Uma Musume: To The Top!! Chapter 25 - 137

Ti slipped by quietly.

Before he realized it, more than a month had passed in a leisurely holiday.

For the first ti, Kuroha had experienced a full Lunar New Year in this far eastern island nation. Though the atmosphere was different from his holand, seeing the Uma Musu reunited with their families, faces shining with happiness, carried its own charm.

During the holiday, both Central and local races had been held.

But Kuroha hadn't scheduled a single one of his girls to compete. He wanted them to truly rest, spend ti with family, and enjoy a complete New Year's celebration.

Well—Obey Your Master hadn't returned to the US.

She stayed with Kuroha to spend the New Year together.

Of course, since she was there, she wasn't just idling.

At first, the two of them had been evenly matched.

But after two weeks of training with the help of a Body-Strengthening Drug, only the golden-haired girl ended up begging for rcy.

Not that she learned her lesson. Every day she'd play the flashy gyaru, trying to seduce Kuroha—only to be lying flat on the bed two hours later, unable to move.

As the break neared its end, so too ca the beginning of a new sester at Central Tracen.

The morning sun stread through the dorm's curtains, throwing long stripes of light across the wooden floor.

Accustod to rising early, Kuroha washed up, then stepped into the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast for himself.

After eating a few bites, he stepped outside, collected the day's paper from the mailbox, and returned to the table.

He unfolded the newspaper while chewing slowly—

—and then froze.

[Shocking! The Grey Monster may be forced to withdraw?!]

Huge black characters scread from the sports section headline.

The subheading explained in detail:

Oguri Cap, Super Creek, and Dictus Striker have all been found to have potential leg-related health risks during checkups. As a precaution, their teams have opted for rest and further dical evaluation. They may miss the entire spring season.

Kuroha set his sandwich down silently.

He unlocked his phone. As expected, every forum and sports app tied to Uma Musu news was already flooded with the story.

Ever since Tamamo Cross's retirent after last year's Arima Kinen, the central race scene had been considered under the rule of those three horse girls.

Their strength was so overwhelming that other mbers of their generation could hardly compare.

And now—

all three might be absent from the track.

For fans who had been eagerly waiting for the "gods" to clash again, it was nothing short of a thunderbolt.

Online, complaints filled every comnt thread:

"No way! Oguri Cap and Dictus Striker are both out? Then what's even the point of watching the spring races?"

"It's over… I was hoping for a god-tier battle this year, but looks like the season's going to be a bust."

"Sigh… Without them, no matter who wins, it just won't feel convincing…"

Kuroha's face showed a wry smile.

"Feels just like the talk back during Oguri Cap's Classic Triple Crown days…"

He shut off his phone, not bothering to scroll further.

After quickly finishing his breakfast and tidying up the dishes, he sat down at his desk, switched on the computer, and navigated to Central Tracen Academy's official site.

He pulled up the dense schedule of the new racing year.

With his team returning soon, he had to be ready.

If I recall, Aoi sent a pre-screened file not long ago.

Kuroha searched his folders.

By now, all the girls on his team had graduated from their Classic year into their Senior year. Many Classic-only races were no longer available, so they'd already been filtered out.

That work, naturally, had been handled by his assistant.

Kiryuin Aoi, as Kuroha's trainee trainer, had even spent her holiday popping by to ask him for advice. It left Kuroha both pleased and helpless. Still, her work was thorough.

(From this point onward, the races follow the modern reford structure, otherwise the list would be ssy.)

The G1 races of spring numbered four:

Osaka Hai

Spring Tenno Sho

Yasuda Kinen

Takarazuka Kinen

And, due to last year's reforms allowing Central Uma Musu to participate in local events, there was also one local G1: the Teio Sho.

Beyond those five G1s, there were plenty of G2s—Nakayama Kinen, Hanshin Daishoten, Nikkei Sho, Hanshin Himba Stakes, Sankei Osaka Hai, guro Kinen, and many more.

And G3s? Too many to count.

"The Teio Sho is a dirt race… the only ones with strong dirt aptitude are March and Little Inari…"

Looking over the chart, Kuroha quickly made his first draft of assignnts:

Inari One → Spring Tenno Sho (late April) Takarazuka Kinen (late June).

Fujimasa March → Osaka Hai Teio Sho.

Chiyono O → Yasuda Kinen.

Ardan → Just reached True Blooming at the end of last season; she'd first get G2 experience to build up, then aim for G1s in the autumn.

Obey Your Master → Though a foreign horse girl, she was unlike Grass Wonder. She could freely join all Central races.

Grass Wonder's case was unique: born in Japan, then transferred nationality abroad, and later back again. That triggered a strange URA regulation.

Any Uma Musu who changed from dostic to foreign nationality, then back again, faced a four-year Central ban, able only to race locally.

That's why a prodigy like Grass Wonder had to lie dormant so long.

But Obey Your Master was different—she had always been foreign. When she transferred in, the rule simply didn't apply.

Kuroha had laughed when he read up on those rules before her transfer.

Go from 1 → 2 → 1, and URA cos down on you like a hamr. But start as 2 and transfer to 1? No problem at all. Ridiculous.

Thanks to that, he was free to let her enter whatever events he liked. For spring, he planned to give her a few G2 appearances to show her face. Like Ardan, her true test would co in autumn—once Oguri Cap and the other titans returned.

(End of Chapter)

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