Having once raced on the track herself as an active competitor, White Narubi understood horse girls better than most mothers.
The difficulties and progress encountered during training, the expectations and pressure from friends and rivals, the nervousness, excitement, disappointment, and relief before and after races—she had experienced all of these.
Confusion was no exception. In her eyes, her daughter was now encountering things she had never faced before on the path of her professional career, and for the moment, she didn't know what to do.
However, instead of rushing to comfort her or impart experience, White Narubi felt a quiet sense of relief and gently reached out to stroke her daughter's head.
Under her touch, Oguri Cap's long, fluffy gray ears flattened and sprang back up again, mirroring the waves of bewilderment on her face.
Looking at her daughter's expression, White Narubi spoke softly,
"So it's because you want to live up to everyone's expectations and perform even better. Oguri-chan, you've really grown more mature."
"Mature… maybe…"
Gradually starting to enjoy her mother's touch, Oguri Cap's eyes narrowed slightly, though the look within them was still one of confusion.
"So… should I go ask Kitahara, Mom?"
"Of course you should. He's your assigned trainer, and you're his assigned horse girl."
White Narubi answered without hesitation, smiling.
"What you're thinking about now—Mom has experienced that too."
"You have?"
Oguri Cap grew curious. "Was it something during a race?"
"Yes, it was."
She nodded, a look of reminiscence appearing in her eyes, her tone carrying a hint of pride and gratitude.
"How should I put it… compared to you, Oguri-chan, Mom's results weren't that outstanding. But at the local level, I'd say they were pretty good."
"Mm-hmm, I know! Even though you only won once in your debut year, the following year you had a record of three wins out of four races!"
"And it was an amazing three-win streak!"
Unlike classroom studies, when it came to racing, Oguri Cap's memory was exceptionally sharp.
After recounting her mother's experiences with admiration, her tone turned regretful.
"I remember Kitahara saying that Mom actually had really good talent, but the training and nutrition conditions back then weren't very good."
"So after your last race, your knee got injured, and you had to retire."
"If it weren't for that injury, Mom definitely could've won a graded mile or middle-distance race!"
"Oh? Mr. Kitahara thinks that highly of me? That's surprising…"
White Narubi's eyes widened slightly in surprise, then she chuckled and shook her head.
"The past is the past. Let's leave it there."
"Rather than me, let's talk about you, Oguri-chan, and Mr. Kitahara."
"You see—even without having personally watched my races, Mr. Kitahara can still make sound judgments."
"Under his guidance, both you and your friends have achieved excellent results."
"And from what I see and hear, his reputation is very high."
"So I think that no matter what ideas you have, as long as it's about racing, Mr. Kitahara is the most trustworthy person."
She concluded very seriously.
"But…"
Oguri Cap showed a hesitant expression. "But this time, when we came back to Kasamatsu, I promised him that he'd rest properly and not think about work… I mean, races."
"He's usually really busy. Getting a break like this is rare for him."
"The last time we really went out to relax was three or four months ago, when we went to Hokkaido."
White Narubi was surprised. "Is Mr. Kitahara that busy?"
Then she nodded thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, it does seem that way."
"I remember when I called you and your sister, and whenever we talked about Mr. Kitahara, you said he was still working."
"And looking at reports, there aren't any interviews with him either—probably because he's too busy."
"Yes, Kitahara is really busy. Not just with training and races—he often has to go to the student council, the board of directors, and even the URA association asks him to handle things."
After nodding firmly, Oguri Cap looked even more troubled.
"That's why I don't want to disturb him even more. Especially since resting properly was something I personally asked him to do."
"And…"
Scratching her head, she hesitated. "Tomorrow's race—running style, tactics, everything has already been planned."
"With that plan, the chances of winning this race are basically not a problem."
"So even if I went to ask Kitahara now, hoping he could help me perform even better in the race, he'd probably find it difficult too…"
What Oguri Cap said was also standard practice for the Eisei Team.
According to the team's habits, once the upcoming races for their horse girls were confirmed, preparation would begin on the very day clear information was obtained.
At such times, the reserves accumulated day by day played a crucial role.
Since the team's formation, all members had placed great emphasis on the application of science and technology—equipment, data, theory, and the like.
By now, the team's level in these areas might not yet be the world's best, but within Japan it was absolutely unmatched by other trainers and teams.
Some technologies that Eisei had been using for a long time hadn't even been attempted yet by Central Tracen Academy—for example, wind tunnel equipment.
In terms of data, the academy was more comprehensive, but that was within the scope of routine institutional surveys.
Things like the age, weight, and experience of horse girls across Japan were naturally better preserved in the academy's archives.
