For now, Zhou Tai'an was unaware of his reputation at the West Coast Tracen Academy. For him, the most important thing right now was to train Oguri Cap well and help her grow.
However, the plans that Trainer Saginomi in the dream world and Zhou Tai'an in the real world had for Oguri Cap were completely different—and this was a source of great frustration for him.
"If only he could be like me and just have Oguri Cap challenge Nagoya directly. Although it would be more difficult, the rewards would definitely be better. Right now, all I get is an increase in Affinity every day... Does this thing really have any effect on training?"
Zhou Tai'an's mind wandered as he held his notebook, ready to record Oguri Cap's split times during training at any moment.
…
A month had passed since Oguri Cap's successful debut at Kasamatsu Racecourse. Unlike his colleagues at other academies, Zhou Tai'an had not chosen to have Oguri Cap race frequently at Kasamatsu.
This matter had even alarmed the management of Kasamatsu Tracen Academy. The academy's Chairwoman personally inquired about Zhou Tai'an's plans.
Faced with the Chairwoman's statement that "Our academy and Kasamatsu Racecourse have an inseparable relationship. Since a new rising star has appeared at the academy, the Kasamatsu audience should be able to watch her race a few more times," the young trainer stuck to his plan.
"To ensure the health of the Horse Girl, the most frequent race schedule should be once every two weeks. The academy can't possibly expect me to disregard the safety of my Horse Girls and have them race every week, can it?"
"Once every two weeks would be perfect," the Chairwoman of Kasamatsu Tracen Academy said with a smile, following Zhou Tai'an's lead.
"Chairwoman, are your expectations for Oguri Cap limited to the stage of Kasamatsu, just like the other Horse Girls?" Zhou Tai'an also squinted. "Don't you look forward to the academy producing someone who can promote the existence of Kasamatsu to all the fans of the Twinkle Series on a much wider stage?"
"Do you think Oguri Cap can become that kind of presence?" The Chairwoman's smile faded, and she became serious. "In the history of Kasamatsu Tracen Academy, there has never been a Horse Girl who has successfully challenged Central—not even from Nagoya."
"She is still a bit green right now. I don't have much confidence in her challenging Central," Zhou Tai'an admitted. "If I want to make Oguri Cap the number one idol of Kasamatsu, I need time."
"How long?" The Chairwoman pushed up her glasses, leaning forward slightly. "A Horse Girl's active career is only a few years."
Zhou Tai'an held up one index finger. "I only need one year."
"One year from today, I guarantee Oguri Cap will be a Central Graded Race winner," the young man's tone was filled with immense confidence.
"And," worried the Chairwoman wouldn't give him that much time, Zhou Tai'an added, "in my plan, Oguri Cap will try a local exchange Graded Race in the second half of this year. As long as she wins that, her chances of trying and winning a Central Graded Race next year will be very high."
After explaining his thoughts, he could hear his own heart pounding. For Zhou Tai'an, who wanted to use Oguri Cap's results to get to Central, she was the first glimmer of hope he had seen in over six months. He would not allow any external factors to force him to give up his goal.
And right now, persuading the Chairwoman of Kasamatsu Tracen Academy was his top priority.
"I will not directly promise you a year, Zhou-kun," the Chairwoman said after a moment of thought, looking up at the young man she had received from the "Emperor" at Central. "Since you said you would have Oguri Cap win a local exchange Graded Race in the second half of this year, let's just wait and see for now?"
"Then I hope that at least until the end of this year, Chairwoman, you will allow me to freely arrange Oguri Cap's training," Zhou Tai'an began to bargain.
"That's a matter of course." Saying the end of this year was really only half a year away. The Chairwoman could naturally afford to wait. If Oguri Cap won a Central Graded Race—no, even just a local exchange Graded Race—it would be an unprecedented feat for Kasamatsu Tracen Academy.
"We might even be able to establish an 'Oguri Cap Kinen' at Kasamatsu in the future," she thought.
Ever since reaching a "gentlemen's agreement" with the academy's Chairwoman, Zhou Tai'an's life at the academy had become much more relaxed.
At least for now, he didn't have to worry about the rumors circulating among his colleagues—such as "Oguri Cap is frail, so her race frequency has been reduced to hide the problem," or "She ran too hard in her debut and suffered a minor injury, so she needs to take it easy."
If a debut-year Horse Girl only raced at Kasamatsu, the prize money for a regular race win was only 850,000 yen. To challenge for higher prize money, they would have to wait until the Graded Race, the Young Crown, in early October. But even the Young Crown only had a winner's prize of 2.4 million yen.
In contrast, the Wakakoma Sho, an Open-class race Zhou Tai'an had registered Oguri Cap for next week, had a winner's prize of 3 million yen.
"Winning this one is equivalent to winning more than three races at Kasamatsu for other Horse Girls," he muttered to himself. "If she wins this race, I should probably think about buying some gifts for Oguri Cap and Brand New Shine."
Zhou Tai'an did not disclose his agreement with the academy's Chairwoman to the Horse Girls on his team. He believed that even without knowing, Oguri Cap would still strive towards the goal of conquering the local exchange Graded Races.
"She's already working so hard now, after all," the young man thought, timing Oguri Cap's laps with a stopwatch.
With her first Open-class challenge next week, Oguri Cap's training intensity had not been increased by Zhou Tai'an in recent weeks. Other than increasing the frequency of her shrine slope runs from once to twice a week, her training this month was virtually unchanged from last month.
This also worried her as she jogged at a pace of 20 seconds per 200 meters. "I'm about to challenge a higher-level race. Is it really okay to continue training at this intensity?"
On the sidelines, Zhou Tai'an noticed the hesitation in the gray-coated Horse Girl's posture. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Oguri Cap! Don't lose focus during training!"
Hearing her trainer's shout, Oguri Cap flinched, snapped back to reality, and started running again.
"I have to trust Trainer. Since he's not increasing my training intensity, he must have his reasons," she tried to convince herself.
-------
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