Oguri Cap's remarks naturally caused a massive stir.
Everyone was curious about this mysterious investor, Sakuraba Ryo. To have spotted Oguri Cap's talent so early and invested in her ahead of time—what an eye for talent that took.
For someone that capable to be merely an investor instead of a trainer felt like a real waste.
[Hey! For all you know, this Sakuraba guy just got stupid lucky and happened to invest in Oguri Cap! The amazing one isn't him—it's Oguri Cap, right?]
[No way. You really think our dear Derby girl can't tell whether an investor knows what he's doing? Cut it out with the sour-grapes nonsense.]
[Exactly, exactly! You're obviously just jealous of how good he is at spotting talent!]
[Oh, come on. Even this has stan comments now? That Sakuraba guy's just another piece of internet scum.]
[The haters are having a meltdown.]
[Call it whatever you want. I'm telling the truth.]
[Sure you are. And I'm Qin Shi Huang.]
Looking at all the comments ganging up on him online, Sakuraba Ryo wore the deadest expression imaginable.
"No, but... I'm telling the truth online, so how come nobody believes me?"
At Tracen Academy, beside the training grounds, Sakuraba Ryo stared at his phone screen and silently flipped it off.
He'd already been in a rotten mood over the prize money putting him in the black, so he'd gone online hoping to relax a little. Instead, he found the forums busy hyping him to the heavens.
Some god-given supreme scout's eye, picking out the highest-value Oguri Cap at a glance, greatness beyond words.
Just look at that.
Were those things a normal human being could say?
In the spirit of sticking to the facts, Sakuraba Ryo promptly picked up his keyboard and started slugging it out with people on the forum.
Every word he said was true, and yet not a single person was willing to believe him.
They'd even gone so far as to slap the label of internet scum on him.
Driven into a corner, Sakuraba Ryo finally typed out a reply.
[Knock it off! I am Sakuraba Ryo!]
[Yeah, sure. And I'm your dad.]
The moment Sakuraba Ryo saw that response, he gave up.
Communication had failed.
His mood, already terrible to begin with, somehow got even worse.
Damn it. Next time, I'm definitely investing in an Umamusume who's the absolute queen of the scumbags!
I'll clear the foul name investors have been saddled with!
How dare these wretches look down on me like this!
Just wait till I return—I'll have all your heads!
Unable to win the argument online, all Sakuraba Ryo could do was grumble to himself in his head.
"Why'd you come all the way over here just to stare at your phone?"
Standing in front of him, Tamamo Cross planted her hands on her hips and looked at him helplessly.
"..."
"I came to check on you, but you look fine, so I guess there's nothing to say."
Sakuraba Ryo shrugged.
"Heh. You were worried I'd get stuck brooding?"
Amused, Tamamo lightly tapped his ankle with the toe of her running shoe. After seeing him wince, she cheerfully sat down beside him.
"Not exactly worried. It's just that someone told me yesterday she'd definitely win the Japan Cup for me, so I was a little afraid she'd go find a block of tofu to kill herself on."
"Could that mouth of yours sound a little nicer for once?"
Tamamo pouted and gave him a helpless look.
"But, well... it's true I wasn't really brooding or anything..."
"Back when I first met you, didn't I lose way more often than this? Hahaha~~"
"It's just... a little frustrating."
"I was planning to come back with the Japan Cup trophy and sit down for a nice chat with you~ I didn't expect Oguri to be that strong..."
"So instead it just makes it look like I was talking big in front of you... which is kinda embarrassing."
When Tamamo Cross spoke about it, her tone stayed perfectly calm. She really didn't seem to have taken it all that hard.
She wasn't the kind of fragile Umamusume who would burst into tears and make a scene over losing a single race.
She had never been the sort to chase perfection in the first place. Once you stepped into a race, there would be wins and losses. She understood that truth better than anyone.
So she wasn't the type to act like the world was ending over one defeat.
"If you're taking it this well, then what am I even supposed to do here?"
Hands on his hips, Sakuraba Ryo put on an exaggeratedly offended face and teased her.
"What do you want me to do, then? Throw myself into your arms and start bawling? I could do that too, you know~"
"With how you look, wouldn't that just make me some kind of weirdo kidnapping a child...?"
Tamamo Cross was so small that if she really started crying and making a fuss in his arms, passersby might actually mistake him for some shady creep trying to get close to a minor. Sakuraba Ryo had no intention of getting arrested before his grand loss-making plan was complete.
"Oh, get lost!"
Hearing him go further and further off the rails, Tamamo couldn't help laughing as she cursed at him. She lifted her elbow and gave his arm a light bump.
"Who said I was gonna bawl? And what's this crap about kidnapping a child? I'm an Umamusume good enough to race in the Japan Cup, thank you very much!"
Her words were light, but a flicker of embarrassed exposure still passed through her eyes, as if he'd hit closer to home than she wanted to admit.
It was strange. When she'd been alone just now, there really had been something sitting in her chest, like a little stone lodged there.
It wasn't that she couldn't accept losing, and it wasn't that she refused to admit defeat. It was just... a vague, hard-to-name heaviness.
After all, who didn't want to win?
Especially in front of him.
But this guy just had to do everything backwards.
He didn't say empty things like "Just do better next time," and he didn't put on some serious face and tell her how worried he was. He just rambled on, dragging the conversation off in a weird direction.
And with him making such a mess of things, that heavy knot in her chest somehow got stirred apart without her even noticing.
One gust of wind later, and all that was left was a light, fuzzy sort of regret.
"You really are something..."
Tamamo Cross shook her head, but there was a relieved smile on her face. Leaning back, she braced herself with both hands behind her and looked up at the clear sky above the training grounds.
"You really do say the weirdest things."
"..."
Her voice dropped a little, softened in a way that was almost hard to catch.
"Thanks."
She didn't say what she was thanking him for, but they both understood.
A lost race was a lost race.
Next time, she'd just win it back.
Thinking that way, even the breeze brushing past her ears seemed to carry the scent of freedom.
"Oh, right. What are you planning to do after this? Head straight back to Nishikino?"
"My plans, huh..."
Sakuraba Ryo thought about it for a moment, then smiled.
"I've still got a few things to take care of in Tokyo, so I'm not heading back to Nishikino just yet."
"What kind of things?"
Tamamo found that a little surprising and asked.
"Nothing much. Just a few little things to handle~"
Looking at the news on his phone about Tony Bianca's injury, Sakuraba Ryo answered with a smile.
The galactic superteam still has hope! I can see it now!
---
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