Forging the horseshoes would take roughly three days.
Once they were ready, they could come back to pick them up.
Mejiro Dober stood on tiptoe, a strange tingling lingering along the soles of her feet.
A moment ago, Trainer had held her foot while taking measurements.
By all logic, Mejiro Dober should have hated that.
And yet, the instant she saw Trainer's focused expression, all her resistance had quietly melted away.
If this had been a few months ago, forget letting a man touch her feet. Just having one get close would have made Mejiro Dober's skin crawl.
Had her tolerance really grown that much?
No.
That probably wasn't it.
Mejiro Dober thought it over. If some other man had been the one measuring her feet, she still would not have been able to accept it.
What is happening to me?
Mejiro Dober couldn't understand the change in herself.
It felt like something inside her had quietly shifted.
"Only the best equipment can fully draw out an Uma Musume's strength. You think so too, right, Dober-nee?"
Shirayuki stepped up beside Mejiro Dober.
"Ah… mm."
Mejiro Dober glanced at Shirayuki's face and froze.
For a split second, her eyes went blank. Then she rubbed them and lowered her head with a vague nod.
Strange…
For some reason, when she looked at Shirayuki just now, Trainer's face had overlapped with hers.
Was there something wrong with her head?
Mejiro Dober quietly stole another glance at Shirayuki, then shifted her gaze toward Fujiwara Chiya, who was talking with Meisho Doto.
The more she looked, the more alike they seemed.
Am I just tired? Is that why I'm seeing things?
Mejiro Dober slapped both cheeks lightly and forced that bizarre thought back down.
"Trainer, how long until the Tulip Sho?"
"One month and five days," Shirayuki answered in Fujiwara Chiya's place.
Once again, a strange glint flickered through Mejiro Dober's eyes.
Once again, she crushed it down.
It was close now.
This was not the time to be thinking about nonsense.
She had to defeat her powerful rival, Fujiwara Shirayuki.
Not only for the Mejiro family.
For other reasons, too.
After they returned to Tracen, Hayakawa Tazuna was already waiting at the entrance.
She looked at Shirayuki in her racing outfit, then turned her gaze to Fujiwara Chiya and smiled.
"Everyone looks adorable."
True.
But why are you looking at me when you say that?
"Shirayuki's outfit is lovely. Who designed it?" Hayakawa Tazuna asked with a smile, walking up beside Shirayuki.
"I heard it was a very famous designer. I think their surname was Okura…"
"I see."
Hayakawa Tazuna gently stroked Shirayuki's hair.
The next instant, Mejiro Dober tugged Shirayuki toward herself.
"Ara?"
"We still have training later, so we shouldn't bother Hayakawa-san. Besides, standing around the entrance in racing outfits is strange, isn't it?"
"That's true."
"We'll be going too, Tazuna. Let's talk when we have time," Fujiwara Chiya added.
Hayakawa Tazuna nodded.
After the group walked away, she watched Mejiro Dober's retreating back, her eyes thoughtful.
…
"Shirayuki. Now that your racing outfit has arrived, it is time for your first step toward becoming an Empress."
The day after Shirayuki received her racing outfit, Air Groove began her special training.
"The first thing an Empress needs is ability. The second is dignity. And at the foundation of both lies the courage to face hardship without fear. Right now, Shirayuki, your ability is acceptable. Your courage is sufficient as well. What you lack is dignity."
Air Groove folded her arms.
The two of them were about the same height, and yet Shirayuki couldn't shake the feeling that Air Groove was towering over her.
"Of course, when I say dignity, I do not mean empty posturing. In many situations, presence alone can weaken an opponent's spirit. It can rob them of the courage to fight back. Once that happens, they can no longer bring out their full strength."
Air Groove's explanation sounded almost mystical.
Shirayuki only understood about half of it.
"Words alone are meaningless. I will show you."
With that, Air Groove closed her eyes.
Then she opened them.
Shirayuki's breath caught.
Those cool blue-violet eyes flashed with an icy light.
For one terrifying instant, Shirayuki felt as though a blade had pierced straight through her heart. The sensation was so vivid that she clutched her chest and gasped.
A pressure too sharp to ignore rolled off Air Groove.
It felt like, in the next second, Shirayuki would be nothing but a corpse abandoned by the roadside.
Every instinct in her body screamed.
Run.
Hide.
Get away from Air Groove now.
What is this!?
The trainer's handbook never said anything about this!
Just as Shirayuki's legs began to tremble, Air Groove closed her eyes again.
The aura that had nearly carved Shirayuki into ribbons vanished without a trace.
Shirayuki wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, still clutching at her pounding chest.
"Did you feel it?" Air Groove asked, arms crossed. "That is presence. That is dignity. If you wish to become an Empress, you must be able to exert that kind of pressure."
Shirayuki swallowed.
"Air Groove-senpai… how exactly did you do that? That feeling just now."
Shirayuki had always thought killing intent and murderous aura were things from movies.
She had never imagined she would actually feel something like it in real life.
Having two bodies was already absurd enough. Now she was discovering that Uma Musume themselves were even more ridiculous.
A moment ago, she had truly felt as if someone had pressed a blade against her throat.
Her entire back was soaked.
"Spirit. Willpower. Focus. Confidence. Those are what you need to radiate dignity. Shirayuki, eyes are not only for seeing. They can also convey your will. And what you must convey is the presence of one who reigns above all!"
The words "reigns above all" made Shirayuki think, inexplicably, of Harvest Moment, who had once dominated the field.
Those eyes had carried an arrogance fierce enough to burn everything to ash.
Back then, Fujiwara Chiya had not understood what it meant.
But now…
"So that was presence."
A trainer could never touch this realm.
It was something only Uma Musume could understand.
Something only Uma Musume could feel.
"How am I supposed to train that?"
"Push yourself to your limit. Place yourself in death, then find life."
"This…"
Why did it sound like she was supposed to rise from the ashes like a phoenix?
Actually, it sounded worse.
If someone only heard that line, they would think she was being sent to a battlefield.
"From now on, I will set aside time specifically to train your mental strength, so you can grasp this technique as soon as possible. You experienced it yourself just now. You understand what kind of pressure presence can place on an opponent."
She did.
Fujiwara Shirayuki understood now.
If an Uma Musume with weaker willpower had been standing there, she might have surrendered on the spot.
Presence could break an opponent on the mental level.
"Shirayuki!"
A childish voice rang out from behind her.
Tokai Teio threw her arms around Shirayuki's waist.
"I saw you in your racing outfit! It looks super good on you! Let's go on another date this weekend… Ah?"
Tokai Teio's feet left the ground.
Air Groove had lifted her by the back of the collar with one hand.
"President! Come collect your child!"