"It's too haaaaard!"
"What are you screaming about all of a sudden?"
It had been a few days since Maya joined Team Pleiades. I was busy with paperwork in the clubroom when she burst in, slammed her face onto the table, and let out a wail of pure frustration. She was throwing a tantrum like a child who had been denied a toy.
"I haven't even given you a difficult training menu yet, have I?" I asked.
"It's not the menu! It's your running style, Rampage-san! I can't do it at all!"
"Wait—you mean you've been trying to mimic my Full-Body style without telling me? Who gave you permission to go off-script?"
"I just wanted to try it!" she huffed, puffing out her cheeks and looking away. Even though she was pouting, she clearly knew that acting without her trainer's instruction was a breach of discipline.
"Mayaya, you've got the instincts, but your body isn't synchronized yet. You're lacking the 'level' of physical reinforcement needed to pull it off."
"Is that it…? I feel like I should be able to do it, but there's this weird gap, like something is missing."
"It took me years of agonizing effort to master that form," I said, leaning back. "If a rookie could just pick it up on their first try, I'd have no pride left as a legend."
The Full-Body Running Style is exactly what it sounds like: a method of using every single muscle in the body in perfect harmony. In theory, it's simple. In practice, it requires direct neural control over every limb to ensure no energy is wasted, converting every ounce of effort into forward momentum. It's a technique that even a genius can't master without a body forged in fire.
"So… I have to do a ton of boring training before I can run like that?"
"Precisely. That's why I've got you practicing record-line cornering and weight-shift drills. It's all preparation."
Maya was a quintessential "genius type"—the kind of student who usually gets bored if they can't master something instantly. In the "app" world I remembered, she hated repetitive training. I'd expected to spend my days fighting her to keep her focused, but surprisingly, she'd been quite diligent. It seemed her obsession with the Full-Body style was actually keeping her motivated.
"You haven't fully mastered the 'controls' of your own cockpit yet, Maya. When you can command your body with absolute freedom, that's when the Full-Body style will open up to you."
"Hmph… I think I'm doing a pretty good job already."
"Tell me that again once you can run in these," I said, pointing to the Shinzan Irons on my feet—now weighted to five times their normal mass. Even for me, they were heavy. If you try to run by just lifting your legs in these, you'll tear a muscle. You have to use your whole body.
"But those are so heavy!"
"I know. Here, let me show you what 'control' actually looks like."
I grabbed a balance ball from the corner of the room—the kind used for shotgun-touch drills. I sat on it. The ball didn't wobble; it didn't even move. Then, I slowly transitioned into a formal kneeling position (seiza) right on top of the sphere.
"Whoaaa! Amazing! How are you doing that!?"
"Like I said: total control. The girls in Canopus could probably do this in their sleep. Ikuno, especially, would find this easy."
I stood up, balancing perfectly on the shifting surface of the ball.
"So cool! You're like a circus performer!"
"I'm not telling you to become an acrobat. I'm just showing you a benchmark for body mastery. Don't try this yourself yet—you'll just hurt your back."
I hopped off and sat back in my chair. Naturally, Maya immediately tried to sit on the ball, only to lose her balance and fall flat on her rear with a loud thud.
"Ouch… It's so hard! But if I can do that, I can run like you, right?"
"If you can master your body, yes. Now, let's talk business. When do you want to debut? I need to adjust your schedule."
"Right away! As soon as next year starts!"
"The earliest races aren't until June, kid."
In her historical records, Maya debuted in January of her three-year-old season, but that was only because of an earlier injury. Given her talent, I thought it might be better to let her debut early and rack up experience through a high-frequency race schedule. A genius like her would wither away if kept in training too long. I decided to give her the "Rampage Treatment."
"Fine. We'll go with my style: a blitz of back-to-back races."
"Really?!"
"On one condition," I said, my voice turning serious. Maya straightened up, sensing the change in atmosphere. "I'm going to build your schedule around G1 targets. This is the stage for the 'Ace' you want to be."
From this point on, I had to fully commit as her trainer. This wasn't just about her; it was a battle that would define my new career. The path ahead was steeper than anything she could imagine, but that was exactly what I wanted.
"The world of racing is glittering and beautiful, but beneath that, it's a battlefield. It's kill or be killed. Win and live, or lose and die. I won't tell you that you have to be an undefeated 'Dictator' like I was—I'm the outlier, the anomaly. I can't teach you the 'Righteous Path.' So, I only have one rule for your races: Run until the very end. That's it."
"I copy."
Maya's response was firm. She would run. She would finish every race safely, and she would give it everything she had.
"Then let's get back to the hangar. You can't fly without maintenance, and you can't win without training. Come on, I'll oversee your laps."
"Yay! Hey, run with me, Rampage-san! I want to see your form up close!"
"If you can keep up, sure."
I'd worried that she would be difficult to handle, but Maya's child-like honesty and energy actually meshed well with my personality. I could finally see her flight path. My true start as a trainer was only moments away.
But while we prepared for the future, the Twinkle Series was moving into its most heated season. The Autumn G1 circuit was about to begin.
Turbo, Ikuno, Nature, Rice, Bourbon, Tannhauser, Teio, and McQueen.
The stage was set for the Autumn Tenno Sho—a gathering of legends that would shake the foundations of Tracen Academy.
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