Without a doubt, Eclipse won the Satsuki Sho.
And it was no ordinary victory.
One hundred eighty-four lengths. Even combing through the entire history of Umamusume racing, it would be hard to find even a single record comparable to it.
After all, the Satsuki Sho was only a medium-distance race. The course was two thousand meters in total, which converted to just over eight hundred lengths. A lead of one hundred eighty-four lengths was nearly a quarter of the entire race.
Forget the Satsuki Sho. Not even in races where top Umamusume were stomping weak fields had a result like this ever appeared.
Even the racecourse's automatic electronic scoreboard had only been preset to display a maximum two-digit lead, topping out at ninety-nine lengths. That was why, the moment Eclipse crossed the finish line, the judge had not immediately announced her result, but had instead gone to find a machine, printed the data on site, and only then read it aloud.
It was a landslide.
An unquestionable landslide.
And afterward, without even needing to use the backup plans Yayoi Akikawa had prepared, the voices criticizing Kitahara and Eclipse swiftly vanished.
There was no need to argue anything. Before absolute strength, the outside world's doubts toward Kitahara seemed so flimsy they were almost laughable. In fact, in the days after the race ended, a wave of people deleting their accounts and quitting the internet swept across the web, even making it onto trending searches for a time.
And it was not only the doubts that had been shattered. Once the wave of attacks against Kitahara receded, those who supported him finally had the chance to speak. As time passed, their voices grew stronger and stronger, and the things he had done in the past were gradually dug up and revealed.
After the race, almost overnight, public opinion of Kitahara completely reversed. In one leap, he became a red-hot national figure. Countless praises and invitations came one after another, and the reporters who wanted to interview him and Eclipse surrounded Tracen in layer after layer.
But while the outside situation was improving across the board, while the atmosphere within Tracen grew more relaxed, and while the investigation into the Black Market members advanced rapidly, drawing ever closer to the moment of closing the net, Kitahara sat in the dorm with a melancholy expression. There was not the slightest trace of relief or happiness on his face.
"This is difficult..."
Sitting in the dorm chair, Kitahara sighed deeply.
Although Eclipse had won beautifully, not only reversing public opinion of him in one move but also bringing him help in all sorts of ways, by all rights, he ought to be happy right now.
But right now, he could not feel happy at all.
It was not because he was worried that he had attracted the attention of some Umamusume family and might have to move into a basement in the future or something—though, admittedly, there was a bit of that too.
But compared with things like basements, what Kitahara was more worried and troubled about now was the condition of the Umamusume on his team, and even some who were not on his team.
Eclipse's overwhelming victory had indeed solved many problems, but at the same time, it had brought many new ones. The most obvious among them was naturally the impact her displayed strength and result had on other Umamusume.
It was not as though history had never seen extremely powerful Umamusume, nor had there never been superhorses who suppressed an entire era with the strength of a single horse.
There was no need to look elsewhere. Symboli Rudolf alone, as an undefeated Triple Crown winner, could basically be said to have ruled over the Umamusume of her generation. Even to this day, her fame and prestige remained terrifying.
But even someone as powerful as Rudolf still existed within the "normal range" of people's understanding. She had never produced an absurd result like leading second place by almost a quarter of the track in a top-class race. And after entering her decline, she had indeed lost several races.
Eclipse was different.
Her strength had gone beyond everyone's understanding of Umamusume—and far beyond it.
That excessive gap was enough to make people unable to muster the slightest desire to compete with her. It was like facing an uncrossable mountain; all that arose in their hearts was a deep sense of powerlessness, even despair. It was enough to make many Umamusume who loved running begin to doubt the meaning of their own existence.
But their situations were not the most serious.
The ones most heavily impacted by Eclipse were undoubtedly the Umamusume who had participated in this Satsuki Sho.
Not only had they personally been crushed to pieces on the track by Eclipse's terrifying strength and received the most severe shock at the closest possible range, but during the race, they had also suffered the passive intrusion of Eclipse's malice.
