Tokyo Bay.
Sakuraba Ryo stood before the restless sea, his heart full of sorrow.
He was bankrupt.
Sakuraba had always been lucky.
He had approached the well-known local Satomi Company in Tokyo, proven his abilities, secured startup capital, and founded his own talent agency.
And after opening that agency, it was like he'd turned on cheats. One opportunity after another fell right into his lap, and the agency ended up producing an idol group with explosive popularity.
But just when Sakuraba thought he was finally about to live the kind of life where buying a 200-yen bottle of iced tea wouldn't make him wince, disaster struck.
Who could have expected that one of the idols under his company would suddenly be stabbed to death by an obsessed fan, causing a massive concert to be canceled outright?
The breach-of-contract penalties were astronomical, dealing a devastating blow to Sakuraba's company.
Fortunately, Sakuraba really had made quite a bit of money over the past few years through running the agency. After repaying the debts and the loan from Satomi Company, his assets hadn't gone negative.
They'd just been reduced to zero.
With no working capital left, the agency declared bankruptcy, exactly as expected.
As the boss, Sakuraba's pockets were now cleaner than his face. At present, he couldn't even afford a bowl of ramen from a street stall.
All in all, it had been an exceptionally unlucky experience.
The night wind off Tokyo Bay tousled Sakuraba's messy short hair, but hope still glimmered in his black eyes.
An upheaval this extreme had not completely crushed him.
The agency he had built through sheer blood and sweat had collapsed just like that. Sakuraba could neither accept it nor forgive it!
He was going to make a comeback!
And just then, he saw the hope that would let him rise again!
[DETECTED! HOST HAS GONE BANKRUPT FOR THE FIRST TIME. LOSS SYSTEM AWAKENED!]
[PLEASE CHOOSE A FIELD TO MAKE LOSSES. YOU WILL RECEIVE STARTUP CAPITAL ACCORDINGLY! COMPLETE A DESIGNATED LOSS QUOTA EACH MONTH TO RECEIVE EVEN MORE STARTUP CAPITAL!]
[ONCE THE FIELD IS CONFIRMED, IT CANNOT BE CHANGED. PLEASE CHOOSE CAREFULLY!]
That was right. A system.
The moment his savings hit zero, this mysterious voice had suddenly echoed in Sakuraba's mind.
Until he summoned the panel with his finger, he had genuinely thought the shock had driven him delirious.
But very quickly, he accepted reality.
Things couldn't possibly get any worse for him now. With the Loss System right in front of him, how could he possibly give up hope at this stage?
"A field to make losses, huh? So I should pick something with the highest possible chance of losing money."
Sakuraba started thinking about what kind of project he should choose. Very soon, he found his answer in the figure with animal ears on a billboard mounted to a nearby high-rise.
He was going to invest in Umamusume!
Umamusume—girls that are otherworldly.
They raced across the track, bringing dreams and hope to the people who watched them!
Of course, Sakuraba wasn't thinking about youth or dreams right now.
He was thinking about the smell of money behind the word.
Every single Umamusume racing on the track required an amount of money to train that was beyond what ordinary people could even imagine.
And more importantly...
Sakuraba knew only the barest surface-level basics about the world of Umamusume.
You can't make money from something beyond your understanding.
As someone who considered himself an excellent investor, Sakuraba treated that saying as gospel.
A guy like him, who knew absolutely nothing about Umamusume, only needed to invest in some Umamusume who looked like they had no chance of winning, send them into races, and let them lose.
Wouldn't that mean the money spent training them would go straight down the drain, while they'd also fail to recover anything through prize money?
If that happened, then wouldn't the system's monthly loss quota be easy to clear?
As for why he wasn't choosing something even more ruinous, like stocks...
Sakuraba had an answer for that too.
An investment method like stock trading, which relied almost entirely on luck, was far too unstable.
Sakuraba disliked investments that left his fate to chance.
Luck had helped him build his own company.
And luck had also destroyed that same company at the height of its success.
Having learned his lesson from that, and already resolved to make a comeback, he intended to be much more cautious this time.
He would take his fate into his own hands!
When it came to losing money, investing in a field he knew absolutely nothing about offered far more room to maneuver than gambling on stocks.
"I choose to invest in Umamusume!"
The moment Sakuraba spoke, the system panel updated.
[HOST HAS CHOSEN THE FIELD: UMAMUSUME]
[STARTUP CAPITAL OF 5,000,000 HAS BEEN ISSUED. PLEASE CHECK AND CONFIRM.]
