The conversation between Oguri Cap and Maruzensky wasn't heard by Kitahara, who was positioned a bit farther away. And even if he had heard it, his reaction would probably only have made the two racehorse girls mutter, "Just as expected."
From a trainer's perspective, he believed that when it came to fundamental swimming training, having another racehorse girl like Maruzensky personally guide Oguri Cap would be more helpful.
First of all, there was a very obvious difference in height. Kitahara was fairly tall—when standing next to Oguri Cap, he was more than a head taller than her.
Such a height difference could easily cause misunderstandings during instruction. Some demonstrative movements might be misinterpreted in Oguri Cap's eyes—for example, the range and rhythm of arm strokes, or the leg-kicking motion.
Generally speaking, for leg movements while swimming, it's best to use less force when drawing the legs in. The heels should move toward the hips, the calves should stay as close to the thighs as possible, and the forward–backward range of motion of the calves should stay within the projected range of the thighs.
This angle of leg movement allows the stronger thighs to block the water flow in front, while the calves encounter less resistance when contracting, so there's no need to exert excessive force.
The foot-turning motion follows a similar principle.
As the most critical part of leg movement in swimming, foot rotation directly affects the kick. In theory, when kicking, the feet should be flexed upward, soles facing up, toes pointing outward, with both feet turned outward.
When swimming, from behind, this kind of calf and foot movement looks like the letter "W," allowing the kick to fully exert its power and generate stronger forward thrust.
But once again, the problem came back to the height difference. Given the disparity between Kitahara and Oguri Cap, even if he personally demonstrated the movements, the visual difference caused by height would make her prone to misjudging some details at first, requiring extra explanation.
Between Oguri Cap and Maruzensky, such issues were much less likely. One was 167 cm tall, the other 164 cm. Though there was a slight difference, when it came to swimming movements, the visual discrepancy was minimal.
More importantly, since they were both racehorse girls, if Oguri Cap had doubts about certain body positions, she could directly reach out and touch the corresponding spots on Maruzensky's body.
With clear questions, Maruzensky could then give the most accurate answers.
It wasn't that Kitahara felt awkward about physical contact—there was no need for such taboos as a trainer.
If one avoided things because of that mindset, many aspects of daily training simply couldn't be done.
The issue was that Oguri Cap was his assigned racehorse girl, while Maruzensky was merely assisting.
In that case, even though they had spent quite some time together, using someone else's body as a teaching tool on a whim still felt strange and inconvenient.
Like this, simply observing the exchange and instruction between the two racehorse girls was enough.
And perhaps because of racial talent, racehorse girls all had outstanding figures and appearances.
Watching the two of them talk while, for teaching purposes, touching and adjusting each other's limbs, Kitahara found it quite pleasing to the eye—a rare perk of being a trainer—and felt there was no need to interrupt.
Perhaps because he had spent so much time around Maruzensky, he did occasionally have the thought of slacking off a little.
But that was only a passing thought. In his mind, he had already planned that if the basic instruction took too long, he would still go over to urge them along.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. After Oguri Cap and Maruzensky talked for a while, demonstrated many swimming postures to each other, and asked questions or corrected movements several times, they soon began swimming toward their destination.
As she set off, Oguri Cap didn't forget to call out.
"Sorry, Kitahara. I held things up a bit because of me, but I'm fine now—just look forward to it!"
By the time she shouted this, she was already able to float steadily on the surface on her own, without Maruzensky's assistance.
Then she began confidently swinging her arms and legs, sending up splashes more than half a meter high beside and behind her, surging forward like a heavily armored battleship.
"Th-this… isn't that a bit too much…?"
Watching his racehorse girl resolve her mental block, fix her basic posture, and then suddenly display such astonishing momentum, Kitahara was momentarily stunned and couldn't help but murmur in amazement.
"It is a bit over-the-top."
At some point, Maruzensky had already swum over from Oguri Cap's side.
