After the Japan Cup, Team Sirius welcomed new members. And it was two strong horse girls at once. In the clubroom, everyone looked at the two new members with mixed expressions.
"Hahaha! The great Gold Ship has made her dazzling debut! From today on, I am a member of Sirius! Leave the job of livening up the team to the great Gold Ship! Yo~ McQueen, I'm here."
Gold Ship finally sidled up to Mejiro McQueen and whispered her greeting.
"CRUSH!" The water bottle in Mejiro McQueen's hand was crushed.
Her vicious gaze and terrifying aura made everyone else subconsciously back away from the two.
"Good. It... looks... like... you... really... want... to... die!"
Mejiro McQueen instantly unleashed her 'Aura'. This was a power she hadn't even been able to formally master in a race yet. It showed just how much she wanted to annihilate Gold Ship right now.
"..."
Panic flickered across Gold Ship's face. She hadn't expected her taunt to be this effective.
"Hello. I am Narita Brian, the competitor who raced you in the Japan Cup." The second newcomer, seemingly unaffected by the heavy pressure, walked up to Mejiro McQueen. She said to her with a serious expression, "I beg you, please take me as your disciple. I want to learn that move of yours." Everyone present was shocked by her request.
"...Are you serious?" Mejiro McQueen's 'Aura' instantly vanished. She couldn't quite handle this situation. She had never imagined that a senior, older than her, would ask to be her disciple. And she remembered Narita Brian; her performance in the Japan Cup had left a deep impression. That 'Aura' was even stronger than what Tokai Teio had given off in the Satsuki Sho.
"I am serious," Narita Brian nodded.
Mejiro McQueen facepalmed, helpless, and looked back at her trainer.
"Trainer, could you please stop just watching the show?"
"Ahem."
Trainer P stepped forward.
"Brian, I understand your desire to get stronger. Since you've joined Sirius, I will also do my best to help you. But asking to be McQueen's disciple... isn't that a bit inappropriate?"
"I understand. In that case, Trainer, can you help me master McQueen's technique?"
"Ah, this."
Trainer P looked at Mejiro McQueen for help, but found she seemed to be deep in thought. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "I will do my best, but I can't make any guarantees."
After all, their team already had Silence Suzuka, who followed McQueen around every day trying to "steal" her techniques, but she hadn't learned a thing. Although McQueen didn't guide her, she wasn't secretive about letting others observe her training.
As for guiding someone, P felt that even if McQueen genuinely wanted to teach, it probably wouldn't work. It was like Teio's "Teio Step." If you asked Teio to teach it, she would just... do the "Teio Step" on the spot, with no idea how to explain the principle behind it.
It wasn't that these innate special skills were completely impossible to learn through training, but this was the trainer's job. An excellent trainer could, by working with a horse girl, help her understand the principles of her special skill and then organize it into a "skill book" that could be taught.
But even so, not all horse girls could learn these skills. Most of these special skills were techniques derived from that horse girl's specific physical characteristics. If the body didn't meet the conditions to learn it, the trainer couldn't guide the horse girl to learn it.
Furthermore, there were skills like the Emperor's "Spiritual Intimidation" or Gold Ship's "plunder an opponent's status." No one had been able to figure out the principles behind these types of skills, let alone compile them into a skill book.
And McQueen's move, Trainer P felt, was likely in the same category.
"What an interesting idea," McQueen suddenly said with a smile.
Trainer P looked at McQueen, feeling she was having a dangerous thought.
At first, hearing Narita Brian's request, McQueen was confused and shocked. She had never considered it. Can the skills learned in the "Training Space" be taught to others?
Although the system disguises these skills as 'game skills', they aren't 'game skills' in essence. Game skills are a stat-boosting mechanic, but the system's skills are moves with similar effects, more like a technique for 'using energy'?
If it's knowledge and technique, there's no reason it can't be taught, right? After all, their bodies are all horse girl bodies. If it's a technique she can learn, other horse girls should be able to learn it too. It just might take a lot of time.
Because she herself had spent a lot of time and energy learning them. If it weren't for the system's training bonus and the three years of simulated training, she wouldn't have learned them.
"Mr. Trainer, I'll organize it into a document and give it to you. I'll leave it to you to decide what to do with it." Mejiro McQueen decided to give it a try. It was just one skill. Giving it away wouldn't pose much of a threat to her. She didn't believe anyone could deduce her other skills from the principle of just one. If such a monster really existed, she would just have to admit defeat.
Trainer P asked, "Is that really okay?"
He knew that if McQueen's skills could really be learned, she would essentially be creating her own rivals. And special skills were different from ZONE. Using ZONE burned the body. Although it was powerful, he felt ZONE's value was not as high as McQueen's skills. After all, McQueen's skills didn't seem to have any stamina cost.
Hearing the trainer's question, Mejiro McQueen just smiled confidently.
"Don't worry. Because I am the strongest."
How hard is it to learn a skill in the real world?
