With Obey Your Master taking the initiative to ease the tension, the atmosphere in the classroom gradually grew lighter.
The students quickly accepted the fact that they had suddenly gained a teacher who had won the Arc...
At the end of the day, Nishikino Academy had already given these transfer students more than enough surprises.
Now that they thought about it, finding them a teacher with credentials like that did not seem entirely impossible either... maybe.
But what exactly was the point?
Flattered and overwhelmed, the students could not help wondering why Nishikino Academy was putting so much effort into cultivating them.
Obviously, though, that was not the sort of question one could answer just by thinking about it for a bit.
Before they could dwell on it much longer, Obey Your Master was already leading them outside to the training grounds for physical testing.
That was something Tony Bianca and Obey Your Master had agreed on beforehand.
They needed to understand what kind of level the students in the international class were at before they could teach them properly, did they not?
So they tested them.
It did not take long for the results to be compiled into a report and handed to Tony Bianca.
Her emerald eyes swept rapidly down line after line of data.
Explosiveness, endurance, short-burst speed, long-distance pace retention, adaptability on turns...
The more she read, the tighter her brows drew.
Her fingertips tapped lightly against the edge of the report in a steady rhythm that was just a shade too quick.
Beside her, Obey Your Master leaned in as well. The easy smile on her face had long since vanished, replaced by undisguised astonishment.
"This... Tony, are you sure they didn't hand us the wrong report? These numbers are way below even the baseline we expected. In some areas, they're barely scraping past the entry threshold for professional competition..."
How could they be this low?
The same question echoed in both their minds.
When they took over, they had known this batch of international class students came from different places and that their levels might vary wildly. But considering Nishikino Academy's current reputation and the scale of Sakuraba Ryo's involvement, they had assumed these students would at least be rough gems with clear potential, waiting to be polished—or prodigies with unusual talent who simply lacked systematic training.
But the report in front of them showed something else entirely.
Overall mediocrity.
In fact... some of them were downright weak.
Forget challenging world-class races. With fundamentals like these, even posting standout results in Japan's mid-tier races would likely be difficult.
Tony Bianca lifted her eyes from the report and looked out the window at the young Umamusume on the training grounds, now resting in small groups and chatting among themselves.
Their faces still carried the fatigue of the test, but more than that, there was a kind of innocent curiosity about the future. They had no idea what sort of report card they had just turned in.
"Something's off."
Tony Bianca's voice was quiet, but it carried a metallic chill.
She set the report gently on the table beside her and folded both hands over the top of her cane.
Obey Your Master sobered as well, crossing her arms as she thought.
"Yeah... If this was really all there was to it, there'd have been no reason to bring in both of us. They could've hired any experienced trainer, or just left them with the previous instructor and polished them up slowly."
"Sakuraba Ryo..."
"He spent that much money to sign us. Was it really just to teach a group of kids with weak foundations?"
It did not make sense.
And it fit even less with the limited impression they had formed of Sakuraba Ryo.
Would a man like that really make a losing investment?
Tony Bianca fell silent for a moment. Then a sharp glint flashed in the depths of her jade-green eyes.
"The objective may not lie in this report."
She spoke slowly.
"Or rather—not only in this report."
She looked back at the young Umamusume, her gaze passing over them one by one before settling at last on Sunday Silence in the distance, stretching by herself with a calm expression.
"Sakuraba Ryo..."
Tony Bianca kept her eyes on Sunday Silence. Her voice was low and clear, as though she were carefully tracing out a hidden line of logic.
"His previous 'investments' have all yielded astonishing returns."
"Oguri Cap, from Kasamatsu, is now the winner of both the Derby and the Japan Cup. Tamamo Cross has gone even further and accomplished an unprecedented spring-autumn double."
"His eye... or rather, his ability to dig out 'possibility,' has already been proven by results."
She paused, lightly rubbing a fingertip against the cane.
"So if he founded this so-called international class, gathered Umamusume from all over the world with vastly different backgrounds—some perhaps ignored or cast aside by their original circuits—and poured this much money into them..."
"...Then his fundamental objective is probably no different from when he uncovered Oguri Cap and Tamamo Cross."
Obey Your Master gradually caught on, and her gaze sharpened.
"You're saying... he's panning for gold? Looking for the real thing in a pile of sand that only looks ordinary?"
"Exactly."
Tony Bianca gave a small nod.
"Logically speaking, if the entire class were made up of talent this average—below average, really—it would not be worth employing both of us at once."
"It makes no sense in terms of cost efficiency, and it doesn't fit the judgment of a successful investor."
She picked up the report again, though her gaze seemed to pass straight through the paper.
"And yet Sakuraba Ryo did exactly that."
"He paid startlingly high signing bonuses, brought us to Nishikino Academy, and assigned us to this class by name."
"That means that, in his eyes, this class is worth that level of investment."
"And there is clearly a massive gap between that value and the reality we are seeing right now."
Tony Bianca slowly lowered the report. A glimmer of understanding flashed through her green eyes.
"So there is only one answer."
Her gaze returned to the training grounds, locking unerringly onto the dark-haired figure in the corner who was doing extra core training alone.
"Sakuraba Ryo's target may never have been the entire class."
"The one he truly wanted us to teach is hidden inside this seemingly mediocre group..."
"An individual with unusual value—or unusual potential."