[NOTE: SPEND ALL OF THIS MONEY BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH TO RECEIVE MORE FUNDING NEXT MONTH.]
[IF ANY OF THE FUNDS REMAIN UNSPENT WITHIN ONE MONTH, THE AMOUNT ALREADY SPENT WILL BECOME THE HOST'S DEBT. PLEASE TAKE NOTE.]
"Five million?"
Sakuraba pulled out his phone and checked. Sure enough, there was a bank notification showing a deposit of 5,000,000¥.
5,000,000¥.—roughly equivalent in purchasing power to $30,000 USD...
After confirming the startup capital had arrived, Sakuraba put his phone away.
Now that he had startup funds, it was time to begin his grand campaign of losing money!
...
Kasamatsu Training Center Academy.
Sakuraba stopped at the gates of this regional Tracen Academy, his gaze sharp.
He planned to choose the Umamusume he would invest in here.
So what kind of Umamusume was Sakuraba looking for?
He only had one requirement:
She had to be weak.
How were you supposed to lose money by picking strong Umamusume?!
Sakuraba had no use for Umamusume who kept winning races.
What he wanted were the kind with poor talent who simply couldn't win. Only then could he achieve his goal of hemorrhaging money.
That was why he had come here: Kasamatsu.
Tracen Academies were divided into two types: Central and Regional.
Compared to the Umamusume trained at Central, those from Regional academies were a step behind in both talent and overall strength.
And Kasamatsu Training Center Academy was one of those regional academies.
Here, he was certain to find an Umamusume who met his standards.
During the past few days of preparation, Sakuraba had found an opportunity to get in touch with the principal of Kasamatsu Training Center Academy. After expressing an interest in sponsoring the school, the principal immediately treated him like a warmhearted alumnus and even granted him the right to enter and leave the academy freely.
Who wouldn't welcome a boss who came bearing money?
In any case, with that privilege from the principal, Sakuraba had no trouble entering the academy grounds.
And as luck would have it, today was the day of the students' practice races.
"Perfect chance to see if there are any promising future money-losers around..."
At the thought, Sakuraba curled his lips into a smile and stepped onto the campus. Before long, he arrived near the academy's training grounds.
Kasamatsu's training field looked rather old. Every facility carried traces of age, and even the uneven potholes dug into the track by the Umamusume's feet had clearly not been properly filled.
Even the seats by the side of the field were coated in dust, as though they had gone unused for quite some time.
Beside this desolate training ground, several Umamusume were warming up. They were clearly the runners preparing for the upcoming practice race.
Sakuraba picked up the binoculars he had prepared in advance and began scouting his target from the edge of the field.
The first one to catch his eye was a girl with a side ponytail, dressed like the stereotypical image of a flashy gal. She was standing off to the side, tapping away at her phone with a bored expression.
"Everyone else is warming up, and she's the only one acting like she doesn't care at all. Hmph..."
Sakuraba had seen this kind of setup before. In light novels, characters who acted like this were usually the pretty capable supporting type.
The kind written to make the protagonist look strong by comparison.
He absolutely could not pick an Umamusume like that.
An Umamusume who looked like she obviously had a proper name and role—if he picked her... what if she actually won races?
Next.
Sakuraba moved his gaze away from the gal and looked at the two Umamusume clustered around her.
One was dressed like a delinquent, a wild grin on her face.
"A delinquent? She looks physically tough. Pass."
The other was noticeably shorter than the first two and wore a strange mask.
"I can't get along with Umamusume who have bad fashion sense. Pass."
Just as Sakuraba was in the middle of picking out Umamusume, a sudden wave of astonished cries rose from the edge of the field.
Following the sound, Sakuraba looked over and saw a group of trainers staring in amazement at a girl sprinting across the track.
Her blue-green long hair streamed behind her in the wind. Her running form was so clean it was almost absurd, and her red eyes carried a sharp glint.
"Oho, looks like she's the strongest one in the academy."
Sakuraba nodded. A runner being surrounded by attention like that was obviously protagonist material. On the racetrack, she was probably the kind who would dominate nine times out of ten.
"I need to find someone more inconspicuous than that..."
"Shame I don't have the eye those trainers do. If I could actually tell an Umamusume's real strength, this would be a lot easier..."
While Sakuraba's thoughts wandered all over the place, his gaze happened to land on a dejected-looking man sitting in the spectator seats.
