Tokyo Racecourse—an old haunt by now, and one Kagura had already visited several times.
Lately, Rudolf had been preparing for the Japan Cup according to the methods Kagura had suggested earlier. Under Kagura's care, her conditioning had gone very smoothly. She was in excellent shape, healthy, and had not come down with anything.
The attention on this race could honestly be called unprecedented. All over the internet, the atmosphere was thick with talk like, "This time it absolutely won't be like before!" and "This time we'll raise our own flag over Fuchu!"
It was obvious that people online had become almost obsessive about defending the Japan Cup title. To be honest, Kagura was a little worried that such a fevered atmosphere might affect Rudolf somehow. After all, Rudolf was coming into the Japan Cup off a run of consecutive races, so her condition could not quite be called perfect. Naturally, people were leaning a little more toward the older Mr. C.B. because of that, and Rudolf had ended up only the fourth favorite. Not that Rudolf cared much about that ranking.
Of course, aside from the question of defending the title itself, the other topic setting the internet on fire was naturally Rudolf versus Mr. C.B. Rudolf—the ever-victorious champion who had gone eight for eight and claimed the Triple Crown undefeated—against last year's Triple Crown winner Mr. C.B., a specialist in breakthrough tactics. It was fair to say that Japan had put forward its best possible lineup this time to face the world's challenge. People were not only concerned with who would take the championship, but also with which of those two queens was truly stronger.
I just hope C.B.-senpai has managed to get her condition back this month...
After getting permission from the Tokyo Racecourse staff and heading inside, Kagura found herself thinking that as the recent chatter online ran through her mind.
Kagura already knew Tokyo Racecourse inside and out. She had come here so many times that she could probably tell with her eyes closed where the slopes were and where was best for making a break and passing. The main reason she had come to inspect the course today was to confirm what condition it was in—to see whether something inexplicable had made the track muddy, or whether there were any other issues.
Oh... there are quite a few people here today.
The moment she stepped out of the passageway, Kagura saw several people on the track, and she recognized all of them. One of them was a foreign Umamusume named Bedtime. Kagura had already seen information on this American Umamusume earlier when she was helping Rudolf research the field.
This Umamusume was the second favorite in the race, but Eclipse's withering review of her had basically been that she was nothing special and not likely to amount to much, and that the only reason she had become the second favorite was because she was an American Umamusume... In any case, it really had been a brutally sharp take. Kagura could not help wondering how many fans would come after Eclipse if those words ever got posted online.
Besides the second favorite, Kagura also saw Katsuragi Ace and her trainer some distance away, inspecting the course.
Since Kagura currently considered Katsuragi Ace the most dangerous opponent, she could not help looking over there a few extra times. There was not really much to see, though. Nobody had the kind of pull it would take to get permission to actually run on the track at a time like this. Everyone was just tapping around and testing the ground with their feet, so no matter how long you stood there watching, it would not get you much.
Still, judging from the commotion over there, Katsuragi Ace's trainer seemed to be complaining about Ace's popularity ranking, saying things like, "Ace, you're this strong—how are you only tenth favorite?!" Katsuragi Ace, meanwhile, was smiling and comforting her trainer. It looked as though she did not care much about the ranking herself.
That must be nice...
Setting the familiar faces aside for the moment, though, Kagura was even more interested in the stranger on the course. Besides Katsuragi Ace and the foreign Umamusume, there was one more Umamusume there—a brown-haired girl who, judging by her height, had already gone through honkaku. She also had a white streak in the front of her hair. Kagura could tell at a glance that she was not one of Tracen's own students. Aside from that conspicuous streak, the way she dressed was nothing like the students here. If anything, she looked more like some noble young lady from a prominent family.
And when she moved, a whole crowd of men in black followed her around. They stayed with her even inside the racecourse itself. Kagura still did not know who she was, but with this kind of display—venue management's big boss personally coming out to receive her, plus a whole ring of bodyguards around her—her status was obviously no ordinary one. At the very least, she had to be the daughter of some high-ranking official.
Whose young lady is this, out here getting a taste of ordinary life?
After watching from afar for quite a while, Kagura finally concluded that this Umamusume was not here to inspect the course at all. More than inspection, what she was doing looked like sightseeing. After all, even after all this time, Kagura had not seen her make a single move related to checking the track. Instead, she kept listening to the people around her talk away, occasionally following the direction they pointed and nodding. It felt very much like a leader out on an inspection tour.
——Hehe, that Umamusume feels like she might be a girl from Europe. And I'd guess her status isn't low, either.
Just as Kagura was wondering about her, a message from Eclipse suddenly popped up.
How can you tell?
Crouched down and making notes as she spoke, Kagura asked curiously. At this distance, with so many people in the way, she genuinely had no idea how Eclipse had judged the other girl's background.
——When you run enough races and meet enough different kinds of people, you end up picking up certain things without even noticing. Just look at her tail. One glance is enough to tell it's been cared for extremely well. An ordinary family would never go out of its way to protect a tail that carefully. They wouldn't have the means, and usually they wouldn't even have the idea.
I see!
"Eh? That person over there is...?"
Surrounded by a crowd of people, the brown-haired Umamusume girl thought she caught sight of a black figure passing through the corner of her vision.
The silhouette felt oddly familiar, and she could not help slowing down and turning her head to look that way. Unfortunately, there were simply too many people around her. The gentleman from racecourse operations happened to be standing right in her line of sight, and at that very moment he was still smiling as he explained details about the state of the course.
"Is something the matter, Princess Fine Motion? Is there something over there?"
"I think I saw someone I'm curious about... Could I trouble you to move aside a little?"
"Of course, of course."
The operations man quickly stepped aside, but by the time Fine Motion looked back toward where she had seen that black figure, there was already nothing there. She looked around in all directions, but still could not find the person who had caught her attention.
Huh? That's strange. Did I just see wrong?
---
T/N: no honorifics because they are prob talking in english
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
hehe every 100 followers on either instagram or twitter is 5 bonus chapters...? (for all tls ongoing)
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl
instagram: hanbaowise
twitter: WiseKingOfUruk_