On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[WrandmWaffles]

What the rival umas see when Shiro and her OG Crew arrive at the racetrack:

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To be fair, the Ice Cream sisters are not going to be body builder bulky, since they aren't actually show or competition umas, but they are about that tall and would be quite muscular since they are laborers, even if it isn't super heavy duty. Their mother, on the other hand, is quite amazonian looking, since her job basically has her working as a more precise forklift. It still does look quite funny when the hang out with Shirogane, since they all defer to her as big sister despite the size difference.

Draft-Uma tending to be gentle giants and looking to Shiro for leadership, in part due to the sheer aura of a Destrier-Uma and her natural body language/disposition… well Shiro standing in front of an entire mob of Uma 1.5x her height and quadruple her mass, it's a surprisingly believable picture.

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Shiro accidentally collected a fair number of uma minions throughout her school life, in large part because she brings food, though her always being calm and in control of herself also played a big part. And yes, most of them would be taller than her.

 

[Lyrista]

A reliable and steady friend who brings you delicious food? Yep that's quick friendship with plenty of Umas who frequently have big appetites.

 

[MARch Of Time]

Shiro accidentally collected a fair number of uma minions throughout her school life, in large part because she brings food,

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Her dastardly evil advertisement plan for her family restaurant worked even better than intended! The next generation of hungry, high-value customer-uma all across the city will already have acquired a taste and craving for her polish cuisine! Her retirement managing the restaurant will be secure!

Now she just needs a sash or banner with her family restaurant logo/name when she does a winning live, and the shamelessness will be complete!

 

[Anon3900]

If Shiro introduces the idea of sponsors to uniforms she deserves the villain label 100%. Think of the artistry and expression that would suffer because of her… Quick, someone tell Grass Wonder that Shiro is destroying a Japanese tradition! She must be stopped!

 

[Aigloss]

Now she just needs a sash or banner with her family restaurant logo/name when she does a winning live, and the shamelessness will be complete!

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Being seen eating from a bento with her family restaurant logo is much more tasteful.

 

[MARch Of Time]

Being seen eating from a bento with her family restaurant logo is much more tasteful.

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Maybe she just needs to run bento deliveries up and down a local mountain with roller-blades, in the dark, with her eyes closed and using only her ears, coincidentally out-pacing and passing a bunch of amateur gangs of motorsport uma-drifters (wearing motorized boots/skates)?

The event becomes such an inspiring pop culture icon in the local town, that they make an anime about it in umaland, calling it Umitial D or Orzitial D!
Because hey, Shirogane Orzel... really is... Running in the 90s!

 

[FanonDummyD]

I was lurking in the comments reading some cool ideas and it got thinking of a very Bad breakdown for Shirogane if she ever gets to have one which I hope she doesn't; where she sputters out nonsense but bits and pieces were intelligible enough to get people concerned. Something like "I have to repay them", "they did everything to give me a good life", "last time I was an orphan during the war", "I had to kill even when I didn't want to", "I was a good soldier" and so on, some really disturbing shit to hear from a child however there shouldn't be anything regarding about magic cause that would be a bit much at least for me.

This could happen in ten faculty after some kind of scandal or at home after a being X fakeout freight, if it happens in the faculty a trainer could have it record it and show to the family, idk this is as far as I got to before commenting.

 

[Impstar]

I was lurking in the comments reading some cool ideas and it got thinking of a very Bad breakdown for Shirogane if she ever gets to have one which I hope she doesn't; where she sputters out nonsense but bits and pieces were intelligible enough to get people concerned. Something like "I have to repay them", "they did everything to give me a good life", "last time I was an orphan during the war", "I had to kill even when I didn't want to", "I was a good soldier" and so on, some really disturbing shit to hear from a child however there shouldn't be anything regarding about magic cause that would be a bit much at least for me.

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In chapter 1 there was speculation that she remembered some things from a past life or at least impressions of one, so there would be a slight explanation for it.

This could happen in ten faculty after some kind of scandal or at home after a being X fakeout freight, if it happens in the faculty a trainer could have it record it and show to the family, idk this is as far as I got to before commenting.

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Shiro is incredibly composed, I can't see a situation where she'd slip up that badly. Even if she got upset I don't think it'd come to her saying that stuff out loud. Especially since while she's definitely affected by her experiences at war I wouldn't necessarily call her traumatized either; the distance of a new life, a new brain, and time has made it so she's not really suffering from PTSD per say even if there are some lingering instincts.

 

[PinkShadowReader]

the distance of a new life, a new brain, and time has made it so she's not really suffering from PTSD per say even if there are some lingering instincts.

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*Lifts an index finger.* Ehem.

"Runners ready?!" Came Rudolf's authoritative voice, barking like an announcer, or a field commander. A useful trait for her position.

Both of them gave an affirmative, crouching slightly in preparation, watching for when the gates would open–

Bang!

CRUNCH!

"Wah?!"

Shirogane blinked, finding herself turned around and her fist smashed through the speaker that had played the starting…gun noise.

Oh.

"Well, that is one kind of jumping the gun I haven't seen before," Rudolf remarked.

"Ehem." Air Groove coughed into her fist, trying to pretend she hadn't just let out a rather undignified sound. "That is a stronger reaction than I have seen in a while."

"My apologies," Shirogane grunted, extracted her hand from the ruined speaker. "I should have recognized the gunshot was fake."

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Not to dismiss what you said... but there are some strong instincts.

 

[Impstar]

*Lifts an index finger.* Ehem.

Not to dismiss what you said... but there are some strong instincts.

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Those seem to be as much from the "breed" of umamusume she is as trauma from a past life.

I'm judging her by her overall behavior in the story, not a single jumpscare instance. Throughout the story she has periodically had the urge to inflict violence but it was never framed in a way that made me think it's because she's PTSD'd from a past life.

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Those seem to be as much from the "breed" of umamusume she is as trauma from a past life.

I'm judging her by her overall behavior in the story, not a single jumpscare instance. Throughout the story she has periodically had the urge to inflict violence but it was never framed in a way that made me think it's because she's PTSD'd from a past life.

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I suppose you are right. Its hard for me to see the difference between between it because she has always been aware of others around so that's why she hasn't been jumpscared. That's why she reacted so strongly when the pistol went off in my quote. It wasn't something she expected to hear.

 

[Solconbur]

I suppose you are right. Its hard for me to see the difference between between it because she has always been aware of others around so that's why she hasn't been jumpscared. That's why she reacted so strongly when the pistol went off in my quote. It wasn't something she expected to hear.

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About 35 years of Horse Reincarnation Therapy managed to calm down most of the PTSD instincts, one might say.

 

[darconor]

So, I was watching videos from youtube and this video appeared in my feed, it's about how much the umas should be earning in their careers, basically?, it should be at minimum, the equivalent to a professional Football/Soccer player's salary, without adding more things leik merch or sponsorships.

Just for the record, it's in spanish, you will have to use subtitles.

Spoiler

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TgUyQMNTbV4&pp=ygUaY3VhbnRvIGdhbmFuIGxhcyB1bWFtdXN1bWU%3D

 

[FanonDummyD]

Hmmm your right, this Tanya doesn't have what other fics have, that innate level of paranoia with a spoon full of crazy, this Tanya who is now Shirogane is alot more well put together due to having a great family and I hope this doesn't change.

