Umamusume's days are numbered

(Ueno is getting stronger, another strong candidate to join Canopus. A Stand of the same type as Excellent Qualities, the runner-up Collector.)

She consistently placed second at the Hanshin Grand Prix, the Emperor's Spring Festival, the Yasuda Memorial, and the Takarazuka Memorial. A heavyweight athlete capable of finishing second in races ranging from 1600 meters to 3200 meters. To achieve second place with such a tight schedule, it's not a matter of lacking ability, but rather bad luck; she encountered some of the toughest opponents—Mejiro McQueen and Mejiro Yoshinobu.

I have this disease that makes me always get second place when I meet someone from the Mejiro family. (Image)

(2-in-1)

(Also, the information at the end of each chapter is never included in the main text... I also add words when lyrics appear in the middle of a chapter. As long as the word count is not reached, everyone pays the same amount of money, and I have never used these filler words.)

Episode 244 Fiery Steed

On the other end of the phone, hearing the chaotic sounds coming from the student council, Alice hung up the phone with satisfaction.

Well, Rudolf is going to be busy for a while now. In terms of the seriousness of the situation, the situation in the new universe is much more serious.

So, what's next...?

Alice turned her gaze to Platinum, who was sitting opposite her.

"Since we've said we're going to participate in the Takarazuka Memorial, we can't start strong and finish weak."

"If you're going to win, win the most spectacular victory!"

Bai Jin nodded solemnly: "Since I promised you, I will definitely do it."

"I wish you could run as beautifully as you describe." Alice gave her a disgruntled look. "The Takarazuka Commemoration is a race I've never participated in before, and I've never really studied it. There's very little I can do to help you."

"So, I found you a helper. Judging by the time, they should be here soon."

Help, helper?

Just as Platinum's curiosity was piqued, the laboratory door was slammed open with a loud crash. A figure swept in like the wind, filling the laboratory, which was never cleaned, with smoke that made Platinum and Alice cough.

"Cough cough... Damn it... The robot vacuum cleaner sweeps the floor every day!"

"I told you the robot vacuum you bought was no good! Cough cough... that thing can't even distinguish between my lab reagents and trash!"

A figure flickered within the billowing smoke.

"flame!"

A fist pierced through the thick dust.

"hope!"

Then came another fist.

"Wherever there is a need, I will be there!"

With a cheerful laugh, a beautiful girl with long, fiery red hair and a pink headband tied around her forehead appeared in their field of vision. Her figure was not particularly muscular, but her pupils were as fiery red as burning flames.

"Arisuko, is that you calling me?"

Platinum and Alice looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Is this the helper you found?"

"No... I don't know her."

Alice shook her head and decisively picked up the phone: "Hello, is this the security department? A fool has barged into our office..."

"Suko, don't play dumb! You were the one who called me over!" The fiery girl quickly pointed to her face and leaned closer to Alice Suko. "Look, don't you recognize this face?"

"Although we haven't seen each other for a long time, didn't we run races together? I even challenged you, and you beat me so badly that I cried my eyes out on the track!"

"Uh..." Faced with the fiery girl's unwavering gaze, the face in Alice's mind gradually overlapped with the face in front of her.

"...Fiery Steed, what's wrong? You seem to have hyperthyroidism after all this time?"

"No way!" Fiery Steed puffed out his cheeks. "This is my flame form! It's the ultimate life secret I've learned on the racetrack!"

"Soko..." Platinum teased Alice, pointing at the soft flesh around Soko's waist, "Your helper seems a little strange."

“I feel the same way,” Alice replied to Platinum cryptically.

"You must be Platinum!" Blazing Steed flashed a hearty smile at Platinum and gave him a thumbs up. "I watched the Satsuki Sho and the Japanese Derby, you ran really hot! Really Blazing! I loved it!"

Alice sighed helplessly and pointed at the Fiery Steed: "Let me introduce you to the helper I found."

"My peers have never outrun my Fiery Steed, but it was an unexpected win in the Takarazuka Memorial. That kind of record should be of some use."

"She will be your special training coach for this period of time. In order to ensure that you can perform at your best at the Takarazuka Memorial, Blazing Steed will train you for the next month."

