"This year's Satsuki Sho is absolutely unmissable!"
"Silence Suzuka, King Halo, Grass Wonder — this lineup is way too dazzling. Former Team Rigil members, current Team Rigil members — it's a top-tier matchup. And then there's that overwhelming sovereign-aura, King Halo, who broke records in the Hopeful Stakes even while running as a chaser. I literally cannot imagine how amazing this Satsuki Sho is going to be. I can't even sleep! I want to watch this race RIGHT NOW!"
"Why are you all forgetting our dream girl — Special Week? She's strong too, you know? She may just be a transfer student, but she's the only uma musume of this generation to awaken ZONE. Should I drag out the Emperor's old paper to remind you all of how valuable awakening ZONE is? Awakening ZONE doesn't guarantee you'll become the strongest, but only those who awaken ZONE can ever hope to become the strongest!"
"Long live Rose-chan!"
"I'm rooting for Seiun Sky — the diligent honor student of effort!"
"Forget the dream girl, please. Did you not watch the Yayoi Sho? She used ZONE and still got beaten by Silence Suzuka. And don't give me 'she just barely lost' — a loss is a loss. Silence Suzuka can wipe the floor with the dream girl without even using ZONE. ZONE is incredibly strong, sure, but it depends on which uma musume awakens it. The dream girl just isn't enough. Look at how terrifying the Emperor became after she awakened ZONE. The only reason the Emperor lost during her American campaign was because of mental issues — she couldn't even use ZONE there. Otherwise, who knows, she might have won!"
"The Emperor wouldn't have won jack. Given the conditions back then in America, the Emperor running into those competitors would only have lost worse. The Valiant Dancer, and Secretariat (headcanon) — which one could the Emperor have beaten? You should be grateful that the Emperor lost early because of her illness and didn't have to face those true sovereigns. Otherwise, the Emperor's golden record would have been smashed long ago."
"Are you out of your damn mind? Are these two sovereigns supposed to be discussed in that lineup? Those are world-strongest tier, dude! Are you stupid?"
"How come I don't see anyone online supporting King Halo? Strange. If we're really discussing strength, didn't King Halo's performance at the Hopeful Stakes prove just how terrifying she is? Plus King Halo is the heir to a sovereign's bloodline. Any way you slice it, she's the strongest in this Satsuki Sho, no?"
"You just said she's the strongest yourself, so what's the point of even discussing it? She got 300,000 more popularity-poll votes than the number-two pick — that alone proves it. We're discussing things without including her by default, because the second you bring her up the conversation devolves into the same line on repeat: 'King Halo will obliterate the Satsuki Sho!'"
"King Halo will obliterate the Satsuki Sho!"
The internet was flooded.
Under the changes of this new era, and the deliberate publicity from the Association, the people of Japan finally realized that their country's uma musume scene was facing a tidal shift. Whether this was the opening of a new Golden Era or merely the last flicker before national collapse, no one could yet say. But this year, Central had unleashed a stunning crop of monsters and prodigies.
Take, for instance, the just-debuted returnee — El Condor Pasa. In her debut race, she had won by Crushing Defeat, leaving everyone with the impression that the king of the skies had been awakened. The sharp instincts she had displayed during the race, the experience she had absorbed at the American Tracen Academy, even her skill mastery — none of it was on the level of her debut-class peers.
Although she had debuted with the stalker running style, she had run that race like a pure front-runner. Or rather, her speed had been so overwhelmingly fast that no front-runner could even hope to suppress her. With just her debut race alone, El Condor Pasa had thoroughly impressed upon the public the depth of her strength. There was no question — that was world-class strength. Truly terrifying.
It was a good thing El Condor Pasa wasn't entered in the Satsuki Sho. Otherwise, people might be expecting her to defeat King Halo. Currently, the performances of these two were on a level no other peer could match. Even Silence Suzuka, who had once been hailed as the wind heralding a new era for Japanese uma musume, no longer received that level of hype.
