"So… mind explaining why that thing is here?"
"How rude!! I'm not a thing!! I'm Tokai Teio!"
Late in the evening, the new pair of trainer and trainee met once again after class to discuss their future together. The young man had expected her victim–trainee would come alone, but that's not the case, as a petite amber brown-haired Uma had followed her. He recalls that this little Uma was there when he and McQueen signed their contract.
"Doesn't answer my question. Adults are having a discussion, kiddie. Be a good girl and go play somewhere else. I'll give you some candies."
"I'm not a kid!! I'm a grown-up too!! I'll take the candies, though."
The young man grabs the cheerful Uma's shoulders and attempts to steer her off, but he is reminded of the difference in strength between humans and Uma. The small girl who is barely more than half his height doesn't even flinch.
"Sigh… Fine… Why are you here, Tokai?"
"Just call me Teio. I'm here as a friend of McQueen!"
"You asked for her, McQueen?"
"No… She just wants to come with me."
"Alright, cutie. How about you go train and prepare yourself for the mock races? You don't have a trainer yet, no? You should prepare yourself to catch those trainers then. McQueen and I have already sorted ourselves out."
"Pfft!! There's no need to worry about that! I'll ace those mock races no problem!"
Confidence. I'll give her that.
"You're jinxing it."
"No, I'm not. It's the truth!"
"Whatever… McQueen, come here and let my hands roam your body."
"Can you not word it any better?!?"
The young lady retorted in embarrassment. She reluctantly walks beside her trainer and stands still like a statue. One can clearly see that she is extremely anxious.
"Calm down, will ya? You'll taint my reading of your body if you tense your body."
The young man placed his hands all around McQueen's body, squeezing her and testing Uma's body.
"Mh!! Uunh!! Guh!!"
"Can you not, woman? You're going to distract me."
Hearing a young Mejiro lady's moan is one of the most stimulating noises the young man has ever heard. It's like the young lady is inviting the young man to just dig in and enjoy the dessert.
"Be gentle!"
"I am!! You're just being a weirdo!"
The young man takes a deep breath and counts to three. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had already activated his [Truth Seeing Eyes]. He learns that McQueen is more comfortable in Medium and Long races, with her biggest stat, as of now, being her stamina.
Her stats correlate with her aptitude at being a chaser, which is an A, but her front aptitude isn't bad either. But her power and speed aren't all that good, which are essential for a chaser. It's going to be a nightmare if she ever meets a great runner.
"All right. How about you run three laps first? Pretends it's a real race. You, amber brown chibi."
"Don't give me weird nicknames! At least make it cute!!"
"I'll think about it if you help us. Since you look like you're unemployed,"
"What does that supposed to mean?!?!"
"Run alongside McQueen. Make yourself useful and create a racing atmosphere."
"Mmmmhh!! You're a meanie!! Fine!!"
The ponytail-haired girl pouted her cheeks at the trainer, who just casually shushed her away. Even though the young man was being rude to her, Tokai didn't feel hurt at all. In fact, she quite enjoys the banter between herself and McQueen's trainer. It's as if they have known each other for a long time and could comfortably tease each other with the other misunderstanding it.
"Alright, McQueen!! Prepare yourself! I'm going to win this mock race!!"
"It's not that serious, Teio… Trainer, please give us a starting signal."
"Hold on, have you girls warmed up yet?"
And to that question, both Umas look at each other sheepishly and shake their head. The young man slapped his own face in disappointment.
"Warm up, ten minutes… Goddesses, this might be a mistake on my end…"
As the girls do their pre-race warm-up, the young man can't help but feel intimidated. He has trained Umas before, but those were simply local level. Their stats couldn't compare to the ones here. Most of the local Umas start with an F stat, and the strongest are mostly capped at B or B+. But this afternoon, when he used his [Truth Seeing Eyes] on the president, her stats S and As.
As expected of the Emperor.
Environment, equipment, trainers, food, materials, knowledge, etc. in Tracen are simply so much better in terms of quality and quantity. If he were still an assistant trainer in the local league, looking at Tracen Academy, it's like looking at the Library of Alexandria while being a mere peasant. No wonder Tracen Academy is in its own league regardless of what the other Uma Academies are doing.
Not only that, Tracen also funded high-paying races on the local branches. People thought it was for publicity stunt, but that's not all. The winner of said races would usually be recruited to Tracen Academy, which would make the Academy they were attending before lose a talented individual. That's how Tracen keeps its monopoly on the Japanese Uma Racing Scene.
That Lolita chairwoman might look innocent, but she is a devil. Being a champion might not be as easy as I first thought, old man. But that doesn't mean I'll give up, though. Anything for my revenge.
"Trainer, what are you doing?"
"Hmm?"
When he heard someone calling for him, the young man returned to reality and looked at Teio. The small-statured Uma was intensely looking at his feet for some reason. Her confused face caused the young man to also look down.
"Oh, this? Never saw football before? That's weird…"
"No! No! Of course, I know football, but why are you playing it here?"
"I also would like to ask that question. You've been spacing out, but your feet never stop playing with the football."
"It gets boring being an assistant trainer, so I just fill my empty time with this. What? Can't a man have a hobby?"
In his previous life, the young man had been a somewhat active football player. He is not entering a major league or anything, but every weekend, he always comes together with coworkers to let out some steam on the green field. Said hobby transferred with him after he was reincarnated. He basically has an entire life experience of playing football at his current age, from living 2 lives.
And before you ask, yes, he did try to become a professional football player in this life, but the last time he played, the pitch was invaded by death worms.
"You're done, no? Line up. You run when I kick this ball."
"Ehh? Fine…"
The two Umas line up next to each other and take a stance. The young man juggles the ball with his feet until he feels that the girls are ready. He kicked the ball up into the air and took his own kicking stance. As the ball falls around his face, the young man starts swinging his entire body to deliver the maximum force to his right foot.
*BAAAAAM*
It's as if a gun had just been shot right next to them. The 2 Umas couldn't believe just how loud the kick was and how fast the ball had traveled in mere milliseconds. It was a simple, direct shot, a basic shot most people can do, but the young man had put his years of experience into said simple shot, that it's became an entirely different beast.
"Why… Why didn't you become a professional football player instead?"
"What?!? Why are you asking?!? That's the signal!! RUN!!"
Unlike the 2 Umas who were startled by the powerful kick, the young man was simply flabbergasted when, instead of running like he asked them to, the 2 Umas were just staring at him like statues frozen in time.
"Oh, for the love of Goddesses…"