Amid the tremendous noise Oguri Cap was making, she vaguely heard Kitahara's remark and couldn't help but respond with a laugh.
"But, you know, Oguri Cap is very strong to begin with. And since she hasn't mastered any particularly refined swimming techniques yet, it's not surprising that she'd be this dramatic."
"If she wants to swim more normally, she'll probably need to keep swimming for a while."
"Fortunately, this training isn't for a swimming competition—it's just to build endurance. Once she swims for a while and starts feeling tired, she'll naturally want to find a more energy-efficient way."
"That'll be the perfect time to continue guiding her."
"Hey, don't just sit there spacing out. Move forward a bit and make some room for me."
Suddenly changing the subject, Maruzensky spoke with a tone of half-serious, half-playful dissatisfaction. "You're sitting all by yourself on the jet ski and leaving a lady like me in the water. Don't you think that's rather rude?"
…You just want to slack off again, don't you?
Kitahara instinctively complained in his heart, but he didn't refuse.
She had just helped guide his racehorse girl, and now Oguri Cap only needed to swim along the planned route. It was indeed fine for Maruzensky to ride the jet ski with him.
So, with a silent sigh, he shifted forward in the driver's seat, gestured for Maruzensky to sit, and then drove the jet ski to catch up with Oguri Cap, who had already swum a hundred or so meters ahead.
The entire swimming special training was conducted among several small islands, and the distances arranged for each stage were not short.
For humans, a single swimming session of 5 to 6 kilometers, done twice a day, would be considered moderate intensity.
But for racehorse girls—especially one with outstanding physical ability like Oguri Cap—the first stage alone was 3 kilometers.
That was the distance between the starting beach and the first destination island.
The subsequent stages were similar. For Oguri Cap, at least in terms of stamina capacity, this posed no problem.
Unlike track training in the past, once they moved away from shallow waters, the sounds of swimming, jet skis, waves, and wind made the environment rather noisy.
Giving real-time verbal instruction like usual was naturally impractical, so at each stage, Kitahara carefully observed Oguri Cap's swimming condition. After reaching an island, he would then analyze her performance in detail with her.
If there were aspects that needed immediate correction, he would speed ahead, signal her to stop, then enter the water together with Maruzensky to show her the correct swimming method.
This kind of training arrangement definitely took more time.
Additionally, Komiyama had set off earlier with Tamamo Cross, Super Creek, and Ardan. As a result, over the course of the entire special training, the racehorse girls effectively split into two groups.
The former group completed the training earlier. Kitahara, Oguri Cap, and Maruzensky returned to the starting point from the final destination island about an hour later.
When they set out, Oguri Cap was swimming in the water while Kitahara and Maruzensky rode the jet ski.
By the time they returned, Oguri Cap was also sitting on the jet ski.
The reason was that this was her first time swimming such long distances without a kickboard. Even with her robust physique, she had reached her limit and simply couldn't swim back anymore.
"Hey, old man, Oguri! And President Maruzensky! You're so slow—we've been waiting forever… huh? What's wrong with Oguri?"
Just as they reached the shore and before they could get off the jet ski, a voice with a teasing tone rang out, only to turn into shock the next instant.
Helping Oguri Cap off the jet ski together with Maruzensky, Kitahara glanced to the side and saw Tamamo Cross and the others apparently building sand dunes.
It seemed, just as Tamamo Cross had said, that they had finished training early. While waiting and feeling bored, they had spent a long time playing in the sand.
That sand mound was clearly meant to be a castle, styled exactly like the academy's castle buildings they had stayed in during their previous trip to Europe.
The "main classroom building" and "teaching area" were already completed, and it looked like they were in the middle of constructing the "race track."
Not only had they been waiting a long time, but their patience and skill in building sandcastles had clearly improved as well.
But now they had no interest in continuing. Seeing that Oguri Cap—normally bursting with energy at all times—now needed support, they feared something might have happened and hurried over to ask.
"Did something happen? What's wrong with Oguri?"
