On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[DeathFrown]

I'm sorta surprised there's been little discussion regarding where exactly Umamusume races fall economically in that world. Um, given that Tanya is uh, intrigued(?)-interested in making money for retirement.

Like, are they the FIFA of that world? Do G1 races pull as much money as F1 drivers do?
Are we simply insulated from all that shebang because it's unnecessary?
I mean, don't hold it against me but I don't trust Tanya pov on their supposed renumeration, and while I'd probably agree that G3 or open ranked might not make retirement money, a part of me wants to believe Tanya hasn't actually done her research in this department and has perhaps equated the whole thing to something like Track and Field from her first life where she might even be right to probably dismiss it. (not that I know how much $ Olympians or track and fielders make)

Though, you know where I'm going with this. How much money do you think a G1/G2 racer actually makes per race? How much culture do they dominate? A joke calculation I ripped from 1 reddit user says a single Oguri Cap KFC meal would cost about 5.5mil yen which is like 35k $.

 

[Dr.Degenerate]

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I don't know very much Umamusume lore, but I always imagined top level uma racing to be an extremely popular sport to watch, on par with the World Cup and the Superbowl, with racers who place highly in those races taking home a respectable payday, with plenty of options to leverage their name and likeness for merchandising.

 

[eager slacker]

They have to rake in a ton of money if Tracen Academy can have an entire PMC on staff to casually shoo out reporters. That's not to mention the after race concerts or feeding the endless stomachs of the Umamusume themselves. It's probably a case of you aren't gonna make much as a unprofessional athlete but once you hit the consistent G1 big leagues you get plushies, advertising, and become a household name.

 

[Lyrista]

Apparently Uma racing is big enough to be a multi national sport that's closely tied to the culture of the countries.

I know in a couple of Uma stories, like Vodka's for example, the Uma makes plans with you, her trainer, to move to racing internationally.

 

[D'znn-Xy'lll MetaChthonia]

Enough for Oguri Cap to support her own appetite. Can't say how much that is. Although on the opposite end the Trainers get paid in the Japanese equivalent to nickels given some screenshots from Reddit of the Trainers mentioning financial damages. Wouldn't be surprised if they get royalties through merch and the like an the Trainers get an even smaller fraction of that via the Academy whom in turn also probably are where the Umas' royalties money is probably coming from. Especially given Tracen Canonically has a PMC so they're getting big money from somewhere.

Although given how the honsez have impacted Society racing probably has supplanted most other sports in their dominance. Even if we ignore the ponystincts most other sports assume the players can't simply toss the ball accurately into the goal with it literally being a race to reach it. But one of the things from my daily Image Dump int he General Thread literally was a GIF of an Uma jumping the length of a basketball court just to dunk the ball. So even conventional sports end up being a race in another form. Rugby and American Football, given they double as combat sports, are more likely to resist this change but that's more likely to be because they become full combat sports instead given the point is decided by who grabs the ball and manages to launch it first rather then running it to the end zone. Baseball might also have survived given that's built more for Maths via trajectory calculations and swing timing then strength and speed but even then Umas might surpass that in some bullet time. Might end up with new fantasy sports as well. Maybe competitive swimming is a thing. Saying all that makes me think there's two different Olympics, the conventional one with the subdivisions of the two Olympics we Understand and the Uma version probably with their own two subdivisions given even an Uma missing their arms probably would be able to outswim a human.

But, again, equine lust to Forest Gump means that foot racing is probably the biggestsport given a good chunk of Society is ponies. There's also the problem that normal sports equipment probably wouldn't survive Umas getting serious so one where the participants are the equipment, like foot racing, is one that wouldn't have to worry about needing to stop games to repeatedly replace the things.

 

[Stranger1950]

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A safe assumption is take the irl prize pool win for each races. The relative price pool is:

'Less popular' G1: 100-120 million yen
G2: 50-60 million yen
G3: 30 million yen
Local: Depends on its level (usually equal to the graded races)

Big ones like the Arima Kinen or Tenno Sho can go far higher, from 200 million to 800 million.

Even with the trainer getting a 20% cut (based on irl jockey and trainer cut combined), its still a lucrative business for Umas, if we are only counting prize pools.

Add merchandising and advertisment deals, and the amount of money an Uma and their trainer can earn become far higher. Its why more materialistic Umas would want to race, its a relatively easy way to get rich (assuming the Uma is good at racing that is).

Cultural wise, Umas are a combination of both idols/artist and athletes. There is probably a global governing body (probably still called IFHA), but its probably not as big as FIFA, mostly because each country probably has its own series of Uma races and their own governing body for managing said series. And considering Uma racer status as celebrities and their natural beauty, its probably a common sight to see Uma fans being a unholy combination of musical artist fans and sport fans.