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Hmmm your right, this Tanya doesn't have what other fics have, that innate level of paranoia with a spoon full of crazy, this Tanya who is now Shirogane is alot more well put together due to having a great family and I hope this doesn't change.

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Its crazy what a loving family, wonderful upbringing, safe environment and something bright to look forward to means for a reincarnator with so many traumatic experiences.

 

[JoHu]

When will a new episode come out? I need to see Tanya get excited during a race, and even more than that, I need to see people's reactions; of course, it has to happen at a major race so it makes the news, haha. I really like this story, and it's a shame there aren't more Uma Musume novels.

 

[Impstar]

This story is in my opinion the best umamusume fanfic out there (that I've read) because of just how in depth it explores how umamusume might really integrate into the real world. Most fanfiction just kind of operate on the game's and anime's logic, where it's really just don't think too hard about it. This story tries to find justifications and while altering the timeline and umas present to make sense isn't unique to this story it is still unusual.

Also, just well written.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

When will a new episode come out?

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Maybe towards the end of this week or next week. I'm something like 3k words into it. Depends on how long it takes to get everything hashed out.

 

[Kojiro Kakita]

After watching this past week's Kikka Sho and the glory that was King Glory, I am saddened that our Silver Eagle, while a front runner is not a Runaway Front

 

[Stracio]

After watching this past week's Kikka Sho and the glory that was King Glory, I am saddened that our Silver Eagle, while a front runner is not a Runaway Front

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Oh Shirogane's a Runaway alright. Her top speed is just too slow atm to be able to create a super huge lead early and everyone behind her will see what she's doing.

In races where there's another Front, so far she ends up intimidating them that forces them to either survive her Frenzy (to borrow a term from Magiderby) while running at a much higher pace than they planned to or gas out much like how a duel between two Runaways ends up with one or both gassing out—except Shirogane never gasses out.

Though hilariously enough Shirogane actually has a better aptitude on Dirt since her slow top speed on Turf is super competitive on Dirt.

 

[MARch Of Time]

Here, an omake for the meantime.
Is this an effortborne shitpost? Neigh.
There were so many puns I had to refrain from using, way too many for an Omake where Symboli Rudolf doesn't appear. Maybe next time. Just one or two were allowed

---

OMAKE:
Winning Lives Aren't What They Used to Be
Shirogane Orzel learns from the archives of her predecessors​

---

(Some time after Seeking the Pearl's visit with Shirogane in the Tracen Library, Ch 17, Setting The Pace, recap) :

​

Seeking the Pearl hopped up to her feet again, doing another spin for no adequately expressed reason, pulling her sunglasses down to cover her eyes. "See, I've been to a bunch of different places, so you could say I'm Miss Worldwide, capiche?" She pointed at Shirogane with both index fingers, hands curled to resemble guns, which made Shirogane twitch before she tamped down the urge to bash someone's face in.

"I don't know what that means."

"Look, you already stand out a bit, and if you wanna catch enough attention to get into the Triple Tiara circuit, you've got to stand out magnificently."

----------------------------------------------------


Once again, Shirogane found herself in Tracen Academy's library, reviewing the many race records and archives for old Winning Lives.

Seeking the Pearl's advice lingered in the back of her mind all the while, as various options for her own potential performances brewed in her imagination. The Yushun Himba Winning Lives had records quite a far ways back, and as time steadily passed, it seemed the culture and atmosphere of the performances could diverge quite widely in tone, energy, and presentation.

Seeking the Pearl's own strategy for over-the-top, flamboyant flaunting of her foreign looks and, sigh, 'dazzling' personality, had certainly helped her stand out, but with the amount of foreign students in Shirogane's own year, it seemed like something similar for herself would not be enough.

She'd thought before that using Polish ambiance or music records for her performances could be a useful way to indirectly or tactfully bring up her family's restaurant, but… well, that too could be a long shot.

The ideas kept mulling around in the back of her mind as Shirogane leaned back into an armchair of the library's archival footage room, but everything refused to coalesce into a proper plan just yet.

She pondered the lists of races which accommodated special performances, and in particular the ones with more lax restrictions on content or theme, above all scouting them for one she'd even be likely to win.

It wouldn't do to bring up any sort of plan to her Trainer without at least having done this much preparation and groundwork. Any proposal would be much more likely to be accepted if she ironed out most of the details and options with their costs and benefits ahead of time.

The allure of a stage was… not particularly enticing, Shirogane would admit, but it was a strong opportunity to build recognition, or brand awareness, and possibly support her family's business. Those alone were reason enough to make the effort, but the prize pool was perhaps the most tempting.

With a muted sigh and resolve to get back to work, Shirogane stretched out her arms above her head and leaned back to select another Winning Live record from the collection she'd prepared for research.

The label on the box read 22 May 1983: Yushun Himba, Dyna Carle.

Someone had sketched little stars in now-faded black marker around the title, and underlined it with the phrase 'One to remember' followed by a winking face with the autographed initials 'N.D.'

It had caught Shirogane's attention among the rows and stacks of more recent recordings, as it was quite a bit older but looked relatively well used. In her mind, that likely meant that despite its age, the record held potentially useful insights, despite being the better part of a decade and a half out of fashion compared to the Winning Lives of 1997.

Without further ado, the copy and colorized VHS tape version of a separate, original tape reel was slotted into Tracen's state-of-the-art VCR, and Shirogane placed her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in one hand, settling in to scrutinize the successes and triumphs of her predecessors.

If she could apply the lessons already learned in the past, probably now long forgotten by Shirogane's generation, who could say what advantages she might be able to leverage over her contemporaries?

How did those older performances capture an audience's fascination? What were areas that they substituted their weaknesses for strengths instead? What made them stand out above their competitors, to the extent that legends and epithets formed around them for the rest of their lives and long after retiring? In short, what were their Branding tactics.

Seeking the Pearl would call her phrasing there 'uncute', but that was simply how Shirogane saw it.

As the first few minutes of the recording rolled by, chiefly stage setup and stagehands tuning equipment, along with inserted slides detailing the rudimentary statistics of the various participants from the 1983 Classic Year at the time, Shirogane considered Winning Lives as a concept once more.

From this recording alone compared to the newer ones she'd watched, it was already apparent how the concerts had grown more polished and refined, more professional, over the years. All the same, it could be said that there was a certain appealing authenticity to these more... earnest and in-the-moment performances, rather than something more brutally commercialized.

Shirogane knew she wasn't the most expressive, and her dance and singing instructors had long vacillated about her smile, her eyes, her intonation. Authenticity for her, they'd said, was not going to appeal well to a modern audience. But was there a way to use that? To work around it? If something else more instinctive to her or conducive to her talents would work, perhaps she could adjust the typical Winning Live paradigm a little.

Something more… instinctive?

Shirogane stroked her chin slowly and hummed to herself.

She recalled the raw instinct to bash someone's face in when Seeking the Pearl pointed her 'finger-guns' at Shirogane, and how 'authentic' and 'from the heart' the impulse had been. Her instructors had constantly espoused such platitudes in one form or another throughout their many unsuccessful attempts to give her a 'passing grade' for her performances training. Could there… be something there?

Obviously, Shirogane was well used to suppressing and dismissing any such relics of her body's heritage and instincts, but did her reaction show on her face? Surely, she could at least manage an 'intense' expression over a 'creepy' one, no?

