T/N: Huge shout out and thank you for Jose for giving me your support, I really appreciate it, thank you.
Chapter 62
Kitasan Black clearly understood all the preparations for the Spring Stakes.
Even so, she still asked Yasui Makoto to stay a little longer. She wanted to organize everything herself, then go out to the track to test it. That way, if she had any new questions, she could ask him right away.
Yasui Makoto naturally had no objection to that request.
Before Kitasan Black, he had never trained any other horse girl.
But from his own experiences back when he was a student, he could tell that this black-haired girl of his had the makings of a serious study-type.
Being a quick learner was just one part of it. What stood out more was her honest and steady study habits.
During one lunch, Kitasan Black had once mentioned her personal motto.
"I'll keep training until I'm completely exhausted."
It wasn't just talk. Whether it was training, studying, or following pre-race instructions, she would do something once if it didn't work, twice if it still didn't work, and ten times if necessary. If ten times still wasn't enough, she would do it dozens or even hundreds of times.
Yasui Makoto had seen this side of her more than once since they met.
In his eyes, this was indeed the behavior of a study-type horse girl.
But not the genius type who could say "I already know how to do this question."
Instead, she was the honest, down-to-earth type who would say "I've practiced this question."
The next day, when they arrived at Nakayama Racecourse, Kitasan Black showed no sign of slacking off.
The race was the 11th and final event of the day, scheduled for 15:25 in the afternoon.
In the morning, it was the usual light parade and track familiarization. After that came final adjustments in the preparation room.
During this time, besides carefully checking her own adaptability, Kitasan Black kept the notes she had organized the day before close at hand. She flipped through them from time to time, asking Yasui Makoto to confirm certain details.
After patiently and reassuringly answering every question, he checked Kitasan Black's physical condition one last time. Once he confirmed there were no issues, Yasui Makoto left the preparation room a little earlier than usual.
Everything that needed to be arranged had already been arranged. Staying any longer would only mean repeating himself.
That would not only make him seem anxious, it might affect his horse girl and even unconsciously affect himself.
Besides, thanks to his experience from the last race, it was better to head to the stands early to secure a good spot. Especially since he didn't have Daiwa Scarlet or Vodka helping him this time.
After Yasui Makoto left, Kitasan Black picked up the small notebook she carried with her again. Combining it with the track diagram and various notes Yasui Makoto had left on the whiteboard, she reviewed everything once more.
Then, still wearing her indoor training shoes, she walked over to the stretching rack in the preparation room.
"Heave-ho, heave-ho. Heave-ho ya heave-ho."
Her long, powerful right leg, covered by a white knee-high sock, rested on the stretching rack.
With her usual rhythmic breathing, she stretched her right leg thoroughly before switching to the left.
After stretching, she placed her right hand on her hip and reached her left arm over her head, then switched arms.
Still moving rhythmically, she did several sets of side bends.
Next came torso twists with both arms crossed in front of her chest.
After that, squats, back bends, jumping in place, and loosening her neck and wrists.
Finally, she lightly patted her cheeks, clenched her fists, and took a deep breath.
"Perfect! This is the right feeling! And then…"
She walked to the shoe rack, took out the racing shoes she would use along with a small hammer, flipped them over, gently stroked the crescent-shaped metal horseshoes that gleamed with a metallic shine, and tapped them a few times with the hammer.
Ding ding ding. The horseshoes rang out with a crisp sound.
"Mhm! The shoes are in perfect condition too!"
Satisfied, she nodded, put on the racing shoes, carefully tied the laces, and stood in front of the mirror to check her short-sleeved top, shorts, long socks, and long-sleeved jacket one by one.
"Mhm! This time there definitely won't be any problems!"
Just then, the speaker in the room broadcast an announcement.
"Will the participants for the 11th race, the G2 Spring Stakes, please proceed to the area behind the parade ring and prepare. I repeat, will the participants for the 11th race, the G2 Spring Stakes, please proceed to the area behind the parade ring and prepare."
"So soon? I thought we still had a bit more time…"
Hearing the announcement, Kitasan Black murmured in surprise, then smiled and took another deep breath.
"Alright! Let's do this, Kita-chan! Your first graded race since debuting!"
After cheering herself on loudly, she excitedly dashed toward the door.
A moment later, she turned back in a slight panic.
"That was close. That was close. I almost forgot…"
Muttering to herself, she ran to the storage shelf in the room and took down two red rectangular cloths.
In the center of each cloth was a white "1". Both cloths were identical.
These were the race-specific number cloths, displaying the race number and also the gate number.
In the Glorious Series, different race grades had different clothing requirements.
For non-graded races (G3 and below), participants wore white short-sleeves with red trim, red shorts, racing shoes with horseshoes, regulation long socks, and white number cloths with black numbers.
For G2 and G3 races, the uniform was the same, but the number cloths changed to red with white numbers.
G1 races were completely different and required special winning silks.
These were strict rules. Failure to follow them strictly could result in a warning or even a penalty from the racecourse.
"Seriously… I put my shoes on the wrong feet for my debut, the zipper on my top broke last time, and now I almost messed up again…"
Muttering complaints at her reflection in the mirror, Kitasan Black quickly fastened the number cloths and dashed toward the door once more.
…
At the same time, at the exit of the underground passage.
Both horse girls and trainers had dedicated underground passages. One direction led to the parade ring, the other to the stands and racecourse.
As Yasui Makoto walked along the passage toward the stands exit and caught sight of the grass outside, he suddenly sensed something was off.
Without making it obvious, he glanced sideways at the greenery beside the exit, lightened his footsteps, and casually walked over as if nothing was wrong.
A moment later.
"Excuse me, are you staff here? Why are you hiding in there?"
Staring at a clump of bushes, he asked in a low voice. When there was no response, his brow furrowed slightly.
"I've already spotted you. Please come out, or I'll have to notify the staff here or call the police directly."
The bushes remained still.
His frown deepened. Yasui Makoto took out his phone, dialed three numbers, and turned on speakerphone.
"Emergency center, is this a fire or a medical emergency?"
"This is the underground passage exit at Nakayama Racecourse. There is a suspicious—"
A horse girl with short brown hair, pinkish-white bangs, and cherry-pink eyes suddenly burst out of the bushes.
"Wait wait wait wait! Don't call the police! I'm not a suspicious horse girl!"
As she cried out and lunged forward, the horse girl dove straight at Yasui Makoto's phone like a hungry tiger.
Yasui Makoto instinctively took a step back and dodged. The horse girl slammed face-first into the ground in a perfect "木" shape. He thought for a moment, then hung up the call.
After the horse girl on the ground let out a pitiful "uwu" and climbed back to her feet with an embarrassed and panicked expression, Yasui Makoto finally got a clear look at her face and froze.
"Special Week?"