreover, a few things Kitasan Black had casually mentioned while they were eating in the cafeteria had only confirmed it.

They'd been talking about physical fitness when Kitasan Black had said she'd been strong ever since she was little.

She'd hardly ever been sick, and hadn't gotten hurt much either.

Whether they went hiking in the mountains and woods or trekking by the sea, her companions would end up exhausted, while she was still full of energy, running around excitedly.

Back in elementary school, she'd once spotted a kitten in a tree with Satono Diamond, who was in her class.

The kitten seemed unable to get down, so Kitasan Black tried to rescue it. She lost her footing and fell from the height of a three-story building.

All she got was a few scrapes.

She even left a shallow dent in the ground.

In short, she was fine. Satono Diamond, on the other hand, was scared out of her wits.

At the end of the story, she'd added that her usual training wasn't very intense, and she hoped Anjing Zhen would make it harder.

Anjing Zhen certainly wouldn't change the training plan on a whim.

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

But rationality was one thing. Seeing Kitasan Black take a fall with his own eyes had left him unable to keep his concern at bay.

So when he heard Satono Diamond, he gave a slight nod and hurried toward the back of the stands.

Satono Diamond followed worriedly for a couple of steps, then felt someone grab her wrist.

"Big sister...?"

She looked at Satono Crown in surprise. "What is it...?"

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

Satono Crown looked toward the race display board.

"Look at the Race Data up there.

"1:51.9 and 34.1. Those are Little Kita's finishing time and Last Spurt data."

Satono Diamond looked at the display board too. Once she confirmed her sister was right, she became even more puzzled.

"That's right, but I haven't made my debut yet, so I don't think I can make sense of these numbers..."

Satono Crown thought for a moment.

"What if I told you that my Debut Race time was 1:50, and my Last Spurt was 33.5 seconds? It was the same 1,800 meters here. Does that tell you anything?"

Satono Diamond was astonished.

"Wait, you mean Little Kita...

"Wasn't actually as fast as you?

"But why did she look... so much faster than you were back then?"

Of course she'd gone to cheer her big sister on at her Debut Race, and she'd watched the whole thing.

Her sister had won beautifully, and her Race Data had been impressive.

But for some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that her friend, whose finishing time was longer and whose Last Spurt was slower, had somehow looked faster than her sister.

"I don't know either. I asked because I thought you might understand, since you and Little Kita are roommates. But you're right. If even I can't figure it out, it'll be even harder for you, since you haven't made your debut yet."

Satono Crown shook her head and looked in the direction Anjing Zhen had gone.

"Little Kita is in our class, so we've been able to see how she trains.

"And for the past month, her special training has been handled by that trainer.

"Clearly, the methods of that young-looking trainer are very different from everyone else's.

"It seems the answer to what neither of us can figure out might lie with Trainer Yasui."

Anjing Zhen found Kitasan Black in the Infirmary, but not because anything was wrong with his horse girl.

Every race was strenuous, so their physical condition was routinely checked both before and after each one.

Especially after what had just happened. Everyone had seen Kitasan Black take a spectacular tumble, so the staff certainly wouldn't neglect her.

The results were just as Anjing Zhen had expected: his horse girl was perfectly healthy, as if she hadn't been the one to fall on the track.

The moment she saw Anjing Zhen, Kitasan Black showed unbelievable energy. She didn't look at all like she'd just run 1,800 meters. In a few quick steps, she bounded over and threw her arms around him.

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

"I... cough, cough... I saw you win. Congratulations... But could you let go of me first...?"

"Huh? Oh, s-sorry. I, I was just so excited..."

Kitasan Black froze for a moment before noticing that Anjing Zhen's face had flushed. She quickly let go and stepped back, looking him up and down as guilt and panic crept over her.

"A-are you okay, Trainer...?"

Anjing Zhen moved his body around. Only his arms felt a little numb, so he let out a quiet sigh of relief and shook his head with a laugh.

...She's incredibly strong. If I hadn't known a little about how to roll with the force, my arms would've been dislocated by that just now.

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

He shook his head and congratulated her once more.

Then, with an excited Kitasan Black in tow, he thanked the doctor, said goodbye, and headed toward the Rest Hall.

The black-haired girl chattered excitedly the whole way.

First, she said that she hadn't felt anything as she crossed the finish line. She'd won in an instant, and only realized she'd won after hearing the cheers.

Then she said she should've asked her grandpa and the others to come watch in person, though they'd probably watched the race live on TV.

Next, she said Teio-senpai might have watched it too. Either way, she was going to call her idol later and share the good news.

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

It was an indispensable part of horse-girl races.

Like other kinds of idols, horse girls sang and danced in addition to racing, and the Academy's Dance Hall had been designed specifically for that purpose.

They also had their own concerts, endorsements, merchandise, and other ventures.

On top of that, a performance was held on the evening of every race day, and all the competitors took part.

The stars of each performance were the winners of the races. That was the "Winner's Stage."

As she talked about the Winner's Stage, the black-haired girl suddenly stopped. Her clear, gemstone-like red eyes fixed on Anjing Zhen.

"Hey, I've said so much, and just realized I still haven't said what I most wanted to say. Hehehe..."

She let out her usual silly laugh and stepped closer.

Just like in the Infirmary, she opened her arms and hugged him, resting her cheek against his chest.

Compared to last time, she moved much more slowly, and her embrace was much gentler.

"I thought of so many ways to thank you. I even wanted to write them down while we were in the Infirmary.

"But I thought about it for a long time, and even tried writing some of it on my phone, but then I realized I had no idea how to say it.

"Hehe, the Trainer probably already knows that I'm kind of stupid.

"So, it must've been really hard to win this race with someone as stupid as me.

"So, thank you, Trainer."