On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[Shadow314]

On the day that Merry snaps, she'd ignore the race and physically attack Shirogane on the racetrack. In a twisted repeat of Shiro's first death, another irrational being has shoved her onto the tracks.

Sure, they'd both be disqualified and worse...

But... in that long seconds of fading consciousness as Shirogane methodically thrashes her to death with the focused hatred of a bloodlusted warhorse, Merry declares victory.

She has finally earned her Rival's undivided attention.

Click to shrink...

It's not about his usual aloofness or the professionalism with which he approaches races. It's about the emotions and desires—or, rather, the traumas—surrounding the way Shirogane intends to resolve these matters (killing/eliminating).

That's why Mary wants to see that hidden side of Shirogane again now; after all, that side is reserved only for her, his rival/enemy.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Funny, as well, considering Shiro doesn't seem to have that reason. Or, rather, doesn't have a reason that makes running super important to her.

Click to shrink...

I think this an interesting question to ask actually. What is Shiro's reason for running? How far will she go because of it?

"That aside, I believe you are mistaken. I have no intention of pursuing a racing career. The initial investment would be too expensive in the short term for uncertain gains."

Click to shrink...

She seemingly has no plans for it until she is recruited by Hana, and in the end she agrees because...?

"Besides, Shiro-chan," Shigeru murmured, drawing his daughter's attention. "We've been saving money since you were little so we could afford to send you to a good school, or a racing academy if you were interested."

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at him, her ears flicking once in surprise before she controlled her expression again.

"We couldn't afford to send you to a better school when you were little, but now, we could probably afford for you to go to a good high school."

"I…see…" Shirogane's jaw clenched, and Shigeru felt his heart twinge at how she looked close to crying, or at least as close as she came to that. "Thank you, Father."

Click to shrink...

"If money is a significant concern, Tracen is one the best options available," Toujou-san added. "Asides from the numerous scholarships, the academy has the best training facilities and programs in the nation, with our students regularly qualifying to compete in graded races and taking at least part of the prize pool."

Click to shrink...

Once again it seems to be her family. She goes because they express their genuine desire to send her to a good school with what little they have, and all of a sudden the best possible option is on the table?

Shirogane took a moment to think, glancing between her father and mother, her ears twitching minutely in indecision.

Click to shrink...

This moment seems the like the point where she makes the decision to join Tracen, although it feels like she's more swayed by the scholarship offer and the possibility of prize money. Though it's clear to see the reason she runs isn't really for the money and that it is just a means to an end. That end being to reduce the financial burden on her family and ensure they have a comfortable retirement. I think that's quite important to Shiro, but yeah, probably not to the same extent as say Silence Suzuka's reason.

Silence Suzuka

"I want to see the view from the front again. That's the only place where I feel truly free."

Clearly Shirogane doesn't find running to be something existential like Suzuka does. The key difference is probably that running isn't the only way she can achieve her goals, just the one most convenient to her right now. She would probably stop running if a bigger opportunity presented itself.

Though if we think about it...

After her initial iterations of downhill training, the slope on the Nakayama course almost felt disappointing, a sentiment Shirogane was fairly certain was residual from the Soldier who once could fly.

Click to shrink...

Maybe one day Shiro will want to chase the sensation of flight again, this time using her own two legs.

On the day that Merry snaps, she'd ignore the race and physically attack Shirogane on the racetrack. In a twisted repeat of Shiro's first death, another irrational being has shoved her onto the tracks.

Click to shrink...

Evasive maneuvers activated! I'd bet Shirogane's survival instinct hasn't dulled to the point where a greenhorn from the Heisei era could just sneak up on her!

Don't quote me on that though.

On the other hand, I don't think Merry would attack her during a race, cause the victory she's looking for is one within the bounds of competition. If it had to happen, it would most likely be after she takes something Shirogane said or did extremely personally, like...

...

I don't know actually. I have no clue what would be devastating enough to spur her into rage instead of just making her really depressed. She is still a normal teenage girl, someone who isn't going to see murder as the first option, or even as an option to begin with.

I'll have to think about that.

