Now that he had settled on the foot-massage parlor plan, Sakuraba Ryo moved to put it into action right away.
As luck would have it, he found a karaoke shop near the academy that was up for transfer, and took over the lease for a monthly rent of 500,000 yen.
Sure, starting from scratch and renovating the whole place would definitely make him lose even more money, but for Sakuraba right now, the most important thing was meeting this month's loss quota first.
Renovating a shop from the ground up cost more money, but it also took more time.
And Sakuraba didn't think there was any way a full renovation from scratch could be finished within a single month.
As part of his money-losing plan, the foot-massage parlor needed to show results fast. At the very least, it had to start losing money this month.
So taking over a place that already had fixtures and décor in place was much more convenient for him.
The shop Sakuraba took over had actually been in a pretty good location inside the academy, but it had gone under due to poor management and been forced onto the market.
To be honest, Sakuraba was extremely interested in whatever strategy the previous owner had used to run the place into the ground.
If he could just copy that business strategy, wouldn't he be able to lose money in style?
Unfortunately, there was no way he could walk up to the owner and ask, "So how exactly did you bankrupt this place?" If he actually said something like that, he'd probably be mistaken for someone looking to pick a fight.
In the end, copying someone else's homework just wasn't going to work. Better to give up on that idea and stick to his own foot-massage parlor strategy!
Karaoke was wrong. Foot-massage parlors were right!
Still, if he was going to open a foot-massage parlor... that brought up another problem...
"Kitahara, do you know how to wash feet?"
"Huh?"
Inside the activity room Sakuraba had rented for Kitahara and Oguri Cap's daily training sessions, he turned to Kitahara with a grave expression and asked that question.
"W-wash feet? What do you mean, wash feet?"
Kitahara Jo looked completely baffled, with no idea what kind of nonsense his boss was on about this time.
"Judging by that look on your face, you probably have no idea what I'm even talking about either."
How is anyone supposed to understand you when you say it like that?!
Kitahara Jo screamed inwardly.
Tch. Well, not having any professional foot attendants wasn't really a problem. If worst came to worst, he could just help out himself when the time came.
Back when he ran his talent agency, he'd thoughtfully given his employees foot rubs too.
Well, that was all in the past.
"Come to think of it, Kitahara, where's Oguri Cap? I haven't seen her around."
Sakuraba glanced around, but Oguri Cap was nowhere in sight.
"Oh, that. I was actually going to talk to you about her, Sakuraba-san."
Kitahara Jo turned to Sakuraba with an excited look on his face.
"Your eye for talent was spot on. Oguri is amazing!"
"Oh, it's just some training-related stuff, huh? You can handle that yourse—wait, what did you just say?"
Sakuraba had been about to brush him off, assuming Kitahara was once again going to ramble on about Oguri Cap, when he suddenly realized something was off.
"You said Oguri Cap is amazing?"
"Yeah!"
"Oguri Cap??"
"That's right!"
Kitahara Jo looked positively thrilled.
"Oguri's talent is incredible! Her joints are so flexible that she can run with an extreme forward lean, and her legs can still generate explosive power to drive her speed!"
"Ability like that is rare even at Central!"
As Kitahara kept babbling away excitedly, Sakuraba's jaw gradually dropped toward the floor.
Forcing himself to keep a calm expression, he asked,
"But didn't Kitahara say... gray-haired Umamusume can't run fast?"
"But Oguri's the exception!"
The moment he said that, the light in Kitahara's eyes only grew brighter.
"You could even say she's the hope that can overturn that whole ridiculous claim!"
...Wait, what?
You're saying I picked an Umamusume at random, and she just happened to be a one-in-ten-thousand natural-born monster?
No, no. Calm down, Sakuraba.
Who is Kitahara? He's the middling trainer you picked on purpose. His judgment isn't necessarily right.
Compared to the idea that some random Umamusume he chose happened to be a once-in-a-generation prodigy, Sakuraba found it much more likely that Kitahara had simply misjudged her.
"Oh, right. Oguri Cap's got a practice race coming up. Sakuraba-san, do you want to come watch?"
"I'm going."
Sakuraba answered without hesitation. He wanted to see for himself exactly what Oguri Cap was made of.
There was no way he could really have invested in a genius by pure chance, right?
No chance!
There was no way his prized star for losing money was actually a mole!
Kitahara had to be mistaken!
...
Kasamatsu Training Center Academy, training grounds.
At that moment, Oguri Cap was already set at the starting line for the practice race.
Kitahara and Sakuraba stood at the edge of the track.
"Oguri, just run like you do in training. This practice race shouldn't be difficult for you."
Kitahara instructed her seriously. This was the first time he would be showing Sakuraba the results of his training, so naturally he wanted Oguri Cap to perform as well as possible.
"Okay, Kitahara. I'll do my best."
As she said that, Oguri Cap walked over to Sakuraba and looked at him seriously.
"What is it, Oguri Cap?"
Being stared at so intently made Sakuraba a little uncomfortable, so he spoke first.
"Sakuraba-san."
"Mm?"
"Your name."
"My name?"
Sakuraba looked puzzled, not understanding what she meant.
"If I win this practice race, can I call you by your name directly?"
"Uh... honestly, you can already call me that if you want...?"
Sakuraba couldn't help but laugh a little. He hadn't expected Oguri Cap to approach him so solemnly over something as small as how to address him.
"No." Oguri Cap shook her head and looked at him earnestly. "I have to win first. Otherwise it won't count as a reward..."
"And I want Sakuraba-san to call me Oguri too."
"I want to earn that chance myself."
"...All right."
If Oguri Cap put it that way, how was Sakuraba supposed to object?
"But it's fine even if you lose, okay? You can still call me by name even if you lose—"
By the time Sakuraba finished speaking, Oguri Cap had already turned and gone back to the starting line, so who knew whether she had actually heard him or not.
Well, it's only a practice race... no need to take it that seriously, right?
Then again, there's no need to take official races that seriously either. It's not like I'm expecting you to win in the first place.
While Sakuraba was still thinking this sort of nonsense to himself, his gaze drifted to the lane beside Oguri Cap's—and there, standing on the track as well, was a familiar girl with a side ponytail.
"Isn't that that one girl...?"
The sharp-tongued Umamusume—what was her name again... N-Norn Ace?
Something like that, probably.
Well, he'd heard she was fairly well-known around Kasamatsu. Supposedly a pretty solid regional runner.
Perfect. She'd make a good measuring stick for figuring out what Oguri Cap was really made of.
---
T/N: no... my loser horse isnt a loser...? NO! it cant be!