Uma Musume: From Being Knocked Ten Meters Away

Chapter 544 The Toughest Battle

The screen then played footage of her previous training sessions, as well as clips of Yasui Makoto being interviewed.

"Thank you all for your love and support for Northern Black Horse," Yasui Makoto's voice came clearly:

"We are fully prepared and will do our best in this match."

After that, no matter where she sat to eat, all eyes were on her.

Furthermore, some people were quietly discussing her chances of winning, and others took out pens and paper, wanting her to sign them.

When we finished training and returned to the dormitory, a large crowd would always gather in front of the bulletin board we passed.

Without even going over to look, she knew that the bulletin board was covered with posters and news clippings about the Emperor's autumn viewing.

In the center of almost every poster is her photo, with the words "Northern Black Horse: A strong contender for the Autumn Triple Crown" written in eye-catching font next to it.

News clippings were incredibly diverse, ranging from detailed analyses of her past achievements and predictions of her performance at the Emperor's Autumn Viewing Ceremony to reports on her training life.

One of the reports had a particularly striking title: "Northern Black Horse – New Hope for the Japan Shining Series," which stated:

"If Kita Genko can win the Emperor's Autumn Slam and then the Autumn Triple Crown, she will become a legend among Japanese female racehorses and may even have a place on the world stage."

In this atmosphere, she felt even more strongly that the Emperor's autumn viewing event carried too many expectations.

As the very center of anticipation, she cannot afford to be complacent in the slightest.

Finally, the eve of the Emperor's autumn viewing quietly arrived.

In the team's office, facing Kita Genko and Airi Soko, Yasui Makoto was making final pre-match plans.

He held a thick stack of documents in his hand, on which, along with the whiteboard and projection screen beside him, were densely filled with detailed information about each opponent and various tactical details.

"...So one of the key points is still at the very end," he said, pointing to the writing on the whiteboard as he rolled up some documents into a tube.
"As for our old rivals, the explosive power of Bu Nao Zhengang, Lang Ri Qing Tian, ​​and Shan De Fu's final kicks should not be underestimated."

"Most of our previous victories were based on strategic and tactical design, such as leveraging Xiao Bei's endurance advantage to avoid speed battles with the last foot."

"But the Emperor's autumn viewing is only 2000 meters long, so it would be very difficult to carry out that kind of strategic and tactical maneuvering."

"Moreover, they and their trainers know us very well, and they might use the same old tricks... I don't think we have much of a chance of winning."

At this point, the atmosphere in the team's office became somewhat heavy.

Yasui Makoto paused, not offering any words of comfort to dispel the tension, but instead continued in a deep voice:
"Then, regarding specific opponents, after returning from Dubai, Bu Nao Zhen Gang switched to the British-Chinese front, and undoubtedly received special training in speed and explosiveness."

"Langri Qingtian has always focused on middle-distance races, so they have an excellent balance between speed and endurance. Their sustained bursts of speed in the final stages will put a lot of pressure on us."

"Then……"

He pondered for a moment, then unfolded the rolled-up documents in his hand, flipped through a few pages, circled a set of analyses on the whiteboard, and switched the image on the projection screen to a female racehorse:

"Satomi Crown is also an old rival."

"In fact, her last move was not worse than the one mentioned earlier; it was just that there were some problems with her previous strategies and tactics."

"After such a long period of competition, I think she and her trainer will make improvements in this area this time."

"Moreover, it is quite obvious that she has been undergoing special training at Tianqiu during this period, and her cornering skills and final sprint on this track have improved to a certain extent."

"In other words, we still cannot let our guard down, even against our old rivals."

As he spoke, he switched between the displayed content. Observing the expressions of the Northern Black Horse and the others, and confirming that they had remembered what he had just said, he continued:
"Then there are new competitors to watch out for."

"One is Manle, which we've talked about before, and the other..."

He glanced at the Northern Black Steed:
"Xiao Bei recently mentioned the Ode to the Heavenly Emperor."

"Let's start with the Heavenly Emperor's Song. Strictly speaking, her overall performance is not that dazzling. Currently, she has 5 wins out of 18 battles, with two two-move games and four three-move games."

"However, her mid-range stats are quite good, and more importantly..."

The projection screen was switched again, and the photo of Satomi Crown flashed before being replaced by the bespectacled racehorse girl that Kita Genko had met not long ago.

"She participated in the previous Emperor's Autumn Appreciation," Yasui Makoto said in a deep voice, pointing to a set of competition data on the projection screen.
"The last three waves took 33.4 seconds, the fastest in the entire game."

At this moment, the atmosphere in the office became even more tense, but this time Yasui quickly offered a reassuring explanation:

"However, she only scored 11 points in that competition, and there were two other competitors who achieved the same speed."

"So what we need to be clear about is that her explosive speed is very threatening, and..."

He then switched to a female horse racer's situation on the screen:
"When she was in full swing, she had been focusing on the mile battle line, and then she burst out at the last step... It can be said that she is the strongest in this Tianqiu, or even this generation."

"33 seconds, that's her third-round performance in Game 3."

"And her average final foot speed across all competitions is almost 33.5."

"So, this autumn..."

Shifting her gaze from the screen to the horse racing girls, Yasui Makoto walked to the conference table and rested her hands on it:
"At 2000 meters, it's difficult for us to fully utilize many of our advantages."

"On the contrary, our opponents' strength will be more fully displayed, and their advantage in the last kick... could very well have a suppressive effect."

"It's fair to say that this match might be... the toughest battle we've faced so far."

The office fell silent.

Kita Genko stopped taking notes, met Yasui Makoto's eyes, and nodded emphatically.
“…I understand, trainer.”

Beside her, Almond-eyed looked worriedly between Genko and Makoto, while Alice, who had been taking notes, stopped writing.

"From the perspective of medical data and physical fitness, Yasui is right."

Picking up the records on the table, she walked to the screen, gestured for Yasui to adjust the display, and then pointed to the series of data charts on it:

"According to my calculations, at a distance of 2000 meters, Xiao Bei's advantage in phosphagen system recovery speed may be weakened, while the opponents' fast muscle fiber advantage will play a greater role in the final leg phase."

"Specifically, regarding the speed change curve... that's it."

Pointing to a statistics table on the screen, she nodded and said:
"It is obvious that, using the Emperor's Autumn Viewing as the modeling object, Xiao Bei's speed improvement index in the latter three waves is lower than that of many of his opponents in this competition."

"The most optimistic gap is 3.2%, and the most pessimistic gap is 5.4%."

"Taking 5.4% as an example, which is the data at the full joy time, converted into time and rounded to two decimal places, it is approximately 0.12 seconds."

"That's a difference of 2.18 meters, almost the length of a horse."

"Therefore, in terms of tactical planning, we... perhaps need to find a way to solve this problem to have a greater chance of winning this game."

(End of this chapter)