 

[cappo]

Reading several comments about how Shirogane lacks the spark she had as Tanya, living in a peaceful world with no reason to use her "Devil of the Rin" mode, no one seems to have considered that deep down, Shirogane might harbor some paranoia about "being X." I mean, we as readers can assume there won't be interference from being X (because it wouldn't make much sense in this story ), but Shirogane wouldn't know that. If she saw any Uma acting like her archenemy Mary Sioux, it would put her on high alert. And since she couldn't kill her in this world, her only option would be to overshadow her career with such resounding victories that no one would even mention the supposed "new envoy" of being X.

For example, in Merry's "what if" scenario, if she were to confront Shirogane with the same defiant attitude reminiscent of Mary Sioux, she might begin to suspect Mary's reincarnation and, out of fear, consider crushing the Uma. Meanwhile, in the main storyline, I think Rice Shower could take on this role, given that in the Pretty Derby series she strives to be the "heroine." It's possible that upon seeing so many Umas crushed by Shirogane, coupled with his cold demeanor that only inflicts more pain on the defeated, she might openly challenge the "Demon of the Racetracks" as the "heroine" she is, and perhaps that could awaken Tanya's war instincts. Of course, this is just my hypothesis, and I don't know if it's already been discussed. I don't have time to read so many threads!

 

[ScarredPunLover]

I don't know actually. I have no clue what would be devastating enough to spur her into rage instead of just making her really depressed. She is still a normal teenage girl, someone who isn't going to see murder as the first option, or even as an option to begin with.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, it could just be that Merry chases Shiro without any idea of what she'll do. She's not planning anything drastic, per se, she simply acts on instinct, every part of her being demanding... something in that moment. Admittedly, not sure what might bring about this kind of reaction, either.

My mind keeps coming back to that idea of "acknowledgement." And my imagination is treading down a wordy path.

---

"I have poured blood, sweat, and tears into my career. Into my training. Into this race. I've given my all to chase you. To beat you.

"You, who runs without a care for those in your dust. Who runs the same way, everytime. Without rest or exhaustion. You, who doesn't care if she loses. Who doesn't care if she wins. It's all the same, to you.

"I've watched friends tear themselves apart, just for one more race, because it is everything for them. You race like it means nothing at all. Because it's all just a paycheck to you, right? All you care about is the money, damn all the dreams you break and shatter and stomp on.

"I poured my soul into catching you. To surpassing you. I gave everything, all of my time, to this moment. Even when everyone was screaming at me to just stop, before I hurt myself trying to imitate something I didn't understand. I kept going. I kept going, and I did it. I won. And when I turned to you, to see something from you... you gave me nothing. A 'congrats,' and you went on your merry way. No respect or recognition for the effort I had to put in to beat you. And next week, you're just going to go race again. Shatter more dreams and futures. Inspire other racers to tear themselves apart as they obsess over you, to chase you and focus as if nothing else matters.

"I hate you, Orzel. Hate you for what you've done to me. Hate you for the agony you've put me through, hate you for making my every waking moment focused on you. Hate you for just continuing on like I mean nothing. I. Hate. You."

And there, Shirogane might stare at this strange, crazed Uma who is vaguely familiar.

"... okay."

And she turns and walks away.

And perhaps Merry, half-mad and half-mad, cannot handle this dismissal. She takes a step forward, reaching out to grab Shiro's shoulder. At most, she's just planning to spin Shiro around and demand some form of acknowledgement.

She doesn't get the chance.

The moment Merry's hand makes contact with Shiro, the Eagle's instinct takes over. Merry's flying through the air and crashing down on her back, faster than she can comprehend. Standing over her, Shirogane with a... dangerous familiar look in her eye.

"Devil..." Merry murmurs before she can stop herself, still regaining her breath. Something connecting in her brain, then fading again before she can truly comprehend it.

---

or something like that.

 

[ndh]

I think Rice Shower could take on this role, given that in the Pretty Derby series she strives to be the heroine.