 

[D'znn-Xy'lll MetaChthonia]

its probably a common sight to see Uma fans being a unholy combination of musical artist fans and sport fans.

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...the football hooligans discovered Hatsune Miku! [facepalm] saying that just reminded me of something:

Spoiler: Video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1zilZyeh7o

 

[DeathFrown]

Its why more materialistic Umas would want to race, its a relatively easy way to get rich

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Heh, thought of your comment when I saw this pic.

Spoiler: Gold Family

 

[```]

Gold Ship With Hat: [silly]
Gold Ship Without Hat: "Your son calls me mommy too."

 

[manatherindrell]

We know that Uma race courses can handle crowds bigger than any IRL stadium was built for. 150,000 spectators at Oguri Cap Vs. Tamamo Cross. Just going by that, I'd say that comparing it to the World Cup might be an understatement.

We also know that there are regional racing academies that serve the same age bracket as Tracen, they appear to be treated like community colleges, except dedicated solely to racing. Those racers can become locally famous, too. Those are pretty good indications to me that even minor league racers can make enough money to justify a stint in racing even if they don't make a full career out of it.

 

[The Unicorn]

We know that Uma race courses can handle crowds bigger than any IRL stadium was built for. 150,000 spectators at Oguri Cap Vs. Tamamo Cross. Just going by that, I'd say that comparing it to the World Cup might be an understatement.

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That's fairly normal for RL racetrack crowds.
Race tracks can accommodate much larger crowds than stadiums.

 

[Zweibach]

Just running in a race is enough to live on if you're good with money. Not sure what the "bigger" here means though. Knowing her past life accomplishments though she'll probably land in the top bracket for whatever her specialty ends up being.

"I don't think so. Some runners, even really good ones, have quite short careers. And it can be pretty stressful." He smiled. "Besides, I looked up what they pay out for just running in a bigger race, with how careful you are with money you could probably live off that."

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[2hupedia]

Just running in a race is enough to live on if you're good with money. Not sure what the "bigger" here means though. Knowing her past life accomplishments though she'll probably land in the top bracket for whatever her specialty ends up being.

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Tanya is pretty horrifying in general, I'd be disappointed if she wasn't a nightmare to race against

 

[Darkwood]

Tanya is pretty horrifying in general, I'd be disappointed if she wasn't a nightmare to race against

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Her unique ability just being artillery 'training drills'

 

[mauveine]

Her unique ability just being artillery 'training drills'

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Hmmm...I suspect that Tracen, no matter how well-funded it might be, would be reluctant to pay for the 'landscape rehabilitation' that would be needed after one of Tanya's artillery training drills. Doing so more than once is likely to be completely out of the question

 

[D'znn-Xy'lll MetaChthonia]

Hmmm...I suspect that Tracen, no matter how well-funded it might be, would be reluctant to pay for the 'landscape rehabilitation' that would be needed after one of Tanya's artillery training drills. Doing so more than once is likely to be completely out of the question

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The turf on the racetrack is imported from France for "real French grass!" (Words of the Director. She makes a lot of frivolous purchases). Wouldn't be surprised if the PMC was an unnecessary fund allocation and the Director has been looking for ways to use it and the paparazzi just happened to give her possibly the only time she ever would be able to use it. There's also how the Umas themselves regularly remodel the landscape with their own antics. Although one whose whole thing is doing a week's worth of remodeling in a minute probably would be still too much for them.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

To be fair, Shirogane odd enough on her own that, despite her 2 out 3 life as Japanese, she makes a believable foreigner.

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She's half Polish, and being an uma her looks skew more towards her mother, so she looks more foreign. This is not necessarily enough to immediately mark her as foreign since most umas have some foreign ancestry, but she looks different from most of them as well since there aren't many umas of Polish descent in Japan.

Since Shirogane can't be influenced by fate how would be her opinion of the people that are "fated" to win will she be able to sense it like other umas or would she be a skill like target on sight but

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Shirogane would not even really be cognizant of those 'fated' to win. And it's less that she can't be influenced by fate and more that 'fate' doesn't apply any influence to her, so there won't be any race which triggers a sort of deja vu for her. Her anomalous existence also means that she can potential mess up the expected results of some races, and will be confused by how shocked other people are.

Owning expensive things you can display was a status symbol, but AFAIK, unlike many cultures the ones owning them didn't ride or otherwise use the horses, they just showed them off like they showed off their slaves and houses.

