The impact from Shirayuki slammed into the uma musume, twisting pain across her face. A second later, Shirayuki forced her off her line and shoved her back.
"The race enters the first turn! Leading the pack is Ruler of the World, with Flintshire close behind!"
Treve was in fourth.
Shirayuki was in sixth.
A little farther back, Orfevre sat in eighth, while Gold Ship trailed along in twelfth.
From the stands, Fujiwara Chiya watched their positions settle into place. It was almost exactly as he had expected. When it came to raw physical collision power and toughness, Shirayuki was clearly the strongest one here. She had the ability to fight for the lead. Orfevre's body was a little less suited for that kind of brawl, but her seventh gate made it easier for her to slip into the middle of the pack.
At the same time, Chiya had taught her how to watch everyone else's position. Use the runner on the right to absorb the impact after the break. Then tuck behind the uma musume on the left to fend off further pressure and conserve stamina.
The old Orfevre would never have cared about anyone else's movements. She would have charged straight out of the pack on her own.
But the Orfevre of now was obedient.
At least when it came to training, she no longer made things difficult for Chiya.
Her violet-blue eyes flicked rapidly across the field, until they finally locked onto Shirayuki.
Orfevre had not taken the innermost rail. Instead, she held a position slightly outside it. There were more options here.
And also…
Orfevre glanced behind her.
Every uma musume that Trainer had been wary of was back there.
Most of them were probably Late Surgers.
Orfevre's final enemy was Shirayuki. That much was certain. But she had no intention of letting these little nobodies get in her way. If they blocked the outside route and delayed her acceleration, that would be a problem.
She wanted the initiative in her own hands.
At the same time, she used her position to harass the uma musume behind her. If they wanted to pass her, they would have to go all the way to the far outside.
"All runners have cleared the turn! Taking the lead now is Rock Album!"
The front of the race shifted.
Because of Ruler of the World's blistering sprint at the start, she failed to regulate her speed afterward. Rock Album, who had been sitting in third, seized the opening. Right as they were about to exit the turn, she hugged the rail, used the inside line through the bend, passed two runners in one breath, and shot into first.
The stands erupted.
Watching from above, Fujiwara Chiya could not help but sigh in admiration.
These uma musume really never stopped surprising people.
A sideways turn.
Not even Treve used that trick.
Speaking of Treve, Chiya's eyes naturally drifted toward the petite girl in fourth, her height clearly a notch below the other uma musume around her.
In this race, Treve had not been targeted by the others. The reason was simple. She had drawn gate two, which made it hard for most of the field to lay hands on her.
Just when Shirayuki thought she had finally gotten lucky for once, she realized Treve had been even luckier.
But that was fine.
For Shirayuki, the luck she had now was already enough.
She would never gamble the outcome of a race on luck anyway.
She had made every preparation she could.
And just as Shirayuki had predicted, the race continued steadily.
Next to accelerate would be—
Snow Fairy.
"Snow Fairy is accelerating!"
The instant that thought flashed through Shirayuki's mind, a beautiful blue figure broke free from the crowd in Chiya's field of vision.
She moved into the outside lane, preparing to pass Orfevre from the flank.
But it was not over yet.
Someone else was about to move.
Shirayuki stared straight ahead.
Through her dual perspective, she saw Nathaniel weave forward through the middle of the pack. Immediately afterward, Orfevre sealed the gap between herself and the uma musume on the inside.
With no other choice, Nathaniel was forced outward, shoulder to shoulder with Snow Fairy.
At that exact moment, the race entered the turn.
"Damn it!"
Even from a distance, Fujiwara Chiya could read Snow Fairy's lips.
On the Arc's course, every extra metre to the outside meant running several dozen metres more through the bend. In a twenty-four-hundred-metre race, that was fatal.
Especially now. With several of them forced into the outside, they could not even return to the inner lanes. Their disadvantage ballooned instantly.
If they tried to force their way back in, the powerful centrifugal force would drain even more of their stamina.
That would only slash their chances of winning even further.
Their best option now was to swallow the humiliation, slow down, and wait until they cleared the turn.
Chiya watched them gradually slow their steps and return inside.
But the stamina they had wasted was not coming back.
Long before they moved, Fujiwara Chiya had already known they would.
Through analysis repeated again and again, he had predicted their running styles, their tactics, where they would be, and what they would try to do.
Orfevre's block had been Chiya's instruction as well.
More accurately, it had been a hint.
After so much training, Orfevre had already learned to instinctively watch her enemies' behavior. Then, just as instinctively, she interfered with them.
That produced a chain reaction.
And every link of that chain was within Fujiwara Chiya's calculations.
He had already wasted most of his opponents' stamina.
Watching the race now felt like assembling blocks. Everyone had already been shaped. Their movements had already been fixed. All Chiya had to do was fit his own uma musume into the gaps, break their shapes, alter the race, and catch them off guard.
There was a word made specifically for this.
"Illusionist."
Under the night sky, Tracen Academy blazed with light. Watching the broadcast on the screen, Director Akikawa Yayoi murmured the word.
"What a familiar tactic. Tazuna, this is how you defeated one enemy after another back then, isn't it?"
"Well, I personally preferred a slightly more forceful approach. But seeing everyone make such pained faces is nice too."
"And now Chiya has learned that technique. I imagine future racetracks will never be peaceful again."
"That is perfect. I hope Chiya makes the whole world livelier."
"I'm sure he will."
Symboli Rudolf, Air Groove, and Narita Brian, the three members of the student council, stared at the screen without blinking.
Air Groove clenched both hands tight, barely daring to breathe as she watched the white figure near the front of the pack.
Never before had she yearned for someone's victory this intensely.
This feeling even surpassed the emotions she felt in her own races.
Shirayuki.
May the goddess bless you.
Half a world away, Shirayuki's ears suddenly twitched.
For a second, she thought she heard Air Groove's voice.
But she quickly threw that thought aside.
The race had finally reached the decisive moment.
The final turn!
"Danedream begins her sprint!"
The moment the announcer's voice rang out, the uma musume with dark golden eyes drove hard into Shirayuki. Their arms collided with a dull, heavy thud.
Danedream had prepared for this moment for a long time.
From the very beginning, her target had been last year's Arc runner-up, Snow Dancer. For that reason, she had secretly trained her blocking technique out in the suburbs, all so she could deliver one fatal blow at the most critical moment.
She had a vague feeling.
The most dangerous person in this race was not Treve.
It was her.
And yet, the instant Danedream crashed into Shirayuki, she felt as if she had slammed into a soft rubber ball.
The force of her impact sank into water and disappeared.
Then came the rebound.
The force that snapped back was so powerful it knocked her off balance and threw her toward the outside lane.
I knew you'd come!
Shirayuki did not even look at Danedream's shocked, disbelieving face.
She lowered her body and quickened her steps.
That collision just now had felt no different from someone brushing against her.
The killing blow had been broken!
Far away at Tracen, Yaeno Muteki saw Shirayuki's movement and covered her mouth, her eyes brimming with joy and relief.
What Shirayuki had just displayed was none other than the martial art of Yaeno Muteki's fading family school.
Kongou Yaegaki-ryuu.
The Shaking Body.