On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[CuriousMan]

Spoiler: No Cap

Steady Distance - Kyori wa, mikata da.(Distance is on her side)

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Compared to some umamusume outfits, I think this one's pretty sensible and logical far what you might find in a racing environment.

 

[manatherindrell]

Similar to CinGray where we see Oguri with a young TM Opera, maybe we will get a cameo of a young Meno meeting with Shiro at a fan event

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Is that manga or anime? Please tell me it's manga, because if it's anime I have to start wondering how the hell I missed it every time.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Is that manga or anime? Please tell me it's manga, because if it's anime I have to start wondering how the hell I missed it every time.

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Manga, I actually think it's been posted here before.

There's a cute panel in Cinderella Grey where Oguri takes a picture with a young TM Opera O, I imagine Shiro does the same for Vodka. Which makes me wonder if Vodka's idea of cool gets influenced by Shiro beyond the choice of race?

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Oh, I posted it.

Also I'm just now realizing I forgot to draw Steady's tail. How does this always happen?

Compared to some umamusume outfits, I think this one's pretty sensible and logical far what you might find in a racing environment.

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Going off the postman theme Wrandm had laid out... Originally the idea was just to give her a puffy Union Line jacket over top a crop-top and skirt, but I get the feeling that Steady is too fashionable to settle for that. Also the navy blue and electric yellow combo is going to take some justifying from her end when Shiro eventually asks about it.

"This color combination is... by your own admission, quite garish."

"Er.. Well you see... Err... It's what my jockey wore!"

"What?"

"Huh?"

edit:

I assumed it's just behind the clothing in this shot.

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Let's just go with that.

 

[wtdtd]

Also I'm just now realizing I forgot to draw Steady's tail. How does this always happen?

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I assumed it's just behind the clothing in this shot.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

Once a horse secures their percentage based on where they finish, that specific payout is split using the 80/10/5/5 owner-trainer-jockey-staff breakdown outlined above."

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If anything, the Uma would be the Owner.

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Yeah the Uma would effectively be the owner in terms of cut, the trainer might get both the jockey and trainer cut.

Similar to CinGray where we see Oguri with a young TM Opera, maybe we will get a cameo of a young Meno meeting with Shiro at a fan event

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Not sure if the timeline works since horse Fenomeno was born in 2009, at which point Shiro would no longer be running. If there was an anime or manga for this theoretical umaverse, the Uma that is depicted as inspired by Shiro is probably Vodka because she runs in the Tokyo Derby as a mare.

Oh look. Here is a Shirogane! She's so factory fresh, she still has that plastic film on the dash! Everybody wants her.

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Shadai FarmsFamily: "That one! We need that one!"

Fuji Kiseki would probably be high on the list of studs they'd want to pair horse Shiro with. Also Silence Suzuka before he died, since it would be noted that the two horses seemed to be friends with each other.

We have six weeks between the Kikuka Sho and the Tokyo Daishoten. Practice time

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There's also the Stayer's Stake, where Shiro might look like Secretariat because the competition in the 1998 one isn't that strong. By the time she's done they're probably naming the race after her.

I see Shirogane being considered a legend in later years, by staying racing way past her generation and winning against younger and younger Umas every year.

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It's not like there won't be strong competition in the coming years, but Shiro could become a "Gatekeeper to Greatness" since runners who can beat her will probably make it big.

Or in the umamusume game verse, the meme is that "can the horse beat Shirogane once" is a determining question for will they be in the game.

Actually when I think about it a marathon would be great way to show case Shiro strengths. There might not be one in Japan but there could very well be in another part of the world.

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Shirogane at the 2000 Sydney Olympics sneaking past the follow along camera crew because she's going so fast for a marathon.

Why did she get a shiver when it was specifically not because of the temperature?

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She was thinking about running in these track conditions and not liking the idea.

Steady Distance - Kyori wa, mikata da.

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Very nice! The colors do look a little silly, but honestly not too out of place among Uma outfits. I guess it's a reference to her dad being a higher up in the postal service or something.

Minor correction, but the Kyodo News Service Hai (Kyodo Tsushin Hai) was (and still is) a G3.

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D'oh! Should be fixed now.

"This color combination is... by your own admission, quite garish."

"Er.. Well you see... Err... It's what my jockey wore!"

"What?"

"Huh?"

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"My trainer liked it…"

"Ah right, it does come down to that much of the time with you, doesn't it."

