On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[uioor1]

Another factor is other countries often being rougher, which the Japanese umas aren't prepared for most of the time. Shirogane would adapt to this a bit too well.

Click to shrink...

Shirogane when she goes overseas:

Spoiler

 

[TheSmallSauce]

The Silver Standard​

---

The roar of the crowd reached her a half-second late, as though sound itself had needed time to catch up. Merry Soon barely heard it.

Her own breathing drowned out nearly everything else, sharp and hot in her ears as she drove herself through the final meters of the straight. Hoofbeats thundered behind and around her, close enough to threaten, not close enough to matter. Her stride had begun to fray at the edges, form threatening to loosen, shoulders to rise, knees to shorten. She forced everything back into place through sheer willpower, jaw clenched so tightly it ached.

The post rushed toward her.

Then past.

She took a few more steps at full speed before instinct finally surrendered to reality. Her body protested the sudden easing all at once; lungs aflame, legs trembling, every pulse in her veins striking like a hammer. She slowed unevenly, chest heaving, hands braced against her thighs.

For several seconds, the world narrowed to the track beneath her shoes. Then it came flooding back.

Announcer's voice, bright with practiced excitement. The stamp of feet in the stands. Applause washing over the course in rolling waves. Numbers flashing onto the board overhead.

First.

Her gaze locked there.

First.

It was almost embarrassingly plain when displayed like that. A single number, yes, yet it seemed to swallow every doubt she had carried into the starting gates.

She straightened slowly as she cast her gaze over her shoulder. The other runners were pulling up further behind, some disappointed, some merely tired. One caught her eye and offered a sportsmanlike nod. Merry returned it automatically, hardly aware she had done so. A race official gestured her toward the winner's path and she followed, her legs feeling oddly light, as if the strain of the run belonged to someone else.

At the edge of the track, her trainer was waiting.

He was trying to hold it together for the cameras, but his composure cracked the moment she reached him.

"You did it," he said, voice breaking despite himself. "You actually did it."

Merry blinked, then laughed once in disbelief. "Of course I did."

The answer came out lighter than she felt. Beneath it, something tighter had only just begun to unwind.

He handed her a towel, still shaking his head. "Strong break from the gate, held your pace until the final corner. You ran exactly as we planned."

"It got pretty close though." She said as she dabbed absently at the sweat on her brow, eyes straying once more to the results board, as though it might vanish if left unattended.

Around them, staff moved briskly, spectators chattered, cameras turned toward the enclosure. Somewhere nearby, someone said her name with the bright surprise reserved for newcomers who had done something noteworthy.

Despite the close call, Merry felt the corners of her mouth lift.

Victory. This was what it was meant to feel like.

All the mornings, all the drills, all the praise that had followed her since childhood hadn't been misplaced. She belonged here, at the highest level, and she had proved it in the only way that mattered.

Winning.

For a few precious seconds, she felt complete.

Her trainer was speaking beside her, already talking about recovery, next steps, what races to run next.

His words slid over her.

She was still watching the results board, still letting the word first settle properly inside her, when movement on a television mounted high in the concourse caught the edge of her eye. It was displaying another race from earlier in the day.

Silver hair streamed behind an umamusume alone on the final bend, stride clean and mercilessly efficient. The conclusion was so obvious that the commentator's voice rose before she had even entered the homestretch.

"—and Shirogane Orzeru will claim her second graded victory!"

Merry's smile held, though something in it had changed.

On the screen, Shirogane crossed the line alone.

---

The screen in her trainer's office was still playing the replay.

Merry had stopped pretending she was only glancing at it after the second loop. Her notebook lay forgotten on the desk in front of her.

The race footage showed the course from an angle slightly too far above to feel real, the track laid out almost like the diagrams on the whiteboard. Runners bunched early, then stretched thin as the pace split them apart. Only one figure resisted the pattern: a pale blur that continued to lengthen an already absurd gap.

Merry leaned forward without meaning to.

Shirogane didn't look like she was running fast.

There was no visible strain or dramatic shift in form, no final push even as she turned the last corner. Her stride remained even, almost casual, as though an entire race at that pace was the most natural thing in the world.

Merry blinked once.

"…She is a frontrunner, right?" she asked quietly.

Her trainer, standing beside her with a clipboard tucked under one arm, nodded. "Like you, yes. Just that she starts accelerating extremely early for a frontrunner."

Accelerate.

Merry replayed the word in her head as the footage reached the final straight. It just didn't fit with what she was seeing.

Shirogane didn't accelerate, to Merry it seemed like she didn't need to. The gap was already far too wide to close.

The runners behind her posed no threat at all, each attempt to close the distance collapsing as they panicked and rushed, all thrown off by her blistering pace and exhausted in their failed attempts to keep up. Shirogane herself remained unfazed, seeming to grow more energetic as she neared the finishing post. It didn't make any sense, at least not in any way that could be put into words.

The replay looped again before a tap on the shoulder broke her focus.

"You've gone quiet again," her trainer observed carefully.

"I'm thinking."

"Okay." He took the remote from her, skipping back to the final stretch again. "I'm guessing it's about her final spurt."

Shirogane's face appeared in a close-up cut: calm, eyes forward, breathing controlled enough that it almost looked optional.

"Or lack of one, I suppose."

"Yeah," she nodded. "Does she always run like that?"

"Mostly," her trainer said. "It's her style. Runaway frontrunning."

Runaway.

Merry repeated it internally, turning the word over in her mind until it no longer felt unfamiliar next to her own style of choice.

"I could do that," she decided at last.

Her trainer paused for just a second before answering, giving her a discerning eye. "You could..."

"...But?"

"You run differently."

"That's not an answer." She pouted.

"It is," he said gently. "You're a natural frontrunner, Merry. You like to take an early lead and build on it down the stretch. Shirogane‐san pushes the front from the beginning, there's a difference."

Merry's eyes stayed on the screen. On Shirogane, still unmoving in victory footage that felt too calm to be real.

"I can push the front," she insisted.

"I know you can."

There was a pause before she spoke again, quieter this time.

"If she can do it at that speed… then I should be able to do it better. I'm faster than her."

Her trainer exhaled through his nose, not quite a sigh, but close. "Be careful with comparisons like that. You're only looking at one side of her style. She's built her entire approach around—"

But Merry wasn't really listening anymore, something had already shifted its weight inside her mind. She watched Shirogane cross the line one more time, silver hair settling as she stood a little ways past the post, the nearest runner barely crossing the two hundred meter mark nearly a distance behind her.

Her fingers tightened around the edge of the desk.

Her trainer noticed.

"You're doing it again," he said.

"Doing what?"

"Watching someone else and trying to run their race."

He picked up the remote and froze the screen mid-stride.

Shirogane's form remained maddeningly unchanged even stationary.

"I'll be frank with you, Merry, I don't entirely like what I'm seeing."

She blinked. "You don't?"

"I respect it," he corrected. "I'm even a little scared of it, but that's beside the point."

He gestured at the screen.

"No late-race fatigue. Hardly any wasted motion. No panic response when challenged. She runs at a runaway pace and somehow finishes composed. That is not normal."

Merry glanced back at the image.

"It looks effective."

"It looks expensive," he said dryly, ticking off points on his fingers. "In training, in conditioning, in strain. And we have no idea what kind of workload supports it."

He set the remote down on the desk between them and sat down opposite her.

"For all we know, she's built years of stamina around that style. Maybe she's gambling soundness for results. Or perhaps she's simply exceptional."

He met her eyes directly.

