Seiun Sky really didn't want to end up being marginalized or forgotten. But sometimes she found herself wondering if maybe her trainer actually valued her more than the others, and that's why he was pushing this aggressive spring and autumn domination plan for her first year. But that seemed impossible, didn't it? She genuinely didn't have much confidence in her ability to challenge experienced Uma Musume when she was still just a rookie in her very first year of racing.
"Trainers are always biased toward their favorites anyway, that's just how it goes."
"A trainer who comes up with plans that weird, and you're still willing to follow him? Maybe you should just quit while you're ahead." Sakura Laurel felt genuinely worried for her roommate's well-being.
She didn't take Seiun Sky's talk about participating in the Tenno Sho Spring seriously at all. She knew from painful personal experience just how many trials and obstacles you had to overcome just to participate in a single GII race, so she highly doubted that Sky would be able to pull it off.
"Eh, it doesn't really matter that much to me." Seiun Sky spread her hands in a gesture of resignation. "Besides, an uma musume like Seiun isn't exactly in high demand with other trainers anyway, so what choice do I have?"
With that casual dismissal, she headed into the bathroom. Today had been exhausting enough that she should be able to sleep soundly tonight. Tomorrow, she absolutely needed to find some hiding spot where her trainer couldn't track her down, because training was honestly way too tiring to deal with every single day.
"I'll also be participating in this year's Tenno Sho Spring, you know." Sakura Laurel's voice drifted in from outside, somewhat weak but determined.
"Oh, really? Well then, Seiun can relax about the whole thing." Seiun Sky called back while washing her hair, clearly joking around. If even her medicine bottle of a roommate could manage to participate, then surely her own chances of winning had to be pretty much guaranteed, right?
Sakura Laurel puffed up her cheeks in annoyance at the teasing response.
After a month passed.
The arrangements for Seiun Sky's debut came together surprisingly quickly after that. Her debut location and racetrack were decided without much fuss. It would be a 2000-meter turf course running counterclockwise, a fairly standard setup for a debut race.
When the day of Seiun Sky's debut race finally arrived, Hayato found himself backstage in the preparation area, carefully fastening the number bib onto her uniform. He'd gotten lucky with the draw and pulled number 5, which put her right in the middle position. It wasn't the best possible draw, but it certainly wasn't the worst either. This middle position would actually work quite well for her if she wanted to execute a runaway strategy from the start.
For races below the GII level, uma musume wore standardized gym uniforms with colors determined by their gate numbers. The sequence went gray, black, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and pink for positions one through eight, respectively. If there were nine Uma Musume, then numbers eight and nine would share the pink color. With ten runners, numbers six and seven would share orange, while eight and nine shared pink, and the pattern continued from there.
Right now, Seiun Sky was wearing the yellow uniform that corresponded to her number five position, and it actually matched her hair color remarkably well, making her look quite striking. Hayato had come backstage specifically because he was worried she might be nervous before her first race, wanting to offer some encouragement and support. But looking at the situation now, it seemed like he was actually the one feeling more nervous between the two of them.
"Trainer, if I'm being completely honest here, even up until this very moment, Seiun still can't quite believe that I'm actually about to go out onto a real racetrack and compete." She admitted this with a slightly bemused expression.
She genuinely hadn't planned on ever setting foot on a racetrack when she first enrolled at the academy.
"Even without my involvement, you would have ended up on the racetrack eventually anyway, right? It's really just a matter of timing, sooner or later." Hayato tried to sound reassuring as he worked on securing the bib properly.
"Sure, but I could have slacked off for at least one more day if we're being honest about it."
"Well, you should probably focus on thinking about how you're going to win this race first." After finishing with the number bib, Hayato stood up and placed his hand firmly on her shoulder, meeting her eyes with a serious expression. "Remember this clearly. From this moment forward, you're already a proper uma musume standing on the racetrack. You have only one goal ahead of you, and that's the finish line."
"But what if I end up failing? I mean, you know as well as I do that the Uma Musume competing in these races all have excellent bloodlines and strong backgrounds."
"You've already put in all the effort and hard work, so how could you possibly fail at this point? At the very least, you need to show everyone the results of all that training before you start worrying about anything else." Hayato's voice was firm and encouraging.
Looking up at Hayato's serious expression, Seiun Sky found herself smiling despite her nerves. "Alright then, I guess I'd better show you these ambitions that Seiun's been carrying around. I'll try my absolute best to reel in that championship for you. Just make sure you remember to cheer for me out there, okay?"
She started heading toward the tunnel that led to the track, but after taking just a few steps, she turned her face back toward him. "Oh wait, one more thing. Do I need to follow any particular strategy for this race?"
"A strategy? For dealing with a bunch of small fish?" Hayato couldn't help but grin at the question. "Just run at your top speed the entire way, then come right back here so we can celebrate your win."
"Hehe, small fish, I like that comparison. Alright then, I'll go out there and reel them all in for you." Seiun Sky left with a bright smile on her face, disappearing around the corner after one last wave.
Hayato made his way out from the backstage area and headed up toward the spectator seats that overlooked the race venue. The announcer's voice echoed through the stadium speakers, crisp and professional.
"Next up, appearing from gate seven, wearing number five, Seiun Sky!"