 

[Dopplerdee]

Shirogane at the 2000 Sydney Olympics sneaking past the follow along camera crew because she's going so fast for a marathon.

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It occurs to me that Marathon's are probs the only running event that humans can out preform Uma at to a degree... except for Shiro who is a monster who is both fine on asphalt/cement and also a persistence predator.

 

[Centergg]

There's also the Stayer's Stake, where Shiro might look like Secretariat because the competition in the 1998 one isn't that strong. By the time she's done they're probably naming the race after her.

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I have misread That as "Slayer's Stake" and thought what it would be Shirogane obtaining New nickname after the race

 

[arky4444]

We have six weeks between the Kikuka Sho and the Tokyo Daishoten. Practice time:

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There's also the Stayer's Stake, where Shiro might look like Secretariat because the competition in the 1998 one isn't that strong. By the time she's done they're probably naming the race after her.

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G2 Stayers Stakes (12/5/98, T3600m): 1st place, 64.73 million yen; it was raining that day too.

As much fun as it was to cook up a scenario where Shirogane just barely misses out on setting a new single-year JPN earnings record, it's more likely that she will set a new record, despite not running the Arima Kinen, simply out of sheer volume. I already had to heavily nerf her just to ensure that she stayed close to Narita Brian's earnings, simply because running both Triple sets + as many trial races as she can schedule is already overpowered for earnings.

If we take the same list of races that I listed out, change all of her losses to 2nd place instead of 3rd-5th, add the Japan Cup at 2nd place between El Condor Pasa and Air Groove (53.92 million) and Stayers Stakes at 1st place, then Shirogane will earn a jaw-dropping 1033.53 million yen (just shy of T.M.Opera O's record of 1036.00 million yen in 2000), with her 1998 race record being 29-10-19-0, career record 39-12-27-0.

 

[Kojiro Kakita]

Is that manga or anime? Please tell me it's manga, because if it's anime I have to start wondering how the hell I missed it every time.

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Manga

Not sure if the timeline works since horse Fenomeno was born in 2009, at which point Shiro would no longer be running. If there was an anime or manga for this theoretical umaverse, the Uma that is depicted as inspired by Shiro is probably Vodka because she runs in the Tokyo Derby as a mare

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Hmmm in that case, Shiro's killer instincts may inspire the 5th place Uma of the 2007 Derby.

 

[Tiypo]

It occurs to me that Marathon's are probs the only running event that humans can out preform Uma at to a degree... except for Shiro who is a monster who is both fine on asphalt/cement and also a persistence predator.

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A lot of people forget that, especially when it comes to Tracen uma, which are entirely Thoroughbreds (Shirogane being the exception) and have poor endurance in exchange for their speed.

Assuming most Trainers stay in very good shape, there's a nearby hill, and given a few minutes head start, there's a very good chance a Trainer could escape most of the trainees.

 

[Drageos]

Yeah the Uma would effectively be the owner in terms of cut, the trainer might get both the jockey and trainer cut.

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But then the question becomes how much money an Uma actually takes home after all of her expenses. Which depending on if the academy covers the food bill for its students and whether they just charge more in tuition as a result. A lot of that prize money might go to food bills among other things.

 

[Winged One]

Literally no male Umas so inbreeding would be harder.

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The racing families are nobility-coded, so they're likely putting in the effort to be inbred anyway.

 

[ScarletFox]

There's also the Stayer's Stake, where Shiro...

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...is finally visibly tired after a race ^_^.

I mean, every other race has all the leaders panting and falling over after finishing and they are half the length of Stayer's.
Shiro's comment on her win. "I shouldn't have run that 5k I usually do in the morning."

 

[Zweibach]

The preparations for moving to a boarding school in Tokyo had proceeded more smoothly than Shirogane had expected, in large part because the scholarship she had managed to win included lodgings at an apartment near the school, which came with some discounted furniture. While the school had two dormitories on campus (they had a frankly absurd amount of facilities for a campus in Tokyo), by this point most of the slots had already been filled up.

Having a family restaurant also meant that they had a fair amount of spare kitchenware lying around so it was rather trivial to pack a set. Toujou-san had pointed out that every Tracen student, regardless of housing situation, would have access to the cafeteria, but it wouldn't hurt. She was also not one to fill her space with many decorations or useless things, so packing had not been terribly difficult.

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It was rather interesting how the meal plan was included in the tuition intrinsically, without any scaling based on consumption rate. Perhaps she could take cafeteria food out to eat later?

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Cafeteria food is covered by tuition and Shiro's is covered by her scholarship.

