Uma Musume: Slacking Professionally

Chapter 270 270: Uma Musume: Slacking Professionally [270]

"I have signed up for the Satsuki Sho."

After hearing Eclipse's statement, Kitahara froze for a moment. His first reaction was to wonder whether he had misheard.

And it was not only him. In fact, when everyone present had first heard Eclipse say she was going to sign up for the Satsuki Sho, aside from Yayoi Akikawa, who had proposed it, everyone else had looked completely bewildered.

Eclipse usually spoke very little. Most of the time, she followed beside Kitahara like an invisible person. But after spending so much time together, everyone more or less understood her situation.

Back when they were not very familiar with her yet, the other Umamusume had been curious about why she did not train or enter races. More than one of them had privately talked to her about it, trying to spark her interest in running, but in the end, none of them had gotten anywhere.

After enough time passed, everyone gradually accepted that this was simply how she was. After all, they had wanted Eclipse to race only because they felt it might be good for her. If she truly did not want to, they had no intention of forcing her.

Moreover, although her performance in her debut race had been extremely stunning, it had been a long time since her last race.

And at the time, she had only participated in an ordinary G2 race. Although she had won, in Tracen Main Campus, where elites gathered, it had not made much of a splash.

As a result, very few people paid attention to Eclipse's achievements as a racing Umamusume. Even among the Umamusume on Kitahara's team, most did not actually know how strong Eclipse was. Only the very few who had seen Eclipse act believed she should be very powerful, but even they did not know just how powerful.

And under those circumstances, Yayoi Akikawa presented everyone with a plan.

The principle itself was not especially complicated. Simply put, while Kitahara was busy on his end, they would use various forces and methods on their side to begin setting the stage in advance, planting the seeds of a new wave of public opinion. Then, after Kitahara finished his own task, they would create and ignite an even larger topic, using it to wash away the previous doubts surrounding him.

But while it was simple to explain, actually carrying it out was extremely difficult.

Because of their previous inaction, and even because Kitahara himself had pushed things along, his infamy had already fermented for several days. It was not only spreading through JP's internet and public opinion; it had even begun spreading overseas.

And this newly created hot topic could not be something even worse. Using an even uglier incident as contrast would indeed be an easy, quick way to divert attention from Kitahara's matter.

But never mind the fact that such a method might damage the "benevolent cognitive atmosphere" this world had always worked hard to maintain. Even if it did not, that method would at most ease some of the pressure on his side. It would not truly resolve the problem he faced.

The Umamusume who had come here to discuss this matter were all fairly clear-headed, so they quickly noticed the key point in Yayoi Akikawa's plan: how to create that "new hot topic."

Faced with everyone's confusion, Yayoi Akikawa did not immediately explain. Instead, she looked toward Eclipse, who had been silent the entire time, as if she did not exist.

"Request! Eclipse-san, I would like to ask you to run in the Satsuki Sho."

Yayoi Akikawa's words made everyone in the room freeze.

What was going on? Hadn't they just been discussing how to resolve the problem with Kitahara's reputation? How had this suddenly shifted to Eclipse entering a race?

And even putting aside that abrupt change of topic, the matter of signing up for the Satsuki Sho itself was a problem.

Never mind that Eclipse had only run a few races in total, and that her competitive points were nowhere near the Satsuki Sho standard. Just the timing alone was an issue. As the opening leg of JP's highest honor for Umamusume, the Classic Triple Crown, the Satsuki Sho required a great deal of preparation.

Because of that, registration opened much earlier than for other races. Applicants would be screened, and then the roster would be drawn up. At this point, there was not much time left before the Satsuki Sho. The roster had long since been finalized. Even if Eclipse could sign up, she should not have been able to participate.

"Chairwoman, you..."

"Eclipse-san, this is the best method I can think of at present."

Faced with the confusion of the others around her, Yayoi Akikawa showed no intention of explaining. She only kept her gaze fixed on Eclipse, waiting for her answer, as though every problem would be solved as long as Eclipse agreed.

But the only response she received was silence.

Eclipse sat there quietly as before, staring straight ahead, seeming not to have heard Yayoi Akikawa's words at all. She was simply spacing out.

