The conclusion of the Orfevre incident signaled the start of normalcy at Tracen Academy, and the proverbial stone that was hanging over the Student Council's hearts was finally lifted. Everyone quickly resumed their busy schedules.
First, Ikezoe Kenichi. Although he had failed in persuading Orfevre to join his team for now, he understood one thing from this incident: some hardships are tied to one's fate. Since he couldn't avoid them, he might as well learn to enjoy them.
Ikezoe had made up his mind to train Orfevre into a world-class Uma Musume in this world as well, but of course, this would require time—a lot of it. But he had other things to do now, like arranging Curren Chan's Debut Race.
"The Hakodate Junior Stakes in the latter half of July, a GIII 1200-meter sprint race on turf, at the Hakodate Racetrack. That will be your Debut Race, Curren Chan. Sigh... Wada started so much earlier than us. His luck must've been out of this world to have found a GI-level Uma Musume like Meisho Doto, who had already finished her Debut Race and still didn't have a Trainer." (T/N: Just treat Curren Chan being able to run a GIII as her Debut to be because of her high fan count and influential rich family. I originally wanted to correct it, but there will be a future arc about this race and it'll make no sense if I were to change it into a maiden race, so there's nothing I can do about it.)
"However, unlike them, we still have a lot of time to prepare for your Debut Race."
"Hehe, since Onii-chan was the one who arranged it, Curren Chan has no objections." Curren Chan smiled and said, "A race in July—that means we have a few months to prepare! Curren Chan needs to train hard!"
"That's right, it's 1200 meters on turf, a short-distance race. Even if your aptitude lies in this distance, don't get careless, okay?"
Curren Chan nodded in agreement. As her Trainer, Ikezoe naturally understood Curren Chan well. When it came to short distances, Curren Chan's strength was undeniable. And, after some training, even challenging a GI would not be a problem. This was why Ikezoe signed up for the GIII Hakodate Junior Stakes race in July, instead of the OP Dahlia Sho race in August. (T/N: The Hakodate Junior Stakes is the earliest sprint race you can do in your Junior Year while the Dahlia Sho is the second earliest.)
Why did he only consider sprint races? Well, it's because Curren Chan could really only run short-distance races, to the point where even a mile race would be nigh impossible to win unless the disparity in strength was high enough. Curren Chan was not Sakura Bakushin O, who could perform decently well even in mile races. She excelled almost exclusively in sprint races. (T/N: Curren Chan has a D aptitude for mile while Sakura Bakushin O has a B.)
Therefore, Ikezoe didn't dare to sign up Curren Chan for anything other than short-distance races. Ikezoe felt that he was truly fortunate for having knowledge of Curren Chan's strengths in advance, which allowed him to avoid some detours as well as increase the amount of races Curren Chan will win.
"Even though this is only a GIII race, we can't cut corners on training."
"Oh, so Curren Chan needs to work hard!" Curren Chan said with a very cute smile, then bent down and said with a grin, "If Onii-chan praises Curren Chan more, I'll work even harder~"
"Alright, alright, Curren Chan~! You're the cutest Uma Musume in the world~"
Ikezoe was not at all stingy with his praise, gently rubbing Curren Chan's small head, feeling his heart start to heal from the cuteness Curren Chan was releasing.
Indeed, Curren Chan was his favorite Uma Musume after all. She would heal his emotional wounds, never shy away from intense training, and was also very cute. She was at least a hundred times easier to handle compared to Orfevre and most likely the Uma Musume version of Sweep Tosho.
"Ugh?!"
However, for no reason, as Ikezoe thought this, he suddenly froze and shivered uncontrollably. His gaze instinctively darted in one direction, but he didn't see anyone, only bushes.
"Onii-chan, what's wrong?" Curren Chan, who was enjoying Ikezoe's petting, felt his movements suddenly stop, making her ask, somewhat confused.
"...Nothing, probably just my paranoia from being beaten up by Orfevre." Ikezoe hesitantly withdrew his gaze, unconsciously smiling slightly as he said, "The spot where Orfevre kicked me this morning is still faintly aching."
"Hmph! Onii-chan! When you're with Curren Chan, you should only pay attention to Curren Chan, okay? Don't even dare to think about other Uma Musume." Curren Chan said cutely, pouting as if feigning anger, "Otherwise, Curren Chan will get angry, you know~"
Ah, even Curren Chan's anger feels cute. This was Ikezoe's current thought. Then, his mind involuntarily recalled Orfevre's angry expression... Indeed, every Uma Musume is different from each other; you can't just generalize them.
And in the place Ikezoe looked at earlier, a bush rustled, and Orfevre, wearing a mask, slowly emerged from the other side. Ignoring the puzzled gazes of the surrounding students, she turned around and left as if nothing had happened.
