On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[Glorywings]

She does have some magic, having used it to create a sort of windscreen before. However, if she does use magical doping, would it show up in a drug test? I would assume pro racing, especially with money involved, would have anti-doping rules and procedures.

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Likely not, magical doping is implied to coping the effects and not actually drugging herself. So if the tested while she has it active all of her medical signs would point to being drugged without there being any in her blood stream

 

[Neo3932156]

Likely not, magical doping is implied to coping the effects and not actually drugging herself. So if the tested while she has it active all of her medical signs would point to being drugged without there being any in her blood stream

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Doping is beneath someone like Shirogane, especially in a nonthreatening life or death situation. Not to mention it would severely undermined her own belief in hard work.

Also, reasonable suspicions of doping can still ruin a career even if medical examination of the aftermath would clear her.

Besides, I don't think its gonna be a thing due to YJ-style magic isn't a thing here, and the goddesses of this world, from what I understand, probably won't see the need to insert them for one person just so they can cheat in a sport they closely associates with.

 

[Glorywings]

Doping is beneath someone like Shirogane, especially in a nonthreatening life or death situation. Not to mention it would severely undermined her own belief in hard work.

Also, reasonable suspicions of doping can still ruin a career even if medical examination of the aftermath would clear her.

Besides, I don't think its gonna be a thing due to YJ-style magic isn't a thing here, and the goddesses of this world, from what I understand, probably won't see the need to insert them for just one person just so they can cheat in a sport they closely associates with.

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While I do agree on the other points, unless I'm mischaracterizing her Tanya takes pride in a job complete not in how it's done. It's part of the reason she's scared of going to the allies late in the war, since she's done some near borderline war crimes. She would never cheat but magical doping would fit right in it's not technically against the rules, so she would take advantage of it if allowed. But your likely right that the goddess may not allow that so I am curious what other magical abilities she retains

 

[Neo3932156]

While I do agree on the other points, unless I'm mischaracterizing her Tanya takes pride in a job complete not in how it's done. It's part of the reason she's scared of going to the allies late in the war, since she's done some near borderline war crimes. She would never cheat but magical doping would fit right in it's not technically against the rules, so she would take advantage of it if allowed. But your likely right that the goddess may not allow that so I am curious what other magical abilities she retains

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In before Tanya life, Salaryman is insanely jealous of those more talented than him but never to the point, or suspecting others, of cheating. He just keeps on grinding and accept his lost like a winner. Rules or no rules, unless it's specifically allowed like a soldier in an active battlefield like for Tanya, the very thought of it will never entered their mind. The effort, and subsequent payoff, always come first.

They, as a person, prefer doing things the proper way and having her ducks in a row to the point of having pride in it. Hence why, as Tanya, she always ensure she receives her specific orders before doing anything close to geneva-breaking or that she does not exceed her, clearly written in black ink, responsibility. She may bend them over like a pretzel, but never to the point of outright breaking them like actual doping in a civilian sporting event.

Also, pretty sure that doping, regardless of the source, qualifies as a big no-no under the anti-cheating rules for any sports in general, even if there were no goddesses watching over the sport in question.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Would Shirogane's magical windscreen count as cheating? It does allow a slight boost in speed, probably means she tires slower, and certainly can't be replicated by anyone else.

 

[Mentos]

I sort of assumed the air-parting thing was narratively including game-mechanic skills, a sort of custom variant of Slipstream. That is to say, native abilities that are just evocative of her past life's magic, rather than actual vestiges of her formula spells, an 'Umas can just Do That' kind of thing. Unless I've missed something, I don't know if there's enough to say either way yet.
If it leans more towards my interpretation, anything similar to her past mental enhancement would be allowed, just as much as Matikanefukukitaru's divination-based skills.
Though, either way it'd likely not have a huge effect — either through goddess making things fair, not having an orb, or Tanya not busting out mental whatsits with races not being life-or-death, I'd expect any supernatural things to only have a minor impact compared to good ol' hard work and determination.

 

[Stranger1950]

In general, Tracen allows the students to get away with a lot of things outside of racing. Tachyon weird formulas, Shakur data gathering, and Cafe 'friend'. Heck, they even introduced a robot Uma and VR to help train the students better. But all of those actions are specifically done outside of race time, for the purposes of self-improvement. If Tanya/Shirogane wants to use magic during training, no one would bat an eye. But the moment she uses magic during a race, with how Uma tech is weirdly advance, they have a good chance of catching and in turn would result in Shirogane being a pariah. This is something I'm sure Shirogane would know and she would try her best to avoid it.

At the end of the day, there is a certain purity to racing for Umas and even the most unhinge Umas respect that. Shirogane/Tanya would no doubt do the same and might even double it down. Probably somewhat looking down on Umas who messes or laze around and respecting those who put in the hard work.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

The Morning Gallop of a Little Horse​

---

As a traffic policeman, Kato Hideo had more mixed opinions about umamusume than the average person who really only saw the cream of the crop running races on the screen.

For the most part, umamusume were well meaning, or at least not actively malicious (though there were exceptions). On the other hand, their greater strength and speed meant that even a panicked umamusume with no ill intent could be a great danger to the public, especially when on the road during rush hour, which was also the sort of situation in which an umamusume was much more likely to be startled.

Their wide range in size and appearance also made things a bit complicated, because it could be difficult to determine whether one of them was a confused young filly or a cantankerous mare knowing full well what they were doing, not helped by them being more likely to forget to carry identification with them or forget about traffic rules, especially in places where there were not dedicated running lanes for them.

