Spring came quickly although for spring it was still pretty cold.
Northerly awoke early once more, but this time he had a reason.
In his hand, he held a ticket signed by Ryan giving him access for free to the Satsuki Sho.
He spent but a moment gazing upon it, for he had plans for this spectacular day.
It would be his first time away from Tracen properly on his ow,n and he didn't want to cover his face. That looked suspicious.
Instead, he had acquired a disguise.
He had some jeans, a big puffy jacket and a long t-shirt. All normal men's clothes. He had also acquired a straw hat like the one he wore back home on the farm.
The problem with this should be obvious to anyone. There are no ear or tail holes. How is he going to wear this?
This was his ingenious plan.
The hat had a chinstrap which would hold it on his head, keeping his ears covered but leaving enough room that they could still hear everything around, if only slightly muffled.
The jacket was to hide his tail, which he was going to wear clipped into his shirt.
As it turns out, Japan has quite a large community of people who dress up as characters or people they like. Northerly had learned this was called cosplay.
And when an Uma wants to dress as someone who isn't an Uma, they must hide their tail. This was useful because with just a little fiddling, he managed to get it to look inconspicuous as long as he didn't remove his jacket.
Now he looked like a normal human; the only part that stood out now was that he was a foreigner, but he hoped that at such a large event, it wouldn't matter.
He was hasty to get ready this morning so he could leave without running into anyone. If they saw his disguise, it would be impossible to explain away. But he put his scarf on anyway, just in case
Slowly, he pushed open his door, checking for any early risers. None in the common room.
He walked down the stairs and fetched some things from his locker, but still no one.
He silently thanked whichever god watched over him as he made his way outside the dorm property.
As he made his way to the train station, he removed his scarf outside for the first time. The feeling was indescribably freeing. As much as he tried, he couldn't hide his joy.
It ended up taking a little over an hour on the train to get to Nakayama Racecourse.
Everyone on the train was headed there as well. He held his ticket as he listened to the predictions of fellow passengers. Some said that Ryan was sure to win after all, she was a Mejiro. Others said that Ines was sure to have worked harder to earn the win.
Tensions were high.
He wanted to join in, but how would he explain his knowledge of Ryan's training and personality without giving himself away? It was frustrating, but he held his tongue.
There were many more people than Northerly had ever expected, even this early before the race. The sun had only just risen, but the enormous stands made it almost obsolete.
He checked his ticket.
Special entry: first class seating.
Signed ~~ Mejiro Ryan.
Several ticket booths sat outside the stands, all leading to different areas for seating. Making his way to the first-class boot which only had one small group compared to the swathes of people crowding around the others.
A pair of guys wearing identical shirts reading 'racing club' across their backs. They seemed to be conversing with the ticket worker.
Northerly went to line up behind them, but they promptly ushered him forward.
"Sorry, bro were still waiting" The bigger guy stepped out the way to let him pass.
That was weird. Why were they waiting out here at the ticket booth?
"Why are you not going in? You will miss the best seats if you do not." Northerly decided to speak with them. His disguise seemed to be working. He hadn't talked to a guy his age ever. It was kind of exciting.
"Can't go in without our group, the only people allowed up there alone are Umamusume, trainers and special guests. Otherwise, you need a group." The same guy spoke up; it seemed as though he expected Northerly to be waiting as well.
"I did not know about that. What kind of group are you?" He asked. Knowing his ticket allowed him access alone, probably as a special guest.
It's unlikely they would think it too suspicious, after all, there were surely quite a few loners considering the size of the stands. But, just in case, he could try to become friends with them. They seemed to be interested in racing just like him.
"Were an Umamusume club, we research and learn about all the Uma's participating in the Twinkle Series and post about our findings online!" A young man approached Northerly.
He had short blonde hair and sounded quite proud of this club.
"You research? How?" He hoped that he didn't sound worried.
"Club secrets, you'd have to join to find out." The blonde guy stepped past with his ticket, and subsequently, they were all let through.
What a bizarre interaction. He had expected more polite speech, but they spoke to him as though they were already friends. Nonetheless, they seemed to distracted to notice that Northerly had entered on his own.
He climbed the stairs instead of taking the elevator; even a little exercise would be good for him. Just because he was out didn't mean his training stopped.
