Rest?
Manhattan Cafe lowered her head and looked at her own legs.
She hadn't expected to hear the word "overwork" from Fujimura Hikaru.
She'd thought she'd hit a bottleneck because she wasn't working hard enough—only to find out it was because she'd been working too hard.
The realization left her in a complicated mood.
"Why can Fujimura-sensei be so sure it's overwork…?"
Feeling fairly shaken, Manhattan Cafe couldn't help wondering what his basis was.
"It's not actually that hard to spot," Hikaru said.
Hands on his hips, he began explaining at an unhurried pace.
"Like just now—when I touched your legs and you felt that soreness—that's muscle fatigue."
"Normally, someone who doesn't train will also feel a strong burn and ache in their legs after running 800 meters. But you're different…"
"With your outstanding stamina, as a horse girl, even if you sprint that 800 meters at full speed, the load shouldn't feel that obvious."
"So the fact you felt it so clearly means your legs have already accumulated a lot of fatigue that hasn't been relieved. Naturally, my touch would feel extra sensitive to you."
So it was that much fatigue built up already…
"Seriously… impressive that you noticed," Manhattan Cafe said with a quiet sigh.
As the owner of these legs, if Hikaru hadn't pointed it out, she wouldn't have connected the fatigue to overwork at all.
"What tipped me off was your running form just now," Hikaru said.
"While you were doing laps, you were trying to follow the posture I taught in class, but in practice your form had a pretty big deviation. I figured it was because your legs are fatigued, so you subconsciously shifted your movements toward whatever felt easier."
"That's my main evidence for calling it overwork."
"I see…" Manhattan Cafe nodded, enlightenment dawning.
If she hadn't asked someone with eyes as sharp as his, she might really have failed to notice the issue indefinitely.
"So, don't do extra training at night. The training I schedule for you during the day is already enough for your body to grow. If you keep adding more, best case you end up with a bottleneck like this; worst case your legs can't take it and you develop an injury—by then it'll be too late."
Hikaru warned her with genuine sincerity.
As a trainer, he knew exactly what a horse girl's true enemy was.
Racing was high-speed competition; the strain on the legs was severe. Cases of forced retirement due to injury were countless.
If you didn't take proper care of your legs, a future where you could never run again would be waiting quietly just ahead.
Even though Hikaru wasn't Manhattan Cafe's personal trainer, as her training-camp instructor, he still had an obligation to remind her how important it was to protect her legs.
He didn't want to see a horse girl he knew walk into a tragic ending because of injury.
If an ending can be avoided, then don't serve it up in the first place.
"Okay… I'll stop the extra training…"
Hearing his advice, Manhattan Cafe's small black ears drooped, and she looked thoroughly dispirited.
She wasn't unreasonable. She understood that if she insisted on pushing herself, there was an 80–90% chance it would turn into exactly the disastrous outcome Hikaru described.
But once she stopped the extra training, the anxiety inside her wouldn't stop.
Could training step by step really let her catch up to "her"?
Manhattan Cafe didn't know.
And because she didn't know whether the gap would shrink, she grew restless and uneasy.
Seeing the stormy uncertainty on her face, Hikaru sighed.
Being this driven to improve wasn't a bad thing for a horse girl—but it was rare to see someone become this agitated for that reason alone.
Looks like the knot was that so-called "friend."
"Manhattan Cafe, if you don't mind… could you describe what level your friend is at?"
"Huh…?" Manhattan Cafe froze, clearly not expecting the question. Then she answered honestly: "She's fast… Every time I chase her with everything I've got, I can't close the distance even a little…"
So the gap is that huge…
From her description, Hikaru roughly guessed their difference in ability was far larger than he'd initially imagined.
"You want to catch her that badly?"
Once again, Hikaru looked straight at the black-haired horse girl and asked in a serious tone.
Manhattan Cafe responded with a voice just as firm.
"I… really admire the way she runs. If I follow in her footsteps… then even I might be able to run with steps like that…"
"I want to become like that. I want to catch up to that version of her!"
Hearing her answer, Hikaru drew a breath and pointed at the track.
"Then let's run a match. Assume your friend is here right now—use your current full strength and race her. Based on what you show me, I'll estimate the gap between you two."
"You want to know how big the gap is too, right?"
"…"
Manhattan Cafe fell silent, then slowly walked onto the track.
She didn't say a word, but her actions fully conveyed her decision.
At the edge of her vision, a pitch-black silhouette gradually emerged—wearing the same face as her own, an eager, combative look spreading across it.
Her "friend" seemed to take quite a liking to Fujimura Hikaru.
Hikaru's countdown rang out again across the training field. Manhattan Cafe and the black shadow both took their starting stances.
"Run!"
The instant the command fell, the two figures exploded forward.
And at the moment Manhattan Cafe launched, Hikaru silently activated his Appraisal Eye again.
This time, he wasn't observing Manhattan Cafe—he was looking at the empty stretch of track in front of her.
He hadn't forgotten Manhattan Cafe's ability to see what others couldn't.
During the day, he'd never once seen Manhattan Cafe do sparring runs with other horse girls.
Yet from her words, it was clear she'd clashed with that "friend" many times.
That made it easy to connect the dots to her uncanny sight.
Maybe her "friend" wasn't some upperclass horse girl at all…
Maybe it was something he couldn't see.
If that was the case, then Appraisal Eye would finally have a place to shine.
"Found you."
Hikaru focused his gaze on the empty patch of ground—and a data panel appeared.
Speed: ? Stamina: ? Power: ? Guts: ? Wisdom: ?
What the hell… she's got cheats.
—
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