Shirogane shook it from her mind as the recording finally brightened with stage lights, illuminating the… group of fillies(?) with live instruments standing center-stage, with the typical racing contestants as dancers flanking both sides? The band consisted of three guitarists of one sort or another, the footage being somewhat too grainy to tell at this zoom level, and a full drum set placed behind one uma holding a microphone stand.

Her focus returned in full, and Shirogane leaned in intently. A Winning Live that so thoroughly bucked the usual trend was worth closely analyzing.

Why was that thought so amusing..? Well, it was beside the point.

An announcer full of enthusiasm cried out, "Please welcome our special guests, here from around the world to support their young cousin and winner of 1983 Yunshun Himba, Dynaaaa~ Carle!! Here they are: Northern Dancer and the rocking 'Def Lyphard~!!"

Five slightly older Uma, all with deep shades of brown hair and wild white strands in their bangs, as well as… notably prodigious figures, raised a fist in unison to the absolute roaring of the crowd. Each wore reflective black clothing in various ensembles with red, white, and blue accents, but all wore long black patterned skirts with their band's name decal'd diagonally across and a slit running down one side. One even had a scarlet beret?

It was very… true-to-the-times attire. It would be rude to call it 'dated', but that's what came to mind the moment Shirogane saw it.

Front and center, blasted into sharp relief with spotlights, stood the winner herself, one Dyna Carle it would seem, also holding a microphone and striking a pose with one arm reaching toward the light above.

Her own hair was lustrous and long, practically glimmering in the light, but she had the most pronounced white streak running all the way, straight down the middle of her whole length. In the glowing stage lamps, it flashed like lightning when the light caught it right, and reflected in the black leather of her jacket, worn loose atop a sleeveless shirt depicting the Union Jack flag.

Why the flag of the United Kingdom, Shirogane had little clue, as by all accounts Dyna Carle was Japanese if she won the Yunshun Himba in 1983, but it wasn't as if her own classmates were any different. An American wearing a Japanese schoolgirl's uniform could hardly be called better...

Regardless, the outfit emphasized her figure and defiant pose quite flatteringly, especially when the other vocalist, Northern Dancer if Shirogane understood the introduction correctly, strutted forward wearing a similar black leather getup and a frayed white scarf, then leaned back-to-back with Dyna Carle while the two made matching 'peace' signs with their free hands.

Shirogane felt her already alert ears straighten even more stiffly as the metallic echo of an electric guitar plugged into an amplifier wafted across the stage, followed by a hanging silence that crashed into motion with a synchronized growling guitar hook and a slamming thud of a kickdrum and snare.

This was not the typical idol anthem.

"I'm out of luck, out of love~! Got a photograph~ picture of~"

The dancers to each side moved with the rhythm, emoting the feel of the lyrics with their body language in the way that Shirogane's instructors clearly intended for her, before they broke down into all but tearfully begging her to.

The second and third place runners danced closest to the band on either side flanking Northern Dancer and Dyna Carle. The runner up had light pink hair and an enthused smile, while the bronze placer with deep black hair was practically flushed with excitement. Both were clearly eyeing the band and Dyna Carle in the corners of their vision while the two lead vocalists leaned into each other and bellowed out the lyrics in a duet.

Their voices sounded so similar it was almost unreal, making the hairs on Shirogane's neck stand and brought the sensation of prickling across her skin there, but together they resonated with strong harmony.

In a sharp movement, Dyna Carle turned to sing directly at the bronze placer and winked, pointing with her free hand.

"Passion Killer, you're too much~! You're the only one~ I wanna touch~"

The crowd swelled in volume with the act, reflected in how... clearly delighted the target of the lyrics seemed. Hmm.

Passion Killer? Was that the other racer's name? Wait, was this song about another Uma… how did they even get permission for any of this, was it a custom song? Was Dyna Carle such a shoo-in for winning that they had prepared all of this ahead of time?

In a moment Shirogane gained a sudden calm, realizing that it had happened in 1983. This being the 80s, suddenly everything was believable.

The rest of the racers dancing in support rose their voices as one for a chorus, each swinging an arm in a slow pan to point toward the center-stage while their other hands rested on their cocked hips.

""I see your face every time I dream~ On every page, every magazine~ So wild so free, so far from me~""

All while Northern Dancer and Dyna Carle matched their gazes with the camera directly in front and sung to it.

"You're all I want, my fantasy~!"

Shirogane was only beginning to process what she was seeing. This was so far outside of what anyone had done recently that it was either useless for her purposes… or exactly the flavor of inspiration she needed.

The song went on and it became increasingly clear that there was… something going on between the three placers of this race. Were they close friends, perhaps even… roommates at their school? Well it was all over a decade ago now, maybe she'd have to track down those names and see what they had gotten up to after retiring.

"Photograph~ All I've~ got is your photograph~ You've gone straight to my heaaaaaaaad~!"

Shirogane was shaken out of her stupor-like state of stunned musing when another verse transitioned into a chorus, ending with Northern Dancer taking Dyna Carle's microphone with a smile while another band member tossed a guitar toward the first place winner, who caught it as the long last syllable faded.

The silver and bronze placers swept up close to each other, arms clasped and spinning around their locked elbows, momentarily obscuring the center view, some fancy footwork sending them spinning away from each other just as Dyna Carle slid forward on her knees between them both, just… absolutely going to town for a shredding guitar solo.

The crowded roared so loud that the recording started to scratch.

That, Shirogane had to admit, would be exceedingly hard to forget. And it stood out from anything she had ever seen for a Winning Live. Just what were they up to in the 80s in this world? She'd been too young a child to have much memory of anything before 1988, let alone popular media from a few years before she was even born.

As the last notes of the solo squealed out, Northern Dancer underhanded the second microphone stand high up into the air, slowly spinning end over end while the whole ensemble sung out the chorus one more time, the deep scoring voice of Northern Dancer edging into a gravelly, plaintive serenade.

"I don't want your~ Photograph~! I don't need your~ Photograph~! All I've got is a photograph~!"

With the final word, the guitars fell silent with a great crash of the drums.

Dyna Carle had raised her own guitar over her head and smashed it into the stage with the final drum beat, punctuating the beat with a metallic shriek and wooden shattering, all while leaning back from where she rested still on her knees, and extending her other hand up to catch the second microphone stand, upside down, microphone toward her mouth just before it could hit her in the head.

As soon as she caught it, stopping it dead, she bust out a single line while staring at her two fellow placers. All three clearly exhilarated, flushed, breathing heavily, and words clearly from the heart-

"I wanna touch you!"

A single instant of silence lingered while the uma centered on the stage shared radiant smiles.

Shirogane felt her eyebrows had long since risen all the way to their maximum, but she had to admit, the theatrics and energy of it had gotten her blood pumping a few pulses faster. Athleticism, acrobatics, musical skills, choreography, tension between the main actors, a stunning instrumental solo, shocking destruction, powerful voice. It was a performance, truly the essence of the word.

The drums kicked back in for one final ramp up along with short bursts from the (remaining) guitars, ascending in volume and melody, while Dyna Carle, still leaning back with her face to the sky, slowly stood up with her back fully arched, inhaling a breath so large her chest visibly swelled out to the max.

