"Maruzensky, who did you call just now?"
Symboli Rudolf asked softly as Maruzensky returned with a smile.
"You'll find out soon enough~"
"Seriously, I didn't expect you to be here tonight. I felt that Oguri probably wouldn't be coming anytime soon," Symboli Rudolf said with a hint of regret.
"She will come~" Maruzensky said gently.
"It's a pity that it seems only Obey Your Master is here on the track right now." Symboli Rudolf took Maruzensky's words as consolation and didn't pay much attention.
--
A moment later, Symboli Rudolf's eyes suddenly lit up, and she called out to Maruzensky.
"She really is here! Maruzensky, look over there!"
A tall figure wearing athletic shorts and a short-sleeved hoodie walked onto the track.
Although it was evening, wearing a hood in Tokyo in July still seemed somewhat out of place.
This was probably the first time Sakura Baimu had appeared on the Tracen Academy campus without being completely covered up.
Symboli Rudolf still couldn't clearly see Sakura Baimu's face.
However, judging from the two blue horsehair flaps peeking out from under her hoodie's hood and the long blue ponytail extending from behind her waist,
it was clearly "Ogura".
Symboli Rudolf observed Sakura Baimu from afar, carefully examining her long, straight, and beautifully sculpted white legs. She nodded and commented,
"Nice muscle definition, very powerful. Clearly, she has never slacked off in her training."
After her assessment, Symboli Rudolf turned to Maruzensky, whose narrow blue eyes revealed a sly glint, and said with a smile,
"Come on, let's go say hello."
Symboli Rudolf's eyes suddenly lit up as she spoke.
She noticed that Obey Your Master had already walked toward Sakura Baimu before the two of them.
Just as Symboli Rudolf was wondering what Obey Your Master was saying to Sakura Baimu, she suddenly saw Obey Your Master extend her hand toward Sakura Baimu.
--
Sakura Baimu stood in the middle of the track, looking around, but couldn't find Maruzensky.
"Where is she? Didn't she tell me to come?"
Sakura Baimu murmured in confusion when she suddenly heard a laugh from nearby.
"You're here!"
Sakura Baimu looked in the direction of the voice and saw a blonde American Umamusume, considerably taller than herself—Obey Your Master.
"You know me?" Sakura Baimu asked.
She knew Obey Your Master, but she didn't think Obey Your Master would know her.
"From Kasamatsu, debuted the same year as Oguri Cap, suspended the following year for skewed movements—an Umamusume from the Mejiro family, Mejiro Sakura."
Obey Your Master spoke, smiling as she walked to Sakura Baimu's side.
"So you're the one who told Maruzensky about me, right? No wonder she was willing to compete against you."
"Wow, quite perceptive. No wonder the Umamusume made that slanted judgment against Tamamo Cross's territory at the end of the Spring Tenno Sho."
Obey Your Master chuckled. "Exactly the same as me at the Japan Cup in November of the same year."
"It's a pity I was banned for six years, while you became a legend," Sakura Baimu said softly.
Now that her identity had been recognized, she decided to stop hiding it.
It was a good thing the other party hadn't directly revealed her identity at school.
"Well, I should thank you for this. Without you, my results at the Japan Cup would probably have been nullified."
"I don't have that kind of influence. It just so happened that the URA added new rules in July of the same year. Don't thank me," Sakura Baimu chuckled gently.
"Well, I don't care; either way, the vast majority of people, myself included, believe that it was because of you that the URA implemented this demotion rule, so you've indirectly saved quite a few Umamusume yourself."
Obey Your Master, as she spoke, suddenly narrowed her eyes with a smile, and her tone abruptly changed.
"It's a pity. It seems no one except me has noticed your situation. Even those Umamusume you saved don't feel any gratitude toward you."
"I don't care about these. I know my own limitations. To say that lowering the rules was entirely because of me is truly presumptuous. Perhaps it has a tiny bit to do with me, but as long as someone benefits from it, that's enough. I don't care about gratitude."
"Interesting, interesting, you really are interesting!"
Obey Your Master's smile deepened as she listened to Sakura Baimu's words.
"I heard you got the head of the Mejiro family kicked out of the Mejiro household?"
Sakura Baimu blinked. "You know that too?"
"I investigated everything about you back then," Obey Your Master chuckled. "You must be very resentful, right? It wasn't your fault, and you even helped Mejiro McQueen win the Spring Tenno Sho Championship four times, yet you could only interact with her under a false identity."
Sakura Baimu burst out laughing. "You're wrong. I really don't care about being kicked out of the Mejiro family."
She definitely wanted to interact with Mejiro McQueen using her real identity, but the current situation clearly didn't allow it.
Even in front of this outsider, "Sakura Baimu," Mejiro McQueen was still able to maintain her self-discipline and restraint.
Things would get complicated if Mejiro McQueen found out she was Mejiro Sakura.
After all, Sakura Baimu's decision to challenge the Spring Tenno Sho was largely due to Mejiro McQueen.
Sakura Baimu knew this.
Mejiro McQueen still harbored deep resentment about her being kicked out of the Mejiro family by her grandmother.
This resentment hadn't lessened with Sakura Baimu's disappearance.
In fact, it had grown stronger with time.
As for being kicked out of the Mejiro family by the head of the family...
What a joke! She didn't grow up in the Mejiro family in Tokyo.
She grew up in Kasamatsu, a rural area in the countryside.
What Mejiro family head? What relation did she have to Mejiro Sakura besides sharing the same surname?
Rather than being kicked out of the Mejiro family's house, it would be more accurate to say that Sakura Baimu left the Tokyo Mejiro household on her own.
The main reason was to avoid affecting Mejiro McQueen, who was about to enroll and debut.
In short, it boils down to one sentence.
Aside from a few active-duty Umamusume from the Mejiro family, Sakura Baimu felt no sense of belonging to the Tokyo Mejiro family.
Obey Your Master stared at Sakura Baimu's expression and realized that Sakura Baimu didn't seem to be lying, so she continued to ask.
"So, do you still want to continue competing?"