Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 397 You are such an idiot. You are obviously the one I like the most.
As he murmured about his troubles, Maruzenski did not think about any response.

She knew that Luduo and other friends cared about her feelings out of kindness, and she felt that many of their suggestions made sense.

For example, taking the initiative to find opportunities to spend more time with Kitahara, these are still very useful.

But after thinking it over, she realized that what she was facing now seemed to be impossible to solve in the short term.

"Maruzen..."

Seeing his friend's distress and confusion, Lu Duo didn't know what to say for a moment.

Relationships were not something she was good at.

What she could do, or the help she had been providing, was essentially just some speculation from a bystander's perspective.

She could not truly empathize with Maruzen.

Even now, she could see that Maruzenski was distressed, but she couldn't really understand what that distress was like.

"Okay, that's all right."

Suddenly he laughed, and Maruzenski lifted up some scattered hair, then gathered his long chestnut hair and tidied it up.

“I admit that I have been concerned about these things recently and feel a little distressed.

“But all in all, there’s no problem getting along with Kitahara.

“Anyway, after the Eternal Club was established, Oguruma and the others often went to the activity center of the Hongo dormitory to play, and Kitahara often stayed there because of this.

“I still get to be with him a lot.

“Perhaps, if we maintain this state, we will make progress soon.

"I mean feelings, and..."

There was a hint of anticipation and shyness in her smile. She put one hand on her waist and touched her cheek with the other.

"Perhaps, he will be attracted by my charm and take the initiative to confess his feelings.

"After all, I am quite confident in my own charm."

Whether this was to comfort himself or he really had confidence, Luduo couldn't guess.

But since Maruzenski said so, she decided to give her blessing anyway.

"Then I'll look forward to it with you."

He smiled and nodded, then Lu Duo's expression suddenly changed and he put his hands on his hips as if he was angry.

“By the way, if he really confesses his feelings to you, I mean, your relationship will go a step further.

"You must help me condemn him."

"Condemn? Why?" Maruzenski was stunned.

"It's because of the training method in his game."

As if his legs were really weak, Luduo rubbed his thighs in mock anger.

“You can’t imagine him playing games like that.

"To develop the ability to run through all of G1... just thinking about it makes my scalp tingle.

“Even if it’s a game, this is a bit too much.

“Shouldn’t it be condemned?”

Maruzenski vaguely felt that what Ruduo said was actually a blessing to him, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Okay, when that day comes, I will help you condemn him... Oh, that's not right."

"Why is that wrong...wait."

Halfway through the question, Lu Duo looked suspicious, "You're not going to say that if that day really comes, you'll be reluctant to give it up, right?"

"How is that possible? In this matter, I will definitely stand on your side, Luduo."

Smiling and waving his hands, Maruzenski glanced at the winner's stage through the glass beside him and walked out of the VIP room.

"I mean, I can go and help you scold him right now."

"Pfft...Okay, remember to help me curse harder."

After saying this half-truthfully, Lu Duo suddenly remembered something, "Oh yeah..."

After taking two steps, Maruzenski heard a voice and turned back in surprise, "...Huh?"

"…Nothing, I mean…"

After thinking for a while, Lu Duo waved his hand and said, “You just mentioned the Hongo dormitory, and I suddenly remembered that there is a rectification plan there.

"But there's no rush now, so...

"You can go and condemn Kitahara for me first." She teased.

Kitahara didn't know that he would face the "condemnation" symbolized by Luduo.

At the moment, he was just in the exclusive audience area of ​​the Eternal Club, reviewing the Peak Cup that had just ended in between appreciating the winner's stage.

Perhaps other trainers and horse girls did not feel it clearly, but he could conclude that competitions like the Summit Cup were very different from the Shining Series in every aspect.

Affected by the level of the field, the differences in basic strength among the horse girls participating in the Summit Cup are quite small compared to the Shining Series.

If we compare it with the data in the mobile game, the horse girls in the Shining series may only have two or three attributes that can reach S level or above.

In the Peak Cup, reaching S-level attributes can be considered a basic condition.

This means that in actual competitions, the players in the latter type of events have almost no problems in handling various situations.

Even if mistakes occur, we can react and make adjustments in a very short time.