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Umas would likely also make effective laborers, since they can carry heavy loads and have sufficient manual dexterity and intelligence to perform more delicate or complicated tasks. They would need supervision, for the most part, given their general nature, but in the same vein, they were likely higher status slaves if they were slaves, since it would be comparatively difficult to enforce behavior on an uma unless they were broken from birth or something, which would make them more expensive investments, and thus a signal that their owner was higher status.

I imagine it would just be a case of humans offering plenty of incentives, or the umas in question being patriotic, to have them willingly serving in the armed forces.

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Given umamusume inherit irl horse spirits, to some degree, the warhorse umas would likely be more inclined or easier to convince to go to war.

Imagine if the wars were settled by Races instead

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That might have actually been one version of an honor duel. In antiquity, is was not uncommon for disputes to be settled by champions fighting in a duel, so it stands to reason a footrace could be one type of this competition for things of lower stakes.

I imagine that historically the uma would not so much be war slaves as the ones prosecuting the wars. Since horses aren't really a thing in the setting they would almost certainly take the place of cavalry. And cavalry for most of human history were the nobles or the very rich, who very much did have a say in whether they took part in war.

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Considering their nature, uma musume being oppressors sounds so weird to hear. They are more creatures of emotions similar to their irl selves, kind or very temperamental

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I find it unlikely that umas would often prosecute wars, since as a whole they seem disinclined to organize in such a way. However, it seems quite possible that umas were common raiders, given they have a large appetite and don't have a male counterpart despite needing one. Though they are generally fairly easy to bribe.

Plus, to me, the fact that Tracen is unusual and the director considered kind of crazy means that this might be a modern development.

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Most of the umas don't seem to treat the goddess statues as something of religious significance, though even the foreign ones recognize it, so their cultural significance is widespread but there isn't too much evidence that their intervention is very explicit. This could also be a reflection of the Japanese culture the media stems from.

So my conclusion is that while Uma musume are physically stronger than their and our humans, their Humans are just built more sturdy.

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Given that most humans from Eurasia or of Eurasian ancestry are very likely to have some umas in their ancestry, and male children born from umas tend to be stronger than normal, it stands to reason that many humans in that world are quite a bit stronger than irl humans.

Also, keep in mind that Ume lack the two biggest advantages a mounted lancer had in combat over infantry - altitude and a partner to help them.

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The biggest advantage for cavalry is speed, split fatigue and charging mass. Being higher up has some advantages but also comes with some disadvantages, since you can't maneuver as easily on horseback in a static fight. The primary threat of cavalry is the increased speed for maneuvering and the physical and psychological shock of impact during a charge, both of which umas could provide.

Though with the fact that they are human sized and would tire faster than cavalrymen since the uma would have to run and fight, it was probably not really 1 to 1 comparable.

We do have information on said Royal horses so I can see that. We have Eclipse who by the inuniverse must have been part of the British Royal Family. Same said with other famous horse breeds.

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It would not surprise me if impressive umas were often married into nobility, or kept as mistresses. There are a lot of factors that would create strong incentives for this.

And there we have the possibility explanation as to why Shirogane doesn't have any Polish uma cousins that isn't just the Soviets being Soviets.

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The Soviets were the main reason. Umamusume are biologically unequal with humans, making them inherently kulaks and thus enemies of the revolution. Thus, most countries that underwent a strongly ideological communist regime purged umas, though in Poland's case it was more the greater soviets doing it rather than the Polish communists, since a lot of Polish umas were involved in the Polish military.

How much money do you think a G1/G2 racer actually makes per race?

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Not a ton unless you get on the podium, but irl most races have a sort of signing bonus, which means that a mediocre racer can still make a living by racing consistently, but they'd never make it big.

Heh, thought of your comment when I saw this pic.

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Stay Gold's gotta pay her alimony somehow!

 

[Tamphithere]

However, it seems quite possible that umas were common raiders, given they have a large appetite and don't have a male counterpart despite needing one.

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Umazons?

 

[eager slacker]

Honestly a foot race to determine the result of a conflict is a simpler and ultimately more painless alternative to war. If your nation/region is good enough that they can train up a superior group of racing Umas compared to another group of Umas then usually that side would win and it would be better to just get that resolved without pointless fights and deaths.

 

[MG Operator]

It would not surprise me if impressive umas were often married into nobility, or kept as mistresses. There are a lot of factors that would create strong incentives for this.

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Pope Glitter Hoof is now in my Head cannon.

 

[2hupedia]

Umazons?

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Being kidnapped by an Umazon and ending up in their reverse harem... there's definitely Umafiction with that plot in-universe, you can't tell me otherwise.

 

[NoFunposter]

Umazons?

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Umongols.

