Chapter 87: Skyscraper in the Ivory Tower

Meipubopang terminated its contract with the former trainer due to differing policies.

She currently has no trainer, and her racing career is in the stage of having been restarted by the early-season race overhaul.

The Asahi Cup Futurity, a first-half December race, is normally the first G1 race for most horse girls' careers, but she is set to run in the second round.

At the same time, this round of the Asahi Cup might become the most fiercely contested.

After all, she is not the only horse girl who has returned to her career due to the early-year triple goddess edict.

But precisely for that reason, she urgently needs a trainer who can work with her in unity, not one whose opinions clash with hers.

In order to quickly get on track with training, to prepare for the year-end G1 stakes where the top contenders gather.

Moreover, the inadequacy of the school's trainer resources has long been known to the horse girls themselves; Meipubopang, which terminated its contract with the previous trainer over a week ago, has found its search for a new trainer to be utterly fruitless.

Her talent is not bad.

Her original middle- and long-distance aptitudes, along with the short-distance aptitude she has gradually trained, are already enough to place her foundation high among most of her peers—rather, to put it another way.

Even a character with some prior training, if retrained once, will have attributes stronger than most blank slates.

But unfortunately, the mutual choice between trainer and horse girl cannot be resolved by basic excellence alone; even though she obtained from her hindsight roommate the news of "that person" at Teleisen, she was too late.

Upon discovering that the other party already had a trainer badge, she mustered the courage to launch a straight attack, only to be told that a dedicated horse girl had already been assigned to block it.

Meipubopang did not know what expression she wore at that time, but Aomo clearly saw enough evident dejection surface on that cyborg face.

"So you proactively proposed the interim trainer plan? I couldn't tell, Trainer-kun really is still a well-meaning idiot."

In Ailisuzhi's laboratory, Aomo, who had already left the chairman's office three times, supplemented the explanation he had skipped upon his arrival for her, and then received this answer.

After all, he could see that Ailisuzhi was in a bad mood then, and although he wasn't sure what she had imagined that caused a sudden change, he still needed to speak plainly what needed to be said.

Though there was no change in tone, at least the form of address had improved, which could be counted as some effect.

"Not exactly a well-meaning idiot, but rather a case of each taking what they need."

"Oh?"

"My mercenary agency still needs to rely on Teleisen's connections; for that I need to boost the trainer's achievements to gain the chairman's support—one dedicated and one acting trainer would be quite noticeable for a newcomer."

From this perspective, Aomo felt his luck was actually not bad either; such an opportunity that comes knocking occasionally does occur.

"Sounds like you might still need to add more people?" Ailisuzhi asked, picking up a test tube in her hand and handing it to Aomo.

Aomo's expression immediately turned serious as he took the test tube; instead of drinking it right away, he first smelled it, then held it up for inspection and continued: "At first there is still leeway, but once the agency gets on track, it becomes hard to juggle both, so it's best to avoid it if possible."

The idea that his duties as a trainer and as the agency's mercenary would not interfere with each other—naturally, that is too idealistic.

Although Aomo wanted to come up with a clever move to prove his worth to Chairman Thus we output: Thus we output: QiuChuan, he also had to consider whether he could afford it.

"And even if we add personnel, it would only be an acting trainer."

"And not everyone is as desperate as Meipubopang; leisurely horse girls know how to evaluate whether a trainer can satisfy them, Trainer-kun." Ailisuzhi, who had walked up beside Aomo, gave his back a hard pat, saying, "What are you hesitating about? This is a drug that can increase muscle strength, and I've slightly raised the dosage considering your species."

"Have you tried it yourself?" Aomo asked.

"Although I could be the test subject myself, it's not time for that yet; precisely because of that I need your help, Trainer-kun!" Ailisuzhi patted Aomo's back again.

At 1.59 meters tall, she couldn't reach his shoulder even if she stood on higher ground.

"At times like this, you say the guinea pig doesn't matter," Aomo, who could completely see through the little trick in her wording, shook the test tube with hardly any sediment in his hand and said, "In other words, I am the initial tester; can I apply for insurance services?"