 

[JoHu]

I don't remember where I saw it or if it was in a story or a comment, but it said that the umas who have already competed keep going to school because, at first, they focus on their sports careers and their studies take a back seat—otherwise, they'd be overwhelmed by having to study and train at the same time. So, the umas who finish their sports careers go back to school, and that's why the UMAs who are of legal age keep going to Tracen I don't know how feasible that is, but I liked that idea.

 

[Critian Caceorte]

Not sure if the timeline works since horse Fenomeno was born in 2009, at which point Shiro would no longer be running. If there was an anime or manga for this theoretical umaverse, the Uma that is depicted as inspired by Shiro is probably Vodka because she runs in the Tokyo Derby as a mare.

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Wait, why would the IRL timeline even matter in this case? Opera O ran almost a decade after Oguri retired, yet (granted, it's never explicitly STATED that the young Uma Oguri inspired is Opera) CinGrey's manga has that scene regardless. The reason why people think it's Opera that got inspired is because the "Oguri Cap Rule" of getting in past the registration date of the Classics by paying extra is what allowed Opera to compete at all in her classic year.

In this instance, I'm not sure what's exactly wrong with Feno being inspired, though admittedly I'm unsure as to why specifically others said it would be her. I'm just objecting to the reason for the rejection here, not the result.

 

[Tonyloco]

G2 Stayers Stakes (12/5/98, T3600m): 1st place, 64.73 million yen; it was raining that day too.

As much fun as it was to cook up a scenario where Shirogane just barely misses out on setting a new single-year JPN earnings record, it's more likely that she will set a new record, despite not running the Arima Kinen, simply out of sheer volume. I already had to heavily nerf her just to ensure that she stayed close to Narita Brian's earnings, simply because running both Triple sets + as many trial races as she can schedule is already overpowered for earnings.

If we take the same list of races that I listed out, change all of her losses to 2nd place instead of 3rd-5th, add the Japan Cup at 2nd place between El Condor Pasa and Air Groove (53.92 million) and Stayers Stakes at 1st place, then Shirogane will earn a jaw-dropping 1033.53 million yen (just shy of T.M.Opera O's record of 1036.00 million yen in 2000), with her 1998 race record being 29-10-19-0, career record 39-12-27-0.

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I can easily imagine Shirogane creating some kind of Pro Uma's charity in her later years with so much money to spend.

Im not sure how well or bad charities and similar institutions are in their world but she always seemed to have a soft spot for kids, so creating a charity or something similar for young kids/umas would be a good way to spend her money (and avoid paying taxes by too)

I it could be helping poor kids in many ways perhaps orphanages, or money for school, or even food, medical treatment or similar charities.

Since I'm sure she's going to make it big with her Restaurant or any other business she creates after she retires or even while she takes it easy with her races (doing only half of her yearly races to the relief of all her opponents) in her later years.

That's my head cannon on how she would keep herself busy in the future.

 

[Impstar]

Shiro's comment on her win. "I shouldn't have run that 5k I usually do in the morning."

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I get the joke, but she only does light warmups on racing days (actually light, not "exhausts anyone but Shiro" light, as far as I can tell).

 

[Kojiro Kakita]

Wait, why would the IRL timeline even matter in this case? Opera O ran almost a decade after Oguri retired, yet (granted, it's never explicitly STATED that the young Uma Oguri inspired is Opera) CinGrey's manga has that scene regardless. The reason why people think it's Opera that got inspired is because the "Oguri Cap Rule" of getting in past the registration date of the Classics by paying extra is what allowed Opera to compete at all in her classic year.

In this instance, I'm not sure what's exactly wrong with Feno being inspired, though admittedly I'm unsure as to why specifically others said it would be her. I'm just objecting to the reason for the rejection here, not the result.

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Because if the year in story is 1997-98 then Feno presuming she would be of High school age in 2012, would be like 1-3 years old in 98.

Opera O would have been 5-7 in that scene if we go by years.

Which is why I am now thinking it makes sense for Dream Journey since she would be 7 or 8 in 98.

 

[Impstar]

Wait, why would the IRL timeline even matter in this case? Opera O ran almost a decade after Oguri retired, yet (granted, it's never explicitly STATED that the young Uma Oguri inspired is Opera) CinGrey's manga has that scene regardless. The reason why people think it's Opera that got inspired is because the "Oguri Cap Rule" of getting in past the registration date of the Classics by paying extra is what allowed Opera to compete at all in her classic year.

