The promise with Heavy Gun has been fulfilled, what should I do now...? Rei Zai was leaning on the sofa, thinking about what to do today.
A week had passed since the Tenno Sho ended, and the promise she had made with Heavy Gun to go shopping together was fulfilled the day before yesterday.
Just in case, she had brought Alice Digital along, and later she was immensely grateful to have dragged a scapegoat along.
Both Maya Heavy Gun and Marvelous Sunday were very energetic Uma Musume, but when the two of them got together... her memories of that day were only of their laughter. She and Alice Digital were behind them like their guardians, putting in effort and care, but seeing their smiles made it all feel worthwhile.
However, April was also coming to an end, and she should have been preparing for the Victoria Mile in early May.
But she ultimately encountered that scenario.
Avoiding conflict.
Her extremely intimidating aura and her race, which seemed to control the entire track during the Tenno Sho, had caused no small impact on the minds of the other competitors.
Even those who knew she only participated in G1 races chose to go to G2 and G3 level races instead of the immediate G1 race, even for the sake of increasing prize money and popularity.
[Finally, you have this day too~]
"Eclipse, please shut up! =_="
[Whine]
It seems the Association is currently discussing whether to further restrict Zero, allowing her to only participate in the Takarazuka Kinen and the Autumn Triple Crown in the second half of the year.
Avoiding races once will lead to a second time. If this continues, the losses for the Association and race organizers will grow.
For Triple Crown races, there will always be many Uma Musume attempting to target or chase their dreams, so there's no need to worry. However, for races without special significance, whether they can be held truly depends on the Uma Musume's willingness.
[But I have a way to make you participate in races, you know?]
"Really!? Can I still find opponents!?"
[No, you can just run alone. That's how I ran back then.]
"=_="
Strictly speaking, this was indeed a good method, but there was a problem, something she was worried about.
Running alone because others avoided the race was something Eclipse had also done.
She was worried that she would be called "Eclipse Reborn." If possible, she hoped to always show her true self, rather than inheriting someone else's name, even if that someone was the Three Goddesses.
"Forget it. Anyway, there will definitely be people in the Triple Crown races. Besides, constantly avoiding races will affect popularity and prize money. I don't believe they can endure it."
Reality isn't a game where participating in a race and getting a good ranking means people will become your fans and never leave.
Once is fine, but if she keeps avoiding races, not only will fans who think she lacks ambition leave, but more might become curious about how powerful the person making her avoid races is and switch to supporting them. Wouldn't all her efforts up to now become a wedding dress for someone else?
So she knew that as long as she kept signing up, she would eventually get to run.
[Actually, you could try signing up for those G2 and G3 races and see if they can still run.]
"I feel like if I tried to sign up, everyone would stop me."
[That's true. Unless something unexpected happens, this year's races, aside from Rudolph Symbol and others you'll encounter at the Arima Kinen, probably won't have anyone who is your opponent.]
Meeting Rudolph Symbol at the Arima Kinen was naturally part of their agreement. As long as she could win all the way to this year's Arima Kinen, Rudolph Symbol would sign up to participate and bring her old friends.
Although most of the Uma Musume from the Emperor's generation have retired, this doesn't mean retirement is the end for an Uma Musume.
Rather than retiring, they chose to stay behind the scenes and give opportunities to more young people. Except for some Uma Musume who truly retired due to severe injuries, their training never stopped. Even if they didn't improve, they could maintain their pre-retirement state, not to mention that for Uma Musume like the Emperor, not improving for so many years is simply impossible.
They can still sign up for races, but only for the G1 Arima Kinen and the Dream Cup. Recently, the Association seems to be preparing a new individual cup race for retired Uma Musume, and no one knows what it will be like.
"But because of this, I don't know what to do now..." Zero turned over and lay directly on the sofa, picking up her doll from the side and hugging it.
By the way, this doll was caught by Special Week at the arcade that day. If bought directly, it would cost about 30,000 yen, and Special Week caught it in one try.
