"Please welcome our fourth most popular contender! Snow Dancer!"
At the staff's signal, Shirayuki stepped onto the stage.
Her information had already been uploaded to Paris Tracen's official website, including her racing record. The voting results placed her fourth in popularity. To be honest, that was not especially high. Since strength and popularity were closely linked, her achievement as a two-crown Triple Tiara filly apparently was not considered especially impressive in their eyes.
That was a little irritating.
Even if Shirayuki was not particularly arrogant, she still had the pride of an uma musume. Seeing her strength being questioned, Shirayuki decided that she would make a proper statement in this race.
After all, apart from the spectators at the venue, many of her friends were staying up until the early hours of the morning to watch her race.
At Japan Tracen, at 3:25 a.m., Mejiro Dober, who had been sound asleep, was woken by the shrill sound of her alarm. She sat up in a panic, half asleep as she called out, "Shirayuki, Trainer, are you back?"
Looking at the dim room, Mejiro Dober blinked blankly. It took her quite a while to remember why she had set the alarm.
It was Shirayuki's race!
Now awake, Mejiro Dober took out her phone and opened the Paris race livestream. The bright light stung her eyes so badly that she could barely open them. Only after half a minute did she gradually adjust.
On the screen, a snow-white figure appeared in the centre of the frame.
Besides Mejiro Dober, many people in the student dormitory were also waking up one after another. Grass Wonder pulled the sleeping El Condor Pasa up. Silence Suzuka lifted Special Week's blanket and shook her shoulders. Agnes Tachyon sat in her research room drinking coffee, her dark red eyes fixed silently on the screen.
Hayakawa Tazuna and Akikawa Yayoi leaned against the sofa and turned on the television. At the same time, in the trainer dormitory, Nishizaki Ryu, Katsumura Yota, and several other trainers gathered together in their sleepwear, all staring intently at the screen.
They were all watching Chiya's first race after coming to France.
Standing on the stage, Shirayuki placed a hand over her chest.
An uma musume did not represent only herself. She carried everyone's dreams and bore the hopes entrusted to her.
For that reason, she had to move forward without hesitation.
Taking a deep breath, Shirayuki walked down the steps. After her, three contenders from America, Britain, and France stepped onto the stage.
Their bodies alone revealed how different they were. Taut muscles full of beauty, long crimson hair flowing like flames. They were all very famous uma musume.
"Amazing."
Beside Fujiwara Chiya, Treve could not help praising her.
"Who?"
"Shirayuki." Treve smiled. "It's been a long time since I've seen an uma musume with such a… special feeling."
She was not saying this just because she was close to Shirayuki. The stronger an uma musume was, the more clearly they could sense it. Shirayuki's eyes carried a kind of conviction unlike everyone else's. There was belief in her heart.
Treve loved Shirayuki's clear blue eyes. In them, she could see unwavering will.
"Shirayuki's condition is very good."
"Mm." Fujiwara Chiya nodded. "Just as you said."
"Contenders, please enter the gates!"
Entering the gate, Shirayuki took her starting stance.
She often said that uma musume were unfair. Some were born with extraordinary talent and could win championships with little effort.
But at the same time, uma musume were also fair.
As long as they worked hard, they would be rewarded.
Bang!
The gates opened, and the uma musume burst out.
Fujiwara Chiya had experienced the intensity of European races before. After the gates opened, almost everyone fought fiercely for position. This situation usually continued for nearly three hundred metres. In a 2,400-metre race, consuming a great amount of stamina in the first three hundred metres was clearly not wise.
There were two ways to avoid that.
The first was to run behind everyone else, avoid the violent collisions, and conserve stamina. The downside was that she would be forced into a very poor position, and there was a chance her path would be blocked in the final sprint.
The second was much more difficult. After the race began, she would rush ahead of everyone else, seize the lead position, and avoid being crowded by the main pack behind her.
On the chaotic European racecourse, doing that was not easy. Their acceleration was no ordinary thing.
Faced with the two choices before her, Shirayuki chose without hesitation—
Bang!
"Snow Dancer! Snow Dancer has rushed out!"
Facing the surging pack, the white figure shot forward like an arrow. Her supple legs stepped firmly onto the ground. At the instant she started, they lifted high, and her blue eyes stared straight ahead.
She had chosen the second option.
She would tell everyone that she was a dragon!
Light.
