Chapter Summaries

Kitasan Black tried to sneak closer to overhear a meeting about her overseas racing plans, but Supernatural Steed caught her breaking a branch and running across campus. After Kitasan confessed why she had gone there, Gold Ship and Supernatural Steed realized the Association might be trying to stop her from racing overseas.

• Kitasan Black broke off a branch to use as cover, but Supernatural Steed caught her and began recording her campus violations.
• Gold Ship and Gold Artisan arrived, and Gold Ship teased Kitasan while Supernatural Steed warned her about interfering with disciplinary duties.
• Kitasan Black admitted she had wanted to overhear A-Zhen Trainer's meeting about an Association member trying to stop her overseas expedition.
• Supernatural Steed questioned why anyone would obstruct Kitasan's racing plans, while Gold Artisan said A-Zhen Trainer was likely under pressure.

Kitasan Black worried that A-Zhen would face a group of adults alone, and Gold Ship rallied her seniors to help. Gold Ship persuaded Supernatural Steed that intervening could protect Kitasan Black and the Academy, leaving the seniors poised to investigate.

• Gold Ship and Gold Artisan argued until Kitasan Black's broken branches revealed that she had damaged campus landscaping while running.
• Gold Ship offered to cover Kitasan Black's compensation and take responsibility for her punishment, but Supernatural Steed waived the cleaning and self-criticism after hearing the damage was accidental.
• Supernatural Steed ordered Gold Ship to write her own self-criticism, and Gold Ship reluctantly promised to do it.
• Kitasan Black thanked her seniors and worried that A-Zhen would conceal the situation and shoulder it alone.
• Gold Ship proposed that the group go hear what the adults were planning, then tried to persuade the reluctant Supernatural Steed that investigating would protect Kitasan Black and the Academy.

Gold Ship persuaded Supernatural Steed to supervise a meeting involving Kitasan Black’s Trainer, while Gold Artisan silently agreed to help. Supernatural Steed accepted on strict terms, leaving the group ready to proceed under her disciplinary oversight.

• Gold Ship argued that Supernatural Steed could treat on-site supervision as a disciplinary duty to prevent conflict and protect Kitasan Black.
• Supernatural Steed weighed Gold Ship’s reasoning against Kitasan Black’s visible concern for her Trainer and the possible effect on her racing.
• Gold Ship Artisan recognized Gold Ship’s sincere intent to support Kitasan Black and her Trainer, and silently signaled her agreement.
• Gold Ship pressed Supernatural Steed by warning that she might regret failing to intervene if Kitasan Black’s performance suffered.
• Supernatural Steed agreed to supervise and assess the situation, with limits requiring her to prevent disciplinary violations and record her actions.

Kitasan Black joined Gold Ship, Gold Artisan, and Supernatural Steed in a bizarre stealth mission to check Anjing Zhen's Team Office. They found it empty and entered, leaving the four inside the office.

• Gold Ship named the mission “Protect the Hairline” and led Kitasan Black, Gold Artisan, and Supernatural Steed toward Anjing Zhen's Team Office.
• Gold Ship halted the group outside the office and used elaborate gestures to assign Gold Artisan to reconnoiter.
• Gold Artisan listened at the door, found no one inside, and told the others it was safe.
• Kitasan Black confirmed the office was hers and unlocked the door.
• Gold Ship, Gold Artisan, Supernatural Steed, and Kitasan Black entered the office and looked around.

Kitasan Black brought Gold Ship, Gold Artisan, and Supernatural Steed to the office to find Anjing Zhen, but realized she had no idea where he was. When Anjing Zhen and Tokai Teio arrived with Agnes Tachyon, Daiwa Scarlet, and two unfamiliar officials, the four Horse Girls hid behind a whiteboard as the meeting began.

• Gold Ship asked Kitasan Black whether she knew Anjing Zhen would be in the office, and Kitasan Black admitted she had guessed.
• Gold Ship heard people approaching, and Kitasan Black recognized Anjing Zhen and Tokai Teio among the voices outside.
• Kitasan Black hurried Gold Ship, Gold Artisan, and Supernatural Steed into a cramped hiding place behind the movable whiteboard.
• Anjing Zhen entered with Tokai Teio, Agnes Tachyon, Daiwa Scarlet, and two stern-faced officials.
• Anjing Zhen invited the visitors to sit while the four hidden Horse Girls watched through a narrow gap.

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.