Uma Musume: From Being Knocked Ten Meters Away

Chapter 515 The Troubles of Good Opera
While the Northern Black Horse was encouraging the Miqi Rocket, on the distant seawall dam...

The opera singer stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the concrete railing, gazing at the beach.

A few steps away, after gazing at the beach for a while, Yamato Akaki turned his gaze back to the opera, smoothed his wind-blown pigtails, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke softly:
"Dear senior opera singer, what you just said to Miki, was it... intentional?"

When he asked this question, Yamato Akaki felt a little uneasy.

In her memory, the best operas were at their peak when they could win any competition beautifully.

Therefore, while creating the legend of "undefeated for a year", she also became an insurmountable challenge and a formidable enemy that all racehorse girls of that generation had to overcome.

Even when faced with that situation, she never backed down. Whether in interviews or on the field, she was quite tough, even somewhat domineering.

However, apart from that, good opera has never made things difficult for younger generations, or rather, it has never made things difficult for anyone.

Therefore, Yamato Akahira felt that good opera was not a difficult personality to get along with, only quite arrogant and dignified in competitions.

So, the things he said to Miqi Rocket might actually mean he thought that the junior had done something wrong.

But having followed it all this way, she found that good operas no longer had that imposing aura she had before; instead, they were quite relaxed, which made her somewhat uncertain again.

As Yamato Akaki was pondering, suddenly, Good Opera turned around and gave a casual smile:
"Intentionally? Why do you say that?"

"because……"

Yamato Akama looked towards the beach:

“When Miqi mentions you, his eyes light up, and you never make things difficult for the younger generation.”

"So I guess you wanted to point out her shortcomings, but... Xiao Bei accidentally interrupted you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Good Opera paused for a moment, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter, causing several seagulls in the distance to take flight.

"Ha! Hahaha—it was intentional, how should I put it, um... a very impressive imagination."

She made a joking remark, then her smile faded, and she shook her head.

"But I didn't think that much about it."

"Then you are..." Yamato Akaki looked bewildered.

"I simply don't want Miqi to imitate me, that's all."

Without any preamble, the opera house looked back at the beach, its gaze following the figures on it, and stated frankly:
"Or rather, I... don't want to see anyone imitate me."

"This……"

After a moment's hesitation, Yamato Akama's expression suddenly changed:
"These words from you, senior... you probably didn't just mean to tell Miqi, right?"

She glanced over in surprise, smiled slightly, then a look of distress and helplessness appeared in her eyes. She nodded.
"No wonder he's a top student who can take first place in the whole school. He's much smarter than someone like me who only knows how to compete."

Before Yamato Akamachi could react, she sighed and suddenly changed the subject:
"If I remember correctly, your trainer is also Oguri-senpai's?"

Originally intending to offer a few words of modesty in response to the praise of the excellent opera, upon hearing this, Yamato Akaki, while puzzled, subconsciously nodded and said:

"Yes, that's true."

"I remember that both of your trainers came from local academies and worked their way up to the central level, becoming well-known in the industry."

Leaning against the concrete railing, his fingers tapping absently, Good Opera continued:
"So, he has mentored mediocre racehorse girls, as well as Oguri-senpai and geniuses like you, Yamato."

"Senior even knows these things?" Yamato Akaki asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, I heard it by chance from Senior Oguri Hat, and... I should say I have quite a history with you, Senior."

With a touch of nostalgia in his voice, Good Opera lamented: "If it weren't for our predecessors, there wouldn't be the current system for supplementary registration for classical competitions."

"Without the supplementary reporting system, I wouldn't have been able to leave Satsuki Shou, and I might not be who I am today."

"Moreover, after winning the Daily Cup that year, I happened to meet Oguri Hat-senpai."

"My senior not only encouraged me, but also came to the Satsuki Sho competition to cheer me on, and continued to support me afterward."

"So over time, I learned a lot of things."

"So this is ah……"

Having learned about the past of his predecessors, Yamato Akaki nodded knowingly, and at the same time, he had a vague feeling that he had guessed what Good Opera wanted to say.

"It seems we've gone a bit off-topic, but..."

Looking towards the seaside again, a look of distress and helplessness resurfaced in the opera singer's eyes, and the frequency of her tapping on the railing increased.
"Yamato, have you ever thought about what would happen if a rookie trainer encountered a genius racehorse girl on his first training session?"

Now, Yamato Akama was completely certain that he had guessed correctly.

The "Genius Racehorse Girl" that the opera is referring to right now is referring to herself, and she deserves this title.

Following this line of thought, the trainer who mentored the genius racehorse girl right from her debut is naturally the one who mentored her.

After winning the Mainichi Cup and the Satsuki Sho, her reputation as a renowned opera singer grew even stronger, and her winning streak in the Year of the Horse propelled her to the top of her generation.

However, before her debut, she was not very famous and it took her a long time to find someone willing to sign her. It was only much later that she became a trainer who had just graduated.

Thinking of this, Yamato Akama couldn't help but say:
"So, it's because of your own experiences that you don't want Miki to just imitate you blindly...?"

"if not?"

The complexity in his eyes deepened, and he scratched his head, seemingly a little agitated.
"You should know very well, right? Not only Miqi, but ever since I retired, that guy's training and competition style has been imitating mine, hasn't it?"
"But how could all racehorse girls be geniuses?"
"This kind of thing... the trainer academy should have taught and tested it, right? Shouldn't the guidance be tailored to everyone's individual characteristics?"

"If this continues... won't it ruin their lives?"

The waves crashed against the embankment with a dull thud.

Yamato Akaki opened his mouth, but found that any words of comfort seemed inadequate.

Without a doubt, the "that guy" that the opera troupe is referring to is the former trainer.

Upon closer reflection, the actions of this trainer after retiring from his role as Good Opera... were indeed as if he wanted to create "a second Good Opera".

Before this, Yamato Akamai only thought that this line of thinking must be wrong, because her trainer had said that the way to guide her was completely different from the way to guide Oguri Hat-senpai.

But then she suddenly realized that Good Opera was right. If the approach and methods were wrong, not only would the trainers themselves fail to produce results, but it would also be misleading for the racehorses they were coaching.

To put it more seriously, this could be considered a dereliction of duty.

Yamato Akari remained silent, then, after a moment of distress, clutching his hair, he suddenly let out a long sigh, as if exhaling all his troubles into the sea breeze.

"Forget it, let's not talk about that guy anymore. After all, even if I knew there was a problem with that, I'm not a trainer and I can't come up with a better solution."

"...So, what you mean is, senior, is to remind Miqi..."

Seeing that the opera was good, Yamato Akaki took the initiative to change the subject. At the same time, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but then suddenly thought of something:

"No, I should say... I wanted to remind a junior like Mi Qi?"

(End of this chapter)