Chapter 90. Evaluations from Both Sides' Perspectives
While Shuta An awaited the discussion results from the local Tracen Academies, Grace, accompanied by Sony Music staff, arrived at Mr. YOSHIKI's private residence.
The leader of this legendary Japanese band was currently at the lowest point of his life. Although the accidental death of his confidant HIDE had occurred half a year ago, he was completely unable to recover from the heartbreaking news. The impact on Mr. YOSHIKI was no less severe than when he witnessed his father's suicide at the age of ten. Later, to commemorate his father, he composed X Japan's famous song "Tears," but now Mr. YOSHIKI did not know how to commemorate his good friend.
The band's lead singer, TOSHI, had abruptly announced his departure due to personal reasons, which led to X Japan's disbandment. Later, the death of guitarist HIDE shattered the plan to "find a new lead singer and revive X Japan."
Mr. YOSHIKI now completely refused to communicate with the outside world. He didn't want to think about music or creation.
However, because he still had a contract with Sony Music, he reluctantly agreed to a meeting request from the company. He had already decided that if Sony Music's intention this time was to persuade him to return or promote a newcomer, he would definitely refuse.
To Mr. YOSHIKI's surprise, after seeing the young woman accompanying the Sony Music staff, he frowned and asked bluntly,
"What is the meaning of this? Is this lady your spokeswoman?"
"I am not a spokeswoman," Miss Grace replied calmly. "I am the agent of a distinguished gentleman who admires Mr. YOSHIKI's talent and wishes to commission a song from you."
Miss Grace bowed slightly, emphasizing the modifier before the word agent.
"This Miss Grace is Miss Secretariat's most trusted assistant," the Sony Music staff member who had led the way added.
"Secretariat?" Mr. YOSHIKI repeated.
Having lived in America for many years, the name Secretariat was very familiar to him, and he clearly understood the significance of the legendary "Big Red."
"So Miss Secretariat wants my music?" Mr. YOSHIKI said, then shook his head.
"I apologize, but my current state—" He pointed to himself. "You should be able to see it. It's very bad. I don't believe I can create cheerful music in my current condition."
"It's not Miss Secretariat's request," Miss Grace said, pursing her lips. "As I just mentioned, this invitation comes from a gentleman."
"He wants to produce individual singles for the two Uma Musume he trains. That is why I came to visit Mr. YOSHIKI today."
"Then you shouldn't be looking for me," Mr. YOSHIKI replied, shaking his head. "Uma Musume represent sunshine, vitality, and positivity—things I cannot create right now."
"That's alright," Miss Grace replied. "I have already prepared the material. I simply hope that Mr. YOSHIKI will make a decision after reviewing it."
Miss Grace took out a thick stack of documents and placed them on the table.
"I will await Mr. YOSHIKI's response after he has read the material."
With that, Miss Grace turned and left. The Sony Music staff member quickly followed her.
"Aren't you going to try to persuade him more?" the staff member asked quietly.
"If you leave like this, I think Mr. YOSHIKI will definitely refuse tomorrow."
Miss Grace waved her hand dismissively.
"It's not as though it must be Mr. YOSHIKI. However, I have already prepared a reason for him to accept this invitation within the material."
"Oh? What reason?" the staff member asked in surprise. "Can you tell me?"
"Trade secret," Miss Grace said with a playful wink, placing a finger to her lips.
"If it doesn't succeed, I'll simply apologize to the boss and find someone else."
After hearing the door close, Mr. YOSHIKI remained motionless.
Only a few minutes later did he bend down and casually pick up the material left by the agent.
When he opened the cover, his pupils suddenly contracted. The first Uma Musume he had been asked to compose a single for was a name he had often heard from his deceased friend.
"Silence Suzuka…" Mr. YOSHIKI whispered.
He ignored the listed musical preferences.
Because his mind was now filled with the many things HIDE had said when talking about this Uma Musume.
