Uma Musume: From Being Knocked Ten Meters Away

Chapter 104 Escape as Far as Possible
Like the Spring Championship, the Gaoyue Sho is held at the Zhongshan Racecourse, and the participating horse girls and trainers will arrive early to prepare.

Compared with previous preparations, Yasui Makoto's instructions this time were more detailed.

Field characteristics, overall tactics, key skills, weather forecasts, opponents' past performance...

These contents that have been mentioned repeatedly in the past are explained again one by one, and the last one is the running method.

"Run. This time, run as far as your physical strength allows."

He wrote the word "escape" in large letters on the whiteboard, circled it with a whiteboard marker, and pointed to the starting point of the Gaoyuejing running track diagram. Yasui Zhen faced the northern Xuanju and said in a deep voice:
“I can say I’m very lucky. There weren’t many runaway horses in this race… No, it should be said that there were very few.

“Judging from the performance in previous competitions, including you, there should be only two people who are capable of leading the release.

"With two runners out of fifteen, the competition for the lead is very slim, which is very favorable to you."

"Run as far away as possible... maybe one or two opponents..."

After muttering to himself as he finished writing in his little notebook, Kita no Xuanju looked at the whiteboard and pointed his carrot-shaped ballpoint pen at the name "Azreta".

"So, I have to compete with Leita from the beginning?" Beibu Xuanju said thoughtfully.

Also looking at the whiteboard, Yasui Makoto nodded.

“That’s the case based on past competition records.

“Azreta debuted earlier than you and has participated in six tournaments so far.

“她的第2场比赛通过顺序是1、1、1、1，前3场则都是2、2、2、2。

"If nothing unexpected happens, there's a very high possibility that she'll escape again."

Most racetracks have four turns, and the term "passing order" refers to the position of a particular horse girl as she passes through each turn.

A lot can be analyzed from this data.

For example, Azreita was able to maintain first or second place in four consecutive corners. His leading ability can be said to be very good and his performance was very stable.

In addition, he passed all four corners in the first three races in second place, and it is very likely that he is as good at "slow escape" as Northern Xuanju.

Of course, it is also possible that she simply failed to compete with the other leading horse girl.

"I can't be completely sure how Azreta will escape."

Yasui Zhen continued:
"But no matter what she chooses, your response remains the same.

"Make sure you're at least a length ahead of her when you get to the middle of the race, and don't let her pass you.

“It doesn’t matter how much extra energy you put into this, because you have the advantage in this regard.

"It's not just her. If, as we just speculated, another leader appears, we must also spare no effort to overtake them and not let them overtake us."

He picked up his pen and tapped it on the whiteboard, his expression becoming serious.

“Because once you take the lead, your race has only just begun.

"Satomi Crown, Indomitable Steel, Thunderous Roar, Noda Golden Horse...

"The last kicks of these opponents are all faster than the last.

"You have to keep widening the gap from the start to the final straight, until you have a gap on the final straight that they can't catch up with you no matter what."

……

I took note of Yasui Makoto's instructions, went to the Zhongshan stadium for pre-match acclimatization, gave interviews, and had dinner...

After completing all this with hesitation and anticipation, he returned to the special dormitory. Just like the previous training, he took a strict "hot and cold bath" to relax his body, and then Kitaguchi Xuanju lay on the bed in a yukata.

Looking to the left, she sighed softly.

"I'm still a little uncomfortable without Guang Zuan-chan around..." He looked up at the ceiling again and pouted.

"So why didn't you agree to let me move all the lanterns from the dormitory here? The school clearly agreed..."

Then he sat up with a whoosh, picked up his charging phone, and started making a call.

"...Don't worry, Grandpa. I'm very full and will go to bed soon!... Yeah! I will definitely give it my all tomorrow! Good night!"

"...The seniors are all coming to watch me compete?! Emperor-senpai and McQueen-senpai are coming too! That's fantastic! I'll definitely do my best!... Yeah! I'll go to bed early. Good night, seniors!"

"...Crown-chan is still training in the gym? Naruto-chan is there too?...I won't go. The trainer told me to rest early today, and Grandpa and the others said so too... Yeah, then I'll say goodnight in advance, Diamond-chan."

"...Good evening, Xingmu. I've been training lately, so it's been a while since we last met... Yeah! Let's hang out after the game!"

Relatives, seniors, friends, juniors... She called everyone she could think of one by one. The dialing interface stopped at the name "Anjing Zhen" and the girl's finger on the dial button paused.

After staring at the familiar name on the screen for a long time, she took a deep breath and finally pressed her finger.

After a while...

"Hello? Trainer? You... haven't slept yet...?" She asked cautiously in a low voice after answering the call.

I don’t know why, it was just the same phone call as usual, but this time I felt nervous and uneasy.

Hmm... I guess I shouldn't call my trainer right now. He told me to get some rest...

Woo… I should have called him first…

Just as he was hesitating, Beibu Xuanju heard a familiar chuckle coming from the phone.

"Are you really nervous?"

"...How did the trainer know?" she asked subconsciously in surprise.

At the same time, she realized that in the past few competitions, she did call everyone she cared about one by one.

But at that time, she was only thinking about letting them know about the upcoming game, but this time she was unconsciously nervous.

"Well, I mean...it's okay if you're nervous."

There was a chuckle on the other end of the line, followed by the sound of shuffling papers. Yasui Makoto's voice suddenly became as steady and powerful as it usually was when he was analyzing tactics:
"I just wanted to call you to ask how you were, but I didn't expect you to call me first.

"Well, I mean...it's okay if you're nervous.

"I believe you, Xiaobei.

"I believe your legs crave victory more than any opponent, and your body has endured training that no opponent could possibly endure.

"Remember your final acceleration time during last week's adaptive training? 43 seconds. Believe me, no opponent can maintain the acceleration state for so long as you can.

"And every curve and every steep slope simulated during special training, with a potential energy conversion rate of over 89%, is enough to make up for your shortcomings in explosive power and maximum speed.

"Also, we've agreed on a strategy. If you can execute it to 6% perfection, you can create a gap of more than lengths.

"Even if your opponent's final burst speed reaches 33 seconds, there's no way they'll catch up to you in the final straight line of the Gaoyue Sho. This is the absolute safety value calculated using all your training data.

"If you're still nervous..."

His voice suddenly softened, as if he was sharing a secret:
"Then lie down slowly, think about it and imagine it slowly.

"Think back to every ray of morning sunshine you've seen, every gust of wind that's blown against your face, every drop of sweat you've shed, every step you've taken on the track...

"Then……

“Imagine the moment when the spotlight on the entire stage shines brightly for you after you’ve worked so hard.”

(End of this chapter)