Also, lets not forget that until they felt the need to change things for global, Ireland had an Uma Monarchy.

Which implies a very much independent Ireland due to Umas.

...why did they feel the need to get rid of fun "How did that even happen?" world building?

 

[durante]

Being kidnapped by an Umazon and ending up in their reverse harem... there's definitely Umafiction with that plot in-universe, you can't tell me otherwise.

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This. This is what the Japanese and Chinese have convinced themselves how Uma musume work. In regards to fanfiction anyway. There are SOO many fics of Umas kidnapping their love interest and locking them in a basement for snu snu.

One of those fanfics had an in-universe story about how a Uma musume ran away from her human lover, came back with another uma musume and rode the guy until his pelvis was broken and could not be recruited for war.

 

[The Unicorn]

Umas would likely also make effective laborers, since they can carry heavy loads and have sufficient manual dexterity and intelligence to perform more delicate or complicated tasks. They would need supervision, for the most part, given their general nature, but in the same vein, they were likely higher status slaves if they were slaves, since it would be comparatively difficult to enforce behavior on an uma unless they were broken from birth or something, which would make them more expensive investments, and thus a signal that their owner was higher status.

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True.

That might have actually been one version of an honor duel. In antiquity, is was not uncommon for disputes to be settled by champions fighting in a duel, so it stands to reason a footrace could be one type of this competition for things of lower stakes.

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That seems...unlikely. Historically lower stakes duals were still combat, just to "first blood" or even with blunted weapons or other limitations that ensured no one would get seriously hurt.

The biggest advantage for cavalry is speed, split fatigue and charging mass.

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Those are quite useful in many cases, but when facing a group of infantry that doesn't break and run? Charging into them is a quick way to commit suicide.

 

[Dr.Degenerate]

However, it seems quite possible that umas were common raiders, given they have a large appetite and don't have a male counterpart despite needing one. Though they are generally fairly easy to bribe.

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I had the idea that in prehistoric times that's literally what uma herds would do. Raid human tribes for food and men. At least until human tribes started forging pacts with uma herds and began integrating.
I imagine its a popular hentai trope.

 

[One-who-reads]

Given umamusume inherit irl horse spirits, to some degree, the warhorse umas would likely be more inclined or easier to convince to go to war.

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So Alexander the Great was likely partners and/or lovers with Bucephalus?

 

[NoFunposter]

So Alexander the Great was likely partners and/or lovers with Bucephalus?

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Probably, amongst others.

Amongst Men, Lu Bu.
Amongst Uma, Red Hare.

 

[Jetsmillion]

Amongst Men, Lu Bu.
Amongst Uma, Red Hare.

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And together, no bed could survive their nights!

 

[WrandmWaffles]

An Imperial Challenge​

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After her embarrassing slip up, Toujou-san had Shirogane make several mock starts in the training gate, which she had no issue with now that she could categorize the starting sound as a non-threat.

Shirogane did not really understand why they used these gates instead of sprinter blocks like for human runners, and the lack of lanes meant that outside post runners had to run an effectively longer distance, but it was how things were and so she would have to adapt.

"Runners ready?" Symboli Rudolf called, holding the starting gun signaller, which was unnecessarily shaped like a gun.

"Aye!" Shirogane barked in the affirmative, bending her knees into a crouch to increase potential energy, pulling her ears back as she focused, and letting out a slow, deliberate breath.

Bang!

The gates crashed open and she sprang forwards out onto the turf track–

Shirogane bit back a curse as she stumbled a step on the springy surface, before catching her balance on the next and accelerating as quickly as she could, but her misstep had cost her ground, and Air Groove had pulled ahead, her senior shifting towards the inner track fence so as to shorten her total run distance.

That was fine, her top speed was not high enough that she could comfortably lead the pack, but there were ways to mitigate this disadvantage.

She watched as Air Groove settled into a pace comfortable for the taller runner, and once her senior had stabilized her pace, Shirogane accelerated to catch up, closing in on her opponent, who, despite having spotted her approaching, continued to maintain the same pace, which allowed Shirogane to run in her slipstream, letting her larger and more powerful senior expend most of the energy required to break the air resistance.

The pace Air Groove set was fast, probably around fifty kilometers per hour, which was not too far from the fastest rate Shirogane had ever managed on the road, and would have been harder to maintain without using her opponent as a wind break, but as is, it was a pace she could likely keep up for most of the distance.

Air Groove glanced back, looking a bit surprised that Shirogane was keeping up with her, but made no effort to extend her lead, accurately reading Shirogane's intentions.