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Problem with that is she IRL died before the Golden Generation started, so depending on how long Shirogane races for hillariously, TM Opera O would be the one from the following generation to take up the role of hero for a bit in the eyes of the public. Though in the anime, TM ends up on Team Rigil, which means that their relationship will most likely be a senpai-kohai relationship.

 

[neta wey]

And there, Shirogane might stare at this strange, crazed Uma who is vaguely familiar.

"... okay."

Click to shrink...

I can absolutely taste her "Ma am, this is a Wendy's"

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Man, now I really wish that Shiro was living in one of the dorms. It would be fun to think about who her roommate would be and what their dynamic would be like.

 

[FluffyVoid]

Man, now I really wish that Shiro was living in one of the dorms. It would be fun to think about who her roommate would be and what their dynamic would be like.

Click to shrink...

If you can't bring Shiro to the dorms then you just have to bring the dorms to Shiro.

 

[Lyrista]

If you can't bring Shiro to the dorms then you just have to bring the dorms to Shiro.

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Or just kidnap her with Goldshi's bag.

 

[Introverted]

Or just kidnap her with Goldshi's bag.

Click to shrink...

She would probably rip open the bag and attack whoever is even trying.

 

[Lyrista]

She would probably rip open the bag and attack whoever is even trying.

Click to shrink...

In normal circumstances yes, but comedic scenes of anime tomfoolery trump all.

 

[Introverted]

In normal circumstances yes, but comedic scenes of anime tomfoolery trump all.

Click to shrink...

Ehh... in that case it would only work if it wasn't GoldShip doing the bagging.
Because violence on GolShi is funny.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

It seems right now, she's sort of distantly fond of her classmates and actually knows her seniors much better. She's talked more with Air Groove, Mejiro Dober and Silence Suzuka than she has with her peers. And Stay Gold, I suppose? Maybe that's how she meets Golshi, perhaps the tall troublemaker tags along with Stego to the screaming stump on one of his her Shirogane Observation Visits.

Stego's divorced dad energy is too strong, I instinctively used a male pronoun...

Or, is Golshi even enrolled at Tracen yet? She's a horse from the 2012 generation and it's currently 1997, isn't it? How does that work here?

 

[Lyrista]

With gacha games that involves schools its often recommended to not pay too much attention to the passing of time.... or the lack of it

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Will we see, at some point, any of the more established racing families attempting to encourage Shiro to pursue relationships with their male descendants, with intent to add her outrageous stamina and physical health to the bloodline? Perhaps they approach her family with a "betrothal" offer?

Dunno if it's likely, but I'd be curious to see how that sort of scenario develops.

How do "breeding arrangements" translate to the world of Uma?

Click to shrink...

Probably the same way it works IRL, usually families recommend some people from "good" families, sometimes just in small meetings or parties, other times in matchmaking sessions. And like IRL, there may be even programs that forces people to reproduce to create a better athlete, a la Yao Ming.

Click to shrink...

I got reminded of this while I was ruminating on Shirogane's possible roommates should she ever decide to move into the dorms. I feel like it would be the perfect set up for something like...

---

Rules of Engagement

​

---

To Miss Shirogane Suzuki,

The Mejiro family has heard a great deal regarding your recent accomplishments, both academic and athletic, and would be delighted by the opportunity to make your acquaintance more personally.

Should your schedule permit, we would be honored to receive you at the estate at a time convenient to you. We believe there would be considerable mutual benefit in becoming more familiar with one another.

We understand that your commitments are substantial, and thus leave the matter entirely to your availability and personal inclination.

Regardless, the family holds you in very high regard and would be pleased to deepen this connection should the opportunity arise.

Mejiro Dober had been holding the envelope for nearly twenty minutes.

Not because delivering a letter was particularly difficult.

Ordinarily, it would have been simple. She would locate the intended recipient, hand over the correspondence, exchange a few polite words, and leave before the interaction had the opportunity to become awkward.

Unfortunately, this particular letter had been entrusted to her by her grandmother, and anything involving her grandmother stopped being simple almost immediately.

Dober adjusted her grip on the cream-colored envelope as she walked along the narrow residential street just outside the Tracen campus grounds. The evening air carried the lingering warmth of late spring, softened by the smell of restaurants beginning dinner service nearby.