Drunk umamusume were also tricky to handle. He had to meet physical fitness standards to be a police officer, but that didn't help him all that much if he was dealing with a few hundred kilos of intoxicated umamusume, especially when it was his coworker.

That aside, the current situation he found himself in was odd, even for umamusume.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school, kid?" he asked the short filly in a middle school gym uniform waiting at a traffic light, a large pack with a restaurant logo secured to her back.

"I am on my lunch break, sir." Her response was calm and collected, without even a twitch of the ear. "I have a permission slip if you would like to see it."

"Yes…" Hideo would normally have been more polite, but he was too occupied trying to figure out if this was an adult wearing children's clothes because she was small or an actual child who was abnormally mature.

The girl slowly reached into a small pouch on her hip and retrieved a slip of paper, holding it up for him.

Hideo took it and read it over, keeping an eye on the girl at the same time. She exhibited no signs of unease, which could mean she was being honest, but was very unusual. He'd seen plenty of adult humans be more nervous than her when talking to him.

The permission slip looked legitimate, and he doubted a kid playing hooky would try making a fake that said they were going to deliver food for their parents' restaurant.

"Did you pass your road test?" With how unflappable this girl was, she should have no problems.

"Yes. I have the certification on me as well."

"Very prepared. Are you sure you are in middle school?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

Okay, she was just a very mature middle schooler then.

"Good answer," Hideo huffed, handing the permission slip back to her. "Though aren't you a bit young to be doing this much work?"

"It is within the legal parameters," the girl–Shirogane–replied promptly.

That kind of thing wasn't Hideo's job focus, and the girl didn't look like she was being coerced or anything.

"Can you really manage all your deliveries before your lunch break is over?"

"Yes, the majority of them are at one particular location."

"I see." That made a lot more sense.

The light changed. "Go on then, kid, and stay safe." Hideo waved her through.

"Thank you for your service." She bowed slightly, not enough to shift her load, then took off.

Hideo blinked as the wind hit him. That was some serious acceleration on that girl. If he saw her again he might have to check if she was speeding…which felt a bit crazy to say about a middle school filly carrying a pack about two thirds her size, but it might have to happen.

Something told him that she'd be running right at the speed limit.

---

Suzuki Shoji felt his age as he settled down into his favorite chair, sliding his reading glasses onto his face as he picked up his newspaper.

Oh, he was not decrepit yet, and was perfectly able to work a full shift at their restaurant, no matter what his son and daughter-in-law said! But…it did tire him out a lot more than it once had.

Nearby, at her writing desk, his granddaughter dutifully worked on her homework. She had run deliveries for the restaurant today, and her parents had managed to convince her to take a rest by going home to do her schoolwork instead of helping them close for the day.

Such a strange girl, his granddaughter was. They had to move her desk out of her room to make sure she stopped studying late into the night. She had still been in elementary school, for crying out loud! That kind of studying shouldn't be happening until high school, at the earliest.

He supposed that he should be grateful to have such a dutiful granddaughter–and he was!–she actually knew what an honest day's work looked like, unlike many other young children. Not that he would say child labor was great, but he thought it would be better for society if kids got to see what life was like for a working adult.

Bah! He was getting distracted.

Shoji focused back on the newspaper, skimming through the front page news before flipping the pages until he reached the sports section. He'd always been a fan of umamusume races. It was a straightforward competition, without many twisty rules that you could game to get a win, just a race to the finish. Sure, there were plenty of rules, but in the end the winner would be the better running uma that day, not the luckiest or the best at technicalities.

It certainly helped that many of the racers were quite cute, not that he'd ever admit it to his wife.

He glanced through the results of the recent races, grunting as he saw a few familiar names. One in particular stood out to him: the winner of the Kanto Oaks at the Kawasaki race course.

"Shiro-chan!" he called out, holding up the newspaper for her to see.

"Yes, grandfather?" She turned to look at him, looking a little peeved to be distracted from her schoolwork.

"You are friends with Steady Distance, yes?"

"Her and I are acquainted, yes." So young, and already so formal. Wherever did she get that attitude?

"Take a look." He tapped a finger on the newspaper, pointing to a small picture of the umamusume in question. "Seems like your friend is doing pretty good."

"Hmm…I see," Shirogane murmured. "So she managed to win a high stakes race, after all."

"Shiro-chan, aren't you excited for your friend?"

"I am glad to see that her efforts have paid off." Aside from a slight smile, she really didn't show any outward signs of it. "At least enough to qualify to run in the national dirt track races."

"She'll surpass her mother in this way, at least," Shoji remarked, vaguely remembering seeing her race one time. "Though I don't know if she can make it very far. She's got more of a chance since she's running on dirt tracks, but probably not a great one."

"What makes you come to that conclusion, grandfather?"

Ohoh, so Shiro-chan did care about her friends, at least a little bit. "The nationals are where most of the stronger runners run," he explained. "And it's not just having parents who are strong runners. The most famous racing families are turf runners, sure, but there's still a few big name families on the dirt track. They've got more money and a lot of expertise behind them. That's hard to compete against."

"Not every product of those families does well," Shirogane pointed out. "Some of them rather squander their advantage."

"Hah! True enough. Some of those kids are just in it for the attention."

"That is a significant part of Steady Distance's motivation too, so if she can make an impression on the national circuit, it will serve her goal, even if she is not the winner."

"Ohoh? She wants to be one of those idol umas? She's not bad but she's no Oguri Cap."

"From what I have heard, Oguri Cap's popularity had more to do with her background and appearance than her personality combined with impressive racing skills. Regardless, that is not Steady's main concern."

