Wait, Who Is Anjing Zhen?

At night, in the Student Council President's office at Central Treisen Academy, a computer sat on the desk.

On the screen was a grand musical performance. The one singing her heart out onstage was a black-haired horse girl.

Watching the girl sing intently was a petite, playful-looking horse girl with brown hair, plain eyeglasses, and a crescent-shaped white fringe across her forehead.

When the black-haired horse girl finished her song and bowed, the brown-haired horse girl pushed up her glasses and chuckled softly.

"You've grown, Little Kita..."

Just then, the office door opened, and an elegant figure with long lavender hair and pale-purple ears walked in.

"Emperor, about the schedule for the track inspections..."

The elegant girl got halfway through her sentence, then shook her head with an amused smile.

"You're secretly imitating President Symboli Rudolf again, aren't you, Emperor?"

In an instant, the brown-haired horse girl behind the desk—or rather, Tokai Teio, the current Student Council President of Central Treisen Academy—blushed and whisked off her glasses.

"Hey! McQueen, didn't we agree you wouldn't tease me about that?"

"I'm not teasing you, I just... Heehee..."

The horse girl called McQueen couldn't hold back a laugh after all. She waved at Tokai Teio, whose face had turned even redder.

"All right, all right. There's no one else here, so you don't have to work so hard to maintain that imposing image."

The horse girl named McQueen was the current vice president of the Student Council. Her full name was Mejiro McQueen.

Central Treisen Academy was the finest academy in the industry. To manage its best horse girls, strength was an unspoken requirement.

The previous president, Symboli Rudolf, had been one of the top horse girls around, and Tokai Teio, who came after her, had an equally impressive career.

Similarly, every vice president had been an exceptional horse girl in her own right.

The former vice presidents—"Supercar" Maruzensky and "King Beyond Common Sense" Mr. C.B.—and the current one, "Famous Actor on the Grass" Mejiro McQueen, were all among the very best.

Mejiro McQueen had been busy with matters outside the academy recently and hadn't been on campus. She'd only returned in the past couple of days to help Tokai Teio arrange the track inspections.

"Okay, okay, I get it."

Tokai Teio cared quite a bit about how the students saw her.

Just as Kitasan Black admired her, she had always looked up to her senior, Symboli Rudolf.

Whenever she worked, she unconsciously imitated her idol, thinking it made her look more imposing.

But she'd also caught her friend's tactful suggestion: a pair of glasses alone couldn't make someone seem dignified.

She muttered like a child, took off her plain glasses, and put on a serious expression as she turned the computer screen around.

"We'll talk about the inspections later. Take a look at this first."

Curiosity flashed in Mejiro McQueen's eyes as she walked over to the desk.

"Is this... the Winner's Stage at Tokyo Racecourse today?"

"That's right. Now take a look at this."

After nodding, Tokai Teio moved to Mejiro McQueen's side and clicked a few times.

A race appeared on the screen.

At first, Mejiro McQueen watched out of curiosity, but her expression gradually grew serious.

Two minutes later, she took the mouse from Tokai Teio and started clicking through the screen rapidly.

"What a daring race plan. It's been ages since I saw a horse girl run like this in her Debut Race.

"Which Trainer's horse girl is this?

"Nase?

"Kitahara?

"Or Miss Tojo? Maybe Kuronuma...

"...Wait, who's Anjing Zhen?"

She opened the race details and stared blankly at the name "Anjing Zhen." Then, a moment later, realization dawned on her.

"He's that youngest Trainer in history, right? I remember now.

"But..."

She furrowed her brow slightly.

"If he's only eighteen, how could he have such seasoned experience?

"Treating such an important race as a Debut Race like a training run? Even some veteran Trainers wouldn't dare do that.

"And the timing he chose to have his horse girl pick up the pace was so clever...

"Who's his horse girl? She can't be a newcomer, can she? Otherwise, why would she agree to a strategy like that?"

At this, Tokai Teio snickered before putting on a serious face.

"Why don't you see for yourself? Here, it says right there."

Just as she'd hoped, she heard her friend gasp in surprise and delight.

"Little Kita?! She's already made her debut?! So soon?! And she won her first race?!"

"It wasn't that soon, McQueen."

Tokai Teio shook her head with a laugh, then sighed.

"Though, come to think of it, it does feel pretty fast.

"I often feel like we only ran that Tenno Sho Spring yesterday.

"Then I blink, and the little ones who watched us from the stands back then are all out on the track themselves."

Mejiro McQueen nodded, feeling exactly the same.

"The last time I saw Little Kita was, I think, last year.

"After that, the only times I heard about her were when you mentioned helping her find a Trainer, Teio.

"I never expected that in the blink of an eye, she'd not only found herself a dedicated Trainer, but completed her Debut Race with such a bold strategy.

"Time... really does fly."

After sharing a few more wistful remarks with Mejiro McQueen, Tokai Teio came back to herself and opened some videos on the computer.

"Let's get back to Little Kita. McQueen, take a look at these videos."

"Okay."

Mejiro McQueen nodded, pulled over a chair, and sat down.

Tokai Teio did the same. The two horse girls settled in and focused on the videos onscreen.

The videos showed some of Anjing Zhen and Kitasan Black's training sessions. Judging by the clarity, they were obviously footage from the academy's security cameras.

A little while later...

"McQueen, have you noticed something about this Trainer...?"

Tokai Teio trailed off, resting her chin on her hand.

With her arms folded and her chin in her hand as well, Mejiro McQueen nodded slightly.

"His training methods are worlds apart from what we're used to. Rather than a Japanese Trainer, he seems more like..."

The two looked at each other and spoke in unison. "He's almost exactly like the Trainers in Europe and America."

Then Tokai Teio said, sounding a little excited, "I knew you'd see it the same way I did, McQueen."

"Of course. If you can see it, then so can I."

Mejiro McQueen replied, then fell into thought.

"You're interested in this Trainer's unconventional training philosophy, aren't you?"

"Yeah. We've both competed against overseas rivals, and I even won the Japan Cup, but..."

Tokai Teio gave a small smile, and her voice took on a self-deprecating edge.

"As the years go by, I keep realizing that if I had to do it all over again... I really couldn't say I'd win."

Mejiro McQueen fell silent for a moment, then sighed.

"It can't be helped. That's just the gap between Japan and the rest of the world.

"And..."

She hesitated.

"After last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Gold Ship, Ichiryu Tsushi, Vega, and the others were all confident they could challenge again.

"But the Association chose to take a cautious approach..."

"They've always been like that. It's been that way ever since the president took office."

Tokai Teio suddenly cut McQueen off. She shrugged, spread her hands, and gave a wry smile as she looked at Anjing Zhen and Kitasan Black on the screen.

"Who cares what they do?

"Right now, I just hope Little Kita and this Trainer Anjing...

"can bring us something different."

(A picture of a young lady from the Mejiro Family

And two presidents working)