"The assignments are finished."
"Wait, already?! I gave those to you yesterday evening!"
"Yes. And they're done."
"How even...?"
I kept my bone-conduction headphones on, music thumping as I plowed through the remaining paperwork. It was a well-known fact that I was busy—likely the busiest person in the academy—yet I consistently cleared my desk at a speed that left the other rookies in the dust. To the rest of the faculty, I had become an object of both awe and mild terror. I spent more time off-campus than on it, yet I processed data several times faster than trainers with half my workload.
"Whoa..."
A veteran trainer passing behind me caught a glimpse of my laptop screen and let out a strangled sound. As a Horse Girl, I heard him perfectly, but I ignored him. I had no intention of slowing down just because someone was gawking. In my mind, a professional is someone who executes their assigned tasks with absolute precision and zero waste.
"Man... I'm losing all my confidence," the veteran muttered, joining a colleague at the coffee machine.
The two of them shared one thing in common: they didn't exactly like me. Both of their students had been soundly defeated by me during my active career, and they hadn't quite adjusted to seeing their former "nightmare" as a coworker. They viewed me as a rival, yet they were on the verge of giving up.
"Did you see her?" the first one whispered. "The way she types... it's like those scenes in anime where they're rewriting an OS in five seconds. The tabs were switching so fast I got dizzy. How is she even reading that?"
"I heard a rumor about that laptop," the second replied. "Apparently, it's a custom build. Costs more than a car."
"Is that the secret? If I had one of those, could I work like that...?"
They weren't wrong about the custom build. I'd had it commissioned through a firm the Mejiro family kept on retainer. It was a high-performance machine capable of handling massive data loads for my URA research... though I decided to keep the fact that it was actually a top-of-the-line gaming rig to myself.
"You look like you're in the zone."
"Oh, hey, Boss. Thanks for the coffee."
"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me 'Boss'? I'm an honest citizen."
"And how many times do I have to tell you that 'honest citizens' don't use the word 'honest citizen' to describe themselves?"
Kuronuma had dropped a cup of coffee on my desk just as I was considering a trip to the vending machine. I took a sip and sighed in appreciation. I'd been craving something like a MAX Coffee, but Kuronuma knew my real palate. This Costa Rican blend was perfect.
"So," he asked, leaning against the desk. "Did you find any fresh blood on your trip?"
"The girls at Funabashi and Ooi are high-quality," I reported. "They're actually a bit insulted that Central hasn't even looked their way. They've got chips on their shoulders the size of boulders."
"A bitter pill to swallow," Kuronuma grunted.
The wall between the Central and Regional circuits was thicker than I'd imagined. After touring the country, I realized the regions were actually hiding their best talent to prevent them from being "stolen" by Central—a lingering trauma from the Oguri Cap era. Central, sensing the hostility, had stopped scouting the regions aggressively to avoid conflict. The result was a stagnant system that crushed the dreams of any girl who wanted to make the jump.
"The dream for the regional girls is to stay in the local circuit but come to Central just to crush your best runners and ruin the URA's reputation," I said. "That's why they love the idea of the Finals. It's the ultimate stage for an underdog uprising."
"That's a terrifying thought," Kuronuma admitted. "If Bourbon lost to a girl from a local public school, let alone a regional track, I'd have to go into hiding."
"See? That's exactly why the higher-ups were so against the Finals. It's a threat to their 'prestige.' But honestly? I think that prestige needs to be smashed. It's the only way to clear out the rot and rebuild the organization."
"Anyway," I changed the subject. "How's Offside Trap doing?"
"Better than expected. I was originally aiming for a December debut, but... I might move it up."
Trap was developing faster than Kuronuma had anticipated. He was already convinced she could walk into an Open-class race and win, and she'd likely hold her own in a Graded stakes race right now.
"Just don't push her too hard, alright?"
"I know. I'm keeping her on the fundamentals while slowly introducing technical drills to see her range. I'll set the debut date once I see how she handles the shift. You were right about her legs, though—it looks like she was using a specific running form to compensate for a lack of core stamina."
"She was using technique to pay a debt her body couldn't afford," I nodded.
"Exactly. Because she's talented, she made it work, but it was a ticking time bomb. The Nemesis menu is already starting to fix the imbalance. Once I finish the correction, I want to see what she can do in a stakes race."
Hearing Kuronuma speak with such confidence about Trap's potential made me feel a wave of relief. It was still a shame she was in the same generation as Brian, but she was in good hands. Kuronuma gave a wave and headed out, leaving me to get back to work.
"Good grief," I muttered. "Sunday-san keeps throwing new training menus at me to analyze. She needs to realize I'm the one who has to do the math... especially since I've been being followed lately."
Ever since I retired, I'd made it a habit to run in the early mornings to compensate for the lack of a full training schedule. Lately, however, several students had started trying to tail me. I appreciated the ambition, but most of them exhausted themselves trying to keep up. I'd ended up setting a specific route and then driving the stragglers back to the dorms in my Impreza.
"I expected Maya and Marve," I thought, "but I didn't think she would be so persistent."
The "Maya-velous" duo of Mayano Top Gun and Marvelous Sunday were regulars, but Silence Suzuka had recently joined the pack. She was a freshman whose body wasn't even fully developed yet, but her raw speed was breathtaking. She lacked stamina and usually fell off halfway through, but the way she gritted her teeth and stayed on my heels until her legs gave out showed a terrifying amount of spirit.
"When someone clings to your back like that... it's hard not to notice."
The urge started to bubble up—the desire to take her under my wing and teach her everything I knew. I caught myself shivering at the thought of a Silence Suzuka who possessed my techniques. It would be a new frontier of speed.
Technically, I was a sub-trainer, but I held a full license. There was no legal reason I couldn't take on a personal charge. The only obstacle was my workload... and the question of whether I was ready to commit to a single soul.
"...Hey, Minami-chan. You want to grab a drink tonight? My treat."
Before I knew it, I was already dialing Minamisaka.
Note:
Dear readers,
The Lunar New Year is approaching, and I wish you all a new year filled with success, good fortune, and prosperity!
Holiday Announcement:
I'm writing this to announce that I will be taking a short break from posting to celebrate the holiday from February 15th to February 22nd, 2026. I will officially return to work on February 23rd.
Don't worry though! During this break, I'll be busy prepping a bunch of new chapters so I can post them consistently once I'm back. I promise the upcoming parts will be even more exciting, so please stay tuned!
Thank you so much for your understanding and for always being such a supportive community.
Happy Lunar New Year!