Only One Year Left—I'll Become a Legendary Uma Musume!-Chapter 282: Only One Year Left—I’ll Become a Legendary Uma Musume! 2 [226]
Sure enough, when it came to laying out a battle plan for Almond Eye and Gentildonna... it was easy, and it wasn’t.
Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? But there’s no exaggeration there, because this was, in truth, a problem full of opposites.
To start with, if we’re only talking about making a plan, there wasn’t much extra to puzzle over. You build around the conditions of the track. And for the Shuka Sho—a course Gotham Song had run herself—
As the final leg of the Triple Tiara, the Shuka Sho is actually run on the same course as the Kikuka Sho.
In other words, the same track where Gotham Song and Tokai Teio once pulled off that princess-carry Runaway.
What’s special about this course?
It’s usually a firm track, but it comes with a massive slope. Still, the Triple Tiara distance is only 2000 meters—far, far gentler than the Kikuka Sho’s terrifying length—so the stamina demand isn’t quite as brutal. And because the race is shorter, you’re not dealing with as many repeats of that climb, either.
So in that situation, what does normal pre-race preparation look like?
The runner’s own points of caution, the specifics of the course, and what to watch out for from the opponents.
But—
For what Gotham Song was facing now, there was a subtle, peculiar twist.
Among the Triple Tiara entrants, two of them had been coached by Gotham Song.
So Gotham Song could only sigh and cut down her workload—specifically, the opponent-analysis portion.
Because if both sides were her girls, and she gave both of them full, detailed pre-race reads... no matter how you looked at it, that was weird. And it could easily spiral into things like her left and right brain trying to outscheme each other, setting traps with "information gaps," that sort of nonsense.
Almond Eye and Gentildonna understood that perfectly. More than that—this was exactly what they wanted.
It wasn’t that they disliked Gotham Song’s guidance. It was simply that, after clashing twice already, Gentildonna and Almond Eye had built a fairly deep understanding of each other.
And under those conditions, the two of them—without even needing to say it—landed on the same thought.
I’m going to beat her relying only on myself.
In other words, two Umamusume trained by the same Trainer quietly refused any "extra" intel about the other, choosing instead to go into the next race head-on—steel to steel—entirely on their own.
It made Gotham Song marvel. When had their relationship gotten good enough for this?
Only...
While Gotham Song was marveling, Dancing Brave shot her a look that was hard to describe.
Poor kid.
So you still haven’t realized that what you’re calling "close enough" is simply them wanting to... crush the other completely, punch her clean out of the chase, and end the whole struggle?
Honestly, Gotham Song’s mind showed signs of "evolving toward human," but the storage space for critical common sense—or, more specifically, her ability to recognize what Umamusume were actually feeling—still looked like a withered tree trunk.
A tree that’s already fallen... how’s it supposed to bloom?
But Dancing Brave had no intention of pointing it out. It was more fun this way.
Watching Gotham Song take her first loss off the track felt, somehow, a thousand times more satisfying than blowing past her on the track.
Heehee~ I want to see Song come apart at the seams.
Dancing Brave’s gaze burned.
But Gotham Song, long used to that look, didn’t spare her a glance. She was immersed in organizing her Kyoto Racecourse materials.
Once she’d gathered what she needed and reviewed it again, Gotham Song saved the documents to her tablet and made a folder specifically titled "Kyoto Racecourse Notes."
It was something she’d been doing for a long time—something even Dancing Brave praised as a good habit.
Every time Gotham Song coached one of her team’s girls through a racecourse, she’d save and neatly compile the relevant track and race information as part of the work, then upload it into the same folder to make next time easier.
According to Dancing Brave, very few Trainers in the world did this at all—which was absurd in its own right.
Even though life had fully entered the digital age, if you used Central Tracen’s Trainers as your sample, sure, you could find people who did something similar—but the problem was—
Even with more convenient tools available, those stubborn types still insisted on preserving and checking everything on paper, wasting an unbelievable amount of time.
Dancing Brave had always found it painfully ridiculous.
If you’ve got better tools, use better tools. If you can digitize, then digitize. What—are you Trainers trying to go work for URA?
Gotham Song had once joked, half-seriously, that if she ever lost her tablet, the data inside might get other Trainers fighting like rabid dogs to snatch it up.
Because it wasn’t just neatly organized racecourse information. There was a huge amount of Gotham Song’s own notes in there—her thoughts on track conditions, on every angle of racing, on everything.
Even that alone would be enough to make any Trainer salivate.
The logic was simple. Umamusume who could become Trainers were rare. Umamusume who became Trainers were rarer still. And a top-tier Trainer who was also a top-tier Umamusume?
That was unheard of—until Gotham Song.
Dancing Brave had technically been the first pioneer in that direction, but the problem was that her era only allowed paper records. And once she stopped taking on many Umamusume, her files went years without updates.
So under those circumstances, the contents of Gotham Song’s tablet could practically count as a Trainer’s crash-course manual, or—
A beginner’s guide to becoming a legend: from Trainer to legendary master.
Something terrifyingly close to that.
And so Gotham Song, while bemoaning the pure, clear-headed stupidity of the Trainer world—so backward they didn’t even know how to enjoy the convenience of technology—swore to protect her tablet and never let it fall into anyone else’s hands.
At least... she could consider releasing the files for free to the whole world after her girls had all entered their senior year. By then it wouldn’t affect them, and it wouldn’t affect Gotham Song’s own results, either.
That was what Gotham Song thought.
Was it selfish?
Who knew. If it was, it was. If it wasn’t, it wasn’t. She didn’t care.
So—after setting the tablet down—what did Gotham Song ultimately say to Almond Eye and Gentildonna?
