"No way! Seriously?! No way!"
In front of the television, Noren Ace nearly wrapped an arm around Mini Lady's neck in excitement. She was so worked up she looked ready to burst into tears.
She could already see victory.
Seiun Ryoka, crowned once more at Doncaster Racecourse—becoming the first of her kind, and quite possibly the last, the one and only legend.
She had already started calculating the final margin.
"Fifty lengths? Sixty? Or maybe, just like that super-famous star Eclipse—"
Before she could finish, Mini Lady drove her forehead straight into Noren Ace's, cutting her off mid-sentence.
Trying to pull more than a hundred lengths?
That kind of thing was fine to think about, but not to say out loud. Even if everyone gathered here was Japanese horse girls, they were Kasamatsu girls—they did not get along with the Central crowd.
Besides, even Eclipse had only put up that kind of outrageous performance after entering the older-horse division, hadn't she?
Ryoka was still a classic-year newcomer. Don't put that kind of pressure on her.
Though, to be fair, Mini Lady thought the Central horse girls' opinion of Seiun Ryoka was even more exaggerated.
What was all that "Eclipse in the heavens, Seiun Ryoka upon the earth" nonsense supposed to mean?
Wasn't that basically saying Eclipse had returned?
Even Mini Lady would puff out her chest with pride when she thought about all the honors Ryoka had won, but some things really were better left unsaid.
This was how Mini Lady saw it:
Eclipse was Eclipse. Seiun Ryoka was Seiun Ryoka. They were not the same. That was all there was to it.
Of course, that had actually been something Fujimasa March had said to the other Central girls. Mini Lady had only memorized it.
The host's voice came from the TV.
"We're past the halfway point and entering the sweeping turn before the final straight! The resistance created by the strong wind is still interfering with the runners, but Seiun Ryoka remains firmly in control of the lead! The gap between her and the chasing pack should be over thirty lengths!"
The commentator immediately picked up from there.
"Even with the gale raging ahead of them, the others have chosen to launch their chase, hoping to reel her in! Let's hope they've managed their stamina correctly, because otherwise... they may never reach the goal they're aiming for!"
He didn't think much of this change of pace from the rest of the field, but they were challenging Ryoka under immense pressure. It was hard to criticize them for lacking composure.
After all, when a horse girl far stronger than you suddenly shifts tempo, how many racers can truly stay calm and stick to the plan they made at the start?
Besides, plans were never absolute. A true racer's virtue lay in adapting to reality. A horse girl who followed her plan blindly would never reach the very top.
Because Ryoka had abruptly accelerated, the order of the pack had changed dramatically.
Now, Brittany sat in second place, while Sanctuary Scion, who had still refused to increase her speed, had dropped all the way to the back of the field. The whole group had stretched out into a near-straight line, the field length growing longer and longer.
"Twelve hundred meters left..."
Brittany caught sight of the marker flashing past by the trackside and drew a deep breath. She knew the decisive moment was coming.
When most of the field entered the final sweeping turn, the real battle began.
Still with strength in reserve, Brittany tried to accelerate in the bend. She wanted to open daylight behind her while also eating into Seiun Ryoka's lead.
The horse girls in the middle and back of the pack all began to quicken as well, each one looking for a way past the runner ahead.
Then North Wind drifted half a body outward and suddenly lengthened her stride.
She swept past the tiring third-place runner with ease—
and in the very next instant, she drew level with second-place Brittany on the outside.
Her brown hair streamed behind her, nearly pulled into a straight line by the wind. Her deep-blue racing outfit, stretched taut by the gale and the tension in her muscles, outlined the clean, powerful lines of her body.
"North Wind—North Wind is making her move!"
the commentator shouted, his voice rising sharply.
"She's accelerating in the middle of the turn! She's passed Brittany in second! She's making straight for the leader—Seiun Ryoka!"
North Wind shouted at the top of her lungs,
"I've come to challenge you, Seiun Ryoka!"
She had once been an incredibly proud horse girl, but in front of Seiun Ryoka, that pride felt insignificant. So she had changed her way of thinking.
She would gladly become a challenger—
until the day she beat Ryoka.
Her lungs burned.
The ache in her muscles rose like a tide.
Her steps grew heavier, and her breathing turned into the harsh, ragged wheeze of a bellows.
North Wind felt an immense pressure crushing down on her, but she clenched her teeth, and an unyielding fire burned in her ice-blue eyes.
She forced herself to regulate her breathing. Her body tipped slightly forward, taking on a posture better suited to the showdown waiting on the final straight.
Every footfall struck the ground with absolute solidity, as if she meant to brand her strength into this ancient turf.
Don't slow down. Absolutely do not slow down.
A voice screamed itself raw inside North Wind's head.
Her instincts urged her toward strong opponents, toward victory.
Though there was nothing in front of her but empty air, North Wind felt as though she had brushed up against some invisible barrier—something trying to bind her in place.
But horse girls were born to chase freedom. They were born to run.
How could she possibly accept being restrained?
She bit down hard, balled her hands into fists, and drove herself forward with one mighty step.
Somewhere, it felt as though something gave way with a crack.
An invisible limit shattered.
North Wind's speed leapt to a new level.
And in that instant, she felt as though she had stepped into an entirely new world.
The sky was bluer.
The grass was greener.
Even the sound of the wind blowing past her ears rang clearer than before.
It was a beautiful world.
But surely this growth wasn't only that. Surely it had more uses still.
She didn't know what was happening. She didn't know why she instinctively felt that way.
But it didn't matter.
What mattered was challenging Seiun Ryoka—
and winning this race.
A pale white vapor began to rise from North Wind's body. Even the turf itself was affected, a thin layer of frost slowly spreading across the grass.
Feeling the power coursing through her, North Wind lit up with excitement, and she launched a white-frost-like skill at Seiun Ryoka.
Crack... crack...
The sound of freezing spread rapidly across the course. The chill effect raced over the turf in pursuit of Ryoka.
Is this what everyone calls a Domain? she thought.
If it is... then maybe... maybe I really can beat Seiun Ryoka.
A smile appeared on the girl's face.
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