Hearing Satono Diamond's father's words, Sakura Baimu's expression suddenly turned somewhat strange, but she quickly composed herself and nodded in agreement.
"Okay, it's settled then."
Sakura Baimu had already taken Satono Diamond's father's attitude toward her to heart, but she wouldn't show it in front of her teammates.
As parents, Sakura Baimu could completely understand their concern for their daughter, and making a few requests was perfectly reasonable.
However, Sakura Baimu couldn't ignore Satono Diamond's father's insistence that prestigious Umamusumes were necessarily superior to ordinary Umamusumes.
Sakura Baimu was absolutely determined to prevent her Umamusumes from developing the idea that "ordinary Umamusumes are inferior to prestigious ones."
"You've already said that; if I still bring Satono Crown into the team, what will the other teammates think?"
Therefore, Sakura Baimu made her stance clear: she didn't intend to let Satono Crown join the team.
She had assumed Satono Diamond's father would choose Kitasan Black, but unexpectedly, he chose Smart Falcon and even planned to have her compete against Smart Falcon in the Dirt match.
Tense.
Of course, Satono Diamond's father was unaware of Sakura Baimu's thoughts at this moment. After seeing Sakura Baimu agree, he finally felt relieved.
Seeing the panicked expression on Smart Falcon's cute little face, Satono Diamond's father felt even more confident of victory.
"I'll go back and tell Crown."
Satono Diamond stood inside, watching the conversation between her father and Sakura Baimu, her worries growing stronger.
Just then, Satono Diamond heard the announcement informing her to prepare for Winning Live, only then did she reluctantly say goodbye to the others.
At that moment, Mejiro McQueen glanced sideways at Satono Diamond's father, then spoke to Sakura Baimu.
"Time's almost up, shall we go? Otherwise, we'll miss the Shinkansen."
Sakura Baimu looked at Mejiro McQueen with some surprise upon hearing this, only to see her hold up her phone, showing her several Shinkansen tickets she had purchased online.
Satono Diamond's mother heard Mejiro McQueen's words. She was also startled, her tone tinged with apology.
"Ms. Sakura, after Dia-chan's performance, she can ride back to Tokyo with us."
"No need to trouble you, Ms. Satono. McQueen and Teiō need to prepare for the Takarazuka Kinen in a couple of days, so we'll head back to Tokyo first."
Sakura Baimu then left the venue with her team members.
Seeing Sakura Baimu and her group leave without looking back, Satono Diamond's mother immediately looked at Satono Diamond's father with a sorrowful expression.
"Look at you. Dia-chan only achieved such excellent results because of Ms. Sakura, and you still want Crown to join her team. You didn't say a single nice word, and you even spoke to Ms. Sakura with that attitude. As a result, you made her so angry that she won't ride in your car anymore. Aren't you embarrassed?"
"It's okay. She agreed in front of so many people. After Crown beats that Umamusume named Smart Falcon in a few days, we won't have to worry about anything anymore."
Satono Crown's father nodded, not seeming too concerned about Sakura Baimu's departure.
"Once Crown joins her team, who knows, our Satono Clan might produce two G1 Umamusumes this time. If Dia-chan had really joined Tojo Hana's team, she definitely wouldn't have achieved results so quickly."
—
"I didn't expect you to be so quick-witted," Mejiro McQueen praised Sakura Baimu after leaving the Kyoto Racecourse.
She hadn't told Sakura Baimu beforehand that she had bought Shinkansen tickets, but Sakura Baimu only glanced at them and quickly went along with it.
"You've already bought the tickets; what can I do?" Sakura Baimu said to McQueen with a smile. "No wonder you're a rich girl. You're richer than me."
"Yeah, you should thank me from the bottom of your heart," Mejiro McQueen tossed her hair, acting nonchalant.
"After the Takarazuka Kinen, the next match is GG. After that, unless it's a major G1 match outside of Tokyo, I won't bring you guys to watch. A round trip on the Shinkansen costs hundreds of thousands of yen. Who can afford that?"
With five team members, watching each of their matches once is enough. If she had to send the whole team to every match, she really couldn't handle it.
The team members had no objections to this; in fact, Sakura Baimu was already far better than other trainers.
Few trainers would be willing to take all their members to cheer them on for every match outside of Tokyo, so they naturally understood Sakura Baimu's kindness toward them.
After speaking, Sakura Baimu looked at Smart Falcon, who was extremely uneasy.
"What's wrong? The G3 match has been changed to OP level. Why do you look like that?"
"Falcon is a little worried. It might..."
"It might what? It might be GG? Don't worry. Trust me, you won't lose." Sakura Baimu patted Smart Falcon on the shoulder, encouraging her.
"Speaking of which, I remember the competition Trainer signed Falco-senpai up for was a Dirt competition, right?" Tokai Teio said.
"Yeah, she originally signed her up for a G3-level Dirt competition, but Dia-chan's dad wanted Satono Crown to compete against Falco-senpai in an OP-level competition. I almost burst out laughing then," Kitasan Black recalled, laughing heartily.
Smart Falcon listened to her teammates' banter with a flustered expression, somewhat confused as to why everyone except her was so carefree.
—
Having learned from the Kitasan Black Winning Live incident at her debut competition, Sakura Baimu put extra effort into Satono Diamond's Winning Live, resulting in Satono Diamond's excellent performance.
As expected of a 50,000-person popularity showdown between two prestigious Umamusumes, Satono Diamond's Winning Live performance hardly felt like a debut; it could easily be mistaken for a high-stakes competition.
After Satono Diamond finished her performance and emerged, she saw her waiting parents. Looking around and seeing that anyone from TCB wasn't present, a sudden panic gripped her.
She quickly pulled out her phone and saw a message from Sakura Baimu.
"Dia-chan, we're taking the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. See you tomorrow."
Upon seeing this message, the joy of performing at Winning Live vanished instantly for Satono Diamond.
"As expected, Father's attitude upset Trainer-san…"
Her joy was quickly replaced by a deep sense of guilt, and she silently followed her parents into the car back to Tokyo.
In the car, Satono Diamond's father recalled the astonishing strength his daughter had displayed in her debut match, his words filled with undisguised praise and high expectations for her.
"Father, I have a request."
Satono Diamond noticed that her father's words only mentioned the Satono Clan, the prestigious Umamusume, and her own hard work and talent. He barely mentioned Sakura Baimu, who had contributed the majority of the credit for the victory. She immediately expressed her dissatisfaction.
"What is it, Dia-chan?"
Hearing his daughter's request, whose performance had shone with unparalleled brilliance, Satono Diamond's father naturally prepared to grant it unconditionally.
Satono Diamond's fingers twisted together. She clearly remembered Sakura Baimu registering Smart Falcon for a G3-level Dirt match, only for her father to choose Satono Crown to compete against Smart Falcon in the OP Dirt race.
Clearly, Satono Crown had no chance of winning.
However, Satono Diamond had no intention of telling her father about this. Instead, she spoke in an extremely serious tone.
"Father, if Crown loses this time, perhaps you shouldn't see my team members or my trainer anymore."