Compared to El Condor Pasa and King Halo, Silence Suzuka's performances — aside from the rarity and elegance of her Breakaway running style — really weren't as terrifying.
What this world's locals didn't know, however, was that in most parallel worlds El Condor Pasa couldn't outrun Silence Suzuka. Silence Suzuka had massive bonuses applied to her in the uma musume world. It was only because this world's will had meddled — buffing both El Condor Pasa and Special Week far too much — that Silence Suzuka was destined to become a legend of this era and an unfillable hole of regret.
This world's will had earlier cushioned Silence Suzuka as a giant XP packet for Special Week. Even though the Three Goddesses had taken over now, they were the kind of gods who didn't interfere with a world's development. So they hadn't acted — they had simply hidden in the background, quietly watching this fresh new drama unfold.
After all, this world's tier was about to hit its ceiling, and among her companions, King Halo was, on paper, the weakest. By raw stats alone, King Halo couldn't dominate this world. But the Three Goddesses knew very well — paper stats had never been able to limit the potential of an uma musume.
For instance, the [Eye] that King Halo was awakening.
That sort of thing didn't appear on the stat panel.
...
And so, under the eyes of millions of expectant viewers, the start of the Satsuki Sho drew closer.
That day, Special Week received a package from her hometown. Inside were not only carrots her mother had sent over, but also a brand-new outfit. Although the cut of the outfit looked plain — there was no comparison to King Halo's racing outfit — when Special Week saw the racing outfit and the matching brand-new running shoes, her eyes lit up. Excitement flooded her completely.
And it wasn't just her. Silence Suzuka had received her own racing outfit too. Caught up in Special Week's enthusiasm, the two of them changed into their outfits and toured the entire Academy. Special Week stopped every single cat that walked past to show off her new outfit. Silence Suzuka had originally agreed that trying on the outfit was probably necessary — but trailing along behind Special Week, watching her bewildering string of antics, eventually reached her limit.
Under Silence Suzuka's strong protest, Special Week reluctantly went off with Silence Suzuka to do a test-run on the training grounds. There they discovered the racing outfits didn't impede their running at all — in fact, the outfits were even more comfortable to run in than their old, plain training outfits. No matter how anyone looked at them, the racing outfits didn't seem like clothes designed for movement, yet they were. Truly, the greatness of the Three Goddesses needed no explanation. They had perfectly satisfied a girl's love of looking pretty.
To wear beautiful clothes during a race — and even to win — that was something every uma musume adored.
Special Week hung her racing outfit beside her bed. Every morning when she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the outfit. It gave her endless motivation to train. The Special Week who used to lose all willpower at the sight of carrots actually didn't touch the carrots from home this time — instead, she donated all of them to the Academy cafeteria so everyone could share.
King Halo also got to taste those carrots from Special Week's hometown that day. They genuinely were more delicious than the carrots they ate normally. Maybe that was the difference of local feng shui. After all, Special Week's hometown was the soil that had raised a protagonist. In a slightly mystical world like this, the ley lines there had to be extraordinary. It was a pity that the useless Kitasan Black hadn't picked up feng shui techniques in her own Story Mode world. King Halo was actually curious to see exactly how miraculous Kobayashi Reki's Qimen techniques really were.
While the other competitors were grinding through brutal training, King Halo wasn't doing any of that meaningless work. Aside from not letting her daily training lapse, she basically spent all her waking hours in the library. It was a good thing the Tracen Academy library was massive — given her terrifying reading speed, otherwise she would have already cleaned the place out. After all, she wasn't learning from zero. She was reading and downloading Mejiro McQueen's experience at the same time — like having a built-in learning accelerator. The efficiency was frightening.
After Special Week finally managed, through her brutal special training, to forcibly enter the explosive ZONE state at will roughly three out of every ten attempts, the day of the race finally arrived. Today's Special Week, brimming with confidence, put on the racing outfit she had been carefully maintaining every day, slipped on the matching running shoes, and fitted them with horseshoes. With her brand-new gear in place, Special Week could feel the heart her mother had poured into her — and her trainer's, and so many others'. Even just to live up to this outfit, she had to win this race. She had to run a race no one would be disappointed by!
