When he woke, Shuta An checked the message board and sighed.
"Same as yesterday—just a little intimacy gain. So dream training is limited. Still, intimacy's up to sixty-two points… I wonder what the max is…"
A dangerous thought crossed his mind, and he quickly shook it off. At 5:30, he rolled out of bed. "Wash up, breakfast, then off to work," he muttered.
Meanwhile, Oguri Cap had already changed into sportswear and was at the training ground.
"Ha—!" she exhaled, eyes gleaming. "I feel great today!"
But she remembered Shuta An's instruction: "Morning runs should just be light jogs." Biting her lip, she resisted sprinting. By the time Berno Light arrived, Oguri Cap was drenched in sweat.
"How long have you been running? Shouldn't you rest? We still have morning training," she said, concerned.
"I'm fine," Oguri Cap replied. "I'm full of energy. Even if Trainer asked for full sprints, I could do them!"
Seeing her teammate's spirit, Berno Light sighed. "Then I'll run too." She knew her talent couldn't match Oguri Cap's—so she would not lose in effort.
When Shuta An arrived with the materials he'd prepared, he was startled to find both girls running laps.
"How long have they been at this?" he muttered. "At this rate, they'll burn through their stamina before training even begins!"
He rushed over.
"An-san!" Kitahara called from the gate, only to receive a gust of wind in reply. "Good grief… he runs faster than an athlete," he muttered.
Shuta An heard him but didn't slow down.
At the edge of the field, he shouted, "Oguri Cap! Berno Light! Stop!"
The two girls slowed, breathing hard, walking toward him.
"Trainer…" Berno Light began timidly, wiping sweat. Seeing his stern face, she lowered her head.
"How long have you two been running?" he asked.
"Just over an hour…" she mumbled.
He sighed. "On training mornings, don't exhaust your reserves. This afternoon, I'll give each of you a schedule—follow it closely."
Berno Light raised her hand hesitantly. "Then… are we still training this morning?"
"Of course, we'll train," Shuta An said, glancing at his watch. "But you two should go eat breakfast now. We'll meet at the training ground at nine."
At the mention of breakfast, Oguri Cap's ears twitched. Berno Light pulled her hand and said brightly, "Then we're off! Goodbye, Trainer!"
"See you at nine." Shuta An nodded, watching the two Umamusume under his care leave.
It wasn't until their figures disappeared from sight that Shuta An slowly limped toward a corner of the training ground.
"Hiss—" He drew a sharp breath as he sat down. "As expected, not using that kind of speed for too long, then suddenly doing it once, will strain the muscles."
Leaning against the wall, he tilted his head back to gaze at the sky dyed golden by the morning sun. "If I were a Umamusume…"
He blinked and shook his head. "No, even if I were one, I'd probably run away from the West Coast. Though that would surely be difficult."
Meanwhile, as they walked toward the cafeteria, Berno Light noticed Oguri Cap's faint frown and asked curiously, "Oguri, did something happen?"
"Yes," Oguri Cap replied briefly.
"What kind of problem?" Berno Light pressed, eyes widening. "Oguri~ tell me!"
"I don't know why," Oguri Cap said softly, her hand resting over her chest, "but every day after seeing Trainer, I feel he's become even friendlier than the day before. It's strange, even though I haven't interacted much with him yet."
"Maybe Trainer's just really charming?" Berno Light pondered aloud. "After all, he's handsome… That day he walked into the classroom, I heard Norn Ace and the others' breathing get heavier."
"Is that so?" Oguri tilted her head, clearly puzzled.
At nine sharp, Oguri Cap and Berno Light returned to the training ground, where Shuta An had already been waiting.
"Trainer!" the two called out in unison.
"Very punctual," Shuta An smiled, waving.
"Of course," Berno Light grinned. "It's our first training session."
Oguri Cap nodded softly in agreement.
"So," Shuta An began, shaking the notebook in his hand, "before we start, I want to ask: why do you want to be Racehorse Girls?"
