After confirming the general direction of their response to Nishikino Academy with Yayoi Akikawa, Symboli Rudolf also prepared to begin her own plan.
Since they were going to face Nishikino Academy head-on, then as Yayoi Akikawa had said, they needed to cultivate a strength that would leave everyone speechless.
In the current Japanese circuit, only two Umamusume had achieved that.
Tamamo Cross and Oguri Cap.
Tamamo Cross belonged to Nishikino.
So she did not count.
And Oguri Cap... was far too close to Sakuraba. Trying to recruit her to compete against Nishikino would not be a good choice.
"Someone who can compete with Oguri Cap..."
Several names passed through Symboli Rudolf's mind.
Yaeno Muteki?
Last year's Satsuki Sho champion... She had good potential. If time were spent focusing on her training, she seemed promising as well...
Super Creek...
Last year's Kikuka Sho champion.
She had also shown an extremely impressive performance in the Arima Kinen.
If Tamamo Cross and Oguri Cap had not participated in that race, then Super Creek probably would have been the brightest new star of the race.
In other words, Super Creek should currently be the closest existence to Oguri Cap within Central.
If she had to choose someone to carry Tracen Academy's banner, Super Creek would undoubtedly be the best choice.
But Symboli Rudolf was still not quite satisfied with that choice...
"Although Creek is strong enough... without some kind of variable, she won't be able to surpass the Umamusume Sakuraba has trained."
Sakuraba's figure lingered in Symboli Rudolf's mind.
That investor had given her far too many surprises.
If she did not add a little unpredictability to the situation, even Symboli Rudolf could not say for certain what strange trick that man might pull next.
She had the feeling that if things continued along their normal course, their odds of winning were rather delicate.
Symboli Rudolf's intuition was telling her so.
"...Then I'll prepare on two fronts."
"If one person might not be enough to stand against Oguri Cap, then I just need to find another!"
Symboli Rudolf fell into thought, an idea flashing through her mind.
"Right. C.B. mentioned a regional Umamusume to me before..."
"If it's her... Hmph. I have a good idea."
A strange light flickered in Symboli Rudolf's clear, amethyst-like eyes, and the smile curving her lips revealed that she was in quite a good mood.
Since Nishikino Academy was using regional Umamusume to defy Central...
Then as Central, all she had to do was directly recruit those promising regional Umamusume, right?
Use recruited regional Umamusume to fight Nishikino.
If the regional Umamusume trained by Central turned out even more outstanding than Nishikino Academy's, then wouldn't that perfectly prove Tracen Academy's superiority?
A good plan!
And just as Symboli Rudolf was brewing her new plan, time reached July.
A month had passed since Sunday Silence won the American Triple Crown, and Sakuraba had brought her back to Nishikino Academy.
During this period, apart from losing money, Sakuraba had also rarely enjoyed a stretch of thoroughly shameless days.
As for how exactly they were shameless...
In short, Sunday Silence and Obey Your Master took turns.
Thankfully, the recovery ability from the Innate Physique provided by the system was top-tier.
Otherwise, Sakuraba felt he probably would have raised both hands and surrendered during this period.
However, during this period, Sakuraba also accidentally used the [Riding] Skill while interacting with the girls.
With this Skill, Sakuraba actually managed to gain the upper hand for a while during his one-on-one encounters with them.
Holy crap, what a god-tier Skill!
Although the gap in physical ability between him and the girls was simply too enormous, so the time Sakuraba could maintain the upper hand was not especially long.
But at least he had gained some initiative!
Damn!
System!
I'll never slander you again!
Although I don't know why the hell you count Umamusume as a kind of vehicle, you did great! Thumbs up!
While he was living those shameless days, Sakuraba's loss-making plans were also proceeding steadily.
The rough draft for the Gray Cinderella manga was just about finished.
As an Oguri Cap fan, Kinosaki-sensei had put one hundred and twenty percent of his energy into this work.
The outline and first draft, which normally would have taken far longer to settle, were somehow finished by him in a single month.
He had also handed the outline of Gray Cinderella to the principal of Kasamatsu for review. After confirming there were no issues, they prepared to have it published in the magazine.
While reviewing the outline, the principal of Kasamatsu noticed that when Kinosaki wrote the bond between Oguri Cap and her trainer, he still had not settled on the trainer's appearance.
The principal immediately made the decision and sent Sakuraba's photo straight to Kinosaki.
"Huh? Isn't it a little bad to draw him based on a real person...?"
"It's fine, Kinosaki-sensei! Just draw him with that face! Sakuraba-san definitely won't mind!"
"O-okay..."
Kinosaki had no objection to the principal of Kasamatsu's suggestion.
Originally, he had still been worried that using a real person's face in the manga might not be quite appropriate. Since even the principal of Kasamatsu said so, he could draw without restraint.