"Satsuki Sho! Here I come!"
...
The members of Team Rigil and Team Spica met at the entrance of the racecourse.
Tojo Hana and Nishizaki Ryu greeted each other with the casual familiarity of two acquaintances. There was no real hostility between them. Tojo Hana seemed to have anticipated that Grass Wonder, her own girl, wouldn't put up an exceptional showing in this race, so she didn't carry much pressure into it. Nishizaki Ryu, however, was the smug one — the corners of his mouth twitching up nearly to his ears, because Team Spica had grown into a formidable squad now, with a roster quality that no longer paled before Team Rigil's.
This was something Nishizaki Ryu had once never even dreamed of.
If he didn't show off after actually building such a result, what was the point of all his work? And his relationship with Tojo Hana had always been somewhat complicated, so naturally he wanted to flex in front of her.
"Hahaha — please go easy on us today, you and your team. Though I'm pretty sure Spica is taking the win this time."
Nishizaki Ryu spoke with the supreme confidence of someone who had earned the right to brag. Silence Suzuka was in excellent condition, and Special Week was a wild card whose strength ceiling was unknown. Their training results lately had been outstanding.
Special Week wasn't bright, but she was diligent.
Most importantly — Special Week had that potential!
So Nishizaki Ryu believed that in today's race, both Special Week and Silence Suzuka were going to shock everyone!
Tojo Hana looked at Nishizaki Ryu helplessly.
She glanced at Silence Suzuka.
"..."
Silence Suzuka silently bowed to her. This was Silence Suzuka's apology to her former trainer — because today she would not be holding back. She would not give her former teammates any opening at all. Today's victory absolutely would belong to Team Spica!
Tojo Hana was a little surprised.
So Silence Suzuka now showed this much desire to win. The old Silence Suzuka hadn't cared about winning or losing at all — she had been a child who simply wanted to enjoy the act of running.
For a moment, Tojo Hana felt both a sting of failure and a wash of relief.
The sting was because she hadn't been the one who'd helped Silence Suzuka grow. The relief was because she could see Silence Suzuka had grown in the right direction.
Thinking about that, Tojo Hana suddenly turned to Nishizaki Ryu.
"Your real opponents today aren't us, are they?"
A single sentence — like cold water to the face. Nishizaki Ryu's mind snapped back to clarity. Recalling the strength King Halo had displayed at the Hopeful Stakes, even with all the team-coordination training he had given Spe-chan and Suzuka, he didn't have the slightest confidence to claim victory.
— King Halo!
That was the real sovereign of this Satsuki Sho.
The greatest opponent they had to face in this competition!
"I know. That's exactly why I'm willing to make this big a sacrifice — to put both Suzuka and Spe-chan into this Satsuki Sho together this year."
If it weren't for facing King Halo, the most correct decision for him as a trainer would have been to bench either Special Week or Silence Suzuka for a year and have her challenge the Classic Triple Crown next year. That would at least guarantee one win.
If it had been Tojo Hana, she likely would have done exactly that.
But Nishizaki Ryu hadn't decided that way. He had chosen to lay everything bare to his teammates and let Silence Suzuka and Special Week choose their own future. Their choices had been exactly what he expected — they had decided to face King Halo head-on.
Or rather —
It was because she was a powerful enemy that they had to face her!
Mere victory was meaningless. They had to grow stronger. Even if they ducked King Halo's current dominance and simply chased next year's wins, that would only be a form of giving up.
Special Week didn't want to give up.
And Silence Suzuka didn't think she was going to lose either.
So they had chosen to challenge King Halo head-on!
