The difference was instant. The pressure on their legs disappeared, replaced by gravity helping them instead of fighting them. The field took in desperate breaths, trying to recover whatever they could.
Relief flooded through Seiun Sky's body as that warmth spread through her legs again, her recovery kicking in to pull back some of what the slope had taken. Her breathing steadied, her stride went back to something normal.
Around her, the other uma musume were doing the same, gasping for oxygen, trying to stabilize after that brutal climb. The slope had taken something from all of them.
Well. Almost all of them.
Narita Brian looked exactly the same as she had at the start - hungry for the first position, ready to hunt down the pack leader.
The downhill ended, and they hit the backstretch.
Flat track is the mid-race.
Sakura Laurel let her speed drop as they settled into the middle section.
She eased back into the pack, her breathing deliberately slowing, her heart rate coming down from the spike the climb had forced. Long distance was a war of attrition, and she knew that better than anyone.
"WE'VE HIT THE MIDDLE STAGE! ON KYOTO'S BIG CORNER, MAYANO TOP GUN STILL HOLDS THE LEAD!"
Hosoe Junko's voice rang across the stadium with renewed energy.
"AND SEIUN SKY—SHE'S OPENED A FIVE-LENGTH GAP FROM THE PACK BEHIND HER! TWENTY LENGTHS SEPARATE THE FIRST FROM THE LAST POSITION RIGHT NOW! SAKURA LAUREL'S POSITION LOOKS ROUGH! OH MY, SHE'S SLOWING DOWN EVEN MORE! IS SHE TRYING TO CONSERVE STAMINA?! OR IS SHE ALREADY STRUGGLING?!"
Mayano Top Gun heard the commentary and grinned. Twenty lengths. She was setting the pace like it was nothing - Great Escape running style in a long-distance race, and she was pulling it off.
"MAYANO TOP GUN'S RUNNING GREAT ESCAPE LIKE IT'S NOTHING!"
"THIS IS ALREADY HER FIFTH RUNNING STYLE! NOBODY EXPECTED IT TO SHOW UP AT THE TENNŌ SHŌ SPRING! IS SHE REALLY THAT CONFIDENT?! IS SHE INSANE?! OR IS SHE A GENIUS?!"
"Isn't that obvious?" Top Gun said to herself, catching fragments of the commentary. "Watch closely!"
She hit the corner without slowing down, didn't even think about recovering stamina - pure aggression, exactly what a proper great escaper should be.
Up in the stands, Hayato's fists clenched so tight his knuckles went white.
Mayano Top Gun had copied Seiun Sky's Great Escape almost perfectly. But the gap was massive, and even he was starting to doubt.
Could Seiun really catch up from there?
"Your student?" Maruzensky's voice had that teasing edge.
"No. It's Seiun's student."
"The student surpasses the master." Maruzensky smiled. The current Mayano Top Gun honestly deserved that kind of praise.
"Mocking me?"
"Complimenting you." Maruzensky was having way too much fun with this. Then her expression changed. "Is this outsmarting your plan in Tennō Shō Spring?"
"Doesn't matter." Hayato's voice was flat. "As long as we can win, people can say whatever they want."
Hayato wasn't planning to explain anything. This was Seiun Sky's running style, plain and simple.
Then he spoke up, quoting something Seiun Sky had told him before. "When opponents call you despicable, it's a compliment. When enemies look at you with contempt, it's an honor."
That got Maruzensky laughing, and Hayato laughed too, even copying Seiun Sky's signature sly giggle. "Hehehe."
"Trainer, what are you laughing about?" Urara tilted her head, completely lost.
"Oh, children don't need to understand." Maruzensky put her hand on her shoulder gently and turned back to watch the race.
Tōjō Hana was watching too, her jaw tight like she'd picked up on something. Her mouth moved like she wanted to say something, but no words came out.
Strategy was part of the strength - nothing wrong with that. She just hoped Narita Brian wouldn't get baited by Mayano Top Gun's aggression.
Back on the track, Narita Brian glanced forward where Mayano Top Gun was so far ahead she was almost a dot on the horizon, running at that insane pace, maintaining that impossible lead.