But when it came to specific race parameters on the track, the academy still couldn't match the Eisei Team.
Any venue where Oguri Cap and the others had raced had been outfitted with various data-collection devices.
These devices weren't immediately removed after the race; instead, they remained until the end of two consecutive race days.
The same was done during routine track-adaptation training sessions.
Doing this once or twice had little effect, but over the long term, as long as a horse girl had raced on a given track, all kinds of data would be gathered by Eternal.
At this stage, Japan's URA association hadn't yet noticed this kind of training method based on "digitalization," so there were no regulations promoting it.
More importantly, there were no rules prohibiting it either.
Thus, without anyone realizing it, Eisei had come to understand the actual race conditions of horse girls better than most trainers—or even the horse girls themselves.
With this data derived from real training and races, combined with advanced instruments, the team could perform massive simulation calculations on computers before any race.
These simulations inevitably differed from real races and couldn't be used directly as preparation parameters.
But conveniently, the team also had many horse girls skilled in different tracks, distances, and running styles.
By combining collected data, simulation results, and practice runs, other members could imitate the conditions of a participant's opponents.
The results of such training meant that, aside from uncertainties between the team's own horse girls, when compared to external opponents, the eventual outcome of a race could often be more or less predicted from the start.
At least, that could be said of Japan in this era.
Under these circumstances, whether it was Oguri Cap's Meitetsu Cup, or Super Creek and Mejiro Ardan's Chukyo Kinen and Chukyo Championship, the three races scheduled for tomorrow already had extremely complete response plans.
The final step was simply to adjust the athletes' pre-race condition, and then make further adjustments to the race plans tomorrow based on that day's circumstances.
Such adjustments were necessary, because while the Eisei Team could ensure that its data, simulations, and training were the most precise and advanced of the era, it couldn't control the weather.
Unfortunately, in this era—and even for years to come—weather forecasts weren't 100% accurate.
Moreover, unexpected situations could arise, such as horse girls withdrawing from races, making on-the-spot adjustments unavoidable.
In short, from Oguri Cap's perspective, even though she wanted to perform even better on the track due to her friends' expectations and her own subtle sense of change, once the race plans were already so complete, it would be hard to alter things on short notice.
White Narubi knew that her daughter raced as part of the Eisei Team, but she wasn't familiar with the team's daily training details. So when she heard that tomorrow's race was already mostly settled, she was very surprised.
In the era when she herself competed, there had never been a training method that arranged every detail so meticulously before a race even began.
At the very least, she had never even heard of such a thing.
Even now, when chatting with her former trainer or watching races and interviews, she hadn't encountered anything like Eisei's approach.
In her impression, the Eisei Team just seemed to have more trainers, more horse girls, more equipment, and more strange things than others.
In other respects, they didn't seem all that different from other trainers and horse girls.
So after Oguri Cap finished explaining, White Narubi asked a few confused questions, and Oguri Cap patiently explained for quite some time.
While they were talking, the mother and daughter arrived at the women's bath.
This hot spring, run by a local Kasamatsu family, was beautifully designed. Just the women's section alone had a large bath surrounded by dark gray stone, spacious enough to accommodate dozens of people at once.
The hot spring water had a slightly unusual bluish tint, but it was clear and transparent.
Generally speaking, Japanese hot springs are rarely cleaned deliberately; the clarity of the water reflects its ability to break down impurities—the clearer the water, the better the spring's effects.
Dense steam filled the entire bathhouse, and anything a little farther away appeared hazy and indistinct.
In such a comfortable temperature, Oguri Cap, White Narubi, and the many horse girls of various ages all let out delighted sounds the moment they entered.
Someone as lively as Tokai Teio rushed straight into the bath, letting out a satisfied moan.
"Wow! This hot spring is amazing! McQueen, Little Oguri,hurry up and come in!"
Having been there many times before, Oguri Cap and White Narubi weren't quite so dramatic. They quietly entered the spring, closed their eyes comfortably, and let out long sighs of relief.
"Ah… the hot springs back home really do feel more comfortable."
With her eyes half-closed, Oguri Cap sighed.
"When we went to Hokkaido last time, we also went to hot springs, but it felt different from Kasamatsu."
"Maybe it was because it was colder back then. Hokkaido is probably colder too."
"Anyway, my body gets all warm, but my head and the top feel a little cool—it's kind of a strange feeling."
"But then my whole body warms up."
"If there's a chance, I want to bring Special Week here to try Kasamatsu's hot springs."
"Oh, right! Mom, look—I can swim now!"