The wind whistled past her ears as her feet impacted the turf, and Shirogane kept her breathing steady. Two kilometers was not terribly far, but with the amount of focus she needed to keep her footing at this speed, it was going to be more tiring than usual, even if she couldn't run as fast as she could on pavement.

They reached the first corner, and Air Groove rounded the curve, sliding outwards slightly to maintain her speed. Shirogane, being smaller, did not have the same amount of inertia, so she cut the corner closer, sliding back into her opponent's wake once they got to the next straight section.

Air Groove's longer strides were starting to make a more noticeable difference, but not as much as Shirogane expected, as while the turf was springy compared to the asphalt or concrete she was more accustomed to, the softer surface meant each footfall sent less of an impact up her legs. Even so, on the long straight, the older, more powerful runner was eating up the distance faster than Shirogane could, forcing her to take faster steps to maintain her position.

This was feasible, for now, but Air Groove still seemed fresh, so would not be tiring anytime soon…it really should be expected that her competition would be more challenging, here at Tracen Academy.

Even with her opponent's longer strides, Shirogane managed to keep pace with her through the straight by burning more energy, her feet digging into her turf with such intensity that she could almost feel the glued section parting again.

This pace was still manageable due to keeping in the larger runner's wake, but while she could maintain position, the status quo would not help her win.

She would have to make a move.

There was the second turn, then partway down the straight section before they reached the finish line.

Air Groove had not begun to spurt towards the finish as she entered the last corner, instead cutting closer to the rail and slowing down slightly in the turn, angling to prevent Shirogane from closing the gap easily with a tighter turn.

Shirogane was already running close to her top speed, and even with the heavier shoes on her opponent, she highly doubted she could match the 'Empress' at a final burst of speed, which left her with one real option.

She pulled in a larger breath, digging one foot deeper into the dirt, then pushed forwards harder, accelerating slightly to what she felt was her top speed and cutting even closer to the rail than Air Groove was. There would be enough room to squeeze by if they maintained the current lane, a benefit of being small in stature.

Her opponent shot her a surprised look as she closed, before smiling with what seemed to be approval and shifting herself likewise closer to the rail, cutting off her overtake vector, though with the tradeoff of bleeding off some more speed.

Shirogane had not expected it to be so easy, nor was she so simple to deter, so she sidestepped sharply and closed with her opponent on her outside, the drop in speed allowing her to almost pull level, though with the disadvantage of being on the outside, and thus having a longer distance to run.

For a moment, the two of them locked eyes, Air Groove's gray eyes gleaming in challenge. Shirogane looked back, watching for a sign of her opponent's next move.

As they moved out of the turn, Air Groove kicked the ground hard and accelerated on the straight, pulling ahead, while Shirogane converted all of her momentum from the turn into the forwards direction, chasing close behind out of the turn, her limbs straining to match her opponent as she ran as fast as she knew she could.

But her senior's greater speed provided too much of an edge, creating a gap as Shirogane fell behind.

Then further.

And further behind.

She cursed in her head, as despite her best efforts, her opponent easily widened the distance between them on the final stretch, accelerating to a speed Shirogane could not hope to match.

For all that she had managed to keep up throughout the greater part of the distance run, at the end there was really no contest in regards to which of them was the superior runner.

They passed the endline without much fanfare, this practice race only having a couple of spectators, which was probably for the best, as there really hadn't been much to see in regards to her sound drubbing.

"That was an interesting run, Shirogane-san," Air Groove offered in a conciliatory tone as Shirogane pulled up next to her. The older racer was breathing heavily, but in a controlled, practiced manner. "Apologies, I didn't mean to glare at you so harshly. It's been a while since I have raced." She shifted her weight from foot to foot, circling her ankles to keep them from getting stiff.

"It seems some part of the Empress still wishes to get her licks in," Rudolf chortled as she and Toujou-san strode in from the sideline.

"It was nothing of the sort!" Air Groove shot back quickly, though it seemed like she was protesting too much to Shirogane.

"I don't remember you glaring at me?" Shirogane interjected, feeling a bit out of the loop. "It would have been difficult since I was behind you for most of the run."

"Hoh? You weren't intimidated at all, running against the Empress?" Rudolf hummed, walking up to Shirogane and gazing down at her curiously.

"Not exactly? While I did not expect to win, it's not as if an expected loss would change much." It did sting a bit, like finding another metric where one was deficient, but it was just a race, nothing to get all that worked up over.

"Hmph, you certainly have an eye for talent, Trainer," Rudolf mused, glancing over conspiratorily at Toujou-san. "Many young umamusume would be just a bit nervous just meeting me or Air Groove, and yet Shirogane here is cool as a cucumber."

