"Stacelita is surging up from the inside!"
"And Star of the Sea still has six or seven lengths to catch up if he wants to become the champion!"
Although the young man was currently on horseback, the commentators' voices, carried by the wind, were remarkably clear.
"I have to make my move here!" he realized, choosing to brandish the whip held tightly in his hand. "Go! Let's accelerate now!"
"Stacelita has taken the lead! It looks like she's going to win!"
Just as the on-site commentator made his professional judgment, the young man's whip had already fallen.
With just one strike, the fine steed beneath him understood and began to sprint. The gap Stacelita had created was erased in an instant, as if it were a joke.
"Star of the Sea is coming up! He's caught Stacelita! He passes her! He's still accelerating! The lead is widening in an instant!"
"Star of the Sea! Flying, peerless! Flawless! Impeccable! A horse of a lifetime!"
And just after riding Star of the Sea past the finish line, the young man in the saddle suddenly lost his balance and fell straight off the horse—
…
"!"
In a dormitory room that could only be described as plain, Zhou Tai'an, who had been lying quietly on the simple bed, suddenly shot up. That fall in his dream had scared him awake.
"Ouch!" Because he sat up too quickly, his head made intimate contact with the bed's headrail.
"I finally won the Arc de Triomphe in my dream this time." Rubbing his head with his left hand while wincing in pain, Zhou Tai'an placed his right hand on his chest, pressing down hard. His gaze fell to the floor as he muttered to himself, "But what is this series of dreams? From the debut race to this Arc, what's the connection between that creature called a 'horse' I partnered with and the 'Horse Girls' in reality?"
These questions circled in his mind, refusing to dissipate.
"Ever since I resigned from the West Coast Tracen Academy, I've had this dream every single night for the past six months. Did the Chief Secretary of the student council put a curse on me because I quit and ran off?"
Just as Zhou Tai'an was secretly "slandering" the secretariat, a strange voice suddenly echoed in his mind—
[Congratulations on perfectly clearing the beginner instance, "Star of the Sea." Reward "Basic Stat Viewer" has been issued. Beginner instance limited buff "Jockey Ryan Moore's Riding Technique" has been saved as an inherent skill.]
"What the?!" Zhou Tai'an jumped in fright.
He looked around, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
"Am I hallucinating?" Zhou Tai'an frowned.
The handsome young man pondered in silence for a good while before shaking his head. "Forget it. I'll just treat it as a hallucination for now. Time to go to work. Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester, and there's a lot to prepare today."
As you can see, he is a respectable working man.
"But 'going to work' just means sitting idly in the office with nothing to do," the young man grumbled. "The Horse Girls here have absolutely no drive to improve. It really matches the atmosphere of this academy."
Horse Girls—a group of special young women. They possess long ears, flowing tails, and running power far exceeding that of ordinary humans. Their destinies, sometimes harsh, sometimes brilliant, are full of mystery. They are blessed by the Three Goddesses.
In this world, their fate is still shrouded in mist. No one can predict the future of a Horse Girl.
And Zhou Tai'an's job was to provide help and companionship to those Horse Girls who had embarked on the path guided by destiny.
This job had a formal name—"Trainer."
He was a "rookie" Trainer, employed for less than six months at the Kasamatsu Tracen Academy, located in the rural backwater of Hashima District, Gifu Prefecture. In Kasamatsu, he was as new as they come.
But despite this, the young man had a mountain of complaints about this place.
"I've really had enough..." he muttered under his breath.
The training facilities were crude; they didn't even have the hill track that every local academy back in the US would build. The Horse Girls at the academy were more concerned with fashion trends than training. During races, they would actually worry about their small accessories falling off or getting mud on their clothes. The average skill level of his colleagues was so low it made him wonder how they ever graduated from trainer school. Sometimes, watching them use outdated concepts to guide their Horse Girls, he had to look away, terrified he would speak his mind and repeat the mistakes that got him in trouble at the West Coast Tracen Academy.
Zhou Tai'an slapped his cheeks hard, using the slight pain to divert his attention. He then changed into his casual clothes, grabbed his toiletries, and hurried to the public washroom.
"How do I get out of here...?" On the way to the washroom, he racked his brain for an answer.