Suddenly changing the topic, Oguri Cap, like a child showing off that she'd just learned her multiplication tables, skillfully assumed a dog-paddle posture and swam circles around White Narubi in the hot spring.
"Pfft—cough, cough. I mean—congratulations, Oguri-chan! You've finally learned how to swim!"
White Narubi laughed before she could stop herself, then quickly corrected herself to praise her daughter, afraid of disappointing her.
As her mother, she naturally knew that her daughter couldn't swim as a child. When Oguri Cap had been in Tokyo recently, she had seen her swimming training.
Back then, Oguri Cap couldn't even get into the water without a float board. Now she could swim freely—this really did deserve praise.
What made her laugh was just how cute her daughter's dog-paddling looked.
It was like a little puppy: body floating on the surface, limbs frantically paddling under the water.
In short, it was extremely adorable.
After praising her, White Jewel thought for a moment and returned to the earlier topic.
"So, if the race is already decided, how will you run tomorrow, Oguri-chan?"
"This…"
With a thoughtful expression, Oguri Cap slowly swam back to her mother's side, soaking normally as she pondered.
"Other than my Domain, there's nothing special."
"Domain…?"
This was something White Narubi didn't really understand. She had heard the term within the Eternal Team and vaguely knew it was an extraordinary ability, but not much beyond that.
"Um, the Domain is a state that makes me really fast and strong. I need to be extremely focused to activate it."
In the past, Oguri Cap would have found it difficult to explain this so clearly and concisely.
Not just now—even earlier, when explaining Eisei's training characteristics to her mother, she probably would've been vague and stammering, maybe even incomprehensible.
However, since coming to Nagoya for training camp, during meals after practice or during rest, Oguri Cap, Creek and Ardan had often explained training and racing knowledge to juniors like Oguri Roman and Tokai Teio.
Although this kind of "intellectual training" hadn't lasted long, Oguri Cap's expressive ability had clearly improved, and her understanding of various theories had deepened.
"When we went to Europe last time, Kitahara and the others said that horse girls there can activate their Domains multiple times."
With a rare look of contemplation, Oguri Cap rubbed her chin and spoke slowly, adopting a trainer-like tone.
"As for how exactly that works, Kitahara and the others are still guessing and experimenting. Tomorrow's three races—mine, Creek's, and Ardan's—are part of that experiment."
"At the start of a race, we already place great importance on our condition out of the gate, and it's easy to enter an extremely focused state then."
"According to Kitahara's guess, that might be one opportunity to activate the Domain."
"After that, corners and slopes might offer similar chances, but the effect may not be as good, so we need to try it."
"As for the final straight, that's where I'm best at activating my Domain, so there won't be any issues."
"So in tomorrow's race, at the very least, I should have two chances to enter my Domain—at the start and on the final straight."
She held up two fingers in a "V," confidence gradually appearing on her face as she continued:
"As for handling the track, I can just run normally."
"For example, in my Meitetsu Cup, Kitahara said that because of my current strength and record, many entrants withdrew as soon as they heard I'd be racing."
"So the five remaining opponents are the strongest among the original registrants, and similar to some previous races, whether by coincidence or not, they'll probably gang up on me."
"But that doesn't really matter. Like I said, as long as I run normally, that's fine."
With a casual wave of her hand, she raised a fist in front of her. Amid the splash of water kicked up by the motion, Oguri Cap's face was filled with confidence, and her tone was firm.
"I've already been through a race like this before. Doing it again isn't anything to worry about."
"Whether it's using an outside-lane strategy at the start, or performing ultra-high-speed lane changes and overtakes on the inside during the middle and final stages, they don't pose much of a threat to me."
"Besides, the Meitetsu Cup is run over 1,800 meters. That's my strongest distance—the mile—and it's dirt, which I've been running on since my debut."
"No matter how you look at it, there's nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the fundamentals."
Compared to the parallel world, Oguri Cap of this world's counterpart had never lost at the mile distance. Regardless of the grade of the major stakes, she was a bona fide "King of the Mile."
In this world, Oguri Cap had not yet competed in many mile races, especially not many top-tier central graded stakes.
However, whether looking at actual race data or her daily training results, everything proved that on the mile battlefield of this generation, she possessed absolute dominance.
This dominance applied even within her own team. Compared to the mile, Tamamo Cross and Creek were more adept at middle-to-long distances. One could even say the two of them had almost no mile aptitude at all.
Inari One and Mejiro Ardan, on the other hand, had fairly good adaptability to the mile, but judging from the results of multiple training races, there was still a clear gap between them and Oguri Cap on this front.
As for all of this, after undergoing a certain amount of "intellectual training," Oguri Cap herself was now capable of analyzing it.
