Terazumi Shinji held a stopwatch in his hand, though he did not really need it. It simply made him look more professional.
"Not bad. You maintained your rhythm fairly well after the start. At the very least, you didn't let the runaway leader disrupt your pace."
[With no other horse girls around to interfere, the effect of a front-runner isn't actually that big. She only needs to read the pace, then choose when to make the capture based on the real situation.]
"And with the Noble bond, race tempo and development won't really affect her anyway," Shinji said aloud now that no one else was nearby. "This training was meant to teach her how to catch a runaway leader in the first place. As long as she can catch one, the rest won't be a problem."
Out on the track, Twin Turbo was gasping for breath, her steps getting smaller and smaller as the footsteps behind her closed in from far away to right at her back.
[She's done. She got caught after only a thousand meters. There's not much training value left now.]
Shinji nodded in agreement. The whistle blew, and Offside Trap, who had already overtaken Twin Turbo, gradually slowed to a stop.
"Hah… hah…"
Twin Turbo collapsed to her knees, bracing herself against the grass in front of her so that the spinning in her vision would not send her toppling over completely.
Sweat covered her forehead, and her eyes had begun to redden.
Five times now.
Counting this run, they had completed a full three sets—six runs total—and every single time she had been decisively caught. At first it had only happened in the last hundred, maybe two hundred meters. By the second set, she was already being reeled in with four hundred meters to go.
And by the third set…
Twin Turbo could not hold the tears back anymore. They spilled down at last, yet the stubborn horse girl still lifted her head and glared resentfully at Offside Trap.
"What are you, some kind of long-distance specialist?!"
"?"
Offside Trap thought Twin Turbo was being incredibly rude. They had just run three sets of middle-distance work, and now she was questioning her distance aptitude?
As Offside Trap panted heavily, her breathing began to gradually steady.
That only made Twin Turbo more convinced of her own theory.
More tears welled up in her eyes, enough that even Shinji felt a flicker of danger. After all, even the densest horse girl would realize something was off at a moment like this.
"So I really am just too weak… I can't even shake you off. No wonder this trainer's secret techniques didn't make me improve all that much—waaah!"
[Hahahahaha!]
The system laughed without restraint.
Shinji let out a quiet sigh of relief and quickly walked over to Twin Turbo's side. Her shoulders were still shaking, and she looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.
"Trainer, do you think there's still hope for me?!"
"There is! Of course there is!" Shinji declared with absolute conviction. Then he grabbed Twin Turbo by the shoulders seriously. "This time we'll rest longer—half an hour, a full half hour! And then we'll start the fourth set…"
Offside Trap rolled her eyes and turned away.
Although she looked displeased on the surface, inwardly she felt much better now.
So it wasn't that her trainer had anything against her specifically. He treated other horse girls like they weren't human too.
That thought did soothe her—briefly.
Then she suddenly realized something was wrong with that logic.
Why does he treat every horse girl like this?!
o(一︿一+)o
[Negative Energy +5]
Shinji had no idea what was going on, but increased energy was increased energy, and that was always a good thing. So he chose not to dwell on it and instead looked at Twin Turbo expectantly.
"Don't make me run anymore. I'm already—already exhausted to death."
Her pink tongue lolled out. Maybe because she was too tired to swallow properly, a little foam had gathered at the corner of her mouth. Shinji's eyelid twitched, and he hurriedly let go and stood up.
Deprived of his support, Twin Turbo naturally flopped flat onto the track.
"Mmgh~"
Her mouth had still been open, so she ended up getting a small mouthful of sand. Twin Turbo's eyes widened, and for a second she did not even know what to say.
Pretending none of that had happened, Shinji continued trying to reassure her.
"It's probably just because this is your first time doing my secret special training, so you haven't adapted yet. How about this—we stretch the next rest interval to forty-five minutes, all right?"
[Are you sure you shouldn't be assigned to the middle school division after all, Shinji?]
The system said it while holding back laughter. At that moment, Shinji really did look like he was trying to coax a child, and annoyingly, he was doing a pretty decent job of it.
