"Norn, what happened...?"
Rudy Lemono came over in concern to greet Norn Ace as she stepped off the track looking utterly dejected.
"You actually lost to that Dust Bunny? That's not like you at all..." Mini the Lady said from beside her.
In her eyes, Norn Ace should have been able to beat Oguri Cap easily.
Could it be that something had gone wrong with Norn Ace physically?
Norn Ace's expression was grim. She folded her arms across her chest and lightly bit her lower lip.
"You don't get it..."
"She's on a completely different level from us..."
During the race just now, Norn Ace had tried to overtake Oguri Cap. But the gap between them in finishing speed was simply too huge. In the space of a single instant, Oguri Cap had opened an enormous lead on her. One moment the other girl had still been right in front of her, and the next she had already pulled several lengths ahead. Norn Ace couldn't shake that overwhelming disparity from her mind.
Fight back?
Would it even have made a difference...?
"Well, I invested in Oguri Cap because I saw value in her as an investment~"
In her low spirits, Norn Ace suddenly remembered what Sakuraba had said to them before...
Had that guy already predicted this would happen?
So he'd said that back then because he'd already been waiting to laugh at her today...?
Ugh...!
Damn it...!
When Norn Ace turned her head, ready to glare fiercely at that investor who was clearly planning to laugh at her, she found the situation was a little different from what she had imagined.
Sakuraba was standing there with his mouth hanging open and his eyes completely vacant while Oguri Cap shook him back and forth by the shoulders. He looked so utterly soul-departed that anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was Norn Ace's Trainer—the one who had just lost the race.
"?"
Norn Ace could only slowly produce a question mark.
...
"Kitahara, what's wrong with Sakuraba-san...?"
As Oguri Cap shook the despondent Sakuraba back and forth, she turned to Kitahara beside her and asked in confusion.
"Uh... well."
Looking at Sakuraba, whose mood had suddenly cratered, Kitahara couldn't make heads or tails of it either. He could only voice the guess that came to mind.
"Maybe seeing you win made him so happy, Oguri Cap. After all, to Sakuraba-san, you're an important... uh, important...?"
"Important...?"
The moment Oguri Cap heard that key word from Kitahara, her ears shot straight up on top of her head.
For a moment, Kitahara didn't know what to say. At first he had wanted to say that Oguri Cap was an important project to Sakuraba, but that sounded far too cold and impersonal, so he stopped himself and tried to think of another word.
Unfortunately, he wasn't exactly quick with words, so in the end all he could do was fumble out:
"That's right. You're important to Sakuraba-san!"
"Important...!"
Oguri Cap's eyes lit up at once, and her tail started swishing furiously behind her.
Meanwhile, Sakuraba's mind was still racing.
At this point, the fact that he had misjudged Oguri Cap was already reality. Regret was useless now.
From what he could tell, Oguri Cap's strength at the regional level was truly outstanding. At the very least, she clearly had the ability to stand out on the regional circuit.
But there was no need to be too pessimistic!
Maybe Norn Ace's strength just hadn't lived up to her reputation, which was why Oguri Cap had been able to beat her so easily.
And things still hadn't reached the worst possible point. So what if Oguri Cap's ability had exceeded his expectations? As long as she wasn't strong enough to win major stakes, there was still no problem!
Oguri Cap was still, in the end, a regional Umamusume!
Yes, Sakuraba had misjudged her.
He'd thought Oguri Cap was just some Umamusume who would amount to nothing on the regional circuit, but now it looked like she actually had considerable talent even there!
But this was still just the regional circuit!
As long as it didn't involve those major level races, there was still room to turn things around!
My star of losing money still has hope!
"Whoa—!"
Sakuraba finally snapped back to himself with a strange yelp, his head wobbling from side to side as Oguri Cap shook him.
"S-stop... My head's gonna come off!"
"Oh."
Hearing Sakuraba's cry of distress, Oguri Cap finally stopped. She looked at him with a face full of excitement.
"Sakuraba-san, I won the race. Can I call you by your name directly now?"
"Uh... sure, go ahead."
Sakuraba hadn't expected Oguri Cap to care this much about forms of address.
Well, if calling him by name would make her happy, then she could call him that.
"Ryo!"
"Mhm... Oguri Cap."
"No." Oguri Cap looked at Sakuraba seriously. "You should call me Oguri."
"All right, all right... Oguri it is..."
For some reason, Sakuraba had the strange feeling that if he refused her, Oguri Cap might just kidnap him on the spot.
That had to be his imagination. There was no way a good kid like Oguri would do anything that outrageous...
Definitely his imagination.
Right, but there was still one more important thing to deal with!
"Kitahara-san."
With a solemn expression, Sakuraba placed both hands on Kitahara's shoulders.
"Oguri's result this time was very good."
"But I want both of you to pay more attention to keeping the training intensity under control. Especially you—you're an important employee. I can't have you wearing yourself out!"
"Make sure you get proper rest, both you and Oguri."
In other words, go slack off properly for me!
Who told you to train like this?!
I can't have you ruining my grand money-losing plan!
Naturally, Kitahara had no idea what Sakuraba was really thinking.
Hearing those words, he was deeply moved.
Sakuraba-san really was such a good boss. He even cared this much about the physical and mental well-being of his employees and investment targets...
He really... I'm gonna cry!
So Kitahara nodded seriously and said,
"Oguri and I will make sure to rest properly!"
Then train seriously to repay your investment!
That was practically what Kitahara's eyes were saying.
Hearing Kitahara's reply, Sakuraba nodded in satisfaction.
Looks like Kitahara really did understand the deeper meaning behind his words. He'd grasped the true essence of slacking off.
I'm already paying you such a high salary. Just coast along and kill time—stop working so hard!
At that thought, Sakuraba's mood improved immensely, and he said, "Well then, to celebrate the win, I'm taking you all out for a big meal later!"
"Huh? We're doing a celebration party for a practice race too?" Kitahara asked in surprise.
"Of course!"
After the scare Oguri had just given him, he'd nearly died on the spot. He needed to lose a nice chunk of money first to calm himself down.
"Oh, right, Oguri—isn't that your friend over there? Bring her along to the celebration too."
Spotting Belno Light in the distance, Sakuraba smiled as he spoke.
One more mouth to feed meant a little more money lost too!
---
T/N: yea... y-YEA! this is just a practice race, that norn ace gyaru girl is prob not that good anyways hahahahahaha the plan is still going to succeed hahaha