Just like his colleague, Kitahara had made a similar judgment about the situation on the track.
Inari One was clearly being affected by the rhythm of the side-by-side practice runs they did earlier.
As trainers, Kitahara and the others understood their team's horse girls inside and out—their starting habits, their choice of running styles, when they accelerated, how they took corners… They could practically imagine the entire race with their eyes closed.
To the two trainers, it was obvious that in this training race, whether in terms of tactics or specific running technique, Tamamo Cross was far more refined than Inari One.
Translated into physical performance, that refinement meant Tamamo Cross both conserved more stamina and maintained higher speed.
At first glance the lead looked insignificant—on the data it would probably be only a few tenths of a second, maybe around one second. Converted into speed difference, that was around five to eight meters per second—not a huge number on paper.
But at their current speed—roughly over sixteen meters per second—one second meant more than sixteen meters of distance. That kind of gap was obvious the moment you looked.
Even a mere 0.1-second difference would amount to around half a meter, still enough to determine a clear win or loss.
And beyond the stamina advantage, Tamamo Cross had also deliberately used a certain tactic.
Kitahara could see it very clearly.
It wasn't obvious at the start of the race, but once they reached the mid-section, Tamamo Cross began intentionally suppressing her speed while also shifting her position laterally.
Under those conditions, Inari One instinctively tried to overtake, which caused her to expend far more stamina and cover more horizontal distance.
But Tamamo Cross never slowed down enough for Inari to actually catch up. It was like she had eyes on the back of her head—just as Inari corrected her positioning, Tamamo immediately boosted her speed again.
It was almost as if she was deliberately teasing Inari.
Under this "teasing," Tamamo Cross's speed shifts in the middle of the race completely disrupted Inari's rhythm.
By the time she realized and adjusted, Tamamo Cross had already widened the gap and maintained it all the way to the end—and even to the finish line.
Seeing this, Kitahara suddenly had a thought.
This wasn't Tamamo Cross's usual running style—far from it. She rarely used techniques this complex.
Normally she ran straightforwardly on most of the course, only showing this level of detailed rhythm control or speed manipulation during corners or when the pack was crowded.
The fact that she was intentionally doing it now made Kitahara feel that she was doing this specifically for Inari One.
Not only he—Tora beside him, after watching the track for a while, gave Kitahara a hesitant look.
"Kitahara-bro, am I imagining it, or is Tamamo's running today… targeted specifically at Inari?"
"Yeah, I think so too. This isn't Tamamo's usual style at all."
After thinking a moment, Kitahara muttered, "If Komiyama were still with us, I think she'd be able to give a more definite answer."
"But if this is really the case, then she must've discovered something during the previous practice runs."
"For example, that Inari is especially susceptible to rhythm disruption."
"So for her companion's sake, maybe she discussed it privately with Oguri or the others and came up with this method."
"It seems they really care about each other."
Kitahara couldn't help laughing.
With Tamamo Cross's level of talent, temporarily adjusting her style in a single practice race was not impossible.
In a real race, the risk would be too great, but for a training run, there wasn't much to worry about.
If everything was as Kitahara suspected, then Tamamo Cross had been trying to train Inari One's "weakness."
It hadn't been part of the trainers' plan, but the result clearly benefitted Inari One.
After all, Tamamo's intentional speed control and positioning almost perfectly mimicked the possible harassment or marking that Cosmo Dream—their target rival—might use.
If a real opponent tried that in an actual race, Inari would already be used to it and able to perform properly.
And with her level, if she performed normally, her chances of winning the Takamatsunomiya Kinen would not be low.
By the time Kitahara and Tora had pieced all this together, the 2000-meter training race had already ended.
For horse girls, that distance was barely over two minutes. From the finish line came Tamamo Cross's triumphant laughter.
"Hahahahaha! I win! Idiot! You're way too easily influenced by your opponent—how did we never notice before?!"
"Ugh… shut up already! You little pipsqueak! I only fell behind a tiny bit!"
"If it was that tiny… if it was that tiny of a gap, then if we went again it might be a different winner!"
"Oh yeah? Then let's go again! I'm not satisfied! One more time!"
Kitahara and Tora, watching from a distance, started walking toward the finish. When they arrived, they heard Inari's frustrated yelling and saw her swinging her fists and stomping in annoyance.
"Well, I don't mind going again, but—oh? Oh hey, old men, you're here."
Tamamo Cross put one hand on her hip and waved lazily with the other, her face full of "Guess I can't help it with this idiot." Then she turned to the trainers.
"So? Old man? Want me and this idiot to race again? I'm totally fine with it."
Inari instantly looked over.
"Yeah! I want to go again—wait no! I'm the one who said I wanted another race first! Ararō, old man, we—"
"Hold it, hold it. Don't rush." Kitahara made a calming gesture. "Before anything else, we need to talk about what happened just now. Training is about analyzing results, not winning or losing."
He exchanged a glance with Tora. Instead of immediately pointing out Inari's issues, he first turned to Tamamo Cross.
"You used that tactic on purpose, right? To target Inari One."
Both girls froze.
Then Tamamo Cross burst into laughter, scratching her head.
"Well, you caught me… Okay, the overall running was still my usual style, but some details—I asked Oguri and Seaside about them."
"We talked during the break… well, not with Inari. She was too busy worrying about herself, so we didn't bother her."
"As we talked, we realized Inari is really easily influenced by others. We never paid special attention before, but since you pointed it out earlier, old man, we all tried to observe."