"I've already run more than ten thousand meters at full speed today! No matter what you say, I'm not running anymore!"
"Well, when you put it that way, the later parts weren't all at full speed…"
?
The way Twin Turbo looked at Shinji finally changed.
She was a horse girl, not a race car. How was she supposed to run at full speed the entire time?
"And besides, there were breaks in between, so it's not like you were going nonstop…"
"If there are intervals, does that somehow make it not full-speed running? Are you even speaking like a human being?"
Twin Turbo had forgotten to cry by now.
She simply felt that this trainer was awful. How could he say something so cold-blooded with such a straight face?
Trainer Minamisaka was so much kinder.
Twin Turbo solemnly decided that from now on, she would never throw another tantrum at Minamisaka ever again.
(Minamisaka: Really? Please elaborate on this "no more tantrums.")
Then her gaze shifted to Offside Trap.
This older girl, whom she had secretly sworn to defeat, was now someone she had decided to let off the hook entirely.
To have survived under a trainer like this without collapsing until today… she must have suffered a lot.
Shinji, meanwhile, found himself with a headache. Seeing that Twin Turbo refused to run again no matter what, and feeling that Offside Trap's training still fell just a little short of what he wanted today, he decided to approach the problem from a different angle.
Running always had a goal behind it.
Not every horse girl ran for dreams or passion, perhaps, but every horse girl who ran had some kind of goal, even if only a short-term one.
And when Shinji had looked up Twin Turbo's background yesterday, he vaguely remembered the dream she had mentioned in an interview.
"Think about your dream. A runaway-leader Arima Kinen is an extremely challenging dream. This kind of training can very effectively improve your ability to adapt to a major race like the Arima Kinen, one that also tests stamina."
Shinji spoke softly, but his tone was firm.
He was convinced that, under the impact of her dream, the horse girl in front of him would still be able to accompany Offside Trap through one more set of training.
"?"
Twin Turbo blinked.
The circle of front-running horse girls was not especially large to begin with—particularly among those capable of challenging G1 races, the number was even smaller.
After just a little thought, Twin Turbo's face grew redder and redder, as red as a crab about to boil. Rage flared in her eyes, exactly like the anger Offside Trap had shown during warm-up.
"The one who wants to run away at the Arima Kinen is Daitaku Helios! Daitaku Helios! Not me! And also—we do not look alike at all. At! All!"
"Hm?"
Shinji scratched his head. He could have sworn the one he saw in that interview was Twin Turbo. There was no way he should have mistaken that blue coloring.
[Has it occurred to you that Daitaku Helios's headband is blue?]
The system had already wondered yesterday why Shinji had seemed so engrossed in that Daitaku Helios interview. Now the answer was obvious.
He had mixed them up because of the headband.
He almost wanted to ask, So don't you want to run away at the Arima Kinen too?
But the situation was already embarrassing enough as it was, so in the end he could only sigh.
"Sorry."
Shinji apologized sincerely.
Mixing up one horse girl for another really was terribly rude.
"Hmph!"
Twin Turbo made it clear she had no interest in forgiving him.
No matter how good-tempered she was, there was only so much she could take. Being a conspicuously blue-haired horse girl and still getting mistaken for a brown-haired one was simply unacceptable.
"Then let's call it here for today. Continue again tomorrow?"
"I'll think about it~"
She lifted her chin in classic tsundere fashion. Twin Turbo felt she could not possibly agree too quickly, or it would make it seem as though she were actually looking forward to tomorrow's training.
With her eyes closed, she waited for Shinji's response—
And then suddenly felt a large hand lift her chin.
Her eyes flew open to find Terazumi Shinji staring intently at her.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
[Negative Energy +20]
Before he could process the murderous aura beginning to rise from behind him, Shinji studied Twin Turbo's sharp teeth and nodded.
"I'll remember it this time."
"Remember what?" Twin Turbo asked reflexively.
Then understanding hit her.
Her face went scarlet, as though blood might drip right off it.
"Don't go memorizing my teeth, you idiot!"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
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 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
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