It seems the dead-heat result is a bit disappointing, even though I thought it was quite good since BNW debuted earlier and King Halo's physical traits were initially weaker than theirs from the beginning, looking at the characters' stars in the game, King Halo only has 1-star and 2-star and ultimate skill called 'call me king,' while the 3-star move changes to 'prideful king'...
Actually, I didn't make up the rules myself, but in Japan's history in 2010, Apapane and Saint Emilion were in the first position together. They(JRA) called it a dead heat, and it has also happened in other countries, so I thought it would be pretty good to use a case like that for the initial fight between King Halo and BNW.
Perhaps none of you know that at the Tenno Sho Autumn 1996, when the three new eras were still at the peak, Sakura Laurel, Mayano Top Gun, and Marvelous Sunday an intense race occurred where each was separated by only 0.1 seconds at the finish. Bubble Gum Fellow.
Among the three first-rate Uma Musume, Bubble Gum Fellow, a second-rate Uma Musume, managed to clash with all three until the finish line. If Obey Your Master won because she avoided direct fights with Tamamo Cross, Bubble Gum Fellow was truly a real challenger.
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The next morning arrived with bright sunlight streaming through the training room windows.
Several newspapers were spread across Hayato's desk, their headlines screaming for attention:
"The Trainer Who Can't Escape" "My Halo is Champion" "Four-Way Zone Battle Shakes Racing World" "Champion by a Nose, Historic Tie at Satsuki Sho" "The King and BNW's First Clash" "Centimeters: The Margin That Defined a Generation" "Winning Stage Performance Breaks Records"
Almost every newspaper was talking about yesterday's race. The four simultaneous Zones. The photo finish. The unprecedented tie for first place. The emotional winning stage performance had the entire venue in tears.
It was clearly an uma musume race, yet Hayato's coverage had become headline material in half of them. If he weren't working exclusively for Uma Musume, he felt like he could have gained quite a few fans on his own merit.
The door creaked open.
"Whew! Morning, trainer."
Seiun Sky was the first to walk into the training room, yawning so wide her jaw cracked. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her usual energetic bounce was noticeably absent.
Her condition made it painfully obvious she hadn't rested well last night. Probably stayed up watching race replays and the winning stage performance on repeat.
"What training are we doing today?" Despite her exhaustion, her voice carried determination. "Seiun can't wait to get started."
Hayato looked up from the newspapers, one eyebrow raised. "No training today. Day off. Tomorrow too. Two consecutive days off."
"Huh? Why?!" Seiun Sky's sleepiness vanished instantly, replaced by genuine distress. "I was already planning to work hard! My race is next month, the Tennō Shō Spring! If the trainer isn't worried, at least consider my feelings!"
King Halo had just won the Satsuki Sho with a historic performance. There was no way Sky could lose her own G1. Absolutely not.
"You're asking me why?" Hayato gestured at her entire disheveled appearance. "Does your current state look like you can train normally?"
"Huh?" Seiun Sky blinked and immediately regretted it. Her eyelids felt sore and heavy, protesting the movement. Am I already exposed? Does the trainer have X-ray vision or something?
"Then just adjust the training plan!" She tried to bargain. "Let Seiun take an afternoon nap, and it'll be fine. I can still train!"
King Halo was the one who raced yesterday, not her. Being tired was just from lack of rest, not the mental and physical exhaustion that would prevent training.
"That won't work." Hayato's tone was firm. "If an uma musume lacks proper rest, training effectiveness drops significantly. Mental fatigue is real, Sky. It's better to relax and recover."
"Eh, how can this be?!" Right beside him, Seiun Sky suddenly put on the pitiful act of a wronged, delicate young maiden. "Trainer, you're mean! Trainer, you're so mean!"
Her voice went up an octave, quavering dramatically.
"Fine, we'll all go play together then." Hayato's expression remained deadpan. "Seiun can keep training alone in the empty facility."
"Eh? You're abandoning me?!" Her voice cracked with exaggerated despair. "Waaah... Trainer, you've changed! You used to care about Seiun feelings!"