At worst, if Sakuraba came knocking later, he would say the principal of Kasamatsu had instructed him to do it.
Better him than me.
If they come storming in, I'll be the first to run.
I'm just a lousy manga artist. Please don't drag me into disputes between you important people~
In any case, because Kinosaki's progress was so delightful, official warm-up for the start of Gray Cinderella's manga serialization also began.
After news spread that Gray Cinderella would soon begin serialization, a wave of heated discussion quickly rose across Japan's major online forums.
From anonymous boards to dedicated Umamusume fan communities, the name "Gray Cinderella" frequently appeared on trending charts, becoming the focus of many posts and comments.
"I heard Oguri Cap's biographical manga is finally going to be serialized! The title's Gray Cinderella. It fits so well!"
"From a regional Umamusume winning all the way to Central, then taking victory in the Japan Cup, and finally having a peak showdown with Tamamo Cross in the Arima Kinen! Isn't this basically a real-life Cinderella story?"
"The author is Kinosaki-sensei? His sports series are always solid. I'm looking forward to it!"
"And apparently the trainer is based on that investor, Sakuraba? The manga design is drawn directly from the real person?"
"For real? Does that mean we'll get to see Sakuraba-san turned into a manga character? I'm dying. I really want to see it!"
"For Oguri Cap, I'm definitely buying the hell out of this manga!!"
"It's not just Oguri Cap, right? I heard Tamamo Cross will appear too? Now I have to read it."
"Kasamatsu Academy's promotion is a huge success, lol. Once this manga comes out, won't it attract another bunch of newcomers to apply?"
"Speaking of which, hasn't Tracen Academy been a little quiet lately? Don't tell me they're preparing some big move too..."
"Whatever, focus on the manga first! The preview says the first chapter will have one of Oguri Cap's classic races from her regional days. I can't wait!"
Aside from the ordinary fans' anticipation, quite a few manga fans also began analyzing the work itself.
"Kinosaki-sensei's art style really suits this kind of hot-blooded sports series, especially the tension in race scenes. Oguri Cap's explosive late-charging style is going to look amazing."
"I hope they don't make any weird changes to the plot. Her real experiences are legendary enough."
"The bond scenes between the trainer and the Umamusume are the real essence... I wonder how they'll portray Sakuraba and Oguri Cap's interactions?"
"By the way, does the real Sakuraba-san know his face is being drawn into a manga? I wonder how he'll react. Lol."
"If this manga gets big, maybe it'll spark a whole creative boom for Umamusume stories. That'd be great!"
As the discussion continued to ferment, related tags such as "#GrayCinderellaSerializationCountdown" also began trending on social media.
Many fans even spontaneously made support illustrations, serialization calendars, or compiled Oguri Cap's race records and compared them against the manga previews.
Online and offline, a "Gray Cinderella fever" was quietly spreading.
Within that atmosphere, there were also calm voices offering reminders.
"Don't hype it up too much. It'll be awkward if the actual serialization falls short of expectations."
"But since it's an officially partnered work, the quality should be guaranteed, right?"
"Anyway, I'll buy first and think later! Support Oguri Cap!"
...
And so, amid everyone's eager anticipation, the serialization date for Gray Cinderella officially drew near.
Whether out of love for Umamusume culture, support for Oguri Cap herself, or simple curiosity about how this work that "intertwined reality and fiction" would be presented, more and more people turned their attention toward the manga magazine about to go on sale.
Meanwhile, at Kasamatsu Academy, the principal of Kasamatsu looked at the ever-rising clamor online and grinned so broadly he could hardly close his mouth.
"Now not only will the manga make money, the academy's reputation will rise another level too... Sakuraba-san truly is our lucky star!"
Originally, choosing Sakuraba as the male lead had only been his little private idea.
He had never expected it to generate discussion because of that. Truly, it had been a happy accident.
Wonderful!
Originally, most people actually did not know that Sakuraba existed.
Only a very small portion of fans knew that Oguri Cap was an Umamusume Sakuraba had invested in.
And through this matter, Sakuraba's name officially entered the sight of even more people.
Some people, out of curiosity, checked Sakuraba's history...
Only to unexpectedly discover that this investor who had invested in Oguri Cap was also Tamamo Cross's investor at the same time.
Not only that, but even the American Triple Crown Umamusume was connected to him!
For a time, people developed an extremely direct evaluation of Sakuraba's investment eye.
With insight that made anyone he picked take off like this—
Someone was clearly cheating!
Some busybody even gave Sakuraba an utterly ridiculous title.
"Huh? What do you mean I'm East Asia's Emperor of Umamusumes?"
Looking at the title people were calling him on the forum on his phone, Sakuraba's expression collapsed into a look of utter speechlessness.
---
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