For that purpose, Nishizaki Ryu had cranked up their training. He had even drilled the two of them in cooperation tactics. While official uma musume races didn't include team races, in some local and event races team formats existed, so cooperative tactics did exist as a concept. Unfortunately, Nishizaki Ryu didn't know all that much about this area, and he hadn't wanted to give up either Special Week or Silence Suzuka. If King Halo hadn't been so terrifyingly strong, he wouldn't have even thought to drill them on cooperation.
So although he had prepared cooperative tactics for them, he hoped they wouldn't need to use them today — because the moment the tactic was triggered, it would mean one teammate had to actively sacrifice for the win.
But —
That was the pressure King Halo was putting on Team Spica.
...
El Condor Pasa, watching Special Week and Silence Suzuka in their racing outfits, looked envious. "How nice. I really envy you two."
She had wanted to enter this race herself. She had even pestered Tojo Hana about it for a while. But unlike Nishizaki Ryu, Tojo Hana had bottom lines she would never compromise on. There was absolutely no way she would let El Condor Pasa do whatever she pleased.
As the secret weapon Symboli Rudolf and Tojo Hana had spent considerable resources to recruit for the Arc de Triomphe challenge, El Condor Pasa wasn't allowed to enter races freely. If she went off-script, it would breach the original contract. And even El Condor Pasa understood how serious those consequences would be. So although she was unhappy, she hadn't acted on impulse.
The biggest reason she could hold back, though, was something else entirely.
El Condor Pasa, with a mysterious grin, said to Special Week, "Spe-chan, I'll be waiting for you further ahead. You too, Suzuka-san — I'm really looking forward to running against you. So you two had better not lose this one. Go give that smug Halo-chan a beating she'll remember."
Because King Halo was different from the original template. Her pride wasn't an act — it came from the depths of her soul. In El Condor Pasa's sharp instincts, that made King Halo too arrogant. That girl regarded everyone, equally, as a challenger. Even the one time King Halo had watched El Condor Pasa's debut race with her at the cafeteria, El Condor Pasa had noticed that King Halo had looked at her with the appraising gaze of a superior — the gaze of an upper-tier observing a worthy contender.
Just thinking about that gaze, El Condor Pasa felt her fighting spirit roar up uncontrollably.
Hmph. Does that girl seriously think she's already a [Sovereign]? She's just a sovereign's offspring — and she thinks she's destined to be the new sovereign of this generation? El Condor Pasa would make her understand: I, El Condor Pasa, am the strongest of this generation!
The Japan Derby!
El Condor Pasa thought about the upcoming race. Excitement broke into a grin on her face.
Her schedule had been laid out by Tojo Hana. Tojo Hana had no intention of letting El Condor Pasa pursue the Triple Crown — that would only waste her energy. The plan was for El Condor Pasa to win the Japan Derby and the Takarazuka Kinen back-to-back, then fly straight to France to enter local races there (with real-world entry restrictions ignored), focusing all her energy on preparing for the Arc de Triomphe.
"Heheh..." Special Week thought El Condor Pasa was envying her new outfit. After all, El Condor Pasa hadn't won a GI yet — meaning the very same girl who had beaten her in the selection trials was now behind her in achievements. It was a delicious feeling.
Just then, a taxi pulled up to a parking spot in front of the venue. King Halo, dressed in her racing outfit, stepped out — followed by Trainer P, who carried her luggage.
Even though she had arrived by taxi, King Halo's noble bearing was undiminished. The moment she appeared, she became the absolute center of attention. The Aura radiating from her gave off a suffocating, mountain-like pressure — as though one were standing in the shadow of an immense peak. This kind of presence, before the race had even started, was honestly terrifying.
King Halo had no intention of greeting the rivals standing at the entrance. She didn't even spare them a glance. The unnamed trainer behind her followed silently, like a bodyguard. The composure on display was overwhelming. Without saying a word, she had said everything.
Today's victory is already in my hands.
That was the message radiating off of King Halo.
Nishizaki Ryu's expression went grim.
Damn it.
