Recaps

Anjing Zhen presented Kitasan Black’s recovery and future plans before a business representative argued that an overseas expedition posed too many risks. Daiwa Scarlet challenged his claims and cited successful expeditions, and the female representative took over the discussion as the dispute continued.

• Anjing Zhen reported on Kitasan Black’s recovery, training, and plans to pursue overseas G1 races after the Tenno Sho Spring.
• A business representative urged the team to keep Kitasan Black in Japan, warning that an overseas failure could damage her reputation and the industry.
• Daiwa Scarlet defended the expedition by citing successful overseas campaigns and arguing that the trainer knew Kitasan Black best.
• The business representative used Duramente’s lost shoe in Dubai as an example of expedition risks.
• Daiwa Scarlet countered that lost shoes were a risk everywhere and argued that European tracks and facilities made such accidents less likely.
• The female representative set down her pen and took over the conversation.

Anjing Zhen and his allies argued with business and URA Association representatives who wanted to block Kitasan Black's overseas expedition over risk and commercial concerns. Tokai Teio backed their plan, urging the representatives to give Kitasan Black room to pursue her ambitions.

• The URA Association representative called Kitasan Black's overseas expedition too risky and said caution was a form of protection.
• Agnes Tachyon challenged the representatives to provide evidence against the team's year of preparations and research.
• The business representative argued that an uncertain expedition could damage Kitasan Black's commercial value and offered longer-term partnerships instead.
• Anjing Zhen rejected their focus on commercial value, declared Kitasan Black's dream mattered, and presented the team's plans and risk assessments.
• Tokai Teio supported Anjing Zhen and urged the Association and other parties to trust Kitasan Black rather than bind her wings with excessive protection.

During a tense consultation, an Association representative invoked Symboli Rudolph’s failed overseas expedition to pressure Tokai Teio and urge Kitasan Black to stay in Japan. Kitasan Black’s anger overwhelmed her restraint, and she charged into the room, placing herself between Anjing Zhen’s group and the representatives as a formidable aura erupted from her.

• Anjing Zhen reflected that Tokai Teio had tried to protect him from the risks of speaking up, though he did not regret defending the team’s plans.
• The male representative cited Symboli Rudolph’s failed overseas expedition and warned Tokai Teio that Kitasan Black’s overseas ambitions threatened the industry’s stability.
• Hidden nearby, Kitasan Black heard the representatives dismiss the team’s efforts and pressure Tokai Teio, while Anjing Zhen tried to defend her.
• When the representative declared that Kitasan Black should abandon her overseas plans and remain in Japan, her restraint snapped.
• Kitasan Black shouted, shoved aside the whiteboard, and charged between Anjing Zhen’s group and the representatives as a crushing aura erupted from her.

Kitasan Black confronted the Association and Chamber of Commerce representatives as they tried to dictate her future in the name of stability. She left no doubt that she alone would choose where to run, while Gold Ship recognized the conflict had erupted into a direct clash between the racers’ ambitions and the officials’ interests.

• Kitasan Black’s furious presence overwhelmed the representatives and stunned Anjing Zhen, Agnes Tachyon, Daiwa Scarlet, and Tokai Teio.
• Kitasan Black told the representatives that they could not decide her future or force their reasoning on Trainer A-Zhen, Emperor (Teio) President, and those who believed in her.
• Kitasan Black declared that she would decide for herself where she wanted to run, leaving the room shaken by her roar.
• Supernatural Steed and Gold Artisan felt the force of Kitasan Black’s anger, while Gold Ship realized the dispute had become a clash between Horse Girls’ ambitions and the officials’ demand for stability.

Gold Ship intervened when Kitasan Black and Anjing Zhen reached their limits during a tense confrontation with two representatives. She dragged Supernatural Steed and Gold Artisan into the office and tried to force the committee members to take action, leaving everyone waiting to see whether her interruption would break the deadlock.

• Gold Ship recognized that Kitasan Black and Anjing Zhen were under immense pressure and decided the confrontation had to be interrupted.
• Gold Ship grabbed Supernatural Steed and Gold Artisan and charged into the office beside Kitasan Black.
• Gold Ship accused the two representatives of pressuring Kitasan Black and risking her health, training, and performance at the upcoming Tenno Sho Spring.
• Gold Ship called on Supernatural Steed and Gold Artisan to act in their committee roles.
• Kitasan Black remained focused on the representatives, while Anjing Zhen watched her anxiously and Tokai Teio, Agnes Tachyon, and Daiwa Scarlet reacted to Gold Ship’s intervention.

