Time slipped by quietly.
Before he realized it, more than a month had passed in a leisurely holiday.
For the first time, Kuroha had experienced a full Lunar New Year in this far eastern island nation. Though the atmosphere was different from his homeland, seeing the Uma Musume reunited with their families, faces shining with happiness, carried its own charm.
During the holiday, both Central and local races had been held.
But Kuroha hadn't scheduled a single one of his girls to compete. He wanted them to truly rest, spend time with family, and enjoy a complete New Year's celebration.
Well—Obey Your Master hadn't returned to the US.
She stayed with Kuroha to spend the New Year together.
Of course, since she was there, she wasn't just idling.
At first, the two of them had been evenly matched.
But after two weeks of training with the help of a Body-Strengthening Drug, only the golden-haired girl ended up begging for mercy.
Not that she learned her lesson. Every day she'd play the flashy gyaru, trying to seduce Kuroha—only to be lying flat on the bed two hours later, unable to move.
As the break neared its end, so too came the beginning of a new semester at Central Tracen.
The morning sun streamed through the dorm's curtains, throwing long stripes of light across the wooden floor.
Accustomed to rising early, Kuroha washed up, then stepped into the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast for himself.
After eating a few bites, he stepped outside, collected the day's paper from the mailbox, and returned to the table.
He unfolded the newspaper while chewing slowly—
—and then froze.
[Shocking! The Grey Monster may be forced to withdraw?!]
Huge black characters screamed from the sports section headline.
The subheading explained in detail:
Oguri Cap, Super Creek, and Dictus Striker have all been found to have potential leg-related health risks during checkups. As a precaution, their teams have opted for rest and further medical evaluation. They may miss the entire spring season.
Kuroha set his sandwich down silently.
He unlocked his phone. As expected, every forum and sports app tied to Uma Musume news was already flooded with the story.
Ever since Tamamo Cross's retirement after last year's Arima Kinen, the central race scene had been considered under the rule of those three horse girls.
Their strength was so overwhelming that other members of their generation could hardly compare.
And now—
all three might be absent from the track.
For fans who had been eagerly waiting for the "gods" to clash again, it was nothing short of a thunderbolt.
Online, complaints filled every comment thread:
"No way! Oguri Cap and Dictus Striker are both out? Then what's even the point of watching the spring races?"
"It's over… I was hoping for a god-tier battle this year, but looks like the season's going to be a bust."
"Sigh… Without them, no matter who wins, it just won't feel convincing…"
Kuroha's face showed a wry smile.
"Feels just like the talk back during Oguri Cap's Classic Triple Crown days…"
He shut off his phone, not bothering to scroll further.
After quickly finishing his breakfast and tidying up the dishes, he sat down at his desk, switched on the computer, and navigated to Central Tracen Academy's official site.
He pulled up the dense schedule of the new racing year.
With his team returning soon, he had to be ready.
If I recall, Aoi sent me a pre-screened file not long ago.
Kuroha searched his folders.
By now, all the girls on his team had graduated from their Classic year into their Senior year. Many Classic-only races were no longer available, so they'd already been filtered out.
That work, naturally, had been handled by his assistant.
Kiryuin Aoi, as Kuroha's trainee trainer, had even spent her holiday popping by to ask him for advice. It left Kuroha both pleased and helpless. Still, her work was thorough.
(From this point onward, the races follow the modern reformed structure, otherwise the list would be messy.)
The G1 races of spring numbered four:
Osaka Hai
Spring Tenno Sho
Yasuda Kinen
Takarazuka Kinen
And, due to last year's reforms allowing Central Uma Musume to participate in local events, there was also one local G1: the Teio Sho.
Beyond those five G1s, there were plenty of G2s—Nakayama Kinen, Hanshin Daishoten, Nikkei Sho, Hanshin Himba Stakes, Sankei Osaka Hai, Meguro Kinen, and many more.
And G3s? Too many to count.
"The Teio Sho is a dirt race… the only ones with strong dirt aptitude are March and Little Inari…"
Looking over the chart, Kuroha quickly made his first draft of assignments:
Inari One → Spring Tenno Sho (late April) + Takarazuka Kinen (late June).
Fujimasa March → Osaka Hai + Teio Sho.
Chiyono O → Yasuda Kinen.
Ardan → Just reached True Blooming at the end of last season; she'd first get G2 experience to build up, then aim for G1s in the autumn.
Obey Your Master → Though a foreign horse girl, she was unlike Grass Wonder. She could freely join all Central races.
Grass Wonder's case was unique: born in Japan, then transferred nationality abroad, and later back again. That triggered a strange URA regulation.
Any Uma Musume who changed from domestic to foreign nationality, then back again, faced a four-year Central ban, able only to race locally.
That's why a prodigy like Grass Wonder had to lie dormant so long.
But Obey Your Master was different—she had always been foreign. When she transferred in, the rule simply didn't apply.
Kuroha had laughed when he read up on those rules before her transfer.
Go from 1 → 2 → 1, and URA comes down on you like a hammer. But start as 2 and transfer to 1? No problem at all. Ridiculous.
Thanks to that, he was free to let her enter whatever events he liked. For spring, he planned to give her a few G2 appearances to show her face. Like Ardan, her true test would come in autumn—once Oguri Cap and the other titans returned.
(End of Chapter)
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