Uma Musume: From Being Knocked Ten Meters Away

Chapter 376 Almost strangled to death by almond eyes

Staring at his feet, Gao Shangjunyi unconsciously clenched his fists. Glancing out of the corner of his eye towards the direction of the Northern Black Steed, he sighed silently again, muttering to himself in a voice only he could hear:
"So, what exactly am I lacking? And what happened to Xiao Bei in the end...?"

……

Standing directly facing the finish line, both Yasui Makoto and Akime saw the moment when Kita Genkoma crossed the finish line.

As North Star crossed the finish line almost side-by-side with Clever Maze, both men held their breath and stared intently at the screen opposite the stands until the results were revealed on the notice board.

When the name of the Northern Black Horse appeared in the first line, the two of them cheered loudly without restraint.

Almond-eyed, stepping on the railing, leaped sideways onto Yasui Makoto, wrapping one arm tightly around Yasui Makoto's neck while waving the other hand in the direction of the notice board:
"Trainer! Did you see that?! Did you see that?! Senior Xiao Bei... Senior Xiao Bei won! That's amazing! As expected of Senior Xiao Bei! He's just too amazing!"

Yasui Makoto originally wanted to cheer along, but after only a few breaths, he felt suffocated.

Although Almond had only been in the mainstream for a few months, she was still a racehorse girl. In her excitement, she wrapped her arms around his neck with unusual strength, and he could hardly breathe.

"I...I know...but...Almond, please...let me go..." he said with difficulty, forcefully pulling away Almond's hands that were wrapped around his neck.

Feeling the force coming from the fingertips, Almond-shaped eyes turned their heads slightly in surprise.

Upon seeing that Yasui Makoto's entire face was flushed red, with a hint of blue, she panicked, quickly let go of his hand, jumped off him, and said urgently:
"I'm so sorry, trainer, are you... are you alright?"

Feeling his breathing become easier, Yasui Makoto greedily inhaled some fresh air, then rubbed his slightly numb neck, looking at Almond-eyed with a mixture of amusement and exasperation:
"You almost strangled me to death... Just kidding, but you are indeed quite strong, Almond Eyes."

"But thankfully, thankfully, thankfully you don't have the superhuman strength of a rich lady, otherwise I would have been sent to the infirmary again before we even got to see Xiao Bei's winner's stage..."

Aloe knew that during the Arima Memorial last year, Yasui Makoto had accidentally injured his arm by this senior lady.

Upon hearing this news, she rushed to the rented apartment to visit Yasui Makoto and then helped Kita Genko take care of him for a period of time.

"The infirmary...it shouldn't be that serious, right?" Thinking about what had happened before, she cautiously looked at Yasui's neck:
"But if you're really not feeling well, then... I'll go and take care of you with Senior Xiao Bei. It's not like it's the first time..."

"...Why does it feel like your words are meant to comfort me, but they actually make it harder to accept...?"

Speechless for a moment, Yasui Makoto continued rubbing his neck, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong, he nodded and smiled:

"Don't worry, it'll be fine."

He then glanced at the arena, smiled as he watched the Northern Black Horse waving vigorously toward the stands, and said to Almond Eyes:
"Alright, now that the competition is over, let's go to the infirmary and see how Xiao Bei's examination went."

"Perfect timing, you can also familiarize yourself with the process for the competitions after your debut."

After each match, a physical examination should be conducted promptly to avoid hidden injuries that are not visible to the naked eye. This is something that everyone knows.

So she quickly nodded and followed Yasui Makoto, who was turning to leave the stands.

At that moment, a voice from the side made a request:
"If Trainer Yasui and Alimee are going to the infirmary, can we go together?"

It was Jifeng who spoke. Seeing Yasui Makoto and Almond Musume looking over at her, she smiled, pointed to the sullen-looking Qiangji, and then pointed towards the arena: "Gaoshang is going to the infirmary later too. I think we should be going the same way."

"Furthermore, as I was just about to say, Trainer Yasui's abilities are indeed well-deserved. Congratulations on your victory at the Emperor's Spring Festival."

Before Yasui could even speak in response to the praise from Jifeng, Almond-eyed couldn't help but beam with pride. She put her hands on her hips and said:
"Of course! The trainer is amazing! And of course, Senior Xiao Bei is also very amazing!"
"I heard about the running style and tactics for this race. They were discussed and decided by the trainer and senior Xiao Bei."

"This match feels... exactly as the trainers and seniors expected!"

Upon hearing this, Yasui patted Almond's head with amusement, said a few modest words to Gyokumine, and then agreed to the suggestion of going to the infirmary together.

With a still sullen expression, Qiangji walked towards the infirmary, while Jifeng seemed somewhat concerned about Xingmu's words.

Generally speaking, racehorse girls rarely participate in the design of race plans.

It's not that we don't care, but rather that we need to spend a lot of time studying and researching the strategies and tactics for the competition.

Putting aside everything else, the Shining Series has developed to the point where there are hundreds of thousands of match records and videos in Japan alone, along with corresponding analyses. Even just studying typical examples would take many years.

For female racehorses, learning and training take up almost all their time, leaving them with no energy to specifically study race strategies and tactics. Therefore, they tend to listen to their trainers rather than running as they see fit.

Moreover, racehorse girls are not very old when they are in service, and even if they learn professional knowledge, they may not understand it. It is better to focus their energy on exploring their own potential.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, the previous student council president, Rudolf, was a well-known genius who could teach trainers how to compete.

However, such cases are extremely rare and do not affect the overall situation of the industry.

Judging from what Almond said, Northern Black Horse seems to be an exception like Rudolphin, at least it can analyze and study the race with the trainer and arrange strategies and tactics, which is definitely not something that ordinary racehorse girls can do.

"So, besides strength... does that Northern Black Steed also possess talent in this area?" Jifeng couldn't help but ponder, while also feeling somewhat worried.

"If that's the case, Gao Shang's chances of defeating such an opponent... probably can't be as simple as just training hard."

Thinking this, and realizing there was still some distance to the infirmary, she hesitated for a moment, then looked at Yasui Makoto and said proactively:
"Perhaps this is a bit presumptuous, but I overheard Coach Yasui mentioning a noblewoman... classmate?"

When the topic of noblewomen came up, she couldn't help but feel a complex mix of emotions in her eyes and her tone became strange.

If she could, she didn't really want to talk about that classmate who was overly flamboyant and confident to the point of being arrogant.

Especially during the course of one's career, when there are unpleasant wins and losses between oneself and the opponent.

However, if she wanted to confirm some things with Yasui Makoto, she could only hold her nose and talk about this classmate who could be considered her "nemesis":

"I... I guess you could say I know her, so does Trainer Yasui know her?"

(End of this chapter)