"Oh, is she hoping to find a husband?" Shoji snorted. "In that case she doesn't have to worry about winning too much. Her looks aren't bad, and she isn't a shrew, so she probably has plenty of fans."

"I find that unlikely to create a healthy relationship."

"Well then she's kind of in the wrong business. Unless she's looking to land a trainer."

Shirogane nodded, before turning back to her homework.

It was strange. Like all umamusume, Shiro-chan seemed to rather enjoy running, even if she was a little strange in how she always ran with her ears pulled back, but Shoji had never seen someone so thoroughly unimpressed by races.

It wasn't that Shiro-chan hated them, since she was good friends with a now somewhat successful racer, but he had never seen such a degree of nonchalance about what was most umas' favorite sport to watch if not participate in.

Then again his granddaughter seemed to like doing her homework and doing chores so maybe he shouldn't be surprised.

Well, it wasn't like the money they had put aside to pay for her future school fees would go to waste. Shiro-chan could probably get into a good university to study economics or whatever she wanted.

Still, it would be a bit of a shame to see her move out, since with all the practice she had she'd become quite the little helper at the restaurant. Her cooking was also very good for someone her age, and she'd probably have little difficulty taking over the place when they all got even older. Though she'd probably also have to find some other people to hire on; would definitely help if she found a good husband, which she'd likely have no problem doing, with how popular umamusume tended to be with the boys.

Whatever Shiro-chan ended up deciding to do, they would support her, because at this point it seemed pretty clear she would take it seriously. The restaurant had not been something Shoji had thought would be his life's work at the time, but he'd ended up enjoying it. If his granddaughter moved on to bigger and better things, then that was that, and he would be fine with it.

---

Children, Shirogane mused, could be quite cruel.

Perhaps this was slightly ironic coming from her, since she remembered being a child soldier in another life. Another life during which she had done some rather gruesome things to try and stay alive, occasionally things her compatriots had found shocking, at least at first.

The Salaryman hadn't really registered this fact, having not been particularly social. Shirogane wouldn't say she was particularly social either, but she seemed to keep attracting a following in this run through school.

She supposed there was truth to the idea that if you feed animals they'll start badgering you for more of it, but that was getting away from her original thought.

"What's gotten you so upset?"

"Waah! S-Shiro-chan?" Swift Yujo whimpered from where she was curled up in a corner, tear tracks evident going down her face.

"Yes, it's me."

"Oh…um…" Swift blinked, momentarily seeming to forget why she was upset. "Um…some girls were being mean."

"Humans?"

Most of the umamusume in their year were at least able to politely ignore each other, at the minimum, with many of them having known each other since elementary school, and sometimes even earlier than that. This was not the case for the human students.

"Y-Yeah…how did you know?"

"I am quite sure you don't have any enemies among the umamusume in this school, and the teachers are very lenient."

In the first year of middle school, the main problem with adjusting had been the male students, who were more different than the female students in appearance, which made the more skittish umamusume twitchy, while the girls had been gleeful about having other girls who could outcompete the boys in physical activities, which they sometimes paid back by helping with schoolwork that the umamusume generally had more trouble with.

After puberty started to hit though…the dynamic changed quite significantly, and the umamusume suddenly found the human boys easier to understand and interact with compared to the human girls. And also more attractive. Combined with their early onset puberty and strangely generally better looks, it was not too surprising that the boys tended to find the umamusume more attractive in turn, even more so when they realized that they were more likely to find common interests with umamusume than human girls.

"O-Oh…yeah." Swift Yujo sighed, her ears dropping sadly. "Masako called me mean names because I was talking to her boyfriend about running shoes."

Now that they became competitors for male attention, some of their female human classmates became a lot more resentful.

"Masako does not have a boyfriend."

"H-Huh? But she said Akira-san was her boyfriend!"

It was surprisingly frustrating, even with her memories of her past lives, because she couldn't shoot or physically discipline the annoyances at the moment.

"That was a lie." Shirogane had seen her classmate turn down several overtures, stating that he wasn't interested in a girlfriend at the moment.

"What! She lied about that?!" Yujo sputtered, ears folding in indignation as she jumped to her feet. "That meanie!"

Shirogane could see why the girls were interested in her seat neighbor, he was fairly good looking, had good grades, and was quite physically fit, but that did not give them leave to fabricate relationship with him, especially not when he and Swift Yujo had been friendly with each other for about one full school year.

"Yes, she likely was just looking for an excuse to put you down," Shirogane concluded. Some of the human girls were really very spiteful and envious. It was quite sad when they failed to recognize why the object of their affection did not pay them attention and stewed in their anger instead of examining how they should change their approach.

"Grr! I'm gonna kick her in the face!"

"That would be unwise, as that would get you under school scrutiny, maybe even expelled."

"But she's the one who started it!"

"That doesn't matter as much, as far as the rules go."

"Well what should I do then?!"

"I have a few suggestions."

To Shirogane's consternation, her friend did not speak with school administration about the incident, and instead asked Akira-san about his relationship status in public with many witnesses, to which he naturally responded in the negative.

Then Swift had gone a step further and asked the mostly withdrawn boy if he'd like to change that, and apparently the two of them were now an item.

That had not been what Shirogane had expected, but it had been quite crushing for the more annoying human girls. For some reason quite a few more people than normal wanted to talk with her that day, but she had work to do so could not stay long.

---

Kobayashi Yoko had been a middle school teacher for what felt like a long time, and she had indeed been teaching for about a decade.

In many ways, she enjoyed her job, even if children could be troublesome to the extreme.

