Kitasan Black was startled, then quickly lit up with delight. "Is that Verxina-senpai and Vivlos-san? Then let's watch the performance together, and we can go to Gold Ship-senpai's celebration party later!"
"No! No need!"
Cheval Grand suddenly looked flustered. She shook her head and waved her hands frantically. "It… it's just… Oh, right! My sisters don't really like lively places, so… so it's better not to disturb them. But, but it's not about these past few days. Although I don't really like interacting with people, anyway… Anyway, these two days were indeed very happy… Please tell the others too. I… I really have to go…"
Without waiting for Kitasan Black to react, the Uma Musume suddenly turned around and rushed away along the corridor behind the spectator stands, as if she were participating in some race.
After rushing for dozens of meters, she suddenly braked sharply, turned around, pinched the brim of her hat, pursed her lips, and then suddenly bowed. "Th-thank… you."
After thanking her, she turned around again and started rushing once more.
Twitching her ears, her tail swishing behind her erratically, Kitasan Black took a while to react. "Uh, that seems to be the exit of the stadium, right? Could it be… Verxina-senpai and the others have already left…?"
She scratched her head in confusion, then smiled. "Well, it doesn't matter. It's enough that Cheval-chan had a lot of fun these past few days. It seems we can go out and play like this often from now on!"
"…What going out and playing together?"
"Of course it's… Ah—! Who, who is it?!"
Subconsciously responding, she turned her head to find someone standing next to her, and Kitasan Black involuntarily screamed and jumped backward.
Seeing that it was Yasui, who had just left the stands with Orfevre, she breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed her chest, and walked over with a slight complaint. "Trainer… You scared me. How did you come over without making a sound…?"
"…I should be the one saying I was startled by you."
Rubbing his ears, which were still ringing a bit from the scream, Yasui chuckled and pointed in the direction Cheval Grand had left. "I just finished talking with Orfevre and was about to head back when I saw you two here, so I came over. So, is she going back?"
"I guess so. She said Verxina-senpai and Vivlos-san are also here, and she's going to find them…" Kitasan Black said uncertainly.
Hearing this, Yasui pondered for a moment.
After spending these two days together, he had quite an impression of Cheval Grand. Whenever Kitasan Black and the others were having fun, the Uma Musume initially looked uninterested, until Kitasan Black pulled her along. She seemed somewhat similar to Duramente, but upon closer thought, there were some differences.
Duramente was not good at communicating with people, but if someone invited her to play, she was very willing, and over these two days he could feel that she had a lot of fun. After knowing Kitasan Black for so long, she would even take the initiative to invite her.
Cheval Grand was another matter. When she was with other Uma Musume, if you asked if she was happy, you could occasionally see her happy smile, but most of the time she gave off a very awkward feeling, and she was always the first to leave. Just like now.
So, this child… could she be socially anxious?
While Yasui was pondering, Kitasan Black looked in the direction Cheval Grand had left, then curiously peered behind Yasui. "Speaking of which… where is Orfevre-senpai? Didn't Trainer come out with her? You must have been talking about the Training Race, right?"
"Yes, we just confirmed the participants and time arrangements."
Snapping back to reality, Yasui pointed behind him and smiled, his gaze slightly serious. "Originally, we planned to run it in two days, but Orfevre felt that too many people came to watch last time, so the time has been changed to next weekend. That works out, I can adjust your training again. After that, she said she was going to the restaurant, the one where we'll celebrate Gold Ship-san later."
His eyes grew more serious. "Although it might sound a bit like a buzzkill to say this, after having fun these two days, remember to refocus tomorrow and train well."
…
The next day, before even getting close to the Tracen Academy track, Yasui realized that his advice from last night was completely unnecessary.
The morning mist at dawn had not yet dissipated, and the black-haired girl's ponytail cut through the thin mist like a battle flag. Dewdrops condensed on the grass tips were shaken off before she passed, then shattered by the swift wind and scattered everywhere.
The moment her figure swept over the farthest end of the track, the morning sun just pierced through the clouds, casting streaks of white light on her sweat-soaked bangs. "Heh—ya!"
When she turned back, she let out an excited cry, and several small birds were startled from the empty track. Waving at the birds flying high into the sky, she walked to the railing and casually picked up a bottle of drink placed on the railing.
Twisting open the cap, she was about to raise her neck to drink it all at once when her gaze swept over to him, and she ran over excitedly. "Morning, Trainer!"
Smiling unconsciously, Yasui went to meet her. "I thought I came early enough… You didn't train here last night, did you?"
"How could that be? After taking the Shinkansen back so late, I just collapsed and slept, okay…?"
The girl retorted somewhat unhappily and took a big gulp of the energy drink. "But I did wake up very early. Perhaps I slept very soundly last night, so as soon as I woke up, I came here for morning exercise. How about it, Trainer? What should we practice today? I'm completely ready!"
Finishing the rest of the drink in one go, she did high knees in place, her face eager, and her gaze unconsciously looked beside Yasui.
Unlike before, Yasui was still carrying his single-shoulder bag that day, but he hadn't brought his drone equipment. Instead, there was a bulging travel bag. "Let's go, let's talk over there."
Carrying the travel bag and pointing to the wall at the very front of the track's spectator stands, Yasui walked ahead without keeping her in suspense. "We're still practicing 'vertical wall running'."
Kitasan Black, who had just been excited, suddenly drooped her little face. "Still this? I thought we could practice Trainer's 'whoosh' up the wall move…"
"Do you think 'walking climb' is very simple? Also, do you think you've already mastered 'vertical wall running'?" Yasui asked back with a chuckle, without explaining.
"Eh? No?"
Kitasan Black said in surprise, "I can clearly run such a long distance on the wall, isn't that enough?"
She held her arms out horizontally, spreading them as wide as possible, indicating that she could indeed run very far.
Yasui did not deny this point. Generally speaking, for someone new to 'vertical wall running', being able to run two or three meters is very good, and there won't be a very significant breakthrough within about a week.
However, Kitasan Black was able to run four or five meters from the beginning, and now she had extended that distance by almost double, far exceeding the limits that humans could achieve. Of course, this was partly due to the Uma Musume's physique, but the girl's own talent could not be ignored either.
However, the purpose of this training was not to challenge records, so like other training, it not only needed a specified training distance but also corresponding requirements for the path.