In Tracen, Skilled at Doing Time

She only had to be prepared for now.

"Anyway, pay attention to your running posture when you run. But don't treat posture as something rigid to memorize. You have to run according to your individual body type."

Zhou Yuang chatted without the slightest restraint during training. Everyone could hear him clearly, but Oguri Cap was the only Uma Musume training at ease.

Air Groove was still suspicious, while Silence Suzuka kept glancing around from time to time to see whether a Trainer was approaching. As for Agnes Digital?

She watched the several Uma Musume around her, showing faint signs of about to go berserk.

This Uma Musume Fan was about to activate her skill!

"By the way, Mr. Trainer, your assigned athlete... Her name is Oguri Cap, right?"

After training for a while, Silence Suzuka suddenly turned her head toward Zhou Yuang.

She hadn't seen any Trainer come over of his own accord, perhaps because there weren't many people around at this hour.

Uma Musume passed by from time to time, but they were merely passing by.

The main reason Uma Musume came to Tracen Academy was still to run.

And now that Silence Suzuka knew how to run, the question she cared about most was: Where's my AT?

If not for Air Groove's comments about resigning, she might have run all over Tracen Academy.

Then she could let every Trainer see how fast her Front Runner strategy was.

Afterward, she would wait for AT to come running over and enter the correct password.

Unfortunately, she couldn't do that.

But that didn't mean Silence Suzuka could do nothing.

She looked curiously at Oguri Cap beside her. For some reason, whenever Silence Suzuka saw Oguri Cap, she felt a sense of tension.

Silence Suzuka.jpg

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Hat Gate! But Let's Keep Our Own Accounts Separate

"Yeah. Why?"

Could it be that she had discovered Oguri Cap's Mile strength was so outrageous that her competitive spirit had been roused, and she planned to have a match?

Speaking of Oguri Cap's Mile performance, Zhou Yuang had to praise her a little.

Oguri Cap was an invincible powerhouse at Mile.

In the 1989 Mile Championship (G1), Oguri Cap faced Bamboo Memory, who had been rated by JRA as the year's best sprinter and had even won the 1989 Yasuda Kinen (G1) beforehand.

On the final straight, Bamboo Memory was one length ahead of Oguri Cap.

Then, over the final 100 meters, the two began a fierce struggle.

Oguri Cap forcibly erased that one-length gap in the brief stretch of time, winning by a difference of just a few centimeters.

After defeating Bamboo Memory, who possessed terrifying combat power in sprinting, that intense hundred-meter battle was regarded as one of the most impressive moments in Central racing.

Afterward, her rider even said, "Whenever I think about how great a racehorse Oguri Cap is, I can't help crying. She was the one who saved me as a rider." It was a statement overflowing with faith in the Hat Gate.

Judging from Silence Suzuka's career record, 1,600 meters was disadvantageous for her Front Runner strategy.

In the game, Cygames had set both 1,800 meters and 1,600 meters as Mile races, and both Oguri Cap and Silence Suzuka did indeed have an A aptitude for Mile.

But Oguri Cap was still in the development stage, while Silence Suzuka hadn't even begun developing yet.

This wasn't a situation like in the game, where attributes could be raised casually. She was far too inexperienced to issue a challenge now.

"I think I heard about it somewhere."

Silence Suzuka struggled to recall what she had heard in the livestream. Some comments had explained the issue of Oguri Cap coming to the Central circuit.

"It was probably in the news some time ago. Oguri Cap's arrival in Central caused quite a stir."

Every year, Uma Musume from the regional circuits came to Central. If no one mentioned it, probably nobody would care about a girl coming to the big city.

But Oguri Cap was different. President Rudolf had personally gone to recruit her, and President Rudolf was a walking source of traffic in the Uma Musume world.

"After all, the president personally went to the regional circuit... How did you manage to win over this genius?"

Air Groove explained while looking at Zhou Yuang curiously.

Since Rudolf had personally recruited her, and considering the intense competition among Tracen Trainers, becoming Oguri Cap's Trainer must have been extremely difficult, right?

Was it luck? Or had he used his brains?

It couldn't really have been fate, could it?

"Luck."

Zhou Yuang answered casually. Oguri Cap had only arrived at Tracen a few hours ago, and Zhou Yuang had already encountered her.

After taking Oguri Cap to sign the contract, Zhou Yuang heard other Trainers complaining as he passed through various places.

After learning that Rudolf had personally recruited her, quite a few Trainers had prepared to watch her mock race. Those were the first-tier Trainers.

The second-tier Trainers planned to run to Rudolf and try to volunteer, asking Rudolf to hand Oguri Cap over to them for training.

Then a group of third-tier Trainers planned to look up Oguri Cap's class and go to her directly. After all, signing a contract required the Trainer and Uma Musume to agree at the same time. As long as Oguri Cap was willing, Rudolf had nothing to say.

But when they went to Miss Hayakawa to make inquiries, they were all dumbfounded.

Who could have known that, at that moment, a fourth-tier fellow would go straight over and ambush Oguri Cap, who had only just arrived?

That made Zhou Yuang feel incredibly fortunate.

When Zhou Yuang signed the contract with Oguri Cap, he also asked about a few things.

He learned that in this world, Oguri Cap's initial Trainer had been an old man, not the young man who still needed to develop in the Ash Grey story.

Although she had had quite a few friends in the countryside of Kasamatsu, there was no Brightest Dawn like in the Ash Grey plotline.

This world also lacked Sirius from the game's main storyline.

"It was only a coincidence. I'm neither talented nor virtuous; I was simply lucky enough to meet her."

