Umamusume's days are numbered

episode 246 Mejiro Zenshin

It's not that Platinum has any prejudice against Megumi Zenshin, but just looking at his current record and popularity, it's clear that Megumi Zenshin isn't well-regarded.

In fact, Yoshin Mejiro's professional career so far has been quite bumpy. To this day, Yoshin Mejiro has not won a single Game 1 match.

"I've always had a good eye for people!" Flaming Steed confidently patted his chest.

"You call it having a good eye for people when your agency runs off with your money?" Alice sneered from the side. She never missed an opportunity to attack others.

"Woo..." The Fiery Steed's smile froze instantly.

"Yes...yes, what happened? I guess I really misjudged people..." Just those words from Alice hit a nerve with Blazing Steed. Although the smile remained on his face, his eyes were unknowingly filled with tears.

"I'm such a terrible person..."

"No, no, that's not true!" Platinum hurriedly pushed Alice aside, sweating profusely, and tore open a new chocolate bar, stuffing it into Flame Horse's mouth. "I believe you, I believe in your judgment!"

With a chocolate bar stuffed in its mouth, Flame Steed stared innocently at Platinum.

"Chew, chew, chew... Really?"

“I’m just presenting her with reality; she’ll have to face these things sooner or later—” Before Alice could finish speaking, Platinum pushed her out of the lab.

Looking at the closed door in front of her, Alice punched it twice: "I am the master of the laboratory!"

No one answered. Alice paced back and forth in front of the lab twice, and finally lay down lazily on the ground in front of the door like a kitten.

"Chew, chew, chew... Let's get back to the main topic!" Fiery Steed had a chocolate bar in its mouth, its ears fluttering, full of the joy of ingesting sugar, just like a big golden retriever.

"The reason I think Megumi Yoshinobu will become your opponent... chew chew chew... is because of her running style!"

"Leading the pack...?" Shirogane seemed to ponder. Meguro Zenshin was one of the few racehorse girls who ran the lead pack.

They gave it their all from the very beginning, sprinting to the front of the field.

If they win, it's a thrilling, dominant match. But if they let their guard down even a little, it's an epic defeat.

In fact, the fact that so few racehorses use a leading strategy already demonstrates how unreliable this approach is. Leading requires exceptional endurance, explosive power, and a keen, almost imperceptible, understanding of one's own pace. Those who can meet these criteria are more likely to win by taking the lead.

Aside from being more visually appealing, leading races don't offer many advantages. And racehorses like Silent Suzuka, Mejiro Zenshin, and Twin Turbo, who often lead races, don't actually have top-tier results.

Except for Platinum. According to Alice, Platinum wasn't leading; she was just moving at a pace that others couldn't catch up with.

Which runner who leads the pack can still make a second sprint at the end?

“Mejiro Zenshin, and Ootaku Taiyoujin. They’re a great combination, and both are masters of lead-out strategies.” Shirogane stroked her chin. “So, at the Takarazuka Memorial, there will be three racehorses with lead-out strategies?”

"You've misunderstood!" Fiery Steed shook its head. "No, not exactly wrong... but it's not quite right either!"

"The running style I'm referring to isn't the kind of strategy where you go first or chase later!"

As he spoke, Fiery Steed suddenly paused, pointed to a pile of chocolate bars on the table in front of him, and said, "So delicious! Can I have another one?"

"They're all yours." Platinum lovingly pushed all the chocolate bars in front of her to Flame Steed.

"Thank you, you're such a kind person!" Fiery Steed eagerly tore open another chocolate bar. "The running style I was referring to was Megumi Zenshin's footwork!"

Have you seen it? I have!

"That happened shortly after I retired. I was once invited to visit the Mejiro family's ranch! And in that empty training ground, I saw Mejiro Zenshin training..." Flaming Horse took a bite of the chocolate bar, and with a slight squeeze of his fingers, the chocolate made a crisp sound.

The same sound echoed through Mejiro Ranch that day. The Fiery Steed couldn't help but look over curiously.

She saw a girl running in the racetrack, bathed in the glow of the setting sun. The girl wasn't running on a normal track, nor was she training the usual training for racehorse girls.

The track in front of the girl had twelve obstacles, the shortest of which was about 1.2 meters and the tallest was nearly 1.6 meters, taller than the girl herself.

That's the setup for obstacle course racing.

With a few running steps, the girl began to run towards the obstacle in front of her. Her steps were as light as a butterfly's, and she leaped high in front of the obstacle.

One, two, three. It was an elfin dance, completely overturning the understanding of racehorse girls' gait by the Fiery Steed.

The impression she gave was quite different from that of the Emperor of the East Sea. The Emperor of the East Sea had flexible ankles and slender bones, and his walk was like dancing. The girl in front of her, however, was already dancing—it was hard to believe that a girl could leap and weave between such high obstacles, like she was dancing ballet.