[Next, you just need to continuously develop your abilities, but you'll still have a lot of time left~]
"So, what are your brilliant ideas, Goddesses?"
[Emmmmm, go write weird fanfiction?]
"Rejected."
[I think that's a great idea!]
"I don't think so =_=" Can these Three Goddesses be a bit more serious?… After discussing with the four Three Goddesses for most of the day, they still couldn't come up with any good ideas. Instead, the morning break passed. The Spica members who needed to train also came here after lunch, along with Oguri Cap and the two gray-haired rascals.
"So what do you mean by gray-haired rascals, Tetsu Mae!" Tamamo Cross once again bared her fangs at Zero.
Oguri Cap, on the other hand, didn't care and went to the refrigerator specially prepared for her to get something to eat.
"Z-chan looks so listless today. Cheer up! You still have to guide this great Emperor!" Teio walked over and sat next to Zero, picking up an Emperor doll that Special Week had caught that day.
Anyway, Zero's room was now full of dolls, which in a way sparked another collecting habit in Zero. Some time ago, she bought all the dolls that weren't available in that arcade and displayed them at home.
At this moment, the others also looked at the unusually listless Zero with slight concern.
"Ugh... it's nothing, mainly because there have been too many race avoidances, and the Victoria Mile can't be held..." She swayed slightly, rolling back and forth within the limits of not falling off the sofa.
Everyone, who had been charmed by Zero's unconscious cuteness, now understood that Zero was simply bored.
"Alright, let's get ready. Everyone, have some simple desserts, and we'll start training soon." Realizing her behavior was a bit embarrassing, Zero sat up straight from the sofa.
"Trainer, today is...?" Her gaze turned to Trainer Okino.
"Oh, today? Everyone can maintain their usual training, but I have something to discuss with you." Saying that, Trainer Okino waved, signaling Zero to talk to him outside. Zero naturally followed him out.
"What do you want to talk about?" Zero was also a bit curious about why Trainer Okino would call her out privately like this... Wait, could it be!?
"Are you finally going to confess to A-Hua!?"
"Pfft! Cough, cough, cough... How did you even think of that!?" Trainer Okino was also choked.
"Because that's probably the only kind of thing you'd call me out privately for, right?"
"How is that possible! Maybe I want to confess to you!? Look, male Trainers falling in love with Uma Musume from their own team and taking them out to chat privately often happens in TV dramas, doesn't it!?"
"Well, if it were another Uma Musume, it would be fine, but don't think I don't know your preferences. Last time I went to your office to help you organize, your 'treasures' completely exposed your preferences to me." Zero didn't hesitate to expose him. She was certain she was definitely not Trainer Okino's type, who liked the cold beauty type like Tojo Hana.
Although Tojo Hana isn't exactly a cold beauty, standing there quietly usually gives off that vibe.
Trainer Okino, realizing he couldn't win against Zero, still shut his mouth.
"Alright, jokes aside. I called you out this time to discuss the arrangements for some future training plans."
"?"
"You see, although everyone is still maintaining their training, they are more or less lacking in enthusiasm, right? So I came up with an incentive plan to ignite their passion for training."
"Oh? So you want to implement it but don't have enough money? Do you need me to fund it? (Pulls out a black card)"
"No, no, no, it's not that complicated. You just need to do a small favor."
"What?"
"Set aside a little time each month to spend a whole day with one person."
"?" Wait, could that incentive plan be... "Yes, a day with you, everyone will be interested. Besides, you haven't had much to do lately, have you?" Trainer Okino nodded seriously.
..." Looking at the lollipop stick in Trainer Okino's mouth, Zero silently stood on her tiptoes and pulled the stick out.
"? What's wrong?"
"This strike, pierce the stars!"
Bang!
Trainer Okino still took a kick from Zero.
P.S: Hey guys, sorry for posting the chapters all out of order and making it annoying to read. I've fixed it all and put them up properly now. Thanks for sticking around and pointing it out. I'll check twice before uploading next time so this doesn't happen again.
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