Ever since Air Groove recorded this glorious achievement on 'Tracen Academy's Student Council President greatest achievements board,' the news quickly spread like wildfire, finding its way into every corner of Tracen.
"Gold Ship is really going to run in an actual race?!"
"Gold Ship?! GOLD SHIP?!"
"Tachyon's drugs must've leaked again. There's no way GOLD SHIP of all people would actually run in a race."
"Guys, it's at the Nakayama Racecourse! We can still make it to Chiba if we go now! Let's hurry up and go watch Gold Ship race!"
"Gold Ship has already been here since my big sister, elder sister, and oldest sister finished their careers. Our lives haven't been in vain!"
The people of Tracen Academy, whether they had been personally pranked by Gold Ship, or had just heard of her notoriety, were all deeply shocked by the news posted on the academy's forum.
Suddenly, an incredibly large number of students skipped classes that day, immediately buying train tickets from Tokyo to Chiba to watch this GIII race, which was two days away.
Many Trainers had also expressed extreme disbelief upon hearing this news, with Team Miracle's only assistant, Miss Fumino Nase, being the most astonished.
"Gold Ship...? Running a race...???"
"Trainer Imanami truly deserves all the praise in the world. He actually managed to convince THAT Gold Ship to run in a race."
As one of the people on Gold Ship's 'friend list,' Fumino Nase had been especially tormented at the hands of Gold Ship; now, for someone to be able to subdue Gold Ship and even make her want to willingly run a race, was astonishing to this poor, tormented soul.
The amount of respect Fumino Nase was feeling for Imanami right now was even enough for her to want to bow down to him!
"Ah... Gold Ship? I- I really didn't expect her to finally debut."
Meisho Doto, who was also with the rest of Wada's group, said with a tone of disbelief, looking at the news.
"T- truly worthy of Trainer Imanami... He even managed to reform Gold Ship."
"Ah, Gold Ship, Tracen Academy's notorious unsinkable ship, is she finally weighing anchor and setting sail?"
T.M. Opera O, who had been training for her expedition with the assistance of El Condor Pasa, finally found a piece of news that excited her.
In the past, she might not have been able to see the signs, but ever since her compatibility with her original self dramatically improved, her intuition had developed to the point where she could 'sense' the potential and talent of many Uma Musume.
This was also mostly true for Hall of Fame level Uma Musumes like Symboli Rudolf; they could all gain a general guess of an Uma Musume's potential and limits after some quick probing.
It was also because of this that T.M. Opera O clearly understood that Gold Ship, who never seemed to train and constantly fooled around, actually harbored immense power within her.
"Since everyone's interested, why don't we take this opportunity to go to the Nakayama Racecourse together and see Gold Ship's debut?"
Finishing recording some data on Meisho Doto, Wada placed down the work he was just done with, asking everyone.
"I'm sure Gold Ship will surprise us all. Nase, what do you think?"
As he spoke, Wada looked towards Fumino Nase; he should consider the opinion of his fellow team members after all.
"Hmm... if it doesn't affect training..."
Although Fumino Nase's reasoning told her that doing so would delay training, she was also very curious inside, and couldn't help but want to go to watch the race.
Meanwhile, on Ikezoe's side, a similar scene was unfolding.
In fact, the moment Orfevre learned of this news, she immediately sent it to the rest of the members of the Gold Family, announcing it to everyone.
"Oldest Sister! Dream Journey! Nakayama! Did you all see?! Gold Ship is actually going to race!"
"Orfevre seems very excited..."
Ikezoe watched as Orfevre rapidly typed on her phone, the speed of her fingers so fast it almost looked blurred.
It was obvious how jubilant Orfevre was for Gold Ship.
"Ikezoe, that's Gold Ship! Even Oldest Sister would be shocked, you know?! Gold Ship is actually racing!"
"I need to tell everyone quickly! There's no way Oldest Sister would want to miss this! The youngest sis finally decided to debut!"
