"Wait, so you're telling me nothing happened? I put out fresh bath towels and everything... You guys are complete wusses."
"Could you try having some common sense for once!?" Palmer shot back, her face flushing. "As if anything could happen at a family home with people around!"
"I see. So the setting was the problem. Fine, next time I'll prepare a more 'private' location for you."
"THAT WON'T BE NECESSARY!" they shouted in unison.
While I had been away visiting the Symboli estate with Lady Asama, it seemed Palmer and Trainer Yamada hadn't actually crossed the finish line. It was a bit rich being lectured on common sense by those two, but apparently, they'd reached a mutual—and surprisingly wholesome—agreement: they would wait until Palmer graduated. I guess for a student and someone in a position of authority, that's the 'correct' path, I thought. Though, on the other hand...
"In my day, we were much more aggressive," Lady Asama remarked airily. "You should have taken a page out of my book."
"Grandma! Do you even know what you're saying!?"
"And Mejiro Palmer, the heavy favorite in the Mejiro 'Life Stakes,' stalls out on the final stretch..." I muttered, scribbling in a notebook.
"What are you even taking notes on!?"
At any rate, seeing a trainer and their Uma Musume in such high spirits was a good thing. And there was one thing I absolutely had to tell Palmer.
"Helios was ecstatic, by the way. Apparently, she was screaming her head off in the middle of the night."
"Really? Helios did...? She was that happy for me? I see... I see!"
Daitaku Helios—Palmer's "Sun" and her best friend. Naturally, she had celebrated the victory. But it went deeper than that. Zephyr and Ines had witnessed the scene: Helios had cheered at the top of her lungs when the win was certain, but a moment later, she had fallen silent, tears streaming down her face.
"I'm so glad, Palmer-chan... My bestie... she finally did it! Now everyone knows how amazing she is!"
Zephyr and Ines had been stunned to see the usually boisterous Helios so overcome. Or rather, they were stunned by the sight of the girl Helios was so devoted to—the "Ojo" herself, Daiichi Ruby—gently comforting her.
"It was a magnificent run," Ruby had said, rubbing Helios's back. "No one will write those kinds of articles about her anymore. And even if they did, no one would listen. That radiance she showed was truly supreme."
Hearing those words had only made Helios cry harder. They were tears of pure joy and overwhelming emotion, shimmering with a light of their own.
"Helios... I—I'm going to see her right now!"
"Go on, then. Get moving."
Later, I heard from the trainers that Palmer, Yamada, Helios, and her trainer all threw a massive party. There were no more tears—just the usual high-energy Helios and a beaming Palmer, joined at the hip as they celebrated.
The celebrations eventually wound down, but the late summer heat remained oppressive. Even Uma Musume aren't immune to the sun. To combat the heat and keep motivation high, I pivoted our training menu to focus heavily on the pool. It wasn't just about staying cool, though; pool training offered unique benefits you couldn't get on land.
"Alright, Air-Air, you're wearing this."
"Is this... a life buoy?" Air Groove asked, eyeing the ring skeptically.
"You're going to 'run' while wearing it. It's weighted with extra boards to catch the water, so the resistance is going to be brutal. As for the rest of you, we're starting with pool squats."
While I assigned Air Groove a menu similar to the one I used to do at the beach, I ordered Suzuka and the others into the water for squats. At first, they were happy to be in the cool water on such a scorching day, but pool training is anything but easy.
"Squats! And make sure you submerge completely!"
"S-Submerge?"
"That's right. Tuck your knees deep and then explode upward like you're trying to leap out of the pool. It hits the muscles differently. Ready—begin!"
Startled by the intensity, the girls began their sets. Air Groove started her "walk" nearby, but the buoy provided far more drag than she'd anticipated. Between the added resistance boards and the choppy waves created by the others' squats, staying upright was a battle.
"This is... quite the challenge...!" she grunted.
Knowing she was the only one on a specialized menu, Air Groove attacked the task with even more focus than usual. Meanwhile, the squat group was generating a literal wake.
"79!" "79!"
"80!" "80!"
They were passing the eighty-mark. Dober and Sunny Brian, who had likely expected the buoyancy to make things easier, were now looking pained.
"In the water, the resistance is constant," I explained. "Your muscles never get a break. Compared to land training, the effect is doubled, though the effort required is even higher than that."
"86!" "86!" "86...!"
The gap in stamina was starting to show. Silence Suzuka, acting as the anchor, kept a steady pace, matched by Taiki Shuttle—who, historically, had always thrived on pool training. Sunny and Dober, however, were starting to lag. Having only a split second to breathe when your head broke the surface made the high-rep squats grueling.
"Hard at work, I see."
"Oh, if it isn't Minami-chan. What's the matter? Come down to pick up some lively young girls?"
"If someone like you were among them, I might consider it," Minamisaka replied with a straight face, "but for now, the mock races provide more than enough excitement."
"You don't have to answer the jokes seriously, you know."
The members of Team Canopus had arrived at the pool. A strange sense of nostalgia washed over me.
"Underwater squats. A classic," Minamisaka noted. "It makes the lower body muscles supple and resilient. Excellent for injury prevention."
"Classic Rampage," Nice Nature added with a grin. "Practicing the menus our old trainer taught us, huh?"
"You know it. You guys here for a dip too?"
"Yes, Senpai!" Twin Turbo chirped. "We're here to support Ticket-senpai's special training!"
As Drac-Run (Twin Turbo) spoke, a loud splash echoed through the area. I looked over to see Winning Ticket already in the water. Her eyes were sharp, filled with a burning intensity I'd rarely seen back in the Canopus days. I gave a low whistle.
"She's got a good look in her eyes."
"Ticket-san has been following the same menu as Rice," Matikanefukitaru explained. "Even though it's designed for Rice's specific needs and must be incredibly tough, she hasn't complained once."
"She's peaking," I noted. "What's her next race? She already has the priority entry for the Kikkasho, right?"
"Yes," Minamisaka confirmed. "We're planning to run the Kobe Shimbun Hai to gauge her final condition."
The Kikkasho—the final jewel of the Triple Crown. With Narita Taishin having taken the Satsuki Sho and Winning Ticket taking the Derby, the stage was set. Would one of them become a Double Crown winner, or would Biwa Hayahide finally claim her revenge? As a trainer, I couldn't wait to see how it unfolded.
And before that, there was the All-Comers race, where Rice Shower, Ikuno Dictus, and Twin Turbo were set to collide. From here on out, every race was going to be a battle of titans.
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