Zhou Yuang answered Air Groove's question modestly.

Listening to Zhou Yuang's conversation with the other Uma Musume, Oguri Cap stared at him with her beady eyes, looking utterly foolish.

It seemed he had just said some words she didn't understand.

She tilted her head and stared hard at Zhou Yuang and Air Groove's faces with her little eyes, as if trying to figure something out.

But neither of them had words written on their faces, and neither was particularly expressive.

In the end, Oguri Cap could only fold her arms, puzzled, with a few question marks rising from her head.

"An Uma Musume from the countryside and a gentle, talented-looking but humble Trainer?"

Agnes Digital was in peak form nearby, immediately beginning to let her imagination run wild at the sight of this.

For her, shipping couples was as frequent as breathing.

She couldn't help imagining a story: a talented child from a humble background who came from a regional Tracen and fought her way forward through hard work, eventually meeting a gentle Trainer by chance...

This Trainer seemed to be a rookie Trainer who had only just entered Central, right?

Her previously outstretched hands suddenly froze, and the smile that had been on her face came to a stop.

As if time had been paused, she stood motionless like a statue under the gazes of the people around Zhou Yuang.

Zhou Yuang and the others were utterly baffled. Oguri Cap was surprised too, but she raised her little hand and waved it in front of Agnes Digital, a friend she had only just met.

"Are you all right?"

Concern appeared on Oguri Cap's little face.

In her nervousness, she reached out and poked Digital.

It would have been fine if she hadn't poked her. The moment she did, Digital started acting strangely.

Agnes Digital, who had been incredibly quiet moments before, seemed to have been triggered by Oguri Cap with a single button press. Her entire body began trembling like a sieve.

Even though Oguri Cap was the one touching her, she acted as if she had touched an electrical outlet and became completely ecstatic.

"Wonderful!!! One is an Uma Musume who came from the countryside to Central Tracen to strive forward, and the other is a young Trainer who has just graduated, brimming with hesitation and hope, and has only just started working to make something of himself... Two pure and clueless people spending three years together... Woohoo!!! This is mutual devotion!!!"

Agnes Digital raised both hands and shouted, "Yes!" without caring that there were other Uma Musume around.

Then came a string of inexplicable remarks such as: "This is so good! So good! I'm becoming a Tamamo solo fan on the spot! What a harvest! Is this a blessing from the Three Goddesses?!"

"This girl... Does she need to go to the infirmary?"

Air Groove made the comment as tactfully as possible while looking at the people around her.

Silence Suzuka had more or less grown accustomed to being startled by Agnes Digital's sudden outbursts, while Zhou Yuang knew that Digital would occasionally make strange comments like a lewd woman.

Oguri Cap, however, thought she had done something she shouldn't have.

Her ears bent like those of a folded-ear cat. Then she retreated to Zhou Yuang's side and looked at him in panic.

"Trainer, did I break her by touching her?"

"Don't say it like you're some kind of little bear."

Oguri Cap was absurdly strong, and it was true that she made all kinds of loud noises when handling things. But when interacting with people, she knew her limits and wouldn't hurt anyone, so there was no need to worry.

Still, Digital's tendency to go berserk really was troublesome.

Zhou Yuang waved his hand in front of Digital, then called out to her several times.

When he discovered that Digital had actually begun spinning in circles with both hands raised in public, his face darkened.

"You scared an Uma Musume!"

Zhou Yuang raised his voice a little. It wasn't loud enough to be noisy, but it still made Digital suddenly freeze.

The voice brought her soul back, and she turned her head toward Zhou Yuang.

Air Groove wore a sour expression, Silence Suzuka watched her rampage with flattened ears, and Oguri Cap looked utterly terrified.

"Sorry!"

Digital pressed her palms together and bowed deeply, just as Special Week had earlier. Her apology was perfectly executed.

No Uma Musume respected Uma Musume more than she did, so Digital apologized with overwhelming guilt.

Most Uma Musume were kind. Some were sharp-tongued, some believed that running fast was the entirety of an Uma Musume's charm, and some were unbelievably dense.

But everyone treated Digital's earlier outburst as if nothing had happened... right?

"Um, what did you mean by mutual devotion?"

After confirming that Digital was fine, Oguri Cap even asked her to bounce around a few times. Digital wished she could perform a Thomas helicopter on the spot to prove that she was in one-thousand-percent perfect condition.

"Mutual devotion means construction starting simultaneously from both ends of a bridge... Uh, no, that's not it. It means that both people in a pairing are interested in each other and like each other, and do everything for the other person. That's mutual devotion!"

Digital explained the meaning in words everyone could understand.

But the term "CP" made Oguri Cap tilt her head.

"What's CP?"

"It means a pairing, like friends or lovers... Like you and Mr. Zhou Yuang!"

CP had originally covered a broad range of meanings. It could refer to lovers or partners, with basically no restrictions.

The prerequisite was that it couldn't be too weird.

People couldn't. At least, they shouldn't.

From a certain perspective, it wasn't wrong to call the relationship between a Trainer and an Uma Musume a CP.

After all, once they signed a contract, they had to walk hand in hand through three years together.

How many three-year periods did a person have in life? And as athletes, Uma Musume lived on their youth. Those three years of their active careers were undoubtedly the most important three years of the first half of their lives.

"Oh, I see. So Trainer and I are a CP."

It seemed she had understood Digital's explanation. The ears atop Oguri Cap's head twitched, and her slightly chubby ears seemed to be provoking Zhou Yuang's hand.

But ears were private areas. If you were walking down the street and someone suddenly came over and touched your eye, how would you feel?