During the final preparations for the race, Treve trotted over to Shirayuki's side.
"It's finally starting, Shirayuki." She smiled. "You haven't forgotten our promise, have you?"
"Of course not."
"Then in this race, I'll be taking you for myself."
"Heh." Shirayuki gave a little snort. "That's my line. Your shoes, your body, everything. I'm taking it all."
"I swear, Shirayuki, you have this weird, mysterious obsession with shoes…"
"Whose fault is that? I've never received any."
"Normally, uma musume don't give their shoes to other uma musume, you know? Wait, is it the smell? Or do you like my feet? Well… I'm not judging you, Shirayuki. No matter what kind of fetish you have, I'll still love you."
"No, my fetishes are perfectly normal! Probably…" Shirayuki coughed a few times. "Anyway, our duel where we wager everything starts now. Go get ready already!"
"Yes, ma'am. I'll see you at the finish line, Shirayuki."
Treve skipped off to the side to warm up.
"What's this? You and Treve made that kind of promise?" Orfevre walked over.
"It's just a private bet between us."
"That's quite the wager." Orfevre folded her arms. "I admit, I'm rather interested myself, but I already have an arrangement with someone else. I'll let you off for now."
She turned away.
"Watch yourself, Empress. Don't get flattened beneath my iron hooves."
While the uma musume made their final preparations, three pairs of eyes watched from the highest point of the observation deck.
The "No Entry" sign on the door had been completely ignored by the red, yellow, and blue figures. Below their feet was a hundred-meter drop into open air, yet they chatted like it was nothing.
"What are you two doing here?" asked the uma musume in the yellow leather jacket.
"Why, to observe Little Lamb-kun up close, of course." The blue uma musume clapped her hands lightly.
"And as his creator, I obviously had to come see it in person." The brown-skinned uma musume with reddish-brown hair had changed back into an off-shoulder outfit as she spoke.
No.
She was not called Darley anymore.
She was—
"Darley Arabian."
Byerley Turk said, "You promised you wouldn't interfere with the uma musume's races."
"My, my…"
"The Three Goddesses made a promise. On the racetrack, we must never favor any child. We must preserve fairness. But last year, you deliberately made her draw the outside gate. You already broke that promise."
Darley Arabian scratched her head.
That was true.
During last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, she had changed the number in Shirayuki's hand. Shirayuki should originally have drawn gate seven.
But Darley had interfered with the number plate and forced her to the outside.
"How do you intend to explain yourself?"
"Now, now, you two. Calm down first." Godolphin Arabian raised a hand and smiled soothingly. "Darley must have had her reasons, right?"
"I suppose you could call it my own selfish desire." Darley smiled. "Because only by drawing that number could we arrive at the future I wanted."
"What future?"
"The future where Little Lamb ends up with her."
Darley explained it lightly.
"I observed countless possibilities and confirmed that the Arc was their turning point. Only that way could Little Lamb understand how important Shirayuki was to him. Otherwise, once the race ended, the two of them would have stepped into completely different worlds."
Shirayuki would become the center of the uma musume world.
Fujiwara Chiya would become the center of his team, and the world of trainers.
And the two of them would part ways.
"Even so, you cannot tamper with the racetrack."
"I had no choice. That was the turning point of fate. I tried countless other methods and found that none of them worked. Little Lamb could have ended up with Rice Shower, with Dober, with Tazuna… even with everyone. But among all those futures, Shirayuki alone was missing."
Her emerald eyes gazed toward the track.
"I didn't like those endings very much. So I came back from the future and tampered with the number plate."
"Little Lamb's life should be decided by him. You always interfere with him, again and again." Byerley looked displeased.
"That child was also created by me, in a sense. So what's wrong with helping plan his growth route a little?" Darley's smile did not fade. "Call it a creator's selfishness."
"I've thought this for a long time, Darley. You care far too much about other people's futures. Is it really interesting, knowing the result ahead of time?"
"Well… Byerley, my hobby is different from yours. You like wandering the world and watching the 'present.' But I will admit, I've started finding the 'present' interesting too."
"You got addicted to being an assistant, didn't you, Darley?" Godolphin said with a sweet smile.
"Little Lamb is a very strict boss. He doesn't even let me slack off properly. Ah, but I'll be freed from my assistant position soon enough. After that, I want to go back to the past and speak with that child."
"That child… Do you mean Alpha?"
"That's right. Didn't she always hope she could help one last person in the end? In the distant future, an uma musume modeled after her changed a certain man's life. I'm sure she'll be happy to know that. In a way, we fulfilled her wish."
"Enough of that for now. The race is about to begin." Byerley looked toward the track. "Thanks to you, Little Lamb would rather ask Rudolf for blessings now than ask us."
Darley Arabian scratched her cheek.
"Well, well. At least the final result turned out well." Godolphin soothed Byerley, who treated races with deadly seriousness, and the three of them turned back toward the track.
One by one, the uma musume entered the gates.
Inside the cold starting gate, Shirayuki drew in a deep breath.
She calmed her racing heart, closed her eyes, then slowly opened them again.
Her blue eyes stared straight ahead.
Clang!
The gates flew open.
Seventeen figures burst out at once.
"And they're off! Taking the lead first is Helmsman!"
The dark-green-haired uma musume shot straight to the front at terrifying speed. She had clearly trained hard for the start. Her entire upper body was practically buried forward, almost grazing the turf.
That explosive acceleration instantly put her ahead of the pack.
So fast!
Shirayuki's eyes widened.
She had investigated her beforehand. She knew about her starting technique. She knew Helmsman would fight for the front in this race.
But even prepared for it, the sheer speed of that break still shocked her.
This was the Arc.
The highest stage every uma musume in the world chased after.
In moments, Helmsman reached the head of the race and opened up a half-length gap from the others.
She had definitely shocked Shirayuki.
But it was not the shock of something unexpected.
It was the shock of realizing that even after Shirayuki had rated her highly, Helmsman could still surpass that estimate.
Chase your opponent as though they have already grown stronger.
That saying was absolutely correct.
No matter how highly she valued these girls, it was never enough.
Shirayuki glanced at the uma musume beside her, the one blocking her from slipping toward the inside lane.
She took a deep breath.
Thud!
Shirayuki slammed her body cleanly into her.
Their arms crashed together hard, and the other uma musume's face twisted in pain.
This time, Shirayuki chose to strike first.