T/N: Huge shout out and thank you for Marman for giving me your support, I really appreciate it, thank you.
Chapter 56
Yasui Makoto spoke in English, and Kitasan Black looked surprised.
"Eh? Trainer Yasui, you mean… in English…?"
The next second her tail shot straight up in shock.
"So it really is you, Trainer Yasui. I don't think there's another trainer as young as you in all of Central Tracen… no, in the entire industry."
The foreign woman named Chris was also speaking English.
And it was quite fluent, with a English general accent.
"W-wait… you can speak English?" Kitasan Black was stunned.
"Sorry about that, Kitasan Black."
Chris spread her hands and shrugged with a bright smile.
"I wanted to speak up earlier, but I don't want to interrupt you
Of course, I'm not scolding you for being so helpful. Let's just call this a wonderful little misunderstanding.
Also, my nihongo actually isn't very good. My main tongue is French.
Au revoir~"
After saying "goodbye" in French, she brought her fingers to her lips and blew Kitasan Black a playful kiss. She smiled at Yasui Makoto, then turned and walked away.
"Looks like French people are romantic to the very end no matter which world they're in…"
"French…? Eh? Trainer Yasui, what did you say?"
Kitasan Black stared blankly at Chris's retreating figure and hadn't caught Yasui Makoto's quiet mutter. She turned to him in confusion.
"It's nothing. I'll take you… never mind, it's not far. Let's walk to the academy together."
The traffic light ahead had just turned green, so Yasui Makoto suggested it.
"Oh… okay…"
Still a little dazed, Kitasan Black followed him across the intersection and suddenly let out a sigh.
"Sigh… I had no idea that lady was a trainer. She obviously knew where the URA Association is, but I still tried to give her directions…"
"She was going to the URA Association?"
Yasui Makoto blinked.
"Yeah, I saw she was carrying some kind of URA brochure or pamphlet."
Kitasan Black gestured as she explained. "So I thought she was just a visitor trying to find the association. Oh right… it looked like… you know her, Trainer Yasui?"
"I've heard of her." Yasui Makoto shook his head.
"I see… So she must be a really famous trainer, huh? I don't know much about trainers though…" Kitasan Black thought for a moment.
"That's normal. You guys usually focus on the other horse girls, so it's natural you don't know much about trainers. As for Chris…"
Yasui Makoto recalled for a moment.
"She won a G1 with her horse girl at just 20 years old, but it was at Chantilly Racecourse in France. She spent most of her time in Europe after that, so it's normal that not many people in Japan know about her."
"20 years old?!"
Kitasan Black's eyes widened.
"And she did it in that young age… that's amazing!"
Yasui Makoto nodded without denying it.
At the current stage, Japan's races and training level were indeed behind Europe.
For example, many Japanese horse girls had gone to Europe to compete, but the results weren't exactly good.
On the other hand, quite a few European horse girls performed very well when they came to Japan. The same went for other overseas regions.
Take the Japan Cup, an international G1. When it first started, the top few places were completely dominated by overseas horse girls for several years in a row.
That only changed when Kitasan Black's own predecessors like Sakura Bakushin O and Symboli Rudolf appeared, followed by another era of overseas dominance.
It took Tokai Teio and Special Week to break that trend again.
"But if that trainer was able to win a European G1…"
Kitasan Black thought about it for a while and asked curiously, "Then why did she come to Japan…?"
Yasui Makoto considered it.
"From some reports I've seen, her father was against her becoming a trainer.
"He apparently said the pressure of the Glorious Series is huge and that she's too gentle and introverted, so she definitely wouldn't be able to handle it.
Maybe she wanted to prove something to her father? Or maybe there's another reason. Anyway, she's been in Japan for many years now."
After explaining, he glanced in the direction the foreign woman had gone.
"However, the association here didn't have long-term licensing rules before. She was always using a short-term trainer license.
Then last year they changed the rules and opened up long-term licenses.
With her skill level, getting the license is a sure thing. The timing of the exams seems to be right around now."
"So she was probably going to the association to pick up her license."
"Is that so…"
Kitasan Black nodded in understanding, then her eyes suddenly sparkled.
"Oh right! Trainer Yasui, you're 18, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, I turned 18 a few months ago."
Yasui Makoto nodded, looking puzzled.
"Is there's something wrong?"
"Great!"
"Huh?
Kitasan Black clenched her fists tightly and nodded with determination.
"Then this Spring Stakes, and the Satsuki Sho after that, I'm going to win them all!
I'm going to make you an even better trainer than her!
Winning a G1 at 18 years old…
Trainer Yasui, that means you'll be the youngest G1 trainer ever, right?!"
Yasui Makoto was completely caught off guard by Kitasan Black's heartfelt intention. He froze for a moment.
Then the corners of his mouth lifted into a gentle smile. He reached out and softly ruffled the black-haired girl's head.
"Yeah. So let's work hard together to make that happen."
…
After arriving at the academy, it was time for the usual training session.
It was Monday, and the Spring Stakes was on Sunday, less than a week away.
The time wasn't long, but Yasui Makoto wasn't worried.
Thanks to Kitasan Black's steady and hard worker personality, she never cut corners in any training session. Her fundamentals were solid, and all her abilities were steadily improving.
Of course she had strengths and weaknesses, and they were very clear.
Her biggest strength was her solid fundamentals.
Unlike most rookie trainers who had just debuted, Yasui Makoto's situation was special. He knew very well that in many cases races weren't decided by talent alone, more often they were decided by fundamentals.
The better the fundamentals, the fewer mistakes you made.
And in quite a few cases, simply not making mistakes was enough to win.
Another strength was her sense of rhythm.
After two months of continuous special training, she no longer needed any markers or signs. In most situations Kitasan Black could now tell how long she had been running, how far she had gone, and how much distance or time was left.
This made her outstanding at seizing opportunities among horse girls of the same level, and her ability to carry out instructions was very strong.
Her stamina and power were also clear advantages.
Even when training with experienced and talented seniors horse girls like Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka, they would show signs of fatigue earlier than Kitasan Black.
At those times the black-haired girl didn't look tired at all, and she still had plenty of energy left before reaching true exhaustion.
Her burst power was the same.
The shorter the distance, the better Kitasan Black performed. Sometimes within 50 meters she could even overpower the seniors.
However, her weakness was precisely this last advantage.
A horse girl's acceleration and deceleration weren't instantaneous. They usually lasted several seconds, covering dozens to hundreds of meters.
Kitasan Black couldn't control the most suitable burst speed.
If she burst too hard, she would use more stamina than necessary.
After that, she would have to adjust her speed for the rest of the race, but by then whether she was accelerating, maintaining, or decelerating, any wasted stamina couldn't be recovered, making it easy to lose the win in the end.