In this atmosphere, only Mini-san, in the stall to Oguri Cap's left, felt her heart pounding.
"He didn't see, did he?" Her eyes darted around, completely daring not to look in Zhou Tai'an's direction.
Oguri Cap, however, frowned, wondering, "Why does my trainer seem more likable today than yesterday?"
"Tai'an-san, is there a problem?" The colleague in charge of the gate also frowned. "If you stop a mock race for no good reason, I'll have to report your actions to the academy for review."
"There is indeed a problem," Zhou Tai'an said with an apologetic smile, then turned to his gray-coated Horse Girl and pointed at the ground. "Oguri Cap, check your shoelace."
"Huh?" Hearing her trainer call her name, Oguri Cap looked down in the direction he was pointing.
"My shoelace... is untied," she muttered, her eyes wide. "I remember checking it before I entered the gate."
Seeing his Horse Girl retie her shoelace, Zhou Tai'an nodded slightly, then glanced at Mini-san.
He let out a soft "Hmph," said nothing more, and turned to leave.
"He definitely saw!" Mini-san trembled. "He saw me untie that 'dirt rabbit's' shoelace!"
She glared at Zhou Tai'an's back, praying he wouldn't report what she had done to the staff managing the mock race.
Zhou Tai'an had no intention of doing so. He only suspected that Mini-san had untied Oguri Cap's shoelace; he had no actual proof.
"Oguri Cap checked her preparations before entering the gate, but after she got in, her left shoelace suddenly came loose. The most likely suspect is Mini-san, who was on her left."
"I don't know what she has against Oguri Cap. I should remind Brand New Shine later to help Oguri Cap keep an eye out."
Pondering these things, he returned to his seat on the bench.
"Man, Tai'an-san, your eyes are sharp. You can see a loose shoelace from this far away?" Kitahara couldn't help but ask. "Also, is that gray-coated Horse Girl the one you recruited?"
"Yeah, that's her. Her name is Oguri Cap." Zhou Tai'an straightened his collar and replied casually. "As for my eyesight, I guess I inherited it from my mom."
"Inherited, huh." Kitahara shook his head with a laugh. "The mock race is about to start. I've got to see what level this Horse Girl you've taken a liking to is at."
"Just wait and see." Zhou Tai'an smiled, full of confidence. "Oguri Cap is going to blow everyone away."
The mock races at Kasamatsu Tracen Academy were fixed at 800 meters on dirt. All the Horse Girls who didn't have a trainer yet would give their best performance in the mock race, striving to be noticed by a trainer and earn the qualification to participate in the local series.
Among the Horse Girls participating in this race, Oguri Cap was the only one who already had a trainer. However, her mentality wasn't relaxed just because of this.
"This is a race. I have to be serious. I can't let down my mom's care for me." With this thought, Oguri Cap focused her attention.
But on the sidelines, Zhou Tai'an frowned.
"Looks like Oguri Cap's attitude towards racing is pretty good. Much better than those Horse Girls who just giggle their way through the local series," Kitahara said to himself, leaning back against the chair.
With a "clack," the starting gates all flew open. All the participating Horse Girls dashed out, except for Oguri Cap, who stood frozen in place.
"What's going on?!" Kitahara's eyes widened. He quickly turned to look at Zhou Tai'an—the young man's face wore an "I knew it" expression.
"That's a fatal late start, isn't it?" Kitahara lowered his voice, speaking to his colleague. "Tai'an-san, you're going to have to drill Oguri Cap on her gate starts."
"I appreciate the concern, Kitahara-san," Zhou Tai'an waved his hand, "but her late start has nothing to do with her gate-starting skill."
And while the two of them were talking, Oguri Cap finally started moving, beginning her run about a second behind her opponents.
"And besides," Zhou Tai'an's tone became powerful as Oguri Cap picked up speed, "just watch, Kitahara-san. You'll soon understand why I chose Oguri Cap."
"For real?" Kitahara mumbled, shifting his gaze back to the track.
Normally, having started a second late, Oguri Cap should have been about 6 lengths behind the others. But this was, after all, a mock race at Kasamatsu. The skill level of her opponents could only be described as tragic.
"Run at your own pace! You don't need to think about tactics or strategy in this race. Just move your legs as your heart desires!" Zhou Tai'an shouted as Oguri Cap passed the bench.
"Move my legs as my heart desires?" Oguri Cap caught the last phrase. "Does that mean... I can run however I want?"
She pursed her lips, lowered her center of gravity, and then pushed off even harder, making herself go faster.
"If I can run however I want, then I have to make up the ground I lost at the start as quickly as possible!"
With that thought, Oguri Cap rocketed past one opponent after another before even hitting the turn, climbing from dead last to third place.
"Holy cow!" Kitahara shot up from his seat in excitement.
He turned to stare at Zhou Tai'an. "What an amazing burst of speed! And that flexibility! No wonder you recruited her, Tai'an-san!"
Kitahara sat back down, shaking his head. "I can't believe that besides Fujimasa March, we have another hidden gem like Oguri Cap among the new students at Kasamatsu this year."
