Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 293 Catfish Effect
Regarding the parallel running training after the warm-up, Kitahara's initial idea was that with the symbolic participation of Luduo, perhaps the actual situation would be more intense than in the past.

Logically, there should be no problem. Oguruma and the other five horse girls have been training together for quite a while, and they are very familiar with each other's race walking habits.

They usually run together, checking for each other's shortcomings and reminding their companions in time if they find some details that have not been handled well.

Or carry out special training in a certain direction, such as technical training such as cornering and sprinting, or master this special aspect in a field.

During this period, Kitahara will also observe with his colleagues, collect and analyze data, and provide corresponding guidance and arrangements.

If this type of training continues for a long time, the atmosphere during training will become a little more relaxed, which has both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is that there is a harmonious atmosphere, and Oguruma and the others will have better patience during training. The disadvantage is that the competitiveness will be weakened and the training intensity will be weakened to a certain extent.

In order to offset the impact of some of the disadvantages, when it is still a team form, the club will accept all requests from other horse girls to run side by side.

Now that the club has been officially established, this attitude is maintained while also arranging for new club members to participate in training together.

This is a small application of the "catfish effect".

Sardines fishing is a common operation in the fishing industry. If the sardines are simply gathered together, the fish will lose their vitality and rarely swim because they are surrounded by their own kind, and many of them will die during transportation.

At this time, putting one or several catfishes in the school of sardines can stimulate the sardines to swim around and survive.

Although Oguruma and the others are not sardines, and the other horse girls are not catfish, the principle is the same. They all want the latter to create a sense of unfamiliarity and tension in the former, thereby mobilizing a different sense of competition than before and increasing the intensity of training.

Moreover, this increase in intensity is not particularly large and is very sustained, so the actual training effect is quite outstanding.

Horse racing girls like Ludo Symbol and Maruzenski had previously participated in the parallel running training of Oguruma and the others, and the effect was as significant as when the principle was analyzed.

Especially as seniors and strong enemies, the pressure brought by Luduo and the others is quite obvious, so Oguruma and the others will work extra hard in training.

Kitahara also thought so during this training.

But after actually doing a series of training, he was somewhat surprised to find that judging from his own recorded data, the effect did not seem to be as obvious as before.

Perhaps the conclusions drawn from the analysis of various instruments would be different, but the trainer's experience and intuition told Kitahara that the facts should be as he judged.

...So what's going on in this situation...?
While thinking, it was almost time for a break. Kitahara looked at the direction of the track and saw that the horse racing girls were divided into two groups. One group was Xiao Luduo and Tamamo Cross. The two of them were still jogging along the track, as if they were confirming some of the treatments from previous training.

The other group consisted of four other horse girls, who were drinking water and chatting by the fence.

After thinking for a moment, he walked towards Xiaolimao and the others. Before he could open his mouth, he heard their chat.

"Luna seems to be looking for Xiaoyu to chat, right?" Xiaolimao asked curiously, "If I'm not mistaken, she seemed to have been paying attention to Xiaoyu during today's training."

"It seems so, right? It's not very obvious when we're running together, but I can feel it during the breaks."

Xiaowan echoed, then turned a little confused, "Is there something wrong with Xiaoyu's running today? Probably not. I think she ran pretty well."

Hearing this, Kitahara roughly understood the idea symbolized by Luduo.

When I mentioned to her what happened to Tamamo Cross before, she didn't know the details. As the student council president and a senior, both in terms of duty and responsibility, she definitely wanted to talk to Tamamo Cross in person to see if there was anything she could do to help.

Kitahara felt that there was nothing wrong with such things.

For example, Oguruma and the others did not explain the situation of Tamamo Cross. It was not because they wanted to conceal it deliberately, but considering that there were competitions arranged later, it would be better to let them concentrate. Otherwise, given the relationship between them and Tamamo Cross, they would definitely worry too much, which might affect their training.

As for Tamamo Cross, even though I and Katsumi Komiyama know the situation and will try to help and resolve it, there may still be a little difference in communication between humans and Uma Musume. If there is the symbol of Ludo, perhaps the communication effect will be better.

Then I'll have to trouble Luduo first, and maybe I'll have to trouble Maruzen later.

After taking a few glances in the direction of Korudo and Tamamo Cross, Kitahara made a decision in his mind and turned his attention back to Oguruma and the others.

Just then, several horse girls noticed his approach, and Kitahara met their gazes and asked thoughtfully, "How did you feel about the previous training?"

"I mean, is running with Luduo in this state different from before?"

Originally they were just chatting, and the horse racing girls here didn't know the situation of Tamamo Cross, so when they heard about training, their attention was diverted.

"That's what you're asking. I just wanted to tell you the same thing."

Little Chestnut was the first to react, and said impatiently: "I don't know what happened. Before, with Luna... No, it should be called Luduo at that time... It doesn't seem right either, they are the same."

"Anyway, it was quite stressful when I was running with Daluduo before. If she was behind me, I would always feel her movements when she was chasing me."

"But this time when we were running together, I don't know why, but I felt no pressure at all."

"It doesn't seem to be because she is not serious, it's just..."

Scratching his head, Xiao Limao was puzzled. "I really don't understand. I felt that running with Lu Duo in this state might feel a little different."

"Maybe Luna-chan is too cute right now?"

Super Little Bay said jokingly: "If it's too cute, it might not put that much pressure on us."

After joking, she showed a thoughtful expression, "But to be honest, it seems to be due to other reasons."

"Like Xiaoli, I also paid some attention to how Luna-chan felt when we ran side by side today. Even though she has become smaller, she is still Luna-chan after all, and she should not be underestimated."

"I don't know why, but I didn't feel any pressure at all during today's training."