Gold Artisan and Supernatural Steed turned Gold Ship’s accusations into a formal disciplinary investigation of the Association representatives for distressing Kitasan Black. Tokai Teio backed the investigation and proposed a thousand copies of old school rules as reeducation, leaving the representatives facing consequences for their conduct.

• Gold Artisan cited academy rules that allowed discipline for conduct that harmed a horse girl's well-being or disrupted her school life.
• Supernatural Steed resumed her role as a Disciplinary Committee Member, judged that the representatives had distressed Kitasan Black, and ordered them to come to the committee office.
• Gold Artisan and Gold Ship publicly supported Supernatural Steed’s investigation.
• The representatives protested that they had only been discussing Kitasan Black’s future, but Supernatural Steed warned that she could escalate the matter to public security and the Horse Girl Safety Committee.
• Tokai Teio affirmed the Student Council’s support for the investigation and suggested that the representatives copy passages from the old school rules one thousand times.

Gold Ship, Gold Artisan, and Supernatural Steed forced the Association and Chamber of Commerce representatives out of Anjing Zhen's office under the pretense of making them copy regulations. Overwhelmed by shame and fear after her outburst, Kitasan Black fled, and Anjing Zhen, Tokai Teio, Agnes Tachyon, and Daiwa Scarlet rushed after her.

• Supernatural Steed agreed to enforce Emperor President's suggestion, and Gold Ship and Gold Artisan escorted the representatives away to copy the regulations.
• After the office fell silent, Kitasan Black trembled with regret and feared facing Anjing Zhen.
• Anjing Zhen approached Kitasan Black with worry and self-reproach in his eyes, but she turned away and apologized.
• Kitasan Black bolted from the office, and Anjing Zhen, Tokai Teio, Agnes Tachyon, and Daiwa Scarlet chased after her.

After Kitasan Black fled the campus, Anjing Zhen and the others failed to catch her. Anjing realized he had overprotected her and blamed himself, while Kitasan Black remained missing.

• Anjing Zhen chased after Kitasan Black but stopped when exhaustion overtook him.
• Tokai Teio, Daiwa Scarlet, and Agnes Tachyon raced after Kitasan Black, but her speed left them unable to catch her.
• Tokai Teio and the others returned without Kitasan Black and said they had found no trace of where she went.
• Anjing Zhen admitted he had tried to shield Kitasan Black from too much and had underestimated her ability to bear the truth.
• Anjing Zhen blamed himself for what had happened and fell silent in anguish.

After Kitasan Black fled the confrontation with the Association, Tokai Teio reassured Anjing Zhen and organized a response to protect Kitasan and resist pressure from the Association and Chamber of Commerce conservatives. Kitasan ran until exhaustion, left alone with fear that she had made things worse for Anjing and her friends.

• Daiwa Scarlet and Agnes Tachyon reassured Anjing Zhen that he was not to blame for what had happened with Kitasan Black.
• Tokai Teio ordered a search for Kitasan and said the Student Council would support her and her team.
• Tokai Teio proposed a direct plan to counter pressure from conservatives in the Association and Chamber of Commerce, then led Anjing Zhen, Agnes Tachyon, and Daiwa Scarlet to the Student Council Office.
• Kitasan Black ran aimlessly until exhaustion forced her to stop.
• Kitasan Black wondered whether she had harmed Anjing Zhen and disappointed her friends as she struggled with loneliness and fear.

Kitasan Black realized she had run twenty or thirty kilometers from Central Treisen Academy to the park beside her childhood elementary school. After apologizing to the startled children, she joined them in playing and set aside her troubled feelings for a while.

• Kitasan Black recognized the neighborhood park from her childhood and realized she had sprinted there from the Academy, twenty or thirty kilometers away.
• Kitasan Black noticed the children she had frightened by charging into the park and apologized, explaining that she had been training.
• The children mistook Kitasan Black for a Shining Series racer, and she asked them to call her Little Kita instead of identifying her by name.
• Kitasan Black joined the children, helping build their sandcastle and playing with them on the swings, seesaw, and in tug-of-war.