"I guess I got lucky, noticing her run. That's why I went to recruit her at lunch yesterday." Zhou Tai'an watched Oguri Cap's figure on the track, a smile playing on his lips. He continued, "Although there's still a lot to polish, the raw talent of this uncarved jade is already on full display."
"That's great..." Kitahara-san was quite envious. "I still have to figure out how to convince Fujimasa March."
"If you really want to recruit her," Zhou Tai'an offered his friend a suggestion, "why not create a training plan tailored specifically for her? That would surely show more sincerity than just empty promises."
"That's actually a pretty good idea."
Just as Kitahara was pondering how to write a training plan for Fujimasa March, Oguri Cap, riding her momentum, blew past the two Horse Girls in front of her and took the lead position all by herself.
At this moment, Zhou Tai'an became even more focused.
He widened his eyes, trying his best to clearly see Oguri Cap's performance after taking the lead, and made a judgment in his mind.
"Even after taking the lead, Oguri Cap doesn't look relaxed." Noticing this, Zhou Tai'an nodded in satisfaction.
At the same time, Oguri Cap's figure was the first to cross the finish line.
"Oguri Cap is so strong..." On the sidelines, Brand New Shine, preparing for the next mock race, was dumbfounded. "She missed the break by a second and still pulled away from the second-place finisher by more than four lengths... and this is an 800-meter race!"
Zhou Tai'an scanned his surroundings. Many of his colleagues, who didn't yet know Oguri Cap already had a trainer, were starting to move, wanting to recruit Oguri Cap for their own teams.
He calmly stood up and slowly fell in at the back of the crowd.
…
Although the trainers at Kasamatsu Tracen Academy were generally of average skill, the talent Oguri Cap displayed in that 800-meter mock race was as dazzling as the bright moon in the night sky. So, except for Kitahara, who knew the real situation, all the other trainers swarmed in. Even though they had all seen the interaction between Zhou Tai'an and Oguri Cap earlier, her talent was just too alluring. Everyone wanted to gamble on the chance that they could poach Oguri Cap from Zhou Tai'an.
The trainers offered all sorts of conditions and made extravagant promises.
"Come to our team, and you'll be the star! I'll design a training plan just for you!"
"If you choose me, we can aim for the Kasamatsu Graded Races together! Maybe even the Nagoya Graded Races!"
"Our team has the most Horse Girls in the academy! You'll get plenty of sparring partners here, and you won't have to worry about other Horse Girls bullying you!"
Oguri Cap, surrounded, looked around, a bit at a loss.
At that moment, one trainer clenched his teeth and shouted, "If you join my team, Oguri Cap, we will aim for the Tokai Derby!"
"Tokai Derby?" Oguri Cap tilted her head in confusion.
"The Tokai Derby is the stage where the strongest Horse Girls of the same generation in the Tokai region, including Kasamatsu and Nagoya, compete..." Brand New Shine leaned in and whispered an explanation in Oguri Cap's ear.
The trainer who had proposed the "Tokai Derby" as a goal scanned his rivals. "Who here is confident they can lead her to win the Tokai Derby?"
The surrounding trainers fell silent. The Tokai Derby—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Horse Girls in the Tokai region. With Fujimasa March in the picture, who could guarantee that Oguri Cap could win it?
Just as this trainer was about to continue persuading Oguri Cap, a helpless voice came from behind him.
"Uh—sorry, but the Tokai Derby isn't our goal."
Zhou Tai'an pushed through the crowd, placed his right hand on Oguri Cap's shoulder, and turned to the colleague who had just promised Oguri Cap the "Tokai Derby," smiling.
"First of all, Oguri Cap and Brand New Shine are both my Horse Girls. I already completed their team registration paperwork this morning before the mock races even started."
This first sentence alone made the faces of the surrounding colleagues darken.
"Secondly, is the Tokai Derby even considered a goal?" Zhou Tai'an grinned. "While it is indeed the highest-level race in our Tokai region, Oguri Cap and I will not be aiming for it."
He thumped his chest with his left hand and pointed at Oguri Cap's legs with his right. "Our goal is—using my ability, and Oguri Cap's legs, to take down Central!"
After this declaration, the atmosphere, instead of getting more serious, lightened.
"Zhou-kun, you really like to joke." Even the trainer who had proposed the "Tokai Derby" goal laughed. "What do you mean by 'take down Central'? Winning an exchange race between Central and the local regions?"
"That's impossible," another trainer waved his hand. "The Central-Local exchange races have been held for years, but it's always the Central Horse Girls who win. Their talent is just so much stronger than the local Horse Girls'. Besides, this is Kasamatsu. Our strength is at the bottom even among the local regions."
"Heh," Zhou Tai'an shrugged. "The 'take down Central' I'm talking about isn't just winning a Central-Local exchange race."
"I will take Oguri Cap, and we will win a Central Graded Race!"
The young man clenched his fist, his eyes scanning the trainers standing around him as he made his announcement.
"If you don't have that kind of resolve, then don't bother trying to recruit Oguri Cap." Zhou Tai'an's tone was clearly provocative.
But not a single trainer present dared to challenge his words.
After all, "taking down Central" was something that the trainers of Kasamatsu didn't even dare to dream about.