"But copying results without understanding the process behind them is how runners break themselves."

Merry said nothing.

Her gaze drifted back to the paused image of Shirogane.

"…So you're saying I shouldn't try."

"I'm saying you shouldn't imitate something you don't understand."

He let that sit for a moment.

"Besides, you already have strengths she doesn't. Better top speed and acceleration, for one. Do you think you could accelerate like you did in your most recent race if you ran the whole thing like her?"

She shook her head.

"Exactly," His tone softened slightly. "So don't lose what already works for you. Just run your race."

A long silence followed before Merry exhaled through her nose and nodded once.

"...Alright. I'll run my race."

Some of the tension left his shoulders.

"Good," he said, reaching for the registration papers beside him and sliding one free. "There's one more thing."

He set the paper down between them.

"She's entered the same race we were planning for."

"What?"

---

The gates sprang open and Merry broke cleanly.

Relief flashed through her in the same instant as motion, she hadn't stumbled or hesitated, and she settled into her opening routine almost immediately, driving forward for a few strong steps before easing into the position she had been trained to hold. The pack gathered around her in a familiar storm of hoofbeats and breath, everything was unfolding exactly as it should.

The rail slid past in smooth white segments. Turf flicked lightly against her calves from runners behind. She stayed with the lead group without forcing anything, shoulders low, cadence even, conserving what she could while keeping herself where she needed to be.

For the first hundred metres, the race made sense.

Pressure at her flank. Another runner half a length outside. Someone tucked behind her shoulder, waiting for an opening. The familiar dance of positioning and patience she'd experienced countless times in practice.

Then she saw it. Shirogane had moved ahead, clear of the lead group.

Not abruptly, like with a breakaway born of effort or risk, but gradually; she hadn't stopped accelerating even as the other runners had settled into their natural positions.

Merry had studied this. She knew the explanation. She had accepted it as a viable strategy.

And yet seeing it now, without meaning to, she found herself thinking: something about this is wrong!

No frontrunner should be doing that unless she was prepared to pay for it later, or believed she wouldn't. That was common sense.

Shirogane looked as though she hadn't spent a thing.

Her stride remained even, as if the idea of fatigue had not yet occurred to her. She continued to hold the same rhythm as the gap behind her widened again, then again, until what had begun as an aggressive move simply became the new structure of the race.

Merry forced her attention back to her own running.

Do not chase. Run your race.

Her trainer's voice was clear in her mind now, sharper than the crowd, sharper than instinct.

Run your race.

So she did. She kept position within the lead group, resisting the urge to respond as others around her began to lose their composure under the pressure of Shirogane's pace. One by one they stretched, then slipped backward, the field thinning as the front resolved itself into something far simpler:

Distance.

By the time they reached the far turn, Shirogane was still extending away.

Merry could feel the strain building now, not from panic but from awareness. The race was continuing forward without her permission, and yet she remained exactly where she had been instructed to stay. Every instinct that urged her to respond was met with something steadier, more deliberate.

Discipline.

Not yet. Final leg. Follow the plan.

The straight approached, and Merry shifted. She gathered everything she had been preserving, every reserve carefully held back for this moment. Her breathing tightened, her stride lengthened, and the world narrowed into a single line of pursuit.

She detonated.

The turf practically broke beneath her, each step carrying more power than the last and sending clods of turf flying in her wake. The gap to Shirogane began to shrink, slowly at first, then all at once as Merry committed fully to the run she had prepared for.

Five lengths.

Three.

A length and a half.

For a brief moment, it felt as though the calculation had been correct, as though the plan was finally resolving itself into reality.

Then something changed.

Not in Shirogane, but in Merry.

It felt like a switch had flipped and all of a sudden, her legs burned and breathing felt impossible. Each breath came shallower than the last, each stride costing more than it should have, not because anything ahead had changed, but because she had reached the boundary of what she could sustain.

The gap stopped closing.

Then it held.

Then it began to widen.

Merry pushed harder, searching for something beyond the limit she was already standing inside, but there was nothing left to take. The race did not slow. The distance did not yield. It simply slipped out of her control.

One length.

One and a half.

Two.

The final straight blurred around her as willpower melted into desperation and raw animal instinct. She kept running because there was nothing else to do, because stopping was not part of her nature, because the line still existed even if the outcome had already been decided.

Shirogane crossed first.

Seven lengths later, Merry Soon crossed second.

---

Seven.

Merry kept thinking of it even after she had left the track. Her trainer spoke, doors opened and closed, people moved around her, but the number stayed where it was.

Seven lengths.

It sounded harmless, almost innocent when spoken aloud, like a measurement from someone else's life. But on the television screen in the office, it looked like a guilty verdict.

The race footage froze at the finish line.

First.

Seven lengths.

Second.

Merry stood in front of the television, towel still draped over her shoulders, hair damp against her neck. She watched herself cross the line again. Not first, not even close enough for comfort. Behind her, the field resolved into shapes that no longer mattered. Ahead, only one figure remained clear.

"—and Shirogane Oruzeru extends her lead decisively in the final stretch! A commanding finish!"

The announcer's voice cut through the replay loop, unchanged from the moment it had been recorded.

Merry frowned slightly at that. Commanding felt too small a word for what it had been.

Her trainer stood a few steps behind her, arms crossed. "You ran well," he said.

Merry didn't answer immediately. On screen, she saw herself again: straining now, shoulders rising, stride shortening in the final meters. Not collapsing, but no longer gaining.

Just… staying.

"I didn't win," she said at last, deflated. "I couldn't."

"No," he agreed carefully, turning the television off. "You didn't, but you ran it right."

Merry replayed the finish in her head without the screen now. The moment she had tried to close the gap and found that the gap did not respond.

Silence followed before Merry finally turned her head slightly.

"She didn't even—" She stopped, searching for the right word. "She wasn't even tired."

Her trainer folded his arms. "No… She wasn't."

That sentence made something ugly tighten in her chest.

"I waited," Merry said slowly, almost to herself. "I ran my race. I trained hard. I did what we planned."

"You did."

Her brow furrowed. "Then why did it feel like it was over before the final straight?"

He didn't answer immediately, but Merry could see the gears turning in his head. It didn't matter what he had to say, the plan had been right. It had to have been right, she'd gotten too close for it to be wrong.

If it hadn't worked then something in her hadn't been enough, and she wouldn't let him soften the blow.

Her gaze dropped briefly to her hands. "I can do better than that," she said. "I know I can."

His expression shifted into something softer. "You ran your personal best out there."

"I know."

"That matters."

She looked back up at the empty screen.

Seven lengths.

"It doesn't feel like it," Merry said quietly. "She ran like I wasn't even there."

Her trainer exhaled through his nose. "That's one way of looking at it."

Merry turned the monitor on again, watching the final straight for the third time. Her own figure entered the frame later than she remembered, smaller than she remembered, working harder than she remembered.

"I was closing."

He nodded.

"But it wasn't enough."

Silence settled again. Her trainer didn't speak, and Merry didn't ask him to.

Seven lengths wasn't close. Not at all.

Merry turned away from the screen. For a moment, she didn't speak, the replay clicking softly behind her as it reset once more.

"I'll catch her."

Her trainer's eyes sharpened. "Merry—"

"I will," she said, pulling the towel from her shoulders, twisting it once in her hands as though something in her might come loose with the water. "Next time I'll catch her."

