Christmas, at the end of December.
On that day, Sakuraba Ryo received Christmas presents from the girls too.
To be honest, he had never really cared much about Christmas presents.
After all, he had hardly ever received any growing up, and because he had matured early, he had never really believed in the legend of Santa Claus either.
How was there supposed to be someone who climbed down your chimney in the dead of winter wearing a big red padded coat just to deliver presents?
Looking forward to gifts on a holiday like this was a crime!
Not that he was jealous because he never got any presents.
He just did not care about that stuff at all.
"Ryo, this is for you."
When Oguri Cap handed Sakuraba Ryo a carrot charm, he actually laughed out loud.
Haha.
I got a Christmas present too!
Though of all things, Oguri Cap picked a carrot-shaped phone charm for me?
Sakuraba Ryo took a closer look and realized Oguri Cap had the exact same one hanging from her own phone.
This girl… even for a phone charm, she picked a food design?
She really does love eating.
And it was not just Oguri Cap. The other Umamusume Sakuraba Ryo had looked after this year all sent him Christmas presents too.
Rudy Lemono gave him a piece of calligraphy, with the four huge characters "Yoroshiku" written across it in her own hand.
Uh, that had a very delinquent feel to it.
Mini the Lady picked out a box of weird-flavored candy.
Belno Light, meanwhile, mailed Sakuraba Ryo a box of premium king crab all the way from Tokyo.
He had no idea where Light had gotten something as fancy as king crab, but it looked delicious, so he accepted it with a grin.
And Tamamo Cross, naturally, also gave Sakuraba Ryo a very special Christmas present…
"This is…"
Looking at the heavy trophy in his hands, Sakuraba Ryo felt conflicted.
"It's my trophy from winning a G2~"
Tamamo Cross grinned goofily.
"To be honest, I didn't really know what to give you. I thought it over again and again, and in the end, this trophy felt like the most important thing."
"…Uh."
Sakuraba Ryo froze.
A trophy…
A trophy…!
A G2 trophy!
A trophy——!
"Th-thank you… for your gift!"
Sakuraba Ryo practically ground the words out through clenched teeth.
For the love of—please don't win next year!
Come on, baby, I'm calling you baby here, okay?
Just please stop winning!
Of course, Sakuraba Ryo also knew how significant it was that Tamamo had given him the trophy.
The biggest race Tamamo Cross had won so far was this G2 event.
A genuine G2 graded-race trophy like this had to mean a great deal to her too.
The fact that she had given something so commemorative to Sakuraba Ryo showed just how much she valued him.
Knowing that, Sakuraba Ryo quietly set the trophy down in the dorm room where he was staying at Nishikino Academy.
Yes, Sakuraba Ryo had even gotten a dorm room of his own at Nishikino Academy.
After investing that much money, he had naturally gone ahead and renovated the academy dorms too.
By now, the dorms at Nishikino Academy had been turned by his investments into something more like an upscale apartment complex. If possible, Sakuraba Ryo even wanted to add security guards and the like…
As for whether there was any problem with a man living in an Umamusume dorm…
Damn it all, I paid for this place myself—why shouldn't I live in it?
No matter what anyone else said, whenever Sakuraba Ryo stayed in Hokkaido now, this was basically where he lived.
And because she knew he was going to Hokkaido, Norn Ace had even specially given him a scarf.
"Hmph. I just happened to buy an extra while I was shopping. It's pretty cold in Hokkaido, so you can have this one."
When she handed over the scarf, Norn Ace deliberately turned her head to the side so Sakuraba Ryo would not get a clear look at her expression.
Not that Sakuraba Ryo cared all that much.
After accepting the scarf from Norn Ace, he also began thinking about how he should return the favor next Christmas.
After all, this year he had not prepared anything in return because he genuinely did not celebrate Christmas.
He could not keep doing that next year.
And honestly, receiving so many presents from the girls on Christmas had moved Sakuraba Ryo a great deal.
He had to do something for them in return, didn't he?
"Well, next year I'll just lose money properly! I'll invest more in all of them~"
And so, with those beautiful hopes in his heart, Sakuraba Ryo welcomed the new year.
But would things really develop as smoothly as he imagined?
...
In April of the following year, Sakuraba Ryo looked at the two extra trophies that had appeared in his dorm room at Nishikino Academy and silently dropped to his knees.
MARCH. TAMAMO CROSS, WINNER OF THE HANSHIN DAISHOTEN, G2.
MARCH. OGURI CAP, WINNER OF THE MAINICHI HAI, G3.
APRIL. TAMAMO CROSS, WINNER OF THE TENNO SHO (SPRING)—
G1.
Thunk!
Sakuraba Ryo slammed his forehead hard into the dorm room floor, producing a dull, heavy sound.
His face twisted in agony.
"Aaaagh—"
"No! No, this can't happen!"
"You can't do this to me——!"
Curled up on the floor, Sakuraba Ryo writhed like a squirming maggot.
"Why can't the Umamusume in Central stop those two——?!"
"Damn it! Are all the Umamusume in Central complete dead weight?!"
"My stars of losing money!"
"My vanguards of bleeding cash!"
"Why would the two of you do this to me?!"
"Everything we had before—have you forgotten it all——?!"
Sakuraba Ryo howled in agony inside his room.
The feelings he had on Christmas last year were long gone from his mind.
Right now, he felt like Oda Nobunaga sitting in Honno-ji waiting to be burned alive.
Oguri Cap and Tamamo Cross were the ones setting the damn fire!
His stars were useless!
My life is over!
---
T/N: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH? HOW DID TAMTAM WIN A G1? WASNT SHE SUPPOSED TO BE ALOSER TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?! AND WDYM OGURI WON IN CENTRAL ALSO??? HAS SHE NEVER LOST YET? WHAT IS THISS????? SAKURABA YOUR STARS!!! THEY'RE ACTUAL STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!