A/N: Sorry for the late update. My family just went on a vacation starting on Mother's day, and I was always thinking about updating this, but everytime I want to, I am hit with extreme energy deprivation (I'm fucking sleepy). We are still on a vacation right now, and I'll try my best to update this...
____________________
6:30 PM - Locker Room
I cleared the Hyperbaric chamber. Luna is just newly finished with it. She will be changing her clothes soon. I went out the locker room and sat on a bench nearby and pulled out my phone, scrolling through race calendars and course data.
We'd been training hard for two weeks now. Luna's been improving steadily and consistently. Her stamina was up, her guts were building, and she was getting more comfortable with high-intensity work. The Hyperbaric Therapy, Luna can usually recover full time in 12 hours.
But there was still an elephant we hadn't addressed yet.
Her debut race.
When should she race for the first time?
I opened my notes app and started typing something...
Luna have been repeating over and over that she wants to be an Undefeated Triple Crown, so the route we chose is first the Debut Race, then Hopeful Stakes, the preparatory race and then Satsuki Sho.
So i need to consider where Luna will race in her debut. I need to make sure that it has the same racecourse as the most important race that Luna will run this year, the Hopeful Stakes.
I tapped my pen against my chin.
Most trainers debuted their charges in local courses or the nearest like Fuchu, Tokyo Racecourse if i feel ambitious, or maybe Nakayama...
Nakayama. Indeed why not Nakayama? It is not only the race course for Hopeful Stakes, but its also near here.
I searched up the course data in Google.
Nakayama Racecourse:
Location: Funabashi, Chiba.
Track: Left-handed oval
Homestretch: 310 meters
Notable feature: Punishing uphill gradient in the final stretch
...
Right!
For comparison, Tokyo Racecourse, the most prolific race course in Japan has over 525.9 meters of homestretch. Which is 215.9 meters longer than Nakayama's homestretch.
Niigata Racecourse's homestretch, which is one of the longest in the country is over 658.7 meters long. Compared to Nakayama, it's over 358.7 meters longer!
(A/N: Niigata is where Rudolf originally debuted.)
I leaned back and looked at the moon, thinking.
It's like hitting two birds and one stone.
For a pace chaser like Luna, positioning was everything. You couldn't just sit mid-pack and pray to the goddesses for the best, you needed to be in the right position at the right time, ready to strike when the moment came.
A short homestretch is practically hell for any pace chasing Umamusume running, It can also be added that Nakayama Racecourse also has tighter turns which makes the homestretch useless for any Uma's if you are trying to mimic the "Tokyo Style" long stretch run mentality of the Tokyo Racecourse.
And that uphill finish? That would be the ultimate test, plus it can also help her accustom to uphills since Tokyo Racecourse also has an uphill section... It can be the ultimate test for Rudolf's training, and can also help on honing her calmness and decisiveness which is extremely important so she'll not panic in unfavorable positions. Diamonds gets made in pressure y'know. So yeah...
I checked the race calendar.
August 23, 198X.
Maiden race. 2000 meters. Turf.
Two months from now it seems... That gives us enough time to prepare.
I nodded to myself and made a note.
Decision: Debut at Nakayama Racecourse, August 23, 198X.
The door clicked. And I stood up and saw Luna groggily come out of the locker room with her uniform on. Our training this time is more on the upper body strength which will be VERY VERY important in the future.
"You okay?" I asked.
"... Yeah. But i'm sleepy."
"..." I helped her out and guided her to the wheelchair. "Alright, sit. We need to talk."
She sat, rubbing her eyes.
"I've decided when you're going to debut."
She suddenly straightened her back when she heard the words.
'Well, that woke her up...' I thought to myself.
"When?"
"August 23rd. Nakayama Racecourse. Maiden race, 2000 meters on turf."
She looked at me for a moment before nodding at herself.
"That gives me roughly four months to adjust for Hopeful Stakes right?" Hm. Already so sure that she'll win? Well, it's not really that surprising considering her moniker as the emperor in the future.
