The track at Kasamatsu Academy was edged with gold by the afternoon sun, and the grass along either side swayed gently in the breeze.
Oguri Cap cut across the green like a streak of silver lightning. Her stride was steady and powerful, every footfall carrying a clear rhythm.
Her breathing was even, her shoulders loose, and her long gray hair streamed behind her as she ran.
No one watching her now would have imagined that half a year ago, her steps had been brought to a halt by injury.
For any competitor, an eight-month recovery period meant uncertainty in form and the possibility of decline.
Yet Oguri Cap now seemed to have quietly turned that blank stretch of time into tougher sinews and an even hotter hunger.
She gradually accelerated down the straight. In the final stretch, there was even the faint sound of wind splitting apart, until she slowly eased her pace and turned toward the edge of the track.
Sakuraba stood outside the rail, still holding the phone he had just used to refresh the race schedule. On the screen were previews for several graded races in the second half of the year.
He looked up and saw Oguri Cap stop in front of him. Those eyes of hers, always calm and focused, held a faint glimmer.
She lifted a hand and lightly patted her own chest, the motion direct and serious.
"Ryo," she said, her voice not loud, but each word clear. "I'm all right now. In the second half of the year, I'll keep winning."
The corner of Sakuraba's mouth moved. For a moment, he honestly did not know what expression he was supposed to make.
Oguri Cap recovering was, of course, a good thing.
But another feeling quietly coiled up inside him like a tiny vine.
Sunday Silence had taken the American Triple Crown in the first half of the year, already leaving his loss-making plan on the verge of collapse.
Now Oguri Cap was making her return. With her current state of recovery and her usual dominance on the track, the prize pools in the second half of the year looked as though they had been filled in advance just for her.
"Mm... You've recovered pretty well."
Sakuraba tried to make his voice sound relaxed, but he could not help grinding his molars in secret.
He could practically hear the chime of prize money entering his account, one bright, piercing sound after another.
Oguri Cap seemed not to notice his complicated inner turmoil. She only nodded seriously again and turned to look toward the far end of the track, as though she were already rehearsing the races to come in her mind.
The wind lifted the hair over her forehead, and the line of her profile looked gentle in the light, yet full of strength.
Sakuraba silently turned off his phone screen and slipped it back into his pocket.
Looking at the girl's back, he let out a long sigh in his heart.
Winning races is a good thing, but for someone like me, who's trying to lose money...
Why does it feel this painfully refreshing?
Sakuraba rubbed his temple, forcibly pushed down the imaginary prize-money notifications chiming in his head, and changed the subject.
"So how has Kitahara arranged your schedule for the second half of the year?"
Oguri Cap tilted her head and thought for a moment before answering at an even pace.
"Kitahara said that if my recovery is going well, I'll start with the Mainichi Okan in October to test the waters."
"If I win the Mainichi Okan, I'll go on to the Tenno Sho (Autumn) at the end of October."
"I won the Tenno Sho (Autumn) last year. I don't want to hand this year's victory to anyone else either."
After listening, Sakuraba quickly calculated it in his mind.
As a G2 race, the Mainichi Okan was moderate in difficulty. It was indeed a good choice for checking her recovery and finding her race rhythm again.
If she cleared it smoothly, she would immediately challenge the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn). The schedule was tightly connected, and the goal was clear.
Kitahara had arranged things steadily. One could even say... a little too steadily.
He could not help glancing again at Oguri Cap beside him. Her breathing was even, her eyes were clear, and the sharp momentum she had shown while running earlier made it impossible to tell that she had spent eight months recovering.
Based on how Sakuraba felt right now, if he were her trainer, he might already be itching to push her onto the track immediately. Why wait until October?
Kitahara's caution was practically that of someone handling a fragile antique.
Still... Sakuraba thought about it from another angle, and the corners of his mouth could not help quietly curving upward.
Caution is good!
Kitahara!
If she only returned in October, then even at full count, there would only be three months left this year for her to run graded races.
Compared to the terrifying possibility of her returning now and winning from summer all the way to the end of the year, pushing her schedule back by a full two months was practically a "delayed gratification" gift package for Sakuraba's grand loss-making cause.
Two fewer months of races meant several fewer graded races won. And that prize money income... would naturally shrink, wouldn't it?
