Bang!
Inside the dojo, with a tremendous impact, Fujiwara Chiya was sent flying as if he had been hit by a car. His feet lifted nearly two metres off the ground, and his whole body flipped twice in the air like a sack before crashing heavily onto the floor.
Beside him, Shirayuki grimaced just from watching.
Then she grimaced from pain too.
Her left shoulder had gone completely numb.
At the centre of the dojo, Yaeno Muteki stood straight and lowered her hands.
"Weak."
"Wait! Isn't this way too strange? Even an uma musume wouldn't charge with that much force! At that point, they wouldn't be racing, they'd be trying to kill someone!"
"We need to consider every possibility. What if an uma musume loses control during a race? What if the early competition really is that fierce?"
"They're world-class uma musume. Can they really lose control?"
As Fujiwara Chiya spoke, he shakily pushed himself up. He pulled up his sleeve and saw a bright red palm mark on his skin.
"Anything is possible. The only thing we can be certain of is that once something happens, the race will not be restarted."
After Byerley, another demon instructor had been born.
Her name was Yaeno Muteki.
"That level of force would be enough to punch through a sandbag, yet Trainer endured it. Your body truly cannot be underestimated."
"Using enough force to punch through a sandbag on a person is bad, right?"
"No matter. I no longer regard Trainer as human."
Yaeno Muteki took her stance.
This recent training had made Yaeno Muteki understand something. The man before her might look like a man, but in reality, he was an uma musume. His physical ability was no weaker than Inari One or Bamboo Memory, the opponents she had once raced against. If anything, it might be stronger.
Originally, Yaeno Muteki had thought that her full-power strike just now would at least leave Trainer lying on the ground for ten minutes. She had not expected him to still have the strength to talk and stand up again after a short while.
Excellent!
It seemed that the revival of the Kongou Yaegaki Style did not have to rely only on Shirayuki.
It could also rely on Trainer.
As an educator, he would actually find it even easier to pass on knowledge and concepts.
So Yaeno Muteki decided to properly educate him as well, making Trainer understand the importance of mastering one's physical strength.
The most direct method was to beat him half to death.
However, Fujiwara Chiya's defensive ability far exceeded Yaeno Muteki's expectations. His body felt soft to the touch, but it was also extremely elastic. When Yaeno Muteki used her palm strike on Fujiwara Chiya, she felt as if her hand had sunk into his skin, and then the man bounced away like a rubber ball.
Yaeno Muteki had not encountered such an interesting opponent in a very long time.
Her competitive spirit was stirred.
Ever since the Kongou Yaegaki Style had declined, there had been very few people who could stand evenly against her. The only person who could still exchange blows with her was her master. In terms of pure technique, she was inferior to him, but her master was already old. The physical ability of an uma musume was simply there. Even if he could defend against her attacks, the strike just now would have been enough to send him to the next world.
Martial arts were not meant for killing.
"Again."
"Wait, let me rest first."
Fujiwara Chiya held his half-numb arm. He was very confused. He had only come here to serve as a training partner, so how had he somehow become Yaeno Muteki's student?
"Trainer, what we call—"
Just as Yaeno Muteki was about to say something, a frisbee suddenly flew in through the window, heading straight for her.
As if sensing something, there was a sharp snap!
Yaeno Muteki flicked her tail, smashing the frisbee to pieces.
Fujiwara Chiya stared blankly.
If that hit a person, wouldn't it tear their skin open on the spot?
Could an uma musume's tail really be trained like a whip?
Then during a race, couldn't she use her tail to half-beat her opponent to death?
The rules did not say one could not hit others with one's tail. If she pretended it was an accident, she could probably get away with it.
But that seemed somewhat lacking in martial virtue.
If she whipped Trêve like that in the Arc, then after the race, Trêve would probably get seriously angry with her.
Better not try strange tricks like that.
"Sorry, Yaeno-senpai! We threw it crooked!"
Voices came from the disciples outside.
"No matter."
Yaeno Muteki answered casually. Then, as if remembering something, she turned toward Shirayuki.
"Right. I forgot something. For an uma musume, the tail is also very important."
"The tail?"
They're not really going to whip people, are they?
No way.
How could she slap other uma musume's backsides during a race?
Wait, wouldn't that actually make them go faster?
"The stronger the tail, the easier it is to maintain balance when the body leans forward."
"Oh? There's something like that?"
Fujiwara Chiya spoke.
"Of course. But this matter is easily overlooked. I also heard it from Acting Master. When an uma musume leans forward, she sways her tail left and right to maintain body balance. The stronger the swaying force, the stronger the balance. That allows the uma musume to lower her body even further. I think Shirayuki's running posture should place special focus on training her tail."
Just as humans were born knowing how to control their hands and feet, uma musume were also born knowing how to use their tails to control balance. Because of that, Fujiwara Chiya had completely overlooked this factor.
"That's right, balance. How did I forget something like that?"
Every time Shirayuki accelerated, once her body bent to a certain degree, she could not lower herself any further. If she could improve her balance, she would be able to adopt an even more exaggerated acceleration posture.
The method for training the tail was simple too.
Use the tail to curl around dumbbells.
However, Shirayuki had never trained in this area before.
"Want to try?"
"Mm."
Yaeno Muteki took out a dumbbell, and Shirayuki wrapped her tail around it.
But the moment she tried to lift it, the rough surface and the intense friction caused by curling and tightening sent a sharp, electric-like sensation through her tail.
Her body went weak, and Shirayuki collapsed.
Her body trembled.
"As expected…"
Yaeno Muteki seemed to have anticipated this.
"Your tail has not been desensitised yet. Gripping a dumbbell directly is too stimulating."
Looking at Shirayuki lying on the floor, her eyes misty, her face flushed, and her body trembling, Yaeno Muteki silently looked away.
That is rather dangerous…
Coughing a few times, Yaeno Muteki calmed her heartbeat.
"Trainer should know, right? An uma musume's tail is very… hm?"
Trainer was lying on the ground too, twitching slightly.
Shirayuki is one thing, but what happened to you?
Supporting himself on weak arms, Fujiwara Chiya climbed up unsteadily.
What was that just now?
Fujiwara Chiya felt as if something had exploded through his head.
He knew that an uma musume's tail was sensitive. He had touched Shirayuki's tail before. Even a few light touches made it ticklish beyond belief, but if it was touched for a while, she would get used to it.
But that sensation just now had been dozens of times stronger than the first time her tail was touched, directly sweeping away his rationality.
So this is what it feels like to use the tail?
This was completely different from using it as a safety rope. Curling inward and tightening created continuous, intense friction.
It was like… something else.
"Trainer, Shirayuki needs to desensitise her tail."
"Desen… sitise?"
"Yes. In this state, she cannot train it."
"How do we desensitise it?"
"Naturally, by making her use her tail intensely day after day. Have Shirayuki curl it around objects, rub against them, and keep training until she becomes used to the sensation."