Sitting in her office, planning out her trainees' training schedules, Tojo Hana heard a knock at the door. She glanced at the time. It was one in the afternoon. Even Kagura, who came by to help out, would not normally come to the office at this hour—she usually came at two.
"Come in!"
Though she was not sure who would be looking for her at this time of day, Tojo answered the knock all the same. Soon, the office door opened, and an elderly man stepped inside.
"My apologies for the intrusion... Trainer Tojo."
"You are...?"
Tojo paused. The old man looked very familiar. She distinctly remembered seeing his photograph somewhere in Tracen Academy.
"You're... Trainer Takeda Bungo!? What brings you here!?"
She recognized him quickly. As the trainer of Shinzan, the previous student council president whose name had gone down in Tracen history, he was naturally very famous among trainers. His photo could be seen all over the academy.
But as far as Tojo remembered, after Shinzan stepped down, this veteran trainer had not shown himself in public for a very long time. His sudden appearance here today left her both surprised and puzzled.
"It's just that lately, I happened to see a very interesting child. I heard she was one of your trainees, so... I wanted to come and have a look."
The old man answered with a gentle smile. He had come to Tracen today precisely to see one of Tojo's Umamusume.
Tojo invited him to sit at her desk and poured him a cup of tea. The old man began talking with her. For quite a long time after Shinzan, Japan had not seen another Umamusume like her. In those years, "surpassing Shinzan" had become a shared dream among Japan's Umamusume and trainers alike. Now, with Rudolf's string of great victories, the cry had changed from "surpass Shinzan" to "surpass Rudolf." At long last, his wish to see the birth of a new star genius had been fulfilled.
And what delighted him even more was that he had not only found Rudolf, but also another newcomer with similarly terrifying talent—the little Umamusume who had taken first in the Saudi Arabia Royal Cup not long ago, and broken the racecourse record in the process.
"By the way, Trainer Tojo, aside from Rudolf... I hear you also have another trainee with quite extraordinary potential. I wonder if you would be willing to tell me a little about her?"
...
After finishing up the lunch preparations, seeing Nishino Flower back to the dorms, and making sure Rudolf had properly followed the meal plan she had set for her, Kagura finally headed for Tojo's office as usual.
Since her own next race was not that far off, Kagura had been training alongside Rudolf almost every day lately. These days, once lunch was done, she would head off to prepare for afternoon training, and today was no exception.
"Hm? Why is someone outside the door?"
As she approached Trainer Tojo's office, Kagura spotted an Umamusume leaning by the door. She was rather tall, with long chestnut hair, and wore the Tracen Academy uniform. Her arms were folded across her chest, and her eyes were closed, as though she were dozing. Even with her eyes shut, though, Kagura could feel the invisible pressure radiating from her—very much like the feeling she got whenever she went near Mejiro Ramonu.
Kagura carefully edged closer, trying not to disturb this Umamusume, who looked like she would be anything but easy to deal with. But apparently she had not been dozing at all. Kagura had only taken a couple of steps when the Umamusume opened her eyes, and that sharp gaze stabbed straight into her. Kagura jumped on the spot.
"Oh... it's you. I've seen you before, kid."
At the sight of Kagura, the Umamusume's lips curved slightly, showing a look of interest. She lowered her arms and slowly walked toward her, her heels clicking crisply against the floor.
"Huh...? Y-you...?"
Instinctively, Kagura took half a step back and raised her hands protectively in front of her chest. She had absolutely no recollection of ever meeting someone this intimidating. Mejiro Ramonu had already left a strong enough impression on her—if she had met anyone else who felt this dangerous, she definitely would have remembered.
"I watched your race. The one not long ago. You ran well—a very splendid victory. Today, my trainer said he wanted to come back for a visit, so I thought I'd come back too. See one of my kouhais while I was at it... and take a look at a little one I've had my eye on."
"I've never met you, senpai. Could you tell me your name?"
After calming herself a little, Kagura lifted her head and met the Umamusume's eyes directly. Only now did she fully feel the pressure radiating from her. But judging by her expression, this Umamusume did not seem hostile. At least, Kagura felt there was less aggression in her gaze than she had feared. More than hostility, what she sensed was curiosity—and fighting spirit. She had seen plenty of eyes like that on the racetrack.
"Oh? Looks like Rudolf never introduced me to you. Then... I suppose I'll introduce myself. I'm Shinzan, the student council president before Rudolf."
"Shinzan... the former president!?"
Kagura's eyes widened in surprise. She had definitely heard of this legendary Tracen student council president before, but because she had arrived too late—and because Rudolf had never properly introduced this senpai to her—Kagura had only known the name until now, without being able to connect it to a face. Today was the first time she had truly met this legendary powerhouse.
"So you have at least heard of me. In that case, I can skip the rest of the tedious introduction. Too long, and too much trouble to say."
Shinzan stopped in front of Kagura, her dark red eyes meeting Kagura's blue ones. She found that this kouhai, who had not even reached honkaku yet, showed not the slightest sign of fear or trembling under the pressure of her natural presence. She was even bold enough to lift her head and glare right back. Shinzan could not help adding a few more points to her evaluation of this kouhai in her heart.
"You're even more interesting than I imagined before coming here, little one. Heh..."
"Shinzan-senpai, instead of going in to see your trainer, you came to find me. Did you... want something from me?"
Being stared at by Shinzan with those intense eyes, Kagura felt a bad premonition rising in her chest. She had seen that kind of look several times before.
"I wasn't planning to at first. But after seeing you, I've made up my mind."
As she spoke, Shinzan extended a hand toward Kagura, wearing a smile full of fighting spirit.
"Come on, little one. Race me."
...
Eclipse-san... do all you big shots have a thing for stomping newbies?
——Not at all. Can that even be called stomping? If you don't crack the whip on newcomers a little, how are they supposed to grow? That's encouragement from a senpai.
I... I think I'm pretty motivated already... maybe that kind of encouragement is...
——It's great. Run more against different opponents. Losing doesn't matter—just treat it as seeing all kinds of situations and building race experience. Better to lose outside a real race than after you're already on the track, right~
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T/N: shinzannn