After playing with children in the park, Kitasan Black wrestled with whether to face the people blocking her Overseas Expedition or seek help, but every option seemed likely to make matters worse. As she sat overwhelmed, she remembered an incident from elementary school when she had stepped forward after her friends accidentally broke a school trophy.

• Kitasan Black played tug-of-war and other games with children, then promised to visit them whenever she had time.
• After the children went home, Kitasan Black sat beneath a cherry tree and considered what to do about the opposition to her Overseas Expedition.
• Kitasan Black rejected confronting the Association and Chamber of Commerce alone, asking her grandfather for help, or appealing to fans and the media.
• Kitasan Black recalled how she had stepped forward when she and her friends accidentally broke an old school trophy.

Kitasan Black revisited a childhood memory of trying to fix a broken trophy alone and realized she was repeating that futile stubbornness while facing the team's crisis. As she rehearsed ways to confront the people blocking her Dream, Satono Crown and Satono Diamond found her, leaving her embarrassed and wondering how much they knew.

• Kitasan Black remembered secretly repairing a broken trophy as a child and realized she was trying to handle the team's future crisis alone in the same way.
• Kitasan Black tried rehearsing a defiant speech and professional arguments, but neither approach worked and she grew more helpless and self-blaming.
• Kitasan Black stubbornly resumed practicing a negotiation, punching the air and searching for a suitable posture.
• Satono Crown and Satono Diamond arrived at the park and caught Kitasan Black rehearsing by herself.
• Kitasan Black blushed, claimed she had been practicing lines for a school festival play, and wondered how the sisters had found her and whether they knew what had happened.

Kitasan Black struggled with guilt after fleeing a difficult conversation with Trainer Yasui, and Satono Crown tried to comfort her with childhood memories. Crown relayed that the team was worried and wanted to discuss their future plans together, leaving Kitasan frozen.

• Satono Crown recalled childhood stories of Kitasan Black taking responsibility for others and carrying more than she could manage.
• Kitasan Black felt Crown and Hikari-chan's kindness intensify her self-reproach, then awkwardly asked how they had found her.
• Satono Crown explained that the Emperor President and Vice President McQueen had told them Trainer Yasui felt guilty for pressuring Kitasan about the Overseas Expedition.
• Crown relayed Trainer Yasui's message that everyone was worried and that they could decide future plans together because they were a team.
• Kitasan Black stood frozen after hearing the message.

Kitasan Black realized how much Anjing Zhen had done to protect and support her, and the guilt left her overwhelmed. When Crown tried to comfort her, Kitasan Black rejected her harshly, and the two argued over whether Crown could understand her troubles.

• Kitasan Black reconsidered how Anjing Zhen had quietly handled conflicts and prepared the way for her goals.
• Crown tried to cheer Kitasan Black up by offering embarrassing stories about herself and her trainer.
• Kitasan Black shouted at Crown not to mention A-Zhen and insisted she would handle her own problems.
• Crown was hurt by Kitasan Black's rejection and demanded to know what she had said wrong.
• Kitasan Black said things were different now, then stopped herself while thinking of her team and insisted Crown did not understand her troubles.

Crown demanded that Kitasan Black explain why she was keeping her worries to herself, and Satono Diamond told her that carrying everything alone was arrogance. Diamond left by challenging Kitasan Black to the Tenno Sho Spring, while Kitasan Black was left to face her friends’ hurt and disappointment.

• Crown grabbed Kitasan Black’s wrist and insisted she explain herself, while Kitasan Black refused to speak.
• Satono Diamond stopped Crown and said she and her sister no longer understood Kitasan Black, who had grown too fast for them to keep up with.
• Diamond reminded Kitasan Black that her team, Trainer Yasui, and her friends were also striving and could share her burdens.
• Diamond accused Kitasan Black of pushing everyone away by trying to protect them and called her solitary resolve arrogance.
• Diamond declared that such a Kitasan Black could not defeat Satono Diamond in the Tenno Sho Spring, then left with Crown.

After Little Kita broke down and pushed everyone away, Hikari-chan refused to return with Crown, believing an apology would not solve the unknown problem. At the school where Little Kita once risked her life to rescue a kitten, Hikari-chan connected her behavior to the pressure following the Osaka Hai and began comparing it to the Satomi family’s G1 curse.