I waved off my thoughts before focusing.
Alright. Hopeful Stakes would be in December. You can basically consider it a prep races for the Japanese Triple Crown.
"It's certainly a decent plant trainer." She looked at me like I'd asked a stupid question. "If I'm debuting in August, that means I have September, October, November, and part of December to build experience and condition before Hopeful Stakes. Four months should definitely be sufficient."
Always thinking three steps ahead.
"Alright then. Since we're on the same page about the path forward, let me explain why I chose Nakayama."
I pulled out my phone and showed her the course data.
"First, it's close. We're in Tokyo. Nakayama is in Chiba, just across the bay. Very easy, and will certainly not tire you with the long trips."
She nodded.
"Second, the homestretch. See this?" I pointed towards the JURA site where the information of Nakayama Racecourse is. "310 meters. That's incredibly short compared to most major courses. Hanshin, for example, has a 473.6-meter homestretch."
"Indeed, that's a significant difference."
"Exactly. Think of it as the Tutorial boss where you'll apply everything that you have learnt so far."
Luna's expression turned thoughtful.
"So you're using this as a positioning test. You have indeed thought this through trainer, but aren't you scared I'll make a mistake?" She teased while her mouth upturned a bit.
"Well, I would be lying if I said I'm not scared one bit. But I trust you would not make any mistake. Besides, to minimize any mistakes, I'll do my best to reduce your chances of making mistakes. I mean that's what trainers are for right?" Not to mention this girl is a monster of logic. She easily memorizes things and she's very meticulous.
"I see." She smiled and looked at the tablet I am holding to show her. "So aside from your trust in me, you chose Nakayama so that it will serve as both a technical challenge for positioning in a short homestretch and a mental one since I'll be pushing through an uphill finish?"
"Exactly."
"Mhm..." She nodded. "I see, I was thinking why are you always making me sprint those 200 meters dash. I guess it's for this huh?"
I chuckled before putting my hands up "Busted."
She sat back, absorbing all of this.
Then she smiled—small but genuine.
"I like it. I believe this would be the best course of action." She smiled.
"Glad you approve."
I checked my watch. 6:45 PM.
"Alright. Since it's June 22nd today, that gives us roughly two months to prepare. Starting next week, we're going to do something different."
"Different how?"
"For one week, we're going to familiarize you with Nakayama Racecourse. We'll go there, run the track, get you comfortable with the turns, the surface, the gradient. Everything, down to the last minute detail."
She nodded.
"And when we're not training, we're going to watch race tapes."
"Race tapes?"
"Yep. G1 races at Nakayama. Satsuki Sho, Arima Kinen, and Hopeful Stakes. Of course, we won't forget to watch a couple of G2s like Yayoi Sho and Spring Stakes. And most importantly," I emphasized this "-debut races at Nakayama."
"Debut races?"
"To familiarize you with how rookie Umamusume behave. Their common habits, their mistakes, their tells. If you know what to expect, you can exploit it."
Luna's eyes lit up with understanding.
"Hm. You are surprisingly cunning Trainer Minami."
"Hehe, that's how 'Merica does things to you."
She stood up from the wheelchair her legs had recovered enough, our talks have been going on for the past 45 minutes now and bowed slightly.
"Thank you, Trainer. For planning all of this."
"It's my job."
"Still." She smiled. "Thank you."
And with that, she left.
I waited until she was gone before pulling out my phone and pretending to call so that if someone goes in, I won't be labeled as a mentally deranged person.
"Rin."
[YEAH, HOST?]
"Open the system shop."
[FINALLY. I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU'D USE ME FOR SOMETHING OTHER THAN SNARKY COMMENTARY.]
"Just open it."
[FINE. OPENING SKILL SHOP.]
A translucent blue screen appeared in front of me, listing hundreds of skills in neat categories.
I scrolled through until I found what I was looking for.