She roared out with her whole body, full of ferocious triumph, every limb shivering with the tension and energy held within.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH~~ AAHHAAAAAHHAAAA~~~ OOOHHHHHH~ "


The crowd jumped and bounced with the sound of a winner's roar so loud it shook the stage, arms to the air and cheering the victor in her full-bodied elation, who had thrust her free hand to the sky, forefinger raised alone as if to say… she was first, number one.

The concert faded out with a few more drifting chorus outros from the backup vocalists, Northern Dancer tossing her microphone aside to hug Dyna Carle to her chest, while the two other placers hugged either side.

The recording ended shortly after with the familiar clacking halt of the tape reaching its end.

Shirogane just leaned back into her armchair and tilted her own gaze toward the ceiling, trying to process her impressions. She had never felt even close to the passion that Dyna Carle clearly displayed for racing, or at least in that moment with her fellow placers.

She sat there for a time, simply thinking over how memorable the performance was compared to the usual fare. There was little chance Shirogane would be able to put on a similarly powerful performance, not least because of regulations, but simply because she didn't feel she had that kind of energy for what was, to her, a moderately pleasant high school occupation.

But….

But, there were still lessons to take from something like that.

Her idle attempts to concentrate and refocus led her to reading the little pamphlet inside of the recording's box, once again autographed 'N.D.' - Northern Dancer, Shirogane now surmised, lead vocalist for the multinational band 'Def Lyphard'. It came as somewhat of a surprise that every member of the band listed on the pamphlet was described as a former professional racer, and all from the same lineage. Half siblings and cousins all, each had been a famous name when Shirogane was a child, though of course she had paid little if any attention to now-distant or fading racing legends.

Lyphard, apparent namesake of the band, Northern Dancer of course, Northern Taste - a six-time winner in France who had apparently emigrated to Japan, and the similarly accomplished Sadler's Wells and Nice Dancer.

All names to look up later, out of idle curiosity if nothing else. Their performance had been quite intense and memorable, after all. To think, they'd all retired to form a band? Or formed it while still running professional races?

Shirogane shook her head and got back to work.

She spent a few more hours internalizing her observations, notating the core features and eccentricities of the performance that would undeniably make any contestant stand out head and shoulders above the others. Something that, Shirogane wryly acknowledged, her current stature made difficult in most any other case.

Shirogane was quite dexterous, and would even claim some measure of talent at the mechanics of singing and dancing at once. Instruments could clearly similarly contribute to how well a performance was received or an audience's impression of her. It shouldn't be too difficult to pick up an 'expressive' tool like that to help complement her fundamentals.

A guitar..?

She thought of the aggressive growling notes, the irritating rumbling of thunder, recalled glimpses of shattered fragments on a stage long gone, and something primal in her blood brought her lips curving up.

She caught herself a second later.

Now there was a thought...



------------------------------------------
(Later…)

"You cannot be serious…"

Hana Toujou pulled her glasses off, setting them gently on her desk, before pinching her nose with her palms.

"I would not have brought this up as a joke."

…

"You're telling me that our studio musicians and performance support staff gave you the go ahead? When did you even pick up learning an instrument?" Hana felt compelled to ask, out of an almost morbid curiosity, even if she suspected the answer would only bring her another headache.

"I'd never held a guitar until last week, but I seem to have the knack for it."
Hana was right, she could hardly believe it, but all the same, it just made sense with everything else Shirogane had done. That, perhaps, hurt the worst about it.

This was not what she meant when she prayed for a talent with the skills and drive to improve while staying healthy. This what not what she meant by 'a trainee who respects their limits!!'

---

Notes: technically speaking, if Symboli Rudolf, 1984 Legend and Triple Crown, is at Tracen in such close proximity to the 90s greats, then Dyna Carle'd be in around the same class as Rudolf

Umaland time is weird and skewed, so i just had all the Canadian uma be a generation back and all the famous sires as close relatives like how its handled when sires and their foals both attend Tracen at once.

Also the famous prolific sires of the time get to be 80s rockstars, because lol they've all got it going on.

Also if Montjeu gets to be there as a hidden boss, then her extended family gets to exist too!

 

[PinkShadowReader]

This is a fabulous omake. Perhaps Shiro really can express her in the music instead of her voice.

 

[callumcarmody]

The interesting part is that prize money probably tells only half the story. A G1 winner could bring in sponsorships, merchandise deals and appearance fees for years, but maintaining that level of performance would also involve substantial spending on training, veterinary care and rehabilitation. Managing all of that becomes a serious operation once a racer reaches the top tier, and real-world equine care systems such as My Apeiron Hub(https://myapeironhub.com) reflect how much coordination can go into keeping horses healthy and supporting their performance.

That makes me think the biggest Uma stars would earn far more from their overall public profile than from a single race. The average competitor might struggle to build lasting wealth, while a household name could turn victories into a long-term commercial career. With concerts, sponsorships and merchandise added to the mix, Tracen's finances might make considerably more sense than Tanya's rather sceptical assessment suggests.

 

[Tsureai]

Black Wings
(( I'm not Polish, so all the translation is via Google. ))

"I don't see why this is so necessary."

Shirogane did not frown nor smile as Air Groove and Symboli Rudolf fussed over her, instead maintaining her normal stoic expression. The Team Rigil room was being used as an impromptu changing room, the costumes laid out on the tables.

"It's your first Halloween at Tracen! Of course you have to participate in the Spooky Sprint!"

Of course this occasion was not at all an excuse for the older girls to dress up tiny Shirogane like a doll. A flowing white robe had been cut down to her size, accented with billowing lace sleeves and sparkly halo pinned behind her ears.

Shirogane looked down at her dress critically, "Can I even run in this without tripping?"

El Condor Pasa ran up, a broad smile on her face as she held up a set of black and white condor wings that were more than a little crumpled. "I found them! I found them in my closet!"

"I thought you said you had white wings?" Air Groove sighed, gesturing at the tiny angel before them. "We can't use those."

"Don't wooooorry! They'll look great!" El Condor leaned over Shirogane, and deftly tied the small girl into a set of black wings as broad as she was tall. "See!"

Shirogane didn't immediately react, for a moment just standing there placidly as she had for the last half hour.

"Ummm… No, that's all wrong." Symboli Rudolf shook her head, "Angels with black wings are… the… Shirogane are you…. Glowing?"

The little Uma looked up at her Sempais, her eyes shining with a soft golden light. An unseen wind tugged on her robes and pale hair, showing her angelic face as she smiled.

"Jeśli istnieje Bóg, który rządzi tym światem, to jest to istota surowa, poważna i nieskończenie dobra."

None of the Uma could understand what she said. They didn't need to. Her robes began to flutter harder, her halo reflecting the golden light. Her shadow grew long and acrid smoke rolled out of it, stinking of shot and shell.

"Istota, która jest zbyt wielka..."

El Condor Pasa shrunk back, prayers frozen on her lips as Tanya transfixed her with her gaze.

Shirogane's shadow splashed across the floor, turning the color of old blood in the sun. The stench grew stronger, with rot and gore added to the perfume assaulting the nose. A ragged, torn arm reached out of the pool of refuse, pulling out a tattered Russy corpse in a furry hat. The first of untold hundreds.

"Bóg wciąż zmusza nas do mierzenia się z tymi okrutnymi losami. Tak, jakby takie właśnie były reguły tego świata."

