On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[ScarredPunLover]

Huh would Shirogane have a good chance in winning the Triple Tiara then? I feel like there is a good chance for her to do that.

Why do I have a feeling she'd also do the triple crown on the side (not that she'd win it) (maybe the Kikuka Sho) , just to show off a how resilient she is.

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I wonder what the reactions will be like when word gets out that she is aiming for both crowns at the same time?

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A lot of envy from other Uma, I think, even if she doesn't win. There was that remark of Kiseki being envious of Shiro's leg strength/endurance.

Other people who don't know a thing about racing will wonder why Uma don't do that more, creating some unrealistic expectations, and a bunch of Uma will try and attempt it, at their own detriment.

Probably gonna be a lot of experts talking about the health risks, and worried about Shiro wearing herself out, abnormal stamina be damned.

Shiro will probably be one of the more infamous Uma anyway, if only because of her ability to race semi-constantly. She'll be going up against way more opponents and on way more tracks, she'll be pretty much everywhere. She'd probably make enough that many would wonder if she's the richest Uma if judging only through winnings. I doubt she'd actually be, but I'm sure the discourse would exist, in universe.

Unrelated to the above: Wonder what in particular made Kiseki think she'd upset Shiro? Or, rather, what specific comment and what reaction Shiro gave. Was it about the treadmill thing, or...?

Some of her classmates are realizing how detached she is from them, which bothers the umas since they are very social creatures.

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"Aren't we friends?!"

"... I... We're classmates, and barely know each other. Does that really constitute being 'friends'?"

I wonder if some murmurs of Shiro not having any friends would make their way to Air Groove, and 'confirm' her previous fears related to Chopin- thus Shiro keeps hitting Groove's trauma buttons. Especially with that smile.

Can't wait for the Suzuki family to see their darling Shiro give a big smile for the camera!

... I do wonder what circumstance might result in Shiro giving one of those smiles in the middle of a race... can't wait for her opponents to flee away from the track as their instincts go haywire in her presence.

 

[Bluefuckingtired]

... I do wonder what circumstance might result in Shiro giving one of those smiles in the middle of a race... can't wait for her opponents to flee away from the track as their instincts go haywire in her presence.

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Shiro needs a rival to push herself to the limits and/or, to find true enjoyment in racing.

 

[Dissimilate]

Thanks for the chapter!! Can't wait to see the reactions to her cooking.

 

[mikaruya]

Excellent establishment chapter. Now we have a real achievable goal and I'm all for the journey

 

[drake_azathoth]

Welp, guess we know what Shirogane is gonna do in terms of racing plans for her Classic season.

Why run for the Tiara or Crown when you can run for both?

I kinda wonder if she could pull off a mixed triple crown, it would not be easy given her speed but she has definitely got stamina, sets the pace as frontrunner, and can figure out ways to force other umas to spend their stamina via messing up their pace and via throwing them off form with mind games.

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[Dianchas]

Triple Tiara however, while less prominent and has less opportunities, isn't as bad as the Triple Crown scene. She could dominate there first, then proceed to go for the Senior Triple Crowns, Dual Prix, and other races.

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The problem isn't prestige or opportunity. By the very nature of the lengths of the Tiara races, Shiro's strenght are much less fitting here.

Her strenght lies in being a stayer, with her enourmous stamina and grit, and that her general behaviour during racing disruptes her rivals's pacing and mental fortitude. She fits much better in longer races.

While the Tiara ones are Miles and Medium races, where the lenghts are much shorter and speed is a greater factor than stamina - one of Shiros explicit weakpoints. She wouldn't be able to dominate them whatsoever.

 

[GarfRed]

Then she'll need to do a Malevolent Nature run. Constantly debuffing her opponents at every opportunity

 

[WillowFriend]

The problem isn't prestige or opportunity. By the very nature of the lengths of the Tiara races, Shiro's strenght are much less fitting here.

Her strenght lies in being a stayer, with her enourmous stamina and grit, and that her general behaviour during racing disruptes her rivals's pacing and mental fortitude. She fits much better in longer races.

While the Tiara ones are Miles and Medium races, where the lenghts are much shorter and speed is a greater factor than stamina - one of Shiros explicit weakpoints. She wouldn't be able to dominate them whatsoever.

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Ah shit, I forgot about that.

Shiro's build makes her poor on anything that's not above 2000m. Guess she's going to go for the longer runs then. Still, she might start running a lot more races if that's the case in order to compensate for the upcoming losses she might take on the G1s that she will be participating on.

