Taro Yusuhara was a man who worked efficiently, and so was Kitahara.
Apart from Komiyama being a bit overly friendly and Kyoko Miyamura a little rough around the edges in daily life, neither of them was the sort to drag things out either.
Thus, on the second day after Taro Yusuhara and Inari One arrived in Kasamatsu, several key staff members involved in training, after arranging the girls' morning sessions, gathered in Kitahara's office to discuss in detail how to refine the upcoming training plans and treatment strategies.
The Kasamatsu and Oi sides first exchanged a stack of documents.
"These are the upcoming training plans for Oguri Cap, Super Creek, and Tamamo Cross."
A thick pile of papers was handed to Taro Yusuhara. Kitahara didn't hide anything. "These four Uma Musume may become rivals in the future, but for now, they'll be sharing the same boat for a while."
"Oguri Cap's skill development, Super Creek's leg strengthening, Tamamo Cross's PTSD — and surely Inari One also has some areas to work on, right? While in Kasamatsu, I think they can learn from one another and grow together."
"Which means we trainers need to work together as well."
"So, all their plans are in there."
He tapped the pile of papers.
By coincidence, Taro Yusuhara had also come with documents — three copies of them.
"Mr. Kitahara, it seems we think alike."
He took three sets of documents from his briefcase and handed them over. "This is the plan I'd originally set up for Inari. We'll definitely need to discuss and adjust it together later."
"Besides those, inside are also my final study notes from the UK."
"They're PTSD-related cases."
"At that time, there was a famous Italian Uma Musume suspected of PTSD. Her trainer invited my professor to collaborate on a diagnosis, and I had the privilege of observing the whole process."
"Although in the end it turned out the Uma Musume had only been frightened and suffered some minor injuries, the way the professors and senior trainers discussed the case was extremely valuable reference material for juniors like us."
"You can take a look first — I think it'll help later when we discuss Tamamo Cross's case."
The others all nodded, then quietly started flipping through the documents.
A long while passed.
Suddenly, Kitahara exclaimed,
"Tony Bianca?!"
He couldn't help his shock — because this Italian Uma Musume named "Tony Bianca" was arguably one of the absolute top talents of her generation.
26 starts, 15 wins, six G1 victories — a genuine European champion. Most crucially, she was an "Arc de Triomphe Uma Musume."
The "Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe" — one of the most prestigious horse races in the world, arguably the most prestigious. On virtually every ranking of global horse races, it routinely sits in first place year after year.
It even had another nickname in Japan: "Japan's Madness Gate."
Year after year of challenge and defeat, defeat and challenge again — Japan had a strange infatuation with France and an obsession with the Arc that bordered on mania.
As of 2022, Japan had attempted the Arc 18 times. A total of 27 of Japan's strongest horse girls had tried to capture that ultimate crown.
Not a single victory.
The best results were three second-place finishes — El Condor Pasa, Nakayama Festa, and Orfevre.
For such a top-tier event — especially in the present, when Japan still lacked the strength to win — any Uma Musume who could take that race would shock anyone.
Kitahara's sudden cry came from realizing that the Italian Uma Musume Taro Yusuhara had just mentioned was in fact Tony Bianca — an Arc de Triomphe Uma Musume.
Wait — no, hold on.
Last month, I watched this year's Arc broadcast — this year's winner was the French Derby Winner Trempolino, with Tony Bianca finishing second.
Oh, right — Tony Bianca next year will win the Arc, then ride the momentum to Japan to enter the "Japan Cup," then retire and settle down in Japan.
As Kitahara mentally lined up the timeline, Taro and the others looked surprised.
Taro Yusuhara was the first to speak: "Mr. Kitahara, you know Tony Bianca?"
Kitahara nodded slightly, recalling Tony Bianca's current status. At that moment, Komiyama spoke up.
"Sounds like a foreign horse girl. Must be the one big bro Yusuhara's documents mention, right?"
Comfortably addressing Taro Yusuhara as "big bro," Komiyama looked astonished. "I hadn't even figured out how to read her name in Japanese yet, and senior, you already knew?"
As if to explain for Kitahara, Kyoko Miyamura smiled. "Mr. Kitahara often takes time to keep up with international news. It's no wonder he knows things like this."
She'd been around Kitahara the longest, and was already used to how he would sometimes suddenly know a bit of this or unexpectedly be familiar with that.
"Oh? Seems I underestimated you, Mr. Kitahara."
Taro Yusuhara said candidly, "Since returning home, apart from a few friends at the central academies, I haven't met anyone in the regions with such international perspective among my peers."
"Would Mr. Kitahara be willing to talk a bit about this Tony Bianca?"
…Are you testing me?
Kitahara found it a bit amusing. He felt he'd already recalled enough, so he spoke casually:
"Tony Bianca is an Italian Uma Musume — very strong, you could call her…"
He compared the timelines, "…the King of Italy."
"If I remember correctly, her debut was pretty rough."
"In her first two years, counting her debut, she went 9 starts, 4 wins. A shame, really — in the five races she lost, she never finished outside the top four."
Komiyama suddenly exclaimed,
"In other words, if luck had been a little better, she could've gone 9 for 9? At least the possibility was there?"
Kyoko Miyamura, skilled in medicine, didn't know much about racing specifics, so she just listened carefully.
Taro Yusuhara, meanwhile, looked at Kitahara and gave a small nod.
More impressive than I expected, this Mr. Kitahara…
He'd been back in Japan for a while now, and among peers, very few had such awareness of the international scene… Taro thought silently.
Kitahara continued: "What Komiyama said about the chance for 9-for-9… roughly, yeah — except you'd have to exclude Tony Bianca's fourth race."
"In that race, she was a distant second by seven lengths — that kind of gap is too big. Even if she ran it again, I doubt she could've won."
"This year, though, her strength has really shown. If I'm not mistaken, she's had five starts, four wins — including two G1s, a G3, and a runner-up in the Arc."
"And even in that second place, she was only behind by two lengths — not a huge gap."
"Runner-up in the Arc…?!" ×2.
Komiyama clapped a hand over his mouth, and Kyoko Miyamura's eyes widened — both cried out at once.
Japan's obsession with the Arc was beyond what other countries could imagine. For many trainers and Uma Musume, that race had become either mythologized or demonized.
Maybe it wasn't so obvious in Komiyama, but even Kyoko Miyamura — a medical specialist — was this surprised, showing just how deep Japan's mania ran.
And, perhaps because of the Arc being mentioned, even Taro Yusuhara now looked surprised.
"Mr. Kitahara, you even follow individual race results?"
(End of Chapter)