In April, spring has arrived. In Tokyo, cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and the temperature is much warmer than in the depths of winter.
Warmer weather means there's a much lower chance of getting injured during training compared to the dead of winter. Of course, this is after a thorough warm-up, and Rice, who has fully returned to training, has had no problems so far... no, she's had too few problems.
(Compared to before her injury, her stamina has definitely dropped... but with the long-term rest, her fatigue is gone, so her movements aren't bad at all...)
Rice, a horse girl who always paid attention to fatigue, has continued to do hard training almost every day for a long time.
While training, it's difficult to get rid of the deep-seated fatigue in the body, but because she couldn't move due to her injury and had to rest until she was fully healed, her fatigue gradually subsided.
As a result, it was quite a surprise.
"Hah... hah... as expected of you..."
"Whew... whew... my stamina has dropped a lot..."
After recovering from her long-term rest, she gradually increased her running distance over three weeks, and today, when I had her run alongside King, she showed an almost even performance.
Although I say she ran for about three weeks, after her leg bone healed, I had her swim in the pool to prevent her physical abilities from declining, and I also had her walk as much as possible during her rest to keep her body from becoming sluggish.
As a result, Rice had stamina that was as good as, if not better than, the current King's.
However, with each successive parallel run, King gained an advantage. No matter how good Rice was, she couldn't prevent her body from becoming sluggish from long-term rest, so while she could handle a single run, her stamina recovery couldn't keep up with repeated runs, and she would lose to King.
"As expected... of Rice, my senior... I'm starting to lose a little confidence..."
"Ugh... whew... hah... King-chan, you've gained stamina... Rice is happy."
When I had them run five long-distance races, Rice narrowly won the first, the second was a photo finish. From the third race onwards, King won by one, two, and then three horse lengths.
However, King couldn't believe she lost to Rice, who was just returning from a long-term injury, and Rice seemed happy, feeling King's growth.
Of course, they weren't running at full throttle. In terms of training, they were serious, but if this were a real race, King would probably have won. Rice is still hesitant to run at full speed.
But something that hadn't happened since Rice got injured recently happened: losing to Rice in a parallel run made King's eyes burn with a fire. She was showing her competitive spirit. As expected, I think King is the type of girl who grows rapidly when she has a constant rival.
"Wow... Rice-chan is amazing, she just came back! All right! I won't lose either!"
Urara is also running on the dirt course cheerfully today. She's smiling before she starts, but once she starts running, she goes with a serious expression. She's always serious about training and is steadily, though slowly, improving.
Urara is also working hard every day for her upcoming races. King, spurred on by Rice's return, has been incredibly motivated recently. And Rice, who is happy just to be able to run again, is constantly smiling.
But suddenly, Rice's smile turned into a serious expression.
"By the way, Onii-sama... what are you going to use that helmet you're holding for?"
Rice looked at the full-face helmet I was holding in my left arm.
"This? It's my personal property... I use it when I ride my motorcycle, but Golshi-chan told me a full-face helmet is a good idea..."
"A good idea... huh?"
Rice tilted her head, wondering what I was talking about. So I took out my smartphone and showed her a poster for Team Spica's new member recruitment that I had taken a picture of.
"Look at this."
"This is... um... I'm sorry, Onii-sama. Rice doesn't know what this is."
"It's a poster Team Spica made to recruit team members. I think there's something about this poster that attracts horse girls."
When I showed her the photo, Rice smiled awkwardly. King mumbled, "Oh, that was near the main gate." By the way, Urara just laughed happily at the photo.
"So Trainer, what's the connection between you bringing a helmet and this photo?"
King asked the question, but the answer was simple. When I called Golshi-chan to ask how she took the photo of the poster, she told me she was wearing a full-face helmet.
"First, you dig a hole in the dirt course."
"O-okay..."
"Next, you put on this full-face helmet."
"...I can see where this is going, but continue."
I explained while wearing the full-face helmet. Rice was bewildered, and King looked exasperated.
"Then, I dive headfirst into the hole I dug in the dirt."
"..."
"And then you bury me up to my waist and take a picture."
It's perfect. I bought this full-face helmet for a lot of money, so it'll protect my head well. It has vents, but the cover slides shut, so no sand should get in. Oh, but sand might get in around my neck... I guess it'll be fine if I stuff a towel around my neck after I put it on.
I can't possibly bury Urara and the others in the dirt, so I'll just do it myself, with a spirit of "I'll try it first."
When I explained this, the first to object was Rice.
"N-no way, Onii-sama! It's dangerous for you, and only horse girls like Gold Ship-san will join the team that way!"
"It'll be great if a girl like Golshi-chan joins!"
"Is that so!?"
I'd rather have a girl like Golshi-chan. Or if a girl like Daiwa Scarlet joins, it'll be a home run.
