Thank you for the information from the comment about spring, autumn, and the mil-championship in the end of chapter 29, it is very helpful for other readers. But for this, let me clarify a bit. In this era, Osaka Hai is not yet Grade 1, meaning it's still Grade 2, while Takarazuka Kinen is fan-voting and too far for Seiun Sky, who just debuted. The reason why Hayato didn't enter Silence Suzuka in the Mile Championship or Yasuda Kinen is that the Triple Tiara and Queen Elizabeth Cup are already enough to make 'her position undefeated in her generation as filly' if she wins. Especially the Triple Tiara title, even from 1986 until now, only about 7 or 8 have won it, if I remember correctly.
Then, the reason for avoiding 'mil' is that Silence Suzuka is less suitable for races with earlier/faster turns/corner. Great Escaper, on the other hand, is more focused on straight-line momentum, and the further the distance, the stronger the momentum(ofc long is bignono for her stamina). Indeed, the closer the distance, the better for Silence Suzuka, but unfortunately, Suzuka is the type to be alone at the front, which is why medium distance suits him better so he doesn't get crowded. If it were mil, everyone would likely go all-out earlier, causing competition for the front positions.
----
Sakura Bakushin O Zone, her eyes change, and her aura.
Sakura Chiyono O Zone, her eyes slightly change with the aura of sakura blossoms.
The illustration on the other side.
----
"No matter how cruel the winter's harm, one day the cherry blossoms will bloom. Definitely!"
A girl with beautiful cherry blossom eyes leaned against the window frame, gazing outside with a distant expression. Perhaps out of boredom, she would occasionally lift herself onto her tiptoes and tap the ground lightly, creating a soft rhythm that filled the quiet room.
She couldn't feel pain, which should have been a relief for any uma musume, yet somehow these legs refused to cooperate with her. On the racetrack, no matter how much she willed herself forward, they wouldn't respond the way they should. There was always this lingering sensation that if she pushed too hard, if she tried to accelerate beyond a certain point, something fundamental would just give way and snap.
Even now, standing on her tiptoes, she could feel the muscles in her legs tightening and trembling beneath her skin. It was already early spring, the season when warmth returned, and flowers bloomed everywhere, but as an uma musume she could still feel an inexplicable coldness settling deep in both legs. The sensation bothered her enough that she found herself rubbing them absently, trying to coax some warmth back into them.
The door creaked open, and Seiun Sky stumbled inside, absolutely covered in sweat and dirt. She looked genuinely surprised to see the cherry blossom-eyed girl standing there by the window.
"Oh, you got discharged already? That's pretty rare, I don't think I've ever actually seen you back in the dorm before." Seeing Sakura Laurel here was unexpected enough that Seiun Sky paused in the doorway for a moment.
This was the girl who had been hospitalized practically from the day she enrolled, constantly hooked up to IVs every other day. Sakura Laurel, another cherry blossom uma musume from the Sakura Corps, following after Sakura Chiyono O, Sakura Bakushin O, and Sakura Chitose O. She was also a descendant of first-class uma musume, but her situation had turned out even worse than King Halo's. From childhood she'd been fighting against illness, practically growing up with medicine bottles as her constant companions.
Born with those distinctive cherry blossom eyes, if she ever awakened a zone it would undoubtedly be the "Cherry Blossom" zone, the same one that Sakura Chiyono O already has and Sakura Bakushin O who will be possessed.
Sakura Laurel looked at the dirt-covered girl and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be the one who never trains? What happened to you?"
"Huh?" Seiun Sky laughed a bit awkwardly and started pulling off her grimy training clothes, clearly eager to get cleaned up. "Well, actually, Seiun managed to find herself a trainer recently and decided it was finally time to get serious about this whole race thing. I'm making my debut next month, believe it or not."
"Wait, seriously? You're actually going to race?"
"What's with that reaction? Are you looking down on Seiun or something?"
"No, that's not what I meant at all. It's just that you only enrolled last September, right? Isn't this way too fast to be making your debut already?" Sakura Laurel's confusion was genuine as she tried to process this information.
Her own debut had been nothing short of a nightmare that still haunted her. In her desperate attempt to challenge the Triple Crown before coming of age, she'd forced herself onto the track while still nursing injuries. Despite being the top favorite going into the race, she'd only managed to place ninth. After that she'd tried cramming three separate debut attempts into a single month, then participated in multiple smaller races that only offered 5 million yen in prize money, and still she kept losing. She'd entered every single prep race for the Triple Crown and lost every single one of them without exception.
Eventually, due to insufficient qualification conditions and various other complications, she'd been forced to give up on that dream entirely. What followed was a recovery period that stretched over half a year, during which she underwent multiple surgeries. If it hadn't been for that acupuncture master who treated her case as a last resort, she probably would have had to say goodbye to the racetrack forever. It was only through sheer tenacious willpower that she'd managed to overcome the illness that had plagued her.
At least standing on the racetrack proved she was still an uma musume, still a member of the Sakura Corps. Her next goal was the Tenno Sho Spring, and she was already working on meeting the qualification requirements to participate. Looking at Seiun Sky, who seemed able to debut so smoothly without all that suffering, Sakura Laurel couldn't help but feel a small pang of envy.
Seiun Sky shrugged her shoulders casually. "Honestly, Seiun's been wondering the same thing myself. This is all according to some plan my trainer came up with, something about making me dominate both spring and autumn races this year. Those were his exact words, not mine."
"Hold on, that doesn't make any sense, though. Even if you debut now, shouldn't you be challenging the Classic Triple Crown next year, and then the Tenno Sho Spring in your third year? What kind of trainer makes such a strange arrangement like that?" Sakura Laurel felt even more confused by this bizarre.
Seiun Sky gave another casual shrug. "That's just the way my trainer operates, I guess. Seiun can't really do anything about it at this point. We'll just have to wait and see how things turn out. If the debut goes poorly, or if I don't even manage to get the race qualifications in the first place, then I'll just give up on the whole thing. The real issue is that the Triple Crown spot already got snatched up by Halo-chan, and then the Triple Tiara was basically handed over to Suzuka on a silver platter." She let out a long sigh. "Honestly, Seiun's starting to worry about where I actually stand in trainer's priorities."