Suddenly, Aldan interrupted, "Could it be that Luna didn't try her best... but it shouldn't be? That shouldn't be her character, right...?"

As she said this, she looked towards Kitahara a little hesitantly.

"It's not like I didn't try my best." Without hesitation, Kitahara quickly turned over the record board and gestured to Oguruma and the others, "Look, here are the times you've completed each training session, including the distance each person has traveled, or the time it took to complete the training."

"From the perspective of pace, the overall speed of training is definitely not as good as the competition time, especially for horse girls of your level."

"But what we showed in training was basically within the normal speed range."

"The same goes for running posture. There is no slowing down at all." Kitahara explained this point of slacking off to Oguruma and the others before taking Rudo to participate in training. It was a bad habit of Rudo's.

This is also part of the training. Luduo herself doesn't think there is anything to be shy about. Although Xiaolimao and the others are a little surprised by this habit, they all accepted it in the end.

Although the recording board method is simpler than instrument data, it is completely sufficient for collecting basic data. As Kitahara said, the various data recorded by the stopwatch all show that there is no major problem with the speed of this training.

As for the running posture, even if they are not professional trainers like Kitahara, Oguruma and the others have gone through so much training and competitions themselves that they can make some judgments and also think that there is no problem in this regard.

"So..." Kitahara was also thinking about it while asking, and now he had some judgment, but before he opened his mouth, Inari spoke it out for him.

“It may be a rhythm issue.”

Inariichi thought about it for a rare moment, and said thoughtfully, "Didn't we practice the rhythm with the emperor and the others for a long time in preparation for the Thanksgiving Festival?"

"Uncle, you also said that when we participate in the Japan Cup, our game rhythm will be very important, so we will train together."

"President... I mean, Luna often came here back then, so she might have been familiar with the Emperor and our pace."

"If that's the case, during this training session, Luna will be more in sync with our rhythm, so we won't feel as much pressure."

"So…wait, why are you guys looking at me like that?"

As he was talking, Inari suddenly noticed that Uncle Kitahara and his companions Oguruma suddenly had surprised expressions and their eyes were full of surprise, and he couldn't help but be stunned.

"Did I say something wrong? That should be it, right? Do you have any other ideas?"

Faced with Inari's series of questions, Oguruma was the first to react.

"It's not that I'm wrong, nor do I have other ideas, it's just..."

Scratching his head, Oguruma said in surprise: "It's really surprising that such words would come out of Inari's mouth..."

"Indeed, it doesn't feel like something Inari would say..." Super Little Bay said thoughtfully.

"Ahem, I think so too, but... it seems that this kind of words is a bit too much for you, Inari..." With a smile on his face, Aldan also echoed.

Although Kitahara said nothing, his thoughts were the same as these horse racing girls.

The characteristics of the first batch of horse girls in the Eternal Club are quite prominent, both in terms of advantages and disadvantages.

Take Inariichi for example, in terms of game intuition and last-minute explosiveness, her level is definitely the best in the entire club, and she is also second to none in the entire industry.

But when it comes to academic performance and thinking ability, I can only say that there is considerable room for growth.

This horse girl is more suitable for macro-level training and competition arrangements, and is not suitable for overly detailed and specific micro-arrangements.

It's just like what Mejiro Altan said, it's rare that Inari noticed something unusual in the training and was able to consider the reasons and give an analysis. Even though it was too unexpected for everyone, saying it out loud now would be like looking down on her, which is a bit too much.

"...You guys..."

Inari raised his fist, veins popping out on his forehead, "Is that a bit too much?!"

"That's too much, isn't it?!"

"What kind of image do I have in your mind?!"

"I'm furious!"

Seeing that Inari Kazuma was about to have a fit, Oguruma and the others, including Kitahara who said nothing, apologized repeatedly.

However, as if his personality had really changed, Inari hummed for a while, and then suddenly calmed down.

"Well, you don't have to apologize."

Waving his hand in disinterest, Inari turned and looked at the runway.

In that direction, two small figures were running slowly.

"I know that. I usually don't say things like that. Or, it's hard for me to think of things like that."

Looking from afar, Inari became thoughtful, "But I don't know why, this time's training, I feel it is particularly obvious."

"Maybe it's because of Xiaoyu."

"Because of Xiaoyu..." Xiaolimao, Xiaohaiwan and Aldan looked at each other. Beiyuan was confused for a moment, and suddenly he had an idea.

"Well, or maybe it's because of the upcoming Emperor's Autumn Viewing Ceremony," Inari turned to look at the trainer and his companions and nodded, "We were receiving rhythm coordination training together before, right?"

"This method is to prepare for the Thanksgiving Festival game and the Japan Cup afterwards."

"It's not like that when the Emperor enjoys the autumn."

"It's not just the Emperor who appreciates the autumn, it's also the chrysanthemum appreciation. I think our rhythm will definitely change in a competition like this."

"I've been thinking about this for a while. Maybe that's why I'm more concerned about the rhythm."

"Then I happened to notice it during training."

"President Lu Duo is indeed very strong. When we trained together in the past, she had her own rhythm, which was completely different from ours. It was unique to her and could easily put a lot of pressure on us."

"But this time, it seemed like she was trying to coordinate with us or to understand something. She was running in step with our rhythm. She had practiced with us before, so when she ran in step with our rhythm, we did as Xiaoli said, and we didn't feel anything."

"perhaps……"

Inari suddenly stopped her narration because the people she had just mentioned, Little Rudo and Tamamo Cross, were jogging towards them.

Following her gaze, Kitahara thought to himself that Inari's analysis was correct. He had not thought about it as carefully as she had before, and the general direction was the same.

So, Luduo, what are your considerations for this training...?
(End of this chapter)