The tinsel halo over her head burst into verdant flames, and the small Uma floated up off the ground. The club room walls fell away, shattering to reveal an endless landscape of trench and barbed wire. Hell had come to Tracen, and Hell was the Eastern front. The full fury of the battlefield assaulted Team Rigil, soaking them in mud and blood.

Russy and Dacian legions marched to war again from the depths of hell, the dead holding formation as they paraded past their Lord and Master. Legadonian and Francois mages flew overhead, their eyes and the wounds on their corpses burning with the fire of her halo. The cursed abattoir of Arene rose from the mud and muck behind her, a castle of ruin overflowing with the restless dead.

"Dlatego oświadczam raz jeszcze…" her voice began to gain a frenzied power and volume.

A bodyguard of Sipahi Uma in spired Timariot mail and plate charged forth from the spreading lake of blood at Shirogane's feet. Janissaries followed behind, their arms full of the war panoply of their dark Goddess. Flintlock pistols, sabers, bows, and long bladed cruel lances. But of all the weapons, her hand chose a long hafted war hammer.

Most of the assembled Uma screamed and ran from the emerging horrors. While they could run very, very fast it availed them not. Not when there were kilometers of knee deep mud churned with body parts and shrapnel. El Condor held her ground, shaking in fear. She saw the rifles in those rotting hands, and knew no Uma could outrun a bullet. Instead she clasped her hands over her chest and began to pray.

Shirogane's face split into something none of the Tracen Uma had seen before, a wildly broad smile that showed far too many teeth to be friendly. She raised the hammer and began to scream, her voice cutting through the battlefield like the call of trumpets.

"O, Boże... Potnę cię na kawałeczki i rzucę świniom na pożarcie! Nasze pole bitwy to nie miejsce dla tego gnoja – Boga!"

Shirogane Orzel spread her black wings.

 

[MARch Of Time]

(( I'm not Polish, so all the translation is via Google. ))

Click to shrink...

Neat!

For ease of readability if you use a lot of translated text, you can also use the 'Abbreviations' feature in the QQ text editor to include them, if you want to add what you meant/translated to the text,

Like so:
Advanced BB-codes (the right-most button in the text tools in the editor, with a wrench and screwdriver)
> Abbreviations

Sample:

"O, Boże... Potnę cię na kawałeczki i rzucę świniom na pożarcie! Nasze pole bitwy to nie miejsce dla tego gnoja – Boga!"

---

EDIT: Oop, guess rockstar-uma wasn't very good, I'll try something else next time

 

[TheLoneFrog]

Fuck you for the "... and they were roommates" joke lmao. Of course the gay subtext flew right over Tanya's head.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades​

---

The crowd was quite a bit noisier than usual, even compared to the other graded races Shirogane had participated in. Glancing to the rest of the lineup, Shirogane surmised it could be due to the number of strong runners in the race, compounded by the Yayoi Sho being the highest graded trial race for the Satsuki Sho.

Several of her classmates were practically vibrating in place as they loaded themselves into the gate, though it seemed Seiun Sky was requiring some…encouragement to get in the gate again.

Shirogane herself was not entirely immune to the atmosphere, feeling more anticipation boil in her chest than what was typical. She had run against her classmates plenty of times in practice, and she had raced several of them in official races as well, but never so many at once.

It was a bad strategic decision, as it would make getting a secured spot in the classics much more difficult…but after over a year around the eccentrics at Tracen…she had to admit some of their passion for the sport was infecting her as well.

The increasing prize pool sizes now available to her also had something to do with it. If she couldn't beat her classmates in an official race at all, then those winning would be forever out of her reach. It wasn't as if competition would become easier at higher stages, at least until they started running the long races by racing standards.

"Remember your training!" Special Week muttered to herself in the gate next over, patting herself on her round cheeks. "It's gonna be your special week if you win!"

"Snrrk–!" Shirogane was not completely able to hold in her laughter. As funny as that sounded, it was a bit rude to laugh aloud at how her classmate was hyping herself up.

"Aaaah! Don't laugh at me, Shiro-chan!" Unfortunately Special Week noticed, looking over at her with a hurt expression that made Shirogane think of a kicked puppy.

Not that she made a habit of kicking puppies.

"Apologies," Shirogane huffed, flicking her ear contritely, "I was not expecting you to use your own name for encouragement."

"Ah…well," her white-streaked classmate's face fell, ears drooping, "my human mom said that my uma mom picked my name because it was going to be a special week when I was born, but then she died."

Shirogane winced. Now she felt worse for laughing. "I see…in that case, I'm sure your birth mother would have been pleased to see you use the name she gave you as encouragement."

Probably. It's not as if Shirogane knew anything about the woman, but that was what a good mother would think, wasn't it?

"Ooooh! That's true!" Special Week, credulous as she was, perked right back up. "Thanks, Shiro-chan! Now I'm ready to win this race!"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, now, especially since you're a late surger." She really needed to stop sabotaging her own chances.

"Right!"

A few gates up the line, Seiun Sky finally worked up the courage to step forwards about a meter and get in the gate, after which Shirogane focused more on the door ahead of her.

Then they were off, the gates swinging open and the runners launching forwards, quickly battling for position.

While she was towards the outside at position 12, the start of the Yayoi Sho sent the runners into the section directly in front of the stands, which involved a significant incline, something Shirogane used to her advantage as she sprung up the slope, shifting towards the inside as she followed in Seiun Sky's wake, both of them angling for the front.

Despite their unfavorable starting position, both of them managed to overtake the runner who had started on the inside before the first turn, burning more energy to ascend the initial rise, having bet on their opponents reserving their energy and counting on their own superior stamina in the long run.

King Halo slid towards the front, but stayed behind the brown haired runner who Shirogane and Sky had passed, not wanting to burn her comparatively limited stamina so early.

Special Week and Grass Wonder hovered towards the rear of the pack, as was their preference, but they were going to be problems later in the race.

"Through the first turn, number ten Seiun Sky is leading the pack! Number twelve Shirogane Orezeru is following hot on her tail. Behind her is number one Key Gold and after her is number three King Halo!"

In the latter half of the turn, the track sloped down, which Shirogane used to pick up speed, closing in behind Sky until she was running in her blue-haired classmate's blindspot.

"Gah!" Sky startled a bit as she glanced backwards momentarily. "Too close!"

"Shirogane is pressuring Sky hard already, is she looking to pass?!"

Sky accelerated, widening the distance slightly, but Shirogane followed in her wake, her speed leveling out gradually as they started down the comparatively level backstretch.

This easy section would be among the trickier ones for herself, as if she let Sky catch her breath enough, there would be no chance of overtaking later, and at the same time, she was going to need to keep an ear out for when those pursuing her began to close the distance.

---

"Damn, your little neck chopper really likes cutting it close, doesn't she?" Team Spica's trainer braced himself against the railing, leaning forwards to watch the race more closely as he chewed on a lollipop stick thoughtfully.

"Would you please stop calling her that?" Hana groused, her face tightening in exasperation as she watched the runners race down the backstretch. "I did not train her as a suicide runner." Though Shirogane was indeed unusually fine with running very close to another runner.

"Come ooonn, Hana-chan–"

She had to tamp down her temper again at the overly familiar address.

