Mejiro Rampage @dictatorship
Borrowing the look of my seniors, Uma Musume style!! No complaints now, right?
Posting the tweet, Rampage reread the challenge letters. Simple, blunt… but tricky. Some were for dirt races, including ones she recognized.
"Minami-chan, is dirt the main thing overseas?" she asked.
"Half right, half wrong," Minamisaka replied.
"Huh?"
He explained: European races stemmed from royal pastimes, testing endurance on tough, natural courses. American races, born from commoner entertainment, prioritized speed on compact dirt tracks.
"This split shaped their mainstream races. Japan, modeling Europe, uses turf, but our tracks are built on dirt-like bases, so they're closer to America's," he said.
"Huh, humans have history, and so do Uma Musume races. Cool stuff. So, European Uma Musume find our tracks tough?" Rampage asked.
"Yes. European and Japanese turf differ greatly. Adapting is key. Japan Cup runners likely did that," Minamisaka said.
So, she'd need to adjust to European turf. Asama mentioned Mejiro owned a European-style course, so training was covered.
"What about my dirt aptitude?" Rampage asked.
"Why wouldn't you have it?" Minamisaka countered, deadpan.
Rampage let out a dumb yelp. "What? I've never run dirt!"
"You trained on a beach, didn't you?"
"But Turbo and them—"
"You dragged tires through rough waves, worse than them. You've always had dirt potential," he said.
Minamisaka insisted her beach training proved it. On an A-to-E scale, she started at C, now B after training. "No way I could've done that otherwise," he added.
"So I could run dirt if I wanted?" Rampage asked.
"Yes, but you'd lag behind dirt specialists. Zero experience," he said.
Japan prioritized turf, so dirt races were less prominent. Still, winning on American dirt seemed more feasible than European turf.
"If I get experience?" Rampage pressed.
"You'd manage. Track aptitude's unpredictable. A turf Triple Crown winner might excel on dirt. That's the depth of Uma Musume racing," Minamisaka said.
Japan's turf, laid over dirt-like bases, felt closer to American tracks. With technique and experience, Rampage could match her turf prowess on dirt—maybe even shine, given dirt's flat, speed-driven nature.
"Dirt, huh…" Rampage mused.
She recalled Orfevre, the "golden tyrant" Triple Crown horse. His progeny thrived on heavy or dirt tracks, suggesting he was a dirt horse at heart. His back-to-back Arc de Triomphe second places muddled things. (Will those guys show up here too?) she wondered.
"For now, let's prep for overseas next year. It's not a world you conquer on a whim," Minamisaka said.
"Agreed. The challenge didn't specify next year's Arc, so… maybe El Gutz wrote it? Same Classic class," Rampage said.
"Likely," Minamisaka nodded.
They wouldn't expect her to barge in recklessly. That'd make her a reckless challenger—romantic, but not her style. She'd follow her trainer's lead.
"If I race overseas prep in Japan, what's the plan?" she asked.
"Sapporo Kinen for heavy turf. For dirt, there's a G1 in February. Wanna aim for it?" he suggested.
"Hell yeah," Rampage grinned.
"Got it. I'll plan the menu," Minamisaka said.
"Sorry, Minami-chan. You've got Turbo, Nature, Rice debuting, and Tanhoiza next year…" Rampage said, guilty.
She felt bad piling on work, but holding back was wrong. Canopus was ramping up, with new hopefuls joining, and Minamisaka was already handling her press duties.
"No worries. I'm tougher than you think," he said with a confident smile.
That grin held real assurance—fathomless, like a deep ocean. A reliable ally.
"Count on me to run my ass off," Rampage vowed.
"I'm expecting it," Minamisaka replied.
"Bet on it!" she grinned, high-fiving him. No one else could be her trainer.
"Oh, let's snap a pic. Wanna tweet 'Thanks for this year, let's kill it next year' on Uma-tter," she said.
"You're a pro at this," he laughed.
"Yeah—whoa, my notifications are blowing up!" she gasped, finally noticing.
"Posted something again?" Minamisaka asked.
"Nah, after the pic with Prez and Chan-senpai, someone commented, 'No Ryan, redo it,'" she explained.
"So you took one with Ryan?"
"Nope. Prez invited CB-san, and Maruzensky-san emailed about riding Tat-chan again, so I invited her. Then Katsuragi Ace-san tagged along. We all took a pic," Rampage said.
"Overkill. Ryan alone would've satisfied them," Minamisaka sighed.
"Do me dirty, I hit back double!" Rampage grinned.
"That's not how it works," he deadpanned.
"Who told you to go this far?!"
The comment came fast. And, naturally, it trended.
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