Objectively speaking, there was nothing strange about the letter.

Shirogane's absurd race schedule had made the rounds in the newspapers for months as she continued to race week after week. It was inevitable that something outrageous like that would have caught her family's attention, and inviting rising stars to the estate was not particularly uncommon either. The family liked observing promising prospects directly.

Dober had initially thought little of it.

Then one of her aunts had smiled, and suddenly the entire request had become deeply suspicious.

Her family had an unfortunate tendency to imply things instead of saying them outright, and worse still, Dober was no longer entirely certain she herself understood the implications. Not fully, at least. She understood enough to know that inviting another girl to the family estate under these circumstances could very easily sound like something other than a simple social invitation.

And now she was the one delivering the letter.

Which meant Shirogane might misunderstand.

The thought made Dober's ears flatten in horror.

Not because Shirogane was unpleasant. Quite the opposite, actually, which was part of the problem.

Shirogane was intelligent, composed, hardworking, and surprisingly considerate once one learned how to interpret her bluntness. She possessed a kind of calm practicality that Dober found oddly reassuring, even if it occasionally bordered on unsettling. More than once, Dober had caught herself feeling vaguely envious of the younger girl's composure.

A quality that made her, unfortunately, extremely difficult to read.

Dober still remembered the first time she and Air Groove-senpai had visited Shirogane's apartment. Air Groove had spent most of the visit interrogating the ventilation, emergency preparedness, and structural integrity of the building while Shirogane calmly brewed tea and played host...

The pierogies had been delicious.

Ahem…

More troublingly, she had also realized, to her considerable surprise, that she genuinely enjoyed talking to her.

Which made this situation significantly worse.

Because if Shirogane interpreted this letter as some kind of romantic advance, Dober was reasonably certain she would die on the spot.

That thought did not help her calm down.

At last, she stopped in front of a modest apartment building.

Dober climbed the stairs slowly, rehearsing explanations she immediately discarded before they could fully form.

It's just a delivery.

It's just a letter.

It's just—

By the time she reached the door, she still had nothing usable.

Number 203.

She stared at it for a moment longer than strictly necessary, as though the numerals themselves might offer a socially acceptable phrasing.

They did not.

…

On second thought, perhaps Ryan would have a better idea about this whole—

The door opened.

Shirogane stood there in casual clothes and reading glasses, a pen still clipped loosely to the collar of her shirt.

"…Dober-san?"

Dober suddenly became acutely aware of several things at once.

First, that she was standing outside a girl's apartment in the evening, alone.

Second, that she was holding an expensive, perfumed letter embossed with her family crest like it was some kind of formal declaration.

Third, that she had absolutely no natural way to explain either of those facts without making them worse.

"Yes," she said far too quickly. "I mean—good evening."

Shirogane blinked once, then stepped aside.

"Please come in."

"I-I don't want to intrude."

"You are already here."

Dober's brain stalled, racking through about a thousand different polite refusals and landing on precisely none.

"...Right." She managed at last. "Pardon me…"

The apartment was as immaculate as she remembered.

Textbooks sat arranged neatly along low shelves. Training schedules were pinned to the refrigerator. A kettle rested on the stove beside several carefully labeled containers of tea leaves and coffee beans.

Dober's attention drifted for just a moment before Shirogane closed the door behind her.

"You came a considerable distance from the dorms," the younger girl observed.

Dober stiffened. The envelope in her hand suddenly felt unbearably conspicuous.

"I had business in the area," she deflected, it was technically the truth.

Shirogane paused for a moment, as if noting the time and distance.

"It's quite late," she said. "And you must be hungry after coming all this way."

She was already turning toward the kitchen before she finished the sentence.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Dober's response came automatically, drilled into her from years of etiquette training.

"If it wouldn't be an imposition."

It was only after the words had left her mouth that she realized she had just accepted tea in the apartment of a girl she was worried might misunderstand her intentions.

This was spiraling.

Shirogane, thankfully oblivious, moved into the kitchen area and began preparing the kettle.