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Because Waffles has been actually paying attention to the IRL timeline in his story instead of channeling the kind of weird temporal limbo of canon where everyone is basically around at the same time.

Edit: I guess being possibly retired is not necessarily a reason against being inspired by someone.

 

[Kojiro Kakita]

Because Waffles has been actually paying attention to the IRL timeline in his story instead of channeling the kind of weird temporal limbo of canon where everyone is basically around at the same time.

Edit: I guess being possibly retired is not necessarily a reason against being inspired by someone.

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Since I was the one that suggest Meno at first before Waffle pointed out the time problem, I am now imaging the killling intent Dream Journey would have after being inspired by Shiro

 

[Drageos]

Cafeteria food is covered by tuition and Shiro's is covered by her scholarship.

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So it translates into tuition cost then.

Which is then paid for by scholarships or other things.

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Here comes the part two of the chapter commentary.

While Fuji Kiseki enjoyed her job as a dorm leader, there were times even someone as gregarious as her could use some time away from all the ruckus that Tracen Academy could bring, and so this off day found her at her brother's (half brother) house back in Fuji, the city they had both been born in.

His house was comfortable, especially for a bachelor mostly living alone, and it was rather understated, despite his notable fame, so it was a pretty good place to crash when you didn't want to get any unwanted attention.

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Oho. So Fuji's brother is famous. Wonder what kind of fame he has. I mean he isn't an uma so its one thing he's not.

Sometimes its just too much with all the tomfoolery that Tracen students get up to so its nice to have some timeout.

A sigh escaped from her and she slumped deeper into the couch, again reminded of her last race. It had been a memorable one, both in how she had won, and how crushing the injury diagnosis had been after the high of qualifying for the Triple Crown races.

She'd never know what it really felt like to challenge the Triple Crown.

It was hard not to get swept up in what-ifs. That was one of the reasons she agreed to be a dorm leader; seeing all the younger ponies running around kept her busy and her mind off of things, and gave her a chance to keep herself in shape without straining her legs too much.

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Looks like she's living into others a little bit. Not quite a like a grandmother but still someone of the older generation living thorough others. Even if its a little bit.

Ouch. Her last race was something like a from the peak of high emotions to despair.

"Doesn't that mean they're more likely to hurt themselves?"

Fuji grimaced, ears drooping slightly as she had to concede that point. "Yeah…that's a bit of a problem, but Hishi is better at scaring people straight for that kind of thing. I'm better at talking 'em down when they get mad or talking them up if they're low." She shrugged. "That's also better left to the trainers and adults, you know, while I'm the one they come to for stuff they are more afraid to bring up to more grown up people."

"You are an adult."

"Gah! Don't hurt me like that Kisuke!"

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Lol. It really feel that Fuji's hurt at being called an adult feels like an coping mechanics when she didn't get to do her whole racing career. So now she's living a bit thorough others of her students. Seeing herself a bit in the middle between a student and an adult despite it not being the case.

"I still don't understand why Tracen likes having some of its staff pretend to be students, but I've learned not to question it," he shot back, leaning back against the couch and putting his hands behind his head. "And let me guess, your mom is asking about when you're getting hitched?"

"Yeah…" Fuji let out a sigh, shooting her brother a sympathetic look. "You too, huh?"

"Every time we talk," Kisuke grumbled, staring off into space vaguely in the direction of the television. "It's like she thinks it'll be easy."

"I don't think you'll have any problems finding a girl," Fuji offered consolingly. "I mean, you got our good looks, and your name's pretty big nowadays too."

"That attracts the poisonous ones too, you know." He glanced back at her with a nonplussed look. "You obviously know, since you mostly stay in a place where you aren't getting hounded by suitors."

"Ehehe, guilty as charged." And she probably had it easier than Kisuke, as people mostly wouldn't be too upset if she kicked someone who was getting a bit too creepy, while he didn't have that luxury. "It's a nice side benefit of my job, but not the main reason I do it."

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Tracen probably has it like that because it makes so that some can approach the adult figure while others prefers to approach the half adults. It works too.

Alright so he's a big hit. Not just famous but a good one too. Wonder what he's doing. Is he a trainer perhaps.

Good that she's aware of the suitors and one of the reasons she stays there. It looks to be pretty messy with serious racer families with this.

"Speaking of which, I hear that one of Tracen's fillies is planning on running the Triple Crown races."

"Oh? Do we have another Kurifuji in the works? I'm sure I would have heard about that."

