"So last year's results really weren't even in the same league as the others in her generation."
King Halo heard that remark, and as she stepped into the starting gate, she took several deep breaths in a row.
There were only eight horse girls in this mock race. For King Halo, the most important thing was to execute the strategy Teraizumi Shinji had laid out for her.
In last year's races, she had already leaned toward a forward-running style, staying near the front. Part of that came from her personality, of course, but only after joining Shinji's team had someone finally pointed out the real reason.
"Your judgment in the final stretch is terrible. You're terrible at choosing the right moment to accelerate. You know that yourself, even if you've been subconsciously avoiding the issue. That's why you never dare let yourself fall too far back."
Shinji's words still echoed in her mind. Even in this chilly season, King Halo could feel her palms growing damp.
This time, I have to hold my rhythm.
She told herself that just as the gate in front of her flew open and she burst forward at once.
There was nothing wrong with her start. King Halo quietly let out a breath of relief. If something had gone wrong at the gate too, she really didn't know whether Shinji would have criticized her for it.
She had seen Offside Trap hesitate at the start in GI races before, and she also knew that in ordinary training, they rarely did sessions focused solely on breaking from the gate. But by now, King Halo had more or less grasped Shinji's training style.
He was the kind of man who wanted everything that could be done to be done as perfectly as possible.
Thinking that, King Halo turned her eyes inward, then moved with the flow of the pack as they headed toward the first corner.
At trackside, Shinji and Tazuna watched her intently. King Halo had settled herself into fourth or fifth, and Shinji was fairly satisfied with that. It was obvious that the training over this past stretch, along with Offside Trap's help, had gradually given King Halo a better feel for positioning. She now chose a spot that suited her based on the overall shape of the field.
Just like now. This was the zone where, in her pace-control drills, she felt most comfortable.
A horse girl running from behind didn't need the same precise handling of early positioning as a front-runner. She could ignore some of the pressure coming from opponents' positions and from the larger rhythm and pace of the race. She only had to choose the position that suited her best.
That would also let her bring out all of her finishing speed in the closing stretch.
As Shinji watched King Halo round the first turn, her tail began swishing more frequently, her ears flicking back and forth. He knew she felt a little insecure right now.
The leader had already opened a gap of three lengths on the field. For King Halo, this meant she had already begun losing her sense of the overall pace.
"She still can't picture the overall flow of the race in her head. All she can perceive is herself and the small area around her."
Shinji spoke suddenly, and Tazuna nodded. She had noticed the same thing. Though under Shinji's instruction King Halo had clearly learned not to overreact rashly, the discomfort she felt when the race's broader shape slipped out of her grasp was still too obvious.
"But she's already improved a lot."
Tazuna's gentle addition went unchallenged even by the usually severe, demanding Shinji.
After all, this was a horse girl who used to give up the moment she stopped seeing a path to victory. And now, from the first two hundred meters onward, she would be forced to remain in a state where she still couldn't see her opening.
It wasn't exactly the same as having no hope, of course, but that feeling of being trapped in darkness wasn't pleasant either.
The pack had now entered the backstretch. Shinji frowned slightly. In training, Offside Trap had helped simulate race conditions for King Halo, but Offside Trap's sheer strength, combined with the fact that only one horse girl had been helping, seemed to have left King Halo with a flawed sense of the rhythm of the girls who should normally be near or behind her in an actual race.
He took careful notes in the notebook in his hand. Beside him, Tazuna watched the serious expression on his face, her gaze soft as water. Once he accepted a horse girl as his own, he guided her with everything he had. For a trainer, that sense of responsibility was both basic and admirable.
Just because it was something he ought to do did not mean it could not still count as one of his strengths.
Tazuna looked back to the track. The field was now moving along the far straight toward the third and fourth turns. King Halo had not increased her speed in step with the field's slight pickup. Instead, she maintained her own judgment and dropped back to sixth or seventh.
That wasn't necessarily good or bad. It simply meant she had made a decision. For Shinji, what mattered was what she would choose from here on.
That choice would decide whether her judgment at this moment had been correct.
Around them, whispers began again. The trainers quickly noticed how much King Halo had changed. Quite a few eyes drifted toward Shinji. It was hard for them to imagine what sort of method he had used to bring about such a transformation in her.
To them, King Halo had been a spoiled, willful, arrogant young lady—someone who could never be changed. She had all the good traits of a prestigious upbringing, but also the kind of flaws that should never exist in a competitor.
And yet now, even as flecks of mud splashed across her fine face, that same girl showed no sign of annoyance. Instead, she was forcing her emotions into calm.
The two streaks that ran from below her eyes all the way down her cheeks like trails of blood—no one knew why King Halo had chosen such a look. But they did understand one thing.
She had made her decision.
Before being anything else from a great house, she was first and foremost a competitor.
At some point, a strangely dressed spectator had appeared near the track. She had wrapped herself up so thoroughly that even the trainers beside her, despite glancing her way more than once, failed to identify her. If Shinji had turned around, he surely would have recognized her by her eyes alone.
It was King Halo's mother, Goodbye Halo, the seven-time GI winner.
Now, the woman simply watched the girl on the track, her daughter's determined running reflected in her eyes.
She had known about this mock race all along, and had originally decided she would not come. But whether it was distrust of Shinji's guidance or simply something else, she had still shown up in the end, watching her daughter take these steps toward the finish.
Those steps were still strong. Even after such a short time under Shinji, it was plain to see that she had improved tremendously.
In the eyes visible through her disguise, something sharp had softened into something closer to sorrow—perhaps worry, perhaps nostalgia, perhaps both.
Her lips moved faintly, muttering something too quiet to make out.
Only one or two fragments were barely caught by the trainer beside her, who had unconsciously pricked up his ears.
"No meaning..."
"No need to fight so hard..."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 142)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter181)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter103)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter192)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 173
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 166
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 110
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 190
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 165
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 156
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 81
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 102
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 120
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 80
Uma Musume: I Want All 95
I Can Copy Unique Skills 84
Summoning an Evil God, but the 66
Supernatural Multiverse 83
My Harem Is Indescribable 75
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 81
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 75
Still playing traditional Honk 55
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 60
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 55
Checking In in Demon Slayer 60
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 65
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 35
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 35
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 39
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 58
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 30
Why did they assign me to Uma 35
MYGO Beauties 42
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