Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 287: Accidents outside of training and competition (1w)

After the thanksgiving festival ended, the aftermath to the world of horse racing girls continued like a tide.

That evening, a "Thank You Live" was held based on the model of the Shining Series.

The college is fully equipped with stage, lighting, photographers, sound engineers, etc.

In terms of performances, perhaps Central Tresen Academy may lack everything, but it will not lack horse girls.

Dance is also a compulsory course in the academy. Even though there are only two competitions a day, the number of songs and dances arranged is more than that of Winning Live.

Because of the performance element of the Thanksgiving Festival itself, the program is not limited to singing and dancing, but also includes kimono shows, theater performances, interactive games, short plays, etc.

The thank-you banquet was held after the Live. During the whole day of activities, many people from all walks of life came, and the liveliness of the banquet was no less than that during the competition.

Student council presidents like Ludo Symbol, Seattle Slalom, and Yongwu, as well as the chairman Akikawa Yayoi, were busy greeting people and talking about important and unimportant things throughout the banquet, which was even busier than the preparation period and daytime.

Beiyuan is relatively free.

He made an appearance at the banquet as the chairman of the Eternal Club and the creator of the Youth Cup.

After simply greeting some important people, he left the banquet hall and went to the infirmary, and then went to the home of Furukubo Ren, a senior in the medical field, to use the healing hot spring there.

It wasn't because of any injuries after the game, but out of concern.

The level of hard work of the little guys participating in the Thanks Cup exceeded Kitahara's imagination. Even though there was such a gratifying result as winning the championship, he still cared more about the physical condition of the contestants.

Therefore, the post-match performance of Emperor Donghai and others was cancelled, and they were directly checked together with Kyoko Miyamura.

After initially judging that there was nothing abnormal except excessive fatigue, they borrowed the medical hot spring at the latter's grandfather's house.

If there were other options, Kitahara would not be too willing to bother this senior at night.

It was just to be on the safe side, and also because he was one of the best doctors in Umamusume medicine, that he had the nerve to pay the visit.

Fortunately, he had the relationship with Kyoko Miyamura, and his seniors were also very optimistic about him, so not only was there no problem in borrowing him, but Kokubo Ren also personally examined the East China Sea Emperor and the others.

The result has not changed, it is still excessive fatigue.

After being tired, it is natural to rest in time. In order to follow up and confirm the subsequent recovery situation, Kitahara continued to be shameless and stayed at the Furukubo Ren family.

The next day was busy.

First, the symbol of Ludo arrived early in the morning.

Kitahara was not surprised by this. When he was a guest commentator during the game, the president had expressed his concern for the Emperor of the East China Sea more than once.

First, when he saw that the Emperor of the East China Sea was in an unfavorable position, he abused his power for personal gain and complained secretly in the commentary.

Then he found that his "big son" rushed to the front in one breath, and he was so excited that he could not control himself.

Professional commentators will never call players by their names during a game, they always include their last names.

However, at the end of the game, Lu Duo simply called the Emperor of the East China Sea "Emperor", which shows her mood at the time.

The sharp explosions during her commentary were caused by her knocking the microphone over in her excitement.

Knowing these details, Kitahara felt it was quite interesting.

Ludo, who is always calm and steady, and sometimes unusually strict, can hardly control his loss of composure when facing the horse girl who cares about him. This kind of temperament is quite cute. Kitahara thinks so.

After visiting the home of Kokubo Ren and meeting with Kokubo Ren, he found an opportunity to be alone with Kitahara. Luduo apologized first, which surprised him a little.

"I'm sorry, Kitahara, that..."

A rare shy look appeared on this capable horse racing girl. She raised her index finger, scratched her cheek and said, "In the commentary of yesterday's game, I questioned your training ability..."

Caught off guard, he looked away silently. After thinking for a moment, Kitahara decided to play dumb, "Really?"

“I think your explanation is pretty good.”