"There's no need to be so formal, Dober-san. I'd like to think we already know each other quite well."

"Ah... Of course."

That did not help. If anything, it made things worse.

Dober sat carefully at the low table while Shirogane prepared tea with calm, practiced motions.

The silence stretched.

Dober stared at the envelope.

This should not have been so difficult; all she had to do was hand it over and explain that the Mejiro family wished to invite her for a social visit.

Simple.

Perfectly normal.

Entirely innocent.

So why did it feel like she was about to confess to something?

Shirogane returned from the kitchen with two cups and set one down in front of her. The tea carried a faint unfamiliar aroma, fruity and slightly sharp, something she couldn't quite place.

"It's something my grandmother brought from Poland. I hope you like it."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Shirogane sat opposite her, calm, composed, and entirely unsuspecting.

Dober suddenly found this intolerably unfair.

"…Shirogane-san."

"Yes?"

"There's… something I wanted to ask you."

Shirogane folded her hands politely.

"I will answer to the best of my ability."

Why did that sound so serious?

Dober's heartbeat quickened.

"No, it's not—it's not a big deal."

"Very well."

Another pause.

Dober stared at her tea.

Then at the envelope.

Then at Shirogane, who was now watching her with patient attentiveness.

That somehow made everything even worse.

"…Hypothetically," Dober began carefully, "if someone invited you somewhere because their family was interested in getting to know you better… how would you interpret that?"

Shirogane considered the question with complete seriousness.

Dober immediately regretted asking it.

"Well," Shirogane said after a moment of contemplation, "it would depend on context."

"…Context?"

"If the family involved held significant social or institutional standing," she continued evenly, "then it would likely indicate that they were evaluating the possibility of a longer-term relationship."

Dober's hand tightened imperceptibly around her cup.

"…A longer-term… relationship?"

"Yes." Shirogane nodded once. "Something ongoing, rather than a single interaction."

Dober took a careful sip of tea she suddenly could not taste.

That was not what she had meant.

That was absolutely not what she had meant!

Shirogane continued, unaware of the internal collapse happening across from her.

"In such cases, it is common for families to assess compatibility through repeated meetings, informal visits, and observation of conduct in neutral environments."

Compatibility.

Repeated meetings.

Informal visits...

Dober set her cup down with excessive care.

"…I see," she managed.

Shirogane tilted her head slightly.

"Is that not the case in this situation?"

"No," Dober said too quickly. "I mean—this is not—there is no such implication."

Shirogane blinked once.

"I understand."

She did not elaborate.

Dober's thoughts immediately filled the silence Shirogane had left behind.

I understand.

Understand what.

What exactly did she think she understood!?

Shirogane continued calmly, as if discussing the weather.

"Then it is simply an invitation for familiarity."

"…Familiarity," Dober repeated, faintly.

"Yes. To determine whether continued association would be mutually beneficial."

Mutually beneficial.

Dober felt her ears grow hot.

That phrase was absolutely doing something it was not supposed to be doing!

Shirogane reached for her cup again.

"In that case, it is a fairly standard request."

She paused briefly, as if considering.

"Though I suppose the degree of formality would depend on how seriously the family values the outcome."

Dober nearly choked on air.

"The outcome?"

Shirogane looked at her.

"Yes."

A pause.

Then, completely calmly:

"Some families are more deliberate than others when selecting individuals they intend to maintain long-term ties with."

Dober stared at her.

Her soul quietly exited her body and settled somewhere on the floor.

Shirogane, meanwhile, took another sip of coffee as if she had not just set off three separate emotional catastrophes in under a minute.

"Would that letter have anything to do with the question you asked?"

---

Why Dober, you ask? Well, the answer is simple, she's my favorite!

Spoiler

Yes, I mostly did it because I wanted to flex bond level 10...

 

[CantFocusOneThing]

Why Dober, you ask? Well, the answer is simple, she's my favorite!

Click to shrink...

When it comes to Umamusume this is the best reason.

