Slacking Professionally at Tracen [10]

The next morning.

After handing the training plans over to Special Week and Oguri Cap, Kitahara Sota promptly began his slacking.

According to the usual relationship between trainers and Uma Musume, once a training plan was set, the trainer should closely supervise its execution.

Part of it was making sure the Uma Musume adhered strictly to the plan without slacking off or blindly adding extra exercises. Another part was making timely adjustments based on actual results.

But Kitahara did none of this.

Having delivered the plans, he immediately sprawled out, radiating an unmistakable aura of a seasoned slacker.

Supervise their training? Leaving aside the fact that Special Week and Oguri Cap weren’t even his tantou, even if they were, he certainly wouldn’t volunteer unless explicitly asked.

Adjust the plans further? Utterly unnecessary. Perhaps it was due to his system, or maybe some innate talent, but Kitahara’s skills as an Uma Musume trainer were absurdly exceptional.

He could confidently guarantee that, even without any further adjustments, as long as those two girls followed the current training plan exactly, by the time of their debut, only a select few exceptionally famous Uma Musume would even pose a threat—everyone else wouldn’t even qualify as competition.

Of course, if Special Week or Oguri Cap personally requested his help, he’d still make the effort. But for now, neither showed any sign of needing his assistance.

As for his two actual tantou, both were even more independent. If he tried stepping in uninvited, he’d likely get kicked aside without mercy.

But… isn’t that exactly what I wanted?

Seated comfortably beside the training track, Kitahara took out his phone, an authentic smile gradually spreading across his face.

Despite yesterday’s chaotic events and the accidental formation of his team, the current situation remained manageable—arguably even better than before.

His two tantou didn’t need his guidance, and thanks to their previous experiences a few years ago, Special Week and Oguri Cap obediently followed his instructions.

Thus, even with a formal team established under his name, Kitahara didn’t actually have to do anything. Even better, he now had the perfect excuse to refuse recruitment attempts from other Uma Musume, providing him the ideal conditions for guilt-free slacking.

This is bliss.

Pulling out his phone and pretending to supervise Tokai Teio’s training, he leisurely finished a video he’d been watching yesterday, then opened up the campus forum—a private community exclusive to Tracen Academy.

He’d wanted to browse it ever since the other trainers gave him the link last night, but various events had delayed him until now.

After clicking in, registering, and filling out the necessary information, Kitahara paused briefly at the username section, then chose his real name without hesitation.

Since it was an internal campus forum, and since veteran trainers warned him anonymity here wasn’t trustworthy, he figured he might as well openly use his own name. Better that than leaving anonymous embarrassing remarks that could blow up in his face later.

And if someday he needed to post something too embarrassing for his real name, well—couldn’t he just open a throwaway account?

Registration completed, Kitahara logged in. Immediately, an array of topics slowly loaded on his screen.

At the very top, naturally, were the forum rules, followed by Tracen’s campus guidelines and student regulations—all pinned.

Below those pinned posts were various trending threads. The highest-ranked, with thousands of replies, read:

[Alert! Pervert spotted taking secret photos near the Sacred Warehouse!]

Clicking in, Kitahara unsurprisingly found it describing yesterday’s incident in great detail, though his name was thankfully omitted.

Scrolling down to skim the comments, something interesting caught his eye:

The “Sacred Warehouse” was apparently a nickname the Uma Musume had given to that abandoned warehouse.

Nobody remembered exactly how the nickname started. But according to campus legend, if an Uma Musume and a trainer spent half a day together inside it, they’d have a very high chance of becoming a couple later on.

Practically everyone at Tracen who’d spent a significant amount of time here knew this rumor. Thus, inviting someone there essentially equaled a love confession. During busy periods, like Valentine’s Day, people sometimes even had to reserve the place in advance.

Realizing why strange noises kept emanating from that warehouse, Kitahara promptly took out a campus map and boldly crossed out the warehouse with a bright red “X.”

Yep, dangerous territory. Stay far away from now on, never bring an Uma Musume there, and absolutely never accept any invitations.

