When I come to Tracen Academy, I only do three things!
Lose money!
Lose money!
And lose even more money!
By now, Sakuraba Ryo's monthly loss KPI had already reached 100 million yen.
But what he found was that no matter how much he felt he was losing, the money in his bank account somehow just kept increasing…
What the hell was going on?
He was already racking his brains trying to lose money.
So why was the amount in his account still going up…?!
Didn't that just make it look like he was bad at losing money?!
And recently, Sakuraba Ryo's motivation to lose money had climbed to an even higher level.
The reason was simple: he had finally figured out how the Loss System's loss mechanism worked.
As established, every month the System issued Sakuraba Ryo a certain amount of funds for him to lose.
For example, if this month's loss KPI was five million, then the System would require him to lose all five million.
But what if he did not finish losing that five million?
What would happen then?
The System's text said that if Sakuraba Ryo failed to complete the KPI, the remaining money would be converted into a corresponding penalty.
But what form did that penalty actually take?
Would it confiscate the leftover money and then impose an additional punishment on top of that?
Or would the punishment scale based on however much money was left over?
In order to plan better loss-making strategies going forward, Sakuraba Ryo had decided to figure out exactly how the System handled failure.
So last month, he had tried spending an entire month without losing any money at all.
And as a result, he got the following:
[DETECTED: HOST HAS FAILED TO COMPLETE THE DESIGNATED LOSS TARGET.]
[70 MILLION YEN REMAINING.]
[70 MILLION YEN WILL BE DEDUCTED FROM THE HOST'S BANK ACCOUNT, AND NEXT MONTH'S STARTUP CAPITAL WILL BE REDUCED TO 50 MILLION YEN.]
[NEXT MONTH'S LOSS KPI WILL BE REDUCED TO 50 MILLION YEN!]
[DETECTED: WHILE FAILING TO COMPLETE THE LOSS TARGET, THE HOST'S INVESTMENT PROJECTS ALSO GENERATED PROFIT.]
[SPECIAL PENALTY TRIGGERED!]
[THE UMAMUSUME AROUND YOU WILL BECOME AGITATED!]
[THE UMAMUSUME'S POSSESSIVENESS TOWARD YOU WILL INCREASE!]
[WARNING: IF AN UMAMUSUME'S POSSESSIVENESS RISES TOO HIGH, UNPLEASANT EVENTS WILL OCCUR!]
After that little experiment, Sakuraba Ryo had more or less figured out the Loss System's nasty habits.
If he failed to complete the KPI, the System would automatically deduct the remaining amount and lower next month's startup capital. But because the following month's loss KPI would also drop accordingly, the actual pressure to lose money did not increase all that much.
If anything, what concerned Sakuraba Ryo more now was that special penalty…
If he failed to hit the loss target and still made money, it would trigger a special penalty?
This was the first time he had ever heard of something like that!
The Umamusume around him would become agitated?
Their possessiveness toward him would increase?
What kind of punishment was that supposed to be?
And what did possessiveness even mean?
What use was there in being possessive over me anyway…?
Sakuraba Ryo was thoroughly baffled by this special penalty.
Even if he did not understand what it meant, since the System had classified it as a punishment, it would probably have some kind of bad effect on him.
So if he could complete the task, then he really ought to do it.
If something actually went wrong, it would be too late.
In any case, in order to carry out his mission more effectively, Sakuraba Ryo had now come to Central.
As long as his plans kept proceeding normally, the conditions for triggering that special penalty would never be met.
Though ideally, Oguri and the others would stop turning a profit too…
The System's loss KPI was climbing month after month. If one day the number got so high that he could not possibly lose it all, then any random race Oguri or Tamamo Cross won might be enough to trigger that special penalty.
That would not do.
He really needed to get ahead of this and prevent it properly.
With that determination to correct Oguri Cap and the others, Sakuraba Ryo walked along the roads of Tracen Academy.
Since it was his first time at Tracen Academy, he had no idea where Oguri Cap and Kitahara were…
He was lost.
"Man, why the hell is this damn Tracen Academy so huge…? It feels even bigger than Nishikino Academy by a whole tier."
"Well, I guess it really is Tracen Academy… setting aside the quality of education, at least in terms of sheer scale, it's definitely terrifyingly big."
As Sakuraba Ryo walked through the campus, he studied every detail around him.
He was doing his best to note the differences between Tracen Academy and Nishikino Academy. Hidden in those little differences was the possibility of losing money.
And just as Sakuraba Ryo was wandering around campus while observing the school, a woman in a green office outfit stopped him.
"Excuse me, are you having some trouble?"
"Ah, and you are…?"
Sakuraba Ryo looked up. The woman who had stopped him wore a distinctive green hat, and her face held a smile as gentle as sunlight.
"My name is Hayakawa Tazuna. I'm the chairwoman's secretary here at the academy. You look like you might be having some trouble. Do you need help?"
"The chairwoman's secretary…?"
Sakuraba Ryo was a little surprised. He had assumed Tracen Academy's chairwoman's secretary would be some middle-aged guy, not a beautiful young woman like this.
"To be honest, I'm actually the investor of one of the students here in Central. Do you happen to know where she is?"
"Mhm, so you're looking for someone? Then could you tell me that student's name?"
"Oguri Cap."
"Oh, so it's Oguri Cap?"
Hayakawa Tazuna looked mildly surprised, as if she had not expected the Oguri Cap who had been making such a splash lately in Central to be an investment project of the man in front of her.
"If it's her, then she should be over at Tracen Academy's training grounds right now. Just follow this road straight ahead and you'll get there."
"Really? That's a huge help! Then I'll be off."
"All right. Take care."
Watching Sakuraba Ryo's departing back, Hayakawa Tazuna blinked.
"Ah, I forgot to ask his name. What a mistake."
"But how strange… just talking to that gentleman made me feel so happy."
"…What a curious feeling."
"But… Oguri Cap's investor, hm? If I ask the student council president, she should know something about him."
With that thought in mind, Hayakawa Tazuna headed for the student council office.
---
T/N: hmm? why would you feel happy tazuna?
huh what was i thinking about
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