"Such a hesitant guinea pig won't win any affection from the opposite sex!"

"I currently have no such expectations or worries... fine, at least you're sure this just boosts muscle strength?" Aomo imagined himself with two hands in third gear, or an EX Red King double fist, feeling somewhat wicked...

"Of course!" Ailisuzhi affirmed, then saw Aomo tilt his head back and drink it all in one go, after which she immediately added, "But I cannot rule out some additional minor side effects."

She had been joking, wanting to see a look of surprise on his face, but what she saw was merely an expression that seemed to read "as expected."

"The body is very important; one shouldn't play such pranks just because medical technology is advanced," Aomo said, raising the terminal's camera function to his face, seeing only a white glow, "Well, this at least is barely acceptable."

"Naturally, I usually prepare light-based effects," Ailisuzhi said, nodding proudly, "What does it feel like to become light? I've heard you have the ability to incarnate as a monster, so you should like this feeling, right?"

"Your logic is a bit convoluted; I don't want to nitpick, but you shouldn't be asking me whether there's any change in my strength."

"Quite self-aware! Then tell me if there's any change in my physique?!" Ailisuzhi said while pulling a notebook from the pleated pocket of her school uniform, eyes full of anticipation.

"Nothing has changed, or rather, the feeling is not obvious."

He clenched his fist, then threw several swift punches into the air that produced a whooshing sound; to Ailisuzhi's eyes they were already beyond ordinary in speed and force, but he himself felt no change.

On the day of the physical exam, and later in private training, Aomo also produced the same effect, and even because he initially couldn't control his force well, the momentum became even more fierce.

"All that counts as not obvious, so I really ought to redefine your physique," Ailisuzhi said, leaning in to examine Aomo's retracted palm, looking up at him, "Do you have a recent physical examination sheet?"

"I think your research focus should be on yourself, not me."

"True, although her physical quality isn't surprising, a half-demon is still quite different from a horse girl~" Ailisuzhi unexpectedly withdrew her hand, then raised her voice as if announcing major news, "But inspiration can also be drawn from the trainer-kun's body!"

"That statement is really full of ambiguity," Aomo wordlessly returned the test tube still hanging from his other hand to Ailisuzhi, "I recall the URA Association has strict controls on medication standards."

"Oh dear? Don't lump my research together with low-grade products like stimulants! You clearly know that, don't you?!"

Upon receiving the empty test tube Aomo handed over, the scarlet pupils behind the light grating grew dangerous from feeling offended.

"It's not the kind of booster that only lasts a moment and is full of side effects; what I'm seeking is 'the possibility of horse girls,' or more precisely, 'the latent physical potential of this horse girl species'!"

"In other words!"

Ailisuzhi leaned in closer, her face grim, and said seriously:

"Maximum speed, surpassing the realm of maximum speed!"

"Just don't produce side effects; the rest will be judged by the race organizers," Aomo's expression was somewhat resigned, though in this glowing state it was hard to see his face, "By the way, what do you think of Meipubopang?"

"What do you mean?" Ailisuzhi replied, turning back as she drew the remaining liquid from the test tube, the earring resembling a "stamp-full" chemical symbol also swaying.

"Because of racial differences, I am not suited for drug testing, but Meipubopang is quite suitable, and in fact her overall condition is more comprehensive and intuitive than most people's."

"Ah, I haven't really spoken to her yet, but I do see she seems somewhat inclined to listen to you..." Ailisuzhi pondered a moment, turned her head, and gave a light laugh as she looked at him, "Guinea pig-kun, aren't you afraid I'll test drugs on her and cause trouble?"

Aomo realized that the girl's use of "guinea pig" could be either derogatory or affectionate.

It depends specifically on the context.

But accepting such a nickname is also quite delicate, and so far he has tried to ignore it as much as possible.

Just as he could ignore Mei Pu Bo Fang's unique way of speaking.

"This will test your human spirit, which has been squeezed for living space by the scientific spirit."

Aomo smiled, carrying a hint of teasing reminiscent of Ailisuzhi.

