After the swim training, Brand New Shine, changed back into her academy uniform, found Zhou Tai'an spacing out by the training track.
"Trainer," she said, getting straight to the point, "is someone from 'Central' trying to poach Oguri?"
"Not yet," Zhou Tai'an said, snapping back to reality and shaking his head. "But I expect it will be soon."
In his prediction, as long as Oguri Cap won the Hokkaido Yushun Championship, it was highly likely that Central Tracen Academy would extend an olive branch.
Even if "Central" remained unmoved after the local exchange Graded Race at the end of August, they would definitely extend an invitation to her by the end of her debut year, given her outstanding performance.
It might not even take until the end of August.
A shadow named "Symboli Rudolf" loomed in Zhou Tai'an's mind.
"After all, it was the 'Emperor' who recommended me to Kasamatsu. I imagine she probably keeps an eye on me from time to time."
As long as Symboli Rudolf's gaze turned to Kasamatsu, she could not possibly ignore Oguri Cap, who was currently shining brightly in the Tokai region.
And when the "Emperor's" attention fell on Oguri Cap, Zhou Tai'an could imagine what she would do with his eyes closed.
In other words—
"My opponent isn't a 'Central' trainer, but Symboli Rudolf herself." The weight of this realization made the shadow in his heart even heavier.
Zhou Tai'an tried his best not to think about these things. To do that, he decided to use the next few days to sort out the team's accommodation for the summer vacation.
"I'll find something to do to stop my mind from wandering."
Of course, Zhou Tai'an didn't forget to register Oguri Cap for her race.
With the prize money from her debut and one Open-class race, Oguri Cap's entry into the Hokkaido Yushun Championship was practically a sure thing.
Normally, for a local exchange Graded Race like the Hokkaido Yushun, Hokkaido would reserve 7 fixed spots, with the remaining 9 spots allocated to other regions.
But the reality was that the only Horse Girls who chose to make the expedition to Hokkaido were basically from Central. And since a Graded Race like the Hokkaido Yushun didn't allow Central Horse Girls to enter, it had always been an internal competition for the Hokkaido region. The so-called "7 spots" limit had become a dead letter in the embarrassing absence of entries from other regions.
Was it that Horse Girls from other regions didn't want to try?
The winner's prize for the Hokkaido Yushun was 25 million yen, which was a high amount for a G3 Graded Race even in other regions. But to win this race, one had to arrive in Hokkaido early to prepare.
For local Horse Girls, the cost of such an expedition was something their teams could hardly afford. After all, spending over a million yen on an expedition and then getting nothing if you didn't place in the top five was a huge loss. Local trainers couldn't bear such sunk costs—especially since the local Tracen Academies, unlike Central, wouldn't reimburse part of the expedition expenses.
Zhou Tai'an sat at his desk, flipping through the latest edition of the Hokkaido Yellow Pages, using a detailed map to seriously search for suitable accommodation.
"It's okay if it's a bit far from Monbetsu Racecourse. The main thing is that it has to have its own training track, and preferably a hot spring and a swimming pool." His requirements for accommodation were not low. After all, he would be staying in Hokkaido with Oguri Cap and Brand New Shine for two months. He couldn't be too frugal with the lodging. If he chose poor living conditions to save money and it affected Oguri Cap's condition, leading to a loss in the race, that would be the foolish act of losing a watermelon for a sesame seed.
Zhou Tai'an naturally understood this calculation.
Even though he had only received a cut of nearly 1 million yen from Oguri Cap's and Brand New Shine's prize money, the young trainer did not hesitate to use his own savings to max out the expedition budget.
"The Hokkaido Yushun Championship is just a stop on our dream journey. There's no need to be stingy here."
So he quickly found a suitable hot spring inn—Hiratori Onsen Yukara. This inn had a public swimming pool a few kilometers away and its own private training track.
He dialed the contact number from the Yellow Pages. After explaining his needs to the inn's proprietress and following her recommendation, he booked a Japanese-style suite with two bedrooms, enough for three people, and a private open-air hot spring.
One suite cost 18,000 yen a day—including three meals.
Incidentally, Zhou Tai'an specifically confirmed with the proprietress that the included meals were buffet-style, which he considered a stroke of luck. If it had been a normal set-menu system, he estimated he would have had to add another million yen to the budget just for Oguri Cap's food.
But even so, the cost of accommodation alone would be over 1.1 million yen.
"Adding a contingency fund just in case, I'll need at least 2 million yen, right?" Zhou Tai'an muttered.
Just one expedition to Hokkaido required 2 million yen... Only after actually calculating the cost did the young trainer realize why local Horse Girls didn't like to make long-distance expeditions and often only ran in their own regional exchange races.
"At least it won't cost this much when we challenge Central in the future," he thought, relieved.
But even so, Zhou Tai'an decided to be prepared and do something very important.
That night, after calculating the time difference, he made an overseas call.
"Sell the house on the West Coast," Zhou Tai'an muttered. "If my parents knew, they would approve of me selling the house to save up expedition funds for the Horse Girl I'm training."
What Zhou Tai'an didn't know was that the agent who took his order hung up the phone and immediately called the student council president of the West Coast Tracen Academy.
"He's selling the only inheritance his parents left him in America?" Secretariat's voice was calm, devoid of any emotion. "Then I will buy it at market price. Consider it my sponsorship of a junior's pursuit of his dream on the other side of the Pacific."
"If he ever comes back... forget it." Secretariat shook her head, recalling the disappointed look on Zhou Tai'an's face when he slammed his resignation letter on her desk.
"He's not coming back," she said to herself. "I shouldn't lie to myself."
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (330 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (130 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (140 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (370 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (160 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (170 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (90 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (130 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (140 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (148 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (150 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (130 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (100 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (60 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (110 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (120 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (60 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (100 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (50 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it