Obey Your Master listened to Tony Bianca's analysis, agreement flickering in her eyes—along with a deeper curiosity.
She did not respond right away. Instead, she pulled out her phone and quickly swiped across the screen a few times.
"Your reasoning makes sense, Tony."
She spoke as she worked.
"And if he's singled someone out, then there should be a trace of it somewhere."
She swiftly opened her contact with Principal Nishikino and tapped out a short message.
More or less, she was asking him to confirm the approval process for admission into the international class—specifically whether Trainer Sakuraba Ryo had ever given any particular instructions or shown special attention toward a certain student.
After sending it, the two of them fell into a brief silence, with only the faint sounds from the training grounds and the distant chatter of the students filling the background.
Tony Bianca kept her gaze fixed on Sunday Silence, calm and intent, as though she had already seen through the surface to certain qualities that were hard to put into words.
It was not long before Obey Your Master's phone lit up and buzzed with a reply.
She opened it at once and scanned through Principal Nishikino's message.
As she read, her expression shifted from concentration to a look of just as I thought. The corner of her mouth even curled slightly.
"Well?" Tony Bianca asked without turning around.
"Your instinct was right."
Obey Your Master turned the screen toward her. Principal Nishikino's reply was displayed clearly across it.
"The principal says the student roster for the international class really was drafted and organized by him first, then submitted to Sakuraba Ryo for final review. After looking it over, Sakuraba Ryo gave routine approval for most of the students..."
Her finger tapped the screen to emphasize what came next.
"...But there was one student whose admission was personally approved by Sakuraba Ryo himself."
Obey Your Master lifted her head, her gaze also turning toward the dark-haired figure on the training grounds still training alone. There was excitement in her voice now, but also gravity, the excitement of uncovering a secret.
"The Umamusume Sakuraba Ryo singled out and personally approved is—"
"Sunday Silence."
Obey Your Master enlarged the student photo of Sunday Silence on her phone and held it out to Tony Bianca.
The girl in the photo had calm eyes and a faint trace of distance about her. She was unmistakably the same dark-haired figure on the training grounds doing extra work alone.
Tony Bianca let her eyes rest on the photo for a moment, then looked back at the real girl in the distance. Her green eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of understanding passing across her face.
"As expected."
She said it quietly, with very little surprise in her voice.
"It's her."
During the test just now, while the other Umamusume had been nervous, pushing themselves hard, or growing dejected over their poor results, Sunday Silence alone had remained almost expressionless. Her movements were proper, but lacked explosive force. Her face had stayed nearly blank and calm from start to finish.
It was not resignation.
It was more like...
...A state in which she had compressed all her emotion and energy inward, grown used to quietly storing them up in corners where no one paid attention.
Among a group of Umamusume who tended to be expressive and outward by nature, that quality stood out sharply.
And because it stood out, it drew the eye.
"I noticed her during the testing."
Tony Bianca withdrew her gaze and tapped the still unimpressive row of Sunday Silence's data on the report.
"The fundamentals of her running form actually aren't bad. She has a distinct feel for rhythm and good bodily coordination. But..."
"...Her physical qualities are definitely holding her back."
"Strength, explosiveness, endurance—none of them are anywhere near enough. She's like a rough stone wrapped in layer after layer, never truly shaped."
"A rough stone, huh? That's a good metaphor."
Obey Your Master put away her phone. Enlightenment spread across her face as several earlier doubts suddenly linked together.
"So that's why Sakuraba Ryo spent that much money bringing me here..."
She pointed at herself, then out the window, a faintly amused smile rising to her lips now that it all made sense.
She had originally wondered why, if they needed an instructor, they had to add her as an assistant at all.
Tony Bianca alone should have been more than enough.
"So what we've really got hidden here is a fellow runner from the American circuit—and from the sound of it, someone who didn't have the smoothest time over there?"
"They needed a senior from the same circuit too, someone with a bit more... 'approachability' and 'persuasive power,' to help crack open her shell and point her in the right direction?"
She thought back to Sunday Silence's overly tense, withdrawn state during testing, as well as the unpleasant history in the American circuit that her file might have mentioned.
Sakuraba Ryo probably had not signed Obey Your Master simply for her strength and experience. He had likely also valued the fact that, as someone from the same circuit and someone who had been through her own struggles, she would find it easier to get close to Sunday Silence and influence her.
"One of us is here to temper and guide her from the highest possible standard, in both technique and mentality."
Obey Your Master looked toward Tony Bianca. Their eyes met, and both of them now understood their respective roles.
"And the other is here to build the environment around her, lower her guard, and support her growth from the side... Sakuraba Ryo really did arrange this thoroughly. And extravagantly."
For the sake of a single Sunday Silence, he had not only built Nishikino Academy's international class into this seemingly comfortable, generous platform, he had also spent heavily to assemble a special training team made up of two world-class Umamusume.
That level of attention. That degree of expectation.
Or rather... that wager.
It left both of them with an unprecedented interest in the Umamusume named Sunday Silence.
Tony Bianca's gaze fell on the training grounds once more. This time, there was not only scrutiny in her eyes, but something clearer—something approaching a mentor's focus.
"Then."
She slowly straightened, leaning on her cane.
"We'll begin by polishing this rough stone."
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T/N: wait... WAIT WAIT WAITTTTT