• Crown urged Hikari-chan to go back and comfort Little Kita, but Hikari-chan said Little Kita needed a solution, not their attention.
• Hikari-chan led Crown to the elementary school and recalled how Little Kita had fallen from the third floor while rescuing a kitten.
• Hikari-chan said Little Kita had always rushed to help others and taken responsibility on herself, as she had when trying to push them away.
• Hikari-chan suggested that Little Kita’s Osaka Hai victory, overseas ambitions, increased attention, and growing workload may have triggered her unusual behavior.
• Hikari-chan asked Crown to remember how people had treated the Satomi family when they were burdened by the so-called Satomi family G1 curse.

Diamond explained to Crown that Kitasan Black and Trainer Yasui might be facing pressure over an overseas campaign, then declared that she wanted to defeat Kitasan Black at her full strength. She revealed that Kitasan Black had been listening nearby and called on her to resolve the matter and meet her in Kyoto.

• Diamond told Crown that the Association and merchant associations might be pressuring Kitasan Black and Trainer Yasui to reconsider an overseas campaign.
• Diamond said she refused to accept a victory over a distracted Kitasan Black and wanted to face her at her peak.
• Diamond challenged Kitasan Black to sort things out and meet her on the track in Kyoto.
• Kitasan Black stepped out from behind a tree, shocking Crown.

Kitasan Black returned to Satono Diamond after overhearing her declaration and promised to meet her on the Kyoto track. She then returned to the team meeting, ready to review her training and prepare for the Tenno Sho Spring.

• Kitasan Black apologized to Satono Diamond, then said she was going back to the team meeting because it was part of her training.
• Kitasan Black promised Satono Diamond that she would wait for her properly on the Kyoto track.
• Anjing Zhen continued the team meeting while Almond Eye, Agnes Tachyon, and Daiwa Scarlet worried about Kitasan Black's absence.
• Kitasan Black arrived at the meeting covered in sand and sweat, apologized for being late, and asked to hear the day's discussion and tomorrow's plan.
• Agnes Tachyon prepared Kitasan Black's endurance data review, while Daiwa Scarlet welcomed her and asked Almond Eye to bring tea and bananas.

After Kitasan Black and Anjing Zhen agreed to fight on separate fronts, the team prepared for the Tenno Sho Spring while the URA Association and Commercial Federation quietly gathered support. The chapter ended with the political storm still building and its next move unknown.

• Anjing Zhen steadied himself and resumed the meeting, where the team brought Kitasan Black up to speed and reviewed her training data.
• Agnes Tachyon, Daiwa Scarlet, and Almond Eye left the meeting room, giving Kitasan Black a chance to tell Anjing Zhen about her conflict with Satono Diamond and her decision to focus on racing.
• Kitasan Black entrusted the political struggle to Anjing Zhen and promised to hear his explanations after they won the Tenno Sho Spring.
• Anjing Zhen promised that he and the team would clear obstacles on their front while Kitasan Black won on hers.
• Kitasan Black's training remained physically normal, though her intense focus alarmed Anjing Zhen, Agnes Tachyon, and Daiwa Scarlet.
• Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen, Gold Ship, and Gold Artisan relayed signs that the URA Association and Commercial Federation were preparing for a formal confrontation.

The day before Kitasan Black and Anjing Zhen were due to leave for Kyoto, the URA Association and business federation summoned them to a hearing about her Overseas Expedition plan. As they arrived at headquarters, Satono Diamond revealed she had arranged to sit beside their team, showing that she would stand with Kitasan Black.

• Mejiro McQueen delivered an urgent notice requiring Kitasan Black and Anjing Zhen to attend a hearing the next day.
• Kitasan Black agreed to face the hearing, and Anjing Zhen assigned Agnes Tachyon, Daiwa Scarlet, and Almond Eye to prepare reports and logistics.
• Anjing Zhen and Kitasan Black arrived at URA Association headquarters with the team's prepared documents.
• Satono Diamond appeared in formal attire and explained that she had requested a place beside Kitasan Black's team at the hearing.

Satono Diamond urged Kitasan Black and Trainer Yasui to win the upcoming race before entering the URA Association hearing alone. Inside, Diamond explained the important attendees to Kitasan Black as the hearing was about to begin.

