November arrived.
Over the past few months, Hokko Academy and Nishikino Academy had formally confirmed their partnership. A batch of Umamusume from Hokko had started coming to Nishikino for further study.
And that batch had nearly scared Sakuraba Ryo half to death.
No, seriously—why did so many of these Umamusume have surnames with "Mejiro" in them??
That was when Sakuraba learned from Principal Nishikino that Hokko Academy had the backing of the prestigious Mejiro family. Many of the Mejiro family's ojou-samas used Hokko Academy as a springboard before moving on to Tracen Academy for further study.
Thank goodness.
Any results those Mejiro girls produced would be counted on Hokko Academy's side, so Sakuraba didn't have to worry about accidentally making money off them.
That said, speaking of Mejiro girls, Mejiro Ardan had become a regular at Sakuraba's foot-massage parlor after trying the service that one time.
Every time Sakuraba worked on her, he gave it everything he had. Sometimes he even made her pass out.
And yet, strangely enough, even after he'd treated her like that, Mejiro Ardan still kept coming back...
There is definitely something wrong with you.
Inwardly, Sakuraba had quietly tagged this Mejiro heiress as a complete anomaly.
Aside from Mejiro Ardan, the Emperor and Maruzensky also frequented the place, though not nearly as often. They mostly only stopped by when they had time off.
One thing worth mentioning was that after the Japanese Derby, Fujimasa March seemed to have learned something from watching Oguri Cap run, and went on to win the Tokai Derby.
And after winning, she actually came to thank Sakuraba first thing.
Sakuraba couldn't make heads or tails of it. All he'd done was invite her to Central to watch a race. That shouldn't have counted as much of a contribution.
Was it because her legs had gotten some care at the foot-massage parlor?
But Sakuraba had taken her money too... at the end of the day, it was just an ordinary financial transaction. There was really nothing there that should've warranted thanks.
But apparently, March didn't see it that way. Back then, she'd held onto Sakuraba's hand for a long time without letting go, and he had the distinct feeling she'd gotten just a little too emotional...
Aside from those little incidents, Sakuraba's nationwide foot-massage plan had been progressing smoothly ever since he'd talked it over with Belno Light.
Belno expanded the foot-massage parlors across Tokyo at a speed far beyond anything Sakuraba could've managed, so fast that even his funding was starting to struggle to keep up.
Holy hell.
So taking a business nationwide burned money like this?!
Still, thanks to Belno's help, meeting his loss quota over the past few months had been basically effortless.
That's my girl.
My trusty deputy in losing money!
And after half a year of completing system tasks again and again, Sakuraba could feel that his physical condition had improved dramatically compared to last year.
At the very least, he was officially a man with abs now!
Even though he barely exercised in daily life, the system's rewards had still gradually built real muscle onto him.
Even his skin looked a lot smoother.
The only problem was that lately, more Umamusume seemed to be looking at him in strange ways...
Probably a side effect of his appeal to Umamusume going up too much.
Still, Sakuraba wasn't too worried about that.
He figured whatever "appeal" the system gave him probably just affected his aura or bearing. When he looked in the mirror, he didn't feel like he looked all that different. If it was only a slight change in atmosphere, then at most it probably just meant a few more people would glance back at him on the street.
Nothing to fear.
While Sakuraba was working himself to the bone trying to hit his loss KPI, Oguri Cap and the others hadn't been idle either.
After the Japanese Derby, Oguri Cap went on to win two G2 races in a row, then challenged the Tenno Sho Autumn in October—only to run into Tamamo Cross, who was chasing the Spring-and-Autumn double.
And so the scene of Oguri Cap and Tamamo Cross clashing head-on at Tokyo Racecourse came to pass. The tension between the two of them was unbelievably intense, as though each of them carried some reason they absolutely could not afford to lose.
In the end, Tamamo Cross won the Tenno Sho Autumn by the narrowest of margins.
Sakuraba had no idea what kind of burden the two of them were carrying.
He only knew that when he saw Tamamo and Oguri sweep the top two spots in the Tenno Sho Autumn, he felt awful.
Those two had combined for 220 million in prize money in a single race.
That was not easy for Sakuraba to deal with.
Granted, he had plenty of places to lose money now, so the extra 200-plus million wasn't too crushing a burden on him...
But still!
It hurt like hell...!!
And even more painful than that was the fact that they apparently weren't satisfied with the result of the Tenno Sho Autumn and were planning to settle it with another showdown in the Japan Cup...
Please.
Give me a break.
I'm begging you.
If you two sweep the top two spots in the Japan Cup too, that's 300 million in prize money!
Just thinking about it made Sakuraba feel a little dizzy.
The students in the international class were much more reassuring.
Over this same stretch of time, the Umamusume in the international class had all made their debuts in their respective circuits.
But only a small portion of them had actually won their debut races!
That was unquestionably good news for Sakuraba!
A complete victory!
Looks like my eye for talent is perfectly normal after all!
As he looked through the debut reports from the international-class Umamusume, a genuine smile spread across Sakuraba's face, and his fingers tapped the desk in satisfaction.
"Good, good," he muttered under his breath.
"This is how it should be. This is the pace I want!"
But that joy was quickly drowned out by another looming crisis.
The moment he pictured Oguri and Tamamo Cross putting on another two-titan showdown at the Japan Cup and walking away with 300 million in prize money between them, Sakuraba felt his chest tighten and his vision dim.
"No. Absolutely not!"
He shot to his feet and began pacing around his office.
"The Tenno Sho Autumn already made my heart seize up once. If it happens again in the Japan Cup... wouldn't my great money-losing enterprise get stabbed in the back by this sudden 'windfall'?"
He came to a stop, and a bold thought gradually rose in his mind.
Since Oguri and Tamamo Cross entering the Japan Cup was an unchangeable fact...
Then all he had to do was figure out a way to stop them from winning it!
In a race, the amount of prize money you get is closely tied to your placing.
As long as they didn't finish in the top three, the prize money they brought in would drop by quite a bit too!
So, in order to make that happen, I need to give the enemy a huge boost!
That way, I can lose money and keep Oguri and the others from winning!
Sorry, Oguri. Tamamo.
This time, I won't be standing on your side.
You've already won plenty of G1 races, haven't you?
Now it's my turn to satisfy myself!
Starting today, I'm a turncoat!
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T/N: japan cup japan cup... oh yeee obey me huehuehuehuehuehuehuehueheuheuheuhe
T/N2: heres ur updates :3 meeting the 4 chaps a week quota :3 posting earlier so bonus chaps will be a longer waitttt >:)
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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