"Ahh, thriving!"
"Our Tracen Academy is absolutely thriving!"
Tracen Academy, the chairwoman's office.
A young Umamusume girl with waist-length orange hair sat in the chairwoman's seat, letting out a deeply contented sigh.
She was none other than the chairwoman of Japan's Tracen Academy—Yayoi Akikawa.
The true administrator of the academy.
Though she looked incredibly petite, almost like a middle schooler at a glance, she was indeed the academy's highest authority. Even Symboli Rudolf, known as the Emperor, did not have more power in this academy than she did.
Yet as the chairwoman of Japan's Central institution, her days could honestly be called incredibly comfortable.
As student council president, Symboli Rudolf was far too capable.
Whenever any problem arose within the academy, Symboli Rudolf would handle it immediately, and handle it extremely well at that. There was basically no need for Yayoi Akikawa to step in personally.
So in truth, Yayoi Akikawa's position as chairwoman was remarkably easy. There were hardly any urgent matters that required her attention. All she had to do was act like a mascot and go on inspection trips around Japan.
Easy, easy~
Having capable subordinates really did make all the difference. She did not have to think about most things herself. It was simply delightful.
Being a hands-off boss felt amazing.
And to be honest, Yayoi Akikawa did not really like keeping herself in a state of high-intensity work all the time.
Given the choice, she would much rather spend her time playing with the little cat she kept.
I keep telling everyone slacking off is the proper way. Does anyone else get it?
"Hehe~ How peaceful. What a life~"
Just as Yayoi Akikawa was blissfully slacking off and chuckling to herself, someone knocked on the door to the chairwoman's office.
"Chairwoman Akikawa."
Symboli Rudolf's voice came from outside the door, and Yayoi Akikawa's eyes lit up.
"Oh, Rudolf. Come in, come in."
Ah, her beloved right-hand woman had come. She had to make sure to receive her properly!
Yayoi Akikawa went to greet Symboli Rudolf with a smile on her face, but Symboli Rudolf's expression as she pushed open the door and entered was not nearly so relaxed.
"Hm? Rudolf, why such a serious face? Have you been too busy lately?"
When Yayoi Akikawa saw Symboli Rudolf's expression, she thought her own excessive slacking must have caused Symboli Rudolf to accumulate too much fatigue.
"..."
Symboli Rudolf shook her head.
"There is actually something I would like to discuss with you."
"Huh?"
A puzzled look appeared on Yayoi Akikawa's face.
"What could you need to discuss with me?"
"Please take a look at this..."
"This is...?"
Yayoi Akikawa accepted the documents Symboli Rudolf handed her.
"This is... the statistics for the new Umamusume students entering in July... Hm? Isn't this quite good? Is there something wrong with these numbers?"
The young chairwoman was a little confused. The data looked perfectly fine, didn't it? What was the problem?
But Symboli Rudolf only shook her head.
"The number of new Umamusume students applying to Tracen Academy this year has decreased by ten percent compared to last year."
"Huh?"
Yayoi Akikawa's expression filled with surprise. She carefully compared the figures in the documents, and found that the number of students entering this year was indeed much lower than last year.
What was going on?
That shouldn't be possible...
As the greatest academy in all Japan, Tracen Academy had massive numbers of new-generation Umamusume applying every year.
How could there possibly be such a sharp drop in enrollment?
Impossible!
"What's going on, Rudolf? This isn't right, is it?"
"Why are there fewer new students? That shouldn't be happening. Besides Tracen Academy, those new students shouldn't have anywhere else to go..."
"They all went to Nishikino..."
Symboli Rudolf answered Yayoi Akikawa's question.
"Nishikino...? How could that be? Isn't that a regional academy?"
Yayoi Akikawa had indeed heard the name Nishikino recently.
After all, a regional academy had produced an American Triple Crown winner. Such a legendary feat had actually happened, so as chairwoman, it would have been impossible for her not to hear about it.
But she truly had not expected the matter to have such a tremendous impact.
It was actually affecting Tracen Academy's admissions?
Had Nishikino Academy really developed to the point where it could compete with Tracen Academy for students?
How was that possible?
Nishikino Academy was only a regional academy!
How had they trained an American Triple Crown winner?
"Chairwoman Akikawa, Nishikino Academy has already developed to this point. How should we respond?"
Symboli Rudolf looked at Yayoi Akikawa seriously as she asked.
"The Central Racing Association we work with hopes that we can curb Nishikino's momentum. It seems they do not have complete confidence in us as Japan's strongest academy."
"They mean they want us to suppress Nishikino Academy...?"
Yayoi Akikawa thought for a moment and more or less understood what the Central Racing Association was getting at.
The reason Tracen Academy was the Central institution was naturally because it was the strongest Tracen academy in all Japan, and because it had national-level backing from the Central Racing Association.
That was why they were Central.
But if they failed to defend their title as the strongest, then naturally, the public credibility of the Central Racing Association backing Tracen Academy would decline.
So when it came to protecting the title of Central, they were probably even more anxious than Yayoi Akikawa.
As far as Yayoi Akikawa was concerned, the title of strongest did not matter all that much. Her goal had been to found a Tracen academy where every Umamusume in Japan would have the chance to realize her dream.
The title of strongest was not particularly important for achieving that goal.
After all, the current Tracen Academy had already become the shape of the dream she had built.
One could say that Yayoi Akikawa's dream had already been realized.
So in truth, she did not care much about the title of strongest at all.
It did not matter who was Central or who was regional.
The existence of Tracen Academy itself was already her dream.
However, while she did not care about the title of strongest, Yayoi Akikawa had no reason to deliberately hand that title away either.
After all, keeping the title of strongest was also helpful for the continued existence of this dream academy of hers.
So she did not intend to simply give it up.
"Rudolf, why do you think Nishikino Academy is currently able to steal our students?"
Yayoi Akikawa asked her beloved right-hand woman.
"The racers."
Symboli Rudolf answered directly.
"Exactly. The racers!"
Yayoi Akikawa said with a smile.
"Because they trained Tamamo Cross. Because they trained Sunday Silence. That is why these new students are choosing a school other than Tracen Academy."
"Then all we need to do is train outstanding Umamusume ourselves, no?"
"If we train Umamusume who are even stronger than Nishikino's and defeat them fair and square on the racetrack, then naturally, everyone will choose us in order to become stronger."
"That is the orthodox approach."
"That is how the strongest should fight."
Yayoi Akikawa drew a small folding fan from her sleeve and snapped it open with a sharp flick.
She smiled at Symboli Rudolf and said,
"Since we are the strongest Tracen academy, then we should train the strongest Umamusume, shouldn't we?"
"Suppress Nishikino through other means? Only third-rate people would choose a method like that!"
"We will use our students to declare war on Nishikino! Let the Umamusume we have trained settle it fair and square on the racetrack!"
"Then, beneath the eyes of the world, let everyone judge which side is truly the strongest!"
"The world will naturally make the fairest judgment!"
Inside the chairwoman's office, the petite young chairwoman made her declaration to Symboli Rudolf with a confident smile.
Clearly, she held absolute confidence in Tracen Academy.
That confidence even infected Symboli Rudolf, making her own heart stir slightly.
For a moment, Symboli Rudolf felt that Yayoi Akikawa was right.
If they wanted to defend the title of strongest, then all they had to do was show the strongest performance.
That was the proper way.
But would things really go that smoothly...?
Sakuraba's figure flashed through Symboli Rudolf's mind, and she could not help muttering inwardly.
---
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