Two weeks had passed since the Heather Stakes.
On the morning of December 27th, heavy snow fell from the sky, laying a pristine white stage for a world that would welcome the new year in just four days.
Within the snow-covered Tracen Academy, the school buildings were a bit more tranquil than usual, and the voices of the Uma Musume chatting carried a lazy, wintery drawl.
Today was also the last day of the semester.
In the classrooms, teachers were assigning holiday homework to the Uma Musume while reminding them of safety precautions.
Meanwhile, the logistics staff were tallying the year’s income and expenses, carrying various cardboard boxes to sort and process, while also distributing the newly purchased New Year supplies.
A few lively kids had run out onto the snow-covered training grounds to build snowmen and have snowball fights.
In the Staff Room.
Enjoying the decadently warm heating, Kaito sat at his desk reading the newspaper.
The newspaper featured the usual end-of-the-month race summaries, and Rice Shower’s victory in the Heather Stakes was recorded within.
However, the commentators focused more on the unconventional massive breakaway tactic and the miraculous way she maintained her lead at the end, attributing the victory to the Trainer’s risky decision-making and the blessings of a miracle.
As for Rice Shower herself, because Northern Rainbow almost caught her at the very end, she was not considered a strong contender for next year’s Classic circuit.
“She’s too short and lacks the physical advantage, her previous record was a disastrous failure and this was just a fluke, and her Trainer is an unreliable rookie…
Do these newspaper hacks even have eyes?!” Kaito angrily slapped the newspaper onto the desk, cursing under his breath nonstop.
Across from him, Hana-senpai was working on the year-end reports.
Hearing the commotion, she sighed.
“Those newspaper hacks just want to grab attention with exaggerated claims.
Don’t pay them any mind.” “Instead of wasting time on that, you’d be better off paying more attention to next year’s competitors.” Hana’s attitude toward her junior, Kaito, had changed significantly.
After the Heather Stakes, she had observed Rice Shower’s subsequent training and was immediately shocked by Kaito’s training methods and the monitoring device called a heart rate strap, realizing he actually had real skills.
Hana valued this talent, which was why she offered him a well-meaning warning.
“Mm, you’re right, Hana-senpai.” Kaito agreed wholeheartedly.
He leaned back in his chair and flipped the newspaper to the other side, which took up the entire page.
[A Machine-Like Run!
Mihono Bourbon Takes the G1 Asahi Hai by a Massive Margin, Setting Her Sights on the Classic Triple Crown!] The newspaper reported on Mihono Bourbon, the heavy favorite Uma Musume who won at Hanshin Racecourse on the same day as Rice Shower, maintaining her undefeated momentum.
In Earth’s history, Rice Shower and Mihono Bourbon were rivals of the same era.
Mihono Bourbon was known as the cybernetic Uma Musume because she could endure absurdly exaggerated training volumes like a robot, and perfectly execute tactical commands during races, taking the Satsuki Sho and the Japanese Derby in the Classic Triple Crown with an undefeated posture.
In contrast, Rice Shower was just a relatively gluttonous nobody, yet she crossed the finish line first in the third leg of the Classic circuit, the Kikuka Sho, shattering Mihono Bourbon’s Triple Crown dream.
This caused Rice Shower to bear a lot of undue criticism and blame at the time, and Mihono Bourbon’s retirement after the race left them with no further opportunity to face each other and prove themselves.
But in this different timeline, Mihono Bourbon remained Rice Shower’s biggest rival in challenging the Classic circuit.
What left Kaito even more speechless was that this Mihono Bourbon-san’s Trainer was also Riko!
A powerhouse combination!
The challenge difficulty was leveling up once again!
“The road ahead is long and arduous.
I need to think of a good strategy.” Kaito sighed in lament, then let out a yawn.
That was already the tenth yawn he had let out this morning.
Hearing the sound, Hana looked up at Kaito, who had dark circles under his eyes, and asked with concern.
“You haven’t been sleeping much lately, have you?
Your condition is about the same as it was half a month ago.” “Is it?” Kaito held up his phone to check his reflection.
Not good.
He did look a bit pale, and the dark circles were very prominent.
But he really hadn’t been resting well lately.
Not only did he have to formulate daily training plans and do post-training reviews, but he also had to wake up before dawn every morning to make bento boxes for more than just one person…
“This won’t do.
I can’t drop dead from overwork like I did in my past life…” Kaito muttered under his breath, his eyelids unconsciously drooping shut.
Jingle, jingle.
Just then, the sliding door of the Staff Room was pulled open, causing the wind chimes hanging on it to ring, which also pulled Kaito’s consciousness back.
“Good morning, Onii-san!” Rice Shower had arrived.
Today, Rice Shower was wearing Tracen Academy’s standard black insulated winter uniform, with thermal tights on her legs.
