Uma Musume no Nama no Nichijou (Horse Girl), First and foremost

"Why not? But we need to make it clear beforehand, I still have modeling work to arrange."

"Tch, what a hassle." "After all, you still have to eat, unlike a rich young lady who doesn't have to worry about making a living."

......

Kasamatsu and his group were also watching the performance from somewhere on the winner's stage.

"Upon closer inspection, this seems to be quite similar to the stage at the Nakakyo Racecourse?"

Just as Kitahara was looking around and making his assessment, a slightly familiar voice came from beside him.

"That's true, but since the Zhongjing competition wasn't held on a Sunday, the scale of the event seemed to be much smaller."

"Long time no see, everyone! Little March and Little Chestnut Hat, right? And Little Glow?"

With his arms crossed and an air of authority in his eyes and demeanor, he slowly approached Kasamatsu and his group.

This person was none other than Maruzensky, the symbol of Rudolf of Central Teresen Academy and his secretary. Maruzensky, standing to the side, greeted the female racehorses.

After greeting the racehorse girl, who was no less impressive than the emperor, in front of the newly radiant light, her expression instantly became a little tense.

But soon, his brand-new, radiant expression seemed to adapt instantly.

Ah-le-le...

Something seems off about this little radiance.

As a senior member, Maru Zenki knew very well the reactions of various racehorse girls who knew her name after she greeted them.

This kind of on-the-spot reaction is clearly not what an ordinary racehorse girl should have.

However, after Rudolf made his statement, she didn't pay much attention to it anymore, but secretly kept the thought to herself.

"I just received news that everyone from Kasamatsu is coming to watch the competition. Since that's the case, I thought I'd ask you to wait until after the performance and then set aside some time for me to help you with the pre-competition meeting arrangements."

What do you all think?

Despite asking the question, a kind smile appeared on his face.

However, to everyone else, the other party's answer seemed to leave no room for questioning.

A meeting with Tamamo Cross is imperative.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Undisputed Perfect Answer

Thank you everyone!!!

"That concludes today's performance!"

"Please check your belongings and then leave the area in order of your assigned zone. Thank you very much!"

After the performance ended, the atmosphere around them reached its peak.

After Tamamo Cross, the lead singer, finished her performance and announced the end of the show, supporters and fans began to leave the venue in an orderly manner.

As for the racehorse girls who had just finished their performance, after leaving the stage, they went to their respective rest rooms to rest and change their clothes.

Once the door is closed, Tamamo Cross, who was previously cute and lively while performing professionally on stage, instantly reverts to her true nature.

"Yay! That troublesome work I had to deal with is finally done!!!"

He cheered loudly in his dressing room, then quickly changed out of his stage outfit and back into his usual clothes.

"Although there's an appearance fee for the winner's stage performance, we'd like to avoid these awkward events as much as possible."

"きみの爱马が～"

Despite complaining about the hassle of stage performances, Tamamo Cross was humming the song she had just sung while changing clothes.

Just as the petite horse girl was halfway through changing her clothes, her cell phone rang.

"Hey hey hey hey?! Wait, wait for me! I'm not even dressed yet!!!"

While furiously yelling at the unanswered phone, Tamamo Cross activated her speed-up skill for changing clothes.

Five seconds after the phone rang, she completed the feat of quickly changing her clothes and picked up her phone to press the call button.

Yes! Everyone is dressed!

"Hello! Hello? Oh, is there something you need me to do at the VIP lounge? Okay, okay, I'll be there in a bit, President. Hmm, I'll change my clothes before I go. I'll be there soon."

After finishing speaking and hanging up the call, his ears immediately drooped down, almost touching his head.

"Phew... thankfully it wasn't Golden Victory."

"...But the timing of the president's choice is too perfect, it just happened to be the time when we were changing clothes."

"Although the president didn't say what it was about, since we seemed to have seen a horse girl with the same hairy hair as us on stage earlier, it must be related to them, right?"

Tamamo Cross had never seen Oguri Hat and Fujimasa March before, only knowing that they were both Ash Hair Horse Girls.

Even after the match ended, she couldn't see the other person's appearance clearly because of the difference in height between the buildings; she only noticed the silver-haired, bushy horse girl.

So...

This can be considered, in a sense, the first formal meeting between arch-rivals!

......

"Suck......"

