The next day, under the strange gazes of her TCB trainees, Sakura Baimu pushed open the door to the TCB activity room.
"Today is Pluto Academy's last day here. After they leave, it'll be busy with competitions again."
"Teiō, your next competition with McQueen is the Tenno Sho in the fall. After the Tenno Sho, McQueen will compete in the Japan Cup, and Teiō, you'll be participating in the Breeders' Cup Turf."
...
Sakura Baimu went through the schedule as usual, but after a while, she noticed that her Umamusume all had rather strange expressions.
"What's wrong? What's with those expressions?"
"We're wondering what Maruzensky-senpai wanted to talk to Trainer-san about yesterday?"
Tokai Teio spoke, propping her head up with her arm and laughing.
"It's nothing, I'm not even close to Maruzensky."
"Trainer-san, you're lying! I've never seen Maruzensky look like that before! She's more excited than if she'd seen a sports car!" Tokai Teio shouted again.
As soon as Tokai Teio finished speaking, everyone in the TCB activity room nodded in unison.
"Uh… actually, Maruzensky-senpai saw that Junkawa-san wasn't riding in her car, so she wanted to invite me to ride with her," Sakura Baimu said.
"Hmm—?"
Mejiro McQueen stroked her chin, looking at Sakura Baimu with a suspicious gaze, as if she didn't believe her.
"She's definitely hiding something. Look at how guilty she was yesterday; it must be something very serious."
"McQueen, that's enough! Don't think I don't know. You took leave last week saying you had a stomachache and didn't come to practice, but you went to Osaka to watch baseball..."
Sakura Baimu was interrupted halfway through her sentence by Mejiro McQueen, whose expression suddenly turned terrified, as she rushed in front of her and covered her mouth.
Mejiro McQueen was secretly a passionate baseball fan, but to outsiders, baseball was actually a rather ordinary sport.
Completely inconsistent with her status as the heiress of the Mejiro family.
Therefore, Mejiro McQueen had always kept her passionate love for baseball a secret from everyone.
But...
"How did she know?!"
Mejiro McQueen felt a chill run down her spine. It was as if Sakura Baimu had eyes in the back of her head.
Like she always knowing exactly what she was thinking or doing.
"Huh—? McQueen, you went to Osaka last week? What did you do there?" Tokai Teio asked, puzzled.
"Nothing! Trainer-san was just kidding, just kidding~" Mejiro McQueen said, then gave Sakura Baimu a cold look, as if to say, "You're going to die if you tell me."
Sakura Baimu nodded. "That's right, I was just kidding about my stockings~"
"Pfft—"
"Hahahaha."
Hearing Sakura Baimu's convincing imitation of Mejiro McQueen's tone, the other Umamusumes in the room burst into laughter.
Mejiro McQueen blushed furiously, her face turning red to the roots of her neck.
Everyone's attention was diverted, and no one mentioned Sakura Baimu and Maruzensky's incident from yesterday.
Sakura Baimu, as usual, took the team to watch the match for a while.
Today, Obey Your Master once again challenged Oguri Cap.
In the end, Obey Your Master lost by a margin of 7 lengths, while the usually goofy-looking Oguri Cap, after activating her Zone and defeating Obey Your Master, showed little sign of fatigue.
"Is this Oguri-senpai's strength? So… so strong!"
Satono Diamond and Kitasan Black stared wide-eyed at the gray-haired, aloof beauty raising her arms after the finish line, their eyes wide with astonishment.
"Of course, Oguri-senpai was the strongest Umamusume of her era. Although she lost to Obey Your Master in the Japan Cup, she's now far stronger than in the arena," Tokai Teio said.
"The strongest…! Was there really no one in that era who could rival Oguri-senpai?" Kitasan Black asked.
"Yes, the Heisei Three powerhouses—Inari One, Super Creek, Tamamo Cross, Obey Your Master, and Yae Muteki—all beat Oguri, but Oguri usually beat them all back later," Sakura Baimu said.
"That's not necessarily true," Mejiro McQueen said calmly.
"Hmm?" Sakura Baimu smiled. "What, McQueen, do you have a problem with that?"
"There is one person who has defeated Oguri-senpai several times, but Oguri-senpai has never beaten her."
"Several times? Who is this Umamusume? Does she even exist?" Tokai Teio asked, puzzled by Mejiro McQueen's words.
She didn't recall anyone having beaten Oguri Cap multiple times, yet Oguri Cap had never won against her—an unknown Umamusume.
"My sister," Mejiro McQueen spoke casually. "When Oguri-senpai was in the lower ranks, she lost to Sakura several times, and she never won back."
"Oh, is that the sister you mentioned, the one who challenged the Tenno Sho in her first G1?" Satono Diamond's face lit up with excitement. "Ms. McQueen's sister is so amazing! She never even lost to Oguri-senpai!"
"Who are you talking about, McQueen's sister? Someone from the same generation as Oguri-senpai? Is it Ardan-senpai?" Smart Falcon asked, confused.
"No, her name is Mejiro Sakura, but she got suspended and stopped competing," Satono Diamond explained to Smart Falcon.
"Mejiro Sakura? Falco hasn't heard of that name before… Is she from our academy?"
"No," Mejiro McQueen replied.
"Oh, no wonder."
Sakura Baimu stood to the side, listening to her teammates excitedly reminiscing about her past, and suddenly found it somewhat amusing.
"I wonder what their expressions will be when they find out that the person they're talking about is their trainer?"
Sakura Baimu thought to herself, a slight smile playing on her lips.
But just then, Mejiro McQueen turned around and saw Sakura Baimu's expression, immediately misunderstanding.
"Hmph."
Mejiro McQueen snorted and turned away.
The TCB trainees had already heard about Mejiro Sakura from Mejiro McQueen, but Smart Falcon joined the team later and wasn't entirely sure, so she asked another question.
"By the way, where did Miss McQueen's sister go after she was suspended?"
Sakura Baimu raised an eyebrow, drank water and wondered how Mejiro McQueen would answer.
Mejiro McQueen gave the same answer she'd given Tokai Teio.
"Maybe she went back to her hometown? Maybe she's in love, married, and has kids?"
"Pfft—" Sakura Baimu burst out, choking the water she drank.
The TCB trainees turned around in confusion, only to see Sakura Baimu coughing violently, clutching her throat.
"Hey, McQueen, can I ask you something? How old is your sister?" Sakura Baimu took a while to recover.
"I don't know. In my memory, she's very mature, probably much older than me."
"You just said your sister and Oguri Cap are from the same generation, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Mejiro McQueen asked, puzzled.
"So, why do you think your sister already has children?!"
--