It might be copying Team Spica, but everything starts with imitation. Even being a trainer, you first learn in a training school based on the knowledge left by your predecessors.
I don't know what it was about Team Spica's recruitment poster that attracted the horse girls. So, I thought I'd start with imitation.
I insisted while taking off the helmet, but King Halo took it from me with a wry smile.
"Really... you're so silly in a weird way. You don't have to do that; the girls who are meant to join our team will come."
"That's right, Trainer! Look, look! There are a lot of new students over there!"
Urara pointed with a smile... Wait, I always tell you not to point. Also, Urara, when you point like that, I can feel a lot of eyes on me, and I don't want to see it...
"Hahaha... that's a lot of people, Onii-sama."
"Team Rigil only accepts one or two people a year at most, and Team Spica probably won't take any more after Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka join..."
Even though we haven't announced any tryouts, a lot of new students are coming to watch our team's practice.
I'm a bit biased, but Team Kitalpha is now one of the top teams at Tracen Academy. Looking back at last year's results, there's no other way to put it. If I were to say we're just a humble new team, my colleagues would beat and kick me.
And yet, we haven't reached the minimum of five members for a team. From a new student's perspective, it's not surprising that they see us as a target.
(Tazuna-san also told me that we're getting a ton of applications even though we haven't started recruiting yet...)
Last year was crazy, but this year is an incredible 50-plus applications. In terms of applicants, we're almost on par with Team Rigil. But even with so many applicants, what's impossible is impossible. Even one-tenth of that would be five or six people. I'd just burn out.
(Wait, Rigil has one, Spica has two, I haven't heard of Canopus adding anyone yet, and we have zero... and there are close to 500 new students...)
Every year, that many new students enter Tracen Academy, and they either retire without winning or retire due to injury. Still, Tracen Academy as a whole has nearly 2,000 students, so the trainer shortage is truly serious.
By the way, about 20 new trainers joined this year. It's the highest number in recent years, or rather, ever. And it's still only 20.
Just like horse girls, trainers also retire, take leave, or get fired, so the numbers decrease. Because of the staff shortage, it's rare to get fired, but if you get complacent and cause a scandal because you won't get fired, you'll be fired.
Here, a scandal means things like embezzlement, excessive slacking, or physical abuse of your担当馬娘 (your assigned horse girl). Basically, if you do something that's just plain wrong, you'll get fired.
On the other hand, the fact that a pattern where a trainer just lends their name and a horse girl trains herself and races is currently being overlooked shows how truly serious the trainer shortage is at Tracen Academy.
Lending one's name is not encouraged, but since there are some horse girls like Rice who can win a G1 on their own, a ban would completely crush the future of such horse girls. Also, there are a very small number of girls who want to train themselves according to their own ideas...
So, even if each of the new trainers this year takes on one horse girl, it won't even be one-tenth of the new students. They'd have to take on three to finally exceed one-tenth. Therefore, it's very possible that new students won't be assigned a trainer.
Close to the deadline for registration, horse girls who haven't been assigned a trainer flock to trainers who lend their names, just for the sake of having a name on the paperwork.
(...Huh? Wait a minute... In that situation, my first year, when no one would take me on except Urara...)
Something is wrong... It should have been a seller's market, but there was a guy who was not even considered as a trainer, let alone for lending his name. Yep, that's me.
"Onii-sama!? What's wrong, you suddenly knelt down!?"
"My heart just feels all squeezed up..."
"Whoa! Trainer, are you okay? Does your chest hurt?"
Rice and Urara worry about me as I instinctively kneel down... but King just looks at me with a wry smile. However, her lips softly move, mouthing "Silly person."
"Alright, let's get back on our feet... Well, let's stop with the jokes. No, seriously, I was shocked the other day when I found a girl I thought was good and wanted to train, but she ran away from me."
Can't be helped, let's move on. But there are also girls who are watching us and eyeing a spot on the team, so what should I do... Ah, I have an idea.
I take out my smartphone, open the messaging app, and start typing.
'Anyone planning to scout new students this year?'
'✋'
'✋'
'✋'
I sent a message to my colleagues and juniors, and a few of them responded immediately. So I tapped a few more keys.
'Want to hold a joint tryout?'
'Huh?'
'Seriously? Let's do it.'
'Can I invite the new trainers who joined this year?'
'My juniors from training school just joined, I'd like to invite them.'
Oh, a lot of them are pretty positive. Or rather, a few of my colleagues already have more than five assigned horse girls, so are they planning to form a team soon? It sounds weird coming from me, but forming a team in your third year as a trainer is pretty fast.
If we hold a tryout and I still can't find a girl I want to train, I might just pass on this year. I'd be happy if I found a girl who gives me a "click" feeling, like Daiwa Scarlet, Vodka, or T.M. Opera O... or a girl with a fighting spirit, even if I don't feel her talent.
