Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 374 If Inari didn't care so much

After several measurements, it was finally found that Tamamo Cross had actually grown taller.

Although it's only one centimeter higher.

But being one centimeter taller does mean you have grown taller.

This incident quickly became a hot topic, and media outside the Eternal Club and some Internet platforms reported and tagged it.

After all, Tamamo Cross is now recognized as one of the strongest horse girls in the Shining series, and has long been known as the "little guy from the East and the West."

"The West" naturally refers to Tamamo Jushi who was born in Kansai, and on the other side is Inari Ichi who has always been known to the outside world as a "son of Edo".

Now, this title has actually changed, which inevitably caused some heat.

There was a lot of excitement inside the Eternal Club because of this. A group of horse girls went out to have fun for the whole day on their day off in the name of "celebrating Xiaoyu's growth".

However, unlike before when he took advantage of Uma Musume’s break to go to Tokyo for “investigation”, Kitahara stayed in the office to work this time.

On the one hand, as the chairman of the club, he has a lot of things to deal with, and it is impossible for him to take a rest every time the horse racing girls are on holiday.

On the other hand, the Japan Cup will start in two days.

Match day is followed by the Summit Cup.

Whether it is to achieve excellent results in the Japan Cup or to lay the foundation for the subsequent development of the Eternal Club, now is not the time to rest.

While dealing with work, Kitahara was somewhat surprised that Maruzenski did not go out to play like the other horse girls.

Instead, she stayed in the office with him, saying, "I see you're working so hard, so I came to help you."

It feels really good to have a horse girl to work with me.

However, Kitahara would sneak a peek from time to time during his work breaks, and he felt more and more strange.

He always felt that in the past month or two, Maruzenski seemed to have spent too much time by his side.

This shouldn't be an illusion.

Accustomed to arranging everything in advance, he is still able to pay attention to factors beyond the plan.

It might not be easy to notice in one or two days, but after so long, the work is getting easier and easier, so even if I want to, I can't help but notice it.

If you think about it for a moment, you'll realize that the reason I feel so relaxed is because of Maruzenski.

It was as if I could read his thoughts, or I was very clear and accustomed to his working rhythm and style.

Whenever I want to do something, the other party can always start one step ahead or help just in time.

If you think about it, you will find that this is not only true at work, but also outside of work.

He doesn't have much entertainment in his daily life, at least that's what other people think.

He enjoys watching race videos and information about Umamusume, but not everyone can do that.

He knew that others would find this kind of thing boring, so he was surprised that Maruzenski could still devote himself to doing such a "boring" thing.

You know, this is not the first day that I have been interacting with this horse girl, and she has never behaved like this before.

So, who is she...?
"…Is there something weird on my face?"

A questioning voice interrupted Kitahara's thoughts.

Following the sound, I saw Maruzenski holding a folder, tilting his head and looking over curiously.

“…No, I…”

Kitahara quickly gathered his thoughts and said vaguely, "I was thinking about... Yusuhara.

"Yes, I was thinking about Yusuhara and Inari."

That's not really a lie.

Feeling that Maruzenski seemed to be behaving abnormally recently, Kitahara subconsciously wanted to find someone to ask.

Among the people he usually hangs out with, Taro Yusuhara is a male like himself, so they have more common topics.

Perhaps, Yuhara could also notice the abnormality that I noticed.

Following this line of thought, the ambiguous words naturally flowed to the trainer and his horse girl.

"Yusuhara and Inari..."

Surprised, Maruzenski didn't think too much about it and shook the document in his hand, "But weren't we talking about Komiyayama and Xiaoyu before?
"Come to think of it, these two have been really excited lately," she laughed.

"That's for sure. After all, Xiaoyu's growth is a good thing no matter from which angle."

Kitahara certainly knew what Tamamo Cross and Komiyama Katsumi were excited about recently, and he was also happy about it.

“Speaking only of training and competition, I have actually been concerned about Tama’s physical development, and I have talked a lot with Komiya.

“In Xiaoyu’s case, it is clear that her potential was not well nourished and fully developed due to her family environment during her early years.