For Almond Eye, it was basically: don’t rush your launch. At the very least, wait until you’ve cleared the first bend before you even think about changing gears.
The reason was simple. Almond Eye wasn’t an Umamusume overflowing with stamina. Two thousand meters was completely within her effective range, yes—but if she forced an early launch, she could easily sink into a losing pattern.
Just like the training race earlier: Almond Eye held on all the way to the end, but in the last two hundred meters—while her speed hadn’t outright collapsed—she showed a hint of fade, and Vernal Equinox crushed her cleanly with a final spurt she’d kept hidden until then.
Gentildonna even came from behind after that, and Almond Eye earned the honor of third place for the first time.
So Almond Eye’s real issue wasn’t a lack of speed. It was that her pace was too hot, her launch too early—leaving a slight crack in the final phase.
All she needed was to hold steady, find the position that suited her perfectly for sustaining a full-race high pace, and then launch. As for everything her opponents might do... that was a whole separate headache.
And Gentildonna?
Gentildonna was even simpler. Or rather, once Gotham Song adjusted the "anti–Almond Eye" portion, Gentildonna’s notes were almost too simple.
The only thing she needed to watch was her distance to Verxina.
Gotham Song had an odd premonition. After getting beaten again and again by Front Runners and Runaways—always finishing third, to the point she was nearly becoming as famous in the circle as Miss Nice Nature—Verxina might just pull off a rebellion worth talking about this time.
After all, she’d been the one who originally ran best as a Front Runner, hadn’t she?
At least, before the Triple Tiara began, Verxina had been the only entrant who was openly, unmistakably a Front Runner. So if she kept getting squeezed out in her own specialty, how would she respond?
Two thousand meters was well within Verxina’s effective range, too. Gotham Song didn’t have hard data—she’d only ever crossed paths with Verxina when she was with Vivlos, and she’d only known that Verxina was her fan.
That sort of relationship clearly wasn’t enough to get Verxina’s running data. All Gotham Song could do was infer from experience and instinct.
And that voice in her heart told her: Verxina absolutely had that level of strength.
That girl wouldn’t be weak in any other era.
She’d just happened to run into two out-of-spec monsters right now, that was all...
Gotham Song sighed. Under Dancing Brave’s gaze, she left the room—and immediately, right at the corner, she saw a familiar, timid silhouette waiting for her.
Only then did Gotham Song realize something else: it was already late. She’d finished her work and hadn’t even noticed she’d skipped dinner.
So who was waiting there?
Strangely enough, Mejiro Manor wasn’t supposed to produce timid Umamusume.
But lately—no, ever since Gotham Song returned—it had gradually "hatched" something fragile inside a girl who’d once been strong and cold.
Mejiro McQueen.
After finishing her usual day at the academy, that idiot little sister had sprinted home at once—and now she was clearly agonizing over whether to wait by the door and grab Gotham Song’s hand the moment she came out, or just walk right in and cling to her outright.
In the end, her calculations came to nothing.
Instead, her sister caught her in a clean, total bust.
"McQueen? Come downstairs and eat with me?"
"Ah—o-okay, Song... Onee-chan." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Gotham Song took Mejiro McQueen’s hand. As they went downstairs, she couldn’t help but marvel at how much her little sister had changed.
Where was the girl who’d talked tough to her at the Kikuka Sho? Was this soft, sweet kid really the same one?
Yes, yes, sisters—of course it is. There are plenty more Umamusume this tender and dependable too... ahem.
Anyway, McQueen really had changed around Gotham Song: as if she were afraid of losing her again, whenever she had free time, Mejiro McQueen chose to stay by Gotham Song’s side.
It even made Gotham Song—scummy big sister that she was—privately wonder whether her little sister regretted that "first meeting" night beneath the Winner’s Live, after Manhattan Cafe took the Kikuka Sho.
Maybe, looking back on it, McQueen couldn’t help but want to scold herself?
My adorable McQueen?
With that thought, Gotham Song fed her little sister another piece of cake. She couldn’t tell whether it was penance for such an evil thought—or whether she was simply feeding her, plain and simple.
In fact, Mejiro Ramonu had helplessly reminded her more than once about Gotham Song’s feeding habits: if she kept this up, McQueen might really end up turning into purple mochi.
Back then, people at Mejiro Manor had worried McQueen was too thin and it might harm her health. After Gotham Song came back, yes—she wasn’t that frail anymore.
But...
Under Gotham Song’s borderline unhinged feeding, Mejiro Manor had, for the first time in ages, rediscovered the old headache of having to manage McQueen’s weight.
For one simple reason:
Gotham Song’s feeding truly never stopped. Not for even a moment.
How exaggerated was it?
So exaggerated that when Phantom Ruka first came to Gotham Song in a dream—when the two of them finally spoke directly—the very first thing out of her mouth was:
"Could you stop feeding your little sister already?"
...Yeah.
It had reached the point where even a ghost couldn’t stand it anymore.
Gotham Song actually took that to heart. At the very least, she really did cut down how often she fed McQueen—so she hadn’t walked the "scummy big sister" path so far that people would black out just watching.
Gotham Song cast an unobtrusive glance at Mejiro McQueen’s tummy. The young Umamusume’s uniform served as an excellent shield, making Gotham Song’s snooping look like a complete failure.
But Gotham Song was a legend. Her powers of observation weren’t just for show.
At the edge of her vision, beneath Mejiro McQueen’s uniform, the faint rise and fall of the fabric traced a curve—subtle, half-hidden, but impossible to miss if you were looking for it.
Mejiro McQueen...
Shouldn’t you start dieting?
And this is definitely not your sister’s fault. Definitely not. Absolutely not.
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T/N: FATTYMCQUEEN
