The morning mist had not yet fully dispersed, yet outside a certain large bookstore in Tokyo, the scene was already bustling.
There was still almost an hour before the store officially opened, but the winding line had already stretched from the entrance along the sidewalk to the street corner, and it was still growing.
The people waiting were a mixed crowd. There were students in uniforms whispering excitedly to one another, and office workers in suits who had rushed over in the window before work.
"Hey, hey, isn't this line way too crazy? It's scarier than when the new volume of that national-level manga went on sale!"
In the middle of the line, a young man looked at the dense mass of heads ahead and could not help clicking his tongue.
"This is Cinderella Gray we're talking about! The forums have been going insane over it. Who doesn't want to see what kind of divine manga could trigger that whole anti-fan war?"
His friend beside him was scrolling on his phone without even looking up.
"I heard the hype is so huge now that even people outside the fandom have been pulled in. Look at that uncle in the suit up front, and those aunties over there. Do they look like people who usually read Umamusume manga?"
"Right? I'm one of the people who got curious because of that whole 'reverse selling' thing."
A man in front of them, carrying a briefcase, turned back and joined in with a wry smile.
"I didn't know a thing about Umamusume at first, but every day on Twitter, I saw people cursing it, then even more people desperately defending it. In the end, it made me too curious to ignore."
"I left early today specifically to buy this legendary manga."
Similar conversations sounded softly all throughout the line.
The air was filled with a mix of anticipation, curiosity, and a little impatience.
Many people had their phones in hand, screens lit up with forum discussions that were still boiling over.
At the end of this slightly noisy yet orderly crowd, near the corner where the street turned, one figure stood out as somewhat out of place.
It was a petite girl wearing Tracen Academy's uniform. The most eye-catching thing about her was the exquisitely made fox mask on her face. It had a white base, decorated with red patterns that outlined sly, lively brows and eyes. The mask hid the side of her face, leaving only a beautifully shaped chin and the faint curve of a smile that was not quite a smile.
Inari One's eyes darted around as she sized up the long line ahead and the still-closed glass doors of the bookstore.
"Uheh... There really are a lot of people."
She muttered softly, her voice slightly muffled by the mask.
"Can Oguri Cap really draw this many people just with her popularity alone?"
She lightly rose onto her toes, trying to see farther ahead. The fox-ear decorations on her mask swayed faintly along with the movement.
As an opponent already slated to face Oguri Cap on the racetrack, Inari One naturally kept a close eye on her.
Training and analyzing race footage were only the basics. And now, even the prequel to her opponent's story, dramatized in manga form, had sparked this kind of social phenomenon-level heat. There was simply no way she could not be curious.
"Hmph. Stealing the spotlight this much..."
Inari One folded her arms, her fingertips lightly tapping against the crook of her elbow.
"Let me see just what kind of path you've walked."
"If it's only some over-polished fairy tale... then on the real racetrack, I'll tear right through it without mercy."
Her gaze swept over several young people nearby who were enthusiastically discussing the manga, clearly veteran Umamusume fans, and the smile at the corner of her mouth deepened slightly.
Among these fans filled with love and support, she, a masked person in line with a certain investigative mindset, was like a little fox quietly slipping into a festival, carrying her own thoughts as she waited for the doors to open and reveal the true face of this work that had been pushed into the eye of the storm.
The morning light grew brighter, and bookstore staff began appearing inside the doors, making their final preparations.
A small stir went through the line. Many people instinctively tightened their grips on their wallets or phones and adjusted their posture, ready to charge.
Inari One also straightened her back slightly. Beneath the fox mask, her eyes lit with a sharp, expectant gleam.
At the appointed time, the bookstore doors slid open to both sides. The crowd that had been waiting for so long did not descend into the expected chaos, but instead flowed into the store with an urgent yet orderly rhythm under the gentle guidance of the staff.
Clearly, the bookstore was already well experienced in handling release days for popular works like this.
Wearing her fox mask, Inari One blended into the crowd, her steps light and quick.
Her target was clear—the newest issue of the weekly manga magazine, carrying the first installment of Cinderella Gray.
Unlike some readers, she did not rush straight to the special display stacks or go searching for possible poster bonuses. Instead, she accurately found the shelf where the weekly magazines were placed, neatly drew out a copy, turned, and headed to the register.
The whole process was so smooth there was almost not a second of delay.
