On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[LuridThrone]

This lends to them often getting more attention, resources and status, so it is not hard to imagine people resenting them for it, particularly human women who have to compete with umas for romantic interests.

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You have created karens and mean girls complaining about honse hussies stealing all the good men.

 

[moop]

One aspect that is briefly touched on in this fic is that umas probably warp dating patterns a fair bit, since they are kind of like safe monstergirls, in the sense that they are stronger and tougher than normal human women, and usually more attractive, from what it seems. This lends to them often getting more attention, resources and status, so it is not hard to imagine people resenting them for it, particularly human women who have to compete with umas for romantic interests.

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It wouldn't surprise me if an uma came out as lesbian there would be more backlash because of this, along with the usual celebrity parasocial stuff and entitled guys.

 

[Rexmaster1]

I'm dividing my comment into two sections: the first is a discussion of the chapter, and the second is catching up on the thread.

I want to emphasize this here and now: I'll never stop loving how confused everyone seems when dealing with Shiro.

Hana simultaneously has the most obedient and responsible apprentice, but also the most exasperating one could possibly have. She has an apprentice who regularly undergoes extremely rigorous training, yet never crosses the line to hurt her.

Although I truly wish with all my heart that Shirogane will be the first Uma to win the Sextuple Crown, I think it's unlikely. Perhaps she could win an Irregular Triple Crown, which would still be an impressive achievement, but not as impressive as being the only one in history to win it all.

I loved that Swift and Akira reappeared. I thought they would be nothing more than supporting characters in Shiro's story who would never return. But I really like that they'll probably become recurring characters. In fact, it's quite wholesome that we get to see characters from Shiro's hometown from time to time.

I'm glad that the few who truly understand her are her childhood friends. While Shiro is slowly becoming a "Manhattan Cafe" in Tracen because of her distant and dispassionate personality, her old acquaintances know that she's simply an extremely dedicated and stern girl, but without any ill intentions.

Thank you so much for giving us even more fuel for the Shirogane x Tensei shippers. Even if from both their perspectives they were just being cordial to an acquaintance, I can imagine Shirogane's entire family and friends going crazy over her inviting a boy to her apartment at night.

I like to think of her father, Shigeru, having a conversation like this in the future.

Granddaughter: Grandpa Shigeru, how did you meet my grandmother?

Shigeru: I invited her for lunch, and she liked my cooking.

Great-granddaughter: And how did my great-grandfather meet my great-grandmother?

Shigeru: He invited her to lunch, and she liked his cooking...

Granddaughter: And how did my mother meet my father?

Shigeru: ...She invited him to lunch... and he liked her cooking...

Great-granddaughter: I see. *Writes something down in her notebook*
Aside from that, I don't understand why some people are bothered by a possible relationship with Tensei, citing the age difference. Guys, remember, Shirogane is the older one here. Assuming Salaryman died in his mid-20s and Tanya in her early teens, plus Shirogane's age, mentally she should be close to 40. So the real cradle robber here is Shirogane, in the hypothetical case that they ever actually start a relationship.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

I don't understand why some people are bothered by a possible relationship with Tensei, citing the age difference.

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Just to be clear, Shirogane is something like 15 years old and Tensei is around 18, since she's starting high school and he's starting university. They actually aren't that far apart age wise.

I think the weirdness is more in how similar they are.

 

[Melmar]

Dating yourself would be weird, yes, even if it's a few lifetimes removed.

 

[ScarredPunLover]

Although I truly wish with all my heart that Shirogane will be the first Uma to win the Sextuple Crown, I think it's unlikely. Perhaps she could win an Irregular Triple Crown, which would still be an impressive achievement, but not as impressive as being the only one in history to win it all.

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I think it's likely she'll need to (probably unintentionally) perform a nigh-impossible Guts check against her opponents in each race.

Maybe she's in a foul, foul mood while doing the races, and auto-piloting at her top speed as she dwells on something negative.

Perhaps, as proposed by myself (I think) and (probably) a few others, it'll be a situation of one of her grandparents being in poor health at the same time as these races.

And though Shiro would much rather spend that time with them, said grandparent or other dear family member is insistent they'd be set greater at ease seeing Shiro go and pursue "her dream."

Thus Shiro is caught in the frustrating situation of trying not to let her family down. I also imagine if she'd be frustrated by the misunderstanding of her desires, if she'd be tempted to openly and honestly declare "racing was never my dream." Yet to do so would imply her family kinda pressured her into doing something she didn't want to do, and I imagine that that idea would "devastate" her family more- and the mind has strange powers o'er the body. It's not impossible said ill family member might rapidly decline with the revelation.

Sure, she could avoid the truth, let them believe their misunderstanding, and just insist she'd prefer to spend more time with them while she can, but if said insistent family member is one of her grandparents, I dunno if she'd win that argument.

This is all, of course, a dramatic, exaggerated scenario, somewhat Hollywood-esque story-telling, but I think that it could, theoretically, happen.

So Shiro, not wanting to potentially risk the family member's current fragile state, feels pressured to go and race when she'd really rather not, and is thus in a terrible mood the entire time.

Said terrible mood creating an aura of "death" about her, and every other racer in the "Sextuple Crown" is thus led to performing terrible.

Or maybe Shiro just starts pushing herself harder than normal, any semblance of "auto-pilot" suffering interference from her emotional state.

 

[Lyrista]

I'm more amused that the first man Shirogane has any sort of social compatibility with and posters are all instantly "OMG, they must be flirting!"

 

[Melmar]

I'm more amused that the first man Shirogane has any sort of social compatibility with and posters are all instantly "OMG, they must be flirting!"

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Shipping is a poison for the soul. *sage nod*

 

[Dopplerdee]

Perhaps, as proposed by myself (I think) and (probably) a few others, it'll be a situation of one of her grandparents being in poor health at the same time as these races.

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My thought was that her great failing as a Racer is lacking that core of desire to really push the evelope, the part of the others that lets them hit that Zone.
Rather than tragedy, it could be more and more second places makes her want to show her grandfather the Polish performance she came up with, and to do that she needs to win.
Her main drive has always been her family, so why not lean into that.

 

[drake_azathoth]

I did love the part about Akira taking an extra job to pay for his Umamusume girlfriend's appetite. It kinda matches the expense of horses IRL and puts a bit of weight back into why not everyone would love having an Umamusume girlfriend. A girl like Oguri Cap would be high maintenance just in terms of pure appetite.

That plus the issues Shirogane noticed in terms of most unas not being very deep thinkers, and their strength being a mixed bag, (broken pelvises are probably more common in the Umamusume setting), you can see why they would offer competition to human women but not necessarily monopolize the dating scene.