She may not become the Triple Crowner or whatever but her track record will be something that you'd see from a Trackblazer Uma.

 

[wildredlifer]

"It was just…fiercer than I expected."

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I'd bet a beer or beverage of choice that any military Uma would recognize that smile anywhere.

 

[Sky3Fall]

Shiro when winning ->

Shiro when money ->

I loved the various classmate POVs! I'm a sucker for interludes from alternate perspectives after a significant event because it really slams home an MC's achievements. It's super cathartic to see other characters acknowledge a MC's progress, especially if they've been struggling for a lot of their POV chapters.

 

[Liar]

It's the start of the Shirogane Everywhere System Event. I hope you trained your Uma with enough Guts and Wit.

 

[Acerer]

The shorter distances for the Triple Tiara races were not in her favor, but if they had comparable payouts to the Triple Crown races…it was worth considering.

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You know, there is no gender lock in Umamusume so... she could attempt both Crown and Tiaras.

 

[Jetsmillion]

Shiro will probably be one of the more infamous Uma anyway, if only because of her ability to race semi-constantly. She'll be going up against way more opponents and on way more tracks, she'll be pretty much everywhere. She'd probably make enough that many would wonder if she's the richest Uma if judging only through winnings. I doubt she'd actually be, but I'm sure the discourse would exist, in universe.

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I bet other trainers are going to hate Shiro. They will warn their Uma's over and over not to try to keep pace with Shiro and then break down in tears when their Uma's either try to flee from the monster in their slipstream or try to keep up with Shiro brutal early pace.

The problem isn't prestige or opportunity. By the very nature of the lengths of the Tiara races, Shiro's strenght are much less fitting here.

Her strenght lies in being a stayer, with her enourmous stamina and grit, and that her general behaviour during racing disruptes her rivals's pacing and mental fortitude. She fits much better in longer races.

While the Tiara ones are Miles and Medium races, where the lenghts are much shorter and speed is a greater factor than stamina - one of Shiros explicit weakpoints. She wouldn't be able to dominate them whatsoever.

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As long as Tanya places high enough to get some of the payout she doesn't need to be first to make bank of she runs in for both sets of crowns.

I'd bet a beer or beverage of choice that any military Uma would recognize that smile anywhere.

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Military Uma: "What is a War Uma doing on the race track!?"

 

[uioor1]

It's pretty interesting seeing the diverging viewpoints between how Shirogane's classmates & yearmates are coming to see her and how her senpai are growing to know her. Her classmates are, by nature, technically her rivals. They're all on the same 'level' as it were, meaning they're all comparing themselves to her, for better and (mostly) worst. Furthermore, their own basic preconceptions about what racers and other Umas as a whole are like is preventing them from really getting to know Shirogane on more than a surface level. As such, they're starting to develop some unfortunate ideas about her or growing their own insecurities by comparing themselves by her.

Meanwhile, the upperclassmen are both more mature and advanced in their careers and aren't going to be comparing themselves to her except in basic ways. This allows them to get to know her in a way that her classmates are currently unable to do, seeing past the basic first impressions she's giving off and learning more about who Shirogane is. Stay Gold knows of Shirogane's pseudo-primary motivation, money, Air Groove and Dober are getting to know what she's like in her own space some, etc.

I foresee this gap growing even more, especially with Shirogane's classmates not picking up on the things that she finds most important, her family.

Continuing that thought, I really really like this bit right here:

"Good morning."

A frown passed over her teammate's face for a brief moment, her ear flicking with muted agitation, but it was gone quickly, replaced by a the usual mild smile. "Good morning, Shirogane. I see you had a busy weekend."

"Indeed," Shirogane agreed, settling into her seat with less precision than she usually managed. "I had family visiting from out of the country, and they were very insistent that I am too skinny."

"Eh?" Seiun Sky picked up her head from her desk with a quizzical sound. "Didn't you have your debut race? I saw it on the board."

"That was a contributing factor to their insistence, yes." Why were her classmates looking at her that way?

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It really drives home that Shirogane's main motivation is her family, followed by money to help said family. It's the first thing she brings up in conversation about her weekend, not her debut race, it's the first thing on her mind. Furthermore, she spends more time at the start of the chapter reflecting on her time spent with her family & family friends than the race itself. And I have a feeling that the gap between Shirogane and her classmates is only going to continue to grow so long as they don't pick up on or learn that for Shirogane, family is #1, not races.

 

[Neo3932156]

Haru's trainer

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This is Umaizing, I love everything in it.

