This advance chapter release is all thanks to Icetube for reaching 20 power stones individually.
I currently have more than 8 advance chapters backlogged, so I will up the required power stone for the week from 20 to 100 power stones per user for an advance chapter, and for every 300 power stones accumulated for the week, I will also post an advance chapter corresponding to the complete amount in the week's end.
So gift more Power Stones to advance the chapter schedule. Thank you very much for your support and enjoy the chapter!
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Word Count: 2,604
"And they're off to a clean start." the race commentator called as all 12 umamusume had burst out of their respective gates.
Their shoes dug deep within the firm turf of the Nakayama Racecourse, and there weren't any late starts from each and every one of them.
Danon Platina went off with a good start and got in front as Kitasan Black and Takeden Tiger were lined up, vying for second, while No. 11 Forward Cafe was just behind them and Real Steel opted for settling in the middle.
"After that clean start, Danon Platina has cleared the gate very cleanly." the commentator announcedwith a steady voice. "Both Kitasan Black and Takeden Tiger are vying for the lead in a shared 2nd place. Next is No. 11 Forward Cafe following the two almost beside each other. The first favorite Real Steel is currently staying mid-pack just like the other racers for today."
As the 12 racers began to turn for the first corner, Takeden Tiger decided to speed.
Meanwhile, for Kitasan Black, seeing the opportunity for her, her eyes gleamed in anticipation and clarity as she smiled wryly and thought to herself,
'Diamente-chan and Trainer-san actually saw it coming…'
Start of Flashback…
Flashback to the afternoon, a day before Trainer Okino's departure to Hanshin Racecourse. Team Spica's currently having their typical meeting with the whiteboard just behind him.
"Alright," Trainer Okino said, snapping everyone's attention to him, "Kita-chan and everyone, you guys must have been wondering as to why you guys were chasing Kita-chan all those afternoons during her training."
Trainer Okino then looked at everyone first, before his eyes then went to where Diamente's sitting. He looked at her as if he's sort of seeking her approval, to which Diamente only smiled at him.
"So," Trainer Okino then looked at everyone again, "the reason why I'm doing this is due to our preparations for the upcoming Satsuki Sho."
Immediately, every umamusume except for Diamente, looked at each other in confusion, before…
SLAM!
"Huh?!?!" Daiwa Scarlet exclaimed, "Isn't Kita-chan going to race the Spring Stakes the day after tomorrow?!"
"That's right, Trainer-san," Teio added, "You're making her train in a very unrelated race as if you're 100% confident with Kita-chan winning the Spring Stakes all by herself."
"Well, you're not wrong with that." Trainer Okino shrugged his shoulders as he added, "But let me hear me out first."
He then flipped the whiteboard, only for everyone to see the drawing of the Nakayama Racecourse's turf track in which there were two lines, one line that's shorter being in blue and one longer and circled almost one and a half times in red, that were running in parallel to one another.
"These two racing lines are the races that Kita-chan will be racing for the day after tomorrow, and also in 3 weeks as well."
Trainer Okino said as he then wrote the words "Spring Stakes" and "Satsuki Sho" but on the colors blue and red respectively.
"The past training that I had for her is from the fact that I wanted Kita-chan to outrun any potential late surge-type racers, like Team Regulus' Real Steel, from trying to outrun her while she's doing her Frontrunner strategy, which will be useful for both races," he added.
It was then that Kitasan Black raised her hand, to which Trainer Okino asked her, "What is it, Kita-chan?"
"I get that I should be a Frontrunner during that race, but what if I got out of the gate much later than we anticipated?" she asked.
But before Trainer Okino could answer that question, an unlikely voice answered her question as everyone looked at that umamusume in question.
"Kita-senpai, if you can't get the leading position before the first turn, then at the very least, you should try to pressure the leading umamusume by going completely behind her, sticking close to that racer, and use the leader's slipstream to conserve your stamina."
It was Diamente who answered her question.
"But Diamente-chan, wouldn't that kind of strategy be too aggressive for Kita-chan? That'll take more than just her stamina to pull this through since you're ignoring other racers there." McQueen asked.
"And you'd be right to be concerned about this strategy, McQueen-senpai," Diamente answered as she added, "But this is also an effective strategy against everyone as well."
"How so, Diamente-chan?" Vodka asked.
"I'll take it up from here, Diamente-chan," Trainer Okino interjected as he cleared his throat before answering, "What Diamente-chan meant by this is the fact that by pressuring the lead runner, there's a possibility that the lead racer will be rushed and hasten up their pacing in order to hold off Kita-chan's pursuit.
"By hastening that overall pace, everyone else would try to catch on to the two of them and start speeding up as well, thereby wasting the others' stamina, which a stamina battle is Kita-chan's specialty in this process." Trainer Okino explained.