Her steps had to be lighter.
Like a feather.
This was the running style Chiya had tested over and over again, exhausting his own body to the limit before finally summarizing it. He had already paved the road for Shirayuki.
Now, it was her turn to step onto that road.
Seeing Shirayuki rush to the front, the other uma musume gritted their teeth. They hesitated over whether to follow and fight for the lead, or take a forward position behind her. In that instant of hesitation, Shirayuki took a deep breath and continued opening the gap.
A front-run?
Shirayuki is going to run as a front-runner?
Looking at her movements, everyone had the same thought.
No, that can't be right.
Shirayuki had never run as a front-runner before!
A wave of unease suddenly came over the crowd.
Some people had already seen through it.
In Japan Tracen's student dormitory, Seiun Sky lay on her bed, swaying her tail. Looking at Shirayuki's movement, she could not help curving her lips.
"Shirayuki… you've become a strategist too."
Seeing that Shirayuki seemed to be running in front, the forward-position uma musume chose to follow behind her instead of competing. After all, running at the front for 2,400 metres would be quite difficult for them.
But just when everyone thought Shirayuki would quicken her pace and widen her early advantage, she stabilized her speed while maintaining a very subtle distance from the second-place runner.
Not a front-run?
The Tracen students who knew Shirayuki's running style sighed in relief.
Shirayuki was using a forward strategy.
"One of the tactics in uma musume racing: attack the mind first."
Fujiwara Chiya looked at the racecourse.
He wanted Shirayuki to shock everyone. He wanted her to produce a striking result. But the more he wanted that, the more calmly he had to think.
He could not make Shirayuki attempt an extreme front-run she had never tried before.
However, using the appearance of an extreme front-run to disguise a forward strategy was perfectly possible.
"It isn't an extreme front-run! It's forward! Snow Dancer has taken the leading position!"
The announcer shouted.
Several uma musume behind her clicked their tongues.
They had been tricked!
If they had known this white-haired girl was not going to run a true front-run, they would definitely have fought for the lead position. Now, the best position had already been taken.
And this distance…
They gritted their teeth.
The distance between them and Shirayuki was extremely annoying. It was the kind of gap where accelerating could catch her, but not easily; not close, yet still close enough to affect their rhythm.
It was as if their weak point had been pinned down.
Does this girl have eyes on the back of her head?
How can she see our positions?
As Shirayuki calculated her stamina, she controlled the distance between herself and the uma musume behind her.
Rhythm was the blade of an uma musume. How well one used that blade was key to victory.
In this race, Shirayuki not only wanted to win.
She wanted to win beautifully.
Entering the turn, Shirayuki lowered her body and began cornering close to the rail.
Amateurs watched the spectacle. Experts saw the technique.
Seeing Shirayuki's movement, Nase Hideto, who had been invited to the VIP viewing room, narrowed his eyes.
When an uma musume turned, powerful centrifugal force would try to throw her toward the outside. The stronger the uma musume, the better she understood how to neutralize that force. The farther she drifted from the inside, the more stamina she consumed, and the easier it became for opponents to overtake her.
The most perfect cornering technique was to turn while staying close to the rail.
It was the most efficient, safest, and also the most difficult method.
Nase Hideto measured the distance between Fujiwara Shirayuki and the rail with his eyes.
She was less than half a metre away from "perfect."
Even so, seeing her footwork, Nase Hideto still could not help saying, "How solid."
Shirayuki's running style fit the course extremely well. It was obvious that her movements had been revised so she could run faster on this heavy turf.
Nase Hideto had seen many uma musume. Some had ordinary ability, while others were born with extraordinary talent. But no matter who they were, very few gave him the same feeling as Shirayuki, as if she were constantly reshaping and carving herself anew.
She was growing at a visible speed.
If left only to the uma musume herself, achieving this would be impossible.
There had to be someone beside Shirayuki, tirelessly correcting her again and again.
And that person was her trainer, Fujiwara Chiya.
The tactic from earlier was the same. It must have been that brat's idea!
Thinking this, Nase Hideto could not help snorting.
That guy was becoming more and more like his annoying old man. His understanding of uma musume psychology had reached an infuriating level.
The shadow of the "Racecourse Illusionist" was becoming stronger in him.
Listening to the footsteps behind her, Shirayuki's heart beat quickly.