Putting away the map, he exited the thread and continued scrolling.

Perhaps because it was the official campus forum, the content wasn’t initially as scandalous as he’d expected. Most posts seemed genuinely practical, like tail-care tips, comparisons of different ear-covers brands, or race training advice.

However, as he scrolled further, the topics gradually became more… questionable:

• [My trainer’s family set him up on a blind date—should I intercept midway or follow secretly? Advice needed!]

• [Urgently seeking house rentals with a basement!]

• [Love is Derby: Tips to win every race on the battlefield of love!]

Looking at these titles, Kitahara started having serious doubts.

Is Tracen really a racing academy and not some secret matchmaking agency?

It wasn’t just Uma Musume asking odd questions, either—trainers also had their fair share:

• [Massage techniques for legs and feet: please advise]

• [Good places to vacation with your tantou]

• [I heard gifting your tantou clothes you’ve worn improves her mood. What’s the logic behind this?]

Kitahara sighed deeply, reading these threads. No wonder some trainers ended up jumped—considering the idiotic ideas they were coming up with, it’d be stranger if their Uma Musume managed to resist.

But those weren’t even the worst posts. Further down were threads like:

• [How to run away secretly without your tantou noticing?]

• [My tantou doesn’t know I have a fiancée, how should I tell her?]

• [Told my tantou about the blind date my family arranged, and now her expression is really weird, help!]

None of these original posters ever updated again after the first message.

Kitahara mentally saluted their sacrifice.

Rest in peace, brave souls.

Just as he was immersed in these entertaining trainer threads, mentally noting ways to distance himself further from his own tantou, a new thread suddenly popped up.

In less than a minute, it racked up dozens of replies, immediately climbing into the trending list.

[Shock! Tokai Teio actually picked a freshly hired rookie trainer!]

Kitahara: “…”

Seriously, are you guys that bored? Why are you all so obsessed with who someone picks as their trainer?

Although he complained inwardly, Kitahara knew perfectly well that as the academy’s current rising star, Tokai Teio naturally attracted enormous attention.

Particularly after she chose him—a trainer whose resume basically screamed “worthless rookie”—this vast gap inevitably stirred controversy and speculation.

Clicking on the thread revealed basic information and pictures of him, all sourced from the academy’s official website.

The replies below mostly expressed shock and regret, with many questioning why Tokai Teio would make such an inexplicable decision.

Some speculated whether he might have some hidden relationship or undiscovered secret ability.

Overall, though, the comments leaned heavily negative. Among hundreds of replies, those explicitly supportive could be counted on one hand.

Interestingly, not a single trainer’s account commented throughout the entire thread. Perhaps it was due to the speech he gave earlier—or, more likely, those shameless idiots were quietly laughing behind their screens, enjoying the drama without bothering to correct the misunderstandings.

While the name “Kitahara Sota” was widely known among trainers, very few Uma Musume recognized it. Especially since he’d never set foot at the Tracen main campus before, combined with the nearly isolated campus environment, most local Uma Musume had no clue who he was. Even if he introduced himself, they’d probably give him the “Who the heck are you?” stare.

The few who did recognize his name only knew him from short, casual encounters years ago, unaware of his various infamous exploits elsewhere.

Thus, unless those idiot trainers opened their mouths, few Uma Musume would ever know the full story behind his reputation.

That included Tokai Teio herself. Even now, she likely believed she’d simply chosen a random newbie trainer as a convenient shield, blissfully ignorant of his true abilities and past record, leading directly to the current chaos.

Glancing at the thread’s rapidly increasing replies, Kitahara raised his eyes toward Tokai Teio training energetically in the distance. He thoughtfully stroked his chin.

Why do I suddenly feel like I dug a pit just to jump into it myself?

After a short pause, however, he promptly gave up overthinking.

Ah, forget it. Why bother thinking so hard?

Just slack off and call it a day.

—

This is a fan translation of 人在特雷森，专职摆烂 by 多功能复读机 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!