---

AN: I haven't written anything in a while, so forgive the herky-jerky pacing. While I was inspired enough by all the discussion on the possible different rival dynamics to write something, I was too lazy to write any connecting scenes or to add in a training montage. Also, if you haven't guessed already, the name Merry Soon is supposed to be as close to Mary Sue as possible while still sounding somewhat like a racehorse name, but she's eh... missing her usual religious zeal cause I couldn't figure out how to work it in, so I just made it an obsession with facing Shirogane in every race, which kinda mirrors how Mary Sue acted in Youjo Senki if you squint and do some mental acrobatics.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Based off of the reference image and Tanya's anime design, I did a quick sketch of how I imagine Shirogane looks. When I was coloring it, I almost defaulted to making her blonde before I remembered her name literally means silver. The other thing was the eyes being red, I feel like Tanya's glowing blue eyes when she's hopped on magic is a really iconic part of her character, so it almost feels weird to have them be red.

Spoiler: Image

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Added a rough sketch of a kurtka with another jacket draped over her shoulder as an alternative G1 outfit, since the Tracen uniform felt out of place with her expression being so severe. Also made the wing smaller and let the Three Goddesses decide how it stays attached. I think I'll probably stop here, with this version.

I also had some fun with some typography for a poster/cover. If anyone feels like adding color, please feel free.

Spoiler: Concept Cover

Spoiler: Lineart Version

 

[WrandmWaffles]

Setting the Pace​

---

The next week was relatively unremarkable in terms of what Shirogane herself was doing, but there had been a significant change in the atmosphere for her yearmates. Part of that had to do with another set of tryouts, but it also seemed that having someone from their year run their debut race inspired them to focus harder on training.

This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but apparently a few of them had ended up in the infirmary for minor sprains, cramps, or dehydration, and Tsuyoshi-san missed some class because of a cold. It seemed that Toujou-san had been right in her assessment that many younger racers had trouble pacing themselves outside of the track.

The change was also not limited to just her classmates. While Shirogane interacted with some of their seniors since she was in a few of their classes, she largely did not interact with those beyond her teammates and classmates, especially since she lived off campus. And up until now, most of the others had seemed equally uninterested in her.

To say that this completely changed would be inaccurate, as she didn't become a celebrity overnight, but having her face show up on the board seemed to have spurred on a degree of curiosity over her, and in the typical nature of children, most did not approach her directly to sate their curiosity, and instead primarily spread rumors that didn't have much basis in reality.

No, she was not a ghost summoned from the stump many of her classmates were wary of, she just sometimes liked sitting against it while doing some reading on sunny days. It was a good place to get some sun while not being bothered by her excessively rambunctious classmates, which made it one of her favorite spots on campus.

Today, however, it could not serve her aims. Instead, she was in the library, one of the other places that tended to be less noisy, but less so than a typical library, since watching race or performance film was within expectations for students. For this purpose there were numerous rooms within the library equipped with some degree of soundproofing and individual audio-visual setups, as well as a decent amount of open space, possibly for practice, or just to minimize damage when some student got too excited.

She had used these rooms before to watch tape from various races, but today she was watching performances, as entry into the Triple Tiara races required a kind of unique performance, which filtered out quite a bit of the active and aspiring runners. Possibly because the criteria seemed a bit vague, which was what led Shirogane to collect some recordings for reference.

She had started with Air Groove-senpai's performance from the previous year's Yushun Himba, which had been quite distinctive, playing into her school image as an 'empress' of sorts. While her senior was no doubt a strong runner, Shirogane wasn't really sure that moniker was warranted on the racetrack, as she had not achieved the Triple Tiara as a mirror to the 'emperor' Symboli Rudolf having won the Triple Crown.

From what she had found, Mejiro Ramonu seemed to fit the moniker, being relatively close in age to Symboli Rudolf and being the first to win the Triple Tiara. Some of the information also suggested the two of them had a friendly rivalry of sorts, and yet Air Groove was the one who picked up the moniker of 'empress.'

Was it because Mejiro Ramonu's performances were more traditional? They were very well polished and choreographed, but she had still used the songs designated by the league at the time. It seemed that the requirements hadn't been quite solidified at that point, and the current final leg of the circuit, the Shuka Sho, had not been instituted yet either.

Mejiro Dober had followed in her relative's footsteps and performed a very well choreographed version of the song for this year's Yushun Himba, which didn't really help clarify how the criteria worked to Shirogane.

"Yoohoo! Is that Shirogane-chan I see?!"

The door to the room burst open as a brown haired uma wearing sunglasses indoors flounced through them.

"Close the door," Shirogane grunted at Seeking the Pearl, deciding not to react otherwise to her bombastic classmate, having long realized that there was no dissuading her. "Otherwise we will disturb the other people using the library more than they already have been."

"Oh come now, is that any way to talk to your dear senior?" the overly dramatic uma sighed, though she still closed the door.

"Is barging into a room uninvited appropriate behavior for a senior?" Or at least one without the authority to do so.
"Of course!" Seeking the Pearl flipped her long hair theatrically as she flopped down into the seat next to Shirogane. "When my little junior is so engrossed in studying I couldn't help but feel like I should offer my help!"

It hadn't been asked for, but Shirogane had to admit she was not getting particularly far herself. The older students and staff at Tracen were generally unusually helpful, and as much of a diva as Seeking the Pearl could be, Shirogane was quite certain that her dramatic senior was not interested in sabotaging her.

"Do you even know what I'm doing?"

"Of course!" her senior exclaimed, throwing in some English as was her tendency. "You're watching Yushun Himba Winning Lives! So naturally this means…" She gave her ears an exaggerated waggle in lieu of a drumroll. "My little junior wants to compete in the Triple Tiara circuit!"

"Hmm…" Shirogane wasn't exactly hiding it, but perhaps she had underestimated her loud senior's intelligence.

"I must say I'm surprised that you're the one interested out of your class," Seeking the Pearl went on, seemingly oblivious to Shirogane's consternation. "I thought for sure it'd be the one with the mask–the luchador!–what was her name again?"

"El Condor Pasa."

"Exactly!" her loud senior snapped her fingers in realization. "I should have remembered! One of the Kentucky Gals!"

"She seems more interested in going for the Triple Crown circuit." And while Pasa was one of the more expressive dancers in the class, she probably would have even more trouble with the rather opaque requirements for the Triple Tiara circuit.

"Of course," Seeking the Pearl sighed, throwing an arm against her forehead theatrically. "The allure of golden glory is stronger than the bright lights of the stage for many." She shrugged. "But I guess it's for the best, she's not all that ladylike, is she?"

"No." That would be closer to the last term associated with El Condor Pasa than the first. "King Halo would probably be the most… 'ladylike' amongst my year mates." Given that she was from a wealthy family, it might even be literally true, not that the spirited young uma liked to talk about it.

"But alas! She wants to challenge the Triple Crown Circuit to live up to her name! Will no one spare a thought for the brilliant Triple Tiara?!"

"I'm sure there will be plenty of participants." The potential payout was too large to go uncontested, and it was still a prestigious award. "Just not many from our classes." Mejiro Dober was on the circuit–

"Naturally I and Dobby-chan are gunning for the Tiaras!" Shirogane only just remembered that Seeking the Pearl had won the Oka Sho in what apparently was a bit of a surprise. "As expected of such a dazzling pair as the two of us!"

Her senpai in age leapt to her feet, twirling around excitedly as if she were onstage, heedless of Shirogane's nonplussed lack of expression.

"Too dazzling, it would seem, as neither of you can win all three now."