Well, if he didn't understand, couldn't he just ask someone who did?
...
In the spectator seats by Kasamatsu's training grounds, Kitahara Jo was in a foul mood.
As a trainer, he had come to watch the practice race today for the obvious reason of finding a strong Umamusume to recruit.
But after watching for quite a while, he still hadn't found any prospect he was truly satisfied with. And the one he liked best, Fujimasa March, was already surrounded by other trainers, leaving him no opening at all.
"Man... there's no star here..."
Leaning back in his seat, Kitahara tipped his head up and let out a long sigh.
"Excuse me, may I sit here?"
Just as Kitahara was grumbling to himself, a strange man's voice came from behind him. Kitahara turned around instinctively and saw a handsome black-haired man in a black shirt speaking to him.
"Uh... sure. Go ahead."
"Great, thanks."
The man sat down in the seat beside Kitahara as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Kitahara looked expressionlessly at the many empty seats around them, then silently shifted himself farther away toward the unoccupied side.
"Sir, are you a trainer?"
"...Yeah? Do you need something?"
"It's like this. My name is Sakuraba Ryo. I'm an investor, and I'm hoping to invest in a promising Umamusume. But since I really don't have any experience in this field, I was hoping to hear a trainer's analysis..."
An investor...?
Kitahara discreetly sized Sakuraba up. Cheap-looking shirt, jeans...
Probably one of those opportunists trying to make a quick buck.
At the same time, Sakuraba was quietly studying Kitahara as well.
A beard that wasn't fully shaved, faint dark circles under his eyes, and a light smell of smoke clinging to him.
Was it because he was older? He didn't seem very energetic...
"My name's Kitahara Jo. As you can see, I'm a trainer."
"If you came looking for a strong Umamusume, I think you came to the wrong place."
Kitahara turned his eyes back to the track before him.
"This is Kasamatsu. The Umamusume here aren't on the same level as the ones at Central. If you're looking for top prospects, this is the wrong place."
"Of course, if you insist on investing in regional talent, I'm not going to stop you."
As he spoke, Kitahara pointed toward Fujimasa March, who was surrounded by trainers.
"If you really want to invest in a regional Umamusume, that one's a solid choice."
"She's fast, has a good personality, and you really can't go wrong with her."
"Mr. Kitahara, if I could, I'd love to invest in famous newcomers too."
Sakuraba put on an expression of pained regret.
"If only my finances were up to it..."
Hearing that, Kitahara could only stare at him in exasperation. If you've got no money, what are you doing investing at all?
"If possible, could you give me some pointers on how to judge an Umamusume's strength, Mr. Kitahara...?"
Sakuraba asked with utmost sincerity.
"Pointers..."
A famous saying flashed through Kitahara's mind, and before he realized it, the words had already left his mouth.
"Gray-haired Umamusume can't run fast..."
"Ah, no, wait...!" Kitahara immediately tried to correct himself.
That line had always been an irresponsible blanket statement. It was just one that had spread incredibly widely, and Kitahara himself didn't really agree with it.
But the moment Sakuraba heard it, his eyes blazed.
"Thank you for the advice, Mr. Kitahara! I'll take those words as absolute truth!"
"Don't you dare treat that as absolute truth, hey!"
By the time Kitahara wanted to complain, all he could see was Sakuraba's retreating back. The corner of his mouth twitched.
Ah, whatever. It wasn't really a big deal anyway...
...
I respect you so much, Mr. Kitahara!
Gray-haired Umamusume can't run fast, is that it?
Then what is there left to ask?
Of course he should invest in a gray-haired Umamusume!
Wearing a goofy grin, Sakuraba headed toward the training grounds. The moment he spotted a gray-haired Umamusume covered in mud, he extended his hand.
"My name is Sakuraba Ryo. I'm an investor. Miss, you're absolutely lovely—may I invest in you?"
The girl he addressed blinked, her expression a little vacant.
Investor...
Was that another word for trainer?
So the girl took Sakuraba's hand and spoke her name.
"Oguri Cap."
---
T/N: AHHHHHHHHH THIS GUY IS SO COOKED, i think ill actually like this story...
anyway! this was from a request! a luminary's request thats right! MONEY PAYS! MUIHAUHAUHA
so basically someone was doing this but the investor couldnt handle the ads on the page and not to mention something about the patreon prices being absurd so they are paying me to pick this up!!!!
so yes no vote for this one, but i know you umamusume fucker- i mean lovers will eat this up anyways