In this kind of competition, what determines victory or defeat is often no longer one or some outstanding running methods.

Instead, it is a deduction of various possible situations before the game, and they are extreme situations.

For example, in this International Exchange Cup, there was nothing unexpected in the early and late stages, and the same was true for the routine acceleration and cornering.

But Maruzenski's handling was obviously much more extreme. Whether it was the unexpected acceleration of the rhythm set by several leading horse girls, or the timing of entering the field before the finish line, it could only be accomplished under harsh conditions.

Similarly, the speed-up between Katsuragi Ace and Thousand Representative in the middle stage, the confrontation between Thousand Representative and Excel before the finish line, and Saratani's chance to break in, all faced very demanding conditions.

It can be said that if the conditions at that time were slightly worse, the outcome would have been completely different.

Moreover, all of this is quite difficult to predict and difficult to normalize in daily training.

The essence of competitive events is to normalize the limits of physical fitness as much as possible, so that horse racing women or other competitive athletes can form habits and muscle memory.

Then when the game comes, you can use it as naturally as breathing.

If we want to normalize the situation at the Peak Cup, we must try to reproduce the competition as much as possible during training.

However, many situations in competitions require harsh conditions in themselves, and it is even more difficult to control similar situations artificially.

So, this kind of training...

As he was thinking and analyzing, Kitahara's attention had completely shifted away from the winner's stage without him noticing.

Suddenly, he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder, interrupting his thoughts.

I subconsciously looked in the direction of the photo being taken, and only saw the audience looking towards the stage excitedly. No one seemed to be looking for me.

Just as I was about to look around, my other shoulder was tapped again.

Realizing that someone was playing a prank on him, Kitahara couldn't help but chuckle.

Then he cooperated and looked to the other side with a confused expression.

"Pfft...how stupid."

A light laugh came from the shoulder that was patted initially, and Kitahara already knew who had played the prank.

"Really? If the juniors see you like this, it will ruin your image as a mature and steady senior..."

Laughing softly, he looked in the direction of the voice, "Maruzen..."

As soon as he said Maruzenski's name, he was slightly stunned.

"It's okay. No one's paying attention here anyway... Hmm? What's wrong?"

Seeing Kitahara's expression, Maruzenski, who had just come over from the Rudo symbol, was also stunned.

From a distance, she saw Kitahara's familiar back under the dazzling lights of the stage.

Seeing him keep his head down and clench his chin, I immediately understood that this person was probably thinking about training, competition, or something related to these things.

I didn’t think so before.

After getting closer and spending more time together over the past month or two, Maruzen has become very clear that for Kitahara, it is almost instinctive for him to enter a working state and meditate at any time.

It's just like the horse girl's natural love for running.

She quite likes this kind of personality, or rather, she likes to see Kitahara like this.

She knew that it was because of this kind of focus that this person had come this far and that the world of horse racing girls had seen many new changes.

However, if you see this situation for a long time, you will worry about whether it is too tiring.

So on a whim, she played a prank like a child.

Seeing Beiyuan looking at her with a strange look in his eyes, she suddenly felt worried whether she had disturbed him.

"that……"

Maruzenski was a little apologetic, "I'm sorry, were you thinking about something important...?"

"Ah, actually it can't be considered..."

Unable to understand why Maruzenski suddenly apologized, Kitahara shook his head subconsciously, "I was just thinking that what you wore today... looked very nice."

At this moment, Beiyuan felt a little emotional, feeling that he regretted not having read enough books when he needed them.

In his eyes, Maruzenski's outfit today was indeed very good-looking.

It's something I've never seen before.

The rose-red evening dress looks very simple, but if you look closely, you will find that the decorations hidden inside are very delicate.

The collar and the hem of the long skirt have a dark gradient, and the parts that turn into deep red will show silver spots as the dark color deepens.

The stage lights happened to be shining, reflecting on those silver points, and the corners of the evening dress looked like stars flowing in the rosy night sky.

On the waist of the skirt, there is a light golden rose, like a moon in the rosy night sky.

This was indeed the most beautiful thing Kitahara had ever seen.

It was also that in the short period of time, he racked his brains and used all his life's knowledge to think of the only way to describe it that he could think of was "very good-looking".