"Mm, that's a fairly reasonable arrangement." Sakuraba nodded, doing his best to make his tone sound merely objective. "Step by step, steady and solid. Kitahara is being very thorough."
Oguri Cap seemed to accept his words. She gave a soft mm, then looked back toward the distant track, as though she had already rehearsed the October race countless times in her mind.
Sakuraba secretly breathed a sigh of relief, his mood subtly improving.
Earning a little less counts as losing money too.
Oguri Cap looked at Sakuraba, clear confusion rising in those always-translucent eyes of hers. "Ryo, why did we have to come back to Kasamatsu specially?"
She paused, then added, "I could rest and train at Central too."
Her confusion was very direct. Returning all the way to Kasamatsu seemed as if it only added unnecessary travel.
Sakuraba had long expected her to ask, so he explained with a natural expression.
"Because the Cinderella Gray manga is too popular now. Your old friends from your regional days—March, Norn, and the others—all said they really wanted to see you."
"And your recovery training has reached a stopping point, so I brought you back to get together with them."
His explanation was perfectly reasonable, and there was even a faint, considerate smile in his voice.
Oguri Cap listened and softly went, "Ah." The trace of confusion in her eyes dissolved, replaced by a gentle warmth.
"March, Norn..."
She murmured those two names, and the corners of her mouth rose unconsciously.
To her, the days at Kasamatsu had been difficult, but they were filled with memories of running side by side and supporting one another.
Being able to see them again was indeed something that made her happy.
"Mm."
She nodded and asked no further questions, clearly accepting that reason.
Sakuraba secretly breathed a sigh of relief. His face remained calm, but another thought was turning in his mind.
Bringing Oguri Cap back to Kasamatsu was, of course, not just for seeing old friends.
That was only a convenient excuse.
The real reason lay in the plan that had begun to form the moment he saw the ranking Tracen Academy had released.
Had Central not loudly published that ranking with origin labels attached?
Had they not hung the word Kasamatsu after Oguri Cap's name like a medal, seemingly acknowledging her magnanimously while secretly implying a contest?
Then he would personally bring Oguri Cap back to Kasamatsu.
Back to the place where she had begun. Back to the place represented by a name now remembered by countless people because of her.
That in itself was a silent response.
Didn't Central want to emphasize regional origin?
Didn't they want to frame this contest as a showdown between "Central's training system" and "the legend of a regional rise"?
Then he would let Oguri Cap face their so-called representative battle from the soil where she had first taken root, in the fullest form of someone from Kasamatsu.
This was not running away, nor was it showing weakness.
It was a proactive provocation.
Where Oguri came from was where she would set out again.
Her roots were in Kasamatsu, and her legend extended from here. No matter how Central tried to define or absorb her through a ranking, she did not need to cling to any halo, because she herself was the light.
Of course, Sakuraba would not spell out any of these twists and turns to Oguri Cap.
She only needed to be happy about seeing her old friends and focus on training and racing.
As for the undercurrents between academies, the struggle over reputation, and his own tangled feelings caught between his desire to lose money and his accidental success...
He would quietly digest all that himself.
Before bringing Oguri Cap back to Kasamatsu, Sakuraba did one more thing.
Through a certain casual channel, he sent a simple message to Tracen Academy:
"Oguri Cap will complete the final stage of her recovery training at Kasamatsu and return to the track in peak condition."
On the surface, this message looked like nothing more than a notice of her itinerary, but in the current delicate atmosphere, its meaning became especially different.
Once Central felt a clear provocation and pressure from the regional camp, they would only become more eager to prove themselves. They would only invest even more resources, whatever the cost, into polishing Inari One.
Training would become harsher, tactics would be studied more deeply, and support would become more comprehensive.
Inari One would be honed sharper, and more dangerous.
And that was exactly what Sakuraba wanted to see.
"The stronger Oguri's opponent is, the higher the chance she stumbles... Even if it only makes her win a little less easily and take a little less prize money, that's a huge gain!"
Sakuraba could practically see it already: Inari One redoubling her training on Tracen Academy's training grounds.
He could see the resolve on Symboli Rudolf's cold face growing even firmer.
Pressure?
Provocation?
The honor and disgrace of an academy?
None of that mattered.