 

[Lyrista]

I think the 112 careers completed clued me in on your preferences

 

[Rexmaster1]

Her family had an unfortunate tendency to imply things instead of saying them outright, and worse still, Dober was no longer entirely certain she herself understood the implications. Not fully, at least. She understood enough to know that inviting another girl to the family estate under these circumstances could very easily sound like something other than a simple social invitation.

Click to shrink...

What the Mejiro family matriarchs don't know is that Shirogane is completely oblivious to subtlety.

If they truly want to formalize a "reproductive contract" with Shirogane, they only have two options.

1: They establish a formal contract explicitly stipulating all the conditions, clauses, and grounds for termination, among a very long etc.

Or

2: They simply approach her and say: "Hey, would you have a child with my brother/son/nephew for X amount of money?"

Anything in between is a recipe for disaster with her.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

Unfortunately, this particular letter had been entrusted to her by her grandmother, and anything involving her grandmother stopped being simple almost immediately.

Click to shrink...

What is Mejiro Nagasaki up to? They should have sent Ramonu, she'd have no problem with awkwardness.

Her family had an unfortunate tendency to imply things instead of saying them outright

Click to shrink...

Tbf, this is true of Shirogane too, except a bit more problematic since she manages to do this in a blunt way at the same time.

Rules of Engagement

Click to shrink...

While I'm sure the Mejiros would have been very interested in Shirogane if she was an irl horse, but it would probably be the Sunday Silence line that would be most eager, given that they have a tendency to break a leg, and Shirogane has very sturdy legs.

Why Dober, you ask? Well, the answer is simple, she's my favorite!

Click to shrink...

The poor tsundere horse. The groom who took care of her when she was a foal was quite elderly, and died during her classic year, so she was kind of standoffish to her new groom. I guess for the Umamusume Dober that would mean she had a butler or something who died recently.

What the Mejiro family matriarchs don't know is that Shirogane is completely oblivious to subtlety.

Click to shrink...

One of the problems with leaving implications is that you are assuming that the other party has the same set of premises you have. This is not very reliable when the other person really does not.

 

[Crispy Taco Shell]

How would reproductive contracts between uma families work anyways? They are all females and you never see any male family members.

So where are the dudes? Are they kept cloistered somewhere in their mansion compounds like a reverse Ottoman imperial harem?

Edited addition: It would be a riot if Shirogane misunderstood her way through the subtle conversation with the Mejiro family matriarch and agreed to the "contract." She is taken into a hidden, luxurious backroom filled with various muscular men flexing with no shirts on.

"Pick whichever one you like. Or take several. I won't judge."

 

[ScarredPunLover]

While I'm sure the Mejiros would have been very interested in Shirogane if she was an irl horse, but it would probably be the Sunday Silence line that would be most eager, given that they have a tendency to break a leg, and Shirogane has very sturdy legs.

Click to shrink...

I think there's a lot of jokes to be made about people wanting Shiro's legs (and not even in an innuendo sense).

Kiseki: "Pony-chan, I've come for your legs."

Shiro: "... Fuji-senpai, I must've misheard you. Could you say that one more time?"

Kiseki: "You heard me correctly. I've come to take your legs."

Shiro: "... what?"

 

[TheSmallSauce]

What is Mejiro Nagasaki up to? They should have sent Ramonu, she'd have no problem with awkwardness.

Click to shrink...

I'm actually unsure how to write Ramonu since she hasn't come to global yet and I haven't gone out of my way to translate and read her story. I just know that she's very passionate about racing and that she's kinda intense based off of her brief appearance in the Cinderella Grey manga.

She'd probably have a few choice words for Shirogane when she realizes what kind of racer she is, or who knows, maybe she'll enjoy having someone who has no hesitation talking back to the first Triple Tiara winner. She seems like the kind of lady who likes someone who can speak their mind.

While I'm sure the Mejiros would have been very interested in Shirogane if she was an irl horse, but it would probably be the Sunday Silence line that would be most eager, given that they have a tendency to break a leg, and Shirogane has very sturdy legs.

Click to shrink...