"Yes, nice to meet you!" Without waiting for a reply, Fiery Steed approached without any distance, grabbed Platinum's hand and shook it up and down. "Let's get along well for the next while!"

"Are you sure it's okay...?" Platinum was sweating profusely, glancing sideways at Alice beside him.

Alice touched her chin, a rare look of surprise on her face.

What kind of experiences... could have turned the fiery steed in my memory into what it is now?

"Ah, no problem for me!" Fiery Steed seemed to think Platinum was asking him, so he answered readily, "Because I'm very free every day right now!"

"After retiring, I had already negotiated with my agency to play the lead role in a movie, but for some reason, the agency went bankrupt, and my agent disappeared along with me. I was left with debts. It's really strange!"

"I had to make a comeback in local races to pay off my debts, but I couldn't keep up with the local kids. Not only did I not earn any money, but I couldn't even get any advertising or agency deals. How strange!"

"In the end, even my house in Tokyo was seized, and I had to move back to live at school. Every month, as soon as I got my money, the bank took it away, and I couldn't do anything. It's really strange!"

"So I'm really, really free right now, and I'd be more than happy to be a coach!"

With each word spoken by the Fiery Steed, more cold sweat seeped from White Hair's forehead. Even Alice fell silent at the sight of that radiant, sunny smile.

Glug glug...

Hunger rumbled from the belly of the Fiery Steed.

"Oh dear... I've only gone two days without eating, and yet... ugh... I actually feel hungry. How strange!"

"Stop talking!" Platinum quickly covered her ears and closed her eyes. "I can't stand seeing this."

How could this person in front of me be in such a miserable state?

They've clearly been scammed. Not only did the bounty money disappear, but their residence was also sealed off, and now they don't even have food to eat...

Is this kind of dark life happening all around us?

When was the last time you ate a meal?

"Ugh... It's the leftover fried noodles from the cafeteria lady two days ago! It was delicious! It's a pity they were all gone when I went yesterday; apparently, the students with big appetites devoured it all. Haha, what a good appetite!"

Platinum and Alice quickly offered them seats, each supporting one of Blazing Steed's arms as it shakily sat down on the sofa. Platinum picked up a glass of water, and Alice offered Blazing Steed a chocolate bar: "Please have your meal."

If they don't feed Flame Steed something soon, forget about training with Platinum; they're both worried she'll starve to death in the lab.

Episode 245 Strong Competitors

"Waaaah... This is paradise!" Blazing Steed stuffed a huge chocolate bar into its mouth, looking like a giant hamster. "Mommy Hayate!"

"Who wants to be your mother?" Alice slapped her sleeves in disgust, her eyes looking like she'd just seen a gray rat dart out of a trash can while walking down the street.

"Platinum Mom!"

Platinum immediately felt a chill run down his spine and jumped back a step: "That's a bit too polite."

A once-great horse that won the Takarazuka Memorial G1 prize has ended up like this after retiring... Platinum has truly had his eyes opened this time.

"Resurrection!" Swallowing the chocolate in his mouth, Fiery Steed slammed his hand on the table, brushing up the dust that had just settled. His eyes, burning like raging flames, swept over the two of them. "Sorry for the spectacle!"

"Now let me fulfill my promise!"

Platinum secretly stood next to Alice and nudged her shoulder: "Can we find someone else? I don't think she's very reliable."

“There’s no way.” Alice spread her hands. “The last Takarazuka Memorial Champion was Mejiro Ryan. Do you want me to ask the Mejiro family to teach you how to deal with them?”

"Or you can accept the silent Suzuka's cross-border phone guidance. But one of you two has to choose to stay up all night to keep in sync with the time difference."

"Most importantly, the Fiery Steed is cheap. Hiring her for a month is much cheaper than hiring anyone else as a coach."

"So you charge money for hiring help?" Platinum's eyes widened.

“Normally, they charge money, okay?” Alice and Platinum stared at each other. “They’re not even on your team, and you’re not close to them, so why would they help you for free?”

"You have no idea how much money retired high-reward racehorse girls make as private trainers and parallel runners at training institutions! They make millions of yen a quarter, and you think I was joking when I said I didn't ask you for a salary and was being lenient with you?"

“Besides…” Alice gestured for Platinum to look at Flaming Steed, “I don’t care, but look at her now… are you really willing to not pay her?”