She wore earmuffs on her horse ears, and her happily swishing tail, though left unprotected, had been treated with a special oil to prevent the cold from damaging its coat.
As for her face, as cute as ever, it wore a cheerful smile.
Ever since her victory in the Heather Stakes, Rice Shower had been a bit more confident than before.
She seemed able to chat with a few of her classmates now, and the same went for her training; overall, everything was heading in a positive direction.
“Oh, good morning, Rice Shower.
Are you not cold today?” “Yes, Rice Shower has taken proper measures to keep warm.” Rice Shower still carried that bag with her at all times, just in case of emergencies.
Just then, Kaito yawned again.
Seeing this, Rice Shower asked.
“Onii-san looks really tired.
Why don’t you rest first?
We can talk about Rice Shower’s matters later.” “It’s fine.
We have plenty of time to prepare before the New Year.” Kaito smiled and shook his head, then pulled a bag of cookies from his drawer and handed them to Rice Shower.
“There’s no lunch today since we aren’t training, but I prepared some snacks.” “Wow, thank you, Onii-san.” Rice Shower happily accepted them, opening her small lips to take small bites, then immediately cupped her face and sighed in delight.
“So delicious!” Kaito smiled smugly.
After that, Kaito had Rice Shower sit beside him and began to explain the purpose of bringing her to the Staff Room: choosing their next race.
“Our main goal is the G1 Satsuki Sho held in April next year.
The venue is Nakayama Racecourse, the distance is 2000 meters, and it’s a right-handed track.
Before that, we need to win one Graded Race.
There are three purposes for this.” “First, to accumulate enough popularity to enter the Satsuki Sho’s entry list.” “Second, to get used to the 2000-meter Nakayama track for the Satsuki Sho in advance.” “Third, to secure priority entry rights in the trial race, just in case we don’t have enough popularity to qualify.” After stating these three points, Kaito took out two sets of race information materials.
“There are two races that meet the conditions.” “The first is the G3 Keisei Hai, a 2000-meter race at Nakayama, held in the first half of January next year.” “The second is the G2 Yayoi Sho, also a 2000-meter race at Nakayama, held in the first half of March next year.
Our current popularity just barely meets the entry requirements.” “The difference is that as a Satsuki Sho trial race, the top three in the Yayoi Sho will receive priority entry to the Satsuki Sho regardless of their final popularity.
This is very important for us, since we’re lagging in popularity accumulation.” “Which one does Rice Shower want to choose?” After Kaito finished speaking, Rice Shower blinked her eyes before finally realizing what he meant.
“R-Rice Shower gets to choose?” “Of course.
This is a race that Rice Shower herself will be running in.” “Hmm…
But Rice Shower isn’t really sure.
Which one does Onii-san think is better to enter?” Kaito pondered for a moment before speaking.
“From a pragmatic perspective, choosing the Keisei Hai would be better.
The G3 race is less intense than a G2, giving us a better chance at a good placement.
Even if we lose, we can still enter a subsequent race in time to make up for popularity.
The Yayoi Sho is closer to the Satsuki Sho, so there wouldn’t be time to recover if we fail.” “But if our goal is to win the Classic circuit, we must defeat every opponent we face.
There’s no point in only choosing races with weaker competition.” “In comparison, the Yayoi Sho has stronger opponents, which will let us get used to the pace and pressure of the Satsuki Sho in advance.
Plus, there’s the advantage of priority entry…
If our goal is simply to take first place, the Yayoi Sho is the better choice.” “But that also means the difficulty will be much higher.
Is Rice Shower sure about her decision?” “Yes, Rice Shower wants to enter the Yayoi Sho!” Rice Shower nodded earnestly.
She had long since made up her mind to win the Classic circuit together with Onii-san, so she would absolutely no longer be afraid of facing strong enemies.
“I see.
Then let’s register for the Yayoi Sho.” Kaito also smiled and nodded.
Actually, there was another unmentioned benefit to entering the Yayoi Sho: it would give them much more time before the race to let Rice Shower build her foundation from scratch, whereas the Keisei Hai didn’t allow for adjustment time.
Previously, in order to win the Heather Stakes, the training mainly focused on improving speed, which was a bit like rushing things.
But now that the level of opponents had increased, Rice Shower’s Speed, Power, Guts, Wisdom, and even her strongest asset, Stamina, all needed to be carefully honed from the ground up.
This required a large block of free time for foundational training.
Choosing the Yayoi Sho would leave them with two months of training time.
As the saying goes, autumn makes horses plump, but winter makes them even plumper.
Kaito was confident that he could use this time to make Rice Shower’s abilities take a massive leap forward.
After confirming the goal for the next race, their conversation concluded, but there was still another matter to attend to.
Kaito rubbed his aching temples, then stood up and called for Rice Shower.
“Let’s go, Rice Shower.
We still need to go to Tachyon-san’s place to ask about the progress of that matter.” “Okay!”