The imitation of a wronged maiden's voice was honestly nauseating.
Hayato suppressed a grimace and lightly pressed his forehead. "You're the one who changed. Who did you learn this act from?"
"I think I heard someone crying?"
Daiwa Scarlet's voice came from the doorway. She'd just arrived and caught what sounded distinctly like a concubine acting coquettish toward an emperor in some historical drama.
When she saw it was Seiun Sky doing the performance, she immediately understood. Seiun wasn't that type of uma musume at all, this was pure desperation.
"It's all because of the trainer!" Seiun reached out to wipe away nonexistent tears, her gesture identical to Winning Ticket's signature move from yesterday's post-race interview. "I'm full of passion to train, but he says we're taking a day off! Where does that leave Seiun training enthusiasm?!"
"Day off?" Daiwa Scarlet's proud frame trembled slightly. Hearing about a break, she wasn't particularly happy either. Training was important, after all.
"Yeah, I already cleared it with Tazuna-san." Hayato leaned back in his chair. "Training needs proper recovery periods. If you all insist on working yourselves into the ground, I won't physically stop you, but I still hope you'll actually rest."
"Then during the day off..." Seiun Sky's tone changed completely, dropping the maiden act. "Can the trainer accompany me fishing?"
"No can do." Hayato shook his head. "You all need to let me rest, too. I'm also exhausted." He felt like managing a day off might actually be more tiring than normal training days. There were so many things to handle, and he'd already promised to go shopping with Halo.
If Hayato agreed Seiun Sky's fishing too, he really wouldn't get any rest at all.
"Alright, notify the others about the day off. I'm heading out first."
After saying that, Hayato grabbed his jacket and bolted through the door.
Hayato needed to go outside for errands anyway. Running shoes, sports supplements, protein powder, he needed to stock up on all of it. Plus his personal items, office supplies, maybe a proper tea set, and various other necessities.
Many trainers had tablets for collecting and organizing race data. He didn't have one yet, relying entirely on the system interface that only he could see. If there were a more convenient way to share information with his uma musume, that wouldn't be bad.
The remaining team members trickled in one after another over the next hour, only to be notified of the unexpected day off by an increasingly theatrical Seiun Sky.
"A day off? Perfect!" King Halo entered with her Satsuki Sho crown actually balanced on her head, emerald dress swishing. "I was just planning to attend Kawakami's tea party anyway. Oh-ho-ho-ho..."
Having returned victorious, tied for first place but still claiming the crown, she'd been in a seriously good mood all morning.
"Can I be invited to the tea party?" Grass Wonder perked up immediately. "I'm really interested in experiencing a proper Japanese tea ceremony."
"Sure! To celebrate my Satsuki Sho victory, I'll wear my crown the whole time!" King Halo laughed, then turned to Silence Suzuka. "Suzuka, will you wear your Sakura crown?"
"No, no need." Silence Suzuka waved her hands repeatedly and backed away slightly, clearly uncomfortable with the attention.
King Halo didn't push it. Instead, her gaze shifted to the delicate tiara sitting atop Daiwa Scarlet's head. "That crown seems prettier than my crown, actually."
"Of course it is!" Scarlet touched it protectively. "The Triple Tiara has even more symbolic value than a standard G1. It represents queens, not just winners."
"Wow, that's really nice." King Halo was now seriously considering whether to collect a tiara crown too after completing the Classic Triple Crown. She felt like she was developing a hobby of accumulating various championships and their associated prizes.
Mile races, medium distance, long distance, tiaras crown ... Yeah, there'd be a ton of races to participate in throughout her career.
Listening to their conversation about collecting prestigious racing prizes, Seiun Sky wondered if she should quietly distance herself from this discussion.
"Sorry, I'm not really interested in tea parties." She edged toward the door. "I'll head out first. Bye-bye!"
She jogged toward the exit.
"Wait, Seiun, you—"
King Halo wanted to call her back. For a celebration gathering, having everyone present would definitely be better, right?