"Is there a reason I should be scared of you?" Shirogane wondered. "Unless I do something deserving of expulsion I don't know what I have to fear from the two of you, and even then it would come from the school administration, not necessarily through you."

"Ha! You hear that! No fear of celebrities at all in this one!"

"I fail to see how public acclaim means I should be afraid of you, unless you intend to weaponize your public influence against me for some reason." Neither of them seemed the type–

"What?! Of course not!" Air Groove sputtered.

–but you could never really be sure.

"Heh. Rest assured, Shirogane-chan," Rudolf declared, patting her on the shoulder. "I will do no such thing. That would be against my duties as the Student Council President and my own personal standards."

"I appreciate that."

"Why would you think we would do that?!"

"Ehem…" Toujou-san coughed into her hand. "I believe we are getting a bit distracted. But yes, one of the reasons I think you have a good chance at performing well, Shirogane-san, is how unflappable you are. Many other runners who are faster than you would hesitate to challenge a clearly stronger and more experienced opponent, but you had no such compunctions today."

"There weren't really any stakes involved…" Shirogane pointed out. "Is that really all that impressive?"

"Actually, yes," Toujou-san replied, "a significant part of racing is psychological, and while there are many runners who would jump at the chance to run against a well-known racer, there are even more who might bow out of the competition in fear of being humiliated."

"I think you may be reading too much into my behavior today…"

"Perhaps…but I don't believe so, and before you find another rebuttal, how about we discuss the facts we've observed today?" Toujou-san put her foot down metaphorically, nodding to Air Groove. "Air Groove, what are your thoughts, being the one to run against Shirogane?"

"You definitely have potential, Shirogane-chan," Air Groove began, her ears flicking in a friendly manner. "I thought you might have been rushing yourself but you look hardly out of breath after maintaining that pace. If you have that much stamina you would be quite a challenging opponent as a stayer."

"It was a slower pace than yours. Considering the outcome, I don't see how that would accomplish much if they can beat me on the last section."

"Most junior students at Tracen would struggle to keep a steady pace for most of the race, and even for an experienced racer, it would burn quite a bit of stamina, especially at their top speeds," Toujou-san explained. "While yes, there will be others who can sprint faster than you, most won't be as good at preserving their stamina as Air Groove is, especially if you tire them out."

"Tire my opponents out? I was under the impression we are not allowed to interfere with our opponents?"

"Such an aggressive mindset!" Rudolf chuckled, looking amused at Shirogane's assumption. "But you are correct, for the most part. Directly interfering with another runner can result in disqualification if blatant enough, however, there are ways to tilt things in your favor, such as starting your last spurt much earlier than normal. If that causes enough of your opponents to rush forwards and exhaust themselves, your lacking speed ceiling will still win you the day."

"Noted. Thank you for the advice." Symboli Rudolf was noted for being a canny runner.

"I think we are getting away from the original point," Air Groove coughed pointedly into her fist, before turning to look at her junior. "Shirogane-chan, you have an unusual, but quite effective starting point, and if you train hard and train wisely, I believe you would be competitive at higher levels."

"I appreciate the word of confidence, Air Groove-senpai." It meant quite a bit more from someone with a notable track record. "Though it seems clear that I have far to go."

"For one, you will need to get more accustomed to running on turf," Toujou-san jumped in. "While you managed fairly well, it was still clear to me you haven't had much experience running on a turf track."

Shirogane nodded. That was very much true. "It was not widely available for me before, but that should no longer be a problem." While there were turf areas at her former school's facilities, she doubted they would appreciate it if the football area was torn up constantly by umamusume running on it.

"More racing experience would help you as well," Rudolf added. "While your strategy was not a bad one, your timing on execution could be improved."

"Your attempt at overtaking wasn't at a bad time," Air Groove cut in quickly, offering some encouragement.

"But if you had started the attempt earlier, it would have forced your opponent to prance between two different decisions. While blocking you while rounding the curve is not the most difficult thing to do, having to make the snap decision one way or another would increase the likelihood of a runner making an error."

In other words, with her speed deficiencies, she was going to have to find other advantages to leverage if she wished to be competitive.

"I see…this, I imagine, will be something that requires a fair bit of doing to learn."

"Watching tapes of races does help for some," Toujou-san answered, "and I imagine it will for you, given your disposition."

Huh…with many of her potential opponents having public showings of their skills…that would make building threat profiles on them significantly easier.

"Is there a way to access this footage?"

Her two seniors gave her a bemused look. "You can find film of most graded races at the library."

"Truly?" Shirogane blinked, eying Rudolf curiously. "And that is free for all students to access at their leisure?"

"Of course."