Military Uma: "What is a War Uma doing on the race track!?"

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*seeing all the devastated civilian uma the Pale Uma left in her wake*

Military Uma: "In hindsight, we may have underestimated this whole racing thing. I'm gonna tell, and train, my fillies to give this thing a go."

 

[ScarredPunLover]

I'd bet a beer or beverage of choice that any military Uma would recognize that smile anywhere.

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Military Uma: "What is a War Uma doing on the race track!?"

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I'm hoping we'll get to see some reactions from both War Uma and Poles in the near-ish future. Probably take at least til Shiro's 3rd race, though I'm wagering it'd be several more unless one of those is a more well-known and watched race.

I bet other trainers are going to hate Shiro. They will warn their Uma's over and over not to try to keep pace with Shiro and then break down in tears when their Uma's either try to flee from the monster in their slipstream or try to keep up with Shiro brutal early pace.

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In so doing, I think they'd only make things worse for their Uma. The trainers would just put their racers on edge, setting off their worries and paranoia. Thus making Shiro's legend all the worse.

It's the start of the Shirogane Everywhere System Event. I hope you trained your Uma with enough Guts and Wit.

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"I'm getting real fucking tired of Orzel showing up in every race-"

"Get gud-"

"Fuck off! This event fucking sucks! She debuffs and disrupts most behaviors, I can't do shit to beat her!"

"Stop racing long events, then?"

"RNGesus has not seen fit to grant me any decent Uma for shorter ones! This is all I've got!"

"Then you're just going to keep getting fucked. Either take a chance on the other Uma you've got, or shell out the cash to try and get one that won't piss themselves from being within one mile of Orzel. Hell, maybe RNGesus will see fit to grant you Orzel herself."

"Yeah, right."

 

[You can get stronger]

Shirogane is aiming for the divine runner of the six paths

(i couldn't come up with a suitable name which isn't a Crown or Tiara)

 

[PatUrgotten]

Of the six races in the Crown Tiara the one she has best odds at is the Kikuka-shō, since its the longest. The Tiara races favor speed too much for her.

On an unrelated note Shirogane would be perfect for the current Long, Rainy CM.

 

[Nonmon]

Maybe she should smile more? She didn't want to worry other people for no reason.​

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God damn, who needs speed when you got a beautiful smile to debilitate other horse girls to slow down for you.

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Instead of "The Devil of Rhine" we're going to get "The Devil of the Tracks"

 

[Lyrista]

It's intriguing to watch the rivals of Shirogane eying her and feeling self doubt creep in, wondering what in them is deficient that Shirogane could debut before them when they have good reason to believe they can beat her and are better than her raw stat wise. Yet they still can't help but feel intimidated by Shirogane's unflappably relentless focus and push themselves harder to try to match up feel restless with the need to prove themselves and quiet the self doubt festering inside them.

 

[Technoturnovers]

You know, with the way that Tanya keeps saying shit like 'this life', I'm surprised that nobody's given serious, concrete consideration to the whole 'umas are reincarnated' thing and the implications that that has on Tanya's behavior. Like, as far as I remember, it's gotten a passing mention once, in an early chapter in regards to how baby Tanya reacted to sudden noises and how she might have had a 'stressful past life', and nothing since then, lmfao. Like, Tanya does NOT act like a normal human of her age just in the generic, let alone like a normal uma of her age

 

[Code McGullet]

Shiro's brand of unintentional psychological warfare is quite effective, I see.

 

[Lyrista]

You know, with the way that Tanya keeps saying shit like 'this life', I'm surprised that nobody's given serious, concrete consideration to the whole 'umas are reincarnated' thing and the implications that that has on Tanya's behavior. Like, as far as I remember, it's gotten a passing mention once, in an early chapter in regards to how baby Tanya reacted to sudden noises and how she might have had a 'stressful past life', and nothing since then, lmfao. Like, Tanya does NOT act like a normal human of her age just in the generic, let alone like a normal uma of her age

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They probably just dismiss it as Shriogane doing Shirogane things.

Umamusume being eccentric and downright wacky in their behavior and beliefs is pretty well known, so it's probably easy for them to justify.

Also the Three Goddesses are apparently a thing, so who's to say reincarnation isn't?

 

[WrandmWaffles]

Getting the prize money from the most prestigious races, back to back?

Oh yeah, that makes her happy.

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As long as Tanya places high enough to get some of the payout she doesn't need to be first to make bank of she runs in for both sets of crowns.