"Haa ha ha ha! But what is a show without some good competition?!" Despite her recent defeat, Seeking the Pearl seemed undeterred, spreading her arms upwards like she was about to dive off a platform. "Besides," she leaned to one side and winked. "I have some plans on going for an even bigger stage, but keep that to yourself, ok, Shiro-chan?"

"If you say so."

"Oh, don't be too worried about the rules," Seeking the Pearl huffed, flouncing back into a chair. "It's all about presentation! And for you, you already have a big advantage!"

Shirogane blinked. "Is that so?"

"It is so!" She snapped her fingers as she pointed across the room. "You're Polish, tak?"

"Half."

"A hafu! Even better–!"

What.

"–That means you can play up both sides of your uniqueness!"

Seeking the Pearl hopped up to her feet again, doing another spin for no adequately expressed reason, pulling her sunglasses down to cover her eyes. "See, I've been to a bunch of different places, so you could say I'm Miss Worldwide, capiche?" She pointed at Shirogane with both index fingers, hands curled to resemble guns, which made Shirogane twitch before she tamped down the urge to bash someone's face in.

"I don't know what that means."

"Look, you already stand out a bit, and if you wanna catch enough attention to get into the Triple Tiara circuit, you've got to stand out magnificently." The diva of an uma laced her fingers together and stretched, pulling her arms up above her head. "So work with what you got. And I'd bet money none of the judges are gonna be able to speak Polish, which means you don't have to worry about messing up as much, if you catch my drift?"

"Is that why you like to throw in phrases from various languages into your speech?"

"Of course not!" The older uma huffed in mock offense. "My Japanese is perfect! It's just part of my brand as a worldwide traveller!"

Shirogane found herself rolling her eyes at the display, but internally she considered the point. There was some merit to it, for as campy and over the top Seeking the Pearl could be, she certainly stood out compared to some of her more demure rivals. Her foreign looks also helped her stand out, but that was less of a distinction given the number of foreign exchange students.

Still, Shirogane did know Polish to some degree, enough to converse simply with her grandparents, and Mother also had some Polish music records that they played in as background ambience for the restaurant sometimes, highlighting the distinction of being one of the few places in town that made authentic Polish food.

Hmm…this might be a useful way to draw some more attention to the restaurant…assuming she ever won a race where they accommodated the special performances.

"You have a point. As a public figure we do have to create a brand of sorts."

"Oh that is way too uncute of a way to put it!" Her senior seemed to recoil as if physically struck, before tilting her head contemplatively. "But I guess cute won't work too well for you."

"Probably." Shirogane rather appreciated not being treated like a child, even if she was not a legal adult yet, so she didn't really want to appear cute even if it suited her. "Thank you for the advice, Seeking the Pearl-san. It has given me quite a bit to think about."

---

"You cannot be serious…"

Hana Toujou pulled her glasses off, setting them gently on her desk, before pinching her nose with her palms.

"I would not have brought this up as a joke."

Across from her sat the trainee she thought would give her the least headaches and anxiety, looking cool as a longstanding stone and with an expression about as gravely serious. Taking a deep breath to center herself, Hana set her glasses back onto her face, then looked over the tentative race schedule and application forms in front of her.

"And here I thought you would be least enthralled with the bright lights of the Triple Crown and Triple Tiara."

"Didn't they ban flash cameras recently? Besides, I doubt I would win any of these races, let alone a triple crown," Shirogane scoffed, as casual about her own relative ability as she always was. "But with these large prize pools, placing would be enough to make an attempt worthwhile."

Hana sighed. "I suppose I should have expected that to draw your interest." At least Shirogane-san was not truly shooting for a Sextuple Crown. If someone managed to pull that off…it would be a sight to see. "But even just running in all six of these races would make the league question my sanity as a trainer."

The first two legs of each circuit were within one week of the corresponding leg in the other circuit, with the Shuka Sho and Kikuka Sho being two weeks apart, which was still quite close together. To qualify for each leg, her unimpressionable yet somehow still overly ambitious trainee would have to place or show in one of their qualifier races, and if she did not manage to do so in the circuit races, she would have to do so in another qualifier. The first two legs were not far enough apart for that to be feasible.

"Qualifying for each of the legs is already not trivial. Given your showing on the Nakayama racecourse, you likely have good odds of qualifying for the Satsuki Sho, but beyond that…and the Triple Tiara races outside of the Yushun Himba are your most challenging distance."

Shirogane nodded, clearly already having considered these things. "Indeed, I have no illusions that I will win any of these races outright, but do I truly lose anything by trying?"

Health came to mind reflexively, but Hana could not even use that as a strong argument, as her pale trainee was perhaps the least injury prone uma she had ever heard of, and this was in spite of her high intensity training.

"There is always the possibility that you exhaust yourself, or simply fail miserably, particularly in the shorter races like the Oka Sho and Shuka Sho." At least with Shirogane, she did not have to worry about upsetting her by being blunt.

"Failure is certainly possible, but that is rather expected, isn't it?"

That did not mean her trainee would listen to her completely.

"If I do not succeed on the shorter races, it can be said that I was testing my limits," Shirogane suggested, posture still and as certain as ever. "If I do succeed, then I have more range than we thought, and failure would simply be finding the extent of my limits."

"And you do not think exhaustion would be a problem?"

"There is at least a week between each of these races, and none of them are particularly long, so that should be enough time to recover," Shirogane declared, still completely oblivious to how long it took her fellows to recover from the strain. "Kyoto and Hanshin are quite far away, but it's not as if they're overseas."

"How did you feel a week after your debut race? Any different from your expectations?" Racing was generally quite a bit more tiring than practice, both because the runners tended to push themselves harder in actual race conditions, as well as the nerves and adrenaline often wearing them out more than they realized at the time.

Shirogane blinked, apparently not having considered this. "About as expected. I think I could have run again on Tuesday, but only because my family insisted on having a party over the weekend as celebration and that meant my sleep schedule was disrupted slightly Sunday night."

Hana resisted the urge to palm her face. The degree to which Shirogane treated a sport her peers threw themselves into wholeheartedly like a common day job continued to throw her off balance, especially when it turned out that her strange trainee truly had the physique to do just that.

She had prayed for a trainee who wasn't too eager to get herself injured, or too blinded by the glory to be mindful of her own limits. Now it felt like the Kami had a sense of humor about her life.

"If you have doubts I can keep up that pace, I could run a few lower stakes races weekly," Shirogane continued, taking her silence for doubt rather than exasperation. "It will not simulate the intensity completely, but it would at least demonstrate that I can keep up with the mandatory rest period rules."

"We shouldn't start off too intensely, otherwise I will have some unfriendly questions thrown my way by the league," Hana sighed, again feeling herself dragged along by her trainees' eccentricities. "Only one set of consecutive races, like you would see if you actually manage to get into both circuits."

"Why would the league have an issue with this?" Shirogane tilted her head curiously. "They have set a rule that there must be at least one week between races, so shouldn't it be fine for someone to run once a week?"

"In theory, that would be the case, but you should understand that this is a bare minimum," Hana clarified, "and that as trainers we are expected to keep the health of our trainees as a priority, so in most cases such a schedule would be out of consideration."

"You say most cases…"

Hana sighed again, crossing her arms as she closed her eyes. "From what I've seen, you should be able to handle it physically, but if you do get injured it will not reflect well on me as a trainer."

"I know my limits," her trainee asserted, and at this point Hana mostly believed her. "And if I must drop out of a race that is not a major problem either."