In Luduo's symbolic eyes, Beiyuan's pretending to be stupid was too obvious. He must have noticed his own gaffe yesterday.

This trainer's talent and ability are impeccable, and his personality is calm and steady beyond his age. He never becomes conceited because of his achievements, and has never shown impatience or arrogance towards anyone or any horse girl.

Dreams are also very attractive, especially those that attract horse racing girls.

The dream of creating a better world for horse girls may sound like a dream or childish talk, but Ludo knows that the trainer is really doing it and is realizing it step by step.

A trainer who is so good that he is almost perfect.

If I have to point out a shortcoming, it would probably be that I can't play dumb.

Lu Duo felt that he should be better at it.

"I see... Thank you."

She put down her hand that was shaking her cheek and returned to her usual calm demeanor. With a little bit of worry, she asked about another matter of concern, "How is the emperor?"

This inquiry was also within Kitahara's expectations. Although he had already reported the situation of the contestants to the horse racing girls in charge, such as Akikawa Yayoi and Luduo, yesterday, it was reasonable for the latter, as an "old father", to show extra concern.

"Just like what I said yesterday, it's mainly due to over-fatigue, especially in the muscles," Kitahara said quickly, "You also saw yesterday's game."

“At the finish line… from the fourth turn onwards, the team’s pace and speed were already approaching those of the active players.”

"Even Komiyayama and Yusuhara, after initially comparing the data, determined that it may have surpassed some of the Pre-OP and OP events in the Shining Series."

"If we compare them with the local SP level, we can almost conclude that they are at an upper-middle level."

This situation is not unexpected.

The physiques of Umamusume and Umamusume cannot be generalized.

Even though he hopes that all horse girls can step onto the stage of their dreams, Kitahara still understands that there are differences among them.

Top talents such as Emperor of the East China Sea, Sunday Tranquility, and Chaser can demonstrate extremely amazing talents regardless of whether they have debuted or not.

Especially these few are basically at the beginning stage of becoming masters, and their physical qualities in some aspects are already no less than those of lower-level active players.

This contrast is particularly evident at the local level.

Compared to when Oguruma was still in Kasamatsu and Inariichi was still in Oi, the local academies have definitely improved.

However, the central council and association’s investment in local areas is still relatively preliminary, and local academies like Kasamatsu Teresin Academy are still in the process of improvement, so the overall level of students will not improve by leaps and bounds.

What's more, Oguruma and Inariichi are heretics in themselves, and they cannot be used to represent the overall level of the local area.

"The intensity of this game is still a bit too much for Emperor and his team, so your doubts during the commentary were actually correct. I was seriously negligent in this regard."

When talking about work, Kitahara was a little absorbed for a moment, and he forgot that he was originally planning to play dumb.

Then, under Lu Duo's strange and amusing gaze, he continued, "Fortunately, they have prepared enough physically for this competition. The healthy diet plan that has been promoted has worked."

"This is also your credit," Lu Duo nodded with a smile and hesitated for a moment, "Then now..."

Thinking that she wanted to check on the current situation of the Emperor of the East Sea, Bei Yuan also laughed, "The Emperor should still be sleeping in now, but today is a day to rest, so it doesn't matter if he sleeps a little longer."

"It's quite interesting. I mean, when I first brought her here last night, she thought she needed an injection and made a fuss for a while. But after she found out it was just a checkup and a hot spring bath, she finally calmed down."

The Emperor of the East China Sea is still very afraid of injections. In the original work, he cried and made a lot of noises when he saw needles several times during treatment, and it was the same this time.

However, Luduo symbol did not intend to visit at this time.

"I'll go to the Emperor's side later. Like you said, after such an intense match yesterday, it would be better for you to rest more."

She agreed, her eyes gradually becoming solemn, "There is something I need to discuss with you in advance."

"The Brave Dance and Seattle Slalom have made it clear that they hope to hold events similar to the Youth Cup in Europe and the United States."

"Right now, they should be discussing the details with their respective teams and colleges."

