She was a dream to manage. But the fact that "easy to manage" didn't translate to "strong" felt like a personal failure on my part.
She listens to everything I say, which is a blessing... but when I look at her, I don't see a competitor. I see a girl who's satisfied just because she got to run.
In a Debut race, she'd be up against eight other girls. To move forward, she had to crush their dreams. It sounded cold, but that was the reality. If she lost, she'd have more chances in Maiden races, but those were also nine-girl heats.
It was a survival game disguised as national entertainment. Girls who couldn't win were culled—expelled or transferred to the regional boonies. Many fell into despair and quit entirely. Even the talented ones could have their careers ruined simply by being born into the same year as a "generation of monsters."
Urara will have plenty of chances in the Maiden circuit, and as the winners move up, the pool gets easier... No, that's wrong. Everyone else is training, too. They might improve faster than she does...
I was spiraling into a pit of "what-ifs." I couldn't afford to give up when she was trying so hard.
Maybe she's the type who performs better in a real race? Maybe the adrenaline will kick in and she'll blow everyone away... hm?
My deluded fantasies were interrupted by the sensation of being watched.
My desk was cordoned off by a low partition—enough for a bit of privacy, but low enough that anyone standing up could peer right over.
"————"
A woman with black hair was staring at me in total silence.
"....Hrk!"
I let out a strangled gasp, nearly falling out of my chair. My back hit the rest with a loud creak.
"C-Can I help you?" I managed to wheeze out. I was too startled to even be annoyed at the intrusion.
"O-Oh! I'm so sorry! You looked so distressed, I just... I couldn't help but look..."
"Ah... right. Sorry. Was I being too loud?"
"No, not at all! You were worrying about your student, weren't you? It's only natural to be that invested!"
So I WAS being loud, I thought, regaining my composure. I smoothed my hair and cleared my throat. "Ahem. Well, I appreciate the sentiment. But did you need something, Ms. Kiryuin?"
The woman was a peer from my graduating class: Aoi Kiryuin.
She had her black hair in a neat bob with a braided fringe pinned to the side, and a small ponytail at the back. She was dressed formally—a white shirt under a black vest, slacks, and boots—giving her a stiff, disciplined aura, though the ruffles on her blouse added a touch of softness.
She was always carrying a thick book. Given that she was the daughter of the prestigious Kiryuin family—a dynasty of legendary trainers—I assumed it was some sort of secret family grimoire.
We weren't exactly friends. We'd exchange pleasantries, but she always felt a bit "out of reach" compared to the other colleagues.
Kiryuin's eyes darted around as if searching for words, before she balled her fists in front of her chest with a surge of resolve.
"I was thinking... since we're both facing the challenges of being new Trainers, perhaps we could... exchange opinions?"
She looked at me with sparkling, expectant eyes.
Wait, why? I swallowed the question and looked at her fidgeting.
She doesn't seem like she's here to scout my secrets. She's from a prestigious family; I'm a nobody. Is this just... pure kindness? Really?
The girls at Tracen are rivals, and that friction often rubs off on the Trainers. If a top-tier Trainer like Tojo—who leads the legendary Team Rigil—had asked me this, I'd have jumped at the chance. To someone like her, I wasn't even a blip on the radar, so there was no reason to be guarded.
But Kiryuin was my peer. Even with her pedigree, we were starting at the same line. Was she trying to psych me out to reduce the competition for her own student?
She doesn't seem the type... if this is an act, she's a world-class actress.
Including my previous life, I was technically twice her age. My gut told me she was being sincere. In fact, her eyes were screaming: "Please let me talk about my student! I'm dying to talk shop!" She looked like a hobbyist who had finally found someone who shared her niche interest.
Now that I think about it, the other rookies avoid her because of her family name...
It wasn't that they hated her; they just didn't know how to talk to a "noble."
I, on the other hand, got along with most of the other rookies. Since Urara was a dirt-specialist, I wasn't competing with them for turf-runner spots, so there was no animosity. None of them were "crazy" enough to scout a girl solely because they recognized her name. Most of them already had teams of two or three girls; some even had five.
Volume doesn't guarantee success, but it does guarantee experience. If you have five girls, odds are one of them will catch fire. In that regard, Kiryuin was a rarity like me: she only had one student.
Wait, this is an opportunity, I realized. Kiryuin has been raised in the world of elite training. Her student is probably a monster, and she definitely knows more about high-level tactics than I do.
It didn't matter if she saw my cards. If she saw how weak Urara was now, maybe she'd let her guard down during a real race.
Driven by both strategy and a lingering curiosity, I made her a counter-proposal.
"Huh? Trainer, we're doing a race today instead of regular practice?"
Urara tilted her head as she met me on the track, already in her gym kit.
"Yeah. Nothing too formal, though."
I turned to Kiryuin, who had accepted my invitation.
"Urara, this is Ms. Kiryuin, a fellow Trainer. and this is her student..."
"...Happy Meek."