Teraizumi Shinji stood beside Narita Brian, while Offside Trap looked on with concern written plainly across her face.
It felt as though the past were replaying itself—but not quite in the same way.
Back then, the one kneeling beside the track had been Offside Trap, and the one looking at her with pity had been Narita Brian. Now their roles were reversed. Brian forced out a hoarse sound, but there was nothing left for her to bring up anymore.
She had not eaten much for breakfast. As long as she had taken in enough nutrition, that was enough—so there was little solid matter in what she had vomited. It was mostly liquid.
Shinji watched Narita Brian kneeling there in a miserable state without a flicker of emotion. Her sweat-soaked hair clung tightly to her face, making the flush there look all the more alarming. After stepping slightly to one side and remaining silent for a moment, he finally asked,
"Can you keep going?"
The gains were nowhere near enough.
He looked at the tiny increase in her speed and power. Brian had put in effort no less than Offside Trap once had, yet after an entire month without rest, she could only raise a single stat by around thirty points.
That was an absurdly poor number. Even back when Offside Trap had not yet received the Warlord's training boost, her average stat growth had still been above that.
And besides—
Shinji had seen Narita Brian work through an entire morning only to gain nothing at all.
"I… I still… can."
Brian's voice came in broken gasps. From the violent rise and fall of her chest, Shinji could easily imagine how awful she felt. It was the sensation of a stone lodged in her chest, making every breath painful, while her stomach continued spasming, desperate to throw everything back up.
Brian suddenly rolled her eyes, clutched at her chest again, and dry-heaved several times.
[Negative emotion +60]
It was negative emotion born purely from how awful training felt. A strand of saliva slipped from the corner of her mouth, and Shinji turned his face away. Brian looked far too miserable right now, enough that even he felt a little reluctant.
"That's enough for today."
Shinji pressed his lips together. He could already tell Brian had no reserves left to continue. She clearly still wanted to force herself through another set, but her legs—soft and unsteady after vomiting—gave her away. Training until one threw up was not something especially rare at this academy, but any trainer with experience knew that once someone was in this state, it was time to stop and let them recover.
The light in Brian's eyes dimmed as she stared at the ground, but she did not argue. In truth, she had wanted to be stubborn and insist on doing one more set. But no one knew her condition better than she did, and that sick, twisted feeling in her stomach made it clear that even if she wanted to, her body could no longer obey.
[Negative emotion +70]
Watching Shinji's retreating back, Brian knew the faint disappointment that had flickered across his eyes had not been directed at her personally. It had been disappointment in the poor training effect, frustration at the fact that the regimen he had designed was still not suited enough to his trainee.
Even so, it still stung.
Once, she had been a genius every other horse girl could only admire from below. Even the accomplished Rudolf Symboli had marveled at her brilliance, convinced that if any horse girl could one day surpass her own achievements, it would surely be Narita Brian.
And now, she could not even endure training like this. Or rather—her rate of improvement had become so slow that even pushing herself all the way to her limits could no longer make up the difference.
Her eyes burned with a sour ache. When Offside Trap moved over to help her up, Brian turned her face away.
Offside Trap's expression was full of concern. She would never understand what Brian was feeling as she leaned on her, though—ashamed, too humiliated to face a same-generation rival like Offside Trap, yet unable even to stand on her own and forced to accept her help.
So when Offside Trap asked whether she should go see the school doctor at noon, the girl whose face she could no longer see only answered in a faint, trembling voice,
"You go eat first. I'll be fine after I rest a little…"
"Have you thought about easing up the pace of training a little?"
Kuronuma had a grave look on his face after hearing Shinji describe Narita Brian's current condition.
"You know how it is. For horse girls who haven't debuted yet—especially ones who haven't been training very long—it's usually more important to let them first learn and adapt to a single, consistent training pattern. It helps their bodies understand what training feels like, and makes the body itself more confident about it…"
Shinji shook his head slightly.
He had no way of explaining the real specifics to Kuronuma. From the way he described it, Brian's situation really did resemble that of horse girls who were new to training—girls who struggled to adapt when the content became too complex or kept changing.
But Shinji knew very well that that was not the actual problem.
"I've tried that already. It didn't help much."
"I thought so. I ran into Tojo Hana a few times during training before. The routines she gave Narita Brian were extremely basic, repeated day after day. If that had been the issue, it would've been solved back then."
Kuronuma rubbed his forehead with a headache.
As he and Shinji had gradually grown closer, he had come to understand that though the younger man was not very old, he knew an extraordinary amount about being a trainer. When Shinji had suddenly brought up a problem that was bothering him during their meal together today, Kuronuma had thought maybe his own experience could offer some help.
He had not expected to be stumped too.
"So how are things on your end?" Shinji steered the topic toward Mihono Bourbon, deciding to shift away from Narita Brian's problem. "Have you decided when she'll move up to middle school?"
Brian's biggest issue was the steep drop in her overall conditioning and the sluggish pace of her growth. Beyond that, there was nothing especially unusual about her case.
Kuronuma was never going to understand something like this. Shinji had only wanted to gather a wide range of opinions and see whether any of them might spark an idea. If they didn't, that was only natural.
"Let's give her a little more time before that," Kuronuma said, his face still weighed down. "That kid needs careful polishing."
It was obvious how much Kuronuma cared about Mihono Bourbon. A few drinks in, with the alcohol beginning to rise to his cheeks, he continued,
"She learns fast, and more importantly, she can really endure hardship. But do you know the most important thing?"
"She has absurdly good physical talent. A normal horse girl couldn't handle the kind of training I'm putting her through right now, but she really has stuck through all of it. And she hasn't shown a single abnormal reaction."
There was no hiding the pride in Kuronuma's tone now. Shinji could only smile helplessly and pat him on the shoulder.
"Just be careful with the workload," he reminded him. "She's probably still growing. Try to make sure the pace of her development stays within what her body should be able to handle."
Kuronuma nodded and downed the rest of his drink in one gulp.
He was just about to say something else when he suddenly noticed a woman standing behind Shinji, staring at the side of his face with shining eyes. Even Shinji sensed the gaze and turned around immediately to look at her.
"What is it?"
His tone held nothing but confusion. The woman hurriedly waved both hands, signaling that she meant no harm, and then asked,
"You're Trainer Teraizumi Shinji, right?"
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 155)
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 (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
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 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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