At least she was being a little bit reasonable despite the scope of her ambition, even if those were words Hana had never thought she'd hear from a racer. "It will be difficult, and I am not referring to just the races themselves." The Triple Tiara races required a certain level of stage presence that her reserved trainee had never shown much inclination towards. "While you have practiced the expected choreography well enough, the officials will be looking for something more than that."

Shirogane nodded, looking less irritated than expected. "I have recently made some progress in convincing Ito-sensei of my performing abilities."

Hana blinked, then checked the notes she had received from the performance instructor. "He says that you have found a way to come to life and not sing like a robot…this is much more positive than his usual assessment."

"Apparently, I am more expressive in Polish," her trainee snorted, one side of her mouth curling up slightly. "I think this largely is a result of Ito-sensei having no knowledge of the language or even how it should sound."

"You chose a Polish song then?" Hana wasn't certain how well that would go over with the public. It would certainly be novel, but it would be very unfamiliar, and might give off the impression that Shirogane was a foreign student.

"Yes, it's a favorite of my grandfather's." Shirogane did not move, but for a moment, her eyes seemed to flash crimson and Hana found herself suppressing a shiver. "He told me it reminds him of his sister."

Hana pursed her lips, then nodded. She didn't have much of an opinion to give here, since she wasn't fluent in Polish herself, but it seemed clear that it was important to her trainee.

"It should help you stand out, even if most of the audience won't understand it."

"It will have to do, if Ito-sensei remains unsatisfied with any of my Japanese performances."

"I must admit I am somewhat curious what exactly convinced him. Despite his eccentricities, he is skilled within his field."

"I am not sure either. Perhaps if I demonstrate it you would have something to input?"

Once she saw what her trainee had put together at what seemed to be a whim, Hana ran out of avenues to dissuade her trainee from challenging the Tiara races as well.

---

The day of the second set of tryouts came, and with it came stress for much of the first year student population. It meant very little to Shirogane, since she was already on a team, but oddly enough she found some of her classmates on edge as well, despite having trainers or teams themselves.

Special Week and Tsurumaru Tsuyoshi, she could understand, as this was their chance to 'catch up', as they would say, to the rest of them. She did not understand the agitation in Grass Wonder or King Halo.

For one reason or another, the entirety of their class was present at the racetrack, either participating in tryouts or watching. El Condor Pasa had wanted to cheer on Special Week and Tsurumaru Tsuyoshi, leading her to drag her roommate along. King Halo seemed rather invested in her own roommate's attempt, which made some sense, given Haru Urara's tendency to get distracted.

Despite her lackadaisical nature, Seiun Sky appeared to be using the opportunity to scope out the opposition. Shirogane was doing something similar, since her trainer was attending, along with much of Team Rigil, though they were up higher in the stands, while Shirogane had opted to join her yearmates closer to the track.

The run they were there for started without anything unusual, with no one crashing right out of the gate, though Special Week started slightly late, which wasn't terribly surprising since she was not as familiar with the mechanical starting gates, even after practicing for a few weeks.

Regardless, their classmate had enough speed and endurance to make up for the delay, quickly settling into her preferred position towards the rear of the pack, not too far from Haru Urara, who looked like she was having fun, despite running in an inefficient way.

Meanwhile, Tsuyoshi was towards the front of the pack following the pace setters, who were from other classes, and weren't setting a particularly fast pace.

"GO SPE!"

"Urara! Remember your training!"

Pasa and King Halo were quite absorbed in the race, yelling advice excitedly, though from Shirogane's own experience, it was likely in vain, given the noise generated by the numerous runners, though with the lesser crowd this time, there was perhaps some chance that their fellows could hear them.

"From the looks of it, Special Week or Tsurumaru Tsuyoshi-san can outrun the others on the final stretch," Shirogane murmured thoughtfully, noting the difference in endurance between her classmates and the others. "Provided they keep their wits about them, of course."

"What makes you say that, Shirogane-san?" Grass Wonder asked, again interested in her musings much more than before.

"The others are already struggling with their breathing–except for Urara-san, who just has bad running form–so they will not be able to keep their speed up for the last segment, if our classmates time it right."

"What would you do?" Grass Wonder's ear flicked in thought, eyes not leaving the race.

"What I usually do, match the leader's pace initially then accelerate to my top speed till the end."

"I meant what would you do if you were Special Week or Tsuyoshi-san."

Shirogane hummed in thought, considering the scenario. "If I possessed their physical attributes…" Presumably Grass would not be satisfied with the observation that being exactly the same as another person meant you would behave in the exact same way. "I would likely do something similar to what they are planning, though in Special Week's situation, I'd angle more towards the outside past the midway point."

"So you'd have a clearer path to overtake?"

"Yes. Special Week has impressive acceleration, but she isn't agile enough that I'd be willing to attempt weaving through traffic." Especially not as an uma who seemed so unused to traffic.

"What about Tsuyoshi-san?"

"I'd probably do the same as what she is doing now." As she was following the front runners but ahead of the rest of the pack, she had plenty of space to maneuver heading into the final stretch. "Though depending on how well her aerobics hold up I might not be pushing up the pack the same way." With how easily winded Tsuyoshi could get, managing stamina would be trickier than Shirogane was used to.

"Hmm…" her chestnut haired classmate hummed contemplatively as her ears tilted forwards in focus. "So who do you think will win at this stage?"

Shirogane narrowed her eyes, focusing on the runners, noting that Tsuyoshi did not look too winded yet, while Special Week's positioning would make her rush for the finish more difficult. "As is, I think Tsuyoshi-san has the best position."

True to her estimate, their lighter white-streaked classmate managed to claim first place, while Special Week came in third after having to circumvent some other runners on the final stretch, the maneuvering blunting her impressive burst of speed.

"That should land Tsuyoshi a trainer," Shirogane mused, glancing over to the stands populated by observers. "Special Week will likely be recruited as well."

"What makes you say that?" Grass Wonder asked, looking oddly peeved with her ears shifting in agitation.

"While she did not win, her performance did demonstrate her physical talent, which is something trainers cannot change, whereas experience and training will improve her racing strategy." Shirogane couldn't think of anything she could have done to be the cause of her classmate's unease, so she chose not to address it.

"You didn't seem to need much of that," Grass pointed out archly, "did you race a lot before coming to Tracen? I know Special Week-san didn't."

"I did not, which is why I have remedial training in that regard," Shirogane admitted, choosing not to comment on the moment of blank shock on her classmate's face. "But I grew up in a city so I am familiar with navigating traffic, and I have an older friend who also became a professional racer, so some theoretical knowledge did percolate over to me."

"I see…" By the look on her face, Grass Wonder still had questions. "What do you mean remedial training?"

Shirogane shrugged. "While I have some idea of racing strategy, I lack much experience running in official races, so that is what Trainer-san saw fit to assign to me." From what she gathered from most of her classmates, they were relatively experienced, at least at a more local level, even if some were from overseas.

Grass stared at her for a moment, a frown pulling at her face, before she turned to look back at the track, where Tsuyoshi was still celebrating her victory. "Well if you're right, we should go congratulate them on their run."

Shirogane nodded, though she found that she usually didn't have to do much of that, nor did she usually get much space to, given the exuberance of many of her schoolmates.

---

Suzukiya was one of Akira Watanabe's favorite restaurants, something that, in hindsight, largely stemmed from Suzuki-chan giving out samples at lunchtime from her family's shop. He was sure he would have liked the food if he had found it independently, but he might not have tried it if he discovered the restaurant on his own compared to from his classmate.

Now, looking at the number of familiar faces from middle school cycling through the shop, he clearly wasn't alone in that…and he was starting to suspect that his former classmate had been deliberately trying for this result the whole time…

What a scary girl Shirogane was…

"Akira-kun!"

