Umamusume: Full of Flavor! [6]

Of course, Haruto Akiyama still had to deal with Silence Suzuka, too, so he used the excuse he had prepared in advance.

“Sorry. I got so focused I didn’t realize how close I’d gotten… Want me to wipe it off for you?”

For his first attempt, Haruto planned to pass it off as an “accident,” committing fully to the scumbag act.

But there really was no helping it. If he came right out with something perverted like, “Let me taste your foot!” then even the mild-mannered Silence Suzuka would probably refuse him on the spot. She might even turn around and report the perverted Trainer’s sexual harassment to the Academy.

Haruto did not want to get expelled on his second day at Tracen for being accused of having a special fetish for Umamusume feet. That would be way too ridiculous.

As for how he was supposed to check Silence Suzuka’s updated stat panel after she got stronger… well, future problems were for future him.

Maybe once they had spent more time together and their relationship improved, Suzuka would give him permission.

“N-No, that’s all right!”

“Also, your skirt’s flipped up.”

“You’re kidding, right?! Mm…!!!”

Only then did Silence Suzuka realize she had exposed herself. She hurriedly grabbed her skirt with both hands and smoothed it down, so mortified that she was struck speechless. It felt as if steam were rising between her two Uma ears, turning her into some kind of walking steam-hime.

And thanks to Haruto’s distraction, the matter of him kissing the top of her foot was successfully brushed aside.

Naturally, Haruto was not about to give Silence Suzuka time to come back to her senses and realize something was off. He immediately stood, picked up the oil-based marker from the desk, walked over to the whiteboard, and tapped the cap against it twice. Once he had caught Silence Suzuka’s attention, he said,

“Based on my observations just now, I’ve more or less gotten a grasp of your data, Suzuka. Let’s start with your Aptitudes. Listen carefully.”

“Huh? Ah! Yes!”

At that point, Silence Suzuka had no room left to be embarrassed. Haruto’s serious attitude made her realize, This is my Trainer’s guidance. I have to listen carefully! So before she could even put her knee socks back on, she placed both hands on her thighs, sat up straight, and looked at the whiteboard.

Haruto really was not lying to her. He wrote the Aptitudes he had just seen on the stat panel onto the whiteboard.

TURF A | DIRT G

SPRINT D | MILE A | MEDIUM A | LONG E

“For Track Aptitude, your Turf Aptitude is excellent, while you have almost no Dirt Aptitude. For Distance Aptitude, your main strengths are Mile and Medium. You can manage Sprint as well, but it doesn’t seem to be your specialty. Long, meanwhile, is very poorly suited to you.”

Track was divided into Turf races and Dirt races. Turf races were far more common, and the most famous graded races were all Turf races.

Sprint referred to anything under 1,400 meters, Mile was 1,401 to 1,800 meters, Medium was 1,801 to 2,400 meters, and Long was anything above 2,401 meters.

This was common knowledge in the racing world, and Haruto had learned it at Trainer school.

Silence Suzuka stared at the data, so specific it could be labeled with English letters, and froze on the spot. Her mouth unconsciously fell open a little.

Huh?

So Trainer had not been teasing her?

He really had been examining her data by observing her feet?

Under Silence Suzuka’s stunned gaze, Haruto continued by writing down the most important part: the stat panel. This was the data that had him secretly over the moon.

“Next are the five stats… Mm! As expected, your Speed is outstanding. It’s at an S-rank level!”

Good, good, good! Fast meant strong! Strong meant fast!

The world of Umamusume was just like the world of martial arts. Speed was invincible!

“Your Stamina and Wit are both pretty good, around C-rank. Power is lacking, at only D… but that’s already very good!”

One must never underestimate an Umamusume’s Power. Even D-rank could still easily kick three Harutos to death in one blow.

“Guts is a pleasant surprise! A full A-rank! Looks like you’re a very determined Umamusume, Suzuka! Very impressive!”