Blazing Steed stared with innocent, bright eyes at the two whispering openly. Platinum, meeting Blazing Steed's clear gaze, murmured a couple of times, unable to utter a word.

Platinum was even wondering if Flaming Horse would starve to death in its dorm room in a couple of days if it didn't get this job.

She could very well become the first G1 racehorse girl in history to starve to death.

"Don't worry, I can guarantee the strength of Blazing Steed." Alice vowed confidently, "Although it's not as good as me, it was still a promising genius back then. Cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad."

"So, can we begin?" Fiery Steed stood with his hands clasped to his chest, looking eager to begin. "I guarantee you'll beat Takarazuka under my tutelage!"

I simply couldn't refuse...

Platinum tilted her head dejectedly: "...Okay."

Alice wouldn't lie to herself about this; if she says Flaming Horse is reliable, then she must be truly reliable.

"Time waits for no one, so let's get started now!" Fiery Steed licked the chocolate crumbs from the corner of his mouth, eager to begin.

"Shall we go to the training ground and run now?" Platinum tentatively asked Fiery Steed.

"Hmm, very fighting spirit, that's the key to victory! I like it!" Fiery Steed gave Platinum a big thumbs up. "But you got it wrong!"

"Training without thinking will turn even the smartest foals into fools! That's what my trainer told me!"

"When facing a race, the first thing to do is to gather information about the track! Such as the condition of the grass, the terrain of the track, and the possible weather conditions, to ensure that nothing goes wrong!" The Fiery Steed may seem unreliable, but he can talk about the track with great ease.

"The grass on the Takarazuka Memorial track is closer to that of Europe and America than that of domestic tracks!"

"In other words, the grass needs to be softer, making it more strenuous to run on!"

"A 2200-meter track is quite a challenge for any participant, but it shouldn't be a problem for you!"

"And after all that, the most important thing is—" Flaming Steed crossed his arms and said firmly, "the assessment of the opponent!"

"What kind of opponents you'll face, what kind of strategies you'll encounter—these are all things you need to consider! This applies not only to the Takarazuka Memorial but to all matches! It's a matter of respecting all opponents, and also a matter of respecting yourself!"

Blazing Steed pointed his finger at Platinum: "Platinum! Who do you think is the opponent you should be most wary of at this Takarazuka Memorial?"

Platinum clicked his tongue: "It should be Megaku McQueen."

Honestly, looking at the list of attendees for the Takarazuka Memorial, apart from Neo Universe, who seems to be constantly appearing to rack up achievements, I didn't recognize many of the names on the long list.

It's not that Platinum looks down on its opponents or anything, it's just that there's a difference between being consistently active and having a lot of fame, and there's a difference between participating in a competition and winning a championship.

Aside from a few star contestants who receive special attention, most of the Uma Musume contestants are only moderately popular.

While fame doesn't equal ability, they are largely related. The most famous of them all would probably be Mejiro McQueen.

The soulmate of the Emperor of the East Sea!

The king of long-distance races!

The most important figure in the Meguro family!

Although he lost to Mejiro Raijin in the last Takarazuka Memorial, he is back in triumph this year, determined to show his Hikoma style!

"Yes! That's right, Megure McQueen is indeed a formidable competitor!" Blazing Steed nodded repeatedly.

"However! What you should be most concerned about isn't Megaku McQueen!"

Retsukaima's gaze shifted to the television. The television, which had been kept on as background noise, stubbornly continued its work, still broadcasting the Takarazuka Memorial contestant list.

"Ranked twelfth in popularity—Mejiro Zenshin!"

The television screen showed Meguro Zenshin's figure: a signature white highlight stood out on her forehead like a lightning bolt or a scythe. Although she gave the impression of a quiet young lady, her final outfit was unexpectedly flamboyant—less fabric than Platinum's.

"...Meguro Zenshin?" Shirogane shook his head in confusion.

Although he is from the Mejiro family, Mejiro Zenshin is far inferior to Mejiro McQueen and Mejiro Ryan in terms of both popularity and strength.

It's not that Platinum has any prejudice against Megumi Zenshin, but just looking at his current record and popularity, it's clear that Megumi Zenshin isn't well-regarded.