Professor of Curvature Effect: Significantly improves cornering technique and speed retention through turns. Cost: 550 Skill Points
I checked my balance: Skill Points: 1,300
900 from Karen's races back in America.
400 from Luna's training over the past few weeks.
The system was actually pretty clever about how it awarded points.
New exercises, new techniques, a breakthrough?Those gave a lot of points. When I first introduced Luna to HIIT training, I got 50 points in a single session.
But repeating the same exercises over and over will give diminishing returns. Sometimes I'd get 1 or 2 points. Sometimes none at all.
It made sense, actually. The system rewarded growth and adaptation, not mindless repetition.
But it also meant I had to be strategic. If I kept changing up Luna's training too much, it'd ruin her form. But if I stuck in the same old training, it'll still give returns you stats but it'll give you less points to spend on.
I clicked on Professor of Curvature.
Why Professor of Curvature. Again, Nakayama is known for its sharp turns, so having this skill will make it an ease for Luna to turn.
A confirmation screen popped up.
Purchase Professor of Curvature for Symboli Rudolf? Cost: 550 Skill Points Yes / No
I clicked yes immediately.
DING!
[PURCHASE COMPLETE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE!]
[SKILL POINTS REMAINING: 750]
[PROFESSOR OF CURVATURE HAS BEEN ADDED TO SYMBOLI RUDOLF'S SKILL POOL.]
[Professor of Curvature: 9000 repetitive turn to fully learn.]
Right. The anti-abuse function. Almost forgot about that...
The "anti abuse system" or whatever Rin calls it helps so that I don't just abuse buy a ton of skills. It really just gave you the means to learn by giving the Umamusume a hidden talent on that, and help to comprehend the skill faster.
Alright, here's an example. Normally, with Luna's talent, a gold-tier skill like Professor of Curvature would take a month or more, max maybe 4 months.
With the system boost? One week and it can be lower. And it will also give you the specific things you need to do to help realize that Uma's talent.
Pretty annoying thing that strangely makes sense somehow.
[SO WHAT'S THE PLAN, HOST?]
"Of course, repetitive training to help Rudolf learn it faster."
[ALRIGHT.]
I pocketed my phone and stood up.
____________________
The Next day.
"Alright, Luna. New focus starting today."
She stood at the starting line, looking fresh and ready despite this morning's strength training session.
"We're going to work on cornering."
"Cornering?"
"Yep. Specifically, I want you to run the curves of this track over and over. I'm going to teach you the optimal path, the best techniques for maintaining speed through turns, body positioning, everything."
"How many repetitions?"
"As many as you can scientifically handle."
She nodded, no complaints.
"First, let me explain the theory."
I walked her over to the first turn of Track 20.
"When most Umamusume take a corner, they do one of two things. Either they slow down too much to maintain control, or they try to maintain speed but drift wide, losing distance."
"And the optimal approach?"
"You take the racing line." I traced an invisible path with my hand. "Enter wide, apex at the inside of the turn, exit wide again. It's the longest geometric path, but it lets you maintain the highest average speed."
"Mhm..."
"But there's more. Your body position matters. Lean into the turn, though not too much or you'll lose balance, but enough to shift your center of gravity. Keep your inside leg driving, outside leg stabilizing. And most importantly -" I tapped her shoulder " - keep your upper body relaxed, or it'll kill your speed."
"Understood."
"Alright, before we go into the advance stuff we talked about earlier, let's do a little bit of repetition training to familiarize yourself more on corners."
"Alright..." After finishing warming up, She took her position.
"Ready? Go!"
"Again!"
"That was worse than the last! Again!"
"Again!"
"Return, again."
At the end of the day.
[SKILL PROGRESS: PROFESSOR OF CURVATURE - 23%]
One day down.
Thursday - 4 days later.
[DING!]
[CONGRATULATIONS! SYMBOLI RUDOLF HAS LEARNED: PROFESSOR OF CURVATURE!]
____________________
3 days after she learnt the skill, and the morning of June 29, 198X, 6:30am. Rudolf called me.
