What's going on—did Miho Bourbon get hurt? Miho Bourbon, who went all-out with a Great Escape the whole way, seems to have run out of steam and fallen back from the lead, brushing past the rapidly closing Taiki Shuttle!"
The race was far more intense than anyone expected. From the very start, the field saw a double Great Escape—something you might not see in years—two horsegirls forming a train to break the wind together and forcibly disrupt everyone else's rhythm.
And just when people thought this tactic would bear fruit, that always-smiling big sister, Taiki Shuttle, completely ignored the massive disadvantage. Relying on her extraordinary short-distance burst and rich racecraft, she clawed up in the shortest time possible, doggedly holding the two escapists within range instead of being dropped.
Now the wind-breaker up front, Miho Bourbon, pulled another surprise: with stamina almost spent, she suddenly tried to put her body in Taiki Shuttle's path. Yet the veteran produced another astonishing read—she slipped past Bourbon with the tiniest of movements, turning the back half of the race into a one-on-one with Stardust Mirage!
Before anyone at the venue could digest this chain of reversals, Taiki Shuttle was already breathing down Stardust Mirage's neck. That finisher known as Victory Shot was reeling in the gap in a blink. In only a few breaths, they were less than a length apart; Taiki Shuttle seemed certain to overtake and seize the win!
But Stardust Mirage, who'd been in a Great Escape from the very first stride, had no thought of giving up. Her form, which had been distorting under pressure, suddenly transformed as the pursuer drew near. Stardust Mirage dropped her whole body low, practically skimming the turf with each step.
That feral running posture made most people think of the just-retired Oguri Cap. That beast-like form, that will to pierce everything and claim victory—this was Oguri Cap herself out there! So this is what "the second coming of Oguri Cap" truly means!?
The fighters' blazing spirits had already set every spectator alight, the roar no less than a G1 crowd's. At this point they had only one thought left, and all they could do was howl it at the two who were burning themselves to the limit:
Run…
Run!
"Run!!!"
Thousands of voices fused in the air above the course, shoving this race—now in its final moments—into a full eruption.
—
That manic aura—the source of it was the horsegirl running just ahead, who slowly turned her head back in Taiki Shuttle's eyes.
What was that?
What Taiki Shuttle saw was a pair of eyes gone completely blank. In Stardust Mirage's scarlet pupils there wasn't a flicker of expression, only the most primitive impulse—it wouldn't be wrong to call it killing intent. That once-handsome face was now twisted like a wild beast, crazed scrawl across every line.
"Thank you—!"
Breathing hard, Stardust Mirage curled her lips a little as she said it. In the gaps between her words, Taiki Shuttle could see that blood had completely soaked between Stardust Mirage's teeth…
She… is smiling?
How could she be?
What is she thanking me for?!
Even with her own body on the brink, Taiki Shuttle was stunned. She had only seen this state on a very few: Oguri Cap, Inari One, Gold Craftsman… When they opened their "domain," they showed this same primal, near-bestial face.
Taiki Shuttle could also feel that Stardust Mirage had not actually stepped fully into the domain. In aura and all else, there was an essential gap from those few. But there was already something about her that was the same.
Taiki Shuttle herself had once entered a domain, in that rain-soaked Great Escape—so she could clearly judge Stardust Mirage's current state. If she can remember this feeling and temper her body further, fully opening a domain is as good as guaranteed.
No—this is a race!
So what if Stardust Mirage has touched the domain's edge? I'm Taiki Shuttle, who once opened a domain outright!
With that, Taiki Shuttle dropped her head as well and poured her whole heart into running. She knew that both she and Stardust Mirage were now moving purely on willpower. Even so, there was still something she had over Stardust Mirage: in the same final three furlongs, that late kick which decides the race.
Thirty-three point zero seconds—that was Taiki Shuttle's time for the final three furlongs. Even among strong closers, that number is the sky's ceiling. The enormous strength she boasts is something Stardust Mirage cannot match. Today might not be her best mile, and her early rhythm had been shredded, but Taiki Shuttle felt herself fully ignited by the ferocity before her. Even with her body at its limit, she could still do it—her own best, a 600 m in 33.0.
Anyone who had watched her race had felt their heart shot through by that unique style. In a Western gunfight, this is the final shot that walks you to victory!
Stardust Mirage, maybe one day you really will climb higher than me. But today—I'm not handing you the win!!!
Taiki Shuttle forced down the burning in her lungs from over-breathing and whipped up the last of her strength. Hitting the final straight she detonated—pouring everything left into her legs to blow past Stardust Mirage on her flank—
"Caught up…"
"No—she vanished?!"
What Taiki Shuttle had just overhauled was only a remnant of wind and thunder. BOOM!!!
Right by her ear, the full-force smash of an iron shoe on turf exploded. Fighting spirit blasted out from her side and swept everything away. The rival she'd been reeling in bit by bit suddenly became a storm, treading thunder and bolting for the line!
In that instant, Taiki Shuttle saw only the runner pitched so far forward she was practically kissing the grass. In her eyes, wind and lightning braided in the air into a massive phantom dragon that engulfed Stardust Mirage up ahead as it skimmed the ground.
That sudden surge of speed, that clear, icy release of fighting spirit… that back now beyond her reach. For a moment Taiki Shuttle couldn't tell whether the figure before her was Oguri Cap or Stardust Mirage; in her eyes the two completely synchronized and became one. She wouldn't mistake it—that belonged to a top-class runner, a late kick beyond her own limit.
Final three-furlong time: 32.9 seconds. 18.23 m/s—speed that eclipses the light!
"Stardust Mirage—by a head!"
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