"–just because she doesn't tire herself out doesn't mean you've trained her a lot like you'd do for a spoiler runner."

"Our training plan is tailored towards leveraging her talents to mitigate her weaknesses." And Hana could not claim credit for all of it, given the amount of suggestions her trainee had come up with herself, half of them illegal per racing rules.

"Which looks just a little bit like you're having her try to burn out the front of the pack so your other trainee can sweep in at the end and take the win."

Hana sighed, adjusting her glasses with a slight frown. "Their complementary position preferences played some part in how I set up their training," she admitted, "but I fully expect Shirogane to be a serious threat in the longer races."

"But it ain't gonna be easy for her on mediums or shorter," her colleague observed, talking out of the side of his mouth as usual. "And all the lead ups to the Tiara races are pretty short. Kinda crazy to be going for both, ya know? People are saying you're getting too full of yourself."

Hana could not help the annoyed huff that escaped her. "So they say I did nothing and just got lucky letting my skilled trainees drag the team to victory when they succeed, and now they say I'm pushing them too hard when I adjust plans to my trainee's goals?" She shook her head. "Idiots will say whatever suits them."

"Does she really think she can win six crowns?" Okina wondered, eyes narrowing in as the runners reached the end of the backstretch, focusing particularly on Special Week as she began to move up the pack. "Didn't really get the sense from her."

"She believes she can place in all six," Hana replied, adjusting her glasses again as she likewise aimed her attention towards where her trainee was cutting into the last corner sharply, trying to overtake Seiun Sky.

"Even that's not gonna be a cakewalk. Not with this year's competition."

Hana had never said it would be easy.

---

Wait for it…

Special Week held in the feeling telling her to go faster, instead steadily closing in on the outside as they went into the last turn. A lot of the other runners looked a bit tired, but Sky, Shiro and King were quite far away.

Grass was right in front of her, so Special Week chased after her, figuring that her smarter classmate could find the best path forwards.

"Ooh, it's a tight race! Rounding the last bend you have Shirogane Orezeru neck and neck with Seiun Sky! Key Gold and My Hometown are right behind them, and Grass Wonder is coming up the side!"

As she and Grass swung wide through the turn, Special Week could now see the path ahead, and whoa did that look like a tall climb from here! But it was fine, she had trained for this!

"They're on the home stretch! Seiun Sky and Shirogane Orezeru are still fighting for the lead!"

Special Week kicked off hard at the same time Grass did, the pent up feeling inside of her exploding outwards as she sped up to as fast as she could, passing a few of the other racers as they started up the hill.

"Oh! And on the uphill King Halo has shot past Key Gold and My Hometown! Grass Wonder and Special Week are tearing to the finish on the outside, with Divine Light trying to follow!"

At this point Special Week couldn't see very much except for Grass, but she resisted the feeling that she should keep following after her classmate, and instead just kept running straight ahead, a little bit inside from Grass so she had a lane to pass in, closing in behind King, who was trying to pass Sky as well.

"Seiun Sky, Shirogane Orezeru, King Halo! Who's it going to be?! Or will it be Grass Wonder and Special Week?!"

---

Sight narrowed as Shirogane threw herself forwards up the last stretch of the Nakayama course, fighting to overtake Seiun Sky. Her opponent was clearly tired and breathing heavily, but the hill was not taking all she had, leaving her with enough energy to try pushing Shirogane against the rail.

There was still space, so Shirogane ran.

King Halo had pulled near level on Sky's other side, Grass and Special Week drawing even on the outside, leaving the five of them in a staggered line hurtling towards the finish.

It was disorderly–

Shirogane shook the sudden apprehensive thought from her mind and willed whatever speed she had into her legs, the strain making it feel as if her lungs were being compressed painfully.

"Grass Wonder is gaining an edge! Can she keep it?!"

She could hear her teammate running, pulling ahead of them–

Grass missed a step. Shirogane snapped her gaze over–

Nie przerywajcie szarży, uderzamy!

–and in her moment of distraction she fell behind.

"Number thirteen Special Week has done it! A head behind in second is number four Grass Wonder, with number three King Halo taking third a nose behind her!"

"Damn…it!" Sky cursed as she bent over, resting her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

Seiun Sky was fourth, and thus failed to secure a guaranteed spot in the classics.

The same disappointment bubbled up from Shirogane's gut at her own worst placement so far in her career, a cool void of failure threatening to escape up her throat, but the sight of her teammate's unsteady stance took priority.

"Grass!" She barked. "How's your condition?"

"Shiro?" her chestnut haired teammate looked up with frustration twisting her face. "I'm fine–"

She stumbled as her right leg gave way, a hiss of pain escaping her, but Shirogane caught her before she could fall. "Evidently not."

"Fuuuuck!" Grass cursed under her breath, looking down at her leg as if it had betrayed her.

"Let's get you to the medic." Shirogane glanced up, scanning the area until she found the medical staff on standby, waving over the one that was looking in their direction.

Hopefully it was only minor, but from how pained Grass looked, it was probably serious.

---

Victory!

She'd won a few races before, so this wasn't a really new experience for Special Week, but this was a GII race! She hadn't competed in a GI race yet, but this win meant she could probably do well in the Triple Crown Classic!

"Please sign this, Special Week-chan!"

"O-Ok!"

The meeting the fans part at the Winner's Circle was still something she was getting used to. Being at Tracen meant she'd gotten used to having a lot more people around, but having a bunch of them cheering her name and trying to talk to her specifically was a bit scary the first time.

"Ah!" She almost dropped the fan card she was signing. "No wait, it's ok!" Managed to save it! Her fan also laughed and found it funny, so it was fine!

She'd like to try and meet with all the fans that were here to support her, but the grumpy looking woman that was in charge of the Winning Live plans soon told her to wrap it up because it was getting close to time for the performance.

It hadn't been too bad, since she still had time to change into her performing outfit, and even with her having taken longer since she was meeting the fans, she still had time left when she met up with her classmates and the rest of the runners, so she maybe could have spent a bit more time with the fans…

"Eh? Where are Grass and Shiro?"

King Halo-san turned to her with a serious face, looking quite worried. "I saw Grass-san go to the infirmary with Shirogane-san."

"Oh no!" Special Week gasped, worry for her friends whisking away much of the excitement from her win. "Are they ok?" Was she a bad person to still feel happy about winning?

"I don't know," Sky-chan sighed sadly, and looking at her Special Week remembered that for her to win several of her friends had to lose. "Think Shiro's probably fine, dunno about Grass…"

"Grass-san is not one to make a fuss about nothing," King Halo added, her tail swishing worriedly back and forth. "And neither is Shirogane-san."

"So…" That sounded bad…

"Yeah, Spe," Sky-chan murmured. "Grass is probably hurt pretty bad."

Then Shiro-chan was probably making sure Grass was ok. Her pale haired classmate may be short, but she totally had a lot of big sister energy!

"What are you all standing around for?" A sour voice called, cutting into their worry, and the three of them turned to see the grouchy official lady looking at them like she had smelled something gross. "We already had to adjust the choreography because two are missing, don't make it a delayed performance too."

"But we–"

"Understood." Special Week turned to King Halo in surprise as her friend cut her off, but the brown haired uma shook her head slightly, her face looking unhappy as well. "We shouldn't keep the fans waiting."

Spe got that. But she also couldn't help but worry about her friends.