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So Shiro didn't sign up for all the qualifiers of the sextuple races? Maybe they think its not real or they just don't see it until she's at the track.

Like that they are bulding up hype for Shiro. Though they are building up hype for every uma including her.

"Wait…am I reading this right? Her record is fourteen-four-ten-zero?! She's run four races this year already?!"

"That's a lot, right? You only ended up running four, and people thought you were a pretty big deal."

Fuji winced. "Four is a bit short for a career, but yeah, Shiro-chan is very determined." Her durability was something to be envied.

"She's quite a good stayer, from the looks of it, so perhaps she would have a chance at the Kikuka Sho, if she can get that far."

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Rofl! I like things like this. It points out that her stamina and her recovery is ridiculous. That its not just something said but felt. I did need to ask about it so I think it would be nice to have some sort of when this is happening. Like I know from OPs reply that this is from February but otherwise I wouldn't know at all.

I don't think Kisuku is a trainer when he didn't know that. Perhaps a model, doctor or a lawyer.

Fuji knows how ridiculous her legs are lol.

"Oh yeah…I don't really follow that either, so I didn't really know." Kisuke sat still for a moment, his train of thought derailed for a moment. "You know, my mom was wondering if you had a boyfriend or a husband."

"What?!" Fuji sputtered, spinning to face him. "Why would she care about that?!"

"Beats me," her half-brother shrugged, holding his hands up disarmingly. "Guess she really wants grandchildren."

"How does that make any sense?" If Fuji had kids, they wouldn't even be related to her!

"I don't see how either, but the immediate follow up was about whether I could ask you about whether any of your school brats would make a good wife." From the look on his face, Kisuke had not enjoyed that conversation. Fuji certainly wouldn't have.

"There's some umas in my dorm who would probably make good moms, but I'm not gonna tell her that." Some people really got too fixated on matchmaking. "My dorm ponies aren't little foals anymore, but people really ought to remember that they get the final say in any talks of love."

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Its the babies syndrome. Everyone wants babies. Also that I get a feel that his mother lives through her kids or younger family members. Careful Fuji! This is what you might do when you get older!

"Don't think there was really much love in what she was talking about."

"You would know better than me, but it sure doesn't sound like it."

They didn't usually talk about their family situation, because it was a bit…weird, like it often was in families that had a serious tradition of uma racing.

Sometimes it was unavoidable.

Kisuke sighed, sinking back into the couch and staring off into space. "Maybe I should actually give dating a go, before my parents decide to try and arrange something." He shook his head, before turning back to Fuji. "They'll probably start bugging you even more when that happens though."

"I guess there's no helping it." While she wasn't getting the urge to have kids many uma her age got (possibly because she already had to manage a herd of juniors), she wasn't the Prez, and thus didn't have the same amount of clout that would let her get away with just staying as she was. "Dang it…and I hardly have any time to myself with my job to begin with!"

"Really, how do they expect us to date when we're so busy anyways?"

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Oww. No love in it. It doesn't feel pleasant at all. I mean I get It when racing families have a lot of pressure on bloodlines and get both money and prestige each generation. Their 'face' needs to be pristine too. They can't downscale their operations.

I do think that her inner monologue about her already having a herd of younglings might take the allure of having kids away has some weight.

Is the school president a job at the school or is it a student that has agreed to stay longer as a student? I got the feeling it was the latter but her comment about it feels like its the former. Also it feels like the prez for Tracen is not very prestigious compared to do something else. I mean; yes, its prestigious in it self but its in the end a dead end. You can't move upwards from it to something else.

"Regardless, at minimum two of us will fail to qualify for the Triple Crown classic," Shirogane observed drily, expanding on Sky's comment, "assuming the top three placements would come from among us." She was the fifth favorite.

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Ever the realist Shiro is.

"No hard feelings right?" Grass Wonder asked impishly, smiling behind her hand. "I would hate for this to come between our friendship."

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I do think that Grass only is smiling because its unlikely she will be one of the ones that loses.

"Me neither!" Special Week declared eagerly, hopping up and down in excitement. "I've beaten all of you before during practice and I can do it again!"

"We've all won at practice before, Special Week-san." Shirogane saw no need to mention how her own victories had almost always come when the others were exhausted. "But I suppose we shall see soon enough."

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But Shiro is ever graceful in minds to others in strange situations like this. She has no qualms over calling others mud wrestlers but is also mindful of others. Nice nice!

Thanks for the chapter. Cheers!