"It won't be long before they officially discuss this with us."

"and……"

She pursed her lips and looked more serious. "In addition to creating more new competitions for the younger generations, they will also create competitions like the 'Peak Cup' you mentioned before."

“It was also inspired by the Youth Cup, since we can organize a wonderful competition by uniting the younger generations from all over the country.”

"They... no, it should be said that seniors like us can also do this."

"No matter from which angle you consider it, there is no way that Maruzen, Chiaki, and I won't participate in this kind of competition."

"I just had a preliminary exchange with Yongwu and the others last night, and found that there is one thing that seems difficult to reach a consensus on."

"So before we formally discuss this matter, I want to talk to you first."

It is not difficult to guess that Yongwu and Seattle Slalom will be inspired by the Youth Cup and come up with events like the Peak Cup.

In fact, Kitahara has privately analyzed that perhaps even if he had not done a lot of things in advance, similar events would still be able to appear in the future.

The key to organizing a new competition is to have enough horse girls of equal strength.

In the past, what restricted events such as the Youth Cup and Peak Cup were, on the one hand, training conditions, and on the other hand, the study of metaphysics or theology such as the Three Goddesses and the Realms.

The development laws of this world with gods do not necessarily have to be viewed completely in the same way as in the parallel world. Perhaps as time goes by, someone will discover the principles of theology and apply them while improving their training conditions.

Kitahara thought he had simply sped up the process.

This is an advantage. With this advantage, he considered how to construct the subsequent events of the Youth Cup and the design of the Peak Cup.

But now, as Luduo explained the symbol, he realized that he had overlooked something before.

In the past, he was more focused on the perspective of Japanese horse racing girls and did not analyze horse racing girls from other countries.

According to Rudolf, both the Braves and Seattle Seahawks want to be the first in Europe or the United States to host a tournament like the Summit Cup.

For a country's horse racing girl industry, there are many subtle advantages to the first event.

Although it is not possible to set it up however you want, the creator can adjust the rules, conditions, and competition methods in order to suit their own horse girls as much as possible.

For example, the Shining Series was first created in Europe, and the United States joined this system very early. Many rules or actual competition conditions are more favorable to European and American horse racing girls.

The most obvious thing is the intensity of the confrontation. If the Eternal Club had not considered this point early on, they might have suffered losses in the two overseas trips and this Thanksgiving Cup.

There are a lot of details beyond that.

For example, in terms of diagonal running, Japan's criteria for determining violations are more stringent. In Europe and the United States, since the competitions are inherently fierce and the horse racing ladies are more familiar with how to deal with diagonal running, the rules are slightly more relaxed.

There is a similar influence on running posture habits.

In the training of horse girls in Australia, there is a more special way of arm swinging, and the amplitude is obviously much larger than that in other regions.

If that kind of arm swinging style were seen in Japanese competitions, it would be seen as affecting the opponent's race walking, thus posing a risk of a foul.

But Australia will not do that. Correspondingly, when similar situations occur in international competitions such as the Japan Cup, the rules will be judged in a way that accommodates the other side.

In a sense, Kitahara wants to push forward the progress of the event whenever there is an opportunity, and he also wants to take control of the rule-making power and have more initiative.

He is not sure whether there is absolute fairness in the world, but it should be understandable to strive for more advantages for his side while ensuring relative fairness as much as possible.

Coincidentally, or perhaps naturally, Yongwu and Seattle Slalom also thought so.

That is why they wanted to start their own business.

This series of analysis is also proven in Luduo's explanation.

"I think if it weren't for the strength and number of the contestants, my two colleagues probably wouldn't plan to join forces with us or each other to organize the event."

She said in a deep voice: "As long as we start the competition first, those who come later will have to follow."

“But fortunately, even if their overall strength is stronger than ours, they don’t have the ability to host a tournament like the Peak Cup on their own.”

"In terms of tournament structure and player discovery, they also know your value from the Thanksgiving Festival competition."