Career aspirations was one frustrating part, as while having an idea of a life path was important to determine which high school they should seek to gain entry to, not that many students had a clear idea of what they wanted at this age, especially not realistic expectations.

At least that was usually the case.

"Are you sure about this, Suzuki-Chan?"

Suzuki Shirogane was one of the best students she had taught, even if it felt like she didn't have much material in the curriculum that challenged the young filly. In fact, she might be the smartest umamusume Yoko had ever seen.

"I am. You have objections."

It wasn't a question, more of an observation.

Yoko sighed, before shuffling a stack of papers to the side and looking over Suzuki-san's form again.

"These are all local high schools. They are decent schools, and you will have no trouble with admittance…"

Suzuki-chan returned her gaze evenly, her ears alert but still as always. After all of Yoko's experience with how expressive those ears could be, it was slightly unnerving to see them so still. Coupled with how Suzuki-chan did not feel the need to cover her lack of human ears like most umamusume, the young girl was far more intimidating than really warranted for how polite she was.

"…but I believe you could achieve much more."

Her student nodded, not reacting outwardly any more than that. "I am flattered by your confidence in me, but with a choice of one of these schools, I can still assist my family with their business."

Yoko sighed internally. At one point she had thought Shirogane's parents were the type who pushed their children too hard to study, and she'd gone into the student parent meeting ready to assure them that their child was well advanced and doing great academically, only to be mostly asked about whether she was making friends and concern about the amount of homework that was being assigned.

It turned out Shirogane-chan had been sufficiently bored that she'd started asking the upper years for copies of their workbooks, just for 'practice' she'd said.

Since Shirogane never joined a club, opting instead to go home and help with her parents' shop, Yoko had then been concerned the Suzukis might be hampering her development by demanding her work at the restaurant. But then when talking with them she found out they had tried to encourage Shirogane to join a club, particularly the running club, but she had refused.

And if that was not confusing enough, Yoko had thought the taciturn girl had been aiming for a racing career, because instead of joining the running club she put herself through some frankly insane training with a few of her neighborhood friends, occasionally under the tutorship of a Kawasaki Academy student who'd even won a graded race.

Shirogane had even broken some school records for speed and power! Not to mention they couldn't even set her distance record properly because she had kept on going until they had run out of time!

But on her career aspiration form, there was a distinct lack of racing academies.

"Are you really sure that's what you want to do?" It was a question she asked quite often to her students.

"Yes."

That was an answer she received quite often too, but with Suzuki-chan, Yoko was much more inclined to believe she was serious.

"You know, going to a racing academy will only be for a few years, and if you do well, which I believe you can, you could end up making enough money that you don't have to worry about your parents' shop anymore." It felt a bit strange to be the one making this argument to the student, rather than the other way around.

"That is a possibility," Suzuki-chan conceded evenly, "but the cost of admittance and auxiliary supplies are beyond what our finances can handle, and I do not want to be any more of a burden upon my parents than I already have been."

Yoko was a bit skeptical of that, since from what she had heard, Suzukiya had become rather well known for impressive deliveries, mostly due to Shirogane-chan's apparent immunity to bad weather and utter lack of fear of traffic, unlike many other young umamusume. Though that was actually a good argument for her to continue as she was set on, so Yoko saw no need to voice that.

"I see that you are set on it, and in the end it really is up to you," Yoko conceded with a sigh. "I just don't want to see all the work you've done go to nothing."

"Maybe I could graduate early?"

"You would have to convince your parents about that."

"Ah, right."

---

While Fujisawa was not the most populous city in Japan by a wide margin, it was actually one of the more densely populated ones, which meant that Shirogane often had quite a lot of traffic to contend with when going out on deliveries.

It was nothing too unmanageable; for the most part the drivers did not drive particularly fast, and so far she had not had to deal with anyone deliberately trying to harm others, though they were a few cases of seriously bad driving. Fortunately, she had not received any injuries in those cases.

For all the additional food her horse infused body required, there were some additional benefits aside from her disproportionate strength and stamina. From what she vaguely remembered, the horse animal had eyes on the sides of their head, giving them a wide range of peripheral vision far beyond that of humans.

Umamusume, having eyes set like a human, did not have nearly as wide of a field of view as the animal, but it did seem like her peripheral vision was wider than a human's. In addition, her ears were much better at pinpointing directions of sounds, not to mention more sensitive to noise in general.

It had been a bit overwhelming initially, but after some time she had gotten used to it, so now she could use her ears to keep track of vehicles and pedestrians behind her to some degree, and folding them back in this way also reduced wind drag.

"Good morning, Suzuki-san. Another busy day?"

"Good morning, Officer Kato. And potentially, yes."

"Stay safe out there, kid."

"Of course."

The light changed and Shirogane continued on. She'd gotten to know several traffic policemen over her tenure as a delivery runner, and had developed a cordial relationship with most of them, even if she had gotten stopped about her necessary papers several times when starting out. By now most of them recognized her and let her be.

As she had expected, her small stature made it more common for others to confuse her for a child (which legally she still was), but it had not been as common as she thought. Perhaps with the prevalence and well-known nature of umamusume made others less prone to making the wrong assumption.

Her more foreign features and mature expression likely also contributed.

She listened as she ran, taking a detour as she detected significant traffic down her normal route–sounded like construction–before reorienting herself in the direction of her destination.

After running deliveries throughout the city for a few years, she'd gotten a decent mental map of the area, as well as an understanding of the traffic patterns.

The city was centered along the Sakai River, which snaked down through Kanagawa Prefecture to Sagami Bay next to Enoshima, perhaps the most well-known tourist spot in the area (and occasionally troublesome delivery location).

