"You really haven't changed, have you? You truly have no fear of a public scandal."
"Why should I? I haven't done anything wrong."
Trainer Tojo—known to some as Hana—queried him while glancing at the newspaper in her hand. The headlines were dominated by the rising star of Team Pleiades, Mayano Top Gun, followed by a series of formal apologies from various publishers and television stations. It seemed the controversy surrounding her debut had finally boiled over. In truth, Rampage hadn't done anything illegal; he'd simply used his livestream to name and shame the media outlets that had been harassing Maya during her debut.
"Are you sure about Genuine?" Rampage asked, shifting the subject. "She's in the same year as Fuji's kid. They're bound to clash."
"Yes. I've spoken with both of them quite extensively, but neither is willing to yield the Classic Road to the other. Honestly..." Tojo sighed, rubbing her temples. "Usually, you try to avoid this. You don't pit your own stars against one another if you can help it."
"We don't do 'avoidance' in my camp. Besides, I spent my career trading blows with Ikuno."
"That's only because you came out of that bizarre environment they call Canopus... Wait." Tojo paused, her eyes narrowing as she looked at him. "Don't tell me you plan to do the same with Suzuka's generation?"
"Of course I do."
Even the legendary Trainer Tojo couldn't suppress a heavy sigh at that. A section of the newspaper slipped from her grip, fluttering to the floor. The exposed page featured a bold headline: Biwa Hayahide Crushes Takarazuka Kinen in Record Time! It was a testament to Hayahide's prowess—a horse many were already calling the strongest in history.
"If I recall, Dober is set for the Tiara route. But even so... are you seriously planning to shove four of them onto the Classic line simultaneously? Rampage, think about the burden on the girls—not to mention the toll it'll take on you. You're completely ignoring your own limits."
"I've considered them," he replied evenly. "I've judged the situation to be well within my capacity to handle."
"You are unbelievable..."
By any standard of horse racing, Rampage's plan was madness. Even within the same team, the unspoken rule was to keep top prospects apart until the Senior class. But Rampage's blatant disregard for convention went beyond even the eccentricity of Team Canopus. Canopus had only ever dealt with a few at a time—Rampage and Ikuno, Rice and Tannhauser, Drallion and Amazon.
"What's the harm?" Rampage asked, a small smile playing on his lips. "They acknowledge each other as friends, but they also recognize each other as rivals they have to overcome with everything they've got. Minami-chan said it best: having a great friend as your greatest rival is a treasure."
"That may be true, but... what you're attempting is closer to Kodoku—a jar of venomous insects forced to kill each other until only one survives."
"It's nothing like that. Because they're teammates."
Hana realized then that further argument was useless. If he was set on this path, it wasn't her place to interfere, even if the fallout affected other teams or put an immense burden on him as a trainer. If his prospects ended up knocking each other out of the running, it would only make things easier for her own students.
"Consider yourself warned," she said finally.
The real concern, however, was what would happen if they did overcome it. Rampage himself was the living embodiment of that phenomenon. He had trained and raced alongside his greatest rival and "natural enemy," Ikuno Dictus. He had shown his rival every card in his hand, every secret of his strength, and yet he had remained an undefeated monster until the very end. Now, he was trying to replicate that crucible with his own students.
She couldn't even begin to guess how much they would evolve—or what kind of monsters they might become.
"She thinks she's seen struggle? My past makes this look like a vacation," Rampage muttered to himself once she was gone.
He bit down on a herbal cigar, thinking that Hana still didn't quite get it. Certainly, the logistics would be a nightmare. The paperwork alone was a headache, but the real challenge lay in the training menus. When rivals are on the same team, the hardest part is maintaining absolute impartiality. Minamisaka had warned him once that trainers often succumb to favoritism, subconsciously building strategies that help their "preferred" student win.
But Rampage had already formulated a solution for that.
"I'm going to make sure they all win. That's the only way."
He didn't mean he wanted a dead heat at the finish line. If Suzuka wanted to cross the wire before Sunny, he would build a menu to make her fast enough to do it. If Sunny wanted to bewitch and outmaneuver Suzuka, he would prepare her to do exactly that. If Taiki wanted to blow past Dober, he'd give her the tools. If Dober wanted to surpass Stego... and if Stego wanted to beat them all?
He would push her until she could.
"People can call it a broken philosophy all they want, but this is how I roll. I just want to see a race that's exciting, heated, and beautiful. If I have to bleed and sweat to make that happen, so be it. If I'm the one carrying the burden, then no one has to live with regrets."
"I had a feeling you'd say something like that."
Minamisaka approached, shrugging his shoulders with two coffees in hand. Rampage took one with a nod of thanks as Minamisaka gave him a knowing look.
"You're doing for them what you did for Ticket-san, while simultaneously helping Taishin-san and Hayahide-san, aren't you? To you, there's no difference. Just as they were your precious juniors, these girls are your precious students."
"Exactly. No distinctions. Besides, their aptitudes are different enough that they won't be clashing in every single race. The main overlap is Suzuka, Sunny, and Stego. Dober is on the Tiara track, and Taiki... well, Taiki is a miler who apparently wants to tear up the dirt tracks too."
"It's still going to be exhausting."
"Minami-chan, you don't know the meaning of 'exhausting.' To me, 'exhausting' is getting dragged into my grandmother's schemes, dealing with Su-chan's drama, having a literal goddess descend on me, meeting the President, or trying to live up to your ridiculous expectations."
Minamisaka blinked. "Have I really asked that much of you?"
"Constantly! I just make it look easy because I'm shouting 'Fine, let's do this, you bastard!' on the inside."
"My apologies," Minamisaka chuckled. "In that case, dinner is on me tonight. Bell peppers and chicken meatballs?"
"Add some chicken nanban and simmered potatoes to that order."
"And a bottle of Kuro Kirishima shochu?"
Rampage finally grinned. "Now you're talking."
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