He was shaken out of his thoughts as a whirl of flaxen chestnut smacked into him, almost knocking him off his feet.

"There you are, Swift," he grunted out, steadying himself as his girlfriend hugged him with more enthusiasm than was probably necessary, squeezing the breath from his lungs. "Almost late, you know?"

"Muuu…I'm right on time!" she huffed, pulling back to look up at him, tail swishing happily as she grabbed his arm instead. "The race is going to be starting soon!"

Akira ushered his girlfriend to the table Suzuki-san had reserved for them, and not long after Taro-san appeared with their usual orders, the massive uma managing to maneuver around the fairly small space with practiced ease.

"You two here to watch?" Taro-san observed as they thanked her for the food, all three of them glancing periodically at the new television hung up on the wall, currently showing footage from the Kyoto race track. "Thought you'd want to go to the track in person, Swift."

"I did!" Swift pouted, ears flopping down adorably. "But it's way too far! And we have school tomorrow. Tracen has to be crazy rich to allow its students to go all over the country like that!"

"They are," Akira confirmed sagely, before taking a bite out of his pierogi and chewing thoughtfully, glancing up at the new air conditioning unit and sound system. Though with how much money they made from their cut of their students' winnings, it made sense.

"But did Shiro-chan have to go all the way to Kyoto?" his girlfriend griped, tail swishing sadly. "Chiba isn't super far away but she didn't tell us about it!" Swift had been quite perturbed that her childhood friend had debuted without any notice, but Akira had been able to assure her that was just the way Shirogane was.

The crazy gray uma was quite a private person despite how popular she had been back in middle school, and having sat near her for several years, Akira wasn't quite sure if she had ever realized how beloved she had become by being so effortlessly good at what seemed like everything while not lording it over everyone else.

And also bringing food.

"I guess she wants to try out other race courses?" Taro-san suggested, tapping her chin with her pen, one ear tilted towards the kitchen so she could listen out for one of the elder Suzukis. "There's a couple big races at the Kyoto course right?"

"There's the Spring Tenno Sho, Kikuka Sho and Shuka Sho," Akira listed off, pretty sure that Taro was right about what Suzuki-san was going for. "And two of those are long races, which Suzuki-san has pretty good chances at, I think."

"She can run for days!"

"That might be an exaggeration, Swift-chan." At least he was fairly sure it was.

"Ehhh? But remember she ran so much they had to stop her because time had run out?" His girlfriend leaned forwards, eyes innocently wide and he felt himself flagging.

"She can sure run for a long time, but you should eat your food before it gets too cold," Taro-san laughed, successfully redirecting Swift's attention and saving Akira some embarrassment.

That said he was quite hungry so he and Swift started eating quickly. It was delicious as usual, and Akira again felt his wallet quail momentarily at how much his girlfriend could consume, but he had known what he was getting into, and from what he had seen of his friends who dated human girls, he'd still take his overly enthusiastic and big eater of a girlfriend over a lot of the backhanded nonsense they went through.

"This is sooo good!"

"You say that every time, Swift-chan."

"Uhuh! And they make it tasty every time!" his girlfriend declared with cheerful solemnity, eyes shining and ears perked up excitedly, "so I will say it's good every time."

Yeah, this was worth the extra hours at his part time job.

A familiar trumpet call sounded through the restaurant and a bunch of eyes swiveled over to the television, including Suzuki-san, who poked his head out of the kitchen to watch his daughter race.

"Hehehe…she looks so small in the gate!" Swift giggled, pointing at the screen depicting Shirogane-san standing ready in the gate looking as unimpressed by everything as ever, hardly blinking even as the umas in the surrounding gates were a sea of twitching ears and tails.

"She's quite short for a racer," Akira chuffed, shaking his head slightly. "But you kinda don't realize it in person because of how intense she is." That and having been in school with her for so long, there was a decent chunk of their lives where they were about the same height before they really started to grow and Shirogane turned into a mini-adult.

In truth, despite having an uma for a girlfriend, Akira didn't care all that much about the races, as he already had an uma occupying most of his attention, but Swift liked Shirogane and racing, so he followed up on it to some degree, enough to be impressed with how perfectly their former classmate timed her exit out of the gate.

"Whoa! She got a lot faster!" Swift gasped, watching wide-eyed as Shirogane accelerated rapidly towards the front of the pack, making it look almost effortless.

"She always did get significant results when she put her mind to something." It was a little intimidating sometimes.

The other runners seemed to be affected by her intensity as well, a few of them actually overtaking her as they tried to keep their position, but they quickly fell behind again after they burned themselves out, to the cheers of various people in the restaurant.

"Go, Shiro-chan, go!" his girlfriend cheered, pumping her arms up and down in encouragement, not that their mutual friend could see them, but there was no reason to mention that.

On the screen, Shirogane gamely kept her pace, gradually leaving most of the other front running and trailing racers behind as they flagged.

"Yes! You can do it Shiro-chan!"

She did a good job of throwing the front of the pack into chaos, but that didn't seem to affect the couple of runners that waited towards the back, and as the runners turned the corner towards the final stretch, a couple of runners picked up speed and started to close.

The first one (a chestnut colored uma) rushed forwards, easily passing by the tiring runners, but found her path suddenly blocked by Shirogane, who had slipped out from in front a larger runner, her abrupt appearance almost making the chestnut runner stumble, completely killing her momentum, which allowed Shirogane to create a lead.

"No! Go, Shiro, go!"

But the other runner, this one bay colored, was not so easily startled, and quickly overtook the others, closing in on Shirogane and the finish line.

Akira held his breath as the two runners rushed forwards, the bay uma steadily gaining on Shirogane—

"Nooo!"

–and overtook her shortly before the finish, to a round of disappointed cries throughout the restaurant.

'Claiming victory with her final spurt is number five, Emocion! Just half a length before number seven, Shirogane Orzel!'

"Awww…she was doing so well too…I hope Shiro-chan doesn't get too upset…" Swift's ears drooped down sadly, looking more upset about the results than Shirogane herself, who walked past the thrilled but clearly exhausted winner without as much as a second glance, leaving the track with the same degree of nonchalance as leaving school.

"I think she'll be just fine," Akira reassured her, noting that while Suzuki-san looked disappointed, she was not terribly distraught either. "Shirogane-san is pretty hard to upset." Though you really did not want to manage that.

"Oh yeah…she still gets money for second place, right? So she's probably okay then."

Akira glanced back to the new television, then to the new air conditioning unit. "Yeah, she's probably going to be happy as long as she wins some money."

---

As she had expected, while much of the competition was less impressive than her classmates at Tracen, there were still plenty of strong runners from other schools, and there usually was one that could beat her, at least on the shorter distances that younger runners were typically slotted for.

One thing she hadn't accounted for in regards to race days was that since she only did warmups and cooldowns, by the time evening came she found that she tended to have too much excess energy to sleep easily.

And so here she was on a late evening jog.

This being Tokyo, the streets were still fairly populated, but it was significantly quieter, and Shirogane did not usually have to worry about running into pedestrians, but while the streets were well lit, she was short enough that her head was below eye level on many adults, and at this hour a not insubstantial number of them were drunk or sleep deprived.

A quick circuit of the academy later, she was starting to feel more settled. It didn't burn away all the excess energy, but it tamped down the urge to move about, so she should be able to fall asleep more easily after a quick shower.