As such, crossing a river tended to be the most common bottleneck in her delivery routes. There was the Sakai River itself,the Kashio river that fed into it and also the Hikiji River to the west, which likewise emptied into Sagami Bay, meaning that Shirogane became very quickly acquainted with the various bridges throughout the city. It depended on how the orders went for the day, but she usually had to cross each river at least a few times each week.

Currently, she was headed towards Fujisawa City Hospital, located near where a highway crosses the Sakai River, and not terribly far from where Shirogane was attending school. She had been delivering substantial orders of lunch boxes to this location fairly frequently for some time, hospital staff being one of the kinds of people who are often too pressed for time to make their own food.

Oddly enough, she rarely saw other umamusume delivery runners there.

Wee-woo! Wee-woo!

Shirogane decelerated smoothly, hopping off the uma path onto the sidewalk to let another ambulance pass, absently popping a rice ball into her mouth and chasing it down with one of her gel pack concoctions. Her circle of friends found the mixture she had made to her own taste disgusting and flavorless, but that wasn't the point of it.

Not to mention that flavorless was still better than K-brot.

Impromptu break done, she accelerated back onto the uma path, keeping her motion smooth as to not jostle her cargo, and ended up chasing the ambulance to the hospital, not that she was a lawyer or reporter, or had any desire to be.

Even with a few delays, she had arrived around the time many hospital employees preferred to take their lunch breaks.

"Aaaaah! It hurts!"

Though it was a bit hit or miss, since emergencies unfortunately did not neatly line up for scheduling purposes. There had been many instances where she had simply dropped off lunchboxes in a batch on a particularly bad day.

Given the amount this most recent patient was screaming, it was likely not too bad a day. If they had energy to scream they were not in as much immediate danger of dying.

"Ah! Pierogi-chan! Sorry about the mess!" And there was one of the intended recipients of this set of deliveries.

"Mess?" Shirogane blinked, glancing around the mostly clean entryway, before unshouldering her pack and retrieving Kimura-san's lunchbox. "It looks about as clean as usual. You had the karaage box, correct?"

"Yup!" the nurse took the box excitedly, handing over the appropriate amount of cash. "And I meant the screamer."

"Screaming means they are alive."

"Pff! You sure you don't want to be a nurse when you grow up, Pierogi-chan? We could always use another uma around here."

"I am quite sure. I don't particularly like seeing dying people."

"I mean…I don't exactly like that either."

"Oh! Pierogi-chan!" And there was another customer.

By the time Shirogane left the hospital, her pack had been emptied, and she ran back towards Suzukiya at a more sedate pace to recover her breath somewhat. She didn't have to worry about the product getting cold on the way back, after all.

It had turned out to be a good thing that her parents had insisted that she perform regular PT, as when applied to her umamusume body, that resulted in the ability to traverse all over her new hometime within a day without feeling too much strain.

To be fair, Fujisawa was not too sprawling, and it was only about seventeen kilometers end to end in a straight line, not that the paths she had to take tended to be a straight line like it could be if she was airborne.

That aside, it was still rather convenient to be able to offer deliveries over most of the city, though the amount of times people ordered something delivered to Enoshima was slightly annoying when the tourist island had plenty of places to eat. On the upside, a good number of them were romantic sops so were willing to part with more money than good sense would suggest.

"Mały orzeł, you're back!" Her mother called out as Shirogane ducked back into Suzukiya. She had taken to that nickname after part of Shirogane's greyish hair lightened to a white that looked similar to that of the eagle on the Polish flag.

"Hey Shiro-chan!" Taro-san was also here, apparently also having finished her delivery run.

"Yes, mother, are there any more orders?"

Her mother let out a displeased sound, before gesturing to a plate of food. "Eat first!"

"I shouldn't run right after eating, that could cause cramps."

"Then you should take a break!"

"Wah, running like this is pretty tiring," Taro-san grumbled, stretching out her legs. "It's not really heavy, but running and figuring out where to go hurts my brain!"

"That would be less of a problem if you had exercised your brain more often," Shirogane snarked, sitting in the seat her mother had indicated.

"Hey!"

"Thank you for the food."

"Thank you for running deliveries, Shiro-chan." Her mother smiled warmly at her, reaching over to ruffle her hair. Perhaps it came from how horses liked to be groomed, but the sensation was more pleasant than she remembered from another life, so she did not protest.

"Though…I guess you have a point…I just need to run around the city more!" Taro-san decided, ears perked up confidently.

"Make sure you test some runs during high traffic times," Shirogane suggested. "Things change quite a lot during rush hour."

Taro-san's ears flattened in discomfort. "Ok maybe that won't be as easy as I thought."

"It can be tedious," Shirogane observed amidst scarfing down her food. "Traffic patterns vary day to day and can drastically change during weather events."

"I still think it's crazy that you deliver when it's raining?"

"We only do that when they order before it starts raining too severely."

"Didn't you do one during a typhoon?"

"Don't be ridiculous, that was merely a thunderstorm."

"If you do that again, I will ground you," her mother declared, smiling at Shirogane dangerously while chopping some vegetables.

"Turing wouldn't have made much of a difference," Shirogane groused. "I was already almost there."

"Then next time wait out the heavy rain instead of running back!"

That…hadn't actually occurred to Shirogane at the time…not that she remembered all that much of it. The noise from thunder tended to make her restless, or irrationally angry.

"You forgot you could do that, didn't you?"

"...No?"

"Shiro-chan is so silly!"

"I don't want to hear that coming from you, Taro!"