"Good to know." She supposed that, having been televised, it wasn't as if securing the footage locally would amount to much aside from favoring the wealthy families more.

"It's a bit of the reverse from what many students start with," Toujou-san hummed. "You will need training to increase your top speed, as much as that can be done, and will need more practice running on racetracks, but you are good at pacing yourself, and shouldn't have any issues on the academic side."

"That is, unfortunately, somewhere many students end up in trouble," the Student Council President sighed. "Especially the ones who are the most competitive in racing. I do hope you will not be too overwhelmed in your second year classes."

"As opposed to my first year classes?"

Rudolf's ears twitched slightly as she sent Shirogane a curious look. "Oh? Did you not realize that most of your assigned coursework was from second year? Given your scholastic performance on the entrance exam you were placed mostly beyond the first years."

"Truly? The curriculum did not look so advanced to me."

"Then I believe you will have nothing to worry about."

"You will still be taking some classes with your agemates," Air Groove clarified with a slight frown. "And those will be the people you are likely going to race against the most."

"So I will be in this year's class, officially, but taking advanced classes?" Shirogane hummed. "That sounds interesting." Her parents had been very hesitant to allow her to skip a grade, feeling that she was pushing herself too hard…and now Tracen had effectively done something similar seemingly out of hand.

Perhaps coming to this school would not be too bad, after all.

"What an odd runner you'll make," Rudolf chortled, "looking more excited at the idea of more difficult schoolwork than for competing against the best of your year."

"Is that so strange? Racing at this academy is the primary focus," Shirogane pointed out, "so the academics are the leisure activity."

Air Groove sent Toujou-san a glance, and their trainer could only nod her head in amusement.

"That is…a certain way to look at it," Rudolf mused, before stepping closer to Shirogane and locking eyes with her.

The Student Council President vanished, her previously warm eyes hardening into an authoritative gaze, boring into Shirogane and searching for any sign of weakness. "Do you know what I find most lacking in you at the moment, Shirogane?"

Shirogane returned the 'Emperor's' gaze steadily. "I cannot read your mind; I take it you will enlighten me?" As feted as she was, a racehorse was still a racehorse.

"You do not want to win."

Before she could ask for clarification, Rudolf went on. "Oh, do not mistake my words, you gave a good effort, and sought to achieve victory, but you do not truly desire the crown. And that lack of desire will hinder you from fulfilling your highest potential."

There was probably some truth in that assertion, but after a lifetime at war…Shirogane wasn't so eager to reach for that frenzied power at the cusp of insanity.

"Perhaps so," she replied flatly. "But there is much to be done otherwise."

"Hmmph." Rudolf did not seem to know whether she should be affronted or impressed. "You have guts, I must give you that."

"Having guts is rather necessary for living, after all." Losing them was fatal and unfortunately all too common in war.

"Ha!" Shirogane blinked as the president's stern demeanor vanished into the aether, the older uma's ears twitching excitedly. "Hehehe…" Then, for some reason, Rudolf broke in a fit of giggles.

Shirogane glanced at Air Groove, who had her head in her hands, looking very done with the situation. Toujou-san appeared unruffled, but in a way that suggested she was relatively used to this. Perhaps that made sense, as the trainer had known Rudolf the longest.

"You have an amusing sense of humor there, Shirogane-chan."

"Thank you…I will make a note of it."

"Is that really the important thing to focus on, President?" Air Groove asked chidingly, looking quite stressed.

"It will also be important for Shirogane to develop the face she will put up when facing the public, or at least to learn what part to stress and what part to downplay."

"Shirogane-chan seems too serious to play into making jokes."

"Ah, but that makes it better!"

"Is media interaction frequent?" Shirogane interrupted, a new concern being placed into her head. "I can't imagine they would have the invested readership to interview every new student. Wouldn't I have to garner some attention before this becomes a notable concern?"

"Most students at Tracen will have one or two interviews throughout their career, at the very least," Toujou-san answered. "And while it will likely be at least until try-outs before anyone approaches you, it is better to have an idea of how to approach things before than to come up with one on the spot. Though that has worked rather well in the past for those with a certain kind of personality."

"Hmm…even more things to account for."

"Don't worry too much, Shirogane-chan," Air Groove offered some encouragement with a smile and a flick of her ears. "The rest of Team Rigil as well as the school staff will be willing to help you with anything you might need."

"I will keep that under advisement."

"Well, you three seemed to have hit it off rather well," Toujou-san observed, marking something into her notebook. "And I believe I will have a suggested training regimen for you before school begins properly, Shirogane. In the meantime, I suggest you become acquainted with the school premises and facilities, especially the lunchroom."