Although afterward, after several days of discussion, URA decided not to downgrade or suspend them—if one lost too miserably in a race, one's competition grade could be lowered, or one could even be suspended from racing—even if URA did not suspend them, after this race, forget setting foot on the track again. Whether they could avoid being left with too severe a psychological shadow and live the rest of their lives normally was already a question.
No need to talk about anyone else. Just within Kitahara's own team, there were already three direct victims of Eclipse.
One had to understand that, not counting Tokai Teio, before this, thanks to Kitahara's training and care, Agnes Tachyon and Manhattan Cafe had already been Tier 0 existences among the Umamusume of their generation. As long as they did not intentionally mess around, they could basically win whatever race they wanted, and by a considerable margin at that.
But this time, even though they used every trick they had, even though they performed beyond their usual level and linked their Domains together to resist Eclipse, the final result was still a crushing defeat.
And the two of them were relatively better off by comparison. After returning to the waiting room, they could still force smiles and congratulate Eclipse, then prepare for the upcoming Winner's Concert.
As for the other Umamusume, quite a few shut themselves away completely after leaving the track, indirectly causing the Winner's Concert afterward to be canceled.
After returning to the academy, Agnes Tachyon, unusually, did not tease Kitahara. Instead, she prepared to go back to her lab alone and stay there. Manhattan Cafe was also hollow-eyed, occasionally murmuring something to herself.
Considering their mental states, although Kitahara felt it might not be good to let them continue staying with Eclipse, for safety reasons, he still brought both of them back to his dorm, carefully watched over and comforted them, and even did not hesitate to use some less-than-conventional methods of consolation before barely stabilizing their conditions.
But even so, this matter was still far from over.
Although he had barely stabilized their mental states, the shock they had suffered and the shadows left in their hearts still existed, and needed to be resolved further.
And even if that further resolution was completed, Eclipse's current situation was a problem too.
After running such a terrifying result, saying she should not continue racing seemed a little inappropriate. But if she were allowed to keep racing, she would definitely continue leaving psychological scars on others.
Kitahara even suspected that, given Eclipse's current fame and the ability she had shown, if she truly signed up for some race, whether the other participants would show up—or rather, whether they would dare to show up—was itself a question.
Based on that, under the instigation of a certain trio of fun-seekers, Eclipse proposed a suggestion that sounded rather absurd, and in reality was also very absurd.
"What do you think of having to withdraw because of pregnancy?"
"Not good at all."
Kitahara shot her an irritated sideways glance.
What a joke. Even setting aside her identity as an Umamusume and her current fame, Eclipse was still attending school. How could Kitahara possibly agree to that?
Moreover, aside from the problem of the two-girl group and Eclipse, Kitahara himself also had some issues right now.
During his earlier conversation with Shanish, he had not only talked about the Black Market and Eclipse. He had also discussed the strange power inside his body with Shanish in depth, and learned a shocking piece of information.
"Attracting Umamusume? Stirring up desire? No, no, no. Those are only minor manifestations of the power inside you before it has matured. Only after it truly starts to grow, even strengthen, will it reveal what it ought to look like..."
"Kitahara, what do you think the essence of this power of yours is?"
"It is emotion. Or, to be more precise, the condensation of positive emotion."
"Or you could call it goodwill."
"Mm. You're thinking correctly. I admit that this power has something to do with me. But as for more details and its origin, it isn't convenient for me to tell you for the time being. I can only tell you some things about its development."
"I believe you've already felt it. Ever since that power appeared inside your body, it has been continuously developing and growing stronger, and its speed has been getting faster and faster. By now, it is no longer something you can contain with a single human body. You have to establish connections with others and have them help you share the burden."
"Don't be nervous. I'm not saying this power is harmful. Quite the opposite. Whether for humans or Umamusume, this power has considerable benefits. Not only can it bring enhancements in all sorts of aspects, it also has a relatively special effect, which I call a 'bridge.'"