"Musicians shouldn't disappoint the fans who place their dreams in them. They should be like Silence Suzuka—the big star of the current Twinkle Series. At first she was timid, but after changing teams she immediately understood the fans' expectations and worked hard to respond. Her performances quickly improved."
"Mr. YOSHIKI, don't doubt me—Silence Suzuka will definitely win the upcoming Takarazuka Kinen. And the Tenno Sho (Autumn) afterward will absolutely be no problem!"
"If only I could be as healthy as Silence Suzuka—then I wouldn't need alcohol to numb the pain from carrying my guitar."
"There are many things in the world that cannot be achieved—Even so, it's still worth trying, isn't it? We still stand on the same earth and breathe the same oxygen. And we continue pursuing our respective lives."
"No one knows what will happen in the future. Maybe nothing will happen at all. But I want to move toward a direction filled with infinite possibilities. Only then will I truly be worthy of calling myself a big fan of Team Sadalsuud, right?"
"Hehe… besides you, Mr. YOSHIKI, no one else knows about this hobby of mine. After all, I always feel that publicly liking such a mainstream hobby as watching the Twinkle Series would disappoint some fans who come for niche tastes."
"Ha…" Mr. YOSHIKI sighed deeply.
"HIDE—who would have thought? I actually received an invitation to write a song for your favorite Uma Musume. If you hadn't drunk so much, I would definitely have gotten Silence Suzuka's autograph for you this time. No! I'll get it for you this time as well."
Mr. YOSHIKI continued flipping through the material until he reached the final pages.
There, Miss Grace had provided him with a way to overcome his sorrow.
"Trying to bury my grief with a large amount of work…" Mr. YOSHIKI murmured. "Let's start with this job and give it a try."
So he made up his mind.
—
The next morning, when Shuta An woke up, he found a message from Miss Grace, the assistant.
"Mr. Yoshiki has accepted the invitation…surprisingly smoothly."
Shuta An murmured the words to himself. Then he glanced at Oguri Cap, who was still sleeping soundly beside him, and quietly slipped out of bed to get ready.
When he went downstairs, the living room was empty. Berno didn't seem to be awake yet either. Without hesitation, Shuta An decided to prepare breakfast himself.
As he worked through the ingredients, a news program played from his phone.
Shuta An had never been particularly interested in finance or politics. What usually caught his attention were news segments related to the Twinkle Series.
"Voting for the Arima Kinen is about to close. This year's most likely top vote-getter is Special Week."
Hearing this, the young man let out a soft sigh.
"Should I say that's worthy of a Derby Uma Musume? Even after losing the Japan Cup—where she ran at the front and was completely defeated by El Condor Pasa—she still commands this level of support in the Arima Kinen voting."
At that moment, Shuta An suddenly realized something. Despite being one of the top Trainers at Central Tracen Academy, he himself had never won the Japanese Derby.
"But there's nothing I can do," he muttered with a helpless shake of his head. "Team Sadalsuud simply doesn't have many Uma Musume. Some years we can't even debut one."
"And I'm not willing to lower my standards just to recruit more."
It was no secret that many Uma Musume at the academy wanted to join Team Sadalsuud. But in Shuta An's view, even with diligent training, many of them would struggle to produce meaningful results.
So he rejected them all.
"It's better not to give too many opportunities for wishful thinking," he said quietly, watching the egg frying in the pan.
His main task today was to finish writing the opponent analysis from Special Week's perspective.
However, he had no intention of sending it to Nishizaki Ryu immediately after finishing it. It wasn't because it required polishing—rather, he planned to finish Grass Wonder's version as well and send both reports to their respective Trainers on the same day.
That way, it would seem fairer.
Shuta would absolutely not admit that doing so simply made the whole situation more entertaining.
—
Meanwhile, both Nishizaki Ryu and Tojo Hana were secretly hiding from each other the fact that they had sought Shuta An's help as an external consultant.
Because of this, neither Trainer dared to visit Shuta An's office to check on his progress. The risk of the other finding out was simply too high.
"If Nishizaki Ryu finds out…" Tojo Hana narrowed her eyes.