Fiery Steed had once read in a book that someone boasted that their horse companion could dance on a teacup, in the palm of their hand, and on a table without breaking a single dish. Now, Fiery Steed thought it might actually be true.

"Woo!"

The exclamation snapped Fiery Steed out of her wandering thoughts. The same sound came again, and this time she knew what it was.

That was the sound of the girl's foot getting caught on an obstacle and her falling to the ground. No matter what, an obstacle taller than herself was far too difficult to leap over like she was dancing. The girl rolled face-first onto the ground.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Fiery Steed quickly jumped over the railing and helped the girl up. The girl's forehead was red and swollen from the fall, and blood was flowing from her nose.

The girl didn't panic because of the nosebleed. Instead, she stood still and took out a handkerchief from her bosom to wipe her face. "You must be a distinguished guest at Mejiro Ranch today. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

A well-mannered, quiet, elegant, and somewhat gentle young lady—that was the first impression Flame Steed had of the person before him.

"I'm training for obstacle courses because I don't perform very well in regular races..." the girl explained softly. In the glow of the setting sun, Fiery Steed could see the scrapes and scabs on her knees and elbows.

The training for obstacle courses is much more grueling.

"Hello, I am Meguro Zenshin."

(Flaming Horse, a racehorse from the Eliseko class. Winner of the 2002 Takarazuka Memorial.)

A racehorse with both skill and potential winnings, but due to poor breeding records within the Bai Ren era, it couldn't be used as a stallion. It could only make a comeback locally, but after four consecutive losses, it retired again. Shortly after, it died of pneumonia, a tragic loss at a young age.

Episode 247 Why do you think I won't win?

"Wait, wait, wait?!"

Platinum quickly waved his hand to dispel the memories of the Fiery Steed: "Who are you talking about, Megumi Zenshin?"

Is that Mejiro Zenshin who wanders around the academy with the Great Sun God every day?

I see that the two of them are very happy every day. Especially Megumi Zenshin, he always looks cheerful and not at all withdrawn.

Which timeline's Yoshinobu Megumi is featured in the memories of "Blazing Pony"? Is it Yoshinobu Megumi from the Neon Genesis Evangelion world? He looks like he's been tormented by the Megumi family and forced onto the racing field!

I can't do that.jpg

If you can't run the race, then get out of here.jpg

"I guess this is what they call puberty?" Fiery Steed didn't see anything wrong with it. "At this age, everyone changes a lot in a year, isn't that normal?"

"Like me, I went from being financially free to being poor, hahaha!"

Please, don't reopen your old wounds!

To convince Platinum, Fiery Steed didn't hesitate to tear open his wound to show her. She really... I'm devastated.

But Platinum doesn't want to watch it at all.

In short, Platinum still couldn't reconcile the image of Megumi in her mind with the image of Megumi in the mind of Blazing Horse. If this really was the same person, Platinum felt the only reasonable explanation was that Daitaku Sun God's phone had a hypnosis app.

"Then I'll continue!" Seeing that Platinum had nothing to say, Fiery Steed fell back into his memories.

"How did you get so many injuries?" Flaming Steed bent down and looked at the wound on Megumi Yoshinobu's knee. "I've never seen such reckless training before."

"Please don't tell anyone." Meguro Zenshin closed one eye, put a finger to his lips, signaling Flame Steed not to make a fuss. "It was my own idea to train it this way."

"Because I couldn't get good results in the competition, I switched to the obstacle course."

"But I guess I really don't have any talent... No matter how hard I run, I can't catch up with others. So I can only train like this in private. Even though other people don't have so many problems, I always end up covered in injuries. It's really lame."

"If my family found out, they would definitely object to me participating in the obstacle course again. Although my sister once told me that being a member of the Mejiro family shouldn't put pressure on me, and that living happily is the most important thing..."

Meguro Zenshin forced a bitter smile.

"But as expected, I still want to give it a try no matter what. What does it feel like to live up to the name Meguro?"

"Platinum, do you understand? There are many decisive factors in a race!" Blazing Horse swallowed the chocolate bar in its mouth and said indistinctly, "Even a racehorse with overwhelming strength is not necessarily the final winner!"

"Meguro Zenshin is not lacking in strength, what she lacks is an opportunity! Her eyes have the eyes of someone who can win a championship, and someone like her will shine one day!"

“Mejiro McQueen is your most noteworthy opponent, but Mejiro Yoshinobu is definitely someone you need to be very careful with! Every match of hers is unpredictable. Maybe she will continue to perform poorly as before, or maybe she will soar to new heights... You can only hope that Mejiro Yoshinobu's meteoric rise doesn't start with this Takarazuka Memorial!”

