After training that day, in Kitahara's office.
Looking at Kitahara, who was fiddling with a racetrack sand table in the middle of the office, Oguri Cap showed a rare look of concern.
"…What should I do, Kitahara…"
She bit her lower lip. "What March said… I never thought about it before."
"After she said it, I watched recordings of my previous races, imagining all the possible tactics my opponents could use."
"I realized… just like March said—if I have to catch up to fleeing runners faster, break through a more crowded group of frontrunners and mid-pack horses, and hold off a more intense chase from behind, then I…"
She bit her lip again. "I might not have much chance of winning…"
On the sand table Kitahara was working with, there were 18 miniature horse-girl pieces. Aside from three placed far ahead on the track, the rest were crowded together in a cluster.
In the cluster, there was one silver-gray long-haired miniature horse-girl piece right in the middle.
…What is this, a "Tyrant Encirclement" strategy? Something that hadn't even happened to Opera O yet, but it's happening to Oguri Cap first?
Kitahara sighed a little.
The year Opera O went undefeated, she participated in eight races, almost the same as Oguri Cap now. In the first seven, many of the opponents eventually gathered in the final Arima Kinen.
In that Arima Kinen, Opera O was tightly surrounded by other opponents right from the start, repeatedly trying and failing to break out of the pack. It wasn't until the final 300-meter stretch that, thanks to Meisho Doto's sudden sprint and Narita Road's loss of pace, the pack briefly opened up a fleeting gap.
Through that tiny opening, Opera O broke out, and with a powerful finishing kick, overtook Meisho Doto by a hair's breadth to win the race.
This is also why, in the game, Opera O's unique skill, "Dance for Vittoria", has such strict activation conditions but is so incredibly powerful once triggered.
She needs to be trapped and held for a certain amount of time to activate her unique skill. Once it activates, losing becomes almost impossible.
But just like how this unique skill is extremely hard to trigger in the game, in the later Takarazuka Kinen, Opera O was again caught in an encirclement—and this time, she failed to break free.
…Oguri Cap's situation in this Golden Youth Cup was very similar to Opera O's Arima Kinen and Takarazuka Kinen.
But their abilities, adaptability, running styles—all were very different. That kind of miracle breakthrough also relied heavily on luck. There's no way to have Oguri Cap prepared in the same way Opera O was.
So how exactly should the tactics be arranged this time…
For the first time, Kitahara felt troubled. He understood well that Oguri Cap's situation was rare; there was no ready-made solution. The only similar case was those two Opera O races, but even Opera O could only manage one win and one loss—a 50% success rate.
For someone like Kitahara, who prefers to keep everything firmly under control, such odds were hardly convincing.
After fiddling with the sand table for a while and still not coming up with a good solution, Kitahara wasn't in a rush.
It was mid-December, about twenty days left before the race. There was still time to come up with a countermeasure and train accordingly.
He decided to first ask for other people's opinions.
Besides him and Oguri Cap, Belno Light, Kyoko Miyamura, and Super Creek were also in the office. After some thought, Kitahara straightforwardly asked the three of them:
"Do any of you have good strategies or tactics? I don't have any great ideas right now. Why don't you all tell me what you think?" He openly admitted that he was temporarily at a loss.
Belno Light was the first to speak, with a bitter smile.
"Uh… if even Kitahara-sensei has no way, then I don't have any good ideas either."
She furrowed her brows in distress, looking at Oguri Cap with worry. "I haven't raced in over two months, and my training load has decreased a lot since I've been preparing for the Central trainee curriculum. Tactics… aren't really my strong point anymore."
Kyoko Miyamura also said awkwardly, "If it's something medical, I'd have plenty of methods. But when it comes to races… I'm afraid Kitahara-sensei will have to put in more thought and effort."
Kitahara nodded. He wasn't surprised by Belno Light and Kyoko Miyamura's answers.
Each has their own specialty. Belno light had moved onto a technical path, Kyoko Miyamura was naturally a medical expert. Asking their opinions was merely an attempt to broaden perspectives, not a demand for answers.
But if we're talking about true expertise…Kitahara paused, then looked at Super Creek.
Almost as if she'd been waiting for this gaze, Super Creek thought for a moment, walked up to the sand table, and picked up a new piece from the side.
"I can probably only offer Kitahara-sensei and Oguri a line of thought."
Considering carefully, she placed the new piece at the very front of the entire cluster.
"It's something Kitahara-sensei suggested to me before. Since my strength is stamina, then I should find a way to bring the whole race into my rhythm."
"The Golden Youth Cup is 1600 meters. If I accelerate early and run at the pace of a 2000-meter or even 3000-meter race, I won't get caught in an encirclement. I just need to endure the pressure from behind to win."
"And as for pressure, I think I can handle the kind of pressure that Oguri, Tama, and Inari put on me. This kind of race should be no problem either."
Kitahara was a bit surprised.
What Super Creek was saying was the strategic tactic he gave her at the pool—one that only a long-distance queen like her could wield with such ease.
He'd originally thought it would take her some time to fully understand it, but unexpectedly, she seemed not only to understand but could use it with total composure.
As expected of a genius-level horse girl—once she meets a tactic suited for her, she doesn't even need me to explain more. Then…
"I see. I get it now."
Oguri Cap's voice… huh?
Startled, Kitahara looked toward Oguri Cap, only to see a sudden look of realization on her face.
Oguri Cap also picked up a piece—the silver-gray long-haired one representing herself.
She slid the piece a large distance sideways, placing it far out toward the outermost edge of the racetrack.
"I can use my own strengths, too."
Amid Kitahara's surprise, Belno Light and Kyoko Miyamura's astonishment, and Super Creek's smiling curiosity, this horse girl—who normally appeared a little aloof and a little absent-minded—spoke with confidence.
"My strength is my powerful legwork."
"Won't they try to surround me? Then I'll just not give them the chance."
"I'll go straight to the outside lane. From the very start, I'll run wide."
"In a place like that, they won't waste their stamina trying to surround me anymore."
"I don't remember exactly how long the Kasamatsu track is, but after running it so many times, I feel like it's around 1100 meters in total."
"Both straights should be over 400 meters."
"Both curves should be around 80 meters."
"There isn't much distance difference on the straights."
"On the curves, if I run on the far outside, I'd probably run a few dozen extra meters."
"Just a few dozen meters. With my leg power, I can still charge to the front."
"Kitahara, what do you think of this tactic?"
(End of Chapter)