Chapter 25
Horse girls are divided into different coat colors by bloodline... bay, chestnut, gray, white, and so on.
Kitasan Black, for example, is a bay.
In Japan there has always been debate... or rather, prejudice... about bloodlines. The idea that "gray horse girls can't run fast" was once treated as plain "common sense."
Of course, that so-called "common sense" has long been shattered by outstanding gray horse girls like Tamamo Cross, Oguri Cap, Mejiro McQueen, and many others.
A similar kind of division and bias exists with the "colt versus filly" distinction.
Biologically speaking, the genes related to horse girls are mostly recessive.
When the mother is a horse girl, the daughter has a very high chance of also being a horse girl.
If the mother is human, the probability drops sharply and becomes almost accidental.
Because of these two cases, horse girls are classified as either "colt horse girls" or "filly horse girls."
Just like the gray-horse prejudice, the industry once believed that "filly horse girls" were simply weaker.
Many races even restricted entry to "filly horse girls" under the excuse of "protection."
That bias lasted for a long time. Even the appearance of outstanding fillies like "Empress" Air Groove and "Queen of the Amazons" Hishi Amazon didn't change it.
Until the "Two Peerless Geniuses" showed up.
Both of those horse girls were fillies. At the time, the top races were still mostly dominated by colts, yet the pair swept nearly every major event.
Coincidentally, after them more and more filly horse girls began displaying incredible strength, so nowadays almost no one even mentions the "colt versus filly" distinction anymore.
One of those two peerless geniuses was the very Daiwa Scarlet that Doctor Tachyon had mentioned.
Even more importantly, after all his observations and tests, Yasui Makoto was certain that Kitasan Black's best running style was front-runner, with stalker as her second-best.
Daiwa Scarlet's career had been built on exactly the same specialties: front-runner first, stalker second.
There was simply no reason to turn down a paired-running partner like that.
After accepting Doctor Tachyon's offer and learning a few more details from Tokai Teio, Yasui Makoto told Kitasan Black the good news during afternoon training.
"Da... Daiwa-senpai is coming to do paired runs with me?! That's seriously the best thing ever~!"
"...How many times do I have to tell you? Swallow first before you talk, or you're going to choke."
Watching Kitasan Black's cheeks puff out like a hamster, Yasui Makoto sighed helplessly, then asked curiously, "It sounds like... you already knew Daiwa Scarlet, Kita-chan?"
"Mmmph... wait a sec, Trainer Yasui, lemme finish eating first..."
She quickly polished off the entire plate of fried rice with big happy bites, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and was about to speak when she saw Yasui Makoto sigh again and pull out a packet of tissues.
"Sometimes I really feel like you're not a girl at all... so messy. Hold still, I'll wipe it for you."
"...Trainer Yasui, that's a little mean, you know..."
Kitasan Black pouted, looking a bit wronged. The moment she saw his hand reach out, she panicked.
"N-no need, Trainer Yasui! I-I can do it myself!"
She snatched the tissues, hurriedly wiped her mouth and hands, and quickly changed the subject.
"Yeah, I've known Daiwa-senpai for a really long time.
"Before she retired she was on the same team as Teio-senpai. After Teio-senpai retired I still went to watch Daiwa-senpai's races a lot.
"If Daiwa-senpai is the one helping me with paired runs, that's seriously amazing!"
Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she blinked curiously.
"Oh right, how did you meet Daiwa-senpai, Trainer Yasui?"
"I didn't," Yasui Makoto shook his head. "Doctor Tachyon introduced her."
"So that's how it happened..."
Kitasan Black nodded in understanding.
"I remember Daiwa-senpai has always been really close with Tachyon-senpai.
"After Tachyon-senpai suddenly announced her retirement, tons of people online started saying nasty things about her.
"Tachyon-senpai never paid any attention to the hate, but Daiwa-senpai got super angry and kept defending her.
"So if Tachyon-senpai is the one who introduced her, it all makes sense now."
Yasui Makoto finally understood.
He had heard about the uproar when Agnes Tachyon retired.
Four wins out of four races, including the Satsuki Sho... she had clearly had the potential to challenge for the Japanese Derby and Kikuka Sho.
Yet right at the height of her popularity, she announced her retirement at lightspeed.
The official reason was "superficial flexor tendonitis in the left foreleg."
That kind of injury is extremely troublesome for horse girls. It's not impossible to recover from, but with the medical technology of this world the odds are extremely low.
Many fans couldn't accept it, and with some people fanning the flames, the whole situation turned into a mess. All sorts of ugly rumors about Agnes Tachyon spread like wildfire.
Now that he thought about it, the "human experiment" rumor had been one of the loudest ones back then.
But the real details... why she retired and how fiercely Daiwa Scarlet had defended her... were things Yasui Makoto hadn't known until now.
Hearing it from Kitasan Black made everything click.
"So there was that kind of connection... But either way, this is a great thing for you."
After thinking it over for a moment, Yasui Makoto continued.
"I asked President Teio about Daiwa Scarlet's current situation.
"She finished her second master's degree overseas last year and is now thinking about her PhD research topic.
"She probably wants to study under Doctor Tachyon.
"Anyway, it sounds like she hit some kind of bottleneck and wanted a change of scenery.
"The academy had some matters they wanted her help with, so she'll be coming to work here for a while."
"Daiwa-senpai really is amazing, huh..."
Kitasan Black said with open admiration.
"She was always top of the class when she was at the academy, and she's already finished two master's degrees in just a few years. Her brain is something else!
"Oh right, what kind of job is Daiwa-senpai going to do at the academy? Is she becoming the school doctor?"
"Not quite," Yasui Makoto shook his head.
"She hasn't gotten her medical license yet. She's coming to replace Fuji Kiseki as the new manager of the Ritto Dormitory.
"Being a dorm manager means she'll be in daily contact with active horse girls like you. I think it counts as a kind of data-collection research for her.
"I'm guessing Daiwa Scarlet wants to draw PhD inspiration from the active younger generation."
"D-dorm manager...?"
Kitasan Black blinked in surprise. "So... we won't get to see Fuji-senpai at the academy anymore?"
"Not exactly," Yasui Makoto shook his head again.
"President Teio said Fuji Kiseki applied for further studies last year and the paperwork has finally gone through.
"Everyone has to keep moving forward, right? You'll still be able to see her if you go over to the university division."
"I see..."
Kitasan Black nodded, then perked up again.
"That means I'll get to see Daiwa-senpai all the time from now on! And we can do paired runs together a lot, right?"
"That depends on her schedule," Yasui Makoto said with a smile.
"But President Teio is still handling the handover, so Daiwa Scarlet should have some free time these next few days.
"Get ready over the next couple of days. In three days you'll be doing your first paired run with that senpai."
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