"Rudolf what's up calling so early?"
"Come near L'Effervescence, wear a formal suit and tie. I'm outside the restaurant waiting, we are going somewhere." She said, and directly hung up the phone.
I didn't even have the chance to question why, but since Rudolf said it, I guess I have no choice but to go...
As I was bathing, it struck me.
"Wait, isn't this a date?"
[BAKANAMI...]
"What? Isn't this technically a date?"
[YEAH.]
"Wait, so does that mean Rudolf sees me that way?"
I shook my head of the thought.
I cant just be too delusional. Maybe there are other reasons.
____________________
I arrived at the destination and saw Luna who is wearing a green military suit, and green long pants.
"Minami, it's only 20 minutes after the call and yet you have arrived. It's very fast."
"Well, it's your fault that you suddenly at 6am, I thought it was urgent so I hurried here."
She smiled upon hearing that.
"Yes, it is urgent. You see, I am invited to a party in the Mejiro Manor. Mejiro Ramonu has recently gone through her True Blooming Phase, and now the whole Mejiro Manor are celebrating this event by throwing a party. Of course, all of the prestigious family in the Japan are invited, including myself."
"I see, but can I refuse? As you know... Those traditional prestigious families in Japan especially the family the Symboli family certainly hates me and as you know... Ahaha..."
After saying that, Luna's eye glinted with sharpness.
"I'm not taking no for an answer." She refused my refusal...
I slumped and only mechanically nodded.
"Thank you Minami-san. I know I can count on you."
I tried to give my best smile but I know for certain it looks ugly.
____________________
We arrived at the Mejiro Manor, and it is huge. Nearly 4 times as big as our Mansion like house. There are also a ton of Limousine parked at one designated parking area. Everything in here screams old money. Genuinely.
As we approached the big door, the outside guests looked at us.
Especially me.
Ugh... This is why I don't like these gatherings, everyone here moves like a snake.
...
We are walking towards the second floor where the truly distinguished guests are. I tried to remove my hand but...
*Crack*
"Ah Ah... Luna don't... Too hard... I promise... I won't sneak out..."
Thankfully, she loosened her grip on me, or else my precious right hand would have been lost.
We are approaching these groups of distinguished guests talking, and now that I'm close I saw them clearly. Mejiro Ramonu, and Rudolf's father.
"Hello everyone. I'm the current heir of the Symboli family, Symboli Rudolf. This is my trainer, the one who trained the first undefeated triple crown in the US. Minami Laurent." Rudolf introduced.
She directly nudged me to speak and with great difficulty, I finally managed to talk.
"My name is Minami Laurent, indeed I trained Seattle Slew. Ahaha." Does it sound weird?! They are looking at me weirdly. Yeah that definitely sounds weird!
Rudad is currently scrutinizing me...
"It is a great achievement to train such an exceptional Umamusume at such a young age, so don't feel too nervous, Minami-san~." I looked over at the direction of the voice. It was Mejiro Ramonu.
"Thanks for the heads up, Ramonu-san." She nodded and drank her wine.
I looked over at the second floor to distract myself and also saw the other Mejiro girls. Mejiro McQueen is currently gobbling down a cake, Mejiro Palmer is smiling while trying to tease McQueen about getting fat which made McQueen blush. There is also Mejiro Bright at the corner, holding a teddy bear and being silent. Mejiro Ryan is near her, trying to make her go with the Mejiro Siblings. Mejiro Ardan is in the second floor, wearing an exquisite Blue one piece skirt, and her hair all wavy, entertaining some guest.
But I can't seem to find the other Uma Musume... What's her name again? I pulled out my green notebook and there I found her name.
Ah Yes, Mejiro Dober... I smiled and put the green notebook in my suit.
...
I looked over and saw Rudolf busy chatting. I instantly knew so I directly slipped off and went towards the first floor.
There I went and eat a lot of food. The fried chicken is surprisingly juicy, but the nuggets are just as dry as the desert. Not worth eating...