The problem with the Sunday lineage is that it's hard to form a cohesive group because like 90% of the Japanese racing scene runs through his sire line... How do you decide who belongs to this hypothetical Sunday Family?

When I was writing the snippet, I vaguely entertained the notion of using Fuji Kiseki, and the other choice was Tachyon, with something more along the lines of:

'Oho Shirogane-san please let me conduct experiments on you~~!"

Which I'm sure would kick up distasteful memories of a certain other mad scientist.

edit:

I actually forgot about this, but in her story, Tachyon is revealed to be part of a distinguished line of umas: Agnes Flight, Agnes Flora and Agnes Lady. Their family name is so well known that Tachyon draws a sizeable crowd for her first practice run.

I guess that a Sunday Silence lineage would be a family that has a legacy of winners at least three generations deep. Though if you want to get into the weeds with it... King Halo actually has the most prestigious bloodline, born to Goodbye Halo and descended from Halo, who was the sire of Sunday Silence. She might as well be foreign nobility in the racing world.

I think there's a lot of jokes to be made about people wanting Shiro's legs (and not even in an innuendo sense).

Kiseki: "Pony-chan, I've come for your legs."

Shiro: "... Fuji-senpai, I must've misheard you. Could you say that one more time?"

Kiseki: "You heard me correctly. I've come to take your legs."

Shiro: "... what?"

Click to shrink...

Aaand beaten to the punch once again!

 

[Rexmaster1]

How would reproductive contracts between uma families work anyways? They are all females and you never see any male family members.

So where are the dudes? Are they kept cloistered somewhere in their mansion compounds like a reverse Ottoman imperial harem?

Edited addition: It would be a riot if Shirogane misunderstood her way through the subtle conversation with the Mejiro family matriarch and agreed to the "contract." She is taken into a hidden, luxurious backroom filled with various muscular men flexing with no shirts on.

"Pick whichever one you like. Or take several. I won't judge."

Click to shrink...

Watch out, folks, a little bible of text is coming up.

Assuming that prestigious Uma families (like the Mejiro, Symboli, and maybe the Sakura and Gold) really do behave this way, they'd probably treat their sons like we treat stallions that were successful racehorses. Glorified sperm banks.

If the result of the union is a female Uma, they'd simply raise her to be a runner like any other, and if it's a male, they'd probably let him have a "normal" life where he can study and work as he pleases, maybe even have a partner and children, but he'd still have been conditioned and desensitized to occasionally "mate" with clients from his family. Perhaps, depending on the terms of his contract, he'd be allowed contact with his children or prohibited from doing so, like sperm donors in real life.

Maybe that's why Verxina, Vivlos, and Cheval Grand, despite being sisters, have such distinct features. Besides different "performances". Maybe they share a mother, but have different fathers.

Obviously, all of this is fanon speculation. Uma Musume is a franchise where 99.9% of the characters are female, like Nanoha, Kancolle, and Touhou. In these series, men only have a symbolic presence so we know they exist, but they have no relevance to the plot, nor will they ever.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

So where are the dudes? Are they kept cloistered somewhere in their mansion compounds like a reverse Ottoman imperial harem?

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Personally I like to imagine, based off of the community's art and comics and whatnot, that many of the male family members are ex-trainers that got hit with the old classic:

And now most of them run consultancy firms or are mentors and teachers for aspiring trainers, cause if you really think about it, umas would make so many things different in lots of different jobs. Like, why would you need a forklift if you have a person who can casually tow a two ton truck and run at 70 km/h? I mean obviously power tools and heavy machinery would still be used because human workers still exist and umamusume have their limits, but there's probably a significant sector of blue collar work which is is just filled with umamusume for the sake of convenience. I imagine that being a trainer or at least having the experience of working with umamusume would be a big plus when it comes to managing or directing teams of umamusume in other fields of work. We probably never see them because umamusume is focused only on the racing aspect of its world, but we do know that umas have their own place in the workforce (it's Ines Fujin, I'm talking about Ines Fujin, the beating heart of Tokyo's gig economy) so people who specialize in training, directing and coordinating umas outside of racing probably also exist.