"Otherwise, for you, a fellow escapee, Meguro Yoshinobu would be the most troublesome opponent!"

?

Alice, who was crouching in front of the laboratory door, heard a slight noise coming from inside, and then the locked door finally opened.

"Why are you squatting here?" Platinum poked his head out from inside the door. "We've finished talking."

“Sigh…” Alice didn’t move, but sighed, “I never thought I would be kicked out of my own laboratory one day.”

"It was an unimaginable experience; I think I'll remember it for the rest of my life."

"Alright, alright, stop sulking." Platinum grabbed Alice's shoulders with both hands and pulled her towards the door. "If you drive Blazing Steed crazy, where are we going to find a new coach?"

"Platinum, I sat in front of the door thinking for a very, very long time."

Alice raised her hand to signal Platinum not to drag her along, as she could walk on her own.

"Although I don't think it's likely... but you're participating in the Takarazuka Memorial so that the Emperor of the East Sea can recover before the Chrysanthemum Viewing Festival, right?"

"I won't bother asking you about the specifics of how to treat the Emperor of the East Sea, or what the connection is between attending the Takarazuka Memorial and the Emperor of the East Sea."

Since Platinum can produce medicine to treat Soul Dissolution Syndrome, it wouldn't be surprising if she produced something like Alice.

As they spend more time together, Alice discovers that the mystery surrounding Platinum is not only not dissipating, but is gradually thickening, with more and more enigmas surrounding her.

Where did Platinum come from? How did she contract this unprecedented disease? Where did she get the medication to suppress it?

Furthermore, in various details of daily life, Platinum doesn't look like a European or American; rather, he seems like a native Asian.

Platinum realized that what Elizabeth was about to say was probably very important, and nervously swallowed. Although she had long anticipated that Elizabeth would one day be unable to resist asking about her origins... to be honest, Platinum hadn't prepared an answer yet. She herself didn't know how to answer.

"Anyway... have you considered that if you cure the East Sea Emperor and she beats you in the Chrysanthemum Award, wouldn't you be pushing away the Undefeated Three Crowns with your own hands?"

"···Grass."

Platinum was prepared for all sorts of questions from Alice, thinking that if all else failed, she would just throw a tantrum. But she never expected Alice to ask this question.

What's really fatal is that Platinum himself hadn't actually considered this issue.

Platinum and Alice stared at each other.

"...You really didn't think of that? Then I'll have to lower your intelligence level assessment by one level, making it the same level as a bacteriophage."

"Wait, let me explain... no, I mean, I want to clarify." Platinum quickly waved his hand.

Indeed, how come I never considered this before? The undefeated treble is extremely important to me, and I can't give it up no matter what.

By giving the Emperor of the East Sea a chance to recover, he essentially created another adversary for himself—a rather dangerous one at that…

It doesn't seem very dangerous.

Platinum recalled the scene from the Japanese derby. It was entirely her lead, with the East Sea Emperor trailing behind and inhaling her exhaust fumes.

"It may sound arrogant to say that..." Platinum scratched his head, "but since even the Satsuki Sho Tokai Teio, which is full of negative factors, couldn't beat me, and in the Japanese Derby, he couldn't get ahead of me from start to finish, and the Chrysanthemum Sho long-distance race is my forte..."

"I feel like the Chrysanthemum Award champion can't possibly be anyone else. I've already beaten almost everyone in my year who's really good at it, haven't I?"

"Even if the East Sea Emperor can recover, she was already slower than me, and she had one less summer training camp than me. There's no reason why she could beat me, right?"

This was a rather complacent and arrogant answer, but Alice did not refute it.

Because the one who said this was Satsuki Sho and the consecutive champion of the Japanese derby, who defeated the Hong Kong Horse King Golden Gun Sixty.

She has the right to say that.

While the Satsuki Sho title might have some back-and-forth element, the Japanese Derby is entirely dominated by Platinum.

A crushing victory from start to finish proclaims its unique and overwhelming dominance.

Whether it's Ibuki Maikaku, Leodeban, or even the New Universe and the Eastern Sea Emperor, they have all been left far behind by Platinum.

Platinum is world-class. Not just in terms of being qualified for world-class competitions, but in terms of being qualified to win major international awards!

Healing the Emperor of the East Sea would become a surplus of platinum. Since there was a way to spare her the pain caused by him, there was no reason to refuse.

But... a new problem has arisen.

"So your purpose in helping the Emperor of the East Sea is to make her participate in the Chrysanthemum Appreciation, and then lose another match? I didn't realize you were so cunning."

"···Grass."

Platinum hadn't even considered this question. With her single-minded approach, these questions were indeed troubling for her.