“That’s why they want to discuss it with us.”

"My idea, of course, is that we should be the first to create the event."

“It would be great if it could be held in Japan.”

"But the two of them raised a question that I couldn't refuse."

She was in a dilemma.

“Site adaptability.”

"Just as we encounter problems with the venues when we go to Europe and the United States to compete, they will face the same problem when they come to Japan."

"We also talked about the thank you cup last night. I have no intention of commenting on the conclusion, and they didn't say it explicitly."

"But judging from their attitude, they probably think that the Emperor's victory has a certain home advantage."

“Perhaps it is because of the same concerns that they mentioned the initiative and venue.”

"So, how do you think this should be coordinated?"

Her eyes were filled with worry and confusion.

As a top-notch and experienced horse racing girl, Luduo knows the disadvantages of being unfamiliar with the venue.

It's like a right-handed person suddenly has to write and eat with his left hand.

After targeted training, the left hand can certainly do some things, and the effect may be no worse than that of the dominant right hand.

But no matter what, it's still a bit awkward to use an unfamiliar hand.

Worried, she couldn't help but say, "Just like in my own competitions, the number of wins in clockwise and counterclockwise races is almost the same. Many people think that I can run on any field."

"But actually, I'm better at the clockwise court."

"For me, the most difficult game is the Japanese derby."

“That race is counter-clockwise.”

"And the Japan Cup and Tianqiu..."

She rubbed her forehead, paused, and sighed, "It's also running counterclockwise."

As Japan's first undefeated triple crown horse girl, most of the games in Luduo's career were won with one move.

Not to mention the Japan Derby, the Japan Cup and the Emperor's Autumn Viewing Ceremony were precisely the few games she lost.

Perhaps for a horse racing girl, the reasons for a failure in a race are very complicated, but judging from her feelings at this moment, the track she is not good at or not very good at is one of the reasons.

Kitahara was slightly surprised.

In his impression, Ludo was actually quite arrogant and rarely talked about his few failures with others.

When chatting privately with Maruzenski, Chiaki and other horse racing girls, they also said that even in front of his close friends, Ludo would rarely mention his first participation in the Japan Cup and the Emperor's Autumn Viewing.

When mentioned occasionally, even for a short time, one could still see that the emperor, who was proud at heart, would look dark for a moment.

So seeing that Luduo seemed to be just expressing his feelings, Beiyuan wanted to avoid offending him, so he thought about it and changed the subject:

"Left to right? This will definitely have a significant impact on the game."

"For example, the silent Suzuka who runs the first leg of the obstacle relay is actually very good at turning left."

"Maybe it's because she's left-handed? Anyway, I heard that she sometimes turns left in circles in the dormitory."

Lu Duo was stunned for a moment, "...You know this kind of custom?"

Kitahara was also stunned, and then he remembered that his judgment of the silent Suzuka was more or less based on the prototype.

The prototype horse of the Silent Suzuka has a habit of turning in circles to the left. When it is resting in the stable, it will keep turning in circles for no reason.

At the time, the staff were worried that this method would cause the left hoof to wear out more than the right hoof, so they set up many obstacles in the stable. As a result, Silent Suzuka's body was too flexible and it still found a way to circle in the gaps.

Later, we tried to add more obstacles, but it affected Silent Suzuka's mental state and caused some unnecessary stress, so we had to remove them all.

But the initial concerns were correct.

In horse racing, balance is very important. If the left and right hooves have different degrees of wear and exercise, the risk in intense competition will increase unknowingly.

The Silent Suzuka's special habit of turning left has developed the ability to race counterclockwise, but it also makes its left hoof more fragile, which led to the fracture of the left hoof when the Emperor watched the autumn.

A similar situation occurs in the anime, where Silent Suzuka, who lives in the same dormitory with Tebi Zhou, often circles around the left side of the dormitory. In this match, Tian Qiu also suffers a fracture.