Shirogane finished her lunch shortly after, waiting a bit to let it settle, before heading out for more deliveries, this time to Enoshima. It would likely be quite crowded given the amount of young adults who planned something on the island for their coming of age day, but at least the view from the bridge would be nice.

---

Despite her serious demeanor and reputation, Hana Toujou did actually take time off. As a trainer who had helped guide several runners to significant victories, she knew the necessity of rest, and that it applied to herself as well as to her trainees.

Though that wasn't to say that her time off shouldn't be spent productively.

While there were still a couple months of the school year left, there were comparatively few major races at this time, and she didn't have any trainees interested in running the February Stakes, so there wasn't too much pressure. At least on her, as her trainees still had to study for exams, and while Hana was quite confident that they would do fine, some of them were still rather stressed.

As for herself, she headed out to meet her cousin in Fujisawa, who had his coming of age ceremony. Hana was not particularly close to her aunt and uncle, who were usually busy with their work, but her cousin was easy enough to get along with, even if he was a bit stiff.

The man of the hour looked a bit out of his depth undergoing the ceremony, but he held himself well enough, and Enoshima was a place with nice views. Hana wasn't quite sure why they had decided to have him undergo the ceremony out here instead of closer to where they lived, but she wasn't going to ask.

Not being that close to them, Hana herself wasn't very involved with the ceremony, but she was at least there to support him.

"Tensei-san, you're looking well."

"Cousin Hana, it is good to see you." Tensei nodded stiffly, a polite smile on his face, though he did seem slightly pleased to see her. "I had expected you to be busy."

"I make sure to take some time off," Hana returned, nodding back. "And while yes, I am quite busy, I do have the good fortune of having trainees who are very motivated to work hard." It was often more of a problem keeping them from overworking themselves, though fortunately Rudolf and Air Groove were levelheaded and quite good at regulating themselves, which made things easier for her.

"Competent subordinates are indeed a blessing," her cousin responded seriously.

"Oh? You have many subordinates?" she shot back teasingly.

"Not now, no, but I have observed how important good employee management can be."

"Hmph. You always were a smart one. Congratulations on getting into Keio University, by the way."

"Thank you." Tensei smiled slightly, looking mildly proud of his achievement. "My parents were disappointed I did not manage to get into Tokyo University."

Hana let out a slow breath through her nose. "Keio is a very good school. Better than what I graduated from." Though she had attended a school focused on sports trainers, so it wasn't a completely fair comparison.

"I will simply have to aim to surpass second place this time."

"I wish you luck in that regard."

"Thank you. I've heard you had some promising trainees, things are going well then?"

"Yes."

As she began mentioning her second crop of trainees, there was suddenly a lot more attention on her, and she found her conversation with her cousin interrupted by several overly enthusiastic individuals pressing her for details. While she was always happy to discuss her trainees, it was not really the right time for this impromptu press conference.

Fortunately, Tensei did not seem to hold it against her, probably not caring all too much about the ceremony in the first place, and more interested in her method of managing her trainees than the actual racing herself.

To some degree, he was a sort of kindred spirit, being the analytical type, though Hana was obviously not immune to the allure of the racetrack, else she wouldn't have become an umamusume trainer.

Afterwards, her cousin thanked her for coming by, and they promised to keep in touch while he was at university, though whether that would actually happen remained to be seen.

Overall, it was not the worst family gathering Hana had attended. The island air was a nice change of pace.

She declined her aunt's invitation to dinner, citing her need to return to Tokyo, then flagged down a taxi to head to the train station.

"Coming of age?" the elderly cab driver asked as they made their way off the island.

"For my cousin," Hana snorted. "I'm not that young."

"Could've fooled me, miss," the driver chuckled. "But you still look plenty young to me."

"I imagine that would be true of most people."

"Haha! You're not wrong–oh, there goes Shirogane-chan again."

Hana blinked at the sudden change in topic. "I beg your pardon?"

"Look there!" The cab driver pointed towards the uma path on the bridge, and Hana found herself blinking again as she saw a small pale umamusume gliding down the path carrying a large red and silver delivery pack on her back.

Her movements were practiced and smooth. So smooth that her pack did not bounce at all with her motion.

"That's little Shiro-chan," the cabbie explained. "Her family runs a nice little restaurant, and she runs delivery for them."

"Working for the family business, then?" Hana asked absentmindedly, most of her attention focused on scrutinizing the runner's form, made easier by how the uma was keeping pace with the taxi.

"She's not even out of middle school yet!" the cab driver laughed, "and Shigeru–that's her father–told me that she likes doing deliveries more than going out to play. She even convinced some of her friends to help!"

She must greatly enjoy running then.

"She's in middle school?" Hana mused, watching as the girl kept up her pace over the entire length of the bridge, despite running at the speed limit for cars, with an effortlessness that almost made her appear to be flying.

"About to graduate, from what I hear. Top of her class, I think!"

They passed the bridge, and Shirogane sped up to match the speed limit increase.

"So you go to their restaurant often?"

"Not exactly–I do order from them from time to time!–but mostly I see her a lot when I'm out driving."

"Her route follows the main roads then?"

"Oh no! She goes everywhere around the city, so it's always fun to see her. Sometimes you can tell how bad traffic is if she takes a detour."

That was…impressive. Fujisawa wasn't that large as cities go by land area, but that was still a significant distance to run with a load.

"Is she training to be a racer?"

"I don't know. Think she'd be good?"

"Possibly."

This trip ended up being a lot more interesting than Hana had initially expected.

---

Suzukiya had become fairly well known over the years, at least in the local area, much of which Shigeru could credit to his precocious daughter. While he was confident in his own cooking, and that of his family, there were many good cooks in Fujisawa, but there weren't any delivery runners quite like his daughter.