"A bridge, to put it simply, is something that can establish an emotion-based connection between two different beings—humans, Umamusume, or even any other living creature that harbors goodwill. It allows them to share certain things with each other, such as spirit, thoughts, even physical strength, power, and lifespan. That is also the principle behind others sharing the burden of that power for you."
"Of course, establishing a connection requires certain methods. Expressing goodwill—especially intimate actions that carry goodwill—can strengthen the bridge's connection, while the opposite will weaken it. That should be easy to understand."
"However, although this power itself does not carry any attribute that harms others, and can even, conversely, make up for the wounds in someone's heart and soothe dark psychology and the like, there is a saying: too much is as bad as too little."
"If you use this power to influence those who are insane, or whose minds are dark, it can probably turn them normal, or even a little more inclined toward kindness."
"But if the one being influenced by this power is already extremely positive and kind, then after reaching a certain level, excessive goodwill—or rather, excessive love—may very likely bring about distortion."
"And this is what is currently happening in this world."
...
Shanish said many things. They sounded grand and profound, but they were actually not complicated.
To translate it simply, what she meant was more or less that the various Heavy Track phenomena, as well as the existence of the Black Market, were not the dark side of this world. On the contrary, they were the product of excessive love becoming distorted.
Or, in other words, weird fanfic.
And if Kitahara distributed the power outward, although the power itself carried no harm, excessive goodwill could still affect the Umamusume helping him share the burden.
Heavy Track, or reaching a point where their minds were filled with nothing but the thought of loving him, unable to think of anything else—this was the distortion that excessive love could potentially bring.
But Shanish did not only raise the problem. She also provided Kitahara with a solution.
"Build a harem. And the bigger, the better."
Under Kitahara's shocked gaze, Shanish explained with a calm expression,
"If a single person finds it difficult to bear, then establish more connections. The more vessels there are, the less power each one receives, and the smaller the influence on them."
"Right now, your power is still in its initial shaping stage, so its growth rate isn't that fast yet. But after some more time passes, I'm afraid it will begin increasing exponentially."
"But I don't recommend you Uma Pyoi with Umamusume whose True Awakening has not yet ended. Compared to others, Umamusume during True Awakening are more easily influenced by that power."
"Other intimate actions are still fine. But if you proceed to the final step, the 'bridge' between you will probably become too stable, causing them to receive excessive goodwill and increasing the possibility of accidents."
As for not being able to go mare-jumping with Umamusume before their True Awakening was complete, Kitahara agreed with both hands and feet raised.
But building a harem...
"Don't think about bearing it alone. First of all, this was never your responsibility alone to begin with. After all, you did not cause the source of this power. And even if you want to bear it, I'm afraid you won't be able to."
"When goodwill exceeds the limit your body can contain, it will naturally spread outward. Even if you hide deep in the mountains and forests, even if you take your own life, it will not disappear. It will always spread out. When that time comes, without your control, it will only cause greater destruction."
Shanish's words blocked every possible path of retreat for Kitahara. Although he felt this matter sounded somewhat absurd, when he thought carefully about everything that had happened since he crossed over, he also felt that there was somehow a damn thread of logic to it.
"...Let me think about it."
In the end, faced with Shanish's suggestion, that was the only answer Kitahara could give. And while comforting Manhattan Cafe and Agnes Tachyon, he also took time to think about this headache-inducing problem.
Building a harem? Although he now admitted that there were indeed a few Umamusume who liked him, setting aside whether they could accept him building a harem, even if they did accept it, according to Shanish's explanation, a harem in the single digits probably would not be enough to suppress that excessive goodwill. Instead, it might even hurt them...
Moreover, during this period, aside from Manhattan Cafe, Agnes Tachyon, Eclipse, and his own problems, he had another issue that gave him even more of a headache than all of these.
It was also the real reason he was sighing now.
Tokai Teio.
The Satsuki Sho.
Fourth place.
That was what Kitahara was most worried about right now.
---
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