"Only the final hundred meters remained! Mejiro Tenma was still running for its life! But Rag Supreme had not given up! Rag Supreme had not given up!"
"Number six, Mejiro Tenma, held on for the win!"
Before the commentator's words had even faded, a series of translucent messages began popping up before Kitano's eyes.
[One Racehorse under your ownership has won a race: 1/1 (Completed)] [Reward: Green Omamori ×1] [One Racehorse under your ownership has won a dirt race: 1/1 (Completed)] [Reward: Green Omamori ×1]
He had to admit, the system had quite a lot of miscellaneous tasks.
Still, those could wait for now.
Compared to the task rewards, the victory itself was far more worth savoring.
"Yeah—!"
"Wonderful!"
A burst of cheers rose from the front of the stands.
Only then did Kitano notice the young men and women in cosplay outfits occupying the front rows.
[MEJIRO]
They held high their green banners with white lettering.
It was a racing name that had been prominent in the last century, yet it still remained popular among the younger generation.
He truly could not understand it.
Kitano withdrew his gaze in mild confusion.
"Phew—"
After confirming they had crossed the finish line, Ochiai let out a long breath.
His legs, utterly numb, hung limp like frogs that had been fully dissected in a laboratory.
But they had pulled it off in the end.
In the third race, they had finally claimed their first win of the day.
As expected, this one's a very clever type.
Patting the gray horse beneath him as it panted raggedly, Ochiai thought silently.
Mejiro Tenma shook its body and somewhat unhappily flung away the rough palm that had been placed on it without permission.
"Wonderful!"
Ogawa Masaru excitedly pumped his fist several times, a faint flush even appearing around his ears.
"I told you, Mr. Kitano! Pegasus really had no problem at all!"
He turned his head and instinctively grabbed Kitano's hand as he shouted.
"That's right. It's certainly a very intelligent horse."
Seeing the slightly awkward expression on Ogawa Masaru's face, Kitano let out a long breath and smiled gently.
Though somewhat reckless, the young man before him was not of bad character.
"Come on, isn't there still the winner's photo ceremony?"
He patted Ogawa Masaru on the shoulder.
Trophies, plaques, winner's flags... Naturally, a local maiden race would not have such things.
However, the winning connections usually still had a post-race group photo taken together.
"R-right! Let's hurry over!"
Ogawa Masaru nodded excitedly.
"Congratulations, Mr. Kitano."
On the way to the photo ceremony, Teacher Tanaka wore an equally delighted expression.
After all, Mejiro Tenma was at least nominally assigned to his stable.
And for people in Racehorse racing, wasn't victory itself something worth celebrating?
"Pegasus's response was really incredible!"
Meanwhile, Kobayashi, the stable hand leading Mejiro Tenma toward the photo area, could not help praising the horse.
"As for me, I nearly made a fool of myself."
Buoyed by the victory, even Jockey Ochiai made a rare joke.
Jockey Ochiai, Trainer Tanaka, stable hand Kobayashi, Nishiken Farm representative Ogawa Masaru, owner Kitano, and the true star—Mejiro Tenma.
The members of the winning team had gathered together just like that.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Kitano bowed to Ochiai once again.
"No, thank you."
This time, Ochiai reacted much faster. He removed his cap and bowed to Kitano as well.
"Thank you very much for your trust."
"All right, save the thanks for later!"
Tanaka clapped his hands with a smile and pointed toward the camera in front of them.
The people on the ground linked arms around the winner's lead rope, while Ochiai raised his left hand high from the saddle.
Click—
The victorious memory of five people and one horse was frozen in the sound of the shutter.
Kitano decided to use the photo as his new phone wallpaper.
"Um, excuse me! Are you Mr. Kitano?"
After the photo ceremony ended, Kitano was preparing to leave the racecourse by going around the edge of the stands.
At that moment, encouraged by her companions, a young woman in cosplay at the front of the stands gathered her courage and asked.
"If there isn't another owner in Monbetsu named Kitano with horses carrying the Mejiro racing name, then that should be me."
Amused by her slightly tongue-twisting phrasing, Kitano imitated it.
"Wonderful! Could you give us your autograph?"
Ignoring Kitano's teasing, the girl and her companions behind her burst into cheers upon receiving confirmation.
"An autograph?"
Kitano hesitated, but ultimately decided to grant the not-unreasonable request.
He habitually searched his pockets, but found no sign of a pen.
His body immediately stiffened.
He had nearly forgotten that he was wearing a suit today.
"If you don't mind, please use mine!"
The girl in cosplay seemed to notice Kitano's embarrassment and proactively handed him a black permanent marker.
Kitano immediately relaxed and kept signing his name on the boards the young men and women passed to him in turn.
"Mejiro Tenma, first place."
After posting the image he had obtained from the staff, along with that brief caption, across several social media platforms, Kitano finally drove home in satisfaction.
Along the way, he softly hummed enka along with the car stereo.
Only after soaking in a slightly too-hot bath did he leisurely open the system panel.
First came claiming the task rewards.
They were pitifully meager: only two Green Omamori.
Even the race prize money had amounted to a full 2.5 million yen.
Of course, that was before the Jockey's and stable's shares had been deducted.
However, the system's shop panel seemed to have changed.
[Premium Fresh Grass: 1 Green Omamori] [Premium Hay: 5 Green Omamori]
Two new items had appeared some distance away from the two product slots that had already been unlocked.
[Premium Fresh Grass (One Box): Fresh grass that greatly stimulates a horse's appetite, with slightly higher nutritional value than ordinary fresh grass] [Premium Hay (5 kg): Carefully selected from the highest-quality alfalfa. When used as stall bedding, it can slightly improve a horse's rest quality] [Note: Consumption is not recommended.]
Kitano began calculating silently.
A horse's ideal daily dry matter intake was 1.5% to 3% of its body weight, while fresh grass generally contained 60% to 75% water. In other words, for a five-hundred-kilogram horse, daily fresh grass intake should fluctuate between 30 and 60 kilograms.
And a box of fresh grass usually weighed around 20 to 30 kilograms.
That meant a single day's worth would cost at least a month's feed expenses for a local Racehorse.
He could not help clicking his tongue.
The grass provided by the system was priced nearly four or five times higher than imported grass.
Was this system really not some kind of shady merchant?
By comparison, the price of the other product, [Premium Hay], looked far more reasonable.
But after a brief moment of thought, Kitano bought one of each of the two new products.
He wanted to see exactly what was so special about fresh grass worth fifty thousand yen and hay worth two hundred and fifty thousand yen.