Chiya was observing the whole race from above. He could see that the second-place runner was one and a half lengths diagonally behind her, and the other uma musume behind that were also eyeing her fiercely. Clearly, her subtle distance control had angered them and made them see her as a thorn in their side.
Good!
This was exactly what Fujiwara Chiya wanted.
The angrier uma musume became, the weaker their judgment would be, and the easier it would be for them to make mistakes.
Next, if she showed even the smallest opening, they would swarm toward her.
At the same time, their eyes would remain locked firmly on me.
Shirayuki took a deep breath, her gaze sharp.
"The race has entered the middle stage. Snow Dancer is in the lead! Second place is Gale Girl, third place is Thunder Impact…"
Judging from the current race situation, Shirayuki's advantage was not particularly obvious. If she made even a slight mistake, she could easily be overtaken.
"Shirayuki needs to widen the gap."
In Japan Tracen's trainer dormitory, Nishizaki Ryu and the others were loudly discussing the race. They were even more nervous watching Shirayuki race than they were watching their own races. Their noise filled the entire dormitory, making it impossible for others to sleep. Someone came over to complain, only to be kicked away by Katsumura Yota.
They were watching Chiya's international race right now!
If those random nobodies were not going to cheer, they should not come bother them!
"No."
Kuronuma pushed up his sunglasses.
"The advantage is already there."
"What?"
Everyone frowned. Then they realized that, without anyone noticing, the steps of the group behind Shirayuki were no longer as powerful as they had been at the start.
"I noticed it when they entered the turn. Shirayuki has been deliberately and slowly increasing her speed. The race rhythm is no longer the same as at the beginning. After 1,400 metres, the pace clearly began to rise."
"That's right… wait, yes! Why didn't I notice?"
Looking at the time displayed in the bottom right corner, Nishizaki Ryu slapped his thigh.
"The wrong rhythm is fatal to uma musume. Their running habits no longer match the pace, which greatly increases stamina consumption. In other words—"
Kuronuma crossed his arms.
"They were caught from the very beginning."
As the race entered the latter half of the middle stage, the front runners began breathing heavily and showing signs of fatigue. Their breaths came in large gasps, and their steps grew heavy.
Strange…
They had clearly maintained a stable distance from that white uma musume the entire time. Why did they feel so tired near the final stage?
This was completely different from their condition during training.
In a 2,400-metre race, based on their original stamina distribution, they should still have had plenty of leg strength left for the final sprint.
And yet, they felt like their stamina was about to run dry.
What was going on?
The abnormal consumption gradually caused them to lose rhythm. The original second-place runner was overtaken by the third, and the rankings behind them also began shifting one after another.
No.
They could not wait any longer!
Even if they did not know what had happened, they sensed that they were about to be dragged down. At some point, their pace had become this strange.
Was it her?
Was it that white uma musume?
She must have done something!
The front runners looked toward Snow Dancer at the very front.
They saw the corner of her mouth lift into a slight curve.
"You fell for it…"
After 1,600 metres, this race had already completely entered her rhythm.
Shirayuki had continuously changed her breathing frequency and gradually raised her speed. Since the others had focused all their attention on her and waited for her to show an opening, they had completely failed to notice the change in pace.
Although Shirayuki's own consumption was not small, compared with these runners, she had constantly adjusted her breathing and movement.
She had already built an absolute advantage!
Now came the time to sprint with everything she had!
"The race is entering the final turn! Thunder Impact begins to accelerate! Excellent Shadow follows right behind! Wait! It's Snow Dancer! Snow Dancer has also begun her sprint!"
Lowering her body, Shirayuki stepped onto the ground.
If judged by experience alone, there were plenty of trainers better than her.
If judged by technique alone, there were many uma musume who refined themselves and honed their craft.
If judged by talent alone, the Goddess's finger had not pointed at her.
Taken individually, none of these qualities made Shirayuki especially outstanding.
But—
With all three gathered within her at once, she was more than capable of standing on the world stage!
My target isn't you.
It is the genius who dominates Europe.
It is the world's number one!
"Snow Dancer! The race has entered the final straight, and Snow Dancer still has plenty of stamina! She's fast! She's so fast! One length… two lengths, three lengths! She crosses the line!"
"Leading from the start to the finish, she played the racecourse like a game! Unmatched strength, unmatched technique! The winner of this race is the uma musume from Japan—Snow Dancer!"