The GIII Hakodate Junior Stakes race in the latter half of July, Hakodate Racecourse, 1200 meters, turf... Recalling these keywords, Orfevre made a decision in her heart—a decision to fulfill her previous words.
She wanted to prove that she could win races even without a Trainer. She wanted to show that annoying Ikezoe Kenichi her true power as an Uma Musume!
...Unlike the chaos on Ikezoe's side, Wada and Imanami's training was in full swing. The Orfevre incident did not affect the effectiveness of their training, nor did it affect Meisho Doto and McQueen's ability to train.
"Ha... ha... ha..."
"Is that... is that enough? Is it over?"
As they finished another lap, the exhausted Mejiro McQueen, wearing a tracksuit, was panting and almost collapsed to the ground. However, she merely gritted her teeth and persevered, looking at Imanami, who was holding a stopwatch, and asked,
"Trainer Imanami, how's my time? With these weights... I feel much more tired than usual."
"This is a method to lose weight while also effectively training your strength," Imanami replied, first recording McQueen's time, then adding, "The time isn't important; what's important is how much you improve each time. This method of running with added weights has a significant training effect on you, but it also puts a lot of strain on your body."
"So, you can only train with this method for four days a week. On the other three days, your training will return to normal, which will significantly reduce the chance of an injury."
"I—I can still train more." McQueen was slightly surprised to hear this. Her whole body was unbearably sore, but ever since she had started dieting and training under Imanami's arrangements, she could feel significant results every day, and so she immediately asked, "Please allow me to train like this all week, I beg you!"
"No." However, when it came to this point, Trainer Imanami, who was usually very gentle, refused with a very serious tone. "There is a reason I structure your training schedule like this, Miss McQueen. Please don't joke about your career."
"Also, don't let me catch you training as hard as this in private—Gold Ship, can you help me supervise Miss McQueen?"
"No problem at all, Old Man!" Gold Ship, who had been running alongside the entire time without any weight, wasn't even out of breath. She grinned and walked up to Imanami, giving him a salute, indicating that she would supervise McQueen well.
This undoubtedly extinguished any chance McQueen had of executing her plan. Her horse ears drooped listlessly, clearly in low spirits. All of this was seen by Imanami, but the old man didn't give in to her demands.
"Ha... ha..."
And at this moment, the other Uma Musume, arriving late, finally caught up to the group. It was Meisho Doto.
However, Meisho Doto's condition now seemed much worse than Mejiro McQueen's. McQueen had dieted before and trained daily, so she was accustomed to this high-intensity training. Doto, on the other hand, had been relatively lax since her Debut Race, making her struggle even more now that she had to go from zero to a hundred in terms of training intensity.
But she was certainly not weak-minded; the reason she was so tired was because she had voluntarily run an extra lap.
"I did it... I really did it..." Meisho Doto was completely exhausted, but she still raised her fist, indicating that she had persevered.
"Ah, Tr-Trainer, I, I did it! Ah..." But soon after reaching the finish line, Doto immediately collapsed softly.
"Doto?!"
Doto's sudden collapse startled Wada, who was right behind her. When Doto spontaneously ran an extra lap, Wada felt something was wrong and followed her for the entire lap, which was possible due to Doto already being quite strained at that point. The reason he did so was because he was afraid Doto would collapse somewhere and couldn't be helped up.
The fact that Doto only collapsed at the finish line was completely unexpected. One should know that Doto also had the same added weights as McQueen.
Wada immediately stepped forward and princess-carried Doto's body. Doto's own weight plus the added weights were quite a burden for Wada. Fortunately, McQueen, who was still able to stand, as well as Imanami and Gold Ship, immediately stepped forward to help support Doto's body.
"You silly airhead... if you couldn't handle it, you should have said so. Why exhaust yourself to this point..." Wada asked with a troubled expression after supporting Doto.
"Ugh..." However, the groggy Doto, who seemed to still be conscious, replied in a low voice, "Because I... didn't want to betray Trainer's trust..."
"I... held Trainer back, but Trainer still encouraged me so much... I..."
Even though Doto was so tired to the point she could barely speak, Wada understood what she meant. Wada and Imanami then exchanged glances, and finally, Imanami smiled and said, "Wada, this child you chose truly gave us a surprise this time."
Wada was silent for a moment, looking at Meisho Doto, who seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep in his arms. His heart felt somewhat complex upon thinking that this girl, who was once a major rival when he rode T.M. Opera O, had now become his assigned Uma Musume.
But in the end, Wada still hid those emotions and whispered into Doto's ear, "We will win, Doto. I believe in you."
"..."
Doto did not answer Wada's words, but in her sleep, her mouth seemed to curve into a slight smile, like a cat's gentle grin.
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I was looking through the tags you can add to your book on Webnovel and holy were there some weird tags.
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.