On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[TheSmallSauce]

Her parents had escaped the war because Sugihara-san had helped them, so when they heard of his death they had been determined to pay their respects. As had many others.

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So assuming the war mentioned here is WW2, Sugihara-san must be Chiune Sugihara right? His good deeds went unreported in Japan until after his death, so it makes sense that Shigeru didn't know about it.

It turned out that Sugihara-san had traveled quite a lot, and sometimes told him stories about the places he had been to, like the Soviet Union, which sounded like a dangerous but interesting country.

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This is his time as a trade representative in the Soviet Union.

Leading up to the funeral, the Suzukis and their neighbors found, to their confusion, groups of foreigners suddenly appearing in greater and greater numbers, filling up the local inns and hotels. Apparently one of them was quite important too, since there were also a few national news crews hanging around.

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And this is the visitation of the many Sugihara visa refugees and the Israeli Ambassador.

Plus he did in fact live in Fujisawa and died in 1986, so both the location and time fit. I gotta wonder though, did the decision to pick Fujisawa as Shirogane's hometown come about because of fitting Sugihara into the family's backstory as a plausible way for Polish blood to end up in Japan in the 1980s?

Man, either way, you really did a lot of research for this story. It makes rereads feel really rewarding, that small details just line up. I completely glossed over this fact in the beginning and assumed Sugihara was just some old guy, kinda like Shigeru did.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

Plus he did in fact live in Fujisawa and died in 1986, so both the location and time fit. I gotta wonder though, did the decision to pick Fujisawa as Shirogane's hometown come about because of fitting Sugihara into the family's backstory as a plausible way for Polish blood to end up in Japan in the 1980s?

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Yes this is literally why I picked Fujisawa, because I spent a somewhat funny amount of time coming up with a reason for a Polish woman to end up in Japan that wasn't just 'it happens'.

 

[ndh]

Shiro would be like Nick Cage, quiet badass who takes out the entire killer group in between making and eating pierogi.

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Isn't that just an Uma version of Willy Wonderland? Just switch out mandatory breaks with making pierogi. Here's where I know it from. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Q0sEeYNU4

 

[macdjord]

I'm imagining just a yawn, she looks around, notices Shiro, nodding at her, then shifts to get back into a more comfortable position… then does a double-take at Shiro being right there.

Cue scream as she leaps out of her seat.

Then an insistent "Stop sneaking up on me like that!"

"Sneak up on you? I'm just sitting down."

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"Arg! I just wanted to nap for fifteen minutes without being disturbed! Is that so wrong?"

"Well, you were asleep for twenty two minutes, so I'd say you got your wish."

"... how could you possibly know that?"

"I was here when you fell asleep."

 

[ndh]

"Olivier O'Dran has crashed into the gate!"

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Just looked into horse biology, and a bloody nose can be lethal to a horse as they can't breathe throught their mouth, so a horse crashing into the starting gate can kill them. Sorry for this very late comment about chapter 12.

 

[ShimizuA]

So I tried to make tvtropes page for this fic. Had to add umamusume in the title because it linked with the old literature if not. Please give it some love

 

[Tonyloco]

Looks good, but I feel like it's missing some things.

How unnerving she is to most racers because on how she runs and acts in the races.

The fact that she seems to gain rivals without even noticing it.

The fact that she's actually good at training other Umas.

Her robot/terminator like performance where no weather, nor type of racetrack, nor mood, or opponents seems to affect her, having a very standard (for her) performance each race.

The fact that she's bad at dancing while probably has a very good singing voice.

Her Soldier from older times uniform.

And not sure if her real horse omakes are included but her missing princess lineage.

And she probably has one or more famous ancestors in her Uma lineage.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

he fact that she's bad at dancing while probably has a very good singing voice.

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For clarification, Shirogane is fairly good at dancing and singing, but she is quite mechanical and not very expressive, so it looks a bit uncanny to some people.

 

[zecorezecron]

For clarification, Shirogane is fairly good at dancing and singing, but she is quite mechanical and not very expressive, so it looks a bit uncanny to some people.

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How popular is Styx in Japan? Cause I can think of one song where that would be a positive.

 

[MARch Of Time]

snip

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I love this so much for it being how she looks to her entire cohort of racers. Race after race, every single time

They see her, and she's posed like that and just completely at ease while looking a little thirsty for blood, meanwhile they KNOW this is like her 18th back-to-back weekly race, and a G1 no less, and she's here and hungry.

"Oh my goddess it's her, she's back AGAIN"

[vaguely threatening, casual Shirogane side-eye] : "My, some racers just can't seem to keep themselves together. There's always more races, after all." *(has never even sprained a muscle)*

[thousands of uma cries of ragebaited frustration as Shirogane runs her 40th back-to-back placing in 1999, zero health issues]

 

[Tonyloco]

I love this so much for it being how she looks to her entire cohort of racers. Race after race, every single time

They see her, and she's posed like that and just completely at ease while looking a little thirsty for blood, meanwhile they KNOW this is like her 18th back-to-back weekly race, and a G1 no less, and she's here and hungry.

"Oh my goddess it's her, she's back AGAIN"

[vaguely threatening, casual Shirogane side-eye] : "My, some racers just can't seem to keep themselves together. There's always more races, after all." *(has never even sprained a muscle)*

[thousands of uma cries of ragebaited frustration as Shirogane runs her 40th back-to-back placing in 1999, zero health issues]

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The general theory after so many races without apparent problems to her general health or stamina is that she's a Robo-Uma from the future back in time to train the next Uma savior...

The Shiroganetor... I'll Race Back!!

 

[rastelmascir]

The general theory after so many races without apparent problems to her general health or stamina is that she's a Robo-Uma from the future back in time to train the next Uma savior...

The Shiroganetor... I'll Race Back!!

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I think that makes Haru Urara the Uma Savior of this story, which is oddly fitting.