Medalist - Vol. 11 Ch. 45 - Benevolent Machinations

[MJTH]

Wow, so coach Riley's plan was to poach coach Tsukasa and Inori and use them to create a skater who could beat Hikaru in her generation. The way Riley played it was very smooth. Even now I'm not sure whether she was aiming for Tsukasa because she sees incredible talent in his coaching or whether she was aiming for Inori because her impressive growth rate showed promise. It could even be that she wanted them both equally and was just happy that they came as a package.

Tsukasa and Inori weren't drawn in by it, and yet out of nowhere she landed Hikaru instead. Riley and Hikaru will be a terrifying pairing to beat. We already know about Hikaru, but Riley is not only a gold Olympic medal winning, skilled, genius of her era skater, she's also lucky too.

 

[Yumiiiiii]

this episode was amazing, love tsukasa's perspective on what sacrifices are truly worth making. this manga is so good aaghhh and idk when it happened but seeing jun's face makes me want to roll my eyes now, hikaru i hope you leave his ass!!!

thank you for the translation!

 

[J_the_Man]

Let's go we're finally caught up! Thanks for the translation.

Another 4th place feels pretty painful but her talk with Iruka after that was really interesting! I really love their dynamic.
How old is Iruka again? I wonder if Inori can even so slightly catch up to Iruka while she is still at her peak...

Tsukasa is always a riot in these coach meetings huh. Loving the humor as usual.

Iruka is in high school iirc, so she's hitting her peak now. I think she's too far ahead of Inori for her to actually compete at this present moment.

I think these last two chapters have shown that Iruka is going to be more of a mentor/older sister for Inori rather than a rival. While Hikaru is the one Inori is chasing, Iruka is the person whose footsteps Inori is closely following. They both have similar backgrounds of abuse as children, both were rescued by their coaches, both are representing Team Japan, and both are getting it done in Nagoya. If there's a recipe for success, it lies within learning from Iruka, imo.

 

[Ogiho]

Wanna thank the translators for working so hard and catching up to the raws. It means a lot since this series is everything to me and getting new chapters so often has made my weeks. The chapter itself was beautiful and was a great follow up from the last one being a masterpiece. Love seeing more down time and character interactions with Inori outside of competition. Also some really interesting developments with Tsukasa and Riley Fox. At this point it really does feel like Inori vs everyone and the emotionally tense rivalry between her and Hikaru is only going to get better.

 

[LordofAlI]

HOLY what a chapter. Also that ending omg.

 

[Brewers90]

Riley getting revealed as this evil scheming genius feels like it came out of left field. i thought she was more humble and goofy.

 

[cosmix]

Riley getting revealed as this evil scheming genius feels like it came out of left field. i thought she was more humble and goofy.

We've known she's wanted his services since Volume 8, you can go back n look. This is just the natural progression of that plot point, not to mention you'd need a tactical mind if you're building a group of Japan's best talents.

Also, her surname is Fox, just wanted to put that out there.

 

[trixg315]

Second time reading this but I've only just realized, Iruka braided her hair here the same way as Mika during a competition.

 

[irondark30]

Fuckkkk me. The genius of Hikaru, the expertise of Jun Yokada, and the entirety of Fox Riley's club with all their financial and materiel advantage? This is one uphill battle if I ever see one. Poor Tsukasa gonna have to find a trick up his sleeve for Inori to surpass Hikaru.

It’s just getting worse and worse for her 😭 I wonder if Inori actually will ever beat Hikaru. I know it was set up very early on with the two coaches, but maybe Tsukasa’s “talent” will make up the difference and Inori just becomes some kind of deity 😂