He didn't want to talk defeatist talk. But King Halo really was too strong. And as the number of races she ran increased, the [Aura] gathering on her was getting more terrifying. Even when Spe-chan entered ZONE, she was nowhere near as oppressive as King Halo was right now.
It might just be Aura in name.
But as a senior trainer, Nishizaki Ryu knew the difference between an angry runner's hollow bluster and a true [Aura]. King Halo wasn't even specifically targeting them as opponents — or rather, she didn't even register them as worth her notice. And yet they were still being passively crushed under that horrifying [Aura]. How could he not be worried?
If Silence Suzuka was a prodigy, and Special Week was a freak talent, then King Halo — that girl was a true monster. Maybe the world really did contain people who were born to rule. But Nishizaki Ryu had no desire to see such people exist — particularly when those people happened to be his opponents. Just thinking about it made him despair.
Standing further back, Symboli Rudolf — who hadn't approached the juniors so as not to disturb their mood — watched King Halo's entrance with a startled expression. She turned to Air Groove beside her.
"This is troubling. Just now, I felt as though I had already seen the result of this race."
"!"
Air Groove looked at Luna in shock.
Luna's pre-race predictions were extraordinarily accurate. Even though Luna typically didn't make this kind of prediction, Luna's predictions had never been wrong. Honestly, Air Groove sometimes felt that Luna's gift for being a trainer was even more terrifying than her gift for being an uma musume.
"Who do you predict will win?"
Air Groove asked thoughtfully.
And Symboli Rudolf's answer was as expected.
"King Halo."
Symboli Rudolf herself was a little incredulous. She had been keeping watch over both Team Rigil and Team Spica, and while she couldn't claim to know everything about Special Week and the others' growth, she had a rough sense of it. She had originally thought Silence Suzuka and Special Week were already remarkably strong — strong enough to do well at the international level. But the moment King Halo appeared today, those earlier impressions wavered.
Could Special Week and Silence Suzuka still win? Right now, Symboli Rudolf could not see a future in which they did. King Halo's [Aura] was abnormal — far beyond what an uma musume of this period should possess. She had only ever seen this kind of [Aura] on the strongest in the world. Yet King Halo already had it.
She was shocked at what she saw.
And she felt a wave of pity for Special Week, Silence Suzuka, and the other juniors.
Being born into this Golden Era is your fortune. But being born into the same generation as King Halo — that may be your greatest misfortune. That girl is like the me of the past — even greater than I was.
That was what Symboli Rudolf thought.
"..."
El Condor Pasa was watching King Halo's retreating figure with a serious face. With her greater strength, what she sensed went deeper. To be honest — she had instinctively felt fear a moment ago.
"Spe-chan, Grass-chan, be careful. Halo-chan's strength might be far beyond what you imagine. Honestly, I'm starting to doubt whether you can defeat her. Right now, only I might be able to win against her — but unfortunately..."
Honestly, her own fighting spirit was already nearly impossible to contain. The feeling — she felt as if she were facing the legend she had once met at the American Tracen Academy: the former Chairman, Secretariat!
But El Condor Pasa instinctively believed this was just an illusion. Logic told her King Halo couldn't possibly be on the level of that legendary uma musume. The Aura was just similar. But even similar Aura was terrifying — that was Secretariat we were talking about.
Honestly, she really hadn't expected King Halo to be this strong. She could barely stop herself from running a lap right then and there!
Special Week's face fell at her words.
"El Condor Pasa, don't underestimate us!"
"... Sorry. But what I said was the truth."
El Condor Pasa knew her words were going to make Special Week and the others uncomfortable. But precisely because they were friends, she had chosen to be honest. She wanted Special Week and the others to mentally prepare themselves for failure. As for who in this group still had any hope of defeating King Halo — her gaze drifted toward the calm-faced Silence Suzuka.
"Suzuka-san, you might be the only hope."
"..."
Silence Suzuka looked at El Condor Pasa, puzzled.
The race hadn't even started yet — what was El Condor Pasa even talking about?