He'd gotten to know a lot of delivery runners or bikers over the years, and while on a bike a human could go quite far, they couldn't carry as much as most umamusume and go fast at the same time, and while the bigger umamusume could carry a lot, they tended to be comparatively slow. Not to mention that many umamusume the typical part timer age had not passed their road tests yet. Traffic was often quite scary to the average uma.

Not his daughter.

Shirogane did not even flinch if cars honked, and how she weaved through traffic made him more scared for her than she was. Despite being quite small, she could carry close to what her bigger friends could, and was about twice as fast on her routes, as not only could she run faster and for longer, but she was also much better at navigating.

Shigeru couldn't help but feel proud of his daughter–she was at the top of her class in bookwork too!

A part of him also felt guilty that he didn't make enough money for her to be comfortable.

Well, they did make enough money that they could afford some luxuries, but Shirogane was a lot more aware than most kids her age, so she knew that they didn't have a lot extra. Running a restaurant wasn't the most profitable thing if you were mostly trying to sell normal food, and not run one of those rich people tourist traps…though since his wife, who worked with him at the family restaurant, was once sort of a tourist, maybe Suzukiya technically was a very successful tourist trap...

As much as they were well known locally, it was still very rare for them to see a customer they recognized from on the television in their shop.

His father did a double take as a well dressed woman strode into the door, wearing a fitted grey suit like a politician or zaibatsu salarywoman, but she was neither.

"Welcome!" Katarzyna called, smiling at the unfamiliar but known face. "Would you like a table or are you ordering to go?"

"A table would be fine, thank you," the sharply dressed trainer answered, her voice calm but assertive, similar but not exactly the same as the tone Shigeru remembered her taking during interviews.

Kataryzna ushered their new customer to one of the tables more to the back, and thus with a degree of privacy, before handing off a menu and starting to take her order.

"Isn't that Hana Toujou?!" his father whispered furiously. "Symboli Rudolf's trainer?"

"Also Air Groove's," Shigeru returned quietly. "And it looks like her, alright. I wonder what she's doing here? Sightseeing?"

"If she was at Enoshima, I'd believe that," his father scoffed. "But why is she here?"

"Dinner," Shigeru's mother hissed, smacking her husband's shoulder. "And maybe this shop's reputation is big enough now people from out of town have heard of it."

As she tended to do, Katarzyna chatted with Toujou-san for more than it looked like the serious-faced trainer was expecting, probably prying out some gossip that could be useful for figuring out what a customer's food preferences were. It had worked quite well in the past, but that might have been in part because having a friendly waitress with pretty foreign looks made as much of an impression as good food.

Eventually, their new guest settled on ordering some udon and pierogis, a mix of typical Japanese fare and something a bit out of the ordinary, and while Toujou-san did not react very much outwardly, Shigeru was quite pleased to see that she showed signs of appreciation and ate all her food.

It seems in that way the winning trainer had a temperament similar to his daughter.

As their new customer paid her bill, Katarzyna struck up some more conversation.

"So what brought you to our little shop in particular? I didn't think people out of town would have heard of us."

"I saw your daughter running deliveries while I was in a taxi," Toujou-san explained, looking to be in no hurry to leave. "And the driver mentioned your restaurant, which made me curious."

"Shiro-chan did insist on putting the restaurant name in big characters on the backpacks," Kataryzna chuckled. "She's a smart one."

"And quite a good runner," Toujou-san murmured off hand, at which all of the Suzuki family suddenly looked at her with great interest.

"Oh? Coming from someone with your experience, that says quite a lot," Kataryzna prompted, raising an eyebrow curiously.

Toujou-san nodded, unfazed by the sudden curiosity. "I would like to think so. While I have seen plenty of runners who are faster, I have yet to see another so unfazed after running several kilometers with a load."

"Well, she insists on running a lot of deliveries, and she's friends with a racer at Kawasaki and they sometimes train together," Kataryzna hummed, glancing over at Shigeru conspiratorily.

"Does she?" Toujou-san hummed thoughtfully. "I assume she has an interest in racing, then?" For most umamusume, it was hardly a question, but…

"Not one that she mentioned aloud," Shigeru interjected, waving off his wife's sharp glare momentarily. "We've saved enough money for her to attend Kawasaki, if she wants to go, but she doesn't want to be a burden."

"I see…" Toujou-san seemed to consider something, glancing between Shigeru and his wife. "Are you aware that Tracen Academy offers scholarships for umamusume with high academic achievement? There is also a process for recommendation from either scouters or other racers, usually family or friends."

Katarzyna's eyes gleamed. "I can't say that I have. I figured most of the umas that get in have a big name bloodline, or were successful locally, like Oguri Cap."

"In part, the scholarships I mentioned are in hopes of finding a runner like Oguri Cap, or Tamamo Cross."

"And you think Shiro-chan could be like that?"

"I cannot make that assertion," the trainer hedged. "But she does have potential. And well, she does share similar coloration."

"Does that have anything to do with it?"

"Not to any notable degree, as far as I've found, but it will make her more distinctive."

"Since you have brought this up…" Shigeru began, feeling anticipation building, "I take it you may be willing to recommend Shirogane for a Tracen scholarship?"

"I am considering it."

At her confirmation, the atmosphere in the restaurant, which had until this point been holding its breath, suddenly buzzed with excitement.

"It would also depend on how committed she is," Toujou-san added. "Victory requires dedication, and it would be better for everyone if that was understood."

Kataryzna laughed. "Dedication is not something my Shirogane lacks."

