A few days later, in the afternoon, at Central Treisen Academy's track.
Standing outside the fence around the outermost grass track, Yasui Makoto had a shoulder bag on and was scribbling away on his tablet. Beside him stood Hokubu Genkoma, brimming with anticipation.
"Okay, everything's ready on my end."
After checking the track data, Yasui Makoto turned to look at Hokubu Genkoma, who was warming up beside him.
"Xiao Bei, you..."
Before he could finish, she vaulted over the fence with a little hop and stood at attention in front of Yasui Makoto, her voice full of eagerness.
"I'm ready! We can start whenever you are!"
"Good, you've got plenty of energy. Let's start with an 1,800-meter run on grass."
He took a stopwatch from his pocket and gestured for Hokubu Genkoma to stand at the starting point.
"Don't overthink it. Run the way you usually do. Are you ready?"
"No problem at all! I'm ready, Trainer!"
"Mm... good."
After glancing at Hokubu Genkoma's starting stance, Yasui Makoto raised the stopwatch.
"Three, two... one!"
As he counted down to one, he quickly lowered his arm.
At the same time, the ground seemed to tremble, and a black blur streaked across his field of vision.
That power... it really was ridiculous.
Watching the black blur, Yasui Makoto couldn't help recalling what had happened a few days ago. He remembered that same faint tremor beneath his feet, followed in an instant by the image of a short-haired figure rushing toward him, growing rapidly larger.
But he soon calmed himself, keeping his eyes fixed on Hokubu Genkoma as she ran along the track. Whenever she passed a distance marker by the fence, he pressed the stopwatch with perfect timing.
A little over two minutes later.
Hokubu Genkoma ran up to Yasui Makoto, looking eager and hardly as if she'd just finished an 1,800-meter run. She wiped nonexistent sweat from her forehead and blinked at him.
"How was that, Trainer? How did I do?"
"Rest for five minutes, then run three more times."
Without offering an evaluation, Yasui Makoto held the stopwatch and tablet under one arm while writing on the screen with the other hand.
"When you're running, you probably don't realize how far you've gone or how much time has passed, right?"
"How did you know, Trainer?"
Hokubu Genkoma froze for a moment, then scratched her head.
"Yeah, I've always just focused on what's ahead and run as hard as I can.
"The teachers have told me to watch the markers, but I tried a few times, and every time I got distracted and slowed down. After that, I stopped paying attention to how far I'd run.
"Trainer, is that... a serious problem?"
Still in no hurry to judge, Yasui Makoto shook his head.
"The data from a single run has too much room for error, and I need to assess your physical limits. Let's talk after you've finished three laps."
"No problem!"
Without hesitation, Hokubu Genkoma nodded and bent her arm energetically.
"I feel like I don't need any rest at all. I can run right now. Is that okay, Trainer?"
Yasui Makoto glanced at Hokubu Genkoma's face and listened to her breathing before shaking his head.
"I said to rest for five minutes, so rest for five minutes..."
He'd only said half of it when he saw his Uma Musume's expression stiffen. Realizing he might have sounded a little harsh, he changed his tone.
"You have to give me a little time to organize the data, right? Wait five minutes. We'll do the same after each lap."
Hokubu Genkoma immediately perked up.
"Okay! I won't bother you, Trainer!"
A little over half an hour later.
"Hah... How was that, Trainer? Did I do okay?"
At last, she looked a little tired, with a glistening bead of sweat at her temple, but she was still full of energy. After completing four 1,800-meter laps, Hokubu Genkoma stood beside the fence and looked eagerly at Yasui Makoto.
Her stamina... was a little too strong, wasn't it?
Even though he'd already learned about Hokubu Genkoma's physical stats, seeing it with his own eyes still surprised Yasui Makoto.
Uma Musume were fast, but running at high speed took a lot out of them.
If that had been a race, an ordinary Uma Musume would need to rest for over an hour after one lap. They'd also need to take it easy and recover over the next few days, or risk picking up an injury.
Even as practice, four consecutive 1,800-meter laps were no small feat. Most other Uma Musume would have been gasping for breath by now.
But the girl in front of him only looked a little tired. Her stamina really was abnormally good.
At the same time, Yasui Makoto vaguely recalled that in another world, Hokubu Genkoma had also possessed astonishing stamina. The extremely intense training she underwent before her debut had laid the foundation for her later, remarkable achievements.
But he had no intention of using that kind of training.
In his previous life, Japan's horse-racing industry had gotten a late start, and its training methods could be considered outdated. Many training regimens seemed more like they were squeezing every last bit out of the horses.
The training Hokubu Genkoma had endured in that other world was even more extreme. Even within Japan's racing industry, it had drawn criticism for a long time.
And aside from a few horses like Hokubu Genkoma, not a single one could have made it through.
There was no doubt that this approach was far too cruel. Besides, the one training now was a lively, adorable girl. Yasui Makoto knew he wasn't as unscrupulous as his fellow trainers in his previous life.
What's more, he had better, safer training methods.
"You did great."
He praised Hokubu Genkoma. Seeing the girl's face light up with joy, Yasui Makoto couldn't help smiling too.
Then he handed her the stopwatch and tablet and entered the track through an opening in the fence a few meters away.
"Trainer, what are you...?" Hokubu Genkoma asked in surprise.
"I'm just going to run 100 meters. Don't worry about my speed. I definitely can't run as fast as you."
Standing near the fence, he pulled off his tie and used it to blindfold himself. Yasui Makoto "looked" toward Hokubu Genkoma.
"What you should pay attention to is how I judge distance and time."
"Distance and time... Okay! I'll watch closely!"
"Good."
He nodded, gave no signal, and pushed off hard in the darkness behind his blindfold, racing forward.
About ten seconds later.
Breathing slightly hard, Yasui Makoto removed the tie and looked back at Hokubu Genkoma.
"Did you notice?"
"Notice...? Oh, I get it."
Hokubu Genkoma started to answer in surprise, then her ears twitched as she pointed at the marker beside the fence.
"Trainer... you ran exactly 100 meters. Not a bit more or less!
"And you didn't look at the markers at all...
"No, you didn't look at anything!"
Mm, she caught on quickly, too.
Privately praising his Uma Musume, Yasui Makoto retied his tie and walked over to stand beside Hokubu Genkoma outside the track. Then he explained.
"Whether or not you look at the markers, you should be able to get a rough sense of how far you've run and how much time it's taken.
"That's very important in a race, especially when the competition is intense.
"On top of that, you need to keep track of your stamina and your opponents. Only then can you speed up when you should and conserve your strength when you don't need to.
"Of course, this is important. But when I said it wasn't a serious problem, it was because you have an even more obvious and immediate issue."
"An even more obvious and immediate issue..."
Hokubu Genkoma's ears twitched, their tips drooping slightly. She clasped her hands together and picked at her fingers.
"Is it my strength...?"
Happy New Year to all our readers!
Before you continue