A few days later, in a corner of the Satsuki Sho racecourse.
Kitahara, wearing a disguise, stood in a secluded corner and watched the Umamusume slowly making their way onto the track in the distance, his expression melancholy.
"Question! Trainer Kitahara, you seem a little down lately. Did something happen?"
Beside him, Yayoi Akikawa, likewise disguised, asked curiously.
For certain reasons, Yayoi Akikawa actually understood Kitahara quite well, so she did not think he would be hurt by what people were saying online.
But precisely because of that, she was even more curious. What on earth had happened to make this man, who could practically face the whole world turning against him without a change in expression, act so strangely for several days in a row? This had never happened before.
Faced with Yayoi Akikawa's question, Kitahara gazed at the distant track. After a moment of silence, he sighed.
"I don't really know how to explain it to you. It's a little complicated..."
After a pause, he sensed his surroundings. Once he confirmed that no one else was paying attention to them, and that there were no cameras or recording devices nearby, he added quietly,
"Simply put, a few days ago, Eclipse and I Uma-Pyoi'd."
"...Huh?"
Hearing Kitahara's words, Yayoi Akikawa's face filled with shock.
And just as Kitahara thought she was about to condemn his academy-morals-corrupting behavior in her capacity as Tracen Academy's Chairwoman, Yayoi Akikawa came back to herself, flicked her folding fan, and said with feeling,
"Shock! You two only did it for the first time a few days ago? And you're actually still standing here perfectly fine, instead of recovering in the infirmary from a pelvic fracture..."
"...So, as the Chairwoman of Tracen Academy, don't you think there's something wrong with this?"
"Wrong? What's wrong with it?"
Faced with Kitahara's question, Yayoi Akikawa looked somewhat bewildered.
After staring at each other in silence for a while, Kitahara sighed, thinking that this academy was beyond saving.
"Question! Shouldn't Uma-Pyoi with Eclipse be a good thing? Why are you sad instead, Trainer Kitahara?"
Yayoi Akikawa looked at him in confusion.
"Did you perhaps fail to take proper safety measures? Although that is indeed an issue, Tracen has no shortage of reckless Umamusume and Trainers. The school infirmary already has mature countermeasures in place, and can also guarantee that it will not affect an Umamusume's physical health. If you need—"
"No, it's not about safety measures..."
Kitahara paused, then continued, his tone growing even more melancholy.
"Although things were rushed at the time, and I really didn't have time to prepare any safety measures, Eclipse said she had special channels on her end, so I wasn't too worried. But after that, I met another Umamusume, and she told me something not very good..."
"Question! Who was this other Umamusume? Is she a student at the academy? What did she tell you?"
Kitahara shook his head.
"She isn't an Umamusume from the academy. You probably don't know her. As for her name... I call her 'Shanish.' It's a name I gave her recently."
Shanish? What a strange name.
Yayoi Akikawa searched her mind for that name, but found no related information. Then she continued asking,
"Curiosity! Then what did she say to make you so gloomy, Trainer Kitahara?"
After a pause, Yayoi Akikawa added,
"Of course, if you don't want to say it, Trainer Kitahara, you don't have to..."
"It's fine. I brought this up with you precisely to explain this matter, because it has to do with you, me, and Tracen..."
"But before that, I should say that this may sound a little bizarre. I hope you'll prepare yourself mentally before listening..."
"No matter! Speak plainly."
What a joke. Although she looked young, Yayoi Akikawa was still Tracen's Chairwoman. The storms she had seen, and even personally experienced, far exceeded those of ordinary people.
Not to mention, setting aside her identity as Chairwoman, she was also one of the "keepers of secrets" chosen by the Three Goddesses, one of the very few beings in this world who knew most of the "truth." She had seen many things even Kitahara had never seen, and she did not think anything Kitahara said could possibly shock her.
Mm, by the way, the Uma-Pyoi incident from earlier was an exception. She truly had not expected Eclipse to hold out until now before jumping him. That practically violated her common sense.
Seeing Yayoi Akikawa so confident, Kitahara was not the indecisive type either. After organizing his words a little, he slowly began.
"Simply put, Shanish told me that the earliest prototype of the Black Market was an organization she created. You could say she was the founder of the Black Market..."
Hearing this, Yayoi Akikawa frowned. Her tone changed as well, and she no longer used her usual strange sentence style.
"In other words, she's the leader of the Black Market? An Umamusume is the leader of the Black Market?"
"No. She isn't."
Kitahara shook his head.
"She isn't an Umamusume, and she isn't the leader of the Black Market. She merely created the Black Market's initial prototype, and after that, she barely managed it at all. The Black Market itself didn't really develop much either."
"If things had followed their original course, after she left, even if the Black Market didn't dissolve on its own, there was no way it could have grown. It was just an idle move she had casually placed on a whim. The organization's structure was an absolute mess. But one person's appearance changed everything..."
"He found the trash who were only muddling through inside the Black Market, removed the bad elements within it, and through his own actions and spirit, influenced the other Black Market members and united them."
"And in the time that followed, he always took the lead and fought at the front, completing the hardest and most exhausting work. It was also through his efforts that the Black Market gradually developed and grew. You could say that he is the true leader of the Black Market..."
As he continued speaking, Kitahara's tone, for some reason, became stranger and stranger.
But because this matter concerned the Black Market and Tracen, and even the fate of the future world, Yayoi Akikawa had no attention to spare for the change in his tone. When he suddenly stopped speaking, she could not help pressing him.
"Then did this 'Shanish' tell you anything about that person? Or mention any distinguishing features? If you need help, I can have Hayakawa search for him with you later..."
"No. There's no need to go to all that trouble."
Kitahara spoke faintly.
"No need for identifying features, and no need to search. He is right here now. Right... in front of you."
After a brief pause, looking at Yayoi Akikawa, who had gone completely rigid in front of him, Kitahara let out a deep sigh and said helplessly, "The guy Shanish said single-handedly promoted the development of the Black Market. The leader of the Black Market."
"Is me."
---
T/N: ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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