Carrying her belongings, Sakura Baimu easily entered Tracen Academy.
She arrived at the track and looked around. Even so late, quite a few Umamusumes were still there.
However, these Umamusumes were clearly not from Tracen Academy. Some appeared to be younger Umamusumes not yet of school age, while others seemed to be students from Pluto Academy.
As the only Umamusume present wearing the Tracen Academy uniform, Sakura Baimu felt somewhat out of place, but not entirely.
After all, this was Tracen Academy's track.
She placed her things on the grass, then took out her timer and started running.
However, Sakura Baimu didn't notice that from the moment she appeared on the track, a pair of dark green eyes had been watching her.
—
Meanwhile, Symboli Rudolf and Maruzensky were in a classroom with a direct view of the racetrack, observing every move of the Umamusumes on the track.
Originally, Akikawa Yayoi had assigned this task to a member of the student council, but considering Maruzensky's lack of other activities, Rudolf called her over.
"What's so interesting about this? Our school's Umamusumes already practiced on the track this afternoon. Who would be racing on the track so late at night?" Maruzensky grumbled, annoyed that Symboli Rudolf had disrupted her racing night.
"What if a student comes to train at night, and someone happens to be watching her? We can't take any chances," Symboli Rudolf spoke, standing there watching the Umamusumes on the track.
"Hmm? Symboli Rudolf, look over there."
Maruzensky suddenly noticed a figure and smiled, her eyes narrowing.
"Looks like we didn't find the person who was going to attack the Umamusumes, but we've spotted someone else."
Symboli Rudolf looked in the direction Maruzensky was pointing and saw a figure wearing a red Tracen Academy tracksuit and a hat walking toward them.
Although Symboli Rudolf couldn't see the person's face, she immediately recognized the Umamusume after seeing the signature blue ponytail and ears.
"Is that 'Ogura' from that night!?"
This was quite an unexpected bonus.
"She's wearing our school's tracksuit. Has she already joined our academy? But I don't think I received any notification."
"If it's just a tracksuit, the chairman should be able to get one easily," Maruzensky chuckled.
Both of them focused their attention on Sakura Baimu, who had started running on the track.
Since Sakura Baimu came to Tracen Academy to run, it certainly wasn't to improve her stamina, but rather her speed.
After all, Tracen Academy's track doesn't have speed limits like public roads.
"Not bad speed. Looks like she's just warming up." Maruzensky touched her cheek, her eyes full of amusement.
"Wait a minute, Ski, look over there. There's an Umamusume walking toward Ogura."
Symboli Rudolf suddenly noticed an Umamusume with long, wavy blonde hair walking toward Sakura Baimu on the track.
"She's definitely not a Japanese Umamusume. It must be someone from Pluto Academy, right?"
Seeing this, Maruzensky lowered her hand, sensing things were starting to turn sour.
"Could it really be that people from Pluto Academy specifically chose nighttime to target Tracen Academy's Umamusumes?"
Maruzensky looked at the blonde Umamusume, who had started talking to Sakura Baimu. Her playful tone faded as she looked at Symboli Rudolf.
"I can sense a considerable Zone aura from that blonde Umamusume, but this Ogura clearly hasn't activated her Zone yet."
"Rudolf, should we stop them?"
Symboli Rudolf paused for a moment, then gave no response.
A moment later, Symboli Rudolf chuckled softly and said to Maruzensky,
"Let's see what happens. I have a feeling something interesting is about to happen."
—
Golden Crown Eagle, just as she had said that morning, came to the Tracen Academy track that evening to look for targets.
But unfortunately, it seems there were no Tracen Academy Umamusumes training on the track that night.
She sat on the grass, idly tossing coins for a while before finally spotting a Tracen Academy Umamusume.
Golden Crown Eagle had seen Tracen Academy's uniform before and thus deduced that the Umamusume must be from Tracen Academy.
"Finally here…" Golden Crown Eagle caught the tossed coin, her gaze fixed on the figure.
"It's definitely an active-duty Umamusume. A retired Umamusume has no reason to train at the track in the middle of the night."
Golden Crown Eagle determined in an instant that Sakura Baimu was one of Tracen Academy's active-duty Umamusume.
She had already tested the strongest active-duty members, Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen, using Rice Shower. She found she had been overthinking it.
In Golden Crown Eagle's eyes, Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen were utterly weak. Their raw strength was excellent, but once they encountered an Umamusume using a specific Zone, they would be completely powerless.
Golden Crown Eagle even felt a pang of shame for her initial wariness of these two; she could have easily competed herself without needing Rice Shower's help.
She was scheduled to participate in the Japan Cup, an international G1 race in Japan, in late November.
Therefore, Golden Crown Eagle had to test the waters with Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen beforehand.
The test was complete: the so-called strongest active-duty rider was utterly pathetic.
Since the strongest active-duty rider was already this weak, then the strength of the Umamusume who had come to the track to train in the middle of the night was even more questionable—
She would only be weaker.
Golden Crown Eagle got up and walked toward Sakura Baimu, who had just finished warming up, and greeted her softly.
"Good evening, little pony."
Sakura Baimu looked up in surprise at the voice and saw the blonde, green-eyed Golden Crown Eagle walking toward her.
"Is there something you need?"
"It must be so boring training here all by yourself. Come on, want to race with me?" Golden Crown Eagle chuckled.
"No interest," Sakura Baimu immediately refused.
"Don't be like that. I'm bored too. I can't sleep at night. I want to race someone!" Golden Crown Eagle persisted.
Sakura Baimu felt that if she kept refusing, the other might continue pestering her, so she nodded slightly.
"That's great!" Golden Crown Eagle smiled and walked to the edge of the track. "How far do you want to run?"
"Anything," Sakura Baimu replied casually.
"Alright, let's go for 2000 Meters." Golden Crown Eagle stood at the starting line. "By the way, what's the pony's name? My name is Golden Crown Eagle."
"Kura."
"What a strange name…" Golden Crown Eagle chuckled, pulling out a coin to show Sakura Baimu. "I'll toss this coin; its landing will be the starting signal."
"Okay," Sakura Baimu said, preparing to start.
"She's taken the bait." Golden Crown Eagle was delighted and did the same.
She noticed that Sakura Baimu spoke very little and seemed to be intentionally covering her face with her hoodie.
Considering the fact that she had come to train so late at night, Golden Crown Eagle deduced that Sakura Baimu must be a rather insecure and introverted Umamusume.
This type of Umamusume was exactly her favorite.
Lacking strength and confidence, and unable to firmly refuse her challenge, her inner defenses would easily crumble.
Golden Crown Eagle considered this and decided to start ahead of Sakura Baimu, gradually slowing down in the latter half of the race to let Sakura Baimu catch up.
Then, when Sakura Baimu had overtaken her and thought victory was assured, she would unleash her Zone and release her power, startling her so much that she burst into tears.
Golden Crown Eagle licked her lips, feeling excited just thinking about it.
She placed a coin on her thumb, then flicked it gently.
Te coin tumbled a few times in the air before landing on the grass.
Golden Crown Eagle, propelled by the moment the coin hit the ground, sprinting off.
Sakura Baimu stood still, watching Golden Crown Eagle leap far ahead in the blink of an eye.
She bent down, picked up the coin that had been used as a starting signal, and turned to leave.