Standing at the edge of the training ground, Teraizumi Shinji watched his three trainees warming up with close attention.
The one he was most focused on, naturally, was Saint King Halo. He felt it was necessary to see what kind of condition she would show now that she had won the Osaka Hai.
A faint sheen of sweat had already formed on the girl's forehead, and that made Teraizumi nod in satisfaction. Only by properly preparing the body during warm-up could one get the best possible results from training itself.
He flipped through the training materials he had prepared for his three girls. At the moment, the thing giving him the biggest headache was, of course, the Spring Tenno Sho, which would be held later this month.
Saint King Halo was aiming straight for the Spring Triple Crown, which meant the Spring Tenno Sho was absolutely unavoidable.
He could not help recalling the several replays of the Kikuka Sho he had watched the night before. The system's panel had also made Saint King Halo's distance aptitude perfectly clear—three thousand two hundred meters was simply not a natural fit for her. And her opponents would be the Mejiro family, who had always treated the Spring Tenno Sho as a key objective, along with powerhouses like Seiun Sky and Special Week, both of whom held clear advantages in distance suitability.
It was unquestionably going to be a very difficult race.
That was why Teraizumi knew he had to raise Saint King Halo's stamina as quickly as possible.
The greater the gap between a horse girl's aptitude and the distance of a race, the more stamina she would burn through over the course of it. Thinking that through, Teraizumi realized that aside from the next two days of recovery training, Saint King Halo would probably have to spend every day in the pool until she had no strength left before coming out.
Taking a deep breath, he beckoned his three trainees over. After tidying themselves up briefly, all three came to his side.
At this point, Teraizumi no longer had to worry too much about Offside Trap's training.
Her fierce determination toward training, along with everything she had learned under him about how to train, meant he could afford to devote more of his attention to his other trainees.
He gave Offside Trap a brief nod, and the girl immediately understood that today's training would not differ much from what he had guided her through over the previous two days. She puffed out her cheeks a little in dissatisfaction.
Teraizumi felt faintly helpless, but still soothed her with a look.
[Negative Emotion +40]
The girl was obviously a little unhappy, so of course he had to respond.
Watching Offside Trap's expression shift into one that plainly said, That's more like it, Teraizumi quietly let out a breath, then turned his attention to the other two.
Narita Brian had grown even leaner. Every day, she had to deal with the brutally difficult training Teraizumi laid out for her. After finishing that, she would go directly to Rudolf Symboli to study student council management. It was a heavy burden on both her body and mind, and she had to learn how to manage her time better and improve her ability to adapt.
"You can start doing a little speed-up work now," Teraizumi said.
Narita Brian nodded seriously. Only by truly going through Teraizumi's training could one understand that he had his own direction and philosophy for developing a horse girl.
Narita Brian did not dislike that at all. A trainer's strong professional ability was something that could give his trainee more confidence.
And right now, Narita Brian believed that confidence was exactly what she needed.
Watching her step onto the track, Teraizumi finally turned toward Saint King Halo.
There was plenty of dust on her clothes. Following his gaze, Saint King Halo noticed it as well, and quickly brushed the dust from her top before looking back at him.
"Your biggest task for this next stretch is to bring your stamina up fast. A thirty-two-hundred-meter race—I know you can do it, but having enough stamina will let you find more opportunities and see a wider field of possibilities."
Teraizumi's words also carried encouragement for her.
Saint King Halo was not stupid. She knew perfectly well where her shortcomings lay. His way of teaching her and Offside Trap had always been somewhat different, and one of the clearest differences was the way he chose his words.
At that, Saint King Halo nodded, and Teraizumi could not help patting her lightly on the head.
She did not dodge. Her cheeks reddened slightly, her ears trembled, and even the swish of her tail became more hurried.
Her eyes shifted about as if she were deliberately looking for another subject, and then she suddenly asked, "Trainer, do you know how the other girls are preparing for the Spring Tenno Sho? Especially the Mejiro side?"
At the question, Teraizumi slowly shook his head.
She had gone straight to the strongest faction she would face in the Spring Tenno Sho, which made sense. The Mejiro family had always placed enormous importance on Japan's longest G1 race.
Of course, Teraizumi had not neglected to try gathering information. But what he learned was that unless a Mejiro horse girl had already joined a team, she trained exclusively at home.
With the Mejiro family's wealth, building a private training facility on their own grounds was effortless. So Teraizumi had tried a different angle. Still unwilling to give up, he had gone all the way to the Mejiro residence.
And found the gates shut tight.
So he had returned empty-handed. In the days since, that had led directly to the situation he now found himself in.
He simply could not answer Saint King Halo's question, because he genuinely had not seen the Mejiro girls' training.
He pulled one file free from the stack of materials in his hands and placed it on top. Their gazes met in midair.
Hope flickered in her eyes, while Teraizumi gave the papers in his hand a little shake.
Right there on the top page was Special Week's name.
Those were the materials he had gathered over the last two days, including observations from the field. Of course, Nishizaki Ryu had no idea Teraizumi had secretly watched Special Week's training. His ability to stay unnoticed was still quite excellent.
"But before you read it, you're finishing today's training first. Training comes before everything else."
At those words, the anticipation in her eyes vanished, but she knew his temperament well enough. With no choice, she turned and walked toward the track.
Taking her place at the starting point, she looked at the crudely assembled marker standing there.
"In a moment, you absolutely have to pay attention to…"
His instructions began again, while Saint King Halo nodded from time to time, looking perfectly obedient.
But if not for the system, Teraizumi never would have known that inside her heart, she was steadily producing tiny little traces of resentment.
[Negative Emotion +1]
[Negative Emotion +1]
Join here to read ahead.
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