A scene flashed through her mind—
"So, Hana-chan, you're so afraid of Grass Wonder losing to Special Week that you even went to ask Shuta-kun for advice?"
Nishizaki Ryu's teasing voice rang vividly in her imagination.
Nishizaki Ryu had similar thoughts of his own.
"So the Derby Uma Musume, Special Week, is afraid of the injured Grass Wonder? Nishizaki-san really lacks confidence in his own Uma Musume…She might cry if she hears that, you know."
In order to prevent these imagined scenarios from becoming reality, the two Trainers reached an unspoken understanding: they would closely monitor each other's movements.
"Fortunately, Shuta-kun agreed to send the analysis report directly to me on LINE," Nishizaki Ryu thought with relief while planning his interview for the Arima Kinen gate draw ceremony.
"Otherwise, with Hana-chan practically watching my every move lately—even when I go to the restroom—I'd really worry about running into her."
At the same time, Tojo Hana was also keeping a close eye on Nishizaki Ryu while thinking to herself:
"Nishizaki Ryu has been watching me constantly lately, sneaking around as if trying to ambush me."
"Good thing I asked Shuta-kun to send the report through LINE. Otherwise I'd have no way to shake him off."
By Friday, Shuta An had completed all the opponent analyses requested by the two Trainers.
After all, Special Week and Grass Wonder were two completely different types of Uma Musume. Even when evaluating the same opponent, Shuta An approached the analysis from different perspectives.
For instance—Stay Gold.
In the report written for Special Week, Shuta An specifically emphasized paying attention to Stay Gold's mood on race day. If she appeared to be in good spirits and full of fighting intent, Special Week could try running behind her—but without making the marking too obvious.
Overt pressure could easily trigger Stay Gold's rebellious streak, and once that happened, the race might descend into unpredictable chaos.
However, in the version written for Grass Wonder, Shuta An suggested something entirely different.
Grass Wonder could simply ignore Stay Gold altogether.
As long as she ensured that Stay Gold didn't interfere with her position during the scramble immediately after the gate opened, there was no need to pay attention to her performance at all.
When Nishizaki Ryu received the report, he immediately flipped to the section about Grass Wonder.
Although Shuta An had also accepted Tojo Hana's request, he had not softened his assessment of Grass Wonder in the analysis written from Special Week's perspective.
"Although her two races since returning from injury were not satisfactory, it should be noted that both took place at Tokyo Racecourse. Grass Wonder performs best at Nakayama Racecourse. Last year's Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, held there, saw her win by two and a half lengths while breaking the race record. Therefore, her recent performances should not be used to underestimate her. If Grass Wonder is allowed to run at a comfortable pace, losing the race would not be a surprising outcome."
"Indeed—Shuta-kun is very wary of Grass Wonder as well," Nishizaki Ryu said, nodding in agreement. "It seems we'll need to train specifically for this."
Meanwhile, Tojo Hana was also reading her report—starting with the section on Special Week.
Compared with the high praise given to Grass Wonder, Special Week's threat seemed somewhat less severe when viewed from Grass Wonder's perspective.
However, Shuta An stressed that the key factor in this Arima Kinen would be the race pace.
If Seiun Sky set a pace similar to the Kikuka Sho, the race could easily favor late-closing Uma Musume. In that case, Grass Wonder would need to maintain the lead while finding a way to resist Special Week's pursuit from behind.
But if Seiun Sky did not push the pace this time, then Grass Wonder would hold a significant advantage.
With El Condor Pasa absent from the race—and eager to rebuild her confidence—Special Week would almost certainly rely on her strongest weapon: her final burst.
However, the 2500-meter course at Nakayama Racecourse is not particularly friendly to hold-up runners. Attempting to win purely with a last-second burst can easily end in tragedy—falling just short of catching the leader.
"It seems the advantage is mine," Tojo Hana said, a faint smile forming on her lips. "But the issues Shuta-kun mentioned will still need to be addressed in Grass Wonder's training."
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