If Hayato hadn't emphasized multiple times that today was corner practice, she definitely wouldn't have noticed anything different.
But now she could clearly feel herself getting slightly stronger. Like entering a special state, her body moving just a bit smoother through the turns.
Is this what trainer meant? Seiun Sky was curious about what exactly this was.
With Corner Adapt, she overtook King Halo in the corner. The overtaken King Halo gave chase immediately and finally caught back up the distance on the straight, her legs pumping hard.
After finishing the run, King Halo gasped continuously looking at Seiun Sky, her chest heaving. She'd almost lost even at her most skilled distance.
Seiun Sky looked at her own body, falling into contemplation. Her hands flexed, testing the feeling.
She knew her body had undergone some kind of change but couldn't say exactly what it was.
"Trainer, is this the breakthrough you mentioned in corner?"
"Right. Today's training, you've already passed. You can continue training or rest." Hayato answered without thinking, jotting down notes.
"Then let's continue training." Seiun Sky turned to King Halo again. "Halo-chan, Seiun's about to get serious now. Don't cry, okay?"
"Hmph!" King Halo snorted lightly, her ears flicking back. "Come at me all you want. I won't lose to you either."
The competition that followed became intense. Seiun Sky could always overtake King Halo in corners, while King Halo would reclaim distance on the straights.
Several times, the two almost crossed the line simultaneously.
Sometimes all three crossed together. Silence Suzuka could always lead by half a length, her form impossibly smooth.
After proficiency reached a certain level, Silence Suzuka awakened a skill—Front Runner Corner (Normal Low-Rank/Yellow)
Front Runner Corner (Normal Low-Rank/Yellow)—Front Runner・Slightly increases speed on corners.
This kind of skill was different from the skill Seiun Sky had. Seiun Sky skill would turn into gold legends after upgrading. This skill could only be upgraded to Normal High-Rank.
After Silence Suzuka awakened this skill, her speed increased again, pulling one length ahead of the two.
The sky slowly darkened, shadows stretching across the training grounds. Training still continued.
The lights around the track were already on, painting the empty training grounds in soft gold. Night practice was long over, but King Halo still hadn't moved from the fence.
She leaned forward, one arm pulled in close to her chest, shoulders tense. Her breathing was uneven, not from exhaustion anymore, but from something worse.
"…Why am I the only one who hasn't learned it?"
She clicked her tongue and looked away, annoyed at herself. Her tail flicked sharply behind her, swishing back and forth like it was picking a fight with the air.
The other two had learned it, but only she hadn't. She was quite unwilling.
Hayato said, "Maybe because you value winning and losing too much, you haven't trained seriously."
"How's that possible? I've clearly been working very hard." Her voice rose slightly.
"Calm down first. Um... Seiun, you try persuading her."
Seiun Sky walked to King's front. "Because we're researching corner technique, we should try every kind of cornering method and find the most suitable one, right?"
"Hm?" King Halo only now had a feeling of sudden realization.
Did I misunderstand the whole point? King Halo always thought just desperately accelerating in corners was enough.
Skills indeed weren't something that could awaken just by going through corners enough times. Otherwise, Seiun Sky who had wits other than King Halo and Silence Suzuka would've comprehended countless skills before.
"That's it for now. Continue tomorrow. Dismissed." Hayato couldn't wait to go night running, already loosening his shoulders.
"Wait, wait, I can still keep running. I want to continue training." King Halo reached out, grabbing at the air, as if trying to catch something slipping away.
Hayato looked at the time. Just past 8 PM. He nodded. "Then I'll allow you to practice one last hour. Must return before 9 o'clock."
Seiun Sky originally wanted to go back and rest early. Seeing King Halo's determined eyes, she hesitated. "Then I'll continue training too."
"Hmph, no need to meddle." King Halo was quite moved but still snorted, turning her face slightly.
"Who's meddling?" Seiun Sky smiled looking at her. "Seiun's afraid your abilities will improve again! But if Seiun also keeps improving, you'll never surpass me, haha."
After saying this, she laughed twice. King Halo looked ready to breathe fire, her cheeks puffing.
Silence Suzuka watched the two joking around and also spoke softly. "Then I also... want to stay."
"Suzuka, you don't need to stay. Go back and rest early." Hayato interrupted her.
"But I still want to run a bit more." Silence Suzuka lowered her head, her ears drooping. She didn't directly say she was staying for King Halo.
"Seiun Sky is staying to help King Halo. What can you do by staying?" Hayato felt like he was managing a bit too much, then waved his hand. "Forget it. If you want to stay, then stay."
Hayato said to the other two horse girls, "Seiun, you help King. King, stop being stubborn and be serious."
Seiun Sky looked at King Halo with an ambiguous smile. "Since trainer said so, then I'll give her a little guidance. Halo-chan, please take care of me."
"I know. Then I grant you the right to guide me." At this moment, King Halo still didn't change her tsundere ojou-sama character, her chin lifting.
After they started running, Hayato ran in another direction, slowly disappearing into the night. His footsteps faded into the darkness.
"Halo-chan, using quick steps when entering corners will have unexpected effects!"
As they approached the corner, Seiun Sky reminded her.
"I know. You think I can't do it?" King Halo talked back while following Seiun Sky's words.
Changing direction at high speed required deceleration, but there was a method to pass without decelerating. Steps shouldn't be too large. Someone could control it with quick steps.
Stepping rhythm quickened, became more frequent, yet could cleverly avoid deceleration.
Stamina would also be consumed during acceleration, but it was about the same as consuming at average speed.
Because speed remained the same as before entering the corner, and it was more convenient for cornering, pressure actually decreased.
After using quick steps and speeding up her stepping rhythm, King Halo felt the pressure of entering the corner lighten. Indeed felt much easier. The feeling of being able to continue accelerating in corners washed over her.
She immediately increased speed, wanting to catch up to Seiun Sky, but found Seiun Sky was obviously much more skilled than she was. Hard to close the gap.
After nearly an hour of training, King Halo finally caught up to Seiun Sky in a corner. Her form clicked into place.
After proficiency reached a certain level, King Halo awakened a skill—Corner Adept (Normal/Yellow)
Corner Adept (Normal/Yellow)—Slightly increase velocity on a corner with skilled turning.
"S-success." King Halo's eyes were filled with incomparable joy, practically sparkling.
A bit slow, but still succeeded.
"Not bad, Halo-chan. Learned it so quickly."
"Heh, of course." The pride in her voice was unmistakable.
Silence Suzuka, not good at conversing with the two, had already walked toward the dorms alone, her footsteps quiet.
King Halo saw this and followed, jogging to catch up. "Um, Suzuka, why are you walking so fast?"
"What is it?" Silence Suzuka stopped and looked at her timidly, her ears perking forward.
"Um, that, thank you." King Halo's face reddened slightly. She was certain no one could see in the dark now.
"It's nothing. Time to go back."
King Halo suggested, "Then let's go back together. You're also in Ritto Dormitory, right?"
"Hm? Go back together?" Silence Suzuka blinked.
"We're on the same team and in the same dorm building. Isn't going back together natural?" King Halo asked back, her tone matter of fact.
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Illustration on the other side~