"If it goes badly, it's not just your future; I'll also end up in jail, and if it gets serious, it will even delay that girl's life in Mei Pu Bo Fang."

When he said this, he even feigned regret by shrugging his shoulders.

By then, the three of us will together appear in textbooks as material warning future horse girls, which will also count as a contribution.

"Tsk." Ailisuzhi clicked her tongue, turned her head away angrily.

Before, people had also advised her to give up the absurd live experiments; she also pretended to be fierce in grabbing people to test drugs, but in reality they were all mischief she had planned, her style habit showed no restraint at all, and she felt no need to restrain.

Until Aomo brought a Mei Pu Bo Fang who had come forward on his own initiative; that air of 'do as you wish, broken pot, broken fate' actually made it inconvenient for her to continue pretending to be foolish.

Boring, this is really not interesting at all.

And although he couldn't ignore her obvious dissatisfaction, Aomo immediately raised his brows and said, 'Why such an expression, Suzi?'

Seriously speaking, this is also part of the basic training preparations; I believe you also believe in your research, and have decided to include it in the considerations for the follow‑up training plan, so don't hold a grudge.

The closer form of address, the gradually softening tone, sounded like someone comforting a child.

Last time it was still at a kindergarten cleaning part‑time job; finding a job where a robot isn't monopolizing work is not easy, although the principal only valued his ability to manage that group of children and also could use a shared interest in tokusatsu to play with them.

Although their ages are actually not far apart, in Aomo's eyes most horse girls are basically just a bunch of kids.

Simple, obsessive, and carefree.

Even with outstanding talent and dazzling ability, they still lack social experience.

Central Tersen is truly an excellent ivory tower, so that the horse girls' biggest setbacks in life mostly show up on the racecourse.

Only after they truly debut and actually enter competitions in various places do they get the chance to start facing more trials from outside campus.

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At this point, if the protective instinct of trainers or those from clans were stronger, they would be even more likely to become dolls that live only on the racecourse.

Being strong only on the racecourse is also a kind of deformity.

Aomo does not approve of this deformity, so he also would not want his horse girls to be completely lacking any interpersonal interaction, autistic individuals.

At least not to the point where finding a side‑by‑side training partner becomes difficult.

Speaking of which, the overly ideal cherry‑blossom girl that Bi Ze talks about is also here, but unfortunately Bi Ze's build probably couldn't even handle the classic 'bumping into each other while holding bread at a corner' type of encounter.

It would directly turn into blood‑stained eucalyptus at the horse girls' passageway speed limit of 70.

"Hmph.... You'd better believe it!" Arms crossed, Ailisuzhi glanced at him askance, even failing to react to the feigned affectionate nickname; when their eyes met she also pursed her lips, "What are you still standing there for? Go to the tea seat's miscellaneous pile and pick out a chair—do you really intend to fight for a seat with that substitute horse girl?"

"By the way, I'm still curious whether that Miss Manchester Chazuo will come over at noon."

Following instructions, he walked over to the miscellaneous pile and began manually picking out chairs with relatively stable structures; Aomo's gaze swept over the instruments, cardboard boxes, keyboards, chessboards and such from Mongol City, wondering where that coffee lady had gotten all these things and why she wouldn't throw them away, then his eyes landed on the structure of the table and chairs, he reached out but touched a paper wad.

It was originally a trivial matter, but he inexplicably unfolded it.

【Running. Running. Running.】

Still not enough, I haven't been able to catch up to her.

Still not enough, I haven't been able to surpass everything.

Turning. Turning. Turning.

Rising. Falling.

My thoughts keep circulating,

Unaware, I have already found myself upon a myriad of colorful gears......'

?

Aomo looked dubiously at the incomprehensible words above, then at the torn edge of the paper slip where part seemed to have been ripped off; his gaze fell on the familiar logo at the edge.

A pattern of several interconnected rings up and down—that is the logo of the Yogeer Group.

That is, the logo seen on the tail of that small starship in the Star Gate Space Network.

Truly... a strange fate.