"Got it! I'll do my best to rember!"
With spirited determination, Kitasan quickly pulled out her little notebook and carrot pen, scribbling notes furiously. Once done, she set them aside carefully.
Seeing she'd finished, Yasui nodded approvingly, adjusting the gym equipnt for her next exercise.
The first exercise on their list was the cable chest fly.
The exercise involved sitting on the machine's bench, feet and knees apart, firmly planted on the floor for stability.
She gripped the handles lightly, palms facing inward, her arms extended to each side, elbows slightly bent and positioned just below shoulder height.
Her hands and arms remained relaxed as she drew them inward, using only her chest muscles to pull the weights attached to the cables forward. She paused briefly at the center, then slowly released tension, controlling the return to her starting position.
This slow, steady movent helped her clearly feel her chest muscles contracting and relaxing.
Primarily targeting her pectoralis major, the exercise also engaged secondary muscles—her pectoralis minor, serratus anterior, anterior deltoids, and the short head of her biceps brachii.
As always, the training was structured into several sets with clear intervals of rest between them.
After completing the cable fly, they proceeded through bench presses, deadlifts, and crunches. These exercises continued targeting her upper-body strength, especially the muscles at the front of her torso and upper arms.
Since they'd trained these muscle groups today, tomorrow—as Yasui had explained earlier—they would shift focus to the muscles in her back and lower arms.
After finishing these rigorous exercises, visible exhaustion finally showed on Kitasan Black's youthful face.
Sweaty and panting, she sat cross-legged on the floor, heels tucked close behind her. Yasui pressed lightly against her back, guiding her torso forward into a stretch, prompting her to cry out softly.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch… Trainer, why does this hurt so much…?"
"Because your training was highly concentrated."
Yasui replied calmly as he guided her through a butterfly stretch, counting softly in fifteen-second intervals.
"Usually, during running or weighted exercises, you're able to use almost all your muscles together."
"But today's session, especially near the end, isolated specific muscle groups, concentrating all the strain onto them alone."
"With focused strain like that, of course your muscles feel more fatigued."
"All right, you can get up now—move over to that wall."
After finishing lower-body stretches, Yasui instructed Kitasan to approach the wall, turn her back to him, and place her hands firmly against it.
"Yes, that's the correct distance. Now, place your elbows on the wall about shoulder height, clasp your hands, and slowly lean your torso forward..."
"…I'm not telling you to stick your butt out. Stop arching your back like that."
"Relax your waist, lift your chin a little. Now slowly slide your elbows upward, pressing your chest gently toward the wall—and could you not make such strange noises…?"
As Kitasan obediently followed Yasui's instructions, leaning toward the wall with a complicated expression sowhere between discomfort and relief, strange moaning sounds unconsciously slipped from her mouth.
Yasui's helpless comnt brought an imdiate blush to her cheeks, and she stamred a reply.
"Ehh…Ahh…but Trainer, it really does feel weird…!"
"I know, but still… Ah, forget it—just do whatever."
Yasui initially planned to continue correcting her, but thinking twice, he gave up.
He himself had experienced similar exercises before, knowing firsthand how proper stretches after intense workouts produced sensations both painful and oddly satisfying.
In fact, it indicated the training was effective—otherwise, it would simply feel painful or entirely unremarkable.
But hearing Kitasan's strange noises still felt awkward. With growing embarrassnt, Yasui glanced around cautiously, hoping no one else noticed.
He imdiately locked eyes with two approaching figures: Air Groove and Durante.
Judging from the fatigue clearly visible on Durante's face, she'd undergone an equally intensive workout and likely was heading over for stretches as well.
Since they'd already made eye contact, Yasui paused montarily, then politely greeted them.
"Air Groove-san, Durante-san, good afternoon."
"Trainer Yasui, Kitasan-san, good afternoon to you as well," Air Groove returned his greeting warmly, before turning toward Durante.
"Durante, greet—"
Ignoring Air Groove entirely, Durante simply gave Yasui—and the wall-pressed Kitasan—a brief glance, nodded slightly, then walked to the side, placing one of her long legs atop the stretching bar and beginning her stretches in silence.
"You, honestly…"
Embarrassnt and resignation clearly showed on Air Groove's face as she shook her head, bowing apologetically to Yasui.
"I'm truly sorry, Trainer Yasui. That girl... She's not very good at interacting with others. Please don't take it personally—I'll speak to her about it later."
Yasui waved dismissively, not minding at all.
He'd greeted them mostly out of courtesy anyway, so Durante's aloof response didn't surprise him much.
Just as Yasui turned back to focus on Kitasan's stretches again, Air Groove unexpectedly spoke up.
"Durante and I will be heading to the cafeteria shortly for dinner. If you wouldn't mind, would you and Kitasan-san care to join us?"
...
A short while later, at a cafeteria table, Yasui sat thoughtfully opposite Air Groove, gently rubbing his chin.
"…So, Air Groove-san, what you're saying is you want Durante-san and Kitasan-san to try training together?"
This request had co soon after they'd sat down to eat.
Back in the gym, Yasui had suspected Air Groove might have sothing specific to discuss—hence her dinner invitation—but he'd never imagined it would involve sothing like this.
He couldn't quite see the necessity, given Durante's exceptional talent and abundant resources.
Compared to himself, Air Groove certainly wasn't lacking as a trainer. She possessed extensive experience, with a distinguished racing career and proven expertise in guiding nurous top-level Uma Musu—even G1 winners.
And compared to Kitasan, although outsiders might assu their family backgrounds similar, Durante ca from an established family of considerable influence in the racing industry, likely exceeding Kitasan's resources in terms of professional support.
So why exactly was training together necessary…?
Yasui couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"Yes. To be honest, Trainer Yasui, Durante…haah…"
Air Groove sighed softly, glancing toward a nearby table.
She and Yasui hadn't sat directly with their Uma Musu, leaving Kitasan and Durante seated face-to-face separately.
Air Groove withdrew her gaze and sighed again, clearly troubled.
"Durante…has always been extrely impatient."
"From her debut race onward, she'd lose patience almost imdiately after leaving the starting gate."
"Although she'd calm down eventually, by then she'd already wasted considerable stamina. Otherwise, she'd certainly have had a good chance of finishing first."
"It was the sa in the last race—the Kyodo News Hai. Though she managed to recover sowhat mid-race, she ultimately lost again."
"After that defeat, she stopped listening even to her own trainer. I even took her out to relax, but nothing helped."
"Fortunately, she still listens to sowhat. Her family also asked mine directly for help, so lately, I've been taking charge of her training in place of her trainer."
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