At the mention of food, Air Groove's stomach let out a growling sound, to her great embarrassment, prompting the lunchroom to indeed be their next destination.

There was a lot of food, and Shirogane ate some of it.

---

"So…" Hana Toujou started, sitting down on one of the couches in the Student Council room, glancing at the door through which Shirogane had just left. "Thoughts on your new teammate?"

Air Groove and Symboli Rudolf both took a sip of their tea, drinking slowly to give themselves more time to ponder the question.

"She seems very dedicated, but also not very driven somehow," Air Groove began, her ears drooping in confusion. "That doesn't sound like it should be possible, but that's what it seems like."

"There are some umamusume for whom the desire to work is stronger than their desire to run," Rudolf observed, setting her cup down smoothly. "It is uncommon, but not unheard of, and usually they are of the large and strong kind. Shirogane-san seems to be more of that sort, but smaller."

"And now her work is to run in a race?"

"Just so."

"Even if that is all to her motivation, her dedication is still quite impressive," Hana pointed out. "She managed to consistently run deliveries all over Fujisawa, which is no small feat for a girl in middle school. Lunch boxes are not that heavy, but being able to navigate and run through traffic like she can is something I have rarely seen from umamusume."

"Her form is very good," hummed Rudolf. "Very smooth."

"It feels a bit like she's working backwards from where most racers start out from." Air Groove gave voice to something Hana had thought previously. "She has discipline, a good amount of racing wit even without too much experience, and a steady temperament." She looked quite relieved that her new teammate was not as rambunctious as some of the team's other members. "And yet I believe the President has a point about how she lacks a desire to win, to push herself beyond what she thought possible."

"A crucial component in forging the most tempered racer."

"That will have to be something she finds herself." Hana stood, moving over to the window and looking out onto the campus. There were some more early students arriving today, each with stars in their eyes and some substantial expectations for themselves. "It isn't something that can really be trained." She was gambling on Shirogane, to some degree, but it wasn't a sucker's bet. With the pale uma's work ethic Hana was quite confident Suzuki-san would be able to place or show in many races, at the very least, and probably even win some of the longer races.

No, what she was gambling on was just how high her unusual trainee's ceiling was, and something told her the choice of 'eagle' for her racing name would prove to be somewhat prophetic.

"She seems responsible enough to be able to handle living on her own," Air Groove murmured, "but I worry that might mean she will be distant from her compatriots, especially with her being in advanced classes."

"I would not put too much concern into that."

"And why not?"

"With her demeanor, and her response to surprises, if she was roommates with one of the more…eccentric students, we might be seeing them get into fights." Rudolf raised a fair point of her own. "Not to mention she already will have Team Rigil, as well as the many aggressively friendly Tracers."

"Please do not call academy students 'Tracers', president."

"Why not? I do believe it could work well as an affectionate shorthand."

"There are no good implications from that moniker."

"I'm inclined to agree with Rudolf."

"What?!"

"Given Shirogane's reaction to the starting sound was to immediately attack the source, it's probably better to give her her own space. Many Tracen students are probably too rambunctious or nosy for her."

"Oh, you were speaking of that…I do hope she will eat enough…she ate lunch like a starving woman."

Shirogane had finished her meal remarkably quickly.

"We will of course monitor her progress," Hana assured Air Groove. "It would be derelict in my duties as a trainer not to." Shirogane was on the small side, but didn't appear to be malnourished. She would likely have to change up her diet somewhat given her different goals now, but the cafeteria should make that alteration relatively trivial. Tracen was more selective about its cooks than many other positions, which should surprise no one if they thought about it, given the both the amount umamusume could eat and how important it was to their morale.

As successful as she was, Hana's bank account still smarted a bit from providing support to some of her more gregarious trainees (not that she would name Taiki Shuttle out for it in public).

"I suspect she will be able to adjust her diet plan herself," Rudolf predicted. "But there is no harm in checking in on her. It would be best if her 'leisure activities' don't cause her too much trouble."

"What a strange way to describe schoolwork…" Air Groove grumbled, before shaking her head slightly. "At least she is fairly normal otherwise."

That may have turned out to be a slightly premature judgement.

---

AN. Perhaps a bit anticlimactic of a race, but Shirogane is still fairly new to the track, while Air Groove is experienced enough that she wasn't rattled by Shirogane's pressure. And at this stage Shirogane is very much outclassed on the end stretch, even if she can keep up with Air Groove in the earlier stages.

 

[Darik29]

I admit i am sad she still hasn't learned that Uma are Idol's as much as racer's.

The moment she realizes she will have to Dance and Sing for others is going to be Hilarious!