Chapter 238: You're Not Planning to Stay at My Place, Are You?
Kitasan Black felt that, in places she couldn't see, her Trainer had put in far more effort than she had imagined—conducting extremely in-depth research and analysis on the race, on the opponents, and even on her.
Compared with that level of effort, the so-called "worries" she had been troubled by before suddenly seemed trivial.
A surge of realization and excitement rose uncontrollably in her heart. She instinctively fixed her gaze on her Trainer, her eyes shining brightly.
"Then let's continue preparing, Trainer!"
"You just mentioned Gold Actor-senpai and Marialite-senpai—how should I deal with them in the Arima Kinen?""
As she spoke, she straightened up on the sofa and leaned forward toward Makoto.
Seeing the fighting spirit shining in Kitasan Black's eyes, Makoto felt both approval and relief.
At the same time, the notebook written by Super Creek involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
The notebook clearly stated that if one wanted to successfully complete race preparations together with their assigned runner, there was an extremely important prerequisite.
That was that the runner herself must possess strong comprehension—and ideally, even the potential to become an excellent trainer in the future.
In fact, it wasn't impossible for a runner to transition into trainers.
For example, Air Groove was now basically training Duramente.
And Inari One, aside from handling certain administrative matters, was also an instructor at the Oi Tracen Academy.
Not only that—on extremely rare occasions, some exceptionally talented and outstanding Umamusume could even, through their own unique understanding of racing and keen intuition, teach their trainers how to approach races more effectively.
One example was the "Emperor," the first Umamusume to win the Classic Triple Crown undefeated, the former student council president—Symboli Rudolf.
From archived records and training logs, it could be seen that in major races like the Japanese Derby, this Umamusume had often "disobeyed" the race instructions her trainer had arranged beforehand.
Yet the results repeatedly proved that the decisions she made through her outstanding in-race judgment were the correct ones.
Because of that, her trainer even wrote in the logs a remark along the lines of:
"It was Rudolf who taught me how to race."
Judging from Kitasan Black's reaction at this moment, she had clearly gained a deeper understanding of racing, something that perfectly matched the conditions described in Super Creek's notebook.
With that in mind, strategies like "controlling the race," along with the related tactics, could now be applied more smoothly in the upcoming Arima Kinen.
Although Makoto felt satisfied inside about how smoothly the preparation was progressing, a faintly amused expression appeared on his face.
He raised the corners of his mouth slightly and looked at Kitasan Black with gentle eyes as he said:
"Mm, you're full of energy. Looks like all those random worries from before didn't affect you much?"
With a confident smile on her face and fighting spirit blazing in her eyes, Kitasan Black answered without hesitation:
"Not at all!"
"I even feel like I could start running the Arima Kinen right now!"
"So Trainer, let's hurry and get started!"
Instead of agreeing, Makoto chuckled and took out his phone. Turning the screen toward her, he pointed at the time displayed on it.
"I know you're eager, but the remaining days before the Arima Kinen are more than enough for us to finish our preparations."
"More importantly, if you don't head back to the dorm soon, Daiwa Scarlet will probably lock you out."
"You're not planning to stay at my place, are you? That would be a bit—"
Before Makoto could finish his half-joking, half-serious remark, Kitasan Black followed the direction of his finger.
The moment she saw the time on the screen, her eyes suddenly widened, and a panicked expression instantly spread across her face.
"Th-this is bad! It's already this late?! No, I really have to go back now, or Daiwa Scarlet-senpai will scold me to death—!"
While shouting this, she dashed toward the door at incredible speed, flung it open, and rushed out.
"See you tomorrow, Trainer! Let's both do our best!"
In the blink of an eye, even the echo of her voice faded away.
Makoto stood there with his mouth slightly open, staring at the direction where Kitasan Black had disappeared in a flurry. After a moment of stunned silence, he suddenly chuckled.
Shaking his head lightly, he gathered up the scattered documents on the table.
After organizing everything, he turned off the lights, lay down on his bed, and closed his eyes.
Just as he was about to fall asleep the way he usually did, he suddenly opened his eyes again and reached for the phone on the bedside table.
Opening his schedule and scrolling down slightly, his gaze lingered for a moment on a number circled in red.
27.
Then he put the phone back on the bedside table, closed his eyes again, and soon fell asleep.
…
December 27 — Nakayama Racecourse, Kitasan Black's preparation room.
Unlike their previous preparation methods, Makoto didn't write or draw on a whiteboard this time. Instead, he and Kitasan Black stood together beside a table.
On the table was a sandbox model more than a meter long and nearly a meter wide. Though not very large, it was extremely detailed.
The spectator stands, the turf, the track, the rails—everything matched the layout of Nakayama Racecourse exactly. Even the slopes had been recreated at a proportional scale.
Makoto knew that such models could be used to simulate race situations, and some trainers preferred using them.
He himself was more accustomed to marking things on a whiteboard, and since building a sandbox model required special preparation, he had never seriously considered it.
This time, using the model for simulation had been Kitasan Black's suggestion, and she had spent her spare time making the entire thing herself.
And not just a model of Nakayama, she had also built models of several major central racing venues.
The purpose of making these models was partly because she thought they would make race simulations more convenient—and partly because they were meant as a Christmas gift.
Makoto didn't know about Kitasan Black's intention behind it, but after receiving the gift he felt pleasantly surprised, and after trying it out, he had to admit it was quite useful.
With this tool, many details were indeed much more intuitive than the flat presentation of a whiteboard.
Standing around the sandbox, Kitasan Black began placing small, finely crafted Umamusume pieces onto the track.
"Alright, this one is Sounds of Earth-senpai… this one is Gold Actor-senpai, and Marialite-senpai… and then Lia Fail-san…"
Muttering to herself, she placed the four pieces one by one into the starting "gates."
Finally, she placed a black-colored Umamusume piece.
"And lastly, me."
She smiled at her Trainer.
"Right? It looks pretty clear, doesn't it, Trainer?"
"Indeed it does. So even though I've already said it before, thank you again for this gift, Kitasan."
He didn't deny it, answering with a smile. But soon his gaze turned to the starting gates on the sandbox, and his expression became serious.
"According to the order you just mentioned, the four opponents most likely to run the front have gate numbers 7, 9, 16, and 12 in this race."
As he spoke, he used a small pointer he had prepared earlier to move the four pieces out of the starting gates. Then he nudged the piece representing Kitasan Black.
"And you're in gate 11."
"So if nothing unexpected happens, the five of you will likely form three different groups competing for position right after the start."
"First will be Sounds of Earth and Gold Actor."
"Second will be you and Lia Fail."
"And finally, on the very outside, Marialite."
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