"It's probably a matter of strength and speed."
Watching her mother listen with great interest, Oguri Cap felt her spirits lift even higher as she thought:
"Kitahara and the others said that strength comes in many forms."
"If we're just talking about raw muscular output, Inari and I aren't that far apart."
"But the speed at which she applies that force is a bit slower than mine."
"In that case, even with the same level of strength, my acceleration in a mile race will be faster than hers."
"It's the same with Tamamo, Creek, and Ardan. Not only is their strength inferior to mine, but the speed of their power output is slower as well."
After thinking for a moment, Oguri Cap suddenly smiled.
"Oh right, we usually do strength training like boxing—hitting sandbags, or kicking them."
"Mom, look—just like this. There's a sandbag about this tall and this thick hanging in front of you."
She gestured animatedly in front of White Jewel. "Then we put on gloves, either punch it like in boxing, or—whoosh—kick it out."
"In this kind of training, I'm usually the fastest at fully exerting my strength. And when we go to the arcade, I always get the best score on the boxing machine too!"
As she spoke, her right leg beneath the water drew a pale, clearly visible afterimage that could be seen even through the surface, as if the water offered no resistance at all.
A moment later, the surface of the water exploded upward with a splash nearly half a meter high.
The water sprayed outward toward Oguri Cap and her mother, and by sheer coincidence—like a small wave—it flipped Tamamo Cross over, who had been floating on her back in the middle of the women's bath.
"Pah, pah, pah! Who was that?! Who's being so annoying?!"
"S-Sorry, Tamamo! I—I didn't mean to! I—I… I'll swim away!"
"Damn it… don't run! I'm splashing you back!"
"Huh? Please don't… I really didn't mean it!"
"Stop right there! Damn it… why is Oguri swimming so fast now?! Take this!"
"Wah! Tamamo, you're splashing the wrong way!"
"Yeah, Tamamo, aim a little better!"
"Oh? That looks fun… hehe! McQueen! Take this!"
"Te-teio?! What are you doing?!"
"Bleh~ bleh~ come catch me, McQueen!"
"You annoying girl… don't run!"
The women's bath instantly became lively and chaotic.
Meanwhile, watching her daughter and her friends play and splash about with a smile, White Narubi fell into deep thought.
From what Oguri had just said, it seemed like there really wasn't much of a problem with this upcoming race.
What she wanted was an even more outstanding performance—but with such a well-rounded plan already in place, was there really any room left for improvement…?
Perhaps Mr. Kitahara really did have a way…
As she pondered this, her gaze drifted involuntarily toward the tall wooden wall separating the women's bath.
On the other side of that wall was the men's bath.
"Hah-choo!"
"Brother Kitahara? Did you catch a cold?"
Unlike the lively scene on the women's side, the men's bath—large enough to accommodate dozens—contained only Kitahara and Yuzuhara.
Kasamatsu didn't have a large population to begin with, nor was it a particularly famous tourist destination. And since it was only early July, it wasn't peak tourist season yet.
It wouldn't be until later in the month that visitors would start to arrive in large numbers and the hot springs would become more crowded.
Under these circumstances, the Eternal Team's visit to the hot springs today was practically a private booking.
After sneezing, Kitahara shook his head and replied:
"Probably not. My nose just felt itchy… it's nothing. Let's keep watching the race."
Earlier, he had been holding a phone sealed in a waterproof plastic case, watching races together with Yuzuhara.
After all, even though they'd said they wouldn't talk about work during today's outing, he didn't consider watching races to be part of work.
For a horse-girl trainer, enjoying races was only natural.
And compared to other trainers who had various hobbies, this was basically Kitahara's only one.
Yuzuhara also loved watching races, and the two of them had already gone through quite a bit of Kitahara's "collection."
Thanks to his habitual searching and the guidance of memories from various parallel worlds, his "collection" could easily be considered world-class.
While watching, the two of them discussed quite a few things. When Kitahara sneezed, they were watching the most recent edition of the American Triple Crown horse girls.
They were discussing that year's races and the horse girls of that generation.
"If we're just talking about the Triple Crown itself—setting aside strength and other races—the current American Triple Crown winner is a bit like Symboli Rudolf and CB, wouldn't you say?"
"There are some similarities, yes—but as you said, that's only if we don't discuss strength or other competitions."
Kitahara nodded slightly in agreement.
The two horse girls they were discussing were Seattle Slew and Affirmed.
As real horses, both had won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.
That made them two of the thirteen Triple Crown winners produced over the roughly 130 years since the American Triple Crown began.