"This is actually the strategy that both Diamente-chan and I came up with for your upcoming race at the Spring Stakes, Kita-chan," he added.
This sudden unveiling amazed them as Kitasan Black then looked at Diamente with a surprised look on her face.
End of Flashback…
'Maybe it's time to put their thought-out plan into action!'
Kitasan Black declared to herself as she then started increasing her speed while all 12 of them just entered the first corner.
Meanwhile, Diamente, who's watching from a higher vantage point, spotted Kitasan's early move and smiled upon realizing that her Kita-senpai had used it.
"We're entering the first corner with Takeden Tiger at the front and Kitasan Black following from behind. Next is Danon Major, then Meiner Chevalier and Danon Platina." the racing commentator announced, but he then spotted that Takeden Tiger had started speeding up.
"Wait, Takeden Tiger has started speeding up! And it's not just her but also Kitasan Black, she's also speeding up on the downhill! They're both speeding up from the pack this early on! What were they doing?!" the commentator further exclaimed, which got the audience pumped from further excitement.
After 12 racers exited the second corner, the two frontrunning racers were still 4-5 lengths away from the pack.
`Tch… Why… Why… Why… Why isn't she yielding to me?!'
Takeden Tiger thought to herself as she frantically looked behind her, only to see Kitasan Black using Takeden Tiger's body as a windshield for her Slipstream.
The other runners from the pack started accelerating slightly on the second straight in order to catch up to the other two front-runners but both Kitasan Black and Takeden Tiger are still a couple of lengths away from the third place.
'This is getting ridiculous.' Real Steel thought to herself as she's currently in the middle of the pack, almost trapped by other umamusume.
But when she felt her body starting to get heavy…
'Wait… I'm getting tired already…? No way?!'
Real Steel widened her eyes in surprise, realizing what's going on but can't stop it herself.
Meanwhile…
"They're doing a really fast pace on this race…" Vodka furrowed her eyebrows with a worried look on her face.
Belno Light then clicked her stopwatch again just as Takeden Tiger passed the 1,000-meter mark, and when she looked at the time, she couldn't help but pull a wry smile on her face.
"Indeed, it's really fast." Belno Light supported Vodka's worries and added, "What were they doing out there…?"
"We have the time for the first 1,000 meters now, which is…" the race commentator announced, "It's 59.3 seconds?!?! T-That's a really quick pace!"
After hearing the commentator's reaction, the crowd got hyped up once again.
And as fast as they entered the second straight, so did they leave it and enter the third corner.
It was also at this point where Kitasan Black's eyes furrowed into focus as she exclaimed, "It's here!"
A few moments later, Kitasan Black went to the free inner lane and started accelerating rapidly.
"It's Kitasan Black! She has started accelerating, now neck and neck against Takeden Tiger!" the racing commentator exclaimed. "She has now passed Takeden Tiger after entering the third corner! Now in first place, Kitasan Black is accelerating along the inner lane now! One length, two lengths! She keeps accelerating ahead!"
Immediately, the rest of the pack accelerated in the middle of the last major curve.
"The rest of the pack is starting to catch up to Takeden Tiger—no, she's getting caught up by Meiner Chevalier and Danon Major! Danon Platina is also starting to accelerate as well, but Kitasan Black's still 3 lengths ahead of the second place!"
"They're now starting to enter the last corner, Kitasan Black… is accelerating again?! Kitasan Black is accelerating again!! 3 lengths! 4 lengths away!!" The racing commentator, like everyone in the audience, is surprised that Kitasan has started accelerating to her final spurt right now.
"Oh no, you don't!!" Danon Platina shouted as she had started accelerating out of the pack as well.
"Tch…" Real Steel clicked her tongue just as she saw an opening where she could slide out of the half-encirclement.
Immediately, Real Steel got out of the encirclement and started accelerating from the outside lane.
"Danon Platina has overtaken 3 runners at the same time! Real Steel had also gotten out of that encirclement as well and started accelerating!"
The final homestretch was greeted by Kitasan first. And then, the other racers as well.
"With 300 meters remaining, it's still Kitasan Black in the lead! Danon Platina and Real Steel are still trying to catch up!"
Kitasan immediately looked to her side to see Real Steel approaching her from the outer lane and widened her eyes in surprise for a moment before she started to look forward once again.
"GORYAAAAA!!!" Kitasan Black shouted as she started to push her body to its limits.
"There's 200 meters remaining, and Kitasan Black's still accelerating! She's not giving up the lead she has over Steel and Platinum!!"
The racing commentator's voice rose into a near-shout.