Entering the First-class seating, he found himself high above Nakayama's racecourse. Massive windows showed the normal spectator stands below where he had originally expected to be. Instead, he found himself among reporters, various sponsor groups and other Uma's.
It was already so busy, he thought, making his way to the glass. The starting gates were being set up by the groundskeepers. He stared out onto the racecourse.
It was beautiful. The turf shone bright under the morning sun. and floral arrangements littered the paddock and finish line. He could see the effort that the people put into preparing these events for Umamusume.
He was so excited that he had to hold one hand behind his back to keep his tail still. No one should notice.
He thought of all the hard work it took for an Umamusume to even enter the Satsuki Sho. All the training he had done with Ryan was only a small portion of the work she must have put in.
As he stared out onto the morning turf, he solidified in his mind once and for all that this was his dream. To race in the Triple Crown.
"You alright there, man?" another member of the racing club approached him. He had glasses and a tablet.
"I am great, actually." He was so happy just to be here.
"Were taking a survey of everyone here in first class to see who they think will win and why. But I was told that you were interested in our club, so I came here first." He was quite softspoken, but just like Northerly sounded enthused by anything racing related.
He handed him the tablet. It had several questions.
- Who do you think will win the Satsuki Sho?
He marked down Ryan's name. He knew how much she worried about Ines, but He believed in her.
- Why do you think she will win?
He spent a good few minutes spilling his guts to the tablet. He talked about Ryan's training regimen and her passion for training in the gym. He thought she would win because she worked so hard for it.
He handed the tablet back to the glasses guy.
"That took a while. You sure had a lot to say." He commented as he skimmed over Northerly's response.
"Yes, I really like racing," he said, sounding a little skeptical.
"Maybe Shuji was right about you. Have you ever considered joining a club before?" His question was more of an invitation.
"Can I join?" he answered with another question.
The more Northerly thought about the racing club, the more intrigued he was. He loved learning what he could about Umas while he wasn't working. Maybe it would be fun to have others like him to talk to; they were better than Digitan and Dober anyway.
"Of course, you can just go see Shuji. He has blonde hair; I believe you spoke before. My names Ryota." He performed a small bow before moving on to interview other people.
Northerly was a little shocked. Was it that easy to find friends as a human?
Regardless, he made his way to the racing club table where a blond guy and a very muscular guy sat, seemingly prepared to recruit or interview fellow racegoers.
He approached the two; they looked at him curiously. As much as he looked human, he had noticed his outfit seemed to stand out a little.
"You're the fella from outside, aren't you?" The blonde one, Shuji, spoke.
"Yes, I am. Your friend Royta sent me over, he said I might be able to join your club." Northerly did his best to keep composed.
"I don't often recruit new people, but if Royta recons, you would be useful; I would certainly be intrigued." He leaned forward in his chair to examine Northerly.
"Useful?" he asked, perplexed.
"Indeed, Useful. Our club has one person for each important job that a racing club may need. We thought we had it all, but maybe we were wrong." He looked over at the other two guys while he spoke. Northerly could see they were close.
"How about you go watch the race, and afterwards we'll see whether you're fit to join." He leaned back in his chair. Clearly, this club was a little more than just an Umamusume Fanclub, but Northerly couldn't figure out what exactly they actually did.
With that done, he made his way back to the front row and waited excitedly for the race to start. He made sure to post a picture to Umastagram so Ryan would know he went.
Loud trumpets bleared, exiting music, and an announcer came over a speaker.
"Ladies, Gentlemen and Umamusume. Today is the beginning of this year's Classic Triple Crown! Please turn your attention to the paddock as today's racers enter the track!"
There they were, one by one, all in their signature racewear. Northerly didn't know all of them but was exited none the less.
"And next to enter we have Mejiro Ryan, she intends to carry the Mejiro name once again and claim the triple crown; however, can she beat today's favourite to win her classmate and rival Ines Fujin? We won't have to wait too long to get our answer!"
He watched as she entered, hearing that Ines was the favourite to win was kind of a shock, but he still believed that she could win.
The Umas all entered the starting gates, and for just a moment, everything went silent.
Northerly wondered what he would think about when he finds himself in one of those gates next year.