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Yeah 1st place for the Classic Triple races is something like 100M+ Yen, with 5th place being something like 8-10M Yen, so even 5th place would be more profitable than winning most open races. There really aren't many other fields a young uma can make this amount of money. Unfortunately, many young athletes are not particularly great at managing that money.

Also her focus on the material is easily excused as coming from a poorer family and feeling an obligation to support them. This also gives a reason for her more realist attitude, it's hard to be optimistic when you honestly have to worry about putting food on the table growing up.

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The Suzukis aren't that poorly off, but they don't have a ton of liquid assets since most of it is tied into the restaurant. Shirogane is basically running so her grandparents can retire, something a few million yen each week or so could help a lot with. It would play pretty well with fans, since it's not like Shirogane is going to go Mr. Krabs when asked about her motivations for running.

"I'm the only grandchild and my grandparents put off retirement to help raise me, so I want to pay them back." Would be a pretty respectable response. Even more so in Japan.

I'm sure the food totally isn't part of the reason that Air Groove and Mejiro Dober are likely going to come back.

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That's a contributing factor. Shirogane's probably one of the best cooks among the umas at Tracen. She does eat at the cafeteria most of the time, since the tuition is paid for, and Tazuna will yell at her if she doesn't eat enough.

Huh would Shirogane have a good chance in winning the Triple Tiara then?

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While the Tiara ones are Miles and Medium races, where the lenghts are much shorter and speed is a greater factor than stamina - one of Shiros explicit weakpoints. She wouldn't be able to dominate them whatsoever.

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Then she'll need to do a Malevolent Nature run. Constantly debuffing her opponents at every opportunity

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Not at all, at least on paper, especially not the Oka Sho or Shuka Sho which are among her worst distances. Though there are some points in her favor that isn't readily apparent. For one, most of the competitors are probably the more idol focused runners, who haven't really interacted with Shirogane much, so would be both completely unprepared and probably more susceptible to pressure from her. Perhaps doubly so because she has very little public profile on the performing side.

I think I'm probably going to go with the Tiara races requiring a personalized performance prepared or something, with the intention being a circuit catered towards the umas who focus more on the performance side. Shirogane is about to make her dance teacher cry.

I wonder what the reactions will be like when word gets out that she is aiming for both crowns at the same time?

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People will mostly think she's insane, and would probably be very skeptical of Hana's decision making if not for her history as an effective trainer. If she had a different trainer she would probably not be allowed to do it.

Though ironically, this might make TM Opera O a bit fan.

A lot of envy from other Uma, I think, even if she doesn't win. There was that remark of Kiseki being envious of Shiro's leg strength/endurance.

Other people who don't know a thing about racing will wonder why Uma don't do that more, creating some unrealistic expectations, and a bunch of Uma will try and attempt it, at their own detriment.

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Yeah it would open a can of worms for future runners as something to aspire to, when it's something that really no one in their right mind should be attempting if they are a typical uma racer.

Triple Crown might have a lot of things that will let her showcase her stuff and at the same time, open a lot of opportunities for her like bigger marketability and such, the issue of the Triple Crown is that she's in the most stacked generation, thus giving her a lot of competition to deal with.

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Yeah even if half of them are not going to be competing due to illness/injury or race rules, the remainder are still very strong, and are all faster than her.

Probably gonna be a lot of experts talking about the health risks, and worried about Shiro wearing herself out, abnormal stamina be damned.

Shiro will probably be one of the more infamous Uma anyway, if only because of her ability to race semi-constantly. She'll be going up against way more opponents and on way more tracks, she'll be pretty much everywhere. She'd probably make enough that many would wonder if she's the richest Uma if judging only through winnings. I doubt she'd actually be, but I'm sure the discourse would exist, in universe.

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It's the start of the Shirogane Everywhere System Event. I hope you trained your Uma with enough Guts and Wit.

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Shirogane on her way to collect enough silvers to crash the market.

Unrelated to the above: Wonder what in particular made Kiseki think she'd upset Shiro? Or, rather, what specific comment and what reaction Shiro gave. Was it about the treadmill thing, or...?

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Kiseki is very popular among younger umas, and she did end up bothering Shirogane for what turned out to be no reason, so with Shirogane's kind of cold response, Kiseki assumed she did something to offend her.

I wonder if some murmurs of Shiro not having any friends would make their way to Air Groove, and 'confirm' her previous fears related to Chopin- thus Shiro keeps hitting Groove's trauma buttons. Especially with that smile.

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It'd be pretty clear that Shirogane does have a few friends in Silence Suzuka, Air Groove herself, and Mejiro Dober. It's also quite clear that she is rather solitary.