After paying, she did not linger inside the bookstore, which was growing noisier by the moment. Holding the weekly magazine that still gave off the fresh scent of ink, she turned familiarly into a relatively quiet alley beside the bookstore.
At the mouth of the alley was a bench for people to rest on. At the moment, it was empty.
Inari One sat down, set her bag to the side, took a deep breath, and only then solemnly opened the weekly magazine in her hands.
The first thing that entered her eyes was the carefully designed opening page of the first chapter.
Oguri Cap's slightly inexperienced yet determined figure leapt vividly from the page, with the somewhat plain outline of Kasamatsu Academy's school buildings in the background.
Inari One did not let her gaze linger for long. She flipped directly to the first page of Gray Cinderella's main story.
Then, for an instant, her gaze froze slightly.
As an Umamusume determined to reach the summit, Inari One's dynamic vision and ability to catch details far surpassed an ordinary person's. She was also instinctively sensitive to rhythm and tension.
And the very first set of panels before her made her sense an extraordinary professionalism.
This was not the flat narration or slightly exaggerated combat-and-sports paneling of an ordinary manga.
The way these panels were used... carried an indescribable sense of camera work.
For this work into which he had poured his heart and soul, Kinosaki-sensei had truly given everything he had.
The generous compensation from the Kasamatsu principal, so generous that it made him feel a little frightened, not only allowed him to devote himself to creation without any worries, it also gave him the capital to polish every part of the work luxuriously.
And what he had poured the most effort into was the soul of this manga—the paneling.
He was not satisfied with relying only on his past experience. He knew very well that to tell a story fundamentally about running, growth, and emotion, the rhythm of the visuals and the narrative tension were crucial.
So he did something not often seen even in manga circles.
He spent a large amount of money and, through his connections, contacted a storyboard director who had quite a reputation in the industry. As it happened, the other party was also a hidden Umamusume fan, and Kinosaki spent a period of time privately consulting and learning from him.
He brought recordings of Oguri Cap's early races, some video materials provided by the Kasamatsu principal, and the rough plot sketches he had conceived to the director, humbly asking how to use static images to express the intensity of motion, the passage of time, the subtle shifts in emotion, and most importantly, that simple, earthy sense of strength that came from climbing upward from the very bottom.
The director, too, was moved by Kinosaki's sincerity and this unique story, and taught him everything he could about visual language, as well as "cinematic" techniques for controlling the reader's emotional rhythm through images.
And now, the results of all that learning and refinement were being laid completely before Inari One, and before thousands upon thousands of readers.
The opening of the manga did not rush to show Oguri Cap's astonishing talent for running. Instead, it used a series of clean, efficient panels full of everyday atmosphere to sketch out the character of the small town of Kasamatsu and the slightly lonely Kasamatsu Academy.
The perspective of the panels shifted constantly. At times, a wide shot from a slightly low angle showed the contrast between the sky and the school buildings. At other times, it switched to delicate close-ups, catching the light and shadow across the corridor floor or the worn guardrail beside the training grounds.
They were clearly only static black-and-white lines, yet they seemed to let people hear the wind, feel the warmth of the sunlight, and smell the dust and grass.
Inari One looked surprised.
Because she was also an Umamusume from the regional circuit, she felt it especially clearly.
This Kinosaki-sensei had actually captured the atmosphere of a regional academy with just a few panels?!
That atmosphere unique to the regional circuit, slightly sluggish yet full of life, had been depicted with penetrating detail.
And when Oguri Cap appeared and met Sakuraba, who seemed utterly ordinary and even a little clumsy at first, the brilliance of the paneling became even more apparent.
Their earliest interactions used many shots with slight distortions or playful angles, easing the rhythm of the narration and adding a sense of lightness.
What stirred Inari One the most was the depiction of training and running.
Through the switching of shot sizes and perspectives, Oguri Cap's figure as she ran across the crude training grounds actually conveyed a pure, steadily accumulating sense of power.
"These panels... are amazing."
Inari One murmured to herself, her brow lifting slightly beneath the mask.
She did not know what made a storyboard good or bad, but she understood very clearly whether something felt good to read.
This manga was incredible!
She had clearly come to read it with a somewhat critical mindset, yet now, she could not help being pulled into the story by its superb narrative technique.
It was only the beginning of the story of an Umamusume from the regional circuit whose goal seemed ordinary, yet it did not feel boring at all. Instead, it had a solid pull and a strong desire to make her turn the page.