She just had to look at how she hadn't learned a single new skill in the ten-plus years since she was reincarnated into this world. Honestly, she wasn't optimistic about other horse girls' ability to learn. In her view, the difficulty of learning a skill was no less than that of grasping ZONE.
Real-world horse girls would be better off continuing to research the ZONE system, which already has some results. Besides, genius horse girls are more or less born with one or two skills. They don't need to learn them. The effort and cost just aren't proportional in her opinion.
The next day. Mejiro McQueen gave the materials she had compiled on her computer last night to the trainer.
That night, the trainer buried his head in the documents, studying. "This—" "Urgh!" After a scream, Trainer P lost consciousness.
Trainer P woke up in the infirmary. He had apparently been missing for two whole days. The horse girls on his team got worried and went to his dorm to find him, only to discover he had fainted.
When P woke up, his head was throbbing. Then, when he saw the stack of revised documents on the table next to him, he instinctively recoiled, trying to get away. When he realized the knowledge wasn't really going to turn into a monster and chase him, he slowly relaxed. He never wanted to touch that stack of papers again.
'I should give this to the Emperor... No! Wait, I can't! This can't be handed over. Even I couldn't control myself and ended up like this. It would be dangerous if a horse girl saw it. It's better to destroy it.' He immediately took action, found a match in the infirmary cabinet, and burned the stack of knowledge that would drive the world mad, right on the spot. He felt no regret, only relief after it was burned.
This knowledge, several eras ahead of its time, was too dangerous for the modern world. Not to mention using it on horse girls. P thought of the madmen in the overseas racing world. Just researching ZONE had already destroyed the futures of countless horse girls. If those overseas research institutions learned of this data, there was no telling how many tragedies would be born. It wasn't that he didn't trust Symboli Rudolf; it was that he believed even Symboli Rudolf couldn't handle this 'poison'.
He really couldn't understand why the Three Goddesses would allow this knowledge to be recorded, or why McQueen would possess it.
'When McQueen uses these techniques, is she really not harming her body?'
He was really worried about McQueen's physical condition.
Although he hadn't fully digested the knowledge, he roughly understood the principles. It was a technique that allowed a horse girl to use her mental power to control her body's cells, even her blood flow. It also involved psychological techniques, requiring one to "hypnotize" one's own cells.
He had only just learned the basics. At that moment, he felt a flash of inspiration. The instant he subconsciously tried to test it, his body suddenly went out of control. Then, he felt as if his brain had exploded. After that, he remembered nothing.
'I can't let this go. I need to find a chance to take McQueen for a full physical checkup. But this is such a headache... this knowledge keeps popping into my head. It's terrifying.'
————
The 'Mejiro McQueen' who was preparing for the Kikuka Sho was running on the training track.
Her form looked good, but her trainer felt 'McQueen's' running style seemed to have been influenced by the McQueen from the dream. The 'McQueen' of the past wouldn't run so impatiently. The trainer felt she was imitating the other McQueen's running style, but he wasn't optimistic about it. He had also had that dream, so he knew very well how unbelievable the other McQueen's running style was.
It simply wasn't something a real-world horse girl could easily do.
Reaching the final 200 meters of the last leg. 'Mejiro McQueen' suddenly and subconsciously imitated the person's movements from the dream. The trainer at her side instantly felt something was wrong and was about to shout "stop."
But suddenly— 'Mejiro McQueen's' aura seemed to change. A faint, colorful light spread in a circle under 'Mejiro McQueen's' feet. Seeing this, the trainer was so shocked the blade of grass in his mouth fell out without him noticing. Because this event was completely beyond his comprehension.
In an instant, she accelerated and crossed the finish line!
Trainer Okino only snapped back to reality after 'McQueen' had finished running. 'Mejiro McQueen' stood in place, dazed.
Trainer Okino ran over with unprecedented speed, grabbing 'McQueen's' shoulders and asking in shock, "McQueen, how did you just do—"
His voice cut off. Okino saw 'Mejiro McQueen's' cold, ruthless eyes. For a moment, he felt as if he was being stared at by a wild beast. His breathing stiffened.
But in the next second. 'Mejiro McQueen,' as if just waking up, changed back to the 'McQueen' he was familiar with.
"Ah? Trainer, did I just do something?"
Mejiro McQueen looked at her trainer, puzzled. A moment later, she belatedly realized she had already reached the finish line. Then she gradually remembered what 'she' had just done. Her pupils quaked, and she let out a surprised cry, "Yaa! I... I—Trainer, did you see? I think I just did it! It doesn't seem that hard after all! Easy~ easy~ de su wa!"
"...Uhh."
Okino sensed something was wrong. He looked at the still-celebrating 'McQueen'. He had his concerns.
Was that really 'McQueen' just now?
————
"Haah~ I think I had a weird dream."
Mejiro McQueen rubbed her head, unable to remember any of the dream's contents.
"Mm, after morning classes today, I'll go to the infirmary and check on the trainer. Why would just reading a book make him end up like that?"