Chapter 32
Two weeks later, the day before the race, as expected, the excellent song Uchiage Hanabi brought Kitasan Black enough fans.
Not only enough, on the third day after the song was uploaded to her fan account, it gained over 20,000 new fans from the song alone, instantly surpassing the 24,000 fans required for the conditions race.
In the following days, the growth continued without stopping, quickly hitting the upper limit of 30,000 additional fans. In total, Kitasan Black now had more than 40,000 fans.
The black-haired girl was naturally overjoyed by this level of fan growth.
If you saw her hugging her phone with a silly grin, muttering to herself, there was no need to ask, she was definitely looking at the increasing fan count or reading positive comments.
Yasui Makoto, on the other hand, didn't feel much about it. He knew better than anyone how much attention that song could generate.
If he had to say anything, it was probably that turning such a great song into only 30,000 fans felt a bit like wasting a treasure.
But he only sighed about it for a moment before quickly shifting his focus to tomorrow's race preparations.
That evening, in the living area of Yasui Makoto's single room.
Looking at the diagrams and text on the whiteboard beside him, Kitasan Black said thoughtfully:
"…So this time I should run a bit further forward than in the debut race?"
Yasui Makoto nodded.
"That's right. After evaluating everything, the tactic from last time won't work for this race. We need to make appropriate adjustments."
Then, pointing at the handwritten list on the left side of the whiteboard, he explained:
"If there are no withdrawals, your opponents tomorrow will be the names listed here.
"Unlike the debut race, every single one of them participated in their debut race last year.
"In other words, you are the only newcomer in the entire field who only started racing this year.
"This means they received professional guidance from their trainers much earlier, and some of them have top-tier trainers."
He deliberately paused and quietly observed Kitasan Black's expression.
The girl bit her lower lip, her brows slightly furrowed. Her hands resting on her knees unconsciously clenched, clearly showing some tension.
Yasui Makoto didn't offer immediate comfort.
Racing wasn't child's play.
On the contrary, every race was filled with energetic, lively young girls, and it might look as fun and relaxed as an idol audition.
In reality, at speeds reaching 60 km/h, the competition was just as intense and dangerous as any other sport.
A moderate amount of tension was actually helpful for such highly competitive races.
If handled properly, the pressure from nervousness could help a horse girl perform even better than in training.
This was one of the reasons Yasui Makoto deliberately explained tomorrow's race in detail.
With this in mind, he continued:
"Besides that, your opponents have far more race experience.
"Only one of them, like you, has only run a debut race, but even she did it last year.
"On average, your opponents have participated in 3 races. The one with the most has run 6 races."
Kitasan Black's tension became visibly stronger, and Yasui Makoto smoothly changed his tone.
A little pressure was fine, but too much was counterproductive.
"However, you don't need to worry. Their strength isn't significantly higher than yours, nor is it much lower, otherwise they wouldn't be in the same race.
"Also, you don't need to pay attention to every single opponent. You don't have the energy for that.
"Just focus on these few."
As he spoke, Yasui Makoto circled several names on the whiteboard with an erasable marker.
Before he could even explain, he heard Kitasan Black murmur softly.
"…Satono Ibuki?"
Glancing at the circled name "Satono Ibuki" on the whiteboard, Yasui Makoto smiled at Kitasan Black.
"Why? Do you know her? I don't think you're in the same class."
"Yeah, Ibuki is in a different class."
Kitasan Black nodded.
"But when I go out to play with Diamond-chan, or when I go find Crown-chan, I often see Ibuki. Sometimes when I visit their house, I see her too.
"As for Ibuki… I remember she's already run quite a few races, and her results are pretty impressive."
Yasui Makoto didn't deny what Kitasan Black said.
"5 races: 1 first place, 2 second places, 2 third places.
"The first three were 1800m races in Sapporo, then 2000m races in Chukyo and Kyoto. Her results got better each time.
"Satono Ibuki is indeed very strong, especially her adaptability."
Then he changed the subject.
"But let's not focus on her first. Look at these two.
"Saint Martin and Tozoku.
"Saint Martin is the second-most popular in this race, and she's the only other horse girl who has only run a debut race like you."
"Second-most popular… That's amazing."
Kitasan Black leaned forward slightly, then scratched her head with slight embarrassment.
"I'm only ninth in popularity…"
Without offering comfort, Yasui Makoto continued as if he hadn't heard.
"Niigata Racecourse, grass 1600m, finishing time 1:36.7 — that works out to 17 m/s.
"That's Saint Martin's debut race data.
"The most important part is her closing speed. Her final 600m was 33 seconds, which converts to 18.18 m/s.
"As long as she can bring that out, she has no problem challenging OP-level races or higher.
"Similarly, the most popular horse, Crusher Rez, had a final 600m speed of 17.9 in her last race — also an excellent closing speed.
"What do you think, Kitasan?"
He looked at her.
Although she still looked nervous, a thoughtful light had clearly appeared in Kitasan Black's red eyes.
"I remember when I was doing paired training with Daiwa-senpai, she told me that if I encounter an opponent with a strong closing speed, I need to work harder to maintain the high speed I've built up, and also create a bigger gap earlier.
"So Trainer, does that mean… I should use this technique to deal with them?"
Unconsciously, Yasui Makoto nodded approvingly at his horse girl's quick understanding.
Kitasan Black wasn't actually as "dumb" as she often claimed.
On the contrary, when it came to racing, she caught on to many things very quickly.
For example, when learning Escape techniques from Daiwa Scarlet, Yasui Makoto had planned to remind her, but she had thought to ask on her own and even remembered the advice.
Even more gratifying was that she could connect the dots right now.
And what she said was exactly what he wanted to say.
"That's right. That's one of the reasons I want you to run a bit further forward in this race."
Yasui Makoto wrote more data on the whiteboard.
"Besides opponents with strong closing speed, there are two others you need to watch out for.
"One is Tozoku. Although she's only 10th in popularity, I noticed that out of her previous 6 races, 4 were 1400m and 1 was 1600m.
"That kind of pace is very fast. I think there's a high chance she'll take the lead, or accidentally end up leading due to her past habits.
"That's another reason I want you to start a bit further forward."
"As I expected, the pace of this race will be much faster than the debut race.
"And one of your weaknesses is slow acceleration.
"If you fall too far back, it's easy to misjudge the situation. If your start is even a little slow, you'll have almost no chance at the championship."
Under Yasui Makoto's subtle guidance, Kitasan Black's thinking became deeper and deeper.
"I see…
"So the key for me in this race is to find the acceleration point more precisely than last time. Then…"
She looked at Yasui Makoto expectantly.
"Trainer, you should know exactly when I need to start my move, right?"
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