Chapter 52
When Yasui Makoto took the small notebook, he put on a perfectly puzzled expression.
"What's all this about…? So mysterious…"
"Hehe, just look and you'll see, Trainer!"
Kitasan Black's ears twitched excitedly as she wagged her tail, clenching her small fists in front of her chest with an expectant look on her face.
Vodka leaned in curiously from the side.
"Huh? Why so secretive? Can I see too?"
"Mhm! I was actually planning to show it to you anyway, senpai!"
"I see… Wait, aren't these the opponents for your next race?"
After a quick glance at the notebook in Yasui Makoto's hands, Vodka looked at Kitasan Black in surprise.
"You really went and secretly investigated them, Kita-chan."
"Mhm!"
Kitasan Black nodded vigorously and looked at Yasui Makoto with gratitude.
"I already said I wanted to help Trainer with some things, so I had to follow through.
"I know Trainer probably already understands all this much better than I do.
"But what if I could help even a little?
"If I didn't know about that stuff, it would be one thing, but after hearing about it, how could I just sit there and do nothing?"
While flipping through the notebook, Yasui Makoto looked up with a surprised expression.
"That stuff? What stuff?"
"Ah, it's like this…"
Kitasan Black briefly explained what she had heard from the senpais. Her long ears drooped slightly.
"I only ever heard the senpais say that racing is actually really harsh.
"I didn't really understand what they meant at the time, but if they said it, it must be true.
"I never imagined Trainer was under so much pressure every day.
"Grandpa and the others told me Trainer is really outstanding and that I should stay with him forever.
"But if I don't perform well, Trainer will probably be really troubled too.
"I did win the first two races, but they weren't graded stakes.
"The next race is a G2 — a really big one. Just thinking about it, I know Trainer must be even busier than before."
Kitasan Black's crimson eyes sparkled as she looked at Yasui Makoto.
"So no matter what, I have to find a way to help Trainer."
Yasui Makoto fell silent.
To be honest, he really was feeling some pressure for the next G2 race.
After hearing about Daitono Shoji from Kitajima Saburo, he had done a little digging.
He discovered that this trading company had been quietly supporting horse girls for a very long time.
Their support was extremely low-profile, which was why the company wasn't well-known in the industry. Many trainers didn't even know it existed, and even the supported horse girls themselves were often unaware.
Over the years, the horse girls backed by Daitono Shoji had run roughly 2,000 races, yet their win rate was less than ten percent.
Their graded stakes record was even worse — only two wins.
And neither of those two graded stakes wins was a G1.
Honestly, from Yasui Makoto's perspective, the reason Daitono Shoji stayed so low-key was probably because their results weren't impressive enough to boast about.
But regardless of the results, it was still a trading company.
He understood the cold reality of chambers of commerce and prestigious families better than these horse girls did.
The horse girl industry ran on business.
Race tickets, broadcasting rights, fan voting tickets, sponsorships, merchandise, upstream and downstream industries, stocks…
Every single one generated huge revenue, which in turn supported prize money in the millions to hundreds of millions, as well as the daily operation of the academy and racecourses.
Take the most famous example: Oguri Cap, the "Superstar" with a Hall of Fame title.
During her active years, this national idol earned over 20 billion yen in profit from merchandise dolls alone — and those dolls are still bestsellers today.
Even her retirement Arima Kinen race saw ticket stubs and fan voting tickets resold at sky-high prices in certain circles. Normal purchase prices were already no small amount.
With returns like that, the major powers supporting horse girls weren't doing charity. It was fair to say they only cared about cold, hard cash.
To generate returns, the horse girls they supported had to win races.
Not just any races — they had to win graded stakes, and the biggest graded stakes at that.
Most horse girls never faced this pressure directly. The ones who truly bore it were usually the trainers or the teams behind them.
Yasui Makoto could completely understand what Satono Diamond's trainer had gone through, because he was facing the same thing.
He and Kitasan Black had indeed signed a contract.
But the contract clearly stated that if the horse girl failed to achieve "satisfactory results" within a certain period, her family and supporters had the right to terminate the agreement unconditionally and retain "certain" rights to pursue liability.
How "satisfactory results" and "certain" were defined was not up to a trainer like him — it was up to lawyers and judges.
Emotionally speaking, from their last meeting he felt that old man Kitajima Saburo seemed to approve of him.
But he never made decisions based on emotion.
If that old man became dissatisfied, terminating the contract was not unimaginable.
Even if the old man had no objections, Daitono Shoji might not feel the same.
Whether it was terminating the contract or assigning a new trainer to Kitasan Black, both were perfectly reasonable from their perspective.
That was where the pressure came from.
It wasn't that he was worried about the messy consequences of a contract termination.
It was that after spending all this time together, Kitasan Black's warmth, cheerfulness, extroversion, and straightforwardness had quietly touched him in many ways.
The thought of parting with this girl left him feeling a quiet sense of melancholy and regret.
He had no one to share these feelings with. His parents would listen, but he wasn't used to talking about such things and didn't want to worry them, so he had kept it all to himself.
Now he discovered that even though she knew almost nothing about these matters, Kitasan Black genuinely wanted to help lighten his burden.
A warm feeling welled up inside him, and at the same time he changed his mind.
"So that's why you were hiding in the bushes with your butt sticking out this morning."
He decided to reveal what he had planned to keep hidden. Flipping through the little notebook, Yasui Makoto smiled.
"How should I put it… It's a very rough investigation report, but a lot of the angles are pretty fresh.
"I've always placed great importance on temperament and mentality. I was wondering how to gather that kind of information, and Kita-chan just gave me a great idea."
Kitasan Black's face instantly turned bright red. Her hands flew back to cover her butt.
"B-butt sticking out?! H-how did Trainer know…?!"
Vodka looked a little displeased.
"Hey, Yasui, is that any way to describe a girl?"
She and Kitasan Black were similar in personality — both very straightforward. After spending time together recently, she had started calling Yasui Makoto by name and spoke her mind freely.
"Sorry, I wasn't making fun of you. It's just…"
After explaining to Vodka, Yasui Makoto turned back to Kitasan Black with a smile.
"I told you this morning that I was testing the drone, right? While I was doing a test flight, I happened to spot you hiding in the bushes."