I kinda wonder if she could pull off a mixed triple crown

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(i couldn't come up with a suitable name which isn't a Crown or Tiara)

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Royal Flush? Dual Monarch?

"Fuck off! This event fucking sucks! She debuffs and disrupts most behaviors, I can't do shit to beat her!"

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"Just run Late or End, if you're further away you don't get hit as hard."
"Then she just blocks me!"

"Stop racing long events, then?"

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"She showed up in a few goddamn sprints!"
"Race mile then."
"She shows up in all the Triple Tiara races!"

In many ways, Shirogane is a Wit check opponent, because so far a significant portion of her success has come from her doing something that fits her condition better that prompts other runners to try and replicate while lacking the appropriate build or experience. Basically the best way to beat her is to ignore her until the final stretch, where you'll need some good navigational skill to avoid getting blocked.

She may not become the Triple Crowner or whatever but her track record will be something that you'd see from a Trackblazer Uma.

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Don't know what the record is for most races run, but Shirogane will probably at least be comparable to Haru Urara's number of races.

any military Uma

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Military Uma:

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Military Uma:

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War Uma and Poles

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"Kurwa! I've never this fast of a fucking Uhlan before!"

Because while she's undersized and underspeed for a racehorse, Shirogane is actually quite large and extraordinarily fast for a warhorse.

You know, there is no gender lock in Umamusume so... she could attempt both Crown and Tiaras.

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IRL Mares can enter the Triple Crown Classic circuit, there just is not much reason to since the Triple Tiara exists, and any mare that is competitive in the Triple Crown would be even more so in the Triple Tiara.

I bet other trainers are going to hate Shiro. They will warn their Uma's over and over not to try to keep pace with Shiro and then break down in tears when their Uma's either try to flee from the monster in their slipstream or try to keep up with Shiro brutal early pace.

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They will definitely not like how it puts the idea in more younger umas.

Meanwhile, the upperclassmen are both more mature and advanced in their careers and aren't going to be comparing themselves to her except in basic ways. This allows them to get to know her in a way that her classmates are currently unable to do, seeing past the basic first impressions she's giving off and learning more about who Shirogane is. Stay Gold knows of Shirogane's pseudo-primary motivation, money, Air Groove and Dober are getting to know what she's like in her own space some, etc.

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Yeah, some of the more astute upperclassmen can see how unusual and potentially effective her skillset is, so they think she might be underestimating herself. Basically her strengths and weaknesses are inverted from the usual runner, who have to learn how to pace themselves appropriately and find the right window, whereas Shirogane can do that already, and basically just has to find whatever edge she can to keep up speed. Her attitude being one more commonly found in an older gate filler also rubs some of them the wrong way though.

It really drives home that Shirogane's main motivation is her family, followed by money to help said family. It's the first thing she brings up in conversation about her weekend, not her debut race, it's the first thing on her mind. Furthermore, she spends more time at the start of the chapter reflecting on her time spent with her family & family friends than the race itself. And I have a feeling that the gap between Shirogane and her classmates is only going to continue to grow so long as they don't pick up on or learn that for Shirogane, family is #1, not races.

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It has been fun having Shirogane constantly rate the competition as secondary on her priority list. It just makes her feel off to a lot of her peers, since it's not like she's lackadaisical similar to Stay Gold or Gold Ship, she's still training very hard. It can come across as her either having confidence issues, or not being honest with herself.

It will be interesting to see how their character development and career journeys are shaped by her (unintended) influence.

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It's intriguing to watch the rivals of Shirogane eying her and feeling self doubt creep in, wondering what in them is deficient that Shirogane could debut before them when they have good reason to believe they can beat her and are better than her raw stat wise. Yet they still can't help but feel intimidated by Shirogane's unflappably relentless focus and push themselves harder to try to match up feel restless with the need to prove themselves and quiet the self doubt festering inside them.

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Shirogane being much more forwards looking than her classmates definitely sets her in an interesting position to affect them. None of her classmates lack motivation, but most of them aren't that great at coping with losing, and to some of them Shirogane debuting first feels a bit like they lost a race they didn't know was going on.

Though you can see some positive influence in that more of class is cluing into the more cerebral part of racing, in the sense that running against Shirogane means they had to learn more about race strategy to make sense of what she does.

You know, with the way that Tanya keeps saying shit like 'this life', I'm surprised that nobody's given serious, concrete consideration to the whole 'umas are reincarnated' thing and the implications that that has on Tanya's behavior.

