Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 393 Breaking Common Sense
Tied with Saratani, Katsuragi Ace didn't think that much.

From the beginning of the game, all she felt was an increasingly intense passion.

She originally thought that she had not really run on the track for a long time since retiring, and it would take some time to get back to her previous form.

She was thinking about this while preparing for the battle.

For this reason, even if she has completed the training plan agreed upon by everyone, after the end, she will still privately return to the "training track" that she was familiar with back then and practice until she is exhausted.

The so-called "training track" is actually the road south of the Tokyo stadium.

The terrain there is higher than the stadium. When running along the road, just move your eyes slightly to the north and you can see almost the entire stadium.

She remembered clearly that before she transferred to Central Tresen College, it was during an accidental run that she saw the figure she had always longed for.

That is why she decided to move to the central government.

That figure was none other than Chiaki, who later became the representative of the Triple Crown Umamusume.

In the eyes of others, Ace Katsuragi didn't know when Representative Chiaki came to the fore.

Perhaps it was before her debut. After all, Qianming's family background was quite outstanding. Her mother had achieved good results when she was in service, and her father was an outstanding trainer.

Or perhaps it was before the Gaoyue Award, because since then, people have noticed the unusually fierce pursuit ability of this horse girl.

However, in the match that Katsuragi Ace remembered, the debut match that she remembered vividly, Representative Chiaki actually ran quite far ahead.

Winning is easy too.

Katsuragi remembered very clearly that in that 1600-meter debut battle, Chiaki was 0.9 seconds ahead of the second place, a full five lengths, which could be said to be a pretty beautiful debut victory.

Afterwards, she unconsciously wanted to pay attention to this horse girl who looked a little different.

Then I realized that the other party was really different from other horse girls.

Although she won her debut match easily with the proactive strategy, she made mistakes from the beginning in the second and third matches, just like a lousy horse racing girl who had no professional training.

Not only was there a leak, but one race started later than the next.

There was no problem with the second game. Even though he was late, Qianming still won.

Unfortunately, we lost the third game and only got second place.

However, starting from those two games where they fell into the last game at the beginning, Qianming also launched a chasing tactic that was called "contrary to common sense."

What impressed me most, of course, were the three encounters in the classic triple crown.

Gaoyueshou, Katsuragi remembered that it rained heavily that day.

In the rain, he and the winner of the Japanese pillow tried their best to increase the distance by leading.

He once gained the upper hand in the confrontation with the winner of Hibaku, but was ultimately defeated by the Chiming representative who rushed out from the melee in the rear.

In the end, he only won the eleventh place in the Gaoyue Award.

The same was true for the Japanese derby. Even though I tried my best to take the lead and had opened up a large enough gap for most of the race, Qian Ming representative still caught up.

Not only did he catch up, he also thought that he would have to fight to decide the winner. However, he did not expect that the other party would surpass him in just a moment and then leave him far behind.

I was a little hesitant about whether to participate in the Chrysanthemum Appreciation Festival.

She is not good at long-distance competitions. Both her performance during training and the endurance and perseverance required for long-distance competitions restrict her ability to perform at this distance.

But in the Kyoto Shimbun Cup, she took the lead with a do-or-die battle, winning the championship by six lengths, beating Qian Ming with dignity, which gave her the confidence to step into the last battle of the classic triple crown of the Chrysanthemum Appreciation.

However, the pre-match hesitation ultimately proved to be correct.

Although she was ranked second in popularity, she ended up ranking second to last among the 21 contestants. It could be said that the Chrysanthemum Competition was the one in which she suffered the worst defeat in her battle with Qian Ming.

The next matches against Representative Chiaki will be next year's Mainichi Crown, Emperor's Autumn Viewing and Japan Cup, as well as the Arima Kinen at the end of the year.

In the four games, she knew that what the outside world expected was not her confrontation with Representative Qian Ming.

Instead, it is the confrontation between the two Triple Crown horse girls, Qianming representing and Luduo symbolizing.

But she didn't care.

She never cares about the outside world's opinion, it's meaningless.

Meaningless things will eventually be crushed and surpassed by herself. This is her true will to step into the arena.

What she thought was meaningful was the figure that attracted her to the central stage.

She wanted to do her best to compete with the other party no matter when and where.

and so……

Qianming's current position...