"Because I saw them running on TV, and I wanted to be like them," Berno Light answered without hesitation.
"And you, Oguri Cap?" Shuta An turned toward the gray filly. "You have remarkable talent. Did you plan this since childhood?"
"No." Oguri Cap's denial was immediate. "When I was born, my knees were so stiff I couldn't even stand. My mother massaged me every day until I could move freely. Back then, I only wanted to run like other children. I never thought of becoming a Racehorse Girl."
"And now?" Shuta An asked, his lips pressed together as he listened to this for the first time.
Oguri Cap met his gaze squarely. "Now, I want to use these legs—healed by my mother's love—to give her a better life."
"Good," Shuta An smiled faintly. "Our goals differ, but the path to achieving them is the same."
"What is Trainer's goal?" Though they'd heard his declaration the day before, both girls still looked uncertain.
"My goal?" Shuta An paused only briefly. "Right now, I want to earn an employment offer from Central Tracen Academy."
"Trainer wants to go to Central?" Berno Light exclaimed. "But you said you wanted to 'defeat Central' earlier!"
"Exactly…" Oguri murmured, puzzled. "So you already plan to join them?"
"'Central' and the locals aren't enemies," Shuta An said with a shrug. "When I said 'defeat Central,' I meant proving that I have the strength to work there."
He shifted the topic. "If you had the chance to go to Central, what would you choose?"
"Kasamatsu's good enough," Oguri said simply. "The cafeteria food here's great."
"If Oguri stays, I'll stay too," Berno Light declared.
"…" Shuta An only shook his head. "It's still too early to decide."
He handed his notebook to Oguri Cap. She accepted it with both hands, opened it—and froze.
"What is this?" Berno Light peeked over her shoulder. "Two tables, full of race names… are these for us?"
"Exactly," Shuta An confirmed. "Your race plan for the next three months—assuming you can win."
"That's great!" Berno Light gasped. "Oguri, your third race is already a major prize!"
"Major prize…" Oguri murmured. "G3 Hokkaido, that's a major race/?"
"Correct," Shuta An said. "A G3-level race with a 25 million yen prize. You'd earn 80% before tax."
"The rest goes to me—URA regulations," he added evenly.
Berno Light blinked, stunned by the number. "Twenty-five million…"
"Of course, that's just for our team," Shuta An explained, noticing her expression. "Other teams differ."
"Why?" Oguri asked nervously.
"The 80% for you doesn't change," Shuta An clarified quickly. "But other teams have logistics staff. Trainers there only get 15%, and 5% goes to logistics."
"Five percent of twenty-five million… that's 1.25 million!" Berno Light gasped. "That's huge!"
Shuta An noticed the glimmer in her eyes but said nothing—he'd speak with her later, once alone. For now, he handed them a calendar.
"This is the one we discussed earlier. From tomorrow, whether you do morning exercises will follow this record."
"Doing them every day is fine, isn't it?" Oguri questioned. "If I control the intensity, it won't affect training."
"But you can't control your intensity when you run alone," Shuta An countered, spreading his hands. He knew that from the Dream World.
Yesterday, when training with her there, he had barely managed to restrain Oguri's runaway speed.
"If the Dream World and reality are connected…" Shuta An watched her expression closely.
Oguri lowered her head, embarrassed by his pointed remark.
"Indeed, they're connected in that way," he thought. Many questions surfaced in his mind—Oguri's preferred foods, her most responsive reactions, her ideal race strategy. Were those thoughts strange?
"These are all part of knowing how to train her properly," he assured himself silently.
"Trainer?" Berno Light waved a hand before his face, snapping him out of thought.
"Ah!" Shuta An quickly covered, "I was just thinking about today's training."
"But it's written here already," Oguri pointed out. "I'll run at sixty percent speed, Berno starts a second later, and—"
"I've changed my mind," Shuta An interrupted with a faint smile. "Ask your teachers for leave. We'll meet at the school gate after lunch."
"Eh!?" Both girls were dumbfounded. "No training?"