---

The pain in her leg was only eclipsed by the sting of failure in her chest.

She had been this close to winning, only for her one bad step to rob her of both victory and a chance at a Triple Crown.

Realistically, Grass Wonder knew that it would have been very difficult to beat this year's set of competitors in all three races, but it was something she could have done.

But now it would be impossible.

Part of her still hoped this injury was something that would go away in a few hours or days, but it felt worse than that, and then the doctor telling Trainer-san that they would need to get her leg x-rayed killed any chance of it being minor.

"I'm glad you didn't lose your footing."

Grass blinked, startled out of her spiraling thoughts by Shirogane suddenly breaking the silence. Her teammate had helped her to the infirmary and had stayed nearby ever since, though not getting in the way of any of the staff. Now that the doctor had pulled Trainer-san to the corner to talk about more details, the two umas were alone.

"If you had fallen, you might have been trampled by the runners behind us," Shirogane continued, taking her lack of response as asking for more explanation.

"I don't think they would do that," Grass coughed, her throat dry from exertion and frustration.

"They might not have had enough time to react one way or another."

That thought made Grass frown. The five Tracen classmates had beaten the sixth place runner by 5 lengths, which sounded like a lot but was only a difference of about a second. Shirogane might have a point here.

"Almost sounds like you care," Grass huffed, flicking her ear to show she was joking.

"I don't particularly like seeing someone I have positive relations with suffer an injury."

"Hmm." Grass covered her mouth with one hand to hide her laugh. "That's a rather strange way of saying you don't like seeing your friends get hurt."

"It would happen less often if you all didn't try and copy my training regimen," her pale haired teammate sighed, shaking her head in frustration. "I have different problems that need mitigating."

"The hill training worked quite well for us." The rest of the runners had flagged hard on the uphill in comparison.

"The results are mixed." Shirogane hummed, glancing pointedly at Grass' injured leg.

Grass…couldn't say for certain that her teammate was wrong. She had done a lot of hill training leading up to this race. It should have been fine–had seemed fine–but she was still hurt anyways.

"Ehem!" Someone cleared their throat from towards the door to the infirmary, and Grass turned to see a middle aged woman dressed in a suit while holding a clipboard. "Why isn't your trainee on stage, Toujou-san?" Her voice was slow and annoying shrill, making Grass almost want to cover her ears.

Trainer-san turned to the newcomer, a flash of irritation crossing her face as she saw who it was. "Grass Wonder is injured–"

"Obviously not the American!" the woman scoffed, shooting Trainer-san a derisive look. "I meant the other one." Grass decided she didn't like this one very much. "We had to adjust the choreography!"

Their trainer sighed, adjusting her glasses. "Nozawa-san–"

"Don't get it in your head that you can disregard our rules just because you've had good performers on your team in the past!" Did this annoying woman have some beef with Trainer-san? This was incredibly rude! "Surely you understand how much wrangling it takes to fix the choreography when a performer drops out for no good reason? You ought to be more considerate of–"

"It takes hardly any effort."

A shiver slid down Grass Wonder's spine as she watched Shirogane interrupt the rude woman, her pale haired classmate's tone unerring steady, in a quite unnerving way.

"What?"

Shirogane didn't fidget very much, but usually her ears would move one way or the other, listening to the things around her, but now, both ears were straight up and pointed at the intruder.

"Each of us who participate in these events are trained to fill in any of the potential stage positions." Her friend's tone was dry as winter and just as cold. "All that would be required would be informing the appropriate individuals about what position they were going to be."

The prickly race official stared at Shirogane for a moment, as if she couldn't countenance being interrupted…or maybe she didn't expect Shiro to speak Japanese?

It was a little strange how often that seemed to happen, despite her pale haired classmate being native born.

"Didn't anyone teach you not to talk back to their seniors, little girl?" The unpleasant woman's face twisted into an equally unpleasant expression.

"Those who need to demand respect are unworthy of it."

The cranky woman blinked, before her eyes flashed with anger.

"I can make your life very unpleasant, you midget mongrel–"

"Enough, Nozowa-san," their Trainer interjected, a frown pulling her face into a serious expression. "Such behavior is unsuited for your position."

"Hah! You take this kind of lip from your subordinates?" the woman hissed, glaring at Trainer-san. "I guess you would have to, since all your achievements were riding on their backs."

"Whereas your greatest achievement was accomplished on your knees."

The rude woman visibly flinched, a brief look of shock passing over her face before anger took over, twisting her face even uglier than it already was.

"You dare–?!" she stepped forwards, raising a hand for a moment, before blood seemed to drain from her face as she jerked back, staring at Shirogane like she had seen a ghost.

Grass couldn't see her friend's face from where she was sitting, but she could see her classmate's hand clench into a fist behind her back. Even so, Shirogane had not otherwise moved an inch.

The bitch, who was clearly also a coward, turned and stalked away, trying and failing to not look like she was running away, but it wasn't really working.

"We will need to submit a complaint to the JRA," Shirogane declared mildly, turning to look at their exasperated trainer, who was busy rubbing her face in exasperation.

"Nozowa-san is troublesome," Trainer-san sighed, "but she has connections, enough to make things difficult."

"Enough to avoid censure at all? How?" Her pale haired classmate frowned in thought, and Grass couldn't help but feel a slight chill down her spine. "She certainly isn't making friends with that sort of attitude. Blackmail, perhaps?" While Shirogane was never the most expressive uma, she had never been this…cold.

"I couldn't speculate," their trainer replied, frowning again as she walked back over to the two of them, readjusting her glasses as she gathered her thoughts. "But you are right, I will submit a complaint about her behavior. It was entirely unprofessional."

"If worse comes to worst, likely few people would miss her."

…What did Shiro mean by that?!

---

"After a hard fought sprint, number four Max Can Do claims victory by a neck over number fourteen Meisho Ayame! In third is number seven Erimo Excel and fourth is number fifteen Shirogane Orezeru…"

"Guh…" Steady Distance sighed as she slumped back into her seat, frowning as her friend came up just short yet again.

Hanshin was quite far from home, so the ice cream sisters hadn't been able to make it, but Steady had some to show her support, along with Shiro's parents, the two of whom were still cheering for their daughter, even if it wasn't the best result.

As for Shiro herself, she looked about the same as normal, but as someone who'd gotten to know her over the years, Steady could see that things were starting to get to her.

"She really never gets an inside gate, does she?" Steady murmured to herself, trying to figure out the odds of that happening. The extra distance itself wasn't that big of a problem for Shiro in terms of stamina, but it did mean that it made it significantly harder to get towards the front like she needed to.

Maybe the JRA just really didn't want someone trying for both circuits. Steady couldn't say why, you'd think it would make great television!

The winning live wasn't too interesting, which was one of the things about the Central circuit, their standardized performances tended to get samey after a while, aside from the personalized Tiara ones. With her own experiences practicing for Winning Lives, Steady could see why Central did it this way, since it would be pretty much impossible to have all the runners practice a set for every uma in case they won.

Shirogane looked bored as usual.

"I am starting to resent this Losing Live performance."

Or maybe not.

"Is that 'cause you aren't winning enough?" Steady snorted, poking her friend with her elbow. The two of them were sitting on a bench waiting for the train home.