There is no doubt that in the end, the guy's running method has no other choice but to chase after him, and the game tactics discussed before are also the same...

Rushing forward at full speed, Ace Katsuragi placed himself far behind the team, except for paying attention to his own situation.

only……

I had competed with her before in the 2400m, a derby, and a Japan Cup...

Both games happened to be held in this Tokyo stadium...

Then, the situation when she caught up this time was the same as Derby's fierce pursuit after escaping the melee...

It will still be the same as in the Japan Cup, misjudging the acceleration time...

No, I can’t think like that…!
Ace Katsuragi shook his head sharply.

The intensity of this attempt to get rid of the thought from his mind was so great that Saratani, who was standing next to him, became nervous and ran more tensely.

The horse racing girl thought that her Japanese opponent had some idea of ​​confrontation, and she was ready to respond as if by reflex.

After all, this situation is very common in European competitions.

Ace Katsuragi didn't notice his opponent's reaction at all.

She was just nervously thinking about the figure that might be chasing her from behind.

If it was Qian Ming, he would never make the same mistake twice...

During the Japan Cup, she misjudged the overall rhythm of the team and was affected by my lead, so she was slow to catch up. This time, she will definitely not...

And the common sense of ordinary horse girls definitely does not apply to her...

so……

She probably accelerated ahead of time before entering the final bend...?
Or is it more conventional to accelerate on the final straight? After all, the final straight of the Tokyo race is long enough, so there is still a good chance to catch up...

No, that's not right! I just thought that I couldn't think about that guy in the usual way...

and so……

Suddenly, Katsuragi Ace's thoughts were cut short.

It was almost as if the dimension was torn apart, and an extremely familiar feeling of oppression suddenly approached behind him.

She had no way of thinking about when the opponent she had always cared about and admired would catch up with her.

But there is no doubt that what I just repeatedly affirmed and accidentally denied, "that guy never does anything that is within common sense", has come true.

“Qian… Ming…?!!!” He shouted out uncontrollably with indescribable surprise and joy. He didn’t need to turn his head, because in the corner of Katsuragi Ace’s eye, he had already seen the figure of Qian Ming’s representative.

The winning outfit, which was a combination of green and white, looked like a dance stage costume, and her long brown hair was pulled by the strong wind into a cape that fluttered behind her.

The blue eyes looked straight ahead with interest, and met the surprised gaze of Katsuragi Ace. While speeding, Qianming representative raised his hand with a smile and greeted.

"Hey~ Katsuragi, you run really fast~"

In a flash, he waved to the other side.

"You are... Saratani, right? You run very fast too~"

"Of course! Hahaha! You really are unpredictable, Qianming!"

Without paying attention to Representative Chiaki's greeting, Ace Katsuragi burst into laughter after being surprised.

"Can't guess?"

Hearing Katsuragi's laughter, Representative Chiaki was stunned.

"What's so hard to guess?" She smiled again, "This game is obviously very interesting in the beginning, right?
“There were no horse girls in the midfield, and the horses were running slowly at the back.

“Then the previous matches must be more intense, right?

“It’s so intense and so interesting, I will definitely come and take a look.

“It was quite interesting just now, I mean, the competition with those foreign players when we caught up.

“They didn’t expect me to come up here at all.

"Next, I hope the game here will be more interesting than before~"

"Don't worry!"

Almost as soon as Representative Qianming finished speaking, Ace Katsuragi burst into laughter again, "Hahaha! Since you are here, I will definitely not let you down!
"bring it on!
“I haven’t reached the point of stalling yet!
"Let's see if you can catch up with me with all your strength!"

The declaration of a duel was only halfway through when Katsuragi's Ace began to accelerate.

The black windbreaker was instantly pulled higher by the wind caused by the speed, and the four white characters "Katsuragi Ace" on the back seemed to be about to fly off the clothes at any time, circling in the wind.

"As expected..."

The blue eyes suddenly lit up, and Qian Ming's mouth curled up even higher, "Sure enough, compared to you...

“It’s even more interesting!”

Following closely behind the black and white figure, the speed of the blue-white figure of the horse girl also suddenly increased.

In an instant, Saratani caught a glimpse of two figures passing by in the corner of his eye and was completely stunned.

Are you sure there is noting wrong? !
This is totally a straight line in the middle of the race!
This horse girl who leads the race! I thought you knew how to lead the race just now...

But you start speeding up before the end and don't plan to finish the race? !
This kind of rhythm may stall before it reaches the final straight line!

And what's up with this horse-chasing thing?!

What went wrong?!
How can a horse accelerate to the leading position halfway through the chase? !

Do you guys take this game seriously?!
Saratani felt that she seemed to be of a different kind from these Japanese horse racing ladies.

A 2400-meter track, no matter what kind of venue it is on, is in principle more suitable for running at a slow pace.

Perhaps higher-level competitions have less restrictions on pace, but there won’t be much change in the more detailed running techniques.

The race schedule dictates that the leading horse girl cannot accelerate endlessly. If she only emphasizes the leading position and loses control of her physical strength, she will easily lose the race.

On the other hand, if you are facing an opponent who accelerates recklessly, it doesn't matter if you let him get ahead for a while.

Because the opponent will waste too much energy due to this recklessness.

Don't worry about the opponent, he won't even be able to finish the race due to lack of energy.

In Saratani's eyes, this is exactly the situation of the game at the moment.

There is still some distance to the arc at the left end of the race, and we haven’t even reached the entrance to the curve yet.

The horse girl who was leading the race like him suddenly accelerated, and the horse girl chasing behind also accelerated regardless of the situation of the race.

In this situation, unless the other party can break common sense, otherwise...

wait……? !

common sense……

like……

The information I learned previously...

Katsuragi Ace, and... Representative Chiaki, these should be the two names...

The two of them never seem to consider common sense?!

Not only was Saratani shocked, but the entire team was even more shocked.

Especially the overseas horse racing ladies.

Every player present is an experienced and strong person. Even if they are not clear about each other's specific running methods and tactics, they have no problem in grasping the situation of the game.

They all noticed the counterintuitive midfield pursuit by Ace Katsuragi and Representative Chiaki, and were as horrified as Saratani.

Outside the track, the audience and commentators were even more shocked than the runners on the track.

"incredible!"

Akikawa Yayoi was so shocked that her usual way of speaking changed. "When they were still a certain distance away from the curve, Katsuragi's ace player and Chiaki's representative player suddenly accelerated!

“The acceleration is very, very, very significant!
"Contestant Qian Ming, who was originally at the back of the team, rushed to the front in one go!

"The moment she approached, Katsuragi's ace player chose to speed up, not to be outdone!
“Saratanyi seemed to be unable to react and could only watch as two Japanese players passed him and headed towards the bend at a very fast speed!

"We have reached the bend, Katsuragi Ace and Chiaki Representative are now approaching Maruzenski who was previously in the lead!
"Oh!

"Saratany seemed to have realized what was happening, and she also started to accelerate!
“It seems that due to the special rhythm of the race at the moment, the horse racing ladies further behind also speeded up, and this happens to be the corner position that determines the winning strategy!
"rear!
“Same as Representative Qianming!
“Axel also accelerated significantly, and she is moving closer to the front!
“It’s worthy of being a world-class pursuit!

“But Sarathani has already caught up with the opponent who had surpassed him before, which is also a world-class lead!

"The pace is very high, much faster than the previous race, and the horse girls are fighting fiercely in the bends!"

Not only was Akikawa Yayoi extremely excited, but Lifar, who had been acting very calm until then, also seemed to be unable to control his emotions.

"As expected of two horse girls who are known for 'breaking common sense', the choices made by Katsuragi's ace and Chiaki's representative before the winning turn were truly too unexpected."

As if it were a courtesy, just as Akikawa Yayoi expressed her admiration for Saratani and Excell, Lifar also expressed his admiration for Katsuragi Ace and Representative Chiaki.

“This kind of running is quite rare even in the world, and it seems to have disrupted the plans of horse racing girls other than the Japanese side.

"But fortunately, the players in this competition are all very good and their reaction speeds are not slow. It seems that the situation will stabilize after fierce competition."

Lifar said it as a reminder, and in a flash, his gaze shifted to the front of the race team on the track.

"In addition, facing such a sudden change in the game situation...

“Does Maruzenski, who won the race, intend to continue to lead the race in a standard way and win the race?
"This kind of 'common sense' that emerges from 'anti-common sense' seems to have become another kind of 'breaking common sense'?
“Is this a Japanese Uma Musume specialty…?”

(End of this chapter)