After arranging their follow-up training in the Dance Hall, Anjing Zhen, Kitasan Black, and Vodka packed up their things and left the hall, ready to head to the School Cafeteria for a meal.
As soon as they stepped outside, a figure suddenly darted out from beside the door.
"Hello, hello~ Are you Mr. Anjing? I have a package here that needs your signature. Please sign for it!"
The figure was a horse girl with shoulder-length brown hair tied into a side ponytail on the left. Faint brown freckles dotted her cheeks, and her pretty face and green eyes brimmed with energy.
She held a large package about a meter square. As she handed it over, her gaze shifted, landing on Vodka and Kitasan Black.
"Huh? Vodka? Weren't you in Europe? And this girl... wasn't she always following Emperor and McQueen around before? Kita—what was the rest of her name again?"
"Hello! It's nice to meet you, Senior Fuujin! I'm Kitasan Black. Please take care of me!"
After Kitasan Black straightened up and introduced herself, Vodka grew curious.
"Senior Fuujin, why are you still delivering packages...? Oh, right, I haven't explained. I just came back to Japan recently, and I'm planning to stay at the Academy for a while."
"I see..."
Fuujin nodded in understanding and smiled. "Well, I guess I'm just used to it.
"When I was at the Academy, I was always working part-time to earn money for tuition and living expenses. Even though I've won some prize money from races now, I can't just sit around.
"Besides, both my younger sisters have debuted. They didn't make it into the Central League, but they're doing pretty well locally.
"Schooling costs a lot, and what if they get the chance to transfer to the Central League later? That'll cost even more.
"So, as their big sister, I've got to think ahead for them."
Hearing her say this, Anjing Zhen and the others were impressed, but also felt a little bewildered.
Could she really call that "some" prize money? That was the Japanese Derby's winner's purse...
Fuujin's full name was Einis Fushin. Like Vodka, she had won the Japanese Derby.
Though she'd retired after that race, just the winner's purse for that one race had been 110 million yen.
Unlike the agreement Anjing Zhen had made with Kitasan Black, in which they simply split the prize money fifty-fifty, the arrangements for other horse girls could be much more complicated.
Many horse girls' trainers came from a team or a family. These organizations could provide more extensive training resources, and would also take a larger share of the prize money.
Einis Fushin was in that situation, and her share was considerably smaller than Kitasan Black's.
Still, with a total of over 100 million yen on the table, even her smaller share wasn't a small amount.
It was more than enough to cover her own living expenses, even with the living expenses and tuition for her two younger sisters added in.
Yet during these past few months in Tokyo, Anjing Zhen had gradually met quite a few top-tier horse girls.
Interestingly, they were all wealthy young women, yet none of them liked sitting around doing nothing.
And while most of them chose jobs related to their interests, those jobs also tended to involve running in one way or another.
Like Einis Fushin here, as well as Oguri Cap and Aoba Recall, whom he'd met before.
Delivering packages, delivering food, and working as patrol officers all involved running.
Daiwa Scarlet, Vodka, and Agnes Tachyon were much the same. Their research was all related to horse girls—or speed.
Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen were no different.
As the Student Council President and Vice President, they had to interact with their juniors every day, and could sometimes be seen giving students pointers.
It seemed that running was an instinct and a pursuit they simply couldn't give up.
As he reflected on this, Anjing Zhen took the package and delivery slip from Einis Fushin, checked them, and signed his name.
"Thanks for your hard work, Fuujin."
After nodding, he turned to Kitasan Black and Vodka.
"Since the things I ordered have arrived, I won't be joining you for dinner tonight. I need to head back and test them out. Ideally, we'll be able to use them in tomorrow's training."
"Oh? We can't have dinner with you, Trainer? That's too bad..."
After voicing her disappointment, Kitasan Black grew curious.
"Sounds like the Trainer ordered... some training equipment?"
"Equipment?"
Vodka came closer, too. "What kind of equipment?"
At the same time, she wondered to herself.
She'd heard Daiwa Scarlet say that Anjing Zhen was different from most Japanese trainers.
Other trainers tended to rely more on experience, follow advice from their seniors and peers, or just stick to the training methods in textbooks.
Anjing Zhen was different.
Along with traditional training, this trainer also liked to look up foreign research papers, then combine what he learned from them to create training plans for Kitasan Black.
This approach was undoubtedly novel. Vodka was more familiar with traditional methods, so now she wanted to know what new thing Anjing Zhen had come up with this time.
"A drone. For filming."
Not keeping them in suspense, Anjing Zhen patted the package and explained with a smile:
"Before I came to Tokyo, I looked into them. They're mainly used in agriculture right now, for things like watering and fertilizing fields.
"But some people have tried mounting high-speed cameras on drones to film with them.
"You run fast, so it's difficult to get the ideal footage for training with conventional methods. Usually, people use multiple cameras during races.
"But I can't exactly ask for permission to set up that many cameras on the track.
"In theory, drones should not only meet the need for multiple angles, but also be able to follow you while filming. The results should be even better.
"But I'll need some time to test it, since nobody's used this method for training before.
"So I'll head back first. If all goes well, you'll understand how it works tomorrow."
With the package tucked under one arm, Anjing Zhen waved with his free hand and headed toward the Academy gates.
Watching him go, keen interest surfaced in Vodka's eyes.
"A drone... Interesting. I'd learned a little about them in Europe, but I didn't expect Anjing-kun to think of using one to help with training."
"Senior Vodka, are they really that impressive?"
Kitasan Black asked curiously. "I've never heard of them before."
"Don't feel bad. I've never heard of anyone thinking of using them this way, either."
Vodka mused, "You can mount high-speed cameras on those machines, and they can fly faster than we can run.
"So Anjing-kun was right. In theory, filming training with a drone could reveal things we've never noticed before.
"Even if it works just as well as filming from multiple angles, that still means you'll have a better way to train from now on, Kita.
"Kita, Anjing-kun really is amazing.
"If this method works, he'll probably be the first trainer in Japan to come up with it."
Kitasan Black nodded eagerly, her face alight with excitement.
"Yeah! The Trainer really is amazing!"
Just then, Einis Fushin, who'd been listening with curiosity, spoke up.
"Um, from what you two are saying, that young man just now... is Kita's trainer?"
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