As she turned the corner down the street her apartment was on, she spotted a familiar face exiting a convenience store with a grocery bag in hand.

"Shirogane-san," Hana's cousin nodded in greeting, looking rather curious about why she was out running at this time.

"Tensei-san." She paused in her jog and stepped off the uma path onto the sidewalk. "Good evening to you." They had decided not to use each other's surnames to avoid confusion, as he shared a surname with her trainer, and there were many other Suzukis that he was acquainted with.

"Are you still training at this hour?"

"Not exactly," Shirogane replied with a shake of her head. "I just needed to wear off some more energy before I go to bed."

Tensei's eyes blinked behind his glasses. "You had a race today, and you still have excess energy?"

"Yes, as I don't do as much training on race days," Shirogane explained, before registering the way he phrased the question. "You knew that I ran a race today?"

"I watched it on TV earlier today. I saw your name on one of the lists posted around this area." He shrugged, and Shirogane nodded for him to continue. "You ran quite smoothly, but unfortunately, Bold Emperor was faster."

"Indeed, though for as grandiose of a name she has–" Why was she called 'emperor' when she was female? "–her stamina and temperament likely means she will have less luck at longer races." Winning open races wasn't necessarily anything to boast too much about; even she had won one.

"She doesn't stack up well in comparison to your classmates at Tracen?"

"No."

"Then next year's Classic Triple Crown looks to be interesting." Tensei adjusted his glasses slightly, as they had slid down his nose from looking down at her.

"I will endeavor to make it so…but I won't be providing any insider information if you plan on betting on it." She flicked her ear in jest at her trainer's cousin. "That would be bad form."

"Of course," he nodded. "I am not one for betting on things in general."

"Probably wise."

"It feels…unearned even if I win."

"That depends largely on how you decided what to bet on." If you blindly picked a winner then it was purely luck, but if you had spotted something few others had and bet on that, it was to your credit.

"I suppose you have a point there."

"Though on another note…" Shirogane looked him up and down, taking in his slightly disheveled appearance. "Why are you out getting groceries this late? Studying for exams get away from you?"

"More or less," Tensei admitted, shrugging his shoulders in an embarrassed gesture. "I was planning on taking a short nap but I was clearly more tired than I thought. I was just getting some instant ramen for dinner. Don't really have time to cook."

"That is rather unhealthy."

"Probably, better than not eating though."

"If you would like, I have some pierogis I made yesterday and put in the refrigerator. They'll have to be warmed up but it will be better than instant ramen, at least." Shirogane had made them in anticipation of one of her schoolmates poking their head into her apartment, but this worked too.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose," Tensei demurred, evidently not expecting the offer. And to be fair, it wasn't like Shirogane had much obligation to make it.

"A few of my schoolmates like to drop by my apartment unannounced, so I like to keep some food prepared beforehand so they don't look at me pitifully until I cook for them."

"They like your cooking that much? Or are they just taking advantage of you?"

Shirogane shrugged. "I learned to cook from my parents and grandparents, who run a restaurant, and pierogies are mostly new to them, so there's the novelty aspect as well."

"Makes sense. I haven't tried any before either."

"No time like the present, then."

Tensei-san ended up liking the pierogies about as much as her schoolmates did, and didn't mind her inquiries about how his own studies were going.

There was something nostalgic about the schoolwork he described, and given he was older than her body and clearly fairly intelligent, some of what they talked about helped with her own studies.

Now that she thought about it, she should probably talk with normal people more often, lest the athletic obsession warp her outlook too much.

---

AN. Well that took quite a bit longer than I expected, but the last month has been quite busy workwise. I also got busy with some other things. Anyways, Shirogane continues to run races like she's being paid to train and continues making money despite not being that dominant in the shorter distance races. Also Seeking the Pearl is just so over the top it's hilarious.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

A couple pages back, I was struck by an evil plot bunny dredged from the hitherto unplumbed depths of the mind of one @ScarredPunLover.

… I'm imagining a Racer who once had a fierce rival—but said rival starts to fall apart and/or give all their focus to Shiro, and thus leaving the racer behind. You can play into it as a shipping thing or jokes about relationships in general, though I think there's more fun to be had in the racer watching their rival fall apart, self-destructing slowly but surely, "because" of Orzel.

Click to shrink...

This plot bunny has been mercilessly gnawing at my attention for the last two weeks, so now that I've happened upon some free time, rest assured I will raise that plot bunny into... (What do you call a fully realized plot bunny?) a fully-fledged plot jackalope. Putting that aside, I felt like the plot jackalope would be be missing it's horns, so to speak, without at least some appearance (with dialogue!) by the main character. Unfortunately, I am what you might generously call utter garbage at consistent character writing, especially with characters that I had no part in creating. So while Shirogane has as a person diverged somewhat from Tanya, which gives me some leeway in depicting her character, I still felt it prudent to do some research on what makes Shirogane feel like, sound like and act like Tanya. After all this is still a Youjo Senki fic, some part of Tanya needs to be recognizable in her reincarnation.

The research began, as it always does, by returning to the literature. To preface, my experience with Youjo Senki started with Selphius' German rendition of Los! Los! Los!, which lead to the singular season of the anime, which of course lead to the manga in search of evermore wonderful historical fiction. The light novel was, as all good light novels seem to be, under lock and key by Yen Press and their tyrannically slow translation team, so I never got around to reading it. And as infatuated as I was with the story, I chose not to trudge through the hell that was the machine translation of the web novel, that way lay madness and pronouns for one character changing five times in a single sentence, but I digress. All this is to say that my primary interaction with Youjo Senki came from the manga, which is the source from which I draw most of my ideas about who Tanya is.

In the manga, perhaps the chapter that most examines Tanya's character is chapter 19, in which the Salaryman lays out his mindset and worldview in plain terms. Nowhere else is the basis for Tanya's understanding of the world so explicitly stated.

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 4 & 6

Tanya

"When I was a little boy, I had come to understand that and adult's personal nature differs from his outward apperance."
"If I don't be a 'good boy', I'll be excluded!'
"I needed to live for people's expectations."

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 9 & 10

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 13

Salaryman

"If you abide by the rules, you can follow a path laid out for you."
"That's how I managed to find a path to a generally satisfying life. By acting as a good cogwheel to society."

Tanya's worldview is shaped by her experiences in her previous life as the Salaryman, where she came to understand that people rarely act entirely in accordance with their true desires. Instead, individuals adapt themselves to societal expectations, rules, and norms in exchange for stability, acceptance, and the benefits that society provides. Influenced by rationalist and meritocratic ideas associated with the Chicago School of Economics, she concluded that the most effective way to live comfortably was not to rebel against these systems, but to understand and optimize herself within them. To Tanya, society functions through incentives, institutional structures, and predictable rules, and the individual who best adapts to these structures is rewarded with security, status, and personal freedom. Her goal therefore becomes finding freedom within the boundaries imposed by society, primarily through relentless self-improvement and competence, with the ultimate aim of achieving a stable and comfortable life.

Spoiler: Chapter 19, Page 11

Salaryman

"People who don't follow the rules give me a great deal of anxiety. Everything I accomplished by following the rules can be threatened by their disorderly conduct."

This worldview also explains Tanya's hostility toward irrationality, incompetence, and ideologically driven behavior. Because she perceives herself as having faithfully followed the implicit social contract throughout her life, she struggles to understand people who knowingly act against their own interests or against the stability of the systems around them. In her eyes, emotional idealism, reckless nationalism, blind faith, or revolutionary thinking are dangerous because they disrupt the predictable order upon which rational planning depends.

