The moment the tryout ended, trainers swarmed toward Silence Suzuka like moths to a flame.
"Miss Silence Suzuka! Join my team and I'll get you ready for G1 races, guaranteed!"
"I've got twenty years of experience under my belt! Trained multiple G1 horse girls myself..."
"Old man, you already have a dozen horse girls. How many more do you need? They're gonna bail on you at this rate."
"I don't care!"
"You'll drop dead from overwork."
Silence Suzuka wasn't great with crowds. She took a step back, fidgeting nervously.
"Guess I'll try my luck." Hayato started making his way over.
But before he got far, he spotted someone else heading in the same direction. A woman in glasses and a trainer's uniform, walking with purpose. Behind her was a blonde, blue-eyed horse girl who carried herself like royalty.
That was Taiki Shuttle, the Miler King herself.
And the woman? Tojo Hana, trainer of Team Rigil. The strongest team at Tracen Academy.
"Well, too slow." Hayato stopped in his tracks.
"Aw, giving up already? Maybe she'll pick you over them," Seiun Sky whispered in his ear, teasing.
"It's fine. I've got other ways to recruit her." Hayato wasn't too worried. Honestly, he'd expected this.
"Oh? That's Team Rigil, though. Once she joins them, what's a rookie trainer like you gonna do?" Seiun Sky asked, genuinely curious.
'What am I gonna do? Simple. Poaching exists for a reason.'
'If I can't recruit her now, I'll just wait for my chance. Good things come to those who wait.' Hayato didn't mind letting Silence Suzuka stay with Rigil temporarily, but he'd have to move fast when the time came.
As an Uma Musume fan, Hayato knew what was coming. He really didn't want to watch Silence Suzuka lose six races in a row because of something as dumb as race positioning. He wanted her to win the Triple Crown. That's all.
When Tojo Hana approached, every trainer immediately shut up and moved aside.
Taiki Shuttle stepped forward, pointing at Silence Suzuka with absolute confidence. "Heyyo! Join us at Team Rigil!"
Silence Suzuka felt her palms getting sweaty. "Rigil..."
"Yes." Tojo Hana cut in smoothly. "You have real talent as a horse girl. Want to debut in the Classic Series?"
"I... I just want to run as much as I want and see beautiful scenery during field races..."
"Perfect. Join our team, and I'll teach you new running techniques. You'll get faster, run in more field races, and compete at higher levels."
Silence Suzuka barely hesitated. "Higher-level races and more field races? Okay. I want to run faster. I want to see more places and more scenery."
"Then come with me."
Taiki Shuttle immediately pulled Silence Suzuka into a hug, laughing cheerfully. "Howdy! Welcome aboard, newbie!"
"Training starts soon. Keep up." Tojo Hana was already walking.
"Let's go, newbie!" Taiki Shuttle tugged Silence Suzuka along, still grinning.
After leaving the tryout venue, Tojo Hana brought Silence Suzuka straight to Team Rigil's training grounds.
Several team members were already there, doing warmups and training drills.
Among them was Rudolf Symbol, better known as "The Emperor." She was basically the face of the team.
Also, Tracen's student council president.
She was the first horse girl in domestic history to win the Triple Crown undefeated with eight straight victories. Also, the first to claim seven G1 wins, earning her the title "Seven Crown King."
Her record alone gave her massive clout at Tracen.
Then there was Air Groove the Empress, Fuji Kiseki of the phantom Triple Crown, Maruzensky the supercar, Taiki Shuttle the Miler King... the list went on. All of them belonged to this team.
It was basically a collection of the world's top horse girls in one place.
Team Rigil had no weaknesses. Every single member was world-class.
After Tojo Hana introduced Silence Suzuka to everyone, she made a suggestion. "How about a practice race with Air Groove first?"
"Sure." Silence Suzuka agreed instantly.
Even surrounded by world-class horse girls, she wasn't nervous. Running never made her nervous.
Besides, Silence Suzuka had just enrolled recently. She didn't even know who most of these horse girls were yet.
Her thinking was simple. Just run freely.
After Tojo Hana shouted "Start," Air Groove and Silence Suzuka took off.
Silence Suzuka immediately fought for the lead, and the gap between them kept growing.
"This is easy," she thought.
Even against her seniors, she had no intention of holding back.
She was already thinking about pushing herself even faster.
At 1000 meters, they were already 7 lengths apart.
At 1600 meters, 10 lengths.
Thud thud thud.
The dirt trembled slightly. Small pebbles bounced from the vibrations.
That's when Air Groove suddenly accelerated. The gap closed fast, smaller and smaller, until she overtook Silence Suzuka completely.
This was the power of pure speed. If you're faster than your opponent and have enough stamina, even a seven or eight-length deficit means nothing. You can catch up.
Of course, that only worked if your final sprint was significantly faster than your opponent's.
And that assumed you even had energy left for a sprint at all, let alone being faster than the other runner.
If the lead runner also had energy for a final sprint, you'd miscalculate completely and lose for sure.
Since Silence Suzuka had been running full power from the start, accelerating at the end was nearly impossible.
The race ended quickly. Air Groove finished with just a flushed face, barely breathing hard.
Actually, she was pretty exhausted. For a moment, she'd thought she might lose. It had scared her a bit.
She'd never faced this kind of running style before.
As the Empress, she didn't want to look tired in front of her junior, so she quietly took deep breaths.
For the first time, Silence Suzuka felt tired from running. She kept gasping for air.
"See the problem? Tell me, why did you lose?" Tojo Hana looked at Silence Suzuka.
Silence Suzuka thought for a moment. "Um, she stayed in a position slightly behind me, then suddenly accelerated at the very end..."
"Exactly. That's proper race positioning for every top-tier horse girl. Conserving stamina until the end is way easier than burning it all from the start."
"Think of it like this. Walking normally doesn't use much stamina. It's running that burns through it fast."
"You can conserve stamina by maintaining an optimal average speed. After the final corner, that's when you accelerate."
"I think I understand...!" She nodded, processing it.
"Let's start training. We'll begin with a new running style. Air Groove, you'll guide her."
"Got it." Air Groove turned to Silence Suzuka. "Let's go."