I took a deep breath to make myself look better.

The previous matches have somewhat affected Tamamo Cross; she'll need to rest properly tomorrow.

After knocking on the door, the petite Lu Mao Ma Niang entered the VIP lounge.

"Hello everyone... ah."

When Tamamo Cross saw her nemesis, she once again felt the malice of the world.

He glanced at Fujimasa March and Oguri Hat, who were much taller than him.

Then he looked at the new radiance next to him, who was also taller than him, but the difference between them was not significant.

Pointing to the brand-new brilliance, the horse girl with the tuft of hair decisively adopted the tactic of fleeing.

"You're my opponent in the next match, aren't you!"

A brand new radiance: "Eh?! (?Д?)!"

"Um, that's not me, it's the two people next to me, it's Oguri and March."

"Stop nagging! I said it's you, so it's you! It's common for me to compete against people taller than me. Since this is a special assessment, you'll definitely find an opponent who is the same height as me, right?"

"There's only one truth: you're Oguri Hat, aren't you?!"

The brand-new brilliance shook its head frantically.

"Is it still that Fujimasa March?"

The newfound brilliance continued to shake its head.

It wasn't until a voice nearby seemed unable to bear the farce any longer that she spoke up:

"Oh dear, Hikaru is no match for you, and finding a racehorse girl about your height to race with seems like a difficult task..."

"Gurgle?! I... I'm not reconciled!!!"

Maruzenski, speaking the cruelest truth in a gentle older sister's voice, defeated the racehorse girl who won the Naruo Memorial Race with a single sentence.

"Maru Zen, stop playing around, and Tamamo too."

Sensing that the atmosphere was becoming increasingly awkward, the emperor decisively intervened, attempting to steer the situation back to the main point.

"That's how it is. I think you all know this well since you've watched the competition. It's Tamamo Cross, the horse racer from the Central region. Tamamo, and these two are Oguri Hat and Fujimasa March, respectively. They are also your opponents in this assessment competition."

"Hi! Nice to meet you two!"

Seemingly a little uncomfortable with Tamamo Cross's overly familiar attitude, the two Ash-haired racehorse girls simply responded with an "uh-huh" and a nod, respectively, in response to Tamamo Cross's greeting.

"Regarding this competition, I think we will adopt a five-person race arrangement. In addition to the three judges, we will also arrange two more local racehorse girls as fair participants."

"Of course, if other racehorse girls want to participate in this race, we, as the away team, will not deliberately prevent them. The maximum number of racehorse girls allowed to participate in this race should be five more, for a total of eight racehorse girls."

Rudolf symbolized that this statement was very fair.

However, once the news gets out that Central Racehorse Girls will be participating in local races, it's practically impossible for any other racehorse girls to participate in such a spectator event.

Of course, it's hard to say.

After all, with prior publicity, such a competition would definitely attract a large local audience, and the Central Horse Racing Girl herself couldn't bring the fan enthusiasm back to the central area.

Even if the local racehorse girl finishes fourth or even gets incredibly lucky and makes it into the top three, it will definitely be a boastful achievement in her future career.

"Well, we don't really have any objections to the number of people involved."

"Similarly, but I have other questions I'd like to ask Miss Rudolph."

Unlike Kitahara, who had no objections, Shibasaki, as the team's second-in-command, immediately raised the real focus of their attention.

"Regarding the detailed items of the assessment, if it's convenient, we would like to know how to pass the assessment, and whether the assessment criteria are sufficiently credible."

"Of course, it's not that we don't trust you, Miss Rudolph, but we hope to obtain objective assessment criteria."

Their words were mostly concerned that the other party might cause trouble, but they did not actively question the emperor himself.

Because the real obstacle that could potentially arise is the organization behind Rudolf's symbolism...

It's the Ma Musume Association itself that has a history with Golden Victory.

However, to everyone's surprise, the emperor's answer left them momentarily stunned.

"I'm sorry, I can't answer that question."

"Because the observer sent by the Uma Musume Association for this competition was not me but a special representative of the association itself, the scoring criteria were confidential internal information, and even I had no way of knowing them."

"But if you ask me how to definitely pass the assessment, I do have a method."

Just as everyone's expressions turned slightly serious, it seemed as if they heard something promising.

However, the emperor's next words sounded to them as yet another utterly absurd response.