____________________
If you don't know, I'm currently walking around the Mejiro Manor... It isn't really illegal since I saw a lot of people walking around the manor, specifically to go to their garden which really looks good.
Anyways, I'm in a long hallway walking when suddenly, a door opened. I saw the young Mejiro Dober shyly peeking out the door, holding a piece of paper and walking out.
She is wearing a black dress, and when it is exposed to light, it shines.
She really looks very cute in that dress if she removes her always frowning face...
As she is walking, she is looking at her back, specifically at the garden and she unconsciously hit me.
"Ah." She screamed momentarily before getting thrown to her butt.
She looked over to me and her face went from shyness, to a pure and utter disgust...
Ah right, I forgot how Dober hates men...
"Hello young one, are you ok?" I reached out my hand to help her but she merely slapped it away and proceeded to vigorously wiped the hand she slapped with.
My lips twitched involuntarily seeing her action...
'This brat...'
[HAHAHAHAHA.] meanwhile Rin is currently laughing her ass off. Really funny.
Instead of scolding her, I directly picked up the paper scattered in the ground. Just as I was picking it up...
"Stop!" She almost screamed at me. She then directly pulled out a Personal Safety Buzzer.
"I-If you take it, I will activate this buzzer!" Dober threatened.
...
I'm silent outside, but inside, I'm currently panicking.
As i was trying to make an excuse, I realized I had directly picked one paper up. I looked at it and saw Dober's drawing which really looks beautiful?
"D-Dont! Your not allowed to look at it"
"Well, I'm sorry... It's really looks good. Who drew this, it's really well made." I tried to control the situation. Thankfully, Dober lowered her guard and she directly loosened her hold on the buzzer. She blushed and looked at the floor before confessing.
"I-It's me..." She said in almost like a whisper.
"Wow!" I beamed. Yes, thankfully she didn't pull the buzzer or my life would have been ruined. "It's really well drawn. And isn't this from that one magical girl anime, "Magi★Precure: Ultimate Magical Girl" ?
"Y-yes! Mami looked really good..."
"Yeah! Mami is really cute, her frilly dress and her short blonde hair really is the pure definition of a Magical Girl!"
She smiled and proceed to ramble about magical girls.
Meanwhile, me looking at the drawing had a big brain moment.
Wait a minute if I... Hm... Its feasable. Let me try asking.
"Hey Dober, why do you hide your drawing?"
"B-because, I'm a Mejiro Lady and a girl like me shouldn't do something meaningless like this..."
"I see... Seeing you not giving up on drawing even though people around you discourages it. You seem to love drawing very much."
"Y-yes... I love drawing."
A comfortable silence washed over us...
Yes, it's near. But the time to strike is still far...
"Hey Dober, you love drawing right? Do you also love drawing stories..?"
"Y-Yes, I really love drawing Chance encounters and pure love..."
I smiled hearing about it...
"Dober! I have a plan! Since you like drawing so much. Why not help me with the illustration for a Light Novel?"
Yes, I'm actually trying to convince Mejiro Dober to be my Illustrator. Seeing my funds dwindle real time, I'm currently in desperate need for other sources of funds. And one of the most reasonable route is to just copy anime, comic or novel plot in my world that was incredibly successfully.
"Light novel?" She tilted her head. "Wait no! We just met recently, why are you even offering this to a child like me? Are you trying to milk me of my money? Are you like one of those fraud scams?"
"Wait no no no! I'm not like one of those! I actually have a whole script going on! It's Romance and has a chance encounter as well!"
When I mentioned romance and chance encounter, her ears immediately perked up.
I immediately struck while the iron is hot.
"It's actually 5 Umamusumes, trying to fight for 1 trainers love!" That got her to frown.
And what better way to make money than to make a Harem anime. Those Isekai anime plot I watched have been forgotten, but there is one harem anime that has an ending so bad that I still hate it till this day and due to it, I didn't forget about the plot.
