Chapter 133. The Idea of a Training Camp and Tokai Teio's Dissatisfaction
The day the group returned to Japan happened to be Monday of Arima Kinen race week. Unlike Shuta An and Tojo Hana, Kitahara, whose trained Uma Musume was not competing in the Arima Kinen, could go home, fall asleep, and enjoy his vacation.
But whether it was Shuta An or Tojo Hana, both had to begin preparing for the Uma Musume in their respective teams who would be running in the Arima Kinen.
That said, after returning to Tokyo, the young man did not go to Central Tracen Academy to report back to work immediately. Instead, he rested at home for a full day.
It was not until Tuesday that Shuta An drove to the Academy early in the morning to check in.
Because Rice Shower was not participating in the debut-year-only G1, the final race for Team Sadalsuud that year was Tokai Teio's Arima Kinen.
Without a doubt, neither Shuta An nor Tokai Teio wanted to lose this race. While the young man was looking into Admire Vega's situation, Tokai Teio had already begun recovery training. Last week in Hong Kong, Shuta An had arranged formal training for Tokai Teio, and from the videos and data he obtained, Tokai Teio's condition had been adjusted very well. This week, as always, the young man planned to reduce Tokai Teio's training intensity to preserve her energy for Sunday's race.
"The live draw will be held the day after tomorrow. Teio, prepare your dress in advance. I'll drive you to the URA Association to attend it then,"
Shuta An reminded Tokai Teio as she was about to change into her training clothes.
"I know," Tokai Teio said, raising an eyebrow. "As for dresses, I have plenty!"
However, Shuta An had seen those dresses of Tokai Teio's, and he could only say they were rather childish.
"But a mature style wouldn't suit Teio's current condition," the young man thought. To be precise, "wouldn't suit" here was meant in the physical sense.
On Wednesday, Tokai Teio completed her final chase training.
The Undefeated Triple Crown winner carried out Shuta An's pre-training instructions excellently. In the final chase, with Rice Shower as the target, Tokai Teio only used sixty percent of her strength, easily catching Rice Shower by one second and crossing the line 0.3 seconds ahead of her.
Of course, Rice Shower herself had not gone all out either. She was already on vacation and had been pulled over by her Trainer to serve as a sparring partner. Even without Shuta An reminding her, she was consciously controlling her output.
"Though if Teio-senpai and I both went all out, I'd probably still get overtaken,"
Rice Shower muttered to herself as she took the towel Shuta An handed her and wiped her sweat.
"Good job, Rice."
Shuta An took the towel Rice Shower had used and intended to take it, along with Teio's towel, back to the activity room to wash later.
"It's no trouble at all! I'm happy to help Trainer!" Rice Shower repeatedly waved her hands.
"What are your plans for the holiday, Rice? Are you going to stay at the Academy the whole time?" the young man asked after turning away and tossing the towel into his bag.
"I don't have many plans. I'll probably just stay at the Academy," Rice Shower said after thinking for a moment. "Does Trainer have any arrangements?"
"Not really," Shuta An shrugged. "But if Kurofune and Admire Vega don't have plans either, I can arrange a winter training camp for you all."
"Hokkaido?"
Rice Shower tilted her head.
"You've been there many times, haven't you?" Shuta An shook his head. "I haven't decided yet, but if I arrange one, we definitely won't be going to Hokkaido this time."
"Ugh—"
Rice Shower was quite fond of Hokkaido's local specialties, so she was disappointed to hear that her Trainer's destination for this camp would definitely not be Hokkaido.
In any case, Shuta An really did not plan to go to Hokkaido this time. However, he decided to start researching possible destinations after the Arima Kinen.
"There's at least a month available for a training camp. That's plenty of time," he thought.
After all, barring any surprises, the first race for Team Sadalsuud next year would be Rice Shower's Satsuki Sho prep race, followed by Tokai Teio's Dubai Sheema Classic. Those were all target races he had already decided on long ago.
Teio stood still, watching her Trainer walk toward her.
"Very good performance."
Shuta An took the sweat-soaked towel from Tokai Teio's shoulder and continued,
"Teio is definitely the biggest favorite for this Arima Kinen."
"Of course!" Tokai Teio thumped her chest. "I'm definitely going to show Air Groove a thing or two at Nakayama Racecourse this time!"
"What did she do to you this time?"
Shuta An could not help laughing and sighing at the same time. Air Groove was actually quite good to Tokai Teio, but for some reason, Teio's competitiveness toward her was very obvious.
"Nothing."
Tokai Teio pouted and refused to answer.
After seeing her reaction, the young man roughly guessed what had happened.
"Symboli Rudolf probably used Air Groove as an example to lecture Teio again."
Symboli Rudolf did not do many such things, but whenever she did, Shuta An always felt that Symboli Rudolf and Tokai Teio were more like mother and daughter. Although in the Dream World, Tokai Teio and Symboli Rudolf did in fact have a direct blood relationship—
After washing, wringing out, and hanging the towels, Shuta An cleaned Team Sadalsuud's activity room by himself.
Although the Uma Musume who usually used the room were very careful, the room itself was large. By the time he finished, it was almost lunchtime.
"Go eat lunch, then write the training report, then look at the training situations of the other opponents."
The young man casually arranged his afternoon schedule, which could be described as quite full.
Admire Vega and Kurofune were still some distance from fully developing, so Shuta An did not plan to increase their training intensity any further. In particular, since Admire Vega was still in the junior division, the young man only required her to do one relatively formal training session per week. Even morning runs were not mandatory every day.
So the training report he needed to write in the afternoon essentially only concerned Tokai Teio.
"Why do I feel like I'm the one on vacation?"
Walking toward the cafeteria, the young man suddenly had that thought.
At the same time, Kitahara, basking in the sun on his home balcony, squinted and swayed in his rocking chair.
"So comfortable..."
Kitahara, who was truly on vacation, muttered to himself.