What made it particularly interesting was that they won their Triple Crowns in consecutive years—1977 and 1978.
This was exactly the point that reminded them of CB and Symboli Rudolf, who won the Japanese Triple Crown in consecutive years as well, in 1983 and 1984.
Beyond that, however, things became far more complicated. Training conditions, circumstances, and race performances differed greatly.
The timeline of this world lagged behind somewhat, and there hadn't yet been that many "American Triple Crowns." Up to the edition they were watching, there had already been Sir Barton, War Admiral, Secretariat, and others.
[Sir Barton- First triple crown winner, War Admiral-Known as the Horse of the Country, Secretariat-Known as the Horse of the God]
But American Pharoah and Justify—those two horses, or rather horse girls—were still far, far in the future.
Comparing them to Japanese horse girls, American Pharoah would be roughly from the same generation as Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond, while Justify would come even later.
"If we're talking about something truly interesting, it's probably Seattle Slew… or maybe 'interesting' isn't the right word—more like especially worth discussing."
Kitahara continued, "After all, she wasn't just the tenth Triple Crown winner in American history—she was also the first to accomplish it with a perfect record: nine races, nine wins, an undefeated 'Perfect Triple Crown.'"
"The American Triple Crown schedule is notoriously tight. Not just insiders—anyone with even a basic understanding of racing worldwide knows this."
"Three top-tier Grade 1 races within five weeks. You have to run them, win them, and remain undefeated. No matter how you think about it, it's absurdly difficult."
"And yet she did it. So from that perspective alone, I think she's the more worthy subject of discussion."
Yuzuhara thought for a moment, then nodded.
"In terms of how hard it is to obtain those honors… yes, that's true. Even without looking at the race schedules, just staying undefeated is already almost impossible."
He then sighed. "After all, the Japanese horse-girl racing industry has been around for quite a while now, and there's still only one 'Undefeated Triple Crown'—Symboli Rudolf."
"Oguri Cap, who's winning race after race right now, might have a chance in the future—but that's still something for later."
"And besides, in horse-girl racing, until the results are out, no one can ever be completely certain."
Yuzuhara's perspective was extremely calm and rational.
Because that's simply how this industry is. Dark horses pulling off upsets are never rare. Even Symboli Rudolf himself wasn't entirely undefeated across his career.
And even looking beyond Japan, in international races like the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the Eclipse Stakes, or the Breeders' Cup, shocking results are by no means uncommon.
Perhaps realizing that his words might have been slightly inappropriate given that he was speaking directly to Oguri Cap's trainer, Yuzuhara quickly changed the subject.
"By the way, Brother Kitahara—you were talking about the difficulty of earning honors just now."
He pondered for a moment. "Then from a pure strength standpoint, is there any American horse girl you think is unquestionably superior?"
"That would definitely be the American Triple Crown winner before Seattle Slew. There's no debate about that."
Kitahara answered almost instantly, without even a second's hesitation.
After all, the American Triple Crown winner before Seattle Slew was Secretariat.
Whether as a horse girl or as the original racehorse, no industry in any world would ever doubt her strength.
In fact, in a sense, because Secretariat in this world hadn't retired all that long ago—her most recent race was before Maruzensky's debut—this world's evaluation of her hadn't yet reached the absolute peak it had in the parallel world.
In that parallel world, there was an American ranking of "The Greatest Moments in Sports History." The top spot was Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in the NBA in 1962.
Ranked second was Secretariat's performance in the 105th Belmont Stakes in 1973.
In that 2,400-meter race, the margin of her victory was an unbelievable 31 lengths.
A gap of 77.5 meters—something almost impossible to imagine.
Beyond that, the various records she set still remained unbroken even decades later.
Against such a backdrop, Secretariat consistently ranked near the top of lists of the greatest American athletes.
In fact, when she was ranked only second in a poll of the most famous racehorses of the 20th century, it caused enormous controversy.
A horse like that—or rather, a horse girl like that—was someone Kitahara, with his more omniscient perspective, could answer about without any hesitation.
After giving his answer, however, a strange thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Although it had been a long time since they last met, he still regularly exchanged training insights over the phone with his uncle, Musaka Roppei, who was far away in America.
That communication had originally been to check in on his uncle's situation and learn more about Sunday Silence.
But now, having unexpectedly brought up Secretariat, he suddenly wondered if he might find an opportunity to go meet that legendary horse girl.
For example, after determining the method of "domain inheritance" between horse girls?
A horse girl with strength like Secretariat's would surely possess a Domain.
If such a Domain could be inherited… what kind of improvement would that bring to the horse girls on his team?
(End of Chapter)