CRACK!
The gates swung open, and all the racers bolted forward.
Umamusume running at full speed was a sight to behold in person. They could get up to 70 kilometres an hour at their top speed.
And as they rounded the first corner, Northerly guessed that Ines was close to that speed as she broke away from the pack.
He watched as Ryan dropped to the back half of the pack and settled there for the moment.
"The intensity is killing us here. What an incredible start! Ines is putting her frontrunning strategy to good use, gaining massive distance from the rest of the pack! Can they keep up!?" The announcer shouted enthusiastically.
They tore up the turf, seeing the ripped-up dirt near the inside rail, where they had just been demonstrated just how much power they put into every step.
It was exhilarating, but Northerly was concerned that Ryan wasn't catching as he had expected.
"The midrace isn't letting up! They have maintained quite the pace trying to catch Ines! It looks like her plan is working! Can the second favourite Ryan close that gap?!" The announcer continued to hype up the crowd.
Cheers echoed from the stands as they rounded the third corner and entered the final straight.
The sound of their feet hitting turf was audible even from behind the glass. Northerly watched in absolute awe as Ryan began to speed up.
"Ryan has begun her final spurt, but Ines is holding strong! Can she catch the runaway frontrunner!?"
The cheers grew louder as the gap got smaller.
It took seconds, and suddenly the leader seemed to change every moment.
"200 meters remain, who could it be!?"
"Ines!"
"Ryan!"
"Ines!"
"Ryan!"
Northerly jumped with excitement as they crossed the finish line.
"Mejiro Ryan! By half a length! Mejiro Ryan has won the Satsuki Sho and claimed her first crown!"
The stands erupted, people laughed and cried as Ryan basked in the glory of her win, seemingly pushing past her exhaustion just to flex her muscles for the cameras.
Northerly had never felt such excitement. He felt like he could run forever after watching that. He was more determined than ever to ensure his entry into the Triple Crown.
As his excitement died down and preparations for the winning concert began, he turned his attention back to the racing club.
They were talking amongst themselves while occasionally glancing back at Northerly. He walked over to see them.
"Ahh, welcome back. Did you enjoy the race?" Shuji wasn't really asking; it was very obvious he was ecstatic. He nodded anyway.
"We have talked it over and have decided that you will be a great addition to our group. If you would be so kind as to accept our invitation." Northerly was never going to refuse.
"In that case, this is Royta, our trainer. I believe you have already spoken." He turned to the muscular guy.
"This is Kazuo, he's our trainee. And I'm Shuji, our event organizer." He introduced the three of them to Northerly. Having a trainer and a trainee for an Umamusume racing club didn't make much sense, but Northerly wasn't worried enough to read into it.
"And you are?" Shuji asked.
Northerly wasn't sure what to say; he panicked very briefly before deciding.
"I'm North." His weird stumble seemed to confuse them, but they didn't press.
"Well, North, I read over what you wrote about Ryan, and quite frankly, it was one of the most detailed responses I've seen in a while. There's some stuff in there that requires some serious digging or inside knowledge to know." He leaned forward, almost like he was trying to be slightly intimidating.
"But I would be very happy to have someone with that kind of knowledge around, especially for our club's master plan. So, your job in the club is; researcher. Your level of knowledge is both suspicious and useful. If you keep on giving, we promise not to ask how you got it."
Apparently, Northerly had spilled his guts a little too much to the tablet. But as concerning as their suspicion was. Northerly found himself much more excited to help them out than he had expected.
Maybe because they didn't seem interested in how he got his information, which meant they weren't going to find out he was a student at Tracen.
Regardless, he was happy to be a part of their club even if they seemed just a little sketchy. He hoped that it would be fun to have some guy friends.
However, all good times must come to an end, and as Northerly returned to the dooms that evening, he found himself wondering about his upcoming scrimmage.
After watching the Satsuki Sho, he was more determined than ever to train. But he would likely be scouted immediately due to the McQueen rival story that had been circulating ever since Curren's video.
He had given the racing club his phone number and not his Umastagram even though they wanted it. They said they were going to do something before the scrimmage races and that Northerly should join them.
There was lots to prepare for in the coming weeks, Northerly was going to make sure he made the most of it.