"Not exactly," Shirogane denied, one ear flicking in irritation. "Each race takes at most a few minutes to run its course, while afterwards the live invariably takes longer. As useful as it is for marketing purposes, it gets tiresome running through the same performance repeatedly."

"You wouldn't have such a problem if you weren't running so frequently, ya know?"

"Perhaps not, but…"

"But then you'd be making less money?"

"That, among other things."

"Eh, like what?"

Shirogane paused for a second, before turning to look at her square on. "Have you ever considered how odd it is, to have the losers of a race sing and dance to some peppy song about achieving your dreams as the backup dancers for the winner, usually after having their own dreams crushed, or at least set back?"

"You know that's more of a Central thing than NRA, right?" Though Steady had to admit it hadn't been that fun the times she had to go through it.

"It surprises me somewhat that there isn't more resentment over this arrangement, especially since being front and center during the performance also would improve marketability, which is already improved by winning."

Steady could not stop the laugh that escaped her, which only got worse as Shirogane shot her an offended look.

"Aww…don't give me that look Shiro," she giggled, trying to keep herself from laughing too much. "It's just cute seeing you start to actually get competitive."

"I don't understand where you're getting that impression," her cute junior huffed, giving her an unimpressed look.

"Oh yeah? Not gonna start complaining about how having all the preliminary races being shorter screws over stayers?"

"It does rather disadvantage me–but we've already discussed this before." Unfortunately Shiro managed to cut herself off before she started ranting again. Darn, it was funny when she managed to get worked up like that.

"Guess we have," Steady hummed, her ears wiggling in amusement. "It's kinda similar with dirt races, just we've got less big races to get our names out there. Whereas you–" she elbowed her ambitious junior in her painfully hard ribs, "–have got so many big races on turf that you can't actually run all of them!"

"Given the time, I'm sure I could," Shirogane grumbled back. "It's not as if it's difficult to run a few kilometers in short order."

"Gotta be faster than the other guys!" Stop acting like sprinting for multiple kilometers was a normal thing people could do!

"Yes, yes, that's how races work."

Well, she seemed to be in a better mood now. Hopefully Shiro wouldn't get too antsy now that her Classic run was in jeopardy.

---

She really should have expected this result, Shirogane mused.

There hadn't been any real reason to expect to defeat her classmates in a medium length race when she lost to them in practice more often than not.

Served her right for getting too swept up in their excitement.

But there was no real point in going over her mistakes again, when the immediate problem was her unusual strong post race restlessness.

Again, she found herself on a late evening run around the vicinity of the academy, and as usual she avoided the areas most frequented by her schoolmates so she wouldn't get dragged into another series of tomfoolery many of them liked to get up to on the weekends.

Normally, a short jog would be enough to settle her mind, allowing her to focus on schoolwork and then sleep, but that calm proved elusive after this last series of setbacks.

She had still managed to win some prize money, so it was not entirely a wasted effort, but now she only had one more chance to get into the classic races. The Wakaba Stakes was one she could feasibly win, now that most of her classmates had either qualified or decided on a different race set, but the Anemone Stakes, her last chance for the Tiara circuit, was also only 1400 meters, which was well before her opponents would usually start to tire.

Were tiara runners really so much weaker than those not focused on being an idol that they needed shorter runs to perform well? One would think that practicing performing so much would help build up stamina, or was the idea that they would be too tired to perform on stage properly if the races were longer?

Which was the actually important part here, the race or the marketing portion?!

Actually…now that this thought sprang to mind, the business side of the league likely was more concerned about the marketing aspect, hence the decision to allow idol focused umas their own track so they had an opportunity to shine in the race, which helped draw attention to their performance, thus helping to generate sales of merchandise and improving the financial performance of the industry.

Was her goal to run in both circuits somehow deleterious to their bottom line? She couldn't think of a way that it could be. Perhaps she wasn't as marketable since her win rate was admittedly quite paltry compared to many of her peers, but her merchandise sales were actually significant, at least in Fujisawa, which, while far from the largest city in the country, was still a large customer base.

It had been a strange experience to see her face plastered on a poster or the like all around the streets she ran deliveries for. Learning that merchandise sales made the family restaurant profit margins more comfortable also felt…strange. Almost unearned.

Despite her attempts to run it off, her thoughts continued to trail along, even as she was approaching the end of the circuit back to her apartment.

"Hoi! You're out pretty late, aren't ya?"

A woman's voice called out to her as she passed by another apartment building, coming from the security uma Shirogane saw on occasion, the brown haired uma apparently having a late smoke outside her place of residence.

"Is that not true for you as well?" Shirogane paused in her running, wondering why her occasional acquaintance was choosing tonight of all times to chat with her.

"Sure," Drift-san chuffed, putting out her cigarette into the nearby ashtray. "But it's fine because I'm an adult."

"And I am evidently old enough to be given tens of millions of yen for running in circles."

"Hahaha!" The scarred uma's tail swished back and forth as she laughed. "You always come up with some funny ways to phrase things, don't you?"

"I don't really intend for most of it to be funny."

"That's half of what makes it hilarious!"

Shirogane flicked her ear in exasperation, getting tired of waiting for the other uma to get to the point. "What is that you want to talk about, Drift-san?"

"Eh…" Drift-san grunted, scratching one of her ears. "You look a bit more riled up than usual. I'd be too, if I kept getting the outer gates every time. If your run hasn't worked enough, I had another idea that might help you out."

"...And what would that be?" Was her agitation that obvious?

"C'mon chibi," Drift-san called, pushing off the railing she was leaning against and gesturing towards the nondescript building she worked out of. "Why don't we hit the gym a bit?"

"It is a bit late for strength training," Shirogane pointed out. How was that supposed to help her sleep?

"Not talking about lifting weights, exactly," Drift-san clarified, "just venting some of your energy on a punching bag, or something like that."

Shirogane's ears twitched.

That sounded much more appealing than it really should have.

---

AN. Apologies for the long wait, but here is the new chapter. I imagine having Shirogane straight up fail here might be a bit unpopular, but I feel like I sufficiently telegraphed this outcome that it shouldn't come as a surprise. With how she basically has what she wants in a peaceful retirement life, Shiro isn't really going to ever have the kind of rival relationship as some of the other umas have with each other, but give her some real threat to her peaceful life...and Tanya/Shirogane will go much harder than most people would think reasonable.

On another note, in case any of you reading came over here because AO3 is down, I do have a Discord, on which I post chapter release announcements.

Thank you all for reading so far!

 

[ENDDRAGON]

"Fuuuuck!" Grass cursed under her breath, looking down at her leg as if it had betrayed her.

Click to shrink...

The America is strong in this one. Hope to see more.

 

[Potates]

The America is strong in this one. Hope to see more.

Click to shrink...

Shiro: Grass-san, language.
Grass: -blinks- Oh -looks at audience- Ohhhh...I can't have any witnesses
Shiro:-blinks- What?
Grass: -pulls out glock, chambers round- No survivors.

 

[SiegfriedisPower]

Shiro isn't really going to ever have the kind of rival relationship as some of the other umas have with each other, but give her some real threat to her peaceful life...and Tanya/Shirogane will go much harder than most people would think reasonable.

Click to shrink...

My name is Shirogane Suzuki. I'm 16 years old. My apartment is near Tracen, and I am single. I work as a student and as an uma musume, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, nor do I drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone.