It was early morning, still before sunrise, and Terazumi Shinji and Offside Trap were already standing at the edge of the training ground, looking out over the little pools of water scattered across the track.
The rain last night had not sounded especially heavy, but judging by the state of the ground now, it must have been considerable. Even the sand track had standing water on it, enough to show just how much rain had fallen.
"Did you do the soak this morning?"
"I did."
Offside Trap gave a little shiver. The thought of that cold-water bath from earlier made her tremble all over. Those five minutes had been no less taxing to her than a full training session, and the mental impact had been enormous.
"That's good."
As Shinji said that, his gaze shifted past Offside Trap's shoulder.
Narita Brian stood there quietly, so still it was almost as though she had never arrived at all. Even her eyes showed not the slightest ripple.
"So. You're here to...?"
"I..."
Narita Brian had not prepared a reason.
Yesterday's gathering with their generation had given rise to doubt and distrust in her heart. Seeing a friend from her own generation being guided by a trainer whose record was, frankly speaking, unimpressive—and who, at least from the outside, seemed capable only of brutal, hellish training—Narita Brian felt that any horse girl in her place would be uneasy.
She looked toward Offside Trap and chose not to answer.
Did he even understand the weight carried by the student council?
Narita Brian kept President Symboli Rudolf's instructions firmly in mind. The authority of the student council was this domineering for a reason.
"?"
Shinji could see stubbornness in the horse girl's face, along with the faintest trace of smugness.
What's her problem?
[How should I know?]
So he said no more.
Instead, Terazumi Shinji took a small blue pill produced by the system out of its box and handed it to Offside Trap.
"Take it. It'll help your leg."
"All right."
There was no hesitation whatsoever.
Narita Brian had only just opened her mouth when Offside Trap had already swallowed it.
The little blue pill tasted like nothing at all. Offside Trap looked at Shinji in puzzlement, only to see him explain in a perfectly calm tone:
"This is a medicine I learned from a certain master. You've been feeling something in your leg, haven't you? This should help solve the problem."
Offside Trap believed him.
That immense improvement over the past month and a half had already made her begin, from the bottom of her heart, to trust Terazumi Shinji's ability.
A master?
Narita Brian filed that away in silence, deciding that when the time was right, she would investigate whether that was true or not.
The man before her looked so calm, so matter-of-fact, but Narita Brian's keen instincts told her that whatever medicine he had just given Offside Trap probably treated the symptoms rather than the root cause.
Of course, there was every possibility that it treated neither.
As she watched Offside Trap walk onto the field, Shinji opened the notebook in his hand. The page for today's training plan was crammed so densely with notes that Narita Brian felt a quiet shock.
"You do know her leg is getting worse, don't you?"
Watching Offside Trap warm up, Narita Brian asked in a low voice.
Without even turning his head, Shinji kept his eyes on the notebook in his hand.
"Then why do you think I gave her medicine?"
"It really works?"
"Compared to someone like you, who's already made her name, I should be the one with more reason to hope for her success—and more reason to protect my own reputation."
Shinji's words made Narita Brian's breathing catch for an instant.
From the corner of his eye, Shinji caught sight of the worry mixed into her reddened expression and frowned.
"In summer, higher temperatures mean that even high-speed training is less likely to cause injury, and the warm-up phase costs less energy too. You don't need to worry so much. I know exactly what I'm doing."
He received no answer, but Shinji did not care.
If he wanted to raise Offside Trap's level rapidly in a short period of time, then naturally a greater price had to be paid. No exceptional horse girl had ever been made overnight. It took long-term cultivation before one even had a chance of standing out.
He walked toward the starting gate.
Because it was summer, Shinji's speed training for Offside Trap—especially the speed work centered on actual running—had consistently followed a model of high intensity, high intervals, but low loading. And because the current plan for the autumn campaign was still centered around the Kyoto Daishoten and then the autumn Triple Crown route, most of the race simulation work had been built around that as well.
"The same as before. Today's speed training still revolves around gate work. You'll break from a lower position, then enter your mid-race pace from there. You have to get used to fighting for position in the early stage—that's what will secure the tactical structure for everything that follows."