“Mm… Th-Thank you for the praise.”

SPEED S | STAMINA C | POWER D | GUTS A | WIT C

The rest were easy enough to understand. The one worth explaining was Guts. Put another way, it meant perseverance, or even “mental strength.” This was also an important standard in judging whether someone could become a top-tier Umamusume.

Some Umamusume were clearly very strong, but in races, they would often perform poorly because of nerves and other factors. That came down to having too weak of a mindset.

Only an Umamusume with a big heart could seize the final victory!

Of course, the reason Haruto was so excited was because… all of this data might eventually become his own.

He had no idea whether he could choose which stats to inherit. If he could, then Haruto would absolutely choose the highest one: Speed.

How much stronger would one-tenth of S-rank Speed make him? F? E?

Either way, he would definitely surpass human limits! No question!

That alone would give him room to maneuver against that horse-faced auntie!

But if his other stats could not keep up, then he probably would not be able to maintain that inhuman super-speed for long.

So in the end, balanced development across all five stats really was the way to go… but this time, he absolutely had to choose Speed!

Meanwhile, Silence Suzuka looked at her five stats and, for the first time, understood her own “strength” more clearly than ever before.

So she was not an Umamusume who could not run fast.

So her weaknesses were Power and Stamina.

No wonder she always felt exhausted in the second half of a race… Ah, because she was bad at Long, so her weaknesses were completely exposed in Long races. It would be a miracle if she won like that.

Looking at her Aptitudes and stats together, Silence Suzuka felt as though she had gained a “Trainer’s perspective.” It filled her with a buoyant feeling, as if she had discovered a whole new world.

As for Wit… it should still be fairly good, right? She had always scored highly in her academic classes at school… but the Wit Trainer meant was probably her understanding of tactics, as well as all sorts of race strategy: securing position, controlling pace, reducing Energy consumption, and so on. In that regard, Silence Suzuka also felt she still had many shortcomings.

She had heard that the legendary top Umamusume could all launch the most threatening spurt from the best position at exactly the right moment. That was the “winning formula” that would absolutely secure victory.

The old Silence Suzuka had only run blindly, knowing what she did but not why she did it. Even the “scenery” she wanted to see had seemed shrouded in mist…

But now, Silence Suzuka felt as though she could see a broad road before her. It was the direction that would let her go even further, leading to the incomparably magnificent “scenery” she had always been chasing… the one that belonged to her alone.

And the one who had helped clear away the fog was the new Trainer standing before her! No! He was already her Trainer!

Even her previous Trainer had not fully grasped all of her data. Yet he had only lick—no, closely observed her feet, and he already knew so much… Amazing!

Silence Suzuka did not doubt Haruto’s professionalism at all.

In the eyes of most Umamusume, Trainers felt “all-knowing.” After all, if an Umamusume trained on her own, she would be like a headless fly, with no idea where to direct her efforts.

A Trainer was the signpost that guided Umamusume forward.

Silence Suzuka had also heard that some Trainers from prestigious backgrounds possessed “secret manuals” for training Umamusume. For example, Aoi Kiryuin, another rookie Trainer who should have been in Haruto’s cohort, had mastered the Kiryuin family doctrine, Trainer’s White Paper. She could often be seen on the training grounds holding a book while instructing her assigned Umamusume, Happy Meek.

In that case, Trainer’s method of “knowing aptitude by tasting feet” must also be a unique technique he had developed through his own research.

As her admiration gradually faded, a strange feeling welled up in Silence Suzuka’s heart, as if her Trainer had seen straight through her. Unable to help herself, she squeezed both hands between her thighs and shyly hunched her shoulders.

She was clearly wearing her uniform… She had only taken off her shoes and socks…

But… why did it feel like her Trainer had seen her completely naked…?

T/N: because ermm uhhhhh yummy feet

This is a fan translation of 赛马娘，味真足 by 夜幕下的鬼 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!