"Urara, make sure your lane is open before bursting out your acceleration, okay?"
"Yes!"
"As for your Suzuka, let it out after a turn. That's when you are the slowest after all."
"Understood."
"McQueen, that breathing technique is better used during the latter half of the race. It means nothing if you do it early."
"Indeed. I'll remember it."
"Teio, you're too focused on yourself to use that startling method effectively. Remember, you can only use it once per race. You should read your opponents too before doing it to get the maximum advantage."
"Ummh… I'll try."
After careful consideration, the young man had decided which skill he would train each of his trainees. Suzuka would get Front Runner Straightways. McQueen got Straightway Recovery. Teio would learn Disorient.
As for Haru Urara, she learned the most skills from the Umalator. A balance of orange, blue, and red skills. She learned more than Teio, which surprises the young man since the future Monarch is a goddamn genius and Urara is dumber than a rock. The young man concludes that Teio might have the quality with her brain, and Urara has the quantity with her tenacity. She must have run a thousand times in the Umalator to learn all the skills.
"Alright, that is for today. You may all leave. As for Urara, remember. You have a pre-open race two weeks from now, so there will be no training for you next week."
"Aaaww… Oookaaaayy…"
The young man had decided to let his trainee do whatever they wanted one week before a race. If this were the game, he basically sent them to recreation. He could send them to rest, but the amount of time that option had given him 'Sleep Deprived' a turn before a race is innumerable. Training them would risk an injury since this is now a real world for the young man. He had to balance the old world's knowledge and the new world's reality.
"Since the training is done, let's switch to administration, boss."
"Please don't call me boss."
"Alright, master."
"Never mind. What kind of administrative work, anyway? I'm a trainer, not a secretary."
"You have some Umas that want to join the team. You ought to at least review their papers."
"Really? Do people want to join us? We haven't even won a single race other than our debuts. This doesn't make any sense."
The man looked at the first admission paper with a tilted head. He read the content of the form. It was from an Uma Musume that he was not familiar with. Thankfully, the Uma Musume provides a small resume of herself.
"Ray… Never heard of her before… Are any of you friends with her?"
"Ray… Huh…? If I remember correctly, she is in another class."
"So that's a no."
"What are you going to do?"
"Reject her, of course."
"Eh?! Just because none of us know her. Isn't that too cruel?"
"Teio, I can write anything I want on a piece of paper. What I need the most is real-life data. Go ask Tachyon just how different a theory and practice really are."
"He is not wrong. There's a reason we take experiments with a grain of salt. Those are done in a controlled environment, but in real life, rarely is anything under our control."
"Tachyon, deny every single one of them. Make a note that says if they want to join the team, prove themselves, and I'll go to them. Didn't that pun-loving president schedule more mock races?"
"Yes! Prez schedules at least one mock race every month."
"Reject all of them, Tachyon. Wait! Do any of them include their BWH size?"
"You little!!"
"Wait! Wait! Wait!! AAAAAHHH!!"
*THUD*
McQueen quickly gets behind the young man, wraps her arms around his waist, and German suplexes him.
"You stupid pervert!"
"Gah! Damn… That hurt like hell, McQueen. I was only asking a simple question."
"There's nothing simple about that!"
"Guh! We need variety in this team! The only one with anything is Goldship, and like hell will I get close to that freak!!"
"Umas' values aren't only on our bodies, you know?"
"I mean, technically they are."
"Hmph!!"
"GAH!!"
McQueen grabs a whiteboard eraser and throws it at Tachyon at Mach Speed. The eraser landed firmly on her forehead, sending her rolling backward from the force.
"Be a proper adult, will you?"
"Fine… Tachyon, reject all of them. There! You happy, cutie?"
"Hmph! I'd be happier if you took a look at their documents, but after hearing your reason earlier, I understand."
"It's a trainer's job to recruit his trainees, not the other way around. A trainee's job is to show a glimpse of the diamond underneath."
"Eh? But I was the one who recruited you, Trainer."
"If I didn't become your trainer, you would kill me, Teio."
"I didn't hug you that hard!"
"Whatever… You girls go back now and rest. Let your muscles rebuild themselves."
His trainees decided to be good girls and listen to their trainer. They start packing their bags and putting the strap over their shoulders. Everyone was leaving the room, and when McQueen was about to head out, the young man called out to her.
"By the way, McQueen. Do you know where Ramonu is?"
"Big sis Ramonu? Why are you searching for her?"
Is it just me, or did the atmosphere turn heavy? Is it going to storm?
"There is something I want to discuss with The First Triple Tiara winner."
The moment the young man spells out her big sister's achievement, McQueen's heart tightens. Normally, she would be boastful about Ramonu's title, but hearing it from her own trainer somehow makes it feel like a mockery to her.
I'm still not worthy to be a shoulder you can cry on, huh? Compared to big sis Ramonu, I guess not… Damn it all… I promise I'll be an Uma Musume that you can depend on!
"She is with her socialite friends…"
"I guess that will need to be put off then…"
"Ah! Then can you accompany me, trainer?"
"Hmm? Where?"
McQueen doesn't exactly have anywhere she has in mind. She was just excited that her trainer would not be meeting her big sis. To finally have him for her own, and not share him with another Mejiro. That excitement caused McQueen's mouth to blurt out an invitation before her mind could make up a location.
"Uuuh… Ummh… There is a chocolate store that I want to try!"
Is this her way of telling me to repay her for her Valentine's chocolate? What a very roundabout way.
"Sigh… Fine…"