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To be fair, it's not like this is a huge red flag. Saying "I've not been hurt in this life" sounds odd, but it can be seen as referring to an occupation or lifestyle, and "I like this life" is similar, but even more ambigous. And she doesn't say this constantly, since for the most part Shirogane doesn't talk or think too hard about it since she's now on an uma brain that doesn't have as much time for that kind of existentialism.

 

[LuridThrone]

Oh shit the pale horse smiles!

 

[wtdtd]

Errrrm @WrandmWaffles did you hit post too early by accident? The second half of your comment is quotes with no responses to them!

 

[DeathFrown]

This chapter might not have been high octane action, sure, but it was everything a reader like me loves to see!

Also, while Air Groove and Dober are indeed in their later years, everybody participates in the same races; their seniority doesn't just directly translate to an unbeatable status due to higher stats, at least not in Umamusume stories. It's why we got to see Jungle Pocket take on 'senior racers'(spoiler-friendly, I suppose) in the movie.

So I'd like to read into it a tiny bit and think Air Groove isn't just advising a prospective up-and-comer on her team, she's indirectly telling Shirogane that she expects to see her thirst for that victory if they ever face off against each other, not just be a racer who's content with filling the gates.

Shirogane running for more than at least 40 races a year, maybe more just to prove how resilient she is.

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Considering how the game divides each month into only Early and Late, I'd like to think Tanya (we) could divide each month into 4 weeks instead. This would actually make it possible to run more than the 24 races per year the game allows to hit that number, though, a 48 race year is diabolical considering most only go through 13-17 races over their junior-classic-senior years at Tracen.

Shiro's build makes her poor on anything that's not above 2000m.

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There's potential!

Orzel fan here: "Indeed, Shirogane's feet aren't the fastest in the final spurt, and in the shorter 2000m races, this means everybody's legs are still up to kick the ground really hard when they reach the late-race, but Shirogane is lightweight, and her cornering is excellent, which brings down a lot of wasted stamina. So if Shirogane can maintain a deadly fast pace, she might be able to crash the others from building up to their final spurts! She can turn their greatest advantages into a matter of how long they can keep their breath level while following her pace! Sure, the others got better top speeds, but with no breath? How strong can their spurt be!"

You know, with the way that Tanya keeps saying shit like 'this life', I'm surprised that nobody's given serious, concrete consideration to the whole 'umas are reincarnated' thing and the implications that that has on Tanya's behavior.

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Umamusume are stated somewhere(can't recall exactly where) to be people that were born to run and are manifestations of legends from another world. So, not sure if it might raise eyebrow or not.

Having said that, I know I'd like our very own Doakes(person suspicious of Shirogane for saying those words) moments poking at that bit. It is one of those things in the story that is just niggling around in the back of my mind every time it pops up.

I will admit that I was initially thinking of a snippet where Agnes Digital would be having a field day thinking of Shirogane's gap moe through thinking the super serious Shirogane is actually hiding a chuuni side, while Tachyon, being her roommate, would instead be interested in performing 'experiments' on Shiro-kun to understand more about this feeling all Umamusume have, especially if Shiro-kun is being candid about how much of her lifes she can differentiate. Though that sorta fell apart when I remembered the umamusume thing about being manifestations or whatever of legends from another world. The Tachyon bit felt possible, but couldn't really spin why it would interest Tachyon.

 

[Crispy Taco Shell]

the principal extolled the various virtues of the academy and encouraged the students to pursue the school motto of 'Eclipse first, the rest nowhere', which, after some research, Shirogane had found to be a reference to an incredibly dominant racer named Eclipse who won races so thoroughly her opponents were disqualified for being just that far behind.

As that quirk of racing rules was not present on the local circuit, it was technically impossible to recreate that feat, and with how much the sport had been refined over the passage of time, Shirogane highly doubted that a similar feat would be feasible.

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Been rereading the story and saw this bit of potential foreshadowing.

Could Shiro recreate this 'Eclipse first, the rest nowhere' feat by indirectly causing another mass-casualty crash during a race?

"Not to mention that this job is a particularly perilous one for a reasonably good-looking young man." One of her ears twitched in jest as Shirogane smiled. "There are many runners that might make maintaining ethical boundaries…difficult."

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Holy crap. Did Shiro just flirt with Tazuna?!?! That guy does seem to be her type.

 

[2hupedia]

Shiro is pretty busted from a game perspective, she basically starts with 600-700 stamina out the gate but like -100 speed and a slower buildup for it.