The first time Fujiwara Chiya saw Tokino Minoru was at the racetrack.
Back then, he was still a little kid, clinging with all his might to the railing near the finish line. He had heard you could see uma musume cross the line up close from there.
And soon, in the race that followed, Fujiwara Chiya witnessed a moment he would never forget for the rest of his life.
A flash of emerald tore across the turf like a razor.
An uma musume with a single ponytail burst out from the pack, leaving the rest of the field in the dust. Faster. Faster still. Her speed kept climbing, until everyone else was far behind her. Then, with an effortless grace, she crossed the finish line.
Fujiwara Chiya froze.
In the instant before she passed the line, his eyes met hers.
Then he saw her smile at him.
After that day, Fujiwara Chiya fell in love with uma musume racing.
He learned that her name was Tokino Minoru. Whenever she had a race, Fujiwara Chiya would travel however far he had to, just to watch her run. And every single time, she lived up to everyone's expectations, charging through the finish line like nothing in the world could stop her.
Race after race, Fujiwara Chiya made up his mind.
Someday, he would train an uma musume as incredible as Tokino Minoru.
From then on, he began studying everything there was to know about being a trainer.
And now, after all this time, Fujiwara Chiya was standing this close to the idol of his childhood.
"I suspected it before… but I never thought…" Fujiwara Chiya's words came out in a mess.
The first time he met Hayakawa Tazuna, he had found her strangely familiar. As if he had seen her somewhere before.
But her gentle personality, the ears and tail she kept hidden, all of it made Fujiwara Chiya hesitate to confirm anything. On top of that, he had brought up Tokino Minoru in front of her over and over, intentionally or not, and she had never reacted.
So Fujiwara Chiya had separated Hayakawa Tazuna and Tokino Minoru into two different people in his mind.
He never imagined that after all this time, she would finally admit it herself.
"Why are you only telling me now?"
"I made an agreement with Central," Hayakawa Tazuna said, looking at Fujiwara Chiya. "I would build my name and serve Central for the rest of my life. In exchange, they would use that opportunity to develop Tracen on a major scale and turn it into Japan's greatest academy."
Her voice softened.
"I'm sorry, Chiya… I wanted to tell you long ago. But because of that agreement, I couldn't reveal my identity to anyone."
"Then why tell me now?"
"Because you've become strong enough that you no longer need to care about that rule. You're not the unknown trainer you used to be."
"I see… so that's how it is."
Fujiwara Chiya clenched his fists and took a deep breath.
His emotions were a complete tangle. Joy. Nervousness. Confusion. All of them swirled together inside him.
But what mattered most was the stance Hayakawa Tazuna had taken.
"You came here to race me, didn't you?"
"I can't enter the Arima Kinen, so I had no choice but to appear like this, Chiya."
No.
At this moment, she should no longer be called Hayakawa Tazuna.
She was Tokino Minoru.
"Race me," Tokino Minoru said, issuing her challenge.
"…So it really is like that."
"This is my last resort. I had no other choice."
Tokino Minoru intended to stop him.
I really have become one of the uma musume now, haven't I?
Fujiwara Chiya couldn't help but give a wry smile.
Any problem could be solved through a race.
That was how uma musume communicated.
And now, that logic had finally reached Fujiwara Chiya himself.
He looked at the uma musume he had once admired more than anyone. The one he had yearned for, the one he still held affection for even now, the one who had guided him onto the path of becoming a trainer.
Then he patted his wildly pounding chest.
"Come on."
His voice overlapped with Shirayuki's.
The course was two thousand meters.
It was Shirayuki's best distance.
She had raced Hayakawa Tazuna several times before. Back then, the immature Shirayuki had been left far behind, unable to resist at all.
Now nearly two years had passed.
Just how wide was the gap between her and Tokino Minoru?
A razor-sharp aura scraped against Shirayuki's body.
The two of them took their starting stances.
If Shirayuki had entered the final stage of her prime, then Tokino Minoru had passed her own prime more than a decade ago. Her strength might only be seventy or eighty percent of what it had been at her absolute peak.