Right now Te Bie Zhou is still in primary school, and it is estimated that he will not be able to enter Central Tresen College until next year at the earliest.

But regarding the silent Suzuka, we should prepare for a rainy day.

Thinking about it, facing the question symbolized by Luduo, Beiyuan simply described his idea in general.

Of course, the things in the parallel world were kept secret. It was only said that from a professional point of view, Silent Suzuka's special habits could lead to injuries.

When it comes to matters involving the students' health, Lu Duo was very cautious and nodded seriously after listening.

"I see. I understand. I will pay attention to this aspect later and talk to Silent Suzuka alone."

She said in a deep voice: "She has not yet taken on the role of a trainer, but she has already joined the Eternal Club."

"It may take more trouble, but you still have to work harder, Kitahara, to adjust her habits or physical condition."

Beiyuan was naturally duty-bound to do this, and after nodding his head in agreement, the topic returned to the creation and venue of the Peak Cup. "I understand Yongwu's concerns, and..."

This time it was Bei Yuan who spoke first. He suddenly smiled and said, "This isn't such a bad thing."

"Not a bad thing?" Luduo was surprised.

"Well, maybe that's a bit of an over-interpretation, and a bit of self-deprecation, but..."

Kitahara smiled.

"But, strong horse girls like Brave Dance and Seattle Slalom are actually worried about not being able to adapt to the competition venue, especially when facing horse girls like us."

“This would have been hard to imagine in the past.”

"Isn't that right, Ludo?"

He was stunned again, and a trace of memory emerged in Luduo's symbolic mind.

It was the day when I participated in the Japan Cup for the second time.

The heavy rain that is common in autumn and winter filled the Tokyo stadium that day. Looking out from the players' preparation room, the lawn, the audience seats, the stage circle, and the runway were all covered by a misty rain curtain.

There is no doubt that the next race will be a heavy race, which is rare in Japan.

The enthusiasm of the team is different from that of the outside world. The team is calmer and more rational, but also more nervous.

Even the trainer at the time told her with some trepidation that it would be best not to push herself too much in such a competition.

The outside world was more confident than the team and even herself, believing that if it were her, she would definitely win the Japan Cup.

She is confident too, but she doesn't think that way.

She just felt that if it were her, a symbolic person, she shouldn't be bothered by the rain.

Moreover, although there is no Katsuragi ace who defeated him last year, there are still guests from overseas.

Perhaps at that age, she still had a more vigorous side.

She didn't tell anyone, but she knew clearly in her heart that it was a battle to avenge her previous humiliation.

Confidence comes from that kind of mentality. She feels that the next victory will be an unprecedented one, a more "absolute" victory than any opponent.

Those overseas guests seemed to think so too.

Or there is another idea, for example, that Katsuragi Ace's victory last year was just a coincidence.

Maybe nothing.

But in short, Lu Duo was clear that Kitahara was right. In the past, guests from overseas would never raise any objections to the venue, otherwise they would not come to Japan to participate in the competition.

Especially top horse racing girls like Yuuwu and Seattle Slalom.

So, their current concerns may be due to their attention to today's Japanese horse racing ladies.

"...Indeed, in the past, it was hard for them to imagine having such worries."

Recalling the past, Lu Duo's tone became much softer, and then he returned to his usual straightforward and decisive tone, "But the more this happens, the more we cannot give up the initiative so easily."

"I have that kind of worry because I found through the performance of Emperor and the others that our training level and strength have improved significantly compared to the past."

“Coupled with the advantage of the venue, perhaps we will have a better chance of winning in future international level events, especially the Japan Cup held in Japan.”

"This is not only the result of our efforts, but also the result of your hard work, Kitahara."

"There's no reason to give in like this."

Beiyuan was very grateful that Luduo could say this. This affirmation made him feel that everything he had done so far was worth it.

But in his opinion, the situation of the initiative and the venue is not so easy to resolve.

Although he usually does not get involved too much in negotiations with the International Federation and URA associations of various countries, he leaves it to Yayoi Akikawa and Luduo.