In Sakuraba's calculations, all of it would ultimately turn into an increase in Inari One's combat power, into variables on Oguri Cap's path to victory, into shining little stars of hope for his grand loss-making cause.
"Do your best, everyone at Central,"
Sakuraba silently murmured in his heart as he looked out the window at Kasamatsu's familiar scenery.
"Train Inari One even harder. Make her even stronger. Ideally strong enough... to make things difficult even for Oguri."
He could almost hear the sound of his loss-making account, dormant for so long, trembling faintly because of it.
Provocation was a stance, and it was also bait.
Sakuraba sat back calmly, waiting to see what waves the river he had muddied would kick up.
After confirming Oguri Cap's second-half schedule, Sakuraba hardly hesitated before logging into an anonymous forum account that carried considerable influence in Umamusume fan circles.
His fingers flew across the keyboard as he posted a message that looked simple, but contained plenty of information:
"According to reliable sources, Oguri Cap's return race has been decided—October, Mainichi Okan (G2). Her condition has recovered extremely well, and her sights are set on consecutive victories."
There was no extra embellishment, no emotional incitement. It read like a plain race preview.
But at this point in time, especially with Cinderella Gray's popularity still exploding and Oguri Cap having been silent for more than half a year due to injury, this message instantly detonated the forum.
[Really?! Oguri is coming back?!]
[Mainichi Okan! That's a good race to check her form!]
[We waited so long and finally got news... This is great!]
[The Gray Monster returns! I'm already excited!]
[Setting out again from Kasamatsu? That feels so destined.]
The fans' excitement and anticipation almost spilled out of the screen.
The long wait, the nostalgic boost brought by the manga, and their unconditional trust in Oguri Cap's strength all transformed into burning attention on this comeback race.
Sakuraba's message soothed the fans' anxious hearts at exactly the right time, and also locked the focus of public opinion onto October's track in advance.
However, Sakuraba's purpose went far beyond that.
He calmly closed the forum page, the faintest curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.
This message was also meant for Tracen Academy to see.
Do you see it?
Oguri Cap's comeback route and first-race target are laid out clearly right here.
The Mainichi Okan is only the beginning. Right after that comes the Tenno Sho (Autumn).
Her ambition and her rhythm are completely undisguised.
And we have returned, openly and honorably, from right here in Kasamatsu.
This was no different from a letter of challenge delivered in advance.
How would Central react?
When Symboli Rudolf saw this message, her amethyst eyes would probably become even sharper.
Chairwoman Akikawa might lower her head in thought, pondering the deeper meaning behind it.
And Inari One, the chosen standard-bearer, would surely feel the pressure from her opponent even more directly through that fox mask of hers.
"Let me build up your rage meter for you."
Sakuraba murmured to himself, a hint of mischief flashing through his eyes.
Pressure would turn into motivation, and provocation would ignite an even stronger fighting spirit.
For the sake of maintaining the dignity of the strongest, and to prove that the representative they had chosen was enough to contend with, or even suppress, this Gray Monster returning from the regional circuit, Tracen Academy would only pour even more effort into tempering Inari One.
Resource allocation, tactical discussions, targeted training...
Everything would revolve around the central goal of "how to stop Oguri Cap at the Mainichi Okan and even the Tenno Sho (Autumn)."
And this was exactly the situation Sakuraba most wanted to see.
The stronger the opponent, the greater the variables.
The greater the variables, the higher his chances of losing money.
This was Sakuraba's play!
A truly capable investor~
Sakuraba looked at the computer screen, as though he could see through the internet to the intense preparations on the other side.
Bring out all your best tricks and give Oguri a proper reception. Please don't disappoint me.
He could practically see it already: the training halls of Tracen Academy brightly lit, Inari One doubling down to refine her explosiveness and tactical execution.
He could see Symboli Rudolf and the trainer team repeatedly simulating every possible scenario on the track.
He could see the solemn, razor-sharp atmosphere gathering throughout Central because of this letter of challenge.
All of it would ultimately become a more intense clash on the track, and a sturdier obstacle on Oguri Cap's path to victory.
Sakuraba leaned back into his chair in satisfaction, feeling that his grand loss-making cause had taken another small but steady step forward.
The fans' expectations had been satisfied, Central's fighting spirit had been ignited, and he would quietly wait for the day when he could lose money.
So many gains with one move. Why not?
---
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