"Kagura, you're not allowed to get on the track. Just watch from the side."
On the second day of summer training camp, the rest of the team headed out to train along the coastline. Kagura had followed along, wanting to hop in and run a bit too—only for Trainer Tojo to stop her and firmly park her off to the side.
With nothing much to do, Kagura stood around with her phone for a while. She'd thought about seeing if Rudolf and the others needed any help, but after waiting for quite a while and finding nothing she could do, she ended up wandering over to the mountain road near the training grounds.
I'm so bored…
——What, you've already finished all your games, so now you're complaining you're bored?
You're the one playing the mobile games, Eclipse-san… The moment the dailies reset you clear everything out. What am I supposed to play…
Kagura did have a few games installed, but honestly, it wasn't so much that she'd installed them for herself as that she was basically just a tool for registering accounts. Once she'd set up the accounts, her job was done. Eclipse handled everything after that. Every time Kagura logged in, the event was already cleared, the dailies were done, even the weekly grind was finished… Sometimes she genuinely couldn't understand what people who hired someone else to grind for them were supposed to feel.
——Then how about I give you something fun? But don't let your Trainer find out.
What kind of fun? A new game?
——More exciting than a game. I can take you for a training run.
Go on...
Kagura perked up right away. She did know a little about Eclipse's "training methods," but only to the extent of being coached in her dreams. It was broad daylight now—Eclipse couldn't exactly tell her to go back and take a nap. That made Kagura all the more curious what new trick Eclipse was about to pull.
——Go back and change into your miko outfit first.
Kagura didn't know what Eclipse was planning, but she was idle anyway. If Eclipse could cook up something entertaining, Kagura didn't mind cooperating. So she slipped back to the hotel, changed into her miko outfit, then slipped right back out to the mountain road.
"Relax…"
With the miko outfit boosting her spiritual sensitivity to a certain extent, Kagura could hear Eclipse's voice. Eclipse, as always, liked speaking right up by her ear, making Kagura feel ticklish.
Kagura's vision seemed to blur for an instant. She got a brief wave of dizziness—and then, not far ahead, she saw a familiar figure: a black-haired, red-eyed Umamusume girl. Eclipse was leaning against a tree, smiling at her.
"Huh—?! E-Eclipse-san?! You can already—"
"Scared you, didn't I~? Haha~ I'd love to tell you I can, but unfortunately, this is more like an illusion. I'm just projecting my appearance onto your retina to create an image. You can think of it as, um… VR? Just a little light trick, that's all. See? I don't have a shadow, right?"
Kagura looked closely at Eclipse's feet. Sure enough, there was no shadow at all—like she was just a model with no collision, a flat texture pasted onto the ground.
"Thanks to you not relying on me as much to train in your dreams lately, I've built up my strength to a new level. I can do more precise operations now. Of course, I can only project this onto your eyes—because only you have enough spiritual sensitivity to see me, to carry my power."
"W-wait, Eclipse-san… you said this was… training?"
What had felt novel a moment ago suddenly clicked with something Eclipse had said earlier. Kagura's whole body shivered reflexively.
"Yeah. I'm personally running with you. If that's not training, what is?"
Eclipse tilted her head in confusion, not understanding why Kagura looked a little scared and instinctively took a step back.
"I… I think my debut race is in a few days, so maybe we could do something a little gentler…"
"Gentle, my ass. Today we're going straight to the finish line. And stop backing up—I'm projected onto your retina. You can't make me disappear by stepping away."
"Eek…!"
Kagura let out a small, miserable little yelp.
After all the times Eclipse had opened up massive gaps on her in those dream runs—hundreds of them—Kagura practically had a shadow over her just thinking about Eclipse. But considering it probably wasn't easy for Eclipse to do this in the first place, Kagura still gritted her teeth and decided to push through.
"Now that's my good girl~ Come on. Follow me—let's warm up first. Don't worry, I'll control your training load. I won't let you feel uncomfortable."
...
This time, Eclipse's training really was exactly as she'd said. She didn't drag Kagura into those endless, repeated blowouts like she did in the dreams. After warming up, Eclipse only had Kagura run a single 1600-meter loop with her. For most of the rest of the time, Eclipse focused on explaining tactical techniques and strategic thinking.
"Remember: your goal isn't to 'solve' some tiny newcomer race. Back in my day, I started my debut with a thirty-length lead. So even if you win, don't get cocky. Don't start thinking, 'Ah! I didn't even get a chance to use what Eclipse-san taught me!'
That just means you haven't met a real powerhouse yet. Against every opponent, you need to stay on guard. Who's to say there isn't a strong one hiding right by your side?"
"I know…"
Kagura had always been cautious with opponents, especially unknown threats. Even if some of the techniques and strategic thinking Eclipse taught her weren't strictly necessary, Kagura still tried to apply that knowledge in races.
And setting her usual races aside—when she was running with Rudolf, Mr. C.B., and now Eclipse, who had just casually opened up another massive gap on her—Kagura used what Eclipse taught her all the time. Using Eclipse's own techniques against her didn't always work particularly well, but it was clearly helping: the distance between Kagura and Eclipse was shrinking. At the start it had been sixteen lengths; now Kagura had chased it down to eleven.
This kid's growing, little by little…
Eclipse thought with quiet satisfaction. Even this time, she still hadn't used any power Kagura couldn't handle at her current stage—she was simply matching Kagura with pure, straightforward stats, just like she always had from the very beginning. Watching the gap steadily close still made her happy. As for the rest… she planned to wait until Kagura reached higher levels before using the corresponding power for training.
"Huh? Eclipse-san, you…"
As Eclipse spoke, her form suddenly began to flicker. Kagura froze.
"Ah. Looks like thirty minutes is my limit right now. Time's up. Let's end today's training here. Next time will probably be after a pretty long while again. Make sure you take the time to think over what I told you when you can, okay~"
---
T/N: eclipse san can u calkl me a good girl
T/N2: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, last week it was 7dtd this week it was tomodachi life........ teehee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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