But he was still clear about some details and conventions.

If several major Trasen colleges want to jointly establish a new type of competition, it will most likely have to be approved and mediated by the International Federation.

It should not be difficult to strive for the initiative. The establishment of the Eternal Club and the development of the Youth Cup have a head start in this regard. With more experience and various plans that have been prepared, it will be easy to seize the initiative in this part of the competition.

It’s hard to say about the Peak Cup.

Judging from the number of strong enough horse girls, the United States and Europe still have the advantage. From the perspective of the International Federation, the tendency should be more inclined towards the former two rather than Japan.

In this case, if we don't think of some solutions, even if we only consider the factor that Luduo symbolizes their adaptability to the venue, the result will not be very favorable.

However, this aspect of consideration was an oversight before. I had not taken this into consideration before, and now it is difficult to find a suitable solution in a short time if I think about it at the last minute.

As he thought about it, Kitahara fell silent.

Luduo symbolizes that he knows the key, otherwise he would not have rushed here so early in the morning.

It was understood so early that even Kitahara would find it difficult to come up with a solution in a short period of time. This kind of thing that requires repeated negotiations cannot be resolved in just one or two discussions.

So, seeing Beiyuan deep in thought, Lu Duo took the opportunity to talk about visiting the King of the East China Sea and the other horse racing ladies who were recuperating here.

"I promised that kid yesterday. I won beautifully this time. I'll take her out to play afterwards."

After explaining this, Lu Duo, who was about to leave, felt a little embarrassed. "Since I have agreed, I can't break the appointment. I will go see how she is doing first."

While thinking, Kitahara didn't pay much attention to it, and subconsciously asked back: "Going out to play? Singing karaoke, shopping, or going to the park to row a boat?"

He just remembered that in the anime, there was a scene where Lu Duo symbolically took the Emperor of the East China Sea to sing and row a boat, but he didn't expect Lu Duo to be stunned.

"……how do you know?"

"...Well, I just guessed. Oguruma and the others usually have this kind of entertainment."

Bei Yuan made a vague excuse, avoiding Luduo's strange look, lowered his head, and pretended to continue thinking.

Soon, the real thinking began.

If an event like the Peak Cup is to be established, the number of horse racing girls from any single country would not be enough.

The research in this field has not been made public yet. Even in Japan, it is only known to some horse girls in the Eternal Club and core members of the academy such as Luduo.

Perhaps in the future, Japan will have more horse girls mastering the field than other regions, but that will take time.

Therefore, whether it is Japan, the United States or Europe, the conditions for establishing the Peak Cup independently are insufficient and can only be established in a joint form.

Assuming that all parties involved are unwilling to make concessions, we can only refer to some ideas from the American "Breeders" series of events.

The series, run by the Breeders' Cup LLC, is only a few years old but is growing rapidly.

The most famous event is the Breeders' Cup World Championships, or simply the Breeders' Cup.

Unlike other famous competitions, the Breeders' Cup is not held at a fixed location, but is instead held in major North American venues depending on the situation.

With reference to this event, perhaps the Peak Cup can also be conducted in the form of a tour competition. In this way, all participants, regardless of their background, should have no objections.

Kitahara certainly hopes that the first session will be held in Japan.

With Yongshi's current training and competition experience, if the first Peak Cup was held in Japan, it would never have happened that the champion of the Japan Cup would have been stranded overseas.

However, there may still be some problems with this form.

For example, if the first competition was in Japan, followed by a tour, contestants like Yongwu would probably have no objection.

Their corresponding colleges and groups may not agree smoothly.

The considerations of horse racing ladies are much simpler. They have a better chance of winning in a familiar venue. In the case of a tour competition, if the overall victory of their team may not make a difference, it is still acceptable.

But it is different for investors like the capital injection group. From that perspective, they definitely hope that the chances of winning are as great as possible, so that they can bring more profits.

