Northerly had donned his disguise once more as he made his way to the meeting place. The racing club was eager to have him at their next meeting, with an emphasis on it being pre-scrimmage.
He wasn't overly pleased about this taking time out of his training, but he hoped something good would come of it.
He followed the map on his phone to a small café where they spotted him almost immediately.
They sat at a corner booth and beckoned him over. He bumped into several people as he weaved through the café's many small tables. Without his tail, his special awareness was far worse. It was quite disorienting.
Kazou moved aside to let Northerly in.
"And thus, the first full racing club meeting commences!" Shuji raised his drink as though the others were going to do the same.
"What is on today's agenda?" Northerly enquired.
"Today we begin the first stage of our master plan." Shuji turned to Royta, who spun his laptop around for everybody to see.
On the laptop was a document labelled 'Master Plan!'
Royta cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses before beginning his explanation of the plan.
"We have been trying for some time now to get closer to Umamusume races. We used to love watching them and always wondered how they trained for such big events." He sounded like Northerly, except he was watching it while Northerly lived it.
"Kazou has been our very kind test subject as of recent history. We have put him through a toned-down version of an Umamusume training regimen. During that time, I have come to acquire a trainer's licence." Northerly was starting to understand what this master plan may entail.
"We now have a trainer, being myself. Someone who understands the training to its fullest extent, Kazou and Shuji, who has spent his time researching Umamusume and organising club meetings." He sounded quite proud of himself.
"Until recently, we had no way of knowing more than the things made public about Tracen's Umamusume. But at the Satsuki Sho, we met you, North. And for whatever reason, you knew a lot about Ryan and her training." That was NOT good, but Northerly Nodded along.
"Here comes our master plan. You have some way of getting information about the newest generation of racers. And we got approval to go scout at this upcoming scrimmage." Northerly held his shock; what exactly had he gotten himself into?
Royta turned everyone's attention to his laptop.
"Here we have compiled a list of all the Umamusume we would like to try, and scout based on evidence we gathered online. My question is, what do you think, North?"
He began to sweat as he read the list.
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Top 5 up-and-coming Umamusume.
1- Mejiro McQueen: 'McQueen is from a long line of impressive racers, and if her sister Ryan is anything to go by, she is destined for greatness.'
2- Gold City: 'City is already famous in the modelling world, and training here would most certainly put a spotlight on us. It would be good for future endeavours.'
3- Nice Nature: 'Her pre-Tracen race record was strong, and she has potential, definitely a lesser-known Uma, so it would likely be a safe choice'
4- Kawakami Princess: 'All reports say she is a ferocious Umamusume; however, she may be hard to handle. Still, there is lots of potential'
5- Northerly: 'She is basically invisible outside of a small Umastagram and a video from earlier in the year, which suggested she could rival McQueen. A risky pick, but we're unlikely to face opposition.'
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His worst nightmares just became a reality. The people who sat before him already knew his identity. The only thing stopping them from figuring it out was the sheer absurdity of his existence.
Kazou turned to him with a quiet eagerness.
"So do you know anything about them?" he seemed to be slightly unserious at first, but Northerly's shock seemed to make them realise he truly did know something.
"I knew you did, Royta didn't believe we had struck gold, but I said I reckon he'll know something" Kazou was now fully invested in getting an answer.
He had to come up with something, unlike usual; he didn't have time to formulate a flawless answer.
"I know of three..." he stammered, the start of his response.
"Know of what?" They asked almost in unison.
He talks slowly so as not to give himself away; it was better to sound strange than to say something suspicious.
"City is very good at avoiding unwanted attention; it will be hard to get her to hear you guys out." He waited for a response, but they seemed to want more.
"McQueen is very famous, as you said. It will be hard to get her to accept you guys over someone with a prior record." They still wanted more. Northerly began to panic.
"I do not know much about Nature or Princess, so I can not help you there." He realised as soon as he finished the sentence, unfortunately, so did they.
"What about Northerly?" Shuji narrowed his eyes.
"I think I can get you something by this afternoon..." That was most certainly not a good answer. If only he had known this ahead of time, the responses would have been less suspicious. Luckily or unluckily, his words were the best answer they could have asked for.
"For real? That's amazing! Looks like we truly did strike gold, Royta. As promised, we won't ask how you know. After all, not that all of it was news to us. But we will be waiting on your call." He excitedly yammered his response.
Shortly thereafter, the meeting was adjourned, and Northerly anxiously made his way back to Tracen.
He went home via a shrine near the academy, hiding in the nearby woods to don his gym uniform.
He decided to follow the racing clubs Umastagram with his own. He messaged them saying that he had told 'Northerly' to follow them so 'she' could see what they were all about before 'her' scrimmage.
He was glad to have to jog back to Tracen, anything to take his mind off the mess he put himself in. In any case, it would serve as a welcome warmup before his afternoon training with Ryan.
When he arrived, as he had expected, she was already hard at work in the gym.
Surrounding her were several books and a whiteboard scrawled with various racing strategies and training regimens. That was a tad odd.
"What is all this?" He asked, approaching Ryan's frantic scrawl.
Ryan finished her set before answering. Wiping the sweat from her hair and tail as was custom for her.
"It's the start of my Derby training plan."
Northerly furrowed his brow.
"It is certainly... Abstract."
"I'm still working out the kinks; my trainer had some advice for me, but I wanted some more intimate knowledge." She sounded as though she was a little disappointed in her trainer.
"Where did you get this from then?" He puzzled as he picked up a book from her pile.
"Ticket, Flash and Ayabe, they all won the Derby, so I asked them for advice." She paused to gaze at the board for a moment.
The Japanese Derby; a 2400-meter medium-distance turf race here in Tokyo. It is the second race in the Triple Crown, but the most anticipated of the three. They say the luckiest Umamusume wins the derby.
He read over her training plan again.
"It seems a little mismatched."
Ryan chuckled at his bluntness.
"I suppose it is, but I needed something to give me an edge over Ines." Her ears flicked uncomfortably as she expressed her desire to best her rival.
"Does your trainer not have the best plan for you?" He asked.
"His methods are unconventional. I worry they won't be enough." She frowned as she picked up a small notebook.
"What did he want you to do?" Northerly wondered why Ryan would reject the advice of her trainer.
"He thinks that if I'm more open about myself, I can perform better. So, he hasn't changed the training plan at all."
"What does he want you to open up about?" She didn't understand the irony of that question.
But she did go quite red in the face, turning away to hide her embarrassment.
"Like, my hobbies and what I like to do"
"Other than the gym?" He hadn't really gotten to know her outside of the gym, so this was interesting.
"You wouldn't tell anyone, right?" She turned to face him; she had somewhat got her blushing under control.
"Of course not." He absolutely could not afford to break her trust.
She took a deep breath before quietly mumbling an embarrassed answer.
"I like romance..." She began to turn red and once again turned away.
"But NO ONE needs to know that. My muscles are what do the talking. I can't have them thinking I'm a softie." She swung back around with the same confident pose she had when she won the Satsuki Sho. Evidently, she was trying to psyche herself up.
"I will not tell a soul" He clasped his hands over his mouth as he spoke for extra reassurance.
"Good, now we have a workout to do!" She threw some ankle weights at him before moving to the treadmills.
It was a brutal workout; he was glad he had a scarf to hide his smile.
He couldn't help but think to himself that her confession was rather cute.