• Satono Diamond told Trainer Yasui and the others to give everything and win, warning she would hate them if they lost.
• Kitasan Black set aside her doubts and told Trainer Yasui they should settle the matter quickly and return to training and racing.
• Kitasan Black, Trainer Yasui, and their companions took their places at the URA Association hearing.
• Satono Diamond quietly explained the roles of the influential attendees and the secretaries who would do most of the speaking.
• Satono Diamond identified Yukishiro Sakuya as Central Treisen Academy’s chairwoman and Akikawa Yayoi as its former chairwoman.

Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond attended a formal hearing about Kitasan Black’s overseas expedition plans, where Akikawa Yayoi and Yukishiro Sakuya served as observers and Nase Fumino presided. The hearing opened with a review of prior communications, and the URA Association presented its disciplinary actions before asking Anjing Zhen’s team whether they objected.

• Satono Diamond explained to Kitasan Black that Akikawa Yayoi was acting as a mediator and Nase Fumino would preside over a procedurally fair hearing.
• Akikawa Yayoi called the hearing to order and introduced herself and Yukishiro Sakuya as observers and witnesses, with Nase Fumino presiding.
• Nase Fumino began the hearing and opened the agenda item reviewing prior communications.
• The URA Association representative reported disciplinary measures against personnel for their conduct during earlier communications and asked whether Trainer Yasui’s team objected.
• Kitasan Black looked toward Anjing Zhen as the presiding officer turned her attention to his team.

At a hearing over Kitasan Black’s overseas campaign, the Commercial Federation challenged Anjing Zhen’s team over the risks their contracts posed to thousands of livelihoods. Anjing defended the team’s training and preparation but conceded that financial risk hedging was outside their expertise, and the hearing moved on after the chair treated the parties as having reached a consensus.

• A Commercial Federation representative presented twenty-nine major contracts and estimated that a failed campaign could cause losses exceeding one hundred billion yen and threaten thousands of jobs.
• Kitasan Black grew shaken by the figures, while Satono Diamond reassured her that the Federation was using social responsibility to pressure the team.
• Anjing Zhen explained that the team’s scientific training and race plan aimed to maximize Kitasan Black’s success, but said broader financial risk hedging required specialized partners.
• A second Federation representative mocked the team for having no insurance against defeat, and Anjing said they could interpret his response as they wished.
• Nase Fumino treated the exchange as a consensus and moved the hearing to the next issue.

At Kitasan Black’s hearing, the Association secretary argued that a failed overseas campaign could damage sponsorship and deprive younger Horse Girls of opportunities. Anjing Zhen challenged that claim and defended the team’s plan, leaving Kitasan Black steadier but still troubled by the potential risks.

• The Association secretary warned that Kitasan Black’s failure could undermine sponsors, races, and academy funding, placing younger Horse Girls’ training opportunities at risk.
• Kitasan Black was shaken by the thought that her plan could harm younger girls, while Satono Diamond comforted her and grew angry at the secretary’s argument.
• Anjing Zhen argued that successful overseas campaigns could boost long-term investment and that emergency support could protect promising trainees if funding programs were affected.
• Anjing Zhen rejected the demand that his team guarantee the health of the entire industry, saying its responsibility was to manage Kitasan Black’s career and well-being while broader regulation belonged to the wider system.
• Kitasan Black took comfort from Anjing Zhen’s response and began gathering resolve, while Satono Diamond suspected the Association might refuse to engage with his arguments.

During Kitasan Black's qualification hearing, she defended her trust in Anjing Zhen and the team's ability to manage the risks, but the Association threatened to review whether he should remain her trainer. As Anjing Zhen steadied her, Nase Fumino stopped an opposing representative from interrupting before he could respond.

• An impatient Association representative challenged Anjing Zhen's risk plans and questioned his qualifications as Kitasan Black's trainer.
• Kitasan Black spoke up, saying she ran for the people who supported her and trusted Anjing Zhen and the others to find answers together.
• The Association secretary said it would initiate a review of whether Kitasan Black's trainer should be replaced unless the team offered a convincing systemic solution.
• Kitasan Black grew furious at the threat, but Satono Diamond and Anjing Zhen held her hands, and his calm nod helped her regain control.
• Nase Fumino ordered the representative to stop interrupting and give Anjing Zhen's team the floor to respond.