In addition to being a trainer, Kitahara is also a businessman. From a businessman's perspective, he thinks it would be best if the entire Summit Cup series were held in Japan.

However, although he knew that this part of the negotiation would be difficult, Kitahara was not worried.

It's not that we are confident of convincing the colleges and groups in various countries, but it is better to leave this kind of negotiation to Akikawa Yayoi and others, as well as the companies and partners under the Eternal Club.

What he needs to do is still to guide the training seriously.

Especially in the original arrangement, the Thanksgiving match was supposed to be a warm-up for the subsequent matches.

The ancient horse battle line between Tamamono Jushi and Inari Ichi is naturally the first G1 in autumn, when the Emperor enjoys the autumn view.

The classic battle between Oguri Cap, Super Cove and Mejiro Aldan is undoubtedly the last game of the classic treble.

Chrysanthemum viewing.

Therefore, after deciding to slowly sort out his ideas about the Peak Cup and hand them over to important figures such as the chairman of the board and the student council president for negotiation, Kitahara returned to his daily routine of training for the next period of time.

However, after just a few days, he noticed something was wrong.

At noon that day, sitting in the cafeteria with his colleagues, holding a data report in one hand and pretending to analyze it, Kitahara looked towards the horse racing girls calmly.

"We are full, let's go back first."

"Huh? You're eating so little again, Xiaoyu."

"It's not that little. Aren't we all eating well according to the diet plan?"

"That's true... But, these should be the minimum quantities, right?"

"…Why are you so sensitive when it comes to food, Oguri?"

"Oh! Then Xiaoyu, you are right. My intuition about food is not even as good as my intuition during the competition!"

"Hey, hey——that's amazing. Anyway, let's go back to the dormitory and lie down for a while."

"Hey wait, I remembered how to solve that problem, do you want to listen to it?"

"...Why do I feel like you're going to say something very weird...?"

"Hey, it's your new winning suit. Didn't you say the slits on both sides of the legs seemed a little big and you were afraid of exposing yourself?"

“…A little bit, but didn’t I bother Kouki to design the tights afterwards? That doesn’t matter.”

"I have a better suggestion than tights. Why don't you try a loincloth? I think that's better!"

"...Dao! He! Yi! Come out with us! This time... Hey! Don't run!"

There was a lot of noise as two short figures rushed out of the cafeteria one after the other, while the rest were giggling, as if nothing was different from any other day.

Kitahara pondered for a moment, retracted his gaze, and glanced at Katsumi Komiyayama's plate inconspicuously.

Intuitively, Tamamo Cross, the trainer, seems to be eating less than usual.

Moreover, I didn't notice it at the beginning of these few days, but once I noticed it by chance, this intuition became more and more obvious.

After thinking for a while and pretending to be full, Kitahara pretended to sigh.

"These two guys...are about to compete. The Emperor is here to enjoy the autumn scenery, but they are still making so much noise."

He complained in a half-truthful way, his eyes wandering between his colleagues who looked helpless and amused, and he said casually: "Let's discuss how to adjust it."

"Katsumi, come with me to the office later. Taro, you can come over later."

As the club president, this arrangement seemed very natural. Several colleagues were not surprised. Even Katsumi Komiyama and Taro Yusuhara thought it was an ordinary conversation.

However, after arriving at the office and waiting for Katsumi Komiya to come over, Kitahara asked directly without any preparation:

"What happened to Xiaoyu?"

Looks of surprise and hesitation appeared on Xiao Gongshan's face as she had just closed the door. After a long time, she covered her forehead and sighed.

"Sure enough... I knew I couldn't hide it from my senior brother..."

Hearing this expected sigh, Kitahara was thinking quickly in his mind.

It shouldn't be a training issue. He has noticed it many times in the past few days. Tamamo Cross and Komiyama Katsumi just have small appetites. Their training and other life details are normal.

Especially in training, we work harder than ever before.

