The Asakusa District.
Inside a lively izakaya, draft-beer mugs collided with bright clinks as light shimmered between glasses.
Two men sat facing each other.
“Congratulations, Koji!
Your team competed overseas this time, and it looks like you achieved an excellent result!”
Had Kazuomi been present, he would immediately have recognized the elderly man.
It was the same person who had questioned him during his interview.
Now, however, the old man looked remarkably energetic as he raised an enormous mug of beer to congratulate the younger man.
The other man appeared to be in his mid-twenties.
His dark skin, handsome face, and fashionably braided hair gave him the appearance of a model.
Although he wore a smile, a trace of melancholy remained deeply concealed within his eyes.
“To think you have already become such an extraordinary trainer.
We must celebrate tonight.
Let us drink until neither of us can stand!”
The elderly gentleman no longer possessed his usual refined demeanor.
Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere around him, he had become bold and boisterous.
Koji smiled helplessly.
“Then why didn’t you take me to an expensive restaurant in Ginza?”
“Quit complaining.
You only returned to Japan today.
I’m sure the academy executives already took you somewhere expensive to celebrate.
Or are you saying you dislike being brought to a place like this by a miserable old man?”
Celebrating second place in an overseas race was certainly reasonable.
But—
Caught off guard by the accusation, Koji hurriedly waved his hands.
“Come on, you can’t say that.
Getting a free meal out of you is a rare and precious opportunity.”
“Hmm.
Flattering me now, are you?
Then if I buy you several more meals, will you decide to continue leading your team?”
The old man continued smiling, but his eyes remained fixed sharply upon Koji.
A bitter smile appeared on Koji’s face.
After hesitating, he waved one hand.
“Please spare me.
I already told the chairwoman.
I want to rest properly for at least a year or two.”
He shrugged.
“Of course, I would be delighted if the academy were willing to support a useless freeloader like me.”
Everyone else had been congratulating Koji.
The elderly man, however, could read something different in his expression.
That was precisely why he had brought Koji here.
“Well, it is not something I can persuade you about.
I no longer participate in the academy’s decision-making anyway.
We should leave such troubles to the younger generation.”
The old man drained his beer in a single swallow.
Koji smiled, clearly unwilling to dwell on the subject.
Then he appeared to remember something and leaned closer with a mysterious expression.
“You say you no longer participate in academy decisions, but I heard something interesting.
The old man immediately looked displeased.
“What?
The people at the academy truly cannot keep their mouths shut.
Was that not supposed to be confidential?”
“I don’t know much about recruitment, since I didn’t enter the academy through that process.
Still, a special evaluation sounds impressive.”
Koji looked genuinely curious.
“Hana seemed particularly unconvinced.
Is the newcomer really that outstanding?”
“No.”
The old man shrugged and laughed.
“In truth, the exact opposite would be more accurate.
The recruitment interviews were already about to end when the final applicant arrived wearing a Yoshinoya delivery uniform.”
“He was so frightened by a simple interview that he could barely speak.
He knew practically nothing and had not even attended university.
I intended to ask him a few casual questions and send him away.”
“Then, for some reason, the boy began praising her as though she were the greatest Uma Musume who had ever lived.”
“Her?”
The old man added fresh ice to his glass, then slowly explained whom he meant.
Koji’s eyes widened.
Even he had rarely heard anyone mention that particular name.
“Wait.
Wasn’t she…”
“Indeed.”
The old man gave a quiet laugh.
“She represented our academy as its first Uma Musume to participate in a JRA race.
You could almost call her a member of Tracen’s first graduating class.”
“Even so, she recorded only one victory in five races after her debut before illness forced her to retire.”
Koji folded his arms across his chest, his expression strange.
“This may not be my place to say, but why would someone who admired a racer like that receive a special evaluation?”
“It would be natural for someone to remember the only race she won, especially when she claimed just one victory during her entire career.”
“Chairwoman Akikawa asked me the same question.”
The old man slowly set down his glass.
He tapped the tabletop lightly with one finger, as if the motion had stirred memories buried within him.
His voice became gentle and nostalgic.
“The reason is that the boy immediately identified the most magnificent race of her career.”
“Was that all?”
Koji clearly found the explanation unconvincing.
“Most people remember the winner of a race.”
The old man smiled and shook his head.
“I never said the greatest race of her career was the race she won.”
“What?”
“She won her first race after her debut.
People believed she might create history like the great Triple Crown champions.”
“But afterward, an examination revealed a minor fracture in her knee and severe wear in the surrounding ligaments.
Her results declined with every race, while her physical condition continued deteriorating.”
“In that sense, her path became the same as that of countless Uma Musume whom fortune had abandoned. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Eventually, she would give her final performance in some forgotten race.”
The old man’s gaze grew distant.
It was as though he was no longer looking at Koji, but at someone far beyond the walls of the izakaya.
“I have never told anyone else this.”
“Before that Grade Two Nikkei Shinshun Hai, she already sensed that the race would mark the end of her career.”
The old man repeated the words she had spoken to him.
“‘Rather than run while constantly worrying about this injury and that risk, I would rather let everything go and run the final stretch with all my strength.'”
“‘Even if I have to sacrifice this leg.'”
Koji fell silent.
As trainers who remained closest to the Uma Musume, they understood the weight carried by those words better than anyone.
What kind of internal struggle had that girl endured before reaching such a decision?
A fleeting figure appeared in Koji’s mind.
His heart tightened as though seized by an invisible hand.
“‘I could feel something sorrowful and resolute coming from her.
The way she leaned almost impossibly far forward as she ran…'”
The elderly man smiled faintly.
“Those were the boy’s exact words.”
“And just as he described, her final charge carried her only as far as fourth place.”
“Yes.
People normally pay attention to the champion.
Yet he spoke about her.”
“For that boy and me, it was the most magnificent race of her career.”
“The reckless way she ran.
Her determination to cast everything aside and blaze brilliantly for a single instant.”
“That was the potential she released at the very end.
The speed of that momentary charge…”
The old man’s expression became solemn.
“To be honest, I have never seen another Uma Musume produce anything comparable, even to this day.”
He stared directly at Koji.
“Do you know something?”
“Trainers capable of becoming legends generally belong to one of three categories.”
“The first are people like Tojo, who can draw out another person’s existing talent to its absolute limit.”
“The second are people like you, who can guide others to compensate for their lack of talent through relentless effort.”
“And the third…”
The old man’s eyes sharpened.
“Perhaps that boy can become such a person.”
“Someone with an instinctive sense for discovering the limitless potential hidden within another.”
“That is why I decided to observe him a little longer.”
“I do not wish to overlook even the faintest possibility.”
“Of course, if he cannot endure this minor test, then it will simply mean that I misjudged him.”
After hearing that explanation, Koji finally abandoned his joking attitude.
The man before him was a towering figure in the Japanese racing world.
He had endured the darkest era of Japanese racing.
At the same time, he had been the one to point the industry toward revival and hope.
The heights visible to such a man—
Koji could only admire him from the bottom of his heart.
“As expected of you, Mr.
Zenya Yoshida.”
Zenya Yoshida — Honorary Director and Founder of Tracen Academy