Tamamo Cross, who had already exclaimed by the sandcastle, ran over quickly and asked anxiously.
Creek and Ardan followed right behind her. Though they didn't have time to speak, the looks in their widened eyes and slightly parted lips showed that they shared the same concern.
Komiyama naturally couldn't run as fast as the racehorse girls, but she hurried over as well.
Before Kitahara could explain, she rushed up to Oguri Cap, carefully examined her face for a moment, then reached out to touch her cheeks, armpits, wrists, and other spots.
"Whew—no cold sweat. Pupils and lips are normal. Heart rate is a bit fast, but that's a normal post-exercise response."
After the quick check, Komiyama visibly relaxed, then explained to Tamamo Cross and the others in Kitahara's stead.
"Don't worry. Oguri is fine. She's just extremely tired from the special training. Right now, she probably can't even walk."
Hearing this, Tamamo Cross and the others immediately let out long sighs of relief. Kitahara and Maruzensky also chimed in with explanations.
"Komiyama's right. This was Oguri Cap's first time swimming without a kickboard, and each stage was several kilometers nonstop. It's definitely much more tiring than usual training."
Letting Oguri Cap lean on his shoulder and rest against him, Kitahara smiled and said, "She's already worked incredibly hard to perform this well."
After Kitahara's words of encouragement, Oguri Cap's eyes immediately lit up, but after moving her lips, she didn't say anything.
Maruzensky then smiled and added, "Maybe next time you all train together—what I mean is, keep the same pace so you can see each other—you'll realize just how hard Oguri works."
"Do you know? When Oguri was swimming, the splashes she made were this—high."
Holding her hand horizontally at her waist to indicate the height of the splashes, Maruzensky said with a smile.
"Seriously? That's way too exaggerated…"
Tamamo Cross was surprised, then quickly laughed once she knew her friend was fine. "But if that's the case, Oguri's swimming skills really… really…"
"Really have a lot of room for improvement."
After struggling to find a tactful way to put it, she continued with a grin, "If you're good at swimming, you wouldn't be making such huge splashes."
"Just like diving."
Compared to Oguri Cap, Tamamo Cross, Creek, and Ardan were much better swimmers.
And as Tamamo Cross said, the size of splashes reflected how much force was applied to the water. In theory, if you're just trying to propel yourself forward, you don't need that much force, and the splashes won't be very big.
It's the same principle as diving—the more scientific and standardized the posture, the less disturbance you cause when breaking the surface, and the less impact it has on yourself.
"So, when Maruzensky says we should train together, I think Oguri still needs to work extra hard!"
"But we'll cheer you on together, so don't fall too far behind us in this area!"
After offering that half-joking encouragement, Tamamo Cross patted her stomach.
"Alright then, since Oguri's fine, shouldn't we go eat now?"
"Being this tired, Oguri must be starving, right?"
"Hehe, the staff here were already shocked by Oguri Cap's appetite once before. In this super-hungry state, her appetite is several times her usual."
"They're probably going to get shocked all over again!"
Having confirmed that Oguri Cap was fine, the others relaxed as well. Hearing Tamamo Cross's joke, they all couldn't help but laugh.
It was indeed time to eat, so after tidying up their things by the beach, everyone headed toward the resort estate.
Kitahara naturally carried Oguri Cap on his back. After all, she was so exhausted that she couldn't even speak properly, and walking back would have been difficult.
Racehorse girls had incredibly strong physiques, but structurally, they weren't all that different from humans.
A sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl like Oguri Cap didn't weigh anything as outrageous as her strength suggested. Carrying her felt quite normal.
In this situation, Kitahara was only slightly slower than the others, walking at the back of the group returning to the estate, and he didn't feel very tired.
He originally thought that Oguri Cap must be impatient to eat by now, with no energy or mood to talk at all.
However, just as the estate came into view, he suddenly heard an apologetic voice from behind him.
"Sorry, Kitahara…"
"The promise we made before today's training… I couldn't really keep it properly…"
(End of Chapter)