Spoiler: Chapter 76, Page 24

Tanya

"No matter how hard you work, your wage will never increase, but good job! Now keep working! Profiting is bad! The state will manage it instead! If you slack off, you're going to be reeducated! Forced labor!! Keep working!! Everyone's poor!! Someone's complaining? Too bad, you're going to be purged!!"

Which leads to her hatred of collectivist ideologies such as communism, something that stems less from simple political opposition and more from her belief that systems disconnected from merit and competence inevitably undermine efficiency and punish exceptional individuals. To Tanya, a society that redistributes rewards regardless of effort removes the incentive structures necessary for productivity and stability, while authoritarian governance introduces arbitrary power that makes rational self-preservation impossible. More than anything, Tanya fears helplessness and unpredictability, which is why she places such importance on rules-based institutions and personal excellence.

That covers my understanding of Tanya Degurechaff, the soldier. Her personality and worldview are similar to those of her previous life, but they aren't identical. Chapter 58 of the manga actually goes out of its way to state it in no uncertain terms.

Spoiler: Chapter 58, Page 31 & 32

Tanya

"I figured you'd say that, you greenhorn who only lived through the Showa and Heisei era."

Salaryman

"You've changed. Did you find comrades you can trust?"

Tanya

"Of course. I'm none other than Tanya von Degurechaff."
"I'm different from you."

So as Tanya, she's changed a lot compared to the Salaryman through her experiences. It lends credence to the idea that even though Shirogane is a continuation of Tanya as a character, she isn't the same person anymore.

"Shiro, dear," her mother began, pursing her lips seriously. "Why don't you say anything if you are still hungry?"

Shirogane stared back at her in bemusement. "I eat about as much as you do. If I eat more then it will use up too much food."

The adults shared a look, before their expressions softened and father laughed.

"Shiro-chan, if you need to eat more we will buy more food."

"But that will cost money."

"Well, yes…but that's not so important," her father waved off. "We buy a lot of food to begin with, a little more won't make that much of a difference."

Click to shrink...

Fortunately, it didn't appear that Suzuki Shirogane would have to worry about any of the dangers that the Soldier did. Not only was she born after the World Wars (this world somehow following a similar history despite the lack of horses) at a similar time to the Salaryman, she was not an orphan, and actually had parents.

Or more specifically, parents that actually took child rearing seriously.

Click to shrink...

Dream? "...I have a family that cares for me at their own expense and expects too little in return; I live in a pleasant place where aside from natural disasters, I do not have to fear for my life, and barring severe economic downturn, I will have something to inherit to pass down to any children I might have."

Shirogane smiled. This life felt like a dream, like the retirement she imagined in her past lives.

"What else could I wish for?"

Click to shrink...

This, I feel, is an important part of what separates Shirogane from Tanya for me. Here I think she finally understands that these are people who will always support her, no matter what. Shirogane still values stability and her family represent the greatest kind of stability: unconditional love and support. And while she still speaks in transactional terms, she's clearly softened up. I would probably go a bit further than that and say that Shirogane isn't as confused by or scared of irrational actors as a result of having this support system.

"Even so, I can't exactly leave my parents to do all the work," Shirogane added. "My grandparents are not dead yet, but they are getting old enough they can't help as much." At least they didn't need to spend so much time looking after her now that she had demonstrated her ability to look after herself. Still, it would probably be better for their health if they moved towards retirement. It wasn't helped by the fact that her parents couldn't really afford another child since she consumed enough resources for at least two.

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It's why she feels so indebted to them and a why a big part of her character is centered around making sure that her parents and grandparents can retire and live comfortably. These people not only said that they cared for her unconditionally, they also showed it by delaying their retirements and working hard to support her without ever asking directly or otherwise for her to pay them back. It probably doesn't hurt that running the restaurant once her parents retire means that her path to a comfortable life has not only changed, but gotten significantly simpler.

There had also been a distinct lack of self aggrandizing entities this time.

Perhaps the Salaryman had been correct that the Thing had been no real god, or perhaps, as the Soldier suspected, they had simply been discarded after they were found to have no further use.

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Another important detail, I think, is that she no longer has to constantly look over her shoulder for the possibility of being screwed by a malicious supernatural entity. Shirogane has a much less stressful life, no need to worry about god pissing in your dinner and no need to worry about being shot out of the sky or taken as a prisoner of war, which means she's a lot more easygoing than Tanya. No performing an emergency craniectomy on unruly ponies here. Though it seems that there are some habits she can't quite let go of yet.

Shirogane blinked, finding herself turned around and her fist smashed through the speaker that had played the starting…gun noise.

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In chapter eight, we get to see that she has a violent reaction to gunshots and loud noises, a carryover from her second life.

"Just because I am faster than you doesn't mean I'd make a good racer," Shirogane pointed out. "I was mostly interested in these things because I wanted to see how much of a difference it could make." Working at a restaurant could often mean standing around in a hot environment for long periods of time, not to mention irregular mealtimes, so the energy gel packs and electrolytes could help with avoiding dehydration when working in the kitchen. It would also help with PT.

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Here she is using an abbreviation with a military origin, I reckon a normal person would probably just say fitness. Then there's the harsh and realistic critique she has of her own running. She'd probably already considered the prospect of racing and come to the conclusion that she lacked the ability to compete at the top level, and also that it was probably an unreliable career path.

The racing academies were some of the best schools for umamusume, both academically and in regards to training programs, but gaining entry was a competitive endeavor, and most of the roster would inevitably be filled up by children from notable pedigrees due to being selectively bred for improved performance. There was some degree of nepotism, but most of the time they did win out in fair competitions.

Shirogane had not heard of any umamusume with a pair of human parents doing particularly well on the racing circuit, so it seemed likely she would be far outclassed.

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"It isn't as simple as that," Shirogane deflected. "First of all, that depends largely on at least showing in a big race. However, the majority of the purse goes to first place, and from those winnings, a chunk is taken by the academy, and more fractions are cut off by taxes, so the take home amount is far less than what may appear."

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Case in point. She's not one to dream, even in this life.

But whatever the case may be, this body and brain, being not entirely human, seemed less inclined towards the zealous obsession the Soldier had developed, being much more attached to the tangible than the theoretical. Perhaps it was to be expected of a hybrid of horse and human, but as the animal in question did not seem to exist in this world, it did not seem a good idea for her to wonder out loud about. It could also have been due to the Soldier's common usage of computation orbs and the adaptation of her brain to using magic from a young age making her mind in her last life more agile than her current one.

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Then we also have the change in brain chemistry to consider. No matter how much one might try, biology is pretty hard to defy. In the manga, this is actually played for a gag.

Spoiler: Chapter 11, Page 37 & 38

Could you imagine this scene but she's straight up just a horse?

Shirogane

"—Hm? Stay Gold is in the same ship? It's something all horses go through? A horse like me? I AM!!! A HUMAN!!!"

Where was I going with this again...?

Right, examining what makes Shirogane feel like Tanya, and what sets her apart.

tl;dr

Shirogane feels like Tanya because she keeps the same rational, analytical, control-oriented mindset, but she differs from her in what she values and the way she interacts with others because the safe, supportive world of Umamusume removes the fear and hostility that originally hardened those traits into something colder and more defensive aggressive violent.

Thanks for coming to my tedTalk, I lost the plot halfway through though.

Plus I'm still writing that evil ass plot bunny. Curse you, @ScarredPunLover, you did this to me! Though now I feel like I can write Shirogane's part better...

Spoiler: Thing