Although Silence Suzuka was extremely strong, her greatest weakness was her terrible perceptiveness. That was also why her wisdom stat fluctuated so wildly in King Halo's eyes. She always performed strongly in races, so by all rights her wisdom shouldn't have fluctuated much — but who would have guessed that Silence Suzuka was the kind of runner who simply had no perception?
Or rather, it wasn't quite that she had no perception at all.
It was that Silence Suzuka's racing style was to seal herself off from the world. To her, racing was simply the act of running with everything she had. She didn't care who her opponents were and never paid attention to their movements. Her Breakaway running style had been born from exactly this mentality — which was why King Halo had said her Breakaway was different.
So Silence Suzuka's calm at this moment wasn't because she was unafraid of King Halo's [Aura] — it was because she literally couldn't sense [Aura] at all. El Condor Pasa, however, didn't know this. She thought Silence Suzuka was like her — and so she had assumed Silence Suzuka had the strength to fight King Halo.
El Condor Pasa watched her friends head into the venue.
Standing in place, she said to Tojo Hana, "Trainer, I finally understand why you knew I'd be affected by races and still made me come watch this one in person. You wanted to tell me — even though I should be untouchable in Japan, there are still racers right now who could threaten me, right?"
Although El Condor Pasa was analyzing rationally, she couldn't keep from breaking into a wild grin. The existence of opponents who could actually threaten her was an enormous, delightful surprise.
She had never feared powerful enemies.
Because — she was the strongest.
This world's El Condor Pasa, born under different circumstances, had grown up in America. She had even received guidance from former world-dominant uma musume. Her talent had been developed to its absolute limit. So when she said she was the strongest of this era, it wasn't arrogance — she was simply stating fact. Which was exactly why she relished King Halo's strength.
"Then are you confident you can beat her?"
Tojo Hana asked with a smile.
El Condor Pasa returned that smile with equal confidence.
"I'll win."
Without even realizing it, El Condor Pasa had just planted a death flag. Her current state was one of absolute self-assurance.
...
Back to the actual Satsuki Sho.
The appearance-stage routine was the same as always — every racer had to walk on stage with a red cape and give it a flourish. What kind of ritual was this, exactly? King Halo didn't know. But she had no intention of making a scene about being different, so she went along with it. She didn't try anything attention-grabbing on stage either. If Tokai Teio had been here, she would probably have been hamming it up on this stage already. But King Halo did exactly what Silence Suzuka did — go through the motions and move on.
Once that minor segment was over, the racers entered the actual race grounds. While the appearance stage may have meant nothing to King Halo, for some fans and young uma musume out there, this was exactly the dream they were chasing.
Show your striking figure to the spectators, then conquer their hearts in the race itself. Whether you snatched the audience's hearts and made them roar in awe of you, or you brought dreams to them and made them fall under your spell — it was all up to each racer. There was no real right or wrong. For an uma musume — victory was everything!
"Hello again, everyone! It's an honor that we get to be your commentators again today. This is so exciting — when I saw the entry list for this race, I had only one thought in my head: today's race is the most dazzling lineup we've seen in years. You absolutely cannot afford to miss this — if you miss it, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"
The commentator Akasaka was nearly gushing with excitement. Normally, as a professional commentator, she shouldn't be saying things like this on air — but she really couldn't help it.
How long had it been? How long since the last spectacle of this caliber?
After the Emperor's era ended, Japanese racing had been in a long decline. Occasionally, a shooting-star uma musume would appear like a flash in the pan — but those were just isolated blooms, never enough to lead the next era. This year was different. Strong racers were appearing one after another. Prodigies once seen only rarely were now showing up in clusters.
Akasaka had a strong premonition.
This might be the curtain rising on a Golden Era — or it might be one final flicker before the country's collapse. Either way, this year's races could not be missed!
Today's venue had not a single empty seat.
Because each of the entered racers had massive fan followings. If it weren't for the special VIP section reserved for racers' related personnel, even Nishizaki Ryu and the others might not have made it inside.
