"It's the Golden Tyrant! What a magnificent comeback! After a streak of failures, Orfevre has finally achieved victory with an unstoppable momentum!"
"Will her momentum continue, or will she falter back like she did after her Debut Race? Will she continue to be the Golden Tyrant?"
As the commentator's enthusiastic voice announced Orfevre's undisputed victory, Orfevre began to slow down to a halt as she began to catch her breath, feeling a sense of relief wash all over her body, as if the long-accumulated anxiety and anger in her heart had been swept away. Then, Orfevre raised her fist high, pulled up the mask that covered her no longer gloomy face, and struck her long-unseen winner's pose.
She had imagined that, after showing such a cool pose, she would receive everyone's applause and cheers, just like how it went in her Debut Race. Yet... she began to feel awkward... Why... was there no sound?
Orfevre stared blankly at the silent audience while still maintaining her pose. It was the exact same pose she did in her Debut Race; yet, unlike that time, she now received no applause, with only a few people clapping and Ikezoe's echoing cheer somewhere in the stands... Why was this?
"...Man, no matter how many times I see this situation happen, it really hurts my heart. This kind of thing is even more damaging to an Uma Musume's self-esteem than just losing the race."
In the stands, Mr. C.B. silently clapped for Orfevre, while also sighing and muttering, "Unfortunately, people will be people; she'll have to do much more to prove herself."
"Huh? Teacher, why isn't everyone cheering for Orfevre?" Seiun Sky, however, didn't understand. She was already clapping as loudly as she could, yet her applause was insignificant when compared to the loud silence echoing in the racecourse. Seiun Sky couldn't bear it; she couldn't bear to look at Orfevre's expression on the track. At least, just imagining herself in Orfevre's place, even if she won, she would probably feel incredibly terrible, wouldn't she?
"...Sky, I know you're a big Orfevre fan, but didn't you remember? She's the seventh most popular."
Mr. C.B. had clearly anticipated something similar to this happening. Of course, she also felt quite bad for Orfevre, but unfortunately, she couldn't really do anything about it, and said lightly, "A majority of the people's reason to come here was to see Curren Chan win, and now that Orfevre was the one who won instead, it would undoubtedly make those Curren Chan supporters feel like her victory was stolen from Curren Chan, not that she won it."
"This is just another aspect of the Uma Musume life, my disciple. An Uma Musume who only knows how to run will rarely receive the respect they deserve."
"How could this be..."
Seiun Sky, upon hearing this, simply couldn't understand why things were so unfair. After all, she was still quite young; she was still inexperienced about the intricacies and complexes of relationships, let alone the relationships in Japan, which are some of the more complex ones in the world.
Japan's culture is quite conservative; they like to idolize beings or feats and will dislike it when such myths are disproven or surpassed. And, like most religious-type things, the longer the myth goes on, the more they are unwilling to see it broken. And now, though Curren Chan most certainly hasn't reached the realm of being worshipped like a deity, the number of fans she has garnered certainly qualifies her for being a micro-celebrity. In comparison, Orfevre was much more inferior to Curren Chan in terms of both popularity and appearance.
Therefore, as the seventh most popular, the only thing that she received in return after winning the race was this deathly silence. Gradually, Orfevre went from being full of confidence to feeling very awkward. Her eyes trembled slightly, as if she was questioning whether she did something wrong or not... And just as she began to lower down her pose, Ikezoe's passionate voice broke the silence.
"—YOU GUYS! YOU! Yes, YOU over there, and you too! Why aren't you all applauding my Orfevre, huh?!!!!"
"Didn't you see her win?! She beat Curren Chan, the strongest in this race! She deserves all your applause!"
In the stands, Ikezoe, who had been silent about his passion due to being cautious of bad rumors being spread about their team, for the first time ever, unleashed his emotions. He glared furiously at the silent people around him. As a proud Trainer of two Uma Musume, he would not allow his Uma Musume to suffer such treatment.
Of course, he and Orfevre had experienced similar treatment before in his previous world. But the only reason he could bear it was because he could use the excuse of "Orfevre doesn't have the brains to understand such a thing" to comfort himself. But this time, he couldn't convince himself with the same excuse. How could he? Orfevre was standing right before him, with the body and expressions of a human but just with horse ears and a tail. Though she looked like a ruffian, he knew that she was a delicate, tenacious, and hardworking girl.
How could Ikezoe bear to see his close companion suffer the exact same treatment they had experienced together before?
Under Ikezoe's angry roar, many people around him were startled by how fierce he sounded. Could he really be that terrifying-looking Uma Musume's Trainer? They thought in fear as they began to make somewhat accurate conjectures about Ikezoe. Ikezoe was someone who could subdue the Golden Tyrant; though he might look amiable on the surface, in reality, he always had an unyielding spirit and deep anger deep inside him that could erupt with the right stimulation.
After all, how could a such an aggressive being such as Orfevre submit to an ordinary, gentle, good-tempered person? Although Ikezoe never completely controlled Orfevre from beginning to end, judging by how uncooperative he was with others later on, if Ikezoe didn't have the slightest bit of compatibility with Orfevre, he would've never been able to get onto Orfevre's back in the first place. Ikezoe himself was also an aggressive, untamable "wild horse."
Gradually, under Ikezoe's terrifying glare, several people who were feeling incredibly scared began to clap hesitantly. As time went on, more and more people, in this fear-induced atmosphere, began to move their silent hands. Slowly, after several minutes of silence, the racecourse once again echoed with applause. Orfevre's honor, though delayed, was finally rightfully given to her.
"—Onii-chan, you really are an amazing person."
Curren Chan looked at the applause resounding in the racecourse, as her gaze towards Ikezoe became unusually bright. She didn't know why, but even though Ikezoe's angry scolding was for Orfevre's sake, just watching this scene made her heart unconsciously beat faster. She suddenly felt that this furious Ikezoe... was a tad bit more handsome than usual.
"Ikezoe..."
And Orfevre also had similar feelings at this moment, but the difference was that as she looked at Ikezoe, who had broken the silence of the entire venue and made the applause resound again, her heart, which had almost closed off again, suddenly flung wide open. Yes, she was just an ordinary Uma Musume, someone who couldn't even win the cheers of the audience by winning. But at the very least, she had the people around her to support her... and that was enough.
"—Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for interrupting, but the judges have made a special judgment upon further review."
At this moment, the commentator's voice resounded again. After everyone's attention was drawn, the commentator continued:
"According to the Uma Musume Racing Association's regulations, Curren Chan, who got second place, will not receive the honor of being a winning Uma Musume. However, as the difference between Curren Chan and the third-place Uma Musume was two whole lengths, which is very rare in a sprint race."
"In addition, though Orfevre had set a new historical record for this GIII Hakodate Junior Stakes, Curren Chan has also surpassed the previous record too."
"Therefore, based on these factors, as well as considering that she was competing against GIII-level Uma Musume who had already debuted, the judges have decided to make an exception for the outstandingly performing Curren Chan to become a new winning Uma Musume!"
"Let us cheer for Curren Chan! Although she lost, her excellent performance has granted her the privilege of becoming a winning Uma Musume!"
-----+-----
To be honest, this is probably my least favorite arc of this fic considering how much of a cop out the ending feels.
-----+-----
If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.