If I involve multiple trainers, a lot of new students will gather. With that many people, I should be able to find at least one or two I want to train.
If you hold a tryout and it doesn't work out, you have to be able to accept that so the new students can go find other trainers. It would be a disaster to give them false hope of possibly joining the team and then having them miss the deadline to decide on a trainer.
With that in mind, I decided to hold a joint tryout with my colleagues, juniors, and the new trainers after getting confirmation from Tazuna-san.
And then, what can I say... we're in a bit of a pickle.
It's not that another trainer and I want to train the same horse girl. It's simply that an unexpectedly large number of horse girls showed up. There were well over 100 of them.
"You know, you're the type to act on impulse and then self-destruct."
"I have no comeback..."
I held my head in my hands, unable to refute the words of my good friend.
I thought that since we have team practice on weekdays, we could do it after lunch on Saturday, since it's a half-day.
"A lot of people showed up... I wanted to add two more members to form a team, so this is perfect."
"I only needed one more, but I guess individual trainers who haven't formed a team yet get pushed to the back of the line by new students. I wanted to form a team as soon as possible, so this helps."
"Yeah, it's great that we can check out so many new students early on."
My colleagues were dumbfounded by my actions but were taking it positively. Or rather, they're probably much more eager than I am. And just as I thought, a few of them are thinking about forming a team.
Some of them have horse girls who have won a major race, so they should be able to get their team approved if they get the minimum of five members.
"Senior, can you tell me if you find a girl who seems compatible with me?"
"Oh, me too, please."
"Me too, please. And, can you take us out for a meal sometime?"
My juniors are also eager... No, rather than eager, they're asking me to find a compatible horse girl for them. Who trained these juniors? I'll take them out for a meal, though.
"Oh, um, are we really allowed to participate?"
"It helped so much, since we were immediately turned down when we tried to scout them..."
"We were told that new trainers are put on the back burner..."
The new trainers who were just assigned to Tracen Academy were a bit nervous, probably because they weren't used to things yet. It seemed they had been getting rejected by the new students.
So, the new horse girls who gathered were divided into groups of ten based on their self-reported preferred distance, and each group would race. Of course, this was after a thorough warm-up.
We trainers would watch their runs and then approach the ones we thought were good after everyone was done.
And when the tryout started, my colleagues, my juniors, and I all watched the races seriously. But the new trainers were also watching seriously, though their expressions were a bit tense.
"Don't just focus on the horse girl who comes in first. It's also a good idea to choose a girl you think you'd be compatible with or a girl who seems easy to train. 'Easy to train' means they have a good personality, but you can also choose a girl who says she's good at a racing style you want to teach."
I said that to the new trainers while watching the race. The new students are still rough and weak since they just entered Tracen Academy. But they're all girls who came here from all over Japan to aim for the Twinkle Series, so they all have a certain something that shines.
First, we had them introduce themselves, then we divided them into turf and dirt groups, put them in rented starting gates, and had them run the distances they reported they were good at: sprint, mile, middle distance, and long distance. We checked their running style and their tactics during the race.
The new trainers, who were a bit hesitant at first, started checking more eagerly as the races progressed. Good, good, you need to find your partner that you want to train... I thought.
"Senior, how about that girl?"
One of my juniors tugged on my sleeve and asked about one of the girls running in the tryout.
"Are you good at training Sashi (Late-charge) type horse girls? That girl looks like a pure Sashi type."
"Is Senko (Front-runner) impossible for her?"
"If you want to teach her that, it's your job to teach her... but well, hmm... I think she can learn it, but Sashi is her best, and Oikomi (Back-of-the-pack closer) seems to suit her more than Senko."
"What are you basing that on?"
"Her leg muscles."
The horse girls who enter Tracen Academy have all run in their local areas before entering, to varying degrees. Most of them understand what distances they can run and are aware of their preferred racing style.
Well, there are exceptions like Urara... but there's a big difference in the time and effort it takes to either develop a preferred style from the start or to teach and train a style from scratch that seems like they can learn it.
In our team, Urara is good at Sashi and can also do Oikomi. Rice is good at Senko and can also do Nige (Pace-setter). King is good at Sashi and can also do Senko. It's like they've learned two types of racing styles: a main one and a sub one.
And they also understand the racing styles of the people they train with on a daily basis, and sometimes they even use them in a race when they end up in an unexpected position. That's one of the reasons why Urara and King can use Rice's long sprint.
Given that, based on my past training experience, the horse girls I'm suited to train are the ones who excel at Senko or Sashi. On the other hand, while I could train horse girls who excel at Nige and Oikomi, I lack the know-how.
Also, because of the distance aptitudes of the horse girls I've trained, I have a lot of know-how for training on dirt for short to mile distances and turf for short or long distances. With Urara's dirt, Rice's long distance, and King's short distance, I've accumulated a lot of know-how for the distances my assigned horse girls excel at.