Speaking of whom, I wonder if Ines will have notes to compare with Shirogane. I can imagine Shiro wondering whether she'd be interested in a position at Suzukiya, then being a little worried that a Derby winner like Ines Fujin still needs to work a billion odd jobs to feed her siblings, then going to give her own parents a hug.

On an unrelated note: the elite combat troops of this world are probably also umamusume, cause why would you want a normal human when you could have a murder-machine of a Clydesdale that can dent steel with a kick. Probably also good to mention now that an adult Clydesdale ranges from 1.67 to 1.80 meters in height and the average height of a Japanese man in 1997 was 1.70 meters, so...

Spoiler: Uma Police

To summarize, the men in-universe are probably in less visible roles when considering the focus of the franchise. Umamusume Pretty Derby is about racing, racing is done by umas and umas can only be female. So the only space a dude can fit in is as a trainer, otherwise there's no reason to focus on what a random dude is doing in a game about horse girls racing.

If you had to find a plausible place for these sons of high society to fit in, you could always take a cue from European history and assume that they're all scientists and philosophers, because as mentioned in the second chapter:

But whatever the case may be, this body and brain, being not entirely human, seemed less inclined towards the zealous obsession the Soldier had developed, being much more attached to the tangible than the theoretical.

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Seems like umas aren't entirely suited to science, with Shakur and Tachyon being the only exceptions we know of.

Watch out, folks, a little bible of text is coming up.

Assuming that prestigious Uma families (like the Mejiro, Symboli, and maybe the Sakura and Gold) really do behave this way, they'd probably treat their sons like we treat stallions that were successful racehorses. Glorified sperm banks.

If the result of the union is a female Uma, they'd simply raise her to be a runner like any other, and if it's a male, they'd probably let him have a "normal" life where he can study and work as he pleases, maybe even have a partner and children, but he'd still have been conditioned and desensitized to occasionally "mate" with clients from his family. Perhaps, depending on the terms of his contract, he'd be allowed contact with his children or prohibited from doing so, like sperm donors in real life.

Maybe that's why Verxina, Vivlos, and Cheval Grand, despite being sisters, have such distinct features. Besides different "performances". Maybe they share a mother, but have different fathers.

Obviously, all of this is fanon speculation. Uma Musume is a franchise where 99.9% of the characters are female, like Nanoha, Kancolle, and Touhou. In these series, men only have a symbolic presence so we know they exist, but they have no relevance to the plot, nor will they ever.

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The sons of distinguished racing families being treated as sperm banks is the kind of stuff you don't really consider when making a setting like Umamusume... But, yeah, I don't see how that wouldn't be the case. If genetics works even slightly similar to how it does in real life, the son of a graded winner might as well be walking around with a target on his back, never mind a son descended from a long line of proven G1 winners like in the case of the Mejiro's. That dude is probably strapped up to some contraption like a prized bull. Once again, the old adage rings true:

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If you wanted to be less gruesome about it, I imagine there's a whole genre of literature in the Umaverse specifically along the lines of:

Male heir who refuses to marry the match made by his family and instead elopes with his umamusume lover.

In the case of the V sisters, I believe that Verxina and Vivlos are actually full-blooded siblings by way of Deep Impact through Halwa Sweet, with Cheval being sired by Heart's Cry instead. That's probably explained easily enough by a divorce and a half-sibling coming about as a result of a second marriage.

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The funnier thing to imagine is that men just pop into existence to fulfil their roles as trainers and umas reproduce through parthenogenesis or fission, like bacteria.

 

[CantFocusOneThing]

The funnier thing to imagine is that men just pop into existence to fulfil their roles as trainers and umas reproduce through parthenogenesis or fission, like bacteria.

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Pretty sure Umas or humans that pray hard enough would get that granted by the 3 Goddesses. I dont know about the other pantheons but these ones bless at least 3 times a year if we follow the carrer races.

 

[FluffyVoid]

With Umas replacing all horses there has got to be at least one who has the uninspired name of Mount out there.

View: https://youtu.be/QH38vzyN4uA?si=L7XFJLWG_RIjglnw