A sea of people stretched as far as the eye could see — both the standing-room areas and the upper-deck seating. Not a single empty seat anywhere.
Nishizaki Ryu took it all in, stunned.
"Is this for real?"
He had genuinely never imagined he would witness something like this in his lifetime. And the most unbelievable part was that he could hear shouts for Spe-chan and Suzuka in the crowd — meaning a lot of these people were fans of his teammates. For a moment, Nishizaki Ryu was overwhelmed. The man whose team had once nearly been disbanded had actually made it to this day.
"No — this is only the beginning."
Nishizaki Ryu wiped the corner of his eye.
That was right. He and his teammates would keep climbing toward higher peaks!
...
Trainer P, too, was struggling to keep his composure.
Especially when he saw that an entire section of the seating had hung up banners supporting King Halo. A surge of pride and energy filled his chest.
Together with King Halo, even if it's the peak of the world — we will reach it!
Carried by that feeling, the rookie trainer quickly steadied himself.
Because that was the confidence King Halo had given him!
...
"Akasaka, that's enough — let's get back to the race. Coming up next is the introduction of the top fan favorites —"
Hosoe was significantly more rational than Akasaka.
With her support, Akasaka quickly snapped back into professional mode.
"Fan-favorite number three — from the legendary Team Rigil — Grass Wonder. Last year, her record was 2 wins and 1 second-place finish. At the Asahi Cup, her final-stretch sprint timing didn't quite land, and she lost to Blue Harmony in heartbreaking fashion. But her strength is in no way inferior to anyone else on the field today. After a period of intensive training, she'll surely show us a stronger version of herself than before. We're looking forward to her performance!"
In the spectator section, Blue Harmony — there to cheer for Royal Rose — looked exasperated when she heard that. What kind of merciless commentator is this? I already broke my leg, and you're dragging me out for a posthumous beating?
Because of activating a skill that exceeded her body's capacity at the Hopeful Stakes, Blue Harmony had ended up with a fracture right after the race. As predicted — she really had bet a year of her racing future on that one race.
But the result had been pure tragedy.
Not only had she lost to King Halo, her final placing was even behind Royal Rose's. The date had never happened. By every measure, she had lost it all.
But even injured, she was still here today, dragging her broken body to cheer for Rose!
"Rose-chan, go get them! You're the best!"
Royal Rose, hearing Blue Harmony's resounding voice, was both touched and at a loss for words. What is going on with this girl? We didn't even know each other before that race. We've met one time, and she's already glued to me!
Despite being grateful for the support, Royal Rose glanced at today's competitors.
She fell silent.
Yes, she had refused to give up and had come anyway — but a single look at this lineup told her she had no chance of winning.
Grass Wonder, hearing herself introduced, didn't take the commentary too seriously — but the Asahi Cup race did still nettle her a little, because Blue Harmony had genuinely been weaker than her. If she hadn't been blocked by the runner in front of her at the worst possible moment, she would never have lost to Blue Harmony.
As expected, in racing — luck mattered too.
Grass Wonder had come to understand this deeply, because her one and only loss had been to luck.
But today...
Grass Wonder looked at Special Week.
She had a premonition that her luck today was going to be at its absolute peak — because she got to run with Special Week. But the moment she turned and saw Silence Suzuka, her expression collapsed. If only Silence Suzuka weren't here, this would be perfect.
Just then, Special Week felt a chill run down her spine.
Her sixth sense had picked up a threat.
Special Week looked left and right, trying to find the source of her unease. After a moment, her gaze locked onto King Halo. She decided this ominous feeling had to be coming from her — because King Halo was so strong it was eating away at her own confidence. But no! She wouldn't let it! She was going to be Japan's top uma musume!
What Special Week didn't realize was that, behind her, Grass Wonder was fixing her with a gaze full of deep affection.
Knowing she could never beat King Halo and Silence Suzuka, why exactly do you think Grass Wonder had bothered entering this race at all? It was for you, Spe-chan!