As for middle and long distances on dirt... they run up to 2000 meters, and since there are very few races longer than that, I don't have to worry about it too much.
But since I haven't trained horse girls who excel at turf mile or middle distances, I lack know-how in those areas. Rice can run middle distances, but she's a natural stayer. King is originally a sprinter, but she's the type who became able to run long distances with effort.
So, the decision comes down to either choosing a horse girl based on the distance, racing style, and turf or dirt aptitude I have experience with and know-how for, or venturing into a new realm by taking on a horse girl who excels at a distance or racing style I've never trained before.
Some trainers, for example, only train horse girls who are Nige types and excel at middle distance. This style involves specializing in a limited aptitude and talent to train horse girls and win races.
Do you create an all-rounder like Meek, or a sharp horse girl who is incredibly strong at a specific distance or racing style... Well, an all-rounder like Meek is truly rare. It's rare enough for a horse girl like King to be able to run all turf distances without a problem. It's more common to train a horse girl with multiple aptitudes and accumulate training know-how.
Still, I'm looking for a girl who seems compatible with our team and has a lot of grit, so I continue to watch the races.
(Hmm... I'm just not getting that click...)
I thought I'd find at least one girl I wanted to train out of more than 100... Wait, did the number increase? Aren't there some Classic- and Senior-class horse girls in the race lineup?
A Classic-class girl who hasn't won yet and a Senior-class girl who won her debut or an unregistered race but hasn't won since are trying to participate in the race.
"S-senior, I'm sorry. The girl over there in the lineup isn't a Junior-class horse girl, is she?"
"Ah... that's a Classic-class girl. Her record is... umm... I think it was about 0 wins in 6 races..."
I'm not that familiar with the current Classic-class girls. So I gave the new trainer an ambiguous answer, but for some reason, the new trainer's eyes were sparkling.
"Can I scout that girl?"
"...Why?"
"Well... because I feel like we'd be compatible... No, I'm sorry! That's such a vague reason!"
I was about to tell them that this tryout was for new students and that they should hold back, but the new trainer said something unexpected. He seemed a bit intimidated by my reaction, but his eyes were glued to the Classic-class girl.
"And, I think a girl who hasn't given up and is still trying to get into a tryout, even though she's still winless at this time of year, must have a lot of guts... Is that not okay?"
"...No, I think it's a good idea."
Something about the new trainer's words clicked for me.
They came to crash the tryout for new students, but these are girls who are so desperate to find a trainer. These are girls who have been thinking "I'll win next time" for over a year.
There's nothing wrong with that.
(What's wrong is... my own mindset.)
There are all sorts of horse girls like that. But I wasn't looking at them properly.
I was focused on Vodka and T.M. Opera O, who seemed to have dazzling talent, and Daiwa Scarlet, who I wanted to train very much in addition to her talent.
Compared to those three, these horse girls may have less talent, but there are countless horse girls who will shine if you polish them. After all, this is the esteemed Tracen Academy. The ones who are here are the top-class horse girls—the eggs—from all over Japan.
Yes... they'll shine if you polish them. And it's the trainer's role to polish them. Polishing an already shining horse girl is one path, but such horse girls are extremely rare.
Urara, who is now one of the top horse girls in the dirt world, was a girl who made me rack my brains at first, trying to figure out how to get her to focus on training and how to train her.
The academy's evaluation of her was that her written and practical exams were a disaster, and she got in on an interview-based one-shot deal. They even told me that they never thought she would grow this much.
I trained Urara, then by some connection Rice joined, and then King joined. Without me realizing it, the horse girls I wanted to train may have become based on the standards of Urara, Rice, and King.
That might be why I couldn't look past T.M. Opera O, who Toujou-san accepted, Vodka, who will surely be strong in the future, and Daiwa Scarlet, who will be strong and who I wanted to train.
To have them compete in a race with those horse girls who will surely become strong one day.
Isn't that an exciting thing?
Of course, I don't know if I can train them to that point, and there's no guarantee they will grow. But it's a trainer's job to make them even a little stronger and faster.
I must have been arrogant. Realizing this, I wanted to fall to my knees right there. I won't do it since there are too many people, but at the very least, I want to hold my head in my hands.
Still, I pulled myself together and started watching the races seriously again. I judged that I was used to the work now and could train one or two more people.
And on this day, I welcomed two new students to Team Kitalpha.
To ensure they could support each other like Urara and Rice, or Urara and King, I took one girl who ran on the turf course and one who ran on the dirt course.
—But.
"I can't keep up with the trainer's policies and training. I'm quitting."
"Me too. I'd like to quit."
Just as King's spring Tenno Sho was approaching, the two of them submitted their withdrawal requests.
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