However, what left an even deeper impression on her, and even caught her somewhat off guard, was the portrayal of the other protagonist—Sakuraba.
Kinosaki-sensei clearly brimmed with gratitude and creative passion toward this "patron."
In the manga, he spent lavish attention depicting how this trainer spared no cost and gave everything he had for Oguri Cap's growth and future.
The manga devoted quite a bit of space to showing how the trainer racked his brains to improve Oguri Cap's meals, from simple extra portions at first, to later studying nutrition specifically, creating customized meal plans, and even running around for the freshest ingredients; how he repaired and upgraded the crude training facilities little by little, adding equipment that, while not luxurious, was absolutely practical; and how he traveled everywhere and used every connection he had in order to secure race opportunities, find suitable opponents, and search for training methods...
Although the real Sakuraba had not done these things, and Sakuraba himself was not Oguri Cap's trainer...
None of that stopped Kinosaki from praising Sakuraba to the heavens in the work Cinderella Gray.
Under Kinosaki's pen, this trainer modeled after Sakuraba was fully shaped into a calm, reliable, farsighted, and selflessly devoted perfect guide.
He was not omnipotent, and he also encountered setbacks and embarrassment. But the focus and passion he showed, his willingness to give everything for an Umamusume's dream, were powerfully conveyed to the reader through page after page of the manga.
Inari One closed the weekly magazine in her hands, her fingertips lightly brushing over the gray figure on the cover.
The expression beneath the fox mask was complicated and hard to read. Her initial scrutiny and faint sense of competition had already been mostly melted away by the story itself and its exquisite narrative technique.
"...Uheh."
She let out a soft sigh of unclear meaning, her voice muffled behind the mask.
Setting aside her perspective as a rival and judging purely as a reader, the opening of this manga could only be called stunning.
Solid art, cinematic paneling, a delicate and realistic depiction of the regional atmosphere...
All of these had gone beyond the category of fan-oriented work. It possessed the true strength to become an excellent manga, and even to aim for a higher level.
What concerned her most, however, was the portrayal of Sakuraba, Oguri Cap's patron.
Kinosaki-sensei had spared no ink in portraying this patron almost perfectly.
His efforts, his foresight, his quiet yet unwavering support, and the way he gave everything for Oguri Cap's dream—under the careful paneling and plot arrangement, all of it gained an intense infectious power and personal charm.
This image of a "perfect guide" had always been extremely attractive in hot-blooded coming-of-age stories, and it could easily stir readers' admiration, trust, and even emotional projection.
"This 'Sakuraba' might become ridiculously popular..."
Inari One murmured softly. She could not help recalling the investor, Sakuraba-san, whom she had occasionally glimpsed from afar at Tracen Academy, always wearing an expression that made him impossible to read.
The manga version was undoubtedly artistically processed and idealized.
But precisely because there was a real-life model, this portrayal instead gained a strange layer of realism and topicality.
Readers would not be able to help wondering whether the real Sakuraba-san was also like this... or at least whether, in some respects, he had similar traces.
I wonder... what Sakuraba-san himself would think if he saw this?
That thought passed through Inari One's mind, and the corners of her mouth rose unconsciously.
Would he feel embarrassed by the exaggerated portrayal?
Would he find it interesting?
Or perhaps... would he not react at all?
She carefully placed the weekly magazine into her bag, stood up, and patted away nonexistent dust from the hem of her uniform skirt.
Outside the alley, the noise coming from the bookstore seemed even louder than before. It looked like the buying frenzy was still continuing.
Inari One took one last look at the light from the busy street spilling in through the mouth of the alley, then turned and walked in the other direction. Beneath the mask, the light in her eyes withdrew, settling into deeper thought.
It seemed Oguri Cap's story was not some fragile bubble at all. Instead, it was like an uncut jade polished with care, already dazzling the moment its edge was first revealed.
Inari One stretched.
"I'm so jealous of Oguri Cap. To think she has a fan who would draw such an amazing manga for her..."
"Hmph..."
"I want someone to draw a manga for me too—"
...
At the same time, in Sakuraba's dorm room at Nishikino Academy.
Sunlight poured through the window and cast bright patches across the floor, yet it could not dispel the almost tangible gloom spreading through one corner of the room.
Sakuraba remained slumped on the sofa and had not moved for a very long time.
In his hands, he also held the newest issue of the weekly manga magazine. The page it was opened to was the first installment of Cinderella Gray.