Especially since Tamamo Cross has a relatively small appetite, if Oguruma, who is the leader in Japan in terms of food appetite, hadn't complained about it a few times occasionally, Kitahara might not have noticed it now.

But it was still his intuition that Kitahara still felt that there should be some unexpected events, and now seeing Komiyayama's attitude, he was even more certain of it.

But, besides training and competition, what else is there...wait.

He suddenly recalled something that was vague in his memory.

Komiya spoke with a complicated expression.

"Some time ago...after the Thanksgiving Festival, Xiaoyu wanted to show her new clothes to her brothers and sisters."

"And the old man."

"That is my teacher, the Sanye trainer who helped Xiaoyu and her mother before."

"I went with her."

"I haven't noticed it yet since we just met."

"But not long after, Xiaoyu and I discovered that the old man seemed a little strange..."

"Xiaoyu didn't think of it, but I spent a lot of time with Sister Jingzi, so I thought of some possibilities. I forced the old man to check it out, and found out..."

As she spoke, a sad look gradually appeared on Komiyayama's face. She paused and sighed heavily again.

Before she could speak, Kitahara suddenly whispered, "Alzheimer's?"

Xiao Gongshan was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly, "You really seem to know everything, Brother..."

Sighing again, she nodded and said, "The old man may have guessed it originally, but he has always been worried that Xiaoyu would know the results sooner or later."

"He doesn't want to affect Xiaoyu, especially since the Emperor's autumn viewing ceremony is coming soon."

"He has been hiding it all along. Now that I think about it, he seems to have avoided Xiaoyu from seeing him many times, telling her to concentrate on training and competitions, otherwise he would be angry."

"I didn't think too much about it before Xiaoyu and I talked about it. I just thought that's what he thought."

"If Xiaoyu hadn't suddenly wanted to give the old man a surprise this time, I'm afraid..."

"Anyway," she sighed for the nth time as she gradually sat down on the office chair, her body drooping, "I forced the old man to be hospitalized."

"I don't want to affect my senior brother and everyone else, so besides Xiaoyu and I, only Sister Jingzi knows about this."

Kitahara fell silent.

He had remembered before that if some timelines had not changed, Mr. Sanno, the former trainer of Tamamo Cross, would have been hospitalized before a competition.

That match was the Emperor's Autumn Viewing Game.

He had no recollection of the specific illness, but if it was an elderly person, Alzheimer's disease was the biggest possibility.

This is commonly known as Alzheimer's disease.

Even after decades, there is still no specific medicine for this disease and it cannot be cured. The only option is to use a combination of medication and nursing to alleviate symptoms and delay disease progression.

The ideal situation can delay the development into the most serious condition by more than ten years. On average, it takes about ten years.

In this timeline, delayed recovery technology is not that good, and the treatment effect usually does not last more than ten years, probably within ten years.

Therefore, unless we can come up with methods that are ahead of our time, we can only delay the symptoms as much as possible.

Just as he was thinking about it, Komiya seemed to cheer up a little and smiled a little.

"Since you have discovered it, I don't have to worry about it anymore."

"How should I put it? I just realized that Xiaoyu is much stronger than me, or than we thought."

"Brother, you should be able to notice that she has been working harder recently."

"It's sad to know this, but I think she would rather win more games than be sad, because that's what the old man wants."

"As for the medical expenses, you don't have to worry about that, Senior Brother. Xiaoyu won quite a bit of prize money, so there won't be any problem in that regard."

"so……"

Kitahara suddenly interrupted.

"When Yuhara comes over later, tell him that you two will take charge of the afternoon training for me, and just follow the plan."

As he said this, he walked towards the office door.

Komiya Katsumi was stunned and said subconsciously: "...Ah? Wait, Brother, what about you?"

Without stopping, Kitahara said casually, "While that local tyrant Khalid... I mean, while that Crown Prince has not left Japan yet, I just happened to pay him a visit today."

"By the way, chat with the two little guys or something."

(End of this chapter)