The commentator continued, "Next, our fan-favorite number two — Silence Suzuka. Although she has now moved from Team Rigil to Team Spica, I believe this won't affect her racing condition. In a previous interview, Silence Suzuka herself stated that Team Spica is the team she truly wants to be on. So today, she might just show us an even more spectacular race!"
Silence Suzuka nodded.
Yes. That was true.
Come to think of it, this was her first race since joining Team Spica. It probably did make sense to win this one beautifully.
She'd treat Spe-chan to carrots after the race.
By default, Silence Suzuka had already assumed she was going to win — because that was simply her personality. It wasn't El Condor Pasa's kind of arrogance. She had simply never even considered the possibility that she could lose.
"And finally, today's main attraction — fan-favorite number one, King Halo. Having displayed jaw-dropping records at the Hopeful Stakes, her strength needs no further description from me. We hope she'll show us, once again, the strength of a true number-one fan favorite!"
King Halo was busy observing and gathering information on the other racers. Although she had complete confidence, she wasn't going to waste any opportunity to increase her skill mastery. She didn't just want to win — she wanted to win beautifully and become more familiar with this power of hers.
She wasn't strong enough yet.
Nowhere near.
The introductions of the fan-favorite picks ended.
Staff stepped forward to direct the racers into the gates.
But during this segment, Special Week felt an inexplicable surge of fear as she stepped into her gate — as if she were stepping into hell itself. She hesitated multiple times before barely managing to enter.
"Spe-chan?"
Silence Suzuka.
Grass Wonder.
And up in the spectator stands, Nishizaki Ryu and the others — all looked at Special Week with concern.
Only King Halo allowed a knowing smile to surface.
I see. So you really are the most unexpected runner in this group. It seems your sixth sense has already foreseen the result of this race. But sometimes, perception that's too sharp is a disaster for the weak. Can you bear the weight of this dread?
What disappointed her, though, was —
Only Special Week alone had sensed it.
Even Silence Suzuka, the so-called "Phantom Horse," was completely numb to it.
Silence Suzuka really wasn't acting on confidence. She simply couldn't sense anything. Because King Halo had now confirmed that Silence Suzuka's wisdom stat fluctuations weren't a misread. Silence Suzuka really did have wildly fluctuating wisdom.
And at her lowest points, it dropped to literally zero.
King Halo couldn't even imagine how low that was. Even an uma musume's initial baseline panel at birth shouldn't be that low.
The result must mean —
Silence Suzuka likely possessed no real sixth sense or instinct at all. She was essentially "blind." Strong as she was, she could not see what was going on around her.
Which meant Silence Suzuka's leg fracture was probably inevitable. Perception in a race wasn't only for observing rivals — it was the foundation for monitoring one's own physical state. Silence Suzuka had no perception, and she was the type of runner who shut herself off completely the moment a race began.
"No threat... that's surprising. To think that the one who should have been the strongest of you all is in fact the least threatening. What a pity. You seem to already be at your peak."
King Halo hadn't expected this world's Silence Suzuka to have been so heavily nerfed. Forget getting stronger — she might actually be weaker now. Truly, just a sacrifice on the protagonist's path of growth.
Because of Special Week's gate-entry hesitation, the start of the race was delayed.
But Special Week was now in the gate.
The Satsuki Sho —
was finally about to begin!
The match that would decide the strongest of the generation was about to unfold here!
...
Meanwhile, far away in France.
Legacy World had just won a race. To the opponent who had lost to her, she said with relaxed ease, "Go back, train more, and try again."
Although she was technically a rookie uma musume, Legacy World had already shown the bearing of a true sovereign.
The European-American champion — Valiant Dancer — at her trainer's invitation, had finished watching Legacy World's performance. An intrigued expression appeared on her face.
But just then, her phone rang.
"Anna! You're not in America! Where on earth are you?!"
The furious voice of her wife on the other end made the sovereign's shoulders flinch.
...
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