Chapter 8
A few days later, in the afternoon at the Central Tracen Academy sports field.
Standing outside the outermost grass track railing, Yasui Makoto carried a single-shoulder bag and kept scribbling notes on his tablet. Beside him stood a motivated and energetic Kitasan Black.
"OK, I'm ready on my end."
After confirming the track data, Yasui Makoto turned to look at Kitasan Black, who was warming up.
"Kitasan, you…"
Before he could finish, Kitasan Black nimbly flipped over the railing and stood at attention in front of him, saluting energetically.
"I'm ready! We can start anytime!"
"Alright, good spirit. Then let's start with a grass 1800-meter run."
He took out the stopwatch from his pocket and motioned for Kitasan Black to stand at the starting point.
"Don't overthink it. Run exactly how you usually do. Ready?"
"No problem at all! I'm ready, Trainer!"
"Good…"
After a quick glance at her starting posture, Yasui Makoto raised the stopwatch.
"Three, two… one!"
The moment he said "one," he swiftly lowered his arm.
At the same time, the ground seemed to tremble slightly as a black figure shot forward, leaving a dark afterimage in his vision.
That power… really is ridiculous.
Watching the black shadow, Yasui Makoto couldn't help recalling what happened a few days ago — the same faint tremor of the ground, followed by a black-haired figure rapidly enlarging in his sight.
He quickly calmed himself and focused intently on Kitasan Black's form as she ran. He precisely pressed the stopwatch every time she passed one of the distance markers along the railing.
About two minutes later.
Kitasan Black ran back to him with an expectant look on her face. She didn't look like she had just run 1800 meters at all. She wiped her (non-existent) sweat and blinked eagerly.
"How was that, Trainer? How did I run?"
"Rest for 5 minutes, then run three more times."
Without giving any evaluation, Yasui Makoto held the stopwatch and tablet in one hand while continuing to write on the screen with the other. He said calmly:
"When you're running, you're usually not aware of how many meters you've covered or how much time has passed, right?"
"How did you know, Trainer?"
Kitasan Black was stunned for a moment, then scratched her head.
"Yeah… I've always just focused on running as hard as I can toward whatever's in front of me.
"The teachers mentioned paying attention to the markers, but every time I tried, I would slow down because I got distracted. So I stopped paying attention to distance after that.
"Trainer… is this a serious problem?"
Still not rushing to evaluate her, Yasui Makoto shook his head.
"The data error from a single run is too large, and I need to assess your physical limits first. Finish the three more laps and we'll talk after."
"No problem!"
Kitasan Black nodded without hesitation and energetically flexed her arm.
"I actually feel like I don't need any rest. I can run right now. Is that okay, Trainer?"
After checking her complexion and breathing, Yasui Makoto shook his head.
"I said rest for 5 minutes, so rest for 5 minutes…"
He paused when he saw his horse girl stiffen slightly. Realizing his tone might have been a bit harsh, he softened it:
"You have to give me some time to organize the data, right? Wait five minutes. We'll do the same after every lap."
Kitasan Black immediately perked up again.
"Okay! Then I won't disturb you, Trainer!"
Half an hour later.
"Haa… How was that, Trainer? My performance just now was decent, right?"
Kitasan Black finally showed some signs of fatigue, with a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, but she still looked full of energy. After completing four 1800-meter laps, she stood by the railing and looked at Yasui Makoto excitedly.
This stamina… is a bit too strong, isn't it?
Even though he had already seen her physical data beforehand, witnessing it in person still surprised Yasui Makoto.
Horse girls were fast, but high-speed running consumed a lot of stamina.
If this had been an actual race, most horse girls would need over an hour of rest after just one lap, and would have to carefully recover for the next two or three days to avoid hidden injuries.
Even for training, running four continuous 1800-meter laps was quite intense. Most other horse girls would already be panting heavily.
Yet Kitasan Black only looked slightly tired. Her stamina was clearly abnormal.
At the same time, Yasui Makoto vaguely recalled that in the other world, Kitasan Black also had ridiculously strong stamina. She had undergone extremely intense special training before her debut, which laid the foundation for her later astonishing achievements.
However, he had no intention of using that kind of brutal training method.
In his previous world, Japanese horse racing started relatively late, and many training methods were outdated and borderline exploitative.
The training Kitasan Black endured in the other world was even more extreme and had been criticized in the Japanese racing industry for a long time.
Moreover, aside from a few exceptions like her, almost no horse could endure it.
That approach was far too cruel. Besides, the one receiving training now was a lively and adorable girl. Yasui Makoto didn't see himself as ruthless as some of his "colleagues" from his previous life.
What's more, he had better and safer training methods.
"Your performance was very good."
After praising her, he watched Kitasan Black's face light up with joy and couldn't help smiling as well.
Then he handed both the stopwatch and tablet to her and walked into the track from the nearby entrance.
"Trainer, what are you…?" Kitasan Black asked in surprise.
"I'm going to run a simple 100 meters… Don't pay attention to my speed. I definitely can't run as fast as you."
Standing near the railing, he pulled off his tie and blindfolded himself. Yasui Makoto "looked" toward Kitasan Black.
"What I want you to pay attention to is how I judge distance and time."
"Distance and time… Okay! I'll watch carefully!"
"Good."
After nodding, he gave no further warning. With his vision completely dark, Yasui Makoto kicked off the ground forcefully and sprinted forward.
About 10 seconds later.
Slightly out of breath, he removed the tie and turned to Kitasan Black.
"Did you notice?"
"Notice…? Ah, I understand!"
After a moment of surprise, Kitasan Black's ears twitched as she pointed at the distance marker by the railing.
"Trainer… you ran exactly 100 meters! Not a bit more, not a bit less!
"And you weren't looking at the markers at all…
"No — you weren't looking at anything!"
Hmm, her comprehension isn't bad either.
Yasui Makoto secretly praised his horse girl. He tied his tie back on, walked back outside the track to stand beside her, and explained:
"Whether you look at the markers or not, you should still have a rough sense of how far you've run and how much time has passed.
"This is very important in races — especially in tight, high-pressure ones.
"Combined with understanding your own stamina and your opponents' condition, you'll know exactly when to accelerate and when to conserve energy.
"Of course this ability is important, but the reason I said your issue isn't that serious is because you have an even more obvious and direct problem."
"An even more obvious and direct problem…"
Kitasan Black's ears drooped slightly as she fidgeted with her fingers.
"Is it… about my strength…?"