Unlike Seiun Sky, whose racing style relied on ambush tactics through pace manipulation and race development, Offside Trap was clearly the kind of horse girl who ran in a broad, forceful, straightforward style. Controlling the flow of a race to achieve her ends was simply not her strong suit.
In that regard, she was actually similar to the nature of Territory Lord itself: victory achieved through comprehensive ability and stable execution.
Behind him, Narita Brian gave a faint nod.
As a member of Team Rigil, trained under Tōjō Hana for many years, she could tell the difference between a skilled trainer and an unskilled one. From the heavily detailed notebook Shinji had clearly prepared with great care, to the content of the training now being carried out, his level of instruction at least lived up to the exam results he had once earned.
Listening to the crisp sound of the gate snapping open, Narita Brian was reminded for an instant of her own days on the classic circuit.
The proud young horse girl she had once been had believed, from the very instant she sprang out of the gate, that victory was already hers.
"I haven't felt this in a very long time..."
The muttered words came out tinged with bitterness.
Narita Brian did not know why she had spoken her thoughts aloud. The voice had been quiet, but once spoken, it was almost as though she had wanted someone to hear.
Yet the question she half-expected never came.
When she raised her head, she saw that Terazumi Shinji's eyes had never left Offside Trap for even a moment. Though she was standing right beside him, he was completely ignoring her existence.
Narita Brian had never seen that kind of gaze in any other trainer.
Every trainer seemed to want as many horse girls as possible. Numbers meant possibilities, and possibilities meant more resources.
Anyone who understood Terazumi Shinji's history would know that he was utterly different from other trainers.
Maybe that was why he looked at his horse girl in a way most horse girls would envy.
"You should tell her not to give absolutely everything in training. Her movement mechanics are starting to deform a little. The proper approach should be to get faster while maintaining correct technique—"
"Relax the face, relax the shoulders with it, let the core stay loose so the hips can open and drive the stride?"
Shinji cut her off impatiently.
"What's in the textbooks doesn't apply to every situation, Narita Brian."
Narita Brian looked at him in confusion.
She was certain that Tōjō Hana had imposed exactly those requirements on every horse girl under her care. That was a universal truth, a principle with no exceptions.
"Ever since her debut, no one ever taught her properly in detail. To prepare for a twenty-four-hundred-meter race, she doesn't even know how to build her own diet plan. Her carbohydrate intake is insufficient, and I still have to remind her about it."
Shinji kept his eyes on Offside Trap, who was already beginning to sprint. The slight breakdown in her technique made her running look a little labored, but the more labored it became, the faster the numbers on the panel rose.
"Let me put it this way: diet changes gene sequencing and expression. Why is it that any truly top-tier horse girl in the world is so far ahead of the others? It's not just talent. Repetition and persistence matter just as much. That's why producing a top-tier horse girl requires a top-tier trainer and a top-tier team, cultivated over enough time and refined through enough care."
"Changes gene sequencing? I've never heard that before."
Narita Brian tilted her head slightly.
"That's because you aren't top-tier either. In Japan, you just got by on talent."
Her cheeks puffed out at once. Narita Brian felt a sudden urge to punch the man straight in his infuriating face.
"She doesn't have that kind of time anymore. She's already missed too much. If she wants even the slightest chance of reaching the summit now, then the only path left is to crush her limits under pressure. High-intensity training. She has to train until she pukes, train until she can't stand."
The figure rushing past them stirred Shinji's hair, and the mud it kicked up went straight into his open mouth, forcing him to spit several times in rapid succession.
That abrupt shift—from a man speaking with such grim, merciless seriousness to a man reduced to a bedraggled mess—left Narita Brian startled by the vicious intensity of his tone, yet unable to suppress a laugh.
"But what if the injury comes back? Or worse—what if pushing too hard ruins her completely?"
"That's the kind of thing mediocre people worry about."
Shinji dusted off the edge of his coat.
"The moment I confirmed her resolve, she already lost the right to retreat. This is the road she chose for herself. Even if she has to crawl it on her knees, she still has to walk it to the end."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
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From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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