Then, after an unknown length of strange silence in the room, Eclipse gently turned her head, looked at Yayoi Akikawa, and gave a small nod.

"They agreed."

In truth, it would not matter even if they did not agree. It was just that with the support of those three, things would be much easier.

"Who are 'they'? What are you two even talking about?"

Sirius, who was getting a little fed up with the two of them speaking in riddles, could not help speaking up. But neither Eclipse nor Yayoi Akikawa, who looked somewhat shocked after hearing Eclipse's answer, responded to her question.

"Regrettable! I can't explain this matter too clearly to all of you, but I can guarantee that as long as you follow the plan I outlined earlier, Trainer Kitahara's problem will definitely be resolved."

Although they still did not understand the underlying principle, everyone acknowledged that Yayoi Akikawa was always reliable when it came to major matters. After some time spent exchanging views and communicating, they ultimately chose to believe Yayoi Akikawa and fully support her plan.

However, even though they agreed to support the plan, no matter how they thought about it, none of them could understand why having Eclipse participate in the Satsuki Sho would solve Kitahara's problem.

Was it because many outsiders had recently been claiming that Eclipse was an Umamusume whom Kitahara had ruined through excessive training, and they wanted to use this as a counterattack? But it did not feel like that either...

"Do you need me to provide some assistance?"

Although she was puzzled, Rudolf did not choose to press further. Instead, she moved directly into discussing matters related to the plan.

"At this point, there should be no way to sign up for the Satsuki Sho anymore, correct? And if I recall, Eclipse-san, your points aren't quite enough either. Although I can't directly help you register, the Symboli family does have some people serving in the URA. Perhaps they can offer you some assistance..."

"No need."

Eclipse shook her head.

"I have my own channels."

Eclipse did not say what those channels were, and no one else asked.

Although everyone chose to believe her after hearing that she had channels, very soon, Sirius on the other side raised another question.

"Then will there be enough time?"

Recalling some of what she knew, Sirius clicked her tongue twice.

"As far as I know, those old fogeys in the URA aren't exactly efficient. There are only a few days left before the Satsuki Sho. Even if you have channels, going through the process will probably be troublesome. You'll also need time to prepare other things. If it's too slow, you can talk to me or Rudolf afterward. We may be able to help hurry things along..."

"No need. My channels are very fast."

"How fast?"

Faced with Sirius's question, Eclipse raised five fingers.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Five days? That is fast, but the timing may still be a bit tight..."

Before Sirius could finish speaking, Eclipse bent down one finger.

Sirius's voice stopped, and the others nearby also sensed that something was a little unusual.

And while they were still confused, Eclipse bent down another finger.

"Three."

She spoke, then bent down a third finger.

And just as she bent down the fourth finger, Yayoi Akikawa's phone vibrated.

Yayoi Akikawa opened her phone. After reading the message on it, she did not hesitate at all and directly showed it to everyone.

It was a message from the URA. It stated that after unanimous discussion among the upper levels, they had decided to make an exception and give Eclipse-san a slot in the Satsuki Sho. Related work was also being prepared. It was just that because the previous roster had already been finalized, someone might need to withdraw from the race before she could be added. However, if Eclipse-san requested it, they could also attempt to add another starting gate before the race...

After the Umamusume finished reading that message, which had completely violated their common sense, they turned to look at Eclipse. She had already withdrawn her hand and was sitting there quietly, spacing out. Her face still wore that same calm expression.

After that, once they confirmed that Eclipse would participate in the Satsuki Sho, the Umamusume parted ways and began handling their respective parts of the plan. At the same time, they also shared the plan and details they had discussed with the other people connected to Kitahara.

For some reason, however, although they passed the plan on to the others, not a single one of them mentioned Eclipse's behavior in the Chairwoman's office, nor her strange "channels."

And afterward, when the Umamusume with family influence inside the URA asked their families about related matters, the other side either kept their mouths shut or spoke vaguely. In short, they did not manage to get an answer.