Kasamatsu was, without a doubt, the countryside of the countryside in Japan. If he wanted to leave and get a job at the Central Tracen Academy in Tokyo, the only way was to receive an offer letter from them.
Central Tracen Academy was the largest Tracen Academy in Japan, often shortened to "Central."
They also co-operated the Twinkle Series with the URA Association. It could be said that 99% of Horse Girls dreamed of winning a G1 (Grade 1) race in the highest-tier series.
But for Zhou Tai'an, getting an offer letter right now was impossible—and the most frustrating part was that the reason had nothing to do with his abilities.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou... I have high regard for your abilities, but I am currently unable to change the minds of the higher-ups at the URA. Please understand."
Closing his eyes, Zhou Tai'an could immediately recall the apologetic look on the face of the "Emperor" in the Central Tracen Academy's student council room as she spoke those words.
"Because I'm from America, they're worried I'll be like that bunch of bastards from the West Coast, secretly giving the Horse Girls forbidden drugs..." The prejudice pinned on him gave him a headache. "I was forced to come to Japan precisely because I got into a huge fight refusing to stoop to their level, and now I'm being dragged down by the bad reputation they created. And I have no way to immediately prove I'm not that kind of scoundrel."
"Still, it's not like there are no options." He had been in Japan for half a year, not just wasting away in Kasamatsu. He had found a path to secure that offer letter. "As long as I'm at the Kasamatsu Tracen Academy, I can use completely regulation-compliant methods to train a Horse Girl who can win a G1—no, even just a Graded Race—in the Central Twinkle Series. If I can prove my ability that way, I can try asking the 'Emperor' to issue me an offer from Central Tracen Academy!"
He had only toured the Central Tracen Academy once, but on that single tour, the number of Horse Girls he saw with talent so strong it was visible to the naked eye was many times greater than here in Kasamatsu.
"Wait, I don't think zero can be used as a denominator," he mocked internally. It wasn't that Zhou Tai'an's standards were too high; it was just that the skill level of the Horse Girls at Kasamatsu Tracen Academy had truly "opened his eyes."
"So..." After a simple wash-up, the young man once again posed the question that had been troubling him for days. "Is there even a single Horse Girl in Kasamatsu Tracen Academy who can meet my minimum requirements?"
He already knew the answer, which only made him feel more hopeless.
"'Local' and 'Central' are as far apart as heaven and earth. This is the iron-clad rule in the eyes of all staff at Kasamatsu—no, at all local Tracen Academies."
"The only one to break this rule in all these years was Haiseiko, from Ooi Tracen Academy, who debuted locally and went on to claim multiple G1 victories at Central."
"But that's Ooi..." Zhou Tai'an shrugged. "It's still a local academy in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Their pool of new talent is bound to be worlds better than Kasamatsu's. If only Kasamatsu hadn't been the only place to accept my job application..."
"I really want to go to Central..."
With a dejected look, he set off for work.
"Yo! Morning, Tai'an-san." As the young man jogged up to the Kasamatsu Tracen Academy gate, a man wearing a beret greeted him.
"Morning, Kitahara-san." He nodded at the man, then glanced around curiously. "Waiting for someone? A date with a female colleague or a Horse Girl?"
"Let's not even talk about the first one, and the second one? As if," Kitahara said with a self-deprecating smile, then grinned. "I was waiting for you, Tai'an-san. Remember to come by my place this afternoon. We'll get Shibasaki to join us and watch the broadcast of the Nikkei Sho, a G2 Twinkle Series race at Nakayama Racecourse! That two-time crown winner, Miho Shinzan, is running!"
"A two-time crown winner, huh..." Zhou Tai'an blinked, then agreed. "Alright. I've got nothing better to do this afternoon anyway. I'll watch the race with you."
"You're the best, Tai'an-san. That guy Shibasaki kept saying he had to prepare for the Central exams and argued with me for ages before finally agreeing to my invitation," Kitahara first pouted, complaining about their other colleague, before giving Zhou Tai'an a thumbs-up in "praise."
"It's a Sunday, and we still have to come to work," Zhou Tai'an changed the subject. He didn't want to join Kitahara in bad-mouthing a colleague. Unlike Kitahara, who had been here for years, Zhou Tai'an was a newcomer. He didn't want to make a bad impression on others just by indulging in a little gossip.