"Oh, Halo-chan, you should check where the trainer went first." Seiun Sky paused at the door. "He's not even here anymore."
Then she disappeared in a flash.
"Right, where did the trainer go?" King Halo glanced around the training room. Hayato really had vanished.
Daiwa Scarlet answered, "He said something about needing to rest too and went out to run errands."
"Mm? He's not here when we finally get a break?" King Halo's disappointment was obvious.
Grass Wonder covered her mouth and smiled knowingly. "Who knows? Maybe he thinks being with us is more exhausting than actual training sessions."
"How could that be? It's not like we're going to eat him or anything."
Shortly after, Hayato's phone buzzed with a message from King Halo about organizing the tea party and wondering if he'd join.
Already outside and halfway to the shopping district, Hayato naturally couldn't participate. He could only send a few apologetic messages to console her, promising to make it up to her later.
Meanwhile, back at the training grounds, Seiun Sky had changed into her practice gear and was running sprint drills.
Over and over and over.
After multiple trial runs with no visible improvement, she was just tired and drenched in sweat, her breathing coming in harsh gasps.
"Huff... huff... Strange." She bent over, hands on her knees. "How do they achieve that final explosive kick? Can a late acceleration really have that much speed difference?"
She'd watched the Satsuki Sho replays a dozen times last night. Watched King Halo's surge in the final stretch. Watched Narita Taishin's complete Zone-enhanced burst. Watched all four of them, somehow finding that extra gear when it mattered most.
And she had no idea how to replicate it.
She felt like only Hayato could answer this question properly, but Hayato wasn't here.
After thinking it over, she decided to message him anyway. She pulled out her phone and started typing.
Seiun Sky: Trainer, big trouble! Extremely urgent! My room was set on fire! Reply immediately upon receiving!
She hit send, then waited, bouncing on her toes anxiously.
The reply came surprisingly fast.
Hayato: What's up?
"What the heck, trainer replies pretty quickly when it sounds serious." Seiun Sky stared at her phone. "If I said I tripped and actually hurt myself, I wonder if he'd rush back immediately?"
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she actually typed out: "Accidentally hurt my foot while running."
The message sat there, unsent, cursor blinking.
She stared at it for a long moment, then shook her head and deleted it.
"Never mind, better not cause trouble for the trainer. He might really be busy with errands. Making him panic and rush back wouldn't be fair." Her thumb hovered over the send button. "And if he actually came back, I'd have to actually injure myself to make the lie believable."
"That would be way too stupid." She shook her head firmly and deleted the fake message, typing something actually relevant instead.
Seiun Sky: It's like this, what's the deal with final acceleration kicks? I don't seem to have one. Do all Uma Musume naturally have that ability?
The reply took a bit longer this time, like Hayato was actually thinking through his explanation.
Hayato: You need high power stats for explosive acceleration. Power is the primary source of late-race kicks. What you're mainly developing right now isn't power, it's speed and stamina. So naturally, you don't have a strong finishing kick in your current build.
Hayato: Or rather, your baseline speed is already faster than what your "kick" speed would be, so there's no noticeable surge. You're running at near-maximum velocity the entire race.
Hayato: You're fundamentally different from King Halo and the others. Even if you dramatically increased your power stats, your finishing kick's effectiveness would be relatively weak compared to power-focused runners. Your build is only suited for Pace-Chaser or Front Runner styles, where you maintain high speed throughout.
Seiun Sky read the messages twice, letting the information sink in.
So she wasn't doing something wrong. She just... wasn't built for that kind of racing.
Seiun Sky: I see! That makes sense. Thanks, trainer!
She looked back at the empty track, at the sprint markers she'd been trying to explosively accelerate between.
Different racing styles. Different strengths.
King Halo could surge in the final stretch because that's what she was built for.
Seiun Sky would have to win in a different way.
She smiled slightly, then headed toward the showers. Maybe a day off wasn't such a bad idea after all.
--
*As usual, the illustration is commented on.