"ALMOST EVERY RUNNER IS RECOVERING NOW AFTER THE DOWNHILL!"
"LITTLE TRICKS AND TECHNIQUES PICKED UP FROM RUNNING DISTANCE RACES! BUT IT WON'T BE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE! THE GAPS THAT OPENED ON THE SLOPE AREN'T CLOSING! IF ANYTHING, THEY'RE GETTING WIDER!"
"Everything's good," Narita Brian said to herself, voice quiet even as her heart hammered. "Field condition stable..."
Something unlocked deep in her core - a hidden reserve of stamina she'd been saving, waiting for the right moment. Stamina flooded back into her body. Not a lot, but enough. Her exhaustion faded slightly, getting replaced by a second wind.
Narita Brian rolled her shoulders and felt the power building in her legs, ready to explode.
Behind her, Sakura Laurel felt it - that shift in Narita Brian's presence, that subtle change in the air that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
"Here it comes," Sakura Laurel whispered to herself.
But Narita Brian didn't move. Not yet.
"THE RACE IS HEATING UP! THE CONTESTANTS ARE PREPARING TO ENTER THE THIRD CORNER!"
Hosoe Junko's voice rose higher, pitch climbing with the tension.
"MAYANO TOP GUN'S SPEED HAS FINALLY SLOWED! SEIUN SKY IS GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER! CURRENTLY SIX LENGTHS! IS SHE PLANNING TO OVERTAKE MAYANO TOP GUN IN THE CORNER?! IS THIS WHERE IT HAPPENS?!"
Seiun Sky had two choices right now - overtake Mayano Top Gun before the corner and trigger her unique skill, or use her recovery ability to keep lurking, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"This is such a pain," she said under her breath, eyes locked on Mayano Top Gun's back.
Overtaking at this position would basically guarantee a win, but Hayato's words kept playing in her head - don't focus on Mayano Top Gun, watch Sakura Laurel at the back.
If I accelerated too early, would there be problems?
And Narita Brian, why wasn't Narita Brian making a move yet? Where was her fighting spirit?
Seiun Sky kept running through scenarios, debating with herself. She'd already made her decision: as long as Narita Brian fought with Mayano Top Gun, she'd hang back and watch the show, let them wear each other down first, then make her move.
"Otherwise, accelerating early would just make Narita Brian target me instead, and that was the last thing I wanted."
While she was still calculating, she felt a chill running down her spine - a predator's gaze cutting through the air.
Not at me. That predator's gaze... it was fixed on Mayano-chan, the one in the lead.
Oh my. Is it finally happening, just as trainer predicted?
Seiun Sky glanced back, and Narita Brian didn't disappoint her. She was already gathering power, muscles tight like a spring wound to the breaking point.
Seiun Sky moved slightly inward, making way.
The uma musume behind her did the same without being asked. Nobody wanted to be in the way when the fierce wolf was about to hunt.
"Time to move!"
"YAAH!"
Narita Brian gathered every ounce of power she had into her legs. The muscles expanded and compressed, building pressure that made the air around her shimmer.
The world narrowed. The track blurred into streaks of green and brown, the pack reduced to moving obstacles, breathing patterns she could read at a glance. Her left leg twinged, that familiar warning she'd been ignoring, but she forced it down. Not now. Not with her target right there ahead.
Mayano Top Gun's back was seventeen lengths away.
Brian's breathing settled into a rhythm - inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale - it perfectly synced with her stride. The air tasted of crushed grass and sweat, sharp and grounding. Her vision sharpened until she could pick out individual blades of turf kicked up ahead, track the subtle bob of each runner's head, the small adjustments in their gait.
She felt the exact second her body hit critical mass - that perfect balance point where power met control.
When Narita Brian finished controlling her rhythm, her legs kicked the ground.
BOOM!
Dust exploded into the air as her hooves left a crater straight into the track, and she shot forward like a cannonball, the shockwave spreading through the pack.
--
*As usual, the illustration is commented on.