"IT'S STILL KITASAN BLACK IN THE LEAD WITH REAL STEEL PASSING OVER DANON PLATINA! AN ABSURD ACCELERATION! ONLY 100 METERS REMAINING!"
Kitasan Black grits her teeth as she pushes her legs down to the ground with the same absurd intensity as before.
"KITASAN BLACK IN THE LEAD! IT'S STILL KITASAN BLACK IN THE LEAD!!"
Kitasan's legs continued to not yield a single step against the now-approaching Real Steel.
And then…
The finish line has been crossed.
"AND KITASAN BLACK'S SPRING HAS ARRIVED! KITASAN BLACK HAS WON THE SPRING STAKES!"
As the moment hit, the audience roared upon the arrival of Kitasan Black over the finish line.
"The Undefeated 3-for-3 Kitasan Black has done it! She now has a priority placement on the Satsuki Sho! Real Steel is in second, Danon Platina in third for a blistering race today at Nakayama Racecourse!"
The race commentator announced as the giant LED scoreboard lit up with Kitasan Black's No. 1 at first place, then Real Steel's No. 6 at second place with the gap between the two of them being 2 lengths long. Then Danon Platina's No. 8 in third place, where Real Steel is ahead of Danon Platina by just half a length.
"The race time is 1:46.2, and it's a race record!" the racing commentator announced, earning an excited celebration from the crowd.
"Kitasan Black has achieved an all-time race record ahead by 0.2 seconds and destroyed the previous time set by 'the Golden Tyrant' Orfevre 4 years back!! It's really incredible to see it!" the racing commentator exclaimed once more.
On the turf, Kitasan Black slowed down to a halt as she began panting heavily but remained strong enough to still stand.
As for the other umamusume who were in the race, Real Steel panted very heavily and even her legs gave out as she started kneeling on the turf while breathing heavily, and Danon Platina, alongside the rest, all stopped and fell to the turf in all four limbs while gasping for air many, many times.
Kitasan then looked at where her friends were and smiled at them, relieved that she had finally got her first graded race win.
"Kita-chan has really done it…" Satono Diamond smiled endearingly.
"These young ones," Win Variation held the fence in front of her, gripping it strongly, "They're really strong-ssu…"
"Umu…" Daiwa Scarlet nodded with a smile as she pulled out her phone and called Trainer Okino. "Hello, Trainer-san?"
But the other person on the other side of the call isn't the person she's expecting.
"Yo~ Sca-chan~! How's our favorite kouhai today?"
"Golshi…" Daiwa Scarlet's eyebrows twitched upon hearing her voice just as Trainer Okino's voice is heard on the other side.
"Come on now, Gorushin… Just focus on the check up for now." Trainer Okino remarked before hearing an audible sigh from Daiwa Scarlet's phone.
"So," Trainer Okino said, "Kita-chan won beautifully, didn't she?"
"Yes, Trainer-san," Daiwa Scarlet replied, "She actually broke the race record by 0.2 seconds."
"I see…" Trainer Okino felt relieved upon hearing the results. "Say thanks to Diamente-chan for me, will you?"
"Yes," Daiwa Scarlet smiled, "Of course."
As the crowd had dissipated, the said young girl started approaching them.
"The view up there's actually quite good, Senpai." Diamente remarked with a smile as Daiwa Scarlet and others looked at her with smiles on their faces as well.
"Are you done with your business in the comfort room?" Vodka asked, teasingly.
Diamente rolled her eyes as everyone had a chuckle from this.
==== 🐎Legend Changer🐎 ====
Tsuyoku!
Baku tousou tobidase ba,
tsuisouchuu oikakete.
Zenryoku to zenryoku ga butsukaru hitomi,
sujigaki no touri ni wa ikanai sa koona no mukou ga wa.
Starting Force.
This is the Winning Live song that's currently being performed by Kitasan Black, Real Steel, and Danon Platina at the stage.
While the scale of the audience watching the Winning Live wasn't by no means small, it's still massive in Diamente's eyes, who's holding red and white light sticks.
Her eyes were watching with gleam as she excitedly waves her light-sticks and also sings the lyrics from the heart.
Idomu kokoro Brand-New STARTING FORCE
Afuredashiteru Brand-New STARTING FORCE
Doko made mo, doko made mo
Hashire!
Hashire!
Hashire! Hashire!
As the song ended, the audience excitedly clapped as Diamente could see Kitasan's brilliance once more on the live stage.
She then pondered to herself, while the audience was in the middle of clapping excitedly, as to what it would be like when she actually performs on the live stage when she wins a race.
Would she be nervous just like how Special Week was on her debut live? Or would she be as experienced as Kitasan did during her debut live performance a few months back?
Such thoughts excited her.
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