As for how Eclipse would participate in the race, Eclipse had originally planned to have the URA add another starting slot. But not long after the plan was passed along, someone came to find Eclipse and said she wanted to talk with her about the slot.

"Eclipse-san, I want to talk with you alone. If the situation is as I expect, I can choose to withdraw and give you my slot."

Neicha spoke seriously.

This was not because Neicha was acting on impulse, nor because her inferiority complex had flared up again. On the contrary, being able to say such a thing to Eclipse was a sign of her confidence.

The reason was simple. As a purebred griefer unlike every other racing Umamusume, Neicha's entire strength lay in messing with others, so her perception was relatively strong as well. She had a greater ability than other Umamusume to discern someone else's strength.

Moreover, because she had previously been unable to control the activation and deactivation of her griefing skills, she had spent the most time with Eclipse and had also been the closest to her. One could say that, aside from Kitahara, she was the person who had noticed the most suspicious points about Eclipse.

The simplest example was that back when she had been unable to freely turn her griefing skills on and off, never mind those ordinary Umamusume—relatively ordinary ones—who would be left with psychological scars every time they ran with her, even the top-class Umamusume on the same team did not dare train with her for long periods.

Even the "Emperor," who was publicly acknowledged as the strongest racing Umamusume currently on JP soil, had rarely approached her during that period. And whenever Neicha's "aura" leaked out, Rudolf would subconsciously react. There were even a few times when she showed wariness and hostility.

Yet Eclipse, who spent all day with her and even slept beside her at night, had not reacted in the slightest.

After Kitahara's repeated training, the current Neicha no longer believed she was an ordinary Umamusume. She had also deeply understood just how terrifying those griefer skills of hers were, and knew how strong she was.

But the stronger she was, the more abnormal Eclipse's situation became, didn't it?

On top of that, because she had joined the team relatively early, she also knew what Eclipse's debut race had been like and had seen her later races as well. Even back then, she had already held some suspicions in her heart. After hearing the Chairwoman's plan, an even more terrifying guess surfaced inside her.

And so, she came to Eclipse to seek confirmation.

As for the process of that confirmation, no one except the two people involved knew what happened.

Everyone else only knew that Neicha submitted an application to the Chairwoman to use an individual training field, then walked in together with Eclipse. When she came back out, she immediately submitted a withdrawal request to the Chairwoman and gave her slot to Eclipse.

"Don't you feel it's a pity?"

Looking at Neicha as she signed the withdrawal agreement, Eclipse seemed faintly puzzled.

"I remember you seemed to care a lot about this race. There's no need for you to withdraw. I can have them add another starting slot..."

"No need."

Although she had decided to withdraw, there did not seem to be any dejection on Neicha's face. If anything, she even looked somewhat relieved.

"I'm still clear on my own strength. Even without you, my chances of winning wouldn't have been very high. And I might have caused conflict by griefing my own companions. Being able to withdraw from this race is a good thing for me too..."

After a pause, seeming to think of something, the corners of Neicha's mouth rose unconsciously.

"Also, Eclipse-san, as you know, my running style is different from other Umamusume. Compared with winning through speed, my ability leans more toward interfering with others. A lot of the time, even if I lose, I can achieve considerable results in terms of interference, making other people feel worse about winning than they would have felt about losing."

"According to Kitahara-san's way of putting it, that's called a 'griefer's victory'? Anyway, something along those lines."

"Besides, thanks to you, I'm actually not so obsessed with pursuing victory anymore. After all, I've already taken the first place that belongs to me. I no longer need to prove anything through victory."

"This may sound a little awful, but compared with those victories and honors, I actually enjoy the feeling of griefing people more now. As long as I manage to grief someone, losing can make me happier than winning."

"And this time, for the Satsuki Sho, although I may not be able to appear on the field, the very fact that you are appearing, Eclipse-san, already surpasses every opponent-interference skill I currently possess..."

Remembering what she had witnessed just now, the corners of Neicha's mouth lifted even higher. Even her ears perked up. One could tell that her delight came from the heart.

"I don't even enter the race—or even show up—and yet I can interfere even more, leaving an even deeper impact."

"This is my 'griefing technique'!"

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