"Then during the prep for training, Oguri and the others suggested it."
"They said since I'm good at switching lanes, maybe I could try deliberately messing with Inari, just to check whether she really would fall apart."
"And well… the results were exactly what we guessed."
Just as expected.
Kitahara exchanged a knowing look with Tora.
It seemed these horse girls had begun analyzing both themselves and their companions outside of scheduled training—and were even coming up with specialized tactics for each other.
That hadn't happened before. Considering how much they'd been teaching their juniors lately, it seemed their thinking had broadened a lot.
Interesting. If this continued, their level—especially tactically—would clearly rise.
While Kitahara silently contemplated, Inari's dissatisfaction burst out.
"Hey hey HEY! You tiny gremlin! That's way too much! And Oguri and the others too!"
She puffed her cheeks and glared toward her distant companions. "We said it was a two-person duel! How could you secretly ask them for tactics?! That's cheating!"
"And Oguri and the others are so sneaky—actually teaming up with you to think up those annoying tricks! It's—it's—it's TOO MEAN!"
Tamamo Cross didn't get angry—instead she grew serious.
"There isn't a rule saying we can't ask others for help, is there? Besides, I originally just wanted to check your condition. They only answered my question."
"And also…"
She leaned her head toward Inari, tilting it as she rubbed her chin and frowned slightly.
"When we were running, I could feel it. You were being way too emotional, idiot."
"Huh? Emotional? Me?!"
Inari pointed at herself, dumbfounded.
"Well, that was the impression I got."
With a shrug, Tamamo glanced at the trainers.
"You two old men felt the same, right?"
"When I changed the rhythm the way Oguri said, this idiot got mad immediately—her breathing and footsteps went off. I could hear it super clearly."
Kitahara and Tora exchanged looks. After thinking for a moment, Tora looked at his horse girl and nodded calmly.
"That's right. I've known for a long time that Inari is easily affected by her emotions."
"But she's never faced something like what happened today in a practice race. It was only during our investigation of this year's Takamatsunomiya Kinen that we noticed she'll have a rival with a similar style, so we arranged special training for it."
Then he broke into a satisfied smile.
"And you all performed even better than we expected."
"Our plan required a lot of coordination just to give Inari this kind of pressure."
"But Tamamo, you managed to create it by yourself. That's extremely helpful."
"Hey! Tarō! Are you on my side or hers?! She and the others ganged up on me!"
Inari protested angrily. "How could you take her side?!"
"That's not ganging up…" Tora said helplessly.
Seeing the argument about to escalate, Kitahara quickly turned to Tamamo Cross and changed the subject.
"Let's not talk about Inari's issue first. Tamamo, what exactly were you thinking during the training race? What did Oguri and the others talk to you about?"
Inari still glared at her trainer, but she wasn't unreasonable. She turned to Tamamo too.
"How did you think about it?"
"Mm… nothing too complicated."
Tamamo thought for a moment. "I just didn't want to lose to Inari…"
"See?! You did want a duel! And you were scared you'd lose, so you went to ask Oguri for help! I'm going to them next!"
Inari stomped and waved her fists again.
"U-uh… fine, fine, I admit it. I really hate losing…"
Tamamo scratched her head and laughed awkwardly, quickly steering back.
"Anyway, old man, I wasn't thinking too deeply. It was Oguri who suggested I try switching styles or rhythm more often during the run."
"And while running with Inari, besides switching lanes and rhythm, I also used a bit of a front-runner style."
"And I'm not exactly great at front-running, so I just used some simple techniques Ardan taught me."
"And well, for this training race at least, it worked pretty well."
She suddenly brightened.
"Oh! Old man, if that's the case—should I just run like this from now on?"
"I mean—why don't I just become a front-runner?!"
Her ears and tail wagged excitedly at the brilliant idea.
But Kitahara shook his head.
"Changing tactics isn't something you can do overnight."
"And front-running puts too much strain on the body. You're not weak, but there's no need to take that risk."
"Ah… you're right…" Tamamo's ears and tail drooped immediately.
"Hey, don't look so down. You didn't lose just now."
Despite having been furious a moment earlier, the emotional Inari One now comforted her, patting her shoulder.
Then she looked at the trainers thoughtfully.
"In that case, I think I understand too."
"In that training race, the first problem was that the constant switching during the previous practice runs annoyed me."
"If we hadn't done that earlier, maybe I wouldn't have gotten affected by Tamamo's tricks later."
"And she said she changed her habits suddenly—that's why it caught me off guard."
"If we keep doing training filled with surprises, then when the real race comes, nothing will surprise me anymore."
She suddenly perked up.
"So that means… we can finish this special training earlier than planned?!"
"That's about right."
Seeing her so happy made Kitahara smile too.
"Our original schedule was to go step by step with various adaptation exercises, but you girls surprised us."
He looked at Tamamo Cross, then at Oguri and the others in the distance.
"You're not only following our training plans, but creating your own support drills—this will greatly speed up the process."
"So next, we can adjust the plan based on what you've shown us."
"If Tamamo can adjust her running style, then Oguri and the others can too."
"Inari can train with companions who behave differently than usual, experiencing all kinds of unpredictable situations."
"And you girls will improve as well."
"After that, we'll run targeted simulations based on your Takamatsunomiya Kinen opponents' habits."
Kitahara's voice grew confident.
"With that, no matter what kind of opponent you face or what strange tactics they use, there's nothing to fear."
"As expected, having more companions makes everything so much easier."
(End of Chapter)