Even so, she was still terrifyingly strong.
Bang!
As Fujiwara Chiya's hand swung down, two figures kicked off the ground and shot forward neck and neck.
Shirayuki watched Tokino Minoru gradually pull ahead, and memories of the races she had seen long ago surfaced in her mind.
"Tokino Minoru! It's Tokino Minoru! What overwhelming power! What terrifying speed! This era belongs to Tokino Minoru! This race belongs to Tokino Minoru!"
The emerald figure tore through the turf.
Tokino Minoru won yet another race.
Amid the crowd's thunderous cheers, Tokino Minoru raised her fist high.
And in that moment, her name in the Twinkle Series reached its absolute peak.
The young Fujiwara Chiya drowned himself in the joy of her victory. He shouted with all his strength, his childish voice cracking as he called out to her.
She turned around and waved at him.
Back then, Fujiwara Chiya had believed Tokino Minoru would keep running forever.
That she would keep bringing victory to everyone forever.
Until the day she disappeared.
Tokino Minoru went to Central.
But even if she had never left, Fujiwara Chiya would eventually have realized the truth.
No uma musume could run forever.
St. Lite.
Shinzan.
Mr. C.B.
Symboli Rudolf.
Narita Brian.
Those Triple Crown winners bloomed across the sky like fireworks, each one bursting with brilliant color before eventually leaving behind only beautiful memories.
Memories that inspired generation after generation.
Fujiwara Chiya was one of the people they had inspired.
For uma musume, there was something just as important as victory.
Inheritance.
They passed on their spirit. Their obsessions. Their will.
Again and again, they entrusted those things to the next generation.
And then they stepped behind the curtain, quietly watching over the faster, stronger successors who came after them.
Looking at the emerald figure ahead of her, Shirayuki closed her eyes.
She wanted to thank her.
Thank you for everything you've given to uma musume all these years.
Thank you for leading me onto the path of a trainer.
Your story. Your races.
Again and again, they inspired me.
They made me a better trainer.
They made me a stronger uma musume.
For everything you have given, I will offer you my greatest respect.
Her heart thundered.
Shirayuki and Chiya activated the Zone at the same time.
She wanted to surpass Tokino Minoru.
Not merely for victory.
Not merely for a promise.
More importantly, Shirayuki wanted to prove something to her.
That the successors she had protected were now running toward a faster, farther future.
Darkness swept over everything.
Shirayuki saw herself.
Unlike the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, this time she could see the road beneath her feet.
It stretched straight ahead, extending endlessly into the distance.
Like scattered starlight, she saw the Tokino Minoru of the past running before her.
She saw the racetrack of long ago.
Memories rose all around her.
She saw the spectators.
She saw the finish line.
She even saw herself as a child beside that finish line.
Then it was time to keep moving forward.
Shirayuki lowered her body.
"It's Snow Dancer! Snow Dancer has overtaken Tokino Minoru! She's still going! Still going! Snow Dancer keeps pushing forward! She crosses the line!"
"The winner of this race is Snow Dancer! This era belongs to Snow Dancer!"
Amid the roaring cheers, Shirayuki slowed to a stop.
The wind swept past her ears.
She turned around.
Above them, the pure white moon hung in the sky.
Bathed in moonlight, Shirayuki looked at Tokino Minoru.
Sweat slid down Tokino Minoru's cheek.
"So this is… your answer?"
"That's right."
"This is the first time… I've ever lost a race."
Tokino Minoru wiped her face.
"Chiya. You once told me why you wanted to become a trainer, didn't you? Has your dream come true now?"
"It came true just now."
He had trained an uma musume even greater than Tokino Minoru.
"Congratulations, Chiya."
Tokino Minoru's expression shifted.
Then, at last, she returned to being Hayakawa Tazuna.
"Even when facing the person you once admired, you didn't waver. In the end, your final choice is still…"
"Yeah."
Shirayuki answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Your era is over. And I'm going to keep walking forward with Chiya."