"...Then let's take a break today and go watch it together, since you're all so curious."
Ikezoe silently laughed after glancing at Curren Chan and Sweep Tosho beside him, seemingly equally as curious and eager.
However... Ikezoe unknowingly couldn't help but feel a little danger.
Since Orfevre said Stay Gold will be coming, didn't that mean the rest of the Gold Family will also be present there?
Ikezoe felt that this feeling of danger was coming from this fact... but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite remember what's so terrifying about it at the moment.
In the end, Ikezoe simply shook his head as he chose to think about it later.
...
Very quickly after people found out Gold Ship was going to race, many people from Tracen Academy rushed towards Chiba through any means necessary.
Just like that, the bullet trains that day were more packed than usual, while Tracen Academy itself seemed to have emptied overnight.
And, once the promised day arrived, a very strange scene unfolded at the Nakayama Racecourse— it was filled to the brim with spectators.
"Please do not push! Line up in three rows and enter in an orderly fashion!"
"Okay, please move this way— WHAT?! The venue is already full?! But more than a quarter of the people still haven't gotten in yet!"
"There's nothing we can do, bring out the emergency seats. Everyone is here to support their favourite Uma Musume, we can only try our best..."
This was the first time the staff at the Nakayama Racecourse had encountered such a situation.
Because today's race was just supposed to be your average GIII race, with no superstar Uma Musume participating, the number of staff members there was adjusted appropriately; everything seemed to be as usual.
However, out of nowhere, a large group of Uma Musume and staff members from Tracen Academy completely swarmed the racecourse, leaving not even the smallest gap between them.
The sight startled the assigned staff there, as they tried their absolute best to maintain order despite their meager numbers.
What was going on? The number of people here was almost more exaggerated than a GI race!
This was just a regular GIII race where the participants were all rookie Uma Musume who had just won their first Maiden race or OP race!
Maybe there was a celebrity Uma Musume participating?
The staff members, figuring this was the most likely reason, gave the participants of the race a quick search online.
In the end, the only one that stood out to them was an unknown Uma Musume named 'Gold Ship' who had registered for the race last minute.
Although Gold Ship was notorious within Tracen Academy, outsiders knew next to nothing about her.
Still, the staff members felt that there was something special about this Uma Musume, after all, the sea of people outside couldn't be faked.
"Could this be an Uma Musume that Tracen Academy has been keeping hidden who is no less than Tokai Teio?"
"Regardless, we have to reduce the overcrowding now! Contact the security company and have them send twenty more people here! Everyone who came to support today must be able to watch the race!"
"Take out the cameras for the GI races! This Uma Musume named Gold Ship might be the next rising star!"
The staff members of the Nakayama Racecourse, unaware of the truth, came to the correct conclusion despite completely misunderstanding the situation.
...
Just like that the hype around this GIII race completely exceeded its actual level in the span of a single day.
The entire presentation and broadcast of the race became comparable to GI races, and negotiations were even made for it to be aired during prime time.
"So crowded..."
Meanwhile, within the sea of people, Nakayama Festa of the Gold Family was situated near the top part of the stands.
She seemed to have come alone; apparently, none of the other members of the Gold Family had come.
"Nevermind... as long as I can see it, it's fine. Luckily, I brought this."
Saying this, Nakayama Festa then took out a rather advanced looking camera.
Since everyone else couldn't come, Nakayama Festa took the liberty to record Gold Ship's Debut race for the others to watch later.
What Nakayama Festa didn't know, was that scattered around the other parts of the racecourse, Stay Gold and Dream Journey also pulled out a similar looking camera, all thinking the same thing.
"Good thing I remembered to bring this bad boy along..."
"So, Little Gold Ship (Gold Ship sis), let's see what you got." X3
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Ikezoe: Umm... what's that bracket next to your name?
Dream Journey (Ikezoe Killer 9000): Huh?
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.