"Umamusume Light Novel that has Harem? Aren't you just putting a drop of water into the ocean?"
"No no! This is different I promise! Those 5 Umamusumes are actually... Quintuplets!"
"Wait what?"
"Yes, 5 Umamusumes who are quintuplets fighting for 1 trainers love. How about that?"
And yes, I'm talking about that controversial anime, Quintessential Quintuplets. I'm still upset with the ending of it till this day, and since the manga isn't released in this world, I'll try to copy it and make my favorite heroine win!
"Ok and? That can't be all right? Because that's just a really bad gimmick..."
"Actually, when the Trainer was a child, he met one of the quintuplets in Tokyo while watching the Japanese Derby, and the main character will find out that one of the quintuplets is actually the girl he met at the Japanese Derby and after finding that out, he will try to find a way to meet that girl again and if they did..."
Dober's eyes immediately sparkled.
"What would happen?"
"I won't spoil it of course. Haha! So what about it? Would you accept my offer? Don't worry, we'll split 50/50."
Dober frowned.
"How? Won't you just fleece me I know how men like you work, you try to exploit kids like me to make money!"
I immediately waved my hand and tried to dispel her doubts
"No of course not! I won't ever do that to a child! You know people invited to this party are very important people right? Why not I tell you my name, and if you found out that I took even 1 cent of your money, you can ruin my life. By giving the information we made here to the reporters."
"Alright then, what's you name?"
"My name is... Don't be shocked alright? Minami Laurent!"
... *Quack Quack*....
...
...
...
"Who the hell? I don't know any Minami Laurent alright, so you must have been a not so important person." She concluded while still frowning.
"No! Don't you know me? I'm the biggest up and coming trainer!"
"Nope. Never heard of you."
I sighed.
"Alright then, if you find out that I took atleast 1 yen from your split..." I took out my phone and showed her a number.
"You can call my trainee, Symboli Rudolf!"
...
"That's fake. Rudolf-neesama isn't close to people."
She still doesn't believe me?!
"Believe me, she's actually Rudolf look!"
I then proceeded to call the number. I put it on speaker mode so that Dober can hear it.
*Ring Ring... Ring Ring... Ring... Bleep.*
Luna picked up the phone and her melodious voice
"Hello, Trainer-san, where are you? I've been looking for you."
I immediately gave Dober the "See? I know her." Look looking all smug, which got her to go "tsk".
"I'm actually with a cute Mejiro here, say hi to your 'Rudolf-neesama', M-E-J-I-R-O D-O-B-E-R-chan~~"
I gave Dober the phone and she gritted her teeth and then spoke in a cold tone.
"Why do you know this piece of garbage and an pathetic excuse of a human, Rudolf-neesama?"
Oi oi, I'm still here you brat!
"W-what? Don't say that thing to Minami. He's the one person I told all of you Mejiro girls about, my childhood friend!"
"C-Childhood friend?" She went silent before trying to protest.
"Wait... That Minami? The knight and shining armor who helped you when you cried at the park, the one who helped you when you were at your lowest? The one who you encountered by... Chance?"
(A/N: This is her interpretation of Rudolf's story. Full of delusions and happiness.)
Rudolf who is on the opposite line immediately blushed hard.
"D-Dont say loud things like that! Minami might here you..." Rudolf whispered.
"Oh..."
Dober then looked me up and down, before sighing...
She then handed me the phone, and I told Luna where I was before directly turning off the call.
"Alright then, I accept your offer." She decided.
"Besides, I know someone who is the daughter of a rather large publishing company, so that this LN would be released as fast as possible."
"Hehe alright. So it's a deal then?" I reached out my hand for a handshake, she looked at it for a moment before taking it.
"Yes." We shook hands, and afterwards, Dober proceeded to scrub her handkerchief vigorously on the hand we handshake with...
Rudolf arrived 5 minutes later and we directly went home at 3PM.
____________________
2 days after that detour on the Mejiro Manor, we are back on track with our training.
