Uma Musume: Becoming a Legendary Trainer Chapter 74 - 74 – Time to Rest

Balancing work and rest is a very important part of training.

Previously, taking Oguri Cap and Belno Light to Tokyo was because they had been working hard for a long ti and needed a proper vacation.

Now, after returning to Kasamatsu, they had been training constantly—so it was about ti Oguri Cap and the others got a couple of days off.

However, by the next day, the weekend, Kitahara found things hadn't quite gone the way he expected.

"Light took Super Creek and Kyoko to et March and the others for shopping, Oguri Cap…"

Sitting in the corner of a café, Kitahara glanced helplessly at Oguri Cap beside him. "Why didn't you go?"

In front of them were two cups of coffee. Kitahara couldn't figure out what this Uma Musu of his was thinking—she hadn't even taken a sip until now.

Oguri Cap sat with her cheeks puffed, curiously slurping the coffee.

"Mmm… bitter… bleh, bleh…"

After a cautious sip, she stuck her tongue out, wrinkled her brows, and pushed the coffee toward Kitahara. "Kitahara, how can you like drinking sothing like this?"

"Waiter, add more sugar and milk to this coffee," Kitahara said, then after a thought added, "And bring us one of each of your desserts, please."

Then, looking at the sparkle in Oguri Cap's eyes, he asked again, resigned,

"You still haven't answered . Why didn't you go hang out with Light and the others?"

Almost as if she could already taste the desserts, Oguri Cap smacked her lips, licked them, then finally turned to Kitahara.

"Because you weren't planning to rest, Kitahara."

Kitahara froze.

"You said it yourself, you're eting with Light's mom today to talk about sothing important. That ans you're still busy, right?"

She reached out, tugging at Kitahara's sleeve, and spoke softly: "You've been working too hard, Kitahara."

"Before Tokyo, you were already really busy."

"You said we were going to Tokyo to play, but it was only and Light who played. You were busy the whole ti."

"After we got back, you got even busier."

"From my dorm, I can see the lights in your dorm. I can't rember a night when your lights went off early."

"I never saw when you turned them off. I even tried to stay up just to see when you'd sleep, but every ti I got too sleepy to keep going, your lights were still on."

"You know I get up around four every day."

"I've gotten up many tis and seen your lights still on."

"You've stayed up all night 76 tis—since I started counting, that's how many it's been."

"The one who most needs to rest is you, Kitahara."

Sothing hot welled up behind his eyes. Picking up whichever cup was closest, he downed the coffee in one gulp, suppressing the lump rising in his throat.

"But it's all worth it…"

Oguri Cap clearly heard that low muttered self-talk. She said nothing, stubbornly clutching Kitahara's sleeve between her fingers.

"Alright. I promise you—from today on, I'll start paying attention to resting properly."

Kitahara spoke softly.

Those fingers stayed gripping the sleeve stubbornly for a long while.

"I'll be watching you, Kitahara," Oguri Cap said gently, but her tone left no room for argunt.

"Just like you watch over my training, my racing, and my rest—I'll watch over your rest, Kitahara."

"No problem at all."

Her fingers slowly released their hold.

That burning feeling started to rise in his eyes again. Kitahara unconsciously picked up the remaining cup of coffee on the table and drank it in one go.

He was about to say sothing else when, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Konan Tomomi entering the café. He froze, then imdiately stood up.

"Mrs. Konan, over here. Thank you for coming all this way."

Oguri Cap also stood, but her eyes remained fixed on Kitahara.

…Hmm. Looks like, even if I don't eat, I'll need to make sure Kitahara actually rests…

Otherwise, he'll definitely get busy again the mont I'm not looking…

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Kitahara."

Quickly walking over, shaking Kitahara's hand before sitting opposite him, Konan Tomomi looked at Oguri Cap. "It's been a while, Oguri Cap. When will you and Light co visit us again?"

Before going to Tokyo, Oguri Cap had visited Belno Light's ho several tis, but not since coming back.

"Once Kitahara's rested, I want to bring him along," Oguri Cap replied seriously.

…Welp. Guess no more staying up late for …

Knowing exactly why Oguri Cap said that, Kitahara gave a wry smile, then turned to Konan Tomomi, expression growing serious.

"Mrs. Konan, regarding what we discussed over the phone—what are your thoughts?"

After asking Belno Light to arrange this eting, Kitahara had already spoken with Konan Tomomi on the phone.

His request was simple: he hoped she could take on part-ti manager duties for Oguri Cap in comrcial collaborations—and, if she had capacity later, for Super Creek as well.

Through the custom-weight equipnt deal, Kitahara could already tell Konan Tomomi was an excellent businessperson. In truth, even without that, the fact that she successfully ran a sports shop and an associated factory locally already proved her capability.

Compared to training, Kitahara was actually more experienced in comrcial operations—he used to be an elite in that field.

But the Uma Musu industry was different.

Its core was the Uma Musu themselves. In business terms, the "core competitiveness" lay entirely with them, and all revenue scaled proportionally with their performance on the track.

When running a company before, Kitahara had always handled the most important, most central matters himself, delegating the rest to professionals in each field.

Now, as a trainer, the most central matters were naturally training and racing—things he had to handle personally.

Currently, technical training matters were in Belno Light's hands. Though young, her talent had already been proven by her ranking first among central trainees. Moreover, the training they needed now wasn't overly complex—she was fully capable of handling it.

dical matters were in Miyamura Kyoko's hands. As a graduate student in the University of Tokyo's dical departnt, practically a doctoral candidate already, her ability was unquestionable, and with a heavyweight dical expert like Kokubo Ren behind her, there was no issue leaving everything dical to her.

And, thanks to Miyamura Kyoko's reminder, Kitahara now realized it was necessary to make so moves on the business side—both for expanding current training funds and for future planning.

Konan Tomomi was the perfect candidate. She had shop and factory managent experience, knew Kasamatsu inside and out, was sharp and efficient by nature, and, being Light's mother, was also soone naturally trustworthy.

All of this was what Kitahara had discussed with Konan Tomomi over the phone.

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Kitahara, I'd already been thinking along those lines," Konan Tomomi said directly. "I just wasn't sure if you were familiar enough with business, or if you'd quite understand."

"This isn't underestimating you—different industries differ greatly. I trust your exceptional skill in training, but business is another matter."

"Better comrcial operations can multiply the resources Uma Musu earn from races, feeding back into better training and living conditions for them. It's a win-win with no downside."

"So, I've actually wanted to talk about this with you through Belno Light for a while. Since you have the sa idea, then let share my business approach first—eh? Mr. Kitahara…?"

From behind his seat, Kitahara pulled out a stack of papers half a palm thick and handed them over with a smile.

"Business plan were drafted last night for our cooperation."

"It's a bit rushed, likely full of issues. I'd appreciate your corrections, Mrs. Konan."

Ahh… Looks like I won't have the chance to stay up late doing this kind of thing anymore…

He smiled, quietly sighing in his heart.

(End of this chapter.)