Sakuraba froze for a moment and quickly searched his memory for the name "Obey Your Master"—
Nothing. No memory at all. Completely unfamiliar.
But the girl in front of him was smiling brightly, her yellow eyes sparkling with star-like flecks as she looked at him with a playful familiarity, as if they'd known each other for ages.
"How do you know my name?" Sakuraba asked on instinct, his tone edged with caution and confusion.
"Hehe, that's a secret~"
Obey Your Master blinked at him, her voice light and lilting, almost as if she were humming a tune.
"But I can tell you this—I'm here for the Japan Cup too. So? Want to consider working with me as well?"
Her Japanese was fluent, though there was a faint foreign accent she couldn't quite hide. The slight lift at the ends of her sentences gave her an especially lively, outgoing air.
Sakuraba gave her a careful look. She wasn't very tall, and her long pale-blonde hair hung loose down her back. Her sports jacket was worn open in a casual way, and her whole bearing radiated a free-spirited confidence.
"You're... a foreign representative too?" Sakuraba asked tentatively.
"Yep~~"
Obey Your Master nodded cheerfully and lightly tapped a finger against her cheek.
"But I'm no favorite, you know. Just a tiny little Umamusume with no name to speak of."
She said it with complete ease, and her eyes still shone brightly, without a trace of inferiority or hesitation.
Sakuraba fell silent for a few seconds. Remembering the string of rejections he'd just suffered, he could only laugh bitterly to himself.
...Yeah.
So choosing to become a turncoat really had been a mistake.
He'd thought he could easily approach the other top foreign Umamusume and help them win the Japan Cup.
But apparently, heaven had no intention of helping him.
Turncoats really never do get a good ending.
After running into wall after wall, Sakuraba had finally accepted reality.
Damn it. The turncoat plan had died halfway through.
And the only Umamusume willing to work with him was some total nobody he'd never even heard of—
Ugh.
Being a turncoat is hard. I want to go back to Hokkaido.
Looking into Obey Your Master's glittering starry eyes only made the frustration in Sakuraba's chest feel heavier.
He let out a long sigh and gave a tired wave of his hand.
"As for working together... let's not. Thanks for coming to me on your own, but—"
He paused, and his voice dropped.
"I'm really not in the mood to talk about that right now. Just let me be alone for a while."
"Ehh—wait!"
The moment he finished speaking, he started to turn away, intending to find a quiet corner somewhere and properly process this relentless series of failures.
"You look really down. That won't do~~"
Her tone was light and natural, as though she were making the most ordinary suggestion in the world.
But instead of leaving, Obey Your Master skipped a step closer to his side. She bent forward slightly and tilted her head, peering up at Sakuraba's lowered face from below, her smile still as bright as ever.
"If you're in a bad mood, then why not go on a date with me? A change of pace might help!"
"A d-date?!"
That word hit Sakuraba so suddenly it short-circuited his gloom for a second. His face went blank with astonishment.
"What are you even saying...? We only just met."
"That's exactly why we need to get to know each other better!"
Obey Your Master declared it with perfect conviction, even wagging a finger in front of him.
"And besides, you just got turned down by Tony Bianca-san, didn't you? So you should know how awful it feels to be rejected~ Since I'd rather not experience that myself, come relax with me a little. Who knows? Maybe you'll get some fresh ideas."
There was a teasing note in her words, but her eyes were strikingly sincere. The energy she gave off was so straightforward and overwhelming that Sakuraba found himself at a loss for how to refuse.
He opened his mouth to reject her again, but when he saw those expectant, cloudless starry eyes, the words caught in his throat.
It was true—he'd just had a firsthand taste of being rejected again and again, and it had felt terrible.
"...Fine."
In the end, he let out a resigned sigh, his shoulders loosening a little.
"But forget the 'date' part. Let's just say... I'm showing you around a bit, and I'll use it to clear my head. We can wander wherever you want. I'll cover the expenses."
"Yay!"
Obey Your Master immediately threw both hands up in delight, her long hair swaying with the movement.
"Then it's settled~ Don't worry, I won't bankrupt you. I know a few really nice little shops!"
She naturally fell into step at his side, keeping half a pace of distance—neither crowding him nor seeming distant.
Watching her animated profile from the side, Sakuraba's feelings were a little complicated.
Why does it feel like I'm being led around by the nose here?
But... whatever.
He looked up at the sky. The afternoon sun had already softened.
The frustration from getting turned down over and over was still lodged in his chest, but with this lively, chattering presence at his side, it somehow... didn't feel quite so heavy anymore.
At the very least, he could put his grand turncoat ambitions out of his mind for now.
What Sakuraba didn't know was that a mysterious smile had appeared on Obey Your Master's face as she walked just ahead of him.
Just as planned.
Still smiling, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye and began musing to herself.
Sakuraba Ryo.
The investor behind Oguri Cap and Tamamo Cross.
Before the Japanese Derby, he flew from Hokkaido to Tokyo by plane.
After that, Oguri Cap's strength underwent explosive growth.
Tamamo Cross had also gone through a period of explosive growth in her racing career...
He must have invested in her during that stretch.
From those two cases alone, a pattern could already be drawn.
This man has some method that lets people's strength surge.
If I can clear up some of the suspicious points around him, then my own strength should be able to rise dramatically too.
So...
Obey Your Master turned lightly on her heel to face Sakuraba, a smile blooming across her face even brighter than the afternoon sun. Her starry eyes shone so brightly they were almost dazzling.
"Then for our first stop, let's hit the shopping street nearby! I hear the crepes and candied apples there are super famous~~"
Her tone was full of excitement, as if she really were nothing more than a foreign tourist here to sightsee and enjoy herself.
"Come on, Sakuraba-san!"
"..."
Sakuraba was momentarily dazed by the sheer brightness of her smile. He answered almost on reflex and followed after her.
He still hadn't fully shaken off his earlier gloom, and right now his only impression was that this self-proclaimed "nobody" of an Umamusume had way too much energy.
Walking just ahead of him, Obey Your Master still wore that cheerful, harmless smile—but in the depths of her eyes, there flashed a sharp glint utterly at odds with her outward appearance.
The plan is proceeding smoothly.
She murmured it to herself inwardly, her steps so light they almost seemed to dance.
Get close to him. Observe him. Talk to him naturally...
The important thing was to lower his guard.
Oguri Cap and Tamamo Cross had both made breakthrough leaps in strength only after he had "invested" in them.
That could not be a coincidence.
He had to be holding some kind of "key"—
Or perhaps he himself was some kind of "catalyst"...
A unique training method?
Some kind of psychological guidance technique?
Or something even harder to pin down... like a special aura that could awaken a person's hidden potential?
Whatever it is, I'm going to dig that secret out of him~
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T/N: 6 9