"Luna!"
She jogged over.
"We're going to Nakayama today."
Her eyes widened. "Today?"
"Yep, today I want to test how you fair on those sharp corners of theirs."
"But, it's really a pain in the ass... It would have been great if we can immediately process a document so we can go to Nakayama right now..."
Rudolf though for a moment before...
"I got it." She smiled and then dangled the Student Council key in-front of me "Student Council President privileges are useful, aren't they?"
She smiled.
I blinked before I realized what was going on. "I suppose they are."
We went into the StuCo council and directly got a document to let us through the race course.
Nakayama Racecourse - 2:00 PM
The course was nearly empty.
A few trainers were scattered around with their charges, but it was quiet enough that we can proceed with our respective training.
I led Luna to the starting gate area.
"Alright. 2000 meters. Imagine this is your debut race. I want you to run it once at 80% effort, but in every corner, make it 100%. Conserve as much energy as possible and waste as little movement as you can. Get a sense for the track also."
"Understood."
She took her position.
I raised my stopwatch.
"Ready... Go!"
Click... She directly took off.
I watched her navigate the first corner, absolutely smooth, and very controlled.
Second corner, even better than the first.
3rd corner, she seemed to get used and went even more faster. I watched her heart rate. It was still within reasonable levels.
And now the final stretch...
The uphill.
She lowered her center of gravity and sped up slightly...
...
She crossed the finish line.
Click.
"1:36.8!"
She jogged back, breathing hard, though thankfully she isn't gasping.
"How did it feel?"
"The uphill is... Harder than it looks."
"Hm... Yeah." I scribbled some words on my blue notebook.
"But I like it." She smiled. "It feels like a test."
We ran the course three more times, each one slightly faster than the last.
By the fourth run, she was down to 1:34.2.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Let's head back."
3:15PM - Minami's House
We sat in the living room, my laptop open on the coffee table.
"Ready?" I asked.
Luna nodded, notebook and pen in hand.
I pulled up the first video.
Satsuki Sho - 197X
"This is a G1 race at Nakayama. 2000 meters. Watch how the pace chasers position themselves in the pack."
We watched in silence.
When the race ended, I paused it.
"What did you notice?"
"The winner..." Luna pointed at the screen "she stayed in fourth place for the entire race until the final corner. Then she moved."
"Exactly. Patience. She waited for the perfect moment."
"But the Umamusume in 6th place tried to move too early. She got boxed in after the Uma in front realized what she's doing. It also caused Umas on her back to move in which made her caged."
"Good eye. That's what happens when you commit too soon. It's very unpredictable what happens and people who usually do this either don't know what they are doing or they are making a gamble."
We watched another race. Then another. We watched a lot of G1s..
By 6:00 PM, we'd watched 32 tapes.
The Next Day - 4:00 PM
Luna didn't come to training, because she had a test.
I wasn't going to be the kind of trainer who forced his charge to skip important exams of course I'm not that heartless...
So instead, I spent the afternoon organizing more race tapes... Especially the Hopeful Stakes and the Debut races. They are very essential.
When Luna finally arrived at 4:15 PM, she looked tired.
"How was the test?"
"...it's alright."
"Good..." Damn is she smart...
I smiled. "Then let's keep watching."
We picked up where we left off—finishing the G1 races and moving into G2s.
It took us two days to get through all of them.
And with that, we went on and continue our training. Occasionally going to the Nakayama Racecourse and practice there.
____________________
2 months later, two days before Luna's debut.
...
End.
____________________
Omake: The Hardworking Luna and the Oji-san Maruzensky who tries to be Mean!
____________________
"Alright, Luna. Today we're watching debut races."
She pulled out a small pink notebook, it was new I noticed.
"What's that?"
"For notes. I want to write down everything you say."
I blinked...
That's actually a nice idea.
"Alright, let's start."
I pulled up the first debut race.
"Look at the Umamusume in gate number 5. See how nervous she is?"