"Well, it's boring sitting in the dorm anyway," Kitahara said with open palms. "If we come to work, we get a bit of overtime pay. Isn't that nice? Besides, tomorrow is the first day of the new semester. Get your materials sorted, and maybe you'll find your first Horse Girl to train, Tai'an-san?"
He continued his own train of thought, squinting as he sized up Zhou Tai'an. "Hmm... Tai'an-san, you're a trainer from America. Your education and skills are way better than ours. How come you haven't found a suitable Horse Girl in the academy in the last six months?"
"How should I put this..." Zhou Tai'an pursed his lips and replied in a low voice, "After seeing the Horse Girls at Central, the ones studying at Kasamatsu just feel... lacking."
"But that's the reality of Kasamatsu." Kitahara pointed out the harsh truth. "What trainer doesn't want to train a Horse Girl brimming with talent? But this is just how everyone here is. As trainers, we can't change a Horse Girl's talent. We can only work with what we have and try to help even the less-talented ones put on a great show for their fans."
But in the next second, his expression changed. He put on a mysterious look and raised an eyebrow. "However, there's an exception this year."
"Hm?" That simple sentence immediately piqued Zhou Tai'an's curiosity.
His eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "What 'exception' are you talking about, Kitahara-san?"
"New semester, new faces, right? A new batch of Horse Girls is enrolling tomorrow. I heard that our Kasamatsu Tracen Academy has a special transfer this time—a gray-coated Horse Girl named 'Fujimasa March.' Her skills are outstanding." Kitahara replied, his face beaming. "They say she even has a great shot at winning the Tokai Derby!"
The Tokai Derby. This was the most prestigious race in the Nagoya region, where Kasamatsu was located. For many trainers active in Nagoya, their life's dream was to train a Tokai Derby winner.
Zhou Tai'an's mind wandered for a moment, then he spoke: "Sounds like you're planning to invite her to join your team, Kitahara-san? I remember the last Horse Girl you were in charge of is retiring from the Twinkle Series and graduating this year."
Kitahara paused when he heard Zhou Tai'an's question, realizing the implication.
He shrugged. "Well... I do have that thought, but if you compete with me, Tai'an-san, I probably don't stand a chance."
"But you're not superstitious about gray-coated Horse Girls, Tai'an-san?" Kitahara was surprised. "In Japan, we have a saying: 'Gray-coats can't run fast.' I just figured it wouldn't matter for the local Twinkle Series, so I got interested."
"Oh? There's a saying like that?" Zhou Tai'an's eyes widened. "Back in America, I saw some incredibly strong gray-coated Horse Girls."
"Is there really a connection between a Horse Girl's coat color and her racing talent?"
Zhou Tai'an felt that this kind of baffling rumor was probably one of the reasons for the Japanese Horse Girl world's weakness... Perhaps he could use this to his advantage?
"If I train a gray-coated Horse Girl who can win a Graded Race at Central, then everyone will definitely think my training techniques played a huge role," he mused.
Meanwhile, Kitahara nodded with a look of understanding. "I see... As expected of America. To think they have strong gray-coated Horse Girls."
From Kitahara's reaction, Zhou Tai'an could tell he hadn't taken his words to heart at all, which gave him a bit more confidence.
"As for Fujimasa March, I'll probably go observe her," Zhou Tai'an added after a thought, speaking honestly. After all, it was rare for a newcomer to be so highly praised by his colleagues. "If you manage to recruit her to your team in the meantime, Kitahara-san, I'll just find another target."
"Alright, it's a deal!" With the agreement made, Kitahara eagerly took off. "I'm going to gather more info on her. Remember to join us for the Nikkei Sho this afternoon!"
"OK, I won't forget." Zhou Tai'an watched Kitahara's retreating back and shook his head with a smile. "Kitahara-san is really in a hurry."
After watching Kitahara disappear from view, he started walking, preparing to head to his assigned office to organize his materials for tomorrow. Suddenly, he felt something.
Zhou Tai'an stopped and turned his head, looking into the distance—
"Is that...?" He squinted, trying to make out the figure in the far distance. With eyesight he was very confident in, Zhou Tai'an could tell that the Horse Girl sprinting towards the academy gate had a gray coat.
"I'm getting a good feeling... Could she be the special transfer student Kitahara-san mentioned?" he muttered to himself.