His eyes stared at the paper, but his pupils seemed to have lost focus.
As for the expression on his face... if one had to describe it, it was probably some hollow mixture of extreme shock, incomprehension, and the emptiness that followed the shattering of a dream.
It was as if an invisible hand had drained every bit of color from around him, leaving behind only gray-white residue drifting in the wind.
"..."
No sound.
Even his breathing was so faint it could barely be heard.
Time passed, second by second. Sakuraba's stiff gaze finally moved slowly from the beautifully composed, tension-filled manga panels to the name "Kinosaki" on the title page, then to the overly bright sky outside the window.
Then—
"..."
"Ah."
A short, dry syllable squeezed out of his throat.
Immediately after, like a rusty machine restarting, or a balloon being punctured, something compressed to its limit suddenly burst out.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
A tragic wail rang through the dormitory.
Sakuraba sprang up from the sofa. The weekly magazine in his hands was clenched unconsciously, the paper letting out a strained groan.
His eyes were wide and bloodshot, glaring fixedly at the vivid, wise, and heroic "himself" in the manga, and at Oguri Cap beside him, with her pure, determined eyes and her powerful running form.
"These panels... this plot... this characterization...!"
He growled incoherently, every word forced through his teeth.
"Is this the level a normal manga is supposed to have?! Huh?! Isn't the quality way over the line?!!"
Just earlier, carrying his last faint hope that the work itself would flop, he had shakily opened the manga.
And the result?
What came rushing at him was a sense of quality and appeal so high-end that even a complete outsider like him, who knew nothing about manga paneling, could feel it intuitively.
The art was fluid and dynamic, the narrative rhythm had tension and release, the regional atmosphere was vivid and tangible, and the character interactions were lively and interesting...
Especially the portrayal of "Trainer Sakuraba." That part was drawn with such lavish emphasis, such glorious majesty!
Even though he knew perfectly well that he had never done many of those things, the image created through the panels and dialogue almost moved him despite himself!
Is that me?
That's not me at all!
Damn it, why does the male lead in this manga feel even cooler than I am?!
I refuse to accept this!
What Sakuraba found even harder to accept was the quality of Cinderella Gray itself.
Where was the possibility of it being mediocre or slightly flawed?
This was clearly opening with an unbeatable hand, with the standard maxed out right from the start!
"I get it... I get it now..."
Sakuraba staggered back a step and leaned against the wall. The weekly magazine slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.
He raised both hands and clutched his head, his fingers digging deep into his hair.
"This art, these panels, this storytelling power... paired with this insane hype right now..."
A cold, cruel conclusion gradually became clear in his chaotic mind, then crashed down on him with a boom.
"This is definitely going to make money, isn't it?!!"
"No! No, no, no, no!!!"
As if burned by that conclusion, he shook his head violently and launched a despairing accusation at the empty room.
"Kinosaki-sensei has ruined me—!"
"How could you draw it like this?! Kinosaki-sensei! Where are your little artistic ideas?! Where's your artist's stubbornness?! Why did you draw it so seriously?! Why is it so good?!!"
"You were supposed to draw it into a pile of dogshit!! Let the plot go berserk! Let the characters collapse! Feed the logic to the dogs! Make the art style suddenly change! Anything would've worked!!"
He waved his arms as though shouting through the air at Kinosaki-sensei, far away in Kasamatsu.
"Then sales would have crashed! Word of mouth would have collapsed! My investment would have lost everything! That's how it should have gone! That was the correct development!!"
"I don't accept this result!! I don't accept it—!!!"
His final roar nearly cracked, echoing through the dormitory before gradually fading away, leaving only Sakuraba's rough breathing.
He slid down the wall and sat on the floor, staring hollowly at the ceiling as though all his strength had left him.
The last tiny firefly of hope had been burned so thoroughly by the blazing sun of Cinderella Gray's superb quality that not even ash remained.
His hope of losing money...
Seemed, truly, completely, hopelessly faint.
"I just... wanted to lose a little money..."
He murmured, his voice filled with endless exhaustion and confusion.
"Why is it so hard...?"
The sunlight remained bright, pouring through the window and landing directly on the fallen cover of Cinderella Gray. Oguri Cap's figure stood in the light, as though ready to charge toward some brilliant future.
And to Sakuraba, slumped in the corner, that radiance only felt even more... blinding and despairing.
Next Chapter: The Death of Sakuraba?