"Are you regaling our customers with my flaws, mother?" Every head in the restaurant swiveled to look at the doorway, where Shirogane herself was ducking under the door curtain, an empty delivery box strapped to her back.

"Quite the contrary," Toujou-san replied, "she was more speaking of your merits."

Shirogane paused, looking at the trainer speculatively, which for her was practically a double take. "My apologies, but have we met before?"

"I suppose that was presumptive of me," the dark haired woman admitted. "I am Hana Toujou, a trainer working at Tracen Academy. It is nice to meet you in person, Shirogane-san."

"Likewise," Shirogane returned, narrowing her eyes slightly. "I see you already know my name."

"She's here to scout you for racing!" Kataryzna exclaimed, her eyes alight with mischief.

"...Why?" Shirogane blinked, her tail flicking once in confusion.

"I observed your running while on delivery," Toujou-san explained. "I was impressed by your form and stamina, and from what I understand, you have been training for racing with a Kawasaki student, so I thought it could be worth scouting you."

"...I see…I thought I recognized you," Shirogane hummed, and Shigeru found himself mildly surprised, as he knew his daughter didn't pay close attention to racing events, let alone who the trainers of the winners were. "You were taking Mori-san's taxi from Enoshima." Never mind, that was more in line with her. "That old man talks too much."

"He…was rather verbose, yes…" Toujou-san muttered, taken aback that Shirogane had remembered her face from what was probably a peripheral glance through a car window.

"That aside, I believe you are mistaken. I have no intention of pursuing a racing career. The initial investment would be too expensive in the short term for uncertain gains."

"She said that Tracen offers scholarships!" Kataryzna cut in, "and I'm sure with how good you did in school, you'd qualify easily!"

"I may be near the top of my class, but it's just middle school."

"Aren't you at the top of your class?" Shigeru pointed out lightly. They were proud of her for it. He hoped she could see that.

"Yes…but I am not attending a particularly rigorous school."

It had been a source of shame for Shigeru that they hadn't been able to afford tuition fees for a more advanced private school when Shirogane had been younger and already exhibiting signs of boredom in school. Now, while some of that shame still remained, he wondered if his daughter would have burned herself out had they been able to.

"That would actually be the kind of student a number of the aforementioned scholarships are targeting."

"I see…" Shirogane frowned. "I would prefer not to be given things I did not earn."

"Several of these scholarships have strict criteria for their recipients," Toujou-san countered. "It would not be fair to characterize them as handouts."

"Besides, Shiro-chan," Shigeru murmured, drawing his daughter's attention. "We've been saving money since you were little so we could afford to send you to a good school, or a racing academy if you were interested."

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at him, her ears flicking once in surprise before she controlled her expression again.

"We couldn't afford to send you to a better school when you were little, but now, we could probably afford for you to go to a good high school."

"I…see…" Shirogane's jaw clenched, and Shigeru felt his heart twinge at how she looked close to crying, or at least as close as she came to that. "Thank you, Father."

"If money is a significant concern, Tracen is one the best options available," Toujou-san added. "Asides from the numerous scholarships, the academy has the best training facilities and programs in the nation, with our students regularly qualifying to compete in graded races and taking at least part of the prize pool."

"You've always found school to be too easy. You'll finally have a challenge!" Katarzyna crowed, clearly excited by the thought.

While Shigeru would admit to feeling a thrill at the thought of his daughter competing, perhaps winning at a national level, he had never quite been able to pin down if her expressed disinterest in racing was due to genuine disinterest, or if it was because she felt uncomfortable voicing a financially unfeasible course of action.

Shirogane took a moment to think, glancing between her father and mother, her ears twitching minutely in indecision.

"I take it you would like me to run for you, then, Toujou-san?" she asked finally, eying the well-dressed woman searchingly.

"I would like you to run for yourself. But I would be happy to have you as one of my trainees."

"And why should I acquiesce to this?"

Shigeru smiled as his not-quite high school aged daughter stared down (or more up at) one of Tracen's best trainers like she was interviewing her. Toujou-san was unfazed, returning her questions with straightforward answers.

He turned to look at his father, who was grinning like a madman.

They would have to cut back on deliveries if Shirogane went to school in Tokyo, but Umeki's kids were getting pretty good at it, even if they were much slower, and Shigeru was more than willing to cut some fat if he could get his genius of a daughter onto a stage where she could really shine.

---

AN. Welp, this one took longer than I had expected since work got a fair bit busier the last few weeks, but here it is. As much fun as this kind of slice of life can be, I don't want to spend too much time in the introductory phase, since I have a bit of a problem with that in general.

Anyways, Shirogane continues to be an accidentally concerning individual who is actually very happy with their current life. And now that's attracted the attention of someone from out of town.

 

[Darik29]

Yes! Trainer acquired! Potentially at peast.

And a recommendation to Tracen! TIME FOR RACING!!!

 

[Aytesarp]

Canon anime character appeared!!
I can't wait to see Shiro-chan in season 1 of Umamusume

 

[Light_Seeker]

Run, Little Pale Horse, run as steady and inevitable as death itself.

Anyway, I like the talk with Trainer! Both feel on the same wave, despite sheer difference in experiences. Very no nonsense, both of them. I now wish to see Shiro's test race!

 

[MadCat]

that resulted in the ability to traverse all over her new hometime within a day without feeling too much strain.

Click to shrink...

Home town?

even if she was a little strange in how she always ran with her ears pulled back

Click to shrink...

At first I read that as hand held back. And that she unlocked the forbidden Naruto run. But ears folded back made more sense. But~~~