“Yes, really. Well, um…thank you…”

Faced with Kitahara's praise, which could not have been simpler and more direct, Maruzenski became inexplicably embarrassed and began to stammer.

"Yes, I did ask Saratani and the others for advice, but...

"It can't be considered a special consultation. After the competition, we talked about the dinner in the evening, so we discussed what to wear. As a result..."

Maruzenski knew why he suddenly felt embarrassed.

Because when I was communicating with those foreign horse racing girls like Saratani, I was criticized.

"…How should I put it… Maruzen, you don't have to be so frugal…"

"frugal……?"

"Hey? Isn't this your mother's evening dress...?"

It was probably from these brief conversations that Maruzenski vaguely understood that the dress he had chosen seemed...

A little old-fashioned...?
Although they were not sure whether their guess was correct, Saratani and the others obviously avoided the topic afterwards.

But with some trepidation, she still asked for recommendations on what styles could be found, and then, with the help of the stage venue staff, she quickly got a new evening gown.

This is the one I'm wearing now.

And Kitahara's reaction at this moment seemed to prove that what she had vaguely understood before was correct.

The reason for her embarrassment was that she was worried that Kitahara would realize that this dress was different from her usual style and that her aesthetic taste was probably, perhaps, possibly a little old-fashioned.

"I see. It really is very pretty."

Not knowing what Maruzenski was thinking, and still unable to think of a better adjective to describe the appearance of the horse girl in front of him at the moment, Kitahara could only repeat the compliment dryly.

Then, he scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and suddenly something happened to him.

"Oh yeah... this."

He pulled out a stack of papers with a bulge in the middle from his pocket and smiled.

"Also, congratulations, Maruzen."

"Ah? What..."

Subconsciously taking the paper and opening it, Maruzenski understood what Kitahara meant.

"Congratulations on winning today's game."

Thinking that Maruzenski had forgotten, Kitahara said with a smile: “Before the game, didn’t you tell me to keep this hairpin?

“And we agreed that if you win the game, I will give it back to you.

“Since you won, I naturally have to return it to you… huh?

"What's wrong, Maruzen...?"

As he was explaining, he suddenly noticed that Maruzenski was staring blankly at his hands. Kitahara couldn't help but feel a little confused and looked in the direction he was looking.

In Maruzenski's hand, spread out was the golden horseshoe-shaped hairpin that she and Kitahara had agreed upon before the game.

The paper that had previously wrapped the hairpin was now also spread out.

There was writing on the paper.

It was those words that Maruzenski was staring at.

"Ah, this..."

Kitahara smiled and looked towards the winner's stage.

On the stage, the "Special Record!" belonging to the Japan Cup has ended, and the one currently in progress is Inari Ichi's exclusive track.

“This is a song I came up with.”

Looking away from the stage and towards the paper in Maruzenski's hand, Kitahara's tone was a little regretful.

"Forbidden Burning Heart, I think it will suit you."

"You should be on the winner's stage today.

"But the Summit Cup hasn't been fully set up yet... But it doesn't matter, later..."

Before he finished speaking, Maruzenski suddenly raised his head, looked straight at him, and raised the corner of his mouth.

"You're still lying...give it up now~"

Kitahara was suddenly interrupted by Maruzenski, and was stunned for a moment, then shook his head subconsciously.

"Hey? I didn't lie..."

In a flash, he realized that what Maruzenski was talking about was the lyrics of "Forbidden Burning Heart".

This is Maruzenski's role song, and the so-called "thought of" is naturally copied from memory.

And as if he really liked this song, Maruzenski looked at him intently and continued to sing softly.

"I hate good, well-behaved kids~
"At night, it's another me~
"Prank~ Pay attention~
"So, what do you want?
"I say, you are freaking out, right?

"A chance for the two of us to be alone~
"so……"

The low singing suddenly stopped, but the corners of Maruzenski's mouth curled up even higher.

"That's right...

"My true nature is a bright red supercar...

"You're such an idiot, I love you the most...

"Bad bargaining is unnecessary...

"so……"

She raised her hand and pushed the golden hairpin back.

"Are you sure you don't want to put it on for me, Kitahara?"

(End of this chapter)