Luna wrote: Gate 5 - nervous body language.
"Now watch what happens after the first corner. When Umamusume number 3 pressures her, she accelerates. Why?"
"...Inexperience?"
"Partly. But also panic. She's not used to the pressure, so she reacts instead of thinking."
Luna wrote: Pressure response - acceleration without strategy.
"And that costs her. By the time they hit the final stretch, she's absolutely gassed."
We watched race after race.
I pointed out mistakes, and patterns.
Luna wrote furiously, her handwriting getting smaller and smaller as she tried to fit everything in.
By 6:45 PM, my throat was probably dry from answering her questions, and my voice was hoarse from talking.
And her notebook is absolute filled.
I flipped through Luna's notebook. She has used exactly 95 pages... And, Can't she just summarized what I said? She wrote what I literally said... Damn, her memory is a monster...
I closed the notebook
"This is impressive, but you could've just summarized it." I said honestly.
"I wanted to be thorough."
"Well... That's thorough alright."
She smiled, and chuckled a bit.
"So we're done with the tapes?" She asked curiously.
"Yep. You've seen everything you need to see. The rest is just execution."
She nodded.
"Then I'll return to my Student Council duties tomorrow."
Right. She'd been skipping a lot of paperwork to focus on training...
Maruzensky is probably going to kill her.
____________________
The Next Day - Student Council Room
I was right.
Maruzensky was going to kill her.
"Rudolf-chan~~" Maruzensky's voice was sickly sweet. "You've been gone for a week. Do you know how much paperwork has piled up?"
Luna bowed. "I apologize, Maruzensky."
"Oh, don't worry! I'm not mad!" Maruzensky smiled.
That smile is terrifying.
"As punishment, you'll handle all of this week's paperwork. By yourself."
She gestured to a stack of folders.
A very tall stack... Luna's expression flicker on the slightest. She merely looked at it up and down, like she is sizing it up before accepting it.
"Understood. I'll complete it by Friday."
Maruzensky blinked.
"Wait, I was joking—"
"I accept the punishment."
"Rudolf, seriously, I was just—"
"It's only fair."
Maruzensky looked at me helplessly.
I shrugged.
Luna had already sat down and opened the first folder.
Maruzensky sighed. "You're too serious, Rudolf-chan..."
I tried to help. And I really mean I tried. But I'm really bad at these stuff... Like organization, budget allocation... I was completely useless...
I merely sat at the couch and watched Luna doing paperwork. Meanwhile, Maruzensky who is besides me took out her red N*ntendo DS.
"Look Minami-kun! N*ntendo just released this new device! It looks very realistic, and I can play Super M*rio on the fly!" She bragged.
...
"Well, Maruzensky-san, I don't know how to say this but NDS was released 5 years ago, it isn't new..."
Silence~~
"What? 5 years? I remember it was released like yesterday! I still remember buying it!"
"Maruzensky... They already stop production of that junk, N*ntendo is already on their N*ntendo Switch the very new thing that can play a lot of bigger and higher resolution games."
"What?! N*ntendo Switch? Why haven't I heard of it?"
I sighed and shrugged.
"Maybe it's the sign of old ag-..." I was stopped by Luna who threw a pencil at me while frantically moving her eyes trying to tell me to look at Maruzensky...
...
Why is Maruzensky emitting a very dark aura?
____________________
One Week Later
Luna finished the paperwork.
Meanwhile, Minami just went out of the hospital after suffering a broken jaw due to getting slapped hard by that old ha-... I mean that beautiful young maiden named Maruzenky.
"Argh. Argh argh!!!" Luna tried to look but seeing her trainer's pitiful face is just too much for her...
She went out and get fresh air...
She sighed before cursing something... What could she be cursing?
____________________
A/N: I am always confused on what type of Rudolf personality I should use in this fanfic. Either the game version which she is silly. The CinGray version where she wants all the smoke or the Anime version where she is just happy.
Argh!!! Anyways, Ciao~~