“I originally thought that the research on horse girls with Ash-blooded bloodlines, such as the Oguruma sisters, the Golden Ship, and Biwa Chenguang, was not going in the right direction.

"Otherwise, how come Xiaoyu's physical condition hasn't changed significantly in such a long time?"

He suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, "But the fact that I grew taller, even if it's just one centimeter, shows that there was something wrong with my previous thinking.

"Perhaps I didn't distinguish her training data from her physical parameters. I should have rebuilt a new data model."

This is actually one of the tasks that Beiyuan has focused on in recent days.

In addition to being an advancement and supplement to previous bloodline research, more horse girls will benefit from the growth of height once the relevant research is promoted.

To put it in the short term, it will also affect Tamamo Cross's future training and competition arrangements.

Ideally, this physiological change may mean an improvement in physical fitness.

Then some training methods that were originally limited and running tactics that could not be applied well can be tried and applied later.

Needless to say, future competitions will certainly not be easy, and perhaps we can make some attempts in this Japan Cup.

For example, taking more aggressive options in running tactics.

In the past, Tamamo Cross would more often adopt a running style of differential movement and chasing from behind, and would spend most of the race in a relatively backward position in the team.

She needs to use this method that can better maintain her physical strength to make up for the disadvantages brought by her physical fitness to a certain extent, so as to better play the advantage of balanced abilities.

This way of running means that she often needs to follow her opponent's rhythm for a long time before she can gain enough initiative at the end of the race.

Now, if you are sure that your physical potential has been developed, you can run further forward in the early and middle stages.

It won't reach the position of a fleeing horse, but it is still no problem to stay in the leading position for a long time and affect the rhythm of the opponents in front and behind.

In this way, the pace of the race, the rhythm of sprinting and cornering, etc. can be better controlled.

As he pondered, Kitahara unconsciously explained his thoughts to Maruzenski.

Finally, he added: “But this is just my opinion.

“Whether to do this or not still depends on the opinions of my junior sister and Xiaoyu.

“As I said before, the two of them are still quite excited. I plan to discuss it with them after they have rested for the day.

“Then there’s Inari, and I plan to give similar advice.

"Although Inari hasn't grown taller..."

At this point, he couldn’t help but laugh, “But her physical fitness is actually better than Xiaoyu’s.

"So, she could have made more attempts, especially now that her personality has become more stable." Kitahara did not notice some changes in Inariichi like he did with Maruzenski, who only recently noticed some changes.

Although he is not a direct trainer, he has been arranging training and studying the situation.

Deep down, he felt it was quite interesting.

Because in my impression, Inari had a pretty bad temper when he was playing, especially during competitions, he would often lose control.

It will take until retirement for your personality to become more stable.

At this moment, after many trainings and competitions, Inari has become much more calm and composed, so it is natural for him to adjust the corresponding game tactics.

However, what surprised Kitahara was that after he finished speaking, Maruzenski looked thoughtful.

"Has his personality become calmer?" Maruzenski murmured.

"……What's wrong?"

Beiyuan asked doubtfully, "Is there something wrong with what I said?"

"It's not a problem, it's just..."

After thinking for a while, Maruzen explained, "It may be an illusion, but there are things that can be confirmed.

"When I was chatting with Inari, I found that she always had some psychological pressure when facing Xiaoyu."

“Psychological pressure…?”

Beiyuan frowned, then relaxed, "Are you sure? Or...

"Could it be that she feels pressured by this kind of thing because Xiaoyu has grown taller recently?" After thinking about it, he said jokingly.

There was no joking expression on Maruzen's face.

"That's not the case. Perhaps, it's because you, Kitahara, are not a horse girl, so it's hard for you to sense this kind of subtle thoughts."

She frowned and sighed, "In fact, if we only look at the results, Inari is one of the best horse girls in Japan in terms of the number of wins and the winning rate.

“Looking at the entire URA competition, she is already good enough now.

“But this is compared with all the horse girls.

“What if it is just placed in eternity?

"I mean, compete with Xiaoyu."

He held up the document in his hand, which was the one belonging to Tamamo Cross. Maruzenski then picked up another document at hand, and the words "Inari Ichi" were written on the cover of this document.

“Both horse girls are from the same ancient horse year, compete in the same central level events, belong to the same team, club, and receive the same training.

“But in terms of grades, Inari is indeed a little worse than Xiaoyu.

“This feeling…I can’t actually describe it because I have never experienced anything like this.

“I’ve experienced this kind of thing where I clearly felt that I was no weaker than the opponent or my friends, but I never really won once.

“I think that’s what Inari thinks.

“I can think of these things because even though I have never participated in this kind of competition, I still have the feeling of not being weaker than anyone else.

"Can you imagine this feeling, Beiyuan?"

Kitahara fell silent.

He could imagine this kind of subtle thoughts, but he could only imagine them based on logic and rationality, and could not actually feel them.

And under normal circumstances, he couldn't maintain this rational feeling all the time.

If he really wants to feel it rationally, he would think that Inari's current performance against Tamamo Cross is actually very normal.

Because the competitions that Inariichi originally participated in were all on the mud track in Oi.

Being able to adapt to the new grass court in such a short time after transferring to the central team is an extremely outstanding performance.

Comparing with the timeline, Inari in the parallel dimension is actually still in Oi at this moment, and is still facing the problem of adaptability to the heavy venue.

This year, from the Gold Cup, to the Emperor's Prize, to the Kanto Cup, Tokyo Kinen, and Expedition to Kasamatsu, five consecutive major venue competitions, Inari's results were not good.

It was not until the end of the year at the Tokyo Grand Prix that she overcame many problems and won the first and last major award of the year.

When she moved to the Central Championships the following year, she failed to adapt to the grass environment and the Central Championships competition style in her first match, the Subaru Special Cup, and her second match, the Hanshin Grand Prix, and only finished fourth and fifth respectively.

It was not until the Emperor came to enjoy the spring that she won her first G1 with a track record-breaking performance.

And then there was her first confrontation with Oguruma and Mejiro Altan at the Daily Crown.

In that match, she lost to Oguruma by a small margin.

In other words, today's Inari has actually arrived at the Central Prize Stage a whole year in advance, and has adapted to the new environment and new competition style more quickly.

But compared to Tamamo Jushi, who was also from the central government, perhaps even if there is no difference in basic strength, or even better in physique, the difference in adaptability still caused an impact on the battle record.

Beiyuan is very clear about these things.

He also knew that Maruzenski, who knew the Eternal Club well enough, also knew it very well.

So he thought that this horse racing girl should have something else to say.

"I can understand a little bit, what I mean is..."

Pointing to his head, Kitahara explained: "Understand it in the way I think."

Somehow, he felt that Maruzen could understand what he meant.

"Well, analysis, logic, rationality, that's what you mean, right?"

He asked with a smile, and when he saw Kitahara nod helplessly, Maruzenski smiled even more, "I knew it was like this."

"Uh... Anyway, I understand, but..."

Scratching his head, Kitahara was silent for a moment, "I don't really know how to deal with this kind of thing, especially from the perspective of training and competition.

“Let me think about it, this kind of pressure may make Inari care too much about Tama’s performance.

"If you pay too much attention to it, it might affect your performance in the game again.

“It’s like the Emperor enjoying the autumn.”

The club must have reviewed the Emperor's autumn viewing experience repeatedly.

It has to be said that many times the victory or defeat between horse girls is difficult to fully replicate using data or simulation.

Because Tamamo Cross's decision on the Emperor's autumn viewing was too bold.

Even though he knew that Inari had a better last move, if the opponent's decision was different from what he expected, the possibility of being overtaken would be quite high.

Tamamo Cross was still able to restrain himself, and only made a desperate effort until the last 50 meters, not giving Inari time to react, and won the victory in one breath.

On the other hand, if Inari Ichi could pay less attention to Tamamo Cross and completely focus on his own rhythm of the game, it would be much more difficult for the latter to win regardless of whether he adopted the same tactics or not.

But I don’t care about the Tamamo Cross…

As he thought about it, Kitahara couldn't help but sigh, "...It's not that easy.

"Ah, I mean, if Inari didn't care so much about Tama," he explained after sighing, "she might have a better chance of winning this time in the Japan Cup.

"But this kind of thing may be difficult for her..."

(End of this chapter)