Narita Brian stood with her hands clasped before her chest. Usually, she carried herself as though nothing in the world mattered to her except running, so the worry now showing plainly on her face made Sakura Laurel glance over in surprise.
The horse girls of the same generation had all gathered here, carving out a small island of support for Offside Trap in a grandstand where almost no one else was cheering for her.
"How's she been lately?"
It was the same question from all of them. Naturally, every horse girl of their generation was concerned about Offside Trap. Terazumi Shinji did not answer; Narita Brian spoke in his place.
At that moment, Offside Trap's eyes met Shinji's in midair. Delight flashed in her gaze, but what Shinji cared about more was the way her body gradually relaxed.
This was, after all, the first time he had brought a horse girl raised through the system into an actual race. He had no real benchmark for what those raw stat numbers truly meant in practice, so it would have been impossible for him not to feel tense.
And yet, judging from her training, he was also able to set his mind at ease.
He was not the kind of trainer who became worthless the moment he was separated from the system. He had standards of judgment that belonged to him alone. Based on Offside Trap's day-to-day training and the results he had seen afterward, he had every reason to believe she could win this race.
"Besides the three G1s during the classic season and the Takarazuka Kinen, she's already challenged graded races nine times."
Standing beside Shinji, Narita Brian spoke softly. Her eyes never left Offside Trap, who was still warming up on the track, and there was something complicated in them.
The reply she had expected did not come. Shinji merely watched Offside Trap in silence, as if Narita Brian's words stirred no emotion in him at all.
Maruzensky, who knew much less about Offside Trap than Brian did, was the one who looked startled. A trace of pity entered her expression as she watched the junior running so earnestly below.
In training, Offside Trap always gave one hundred percent of her effort and energy. Seeing how positive and driven she was, Maruzensky had never imagined her race results could be so… tragic.
Three bouts of tendonitis had already been tragedy enough.
But the repeated cycle of falling, standing back up, and then losing again was like a blade grinding endlessly through an open wound, stirring flesh and blood alike.
"This is the tenth time."
Narita Brian wet her lips. Even speaking those records aloud made her mouth go dry. The more she spoke, the more fiercely she longed for this victory on Offside Trap's behalf.
"Her training has been enough. Just trust her."
At last, Shinji spoke.
Of course he knew Offside Trap's past. Long before he chose her as his horse girl, he had already gathered everything there was to know about her history. Every single one of her races, every bit of anguish she had suffered after defeat—he had watched them over and over again, alone, deep into the night.
He had done it in order to better understand her state of mind.
But in the process, he had also found himself empathizing with all those blows that came one after another. Tragedy always stirred violent emotions in those who witnessed it, and Terazumi Shinji was no exception.
Two second-place finishes at Nakayama. Another second at Fuchu. The resentment in her eyes after those races, the tears she had failed to hold back—he had seen it all, far more often than Narita Brian had.
"Yeah."
Narita Brian nodded.
At this point, there was nothing left for anyone here to do except trust that Offside Trap could break through her own limits in the race and turn the page to a new chapter.
…
Walking steadily toward the starting gates, Offside Trap drew in a deep breath. With every step, her gaze grew firmer.
The horse girls around her were all established names of the current era. Among the eight runners in this field, she had naturally been placed seventh in popularity.
That did not surprise her in the slightest. Even Seiun Sky, the new Satsuki Sho winner this year, had only drawn fourth-favorite support. For a horse girl like Offside Trap, who technically had not even won a graded race yet, such a ranking was only natural.
Following the outside of the gates, the one who came up beside her was Mejiro Bright. Since they had entered the field, Bright had basked in the cheers and attention of the entire crowd, but now she blinked lazily and, to Offside Trap's surprise, held out a hand.
"Hello. Mejiro Bright."
Offside Trap could hardly describe how she felt in that instant.
Bright had debuted several years later than she had, yet receiving such an主动 greeting from her still made Offside Trap feel almost flattered.
Results were a horse girl's greatest source of confidence. The longer one wandered through the world of racing, the more keenly one understood that.
Offside Trap lightly took the hand Bright offered her, paused, and then said in a soft voice:
"Hello… Offside Trap."
"Good luck~"
Mejiro Bright was in gate four, not directly beside her. Watching Bright's back as she moved away, Offside Trap could tell from every one of her loose, effortless gestures that the other girl's confidence was genuine, no matter how casual she appeared.
And of course it was.
This was a horse girl aiming to capture both the Spring and Autumn Tenno Sho titles in the same year.
Offside Trap adjusted her mindset and, at the officials' call, stepped into her gate.
The two horse girls beside her were already doing their own race rituals—one stamping hard against the ground, the other glancing restlessly from side to side, full of visible excitement.
For a moment, it felt like she had been thrown back to the Takarazuka Kinen.
Back then, just like now, she had stood listening to the overlapping shouts from the stands, the tension and pressure in the air spreading like gunpowder smoke, making it hard to breathe.
"Mejiro Bright!"
"Mejiro Bright!"
"Golden Journey!"
"Seiun Sky!"
Offside Trap gently squeezed her calf.
Ever since she had started taking the little blue pills her trainer gave her, she had no longer felt that dull, nagging pain and discomfort from her tendonitis.
The moment she thought of that, the suffocating pressure she had been feeling seemed to ease slightly. In times like this, the calm face of the man in her mind outweighed all the pressure of the outside world.
"Hah…"
She forcibly exhaled the last of the air in her chest.
The bustle of the gate attendants around her did nothing to lessen her focus. The doors in front of her could fly open at any moment, and that meant she had to remain completely alert.
The sounds around her grew fainter. As her concentration sharpened, the voices of the crowd blurred into the distance. Only the powerful pounding of her heart and the intense rhythm of her own breathing surrounded her now, enough to make even her tail lift slightly.
"All right—the race is about to begin!"
Akasaka Misato's voice echoed across the entire Kyoto Racecourse. The crowd began to quiet. All eyes turned toward the side of the track nearest the stands, where the eight horse girls waited in the gates—the full field of contenders for this race.
Narita Brian's breathing had already quickened. Even Maruzensky's face had lost its usual ease, taking on a trace of gravity.
No matter how relaxed and reassuring a powerful horse girl might appear while comforting others, once the race truly began, even she would be changed by the thrill of the unknown and the tension it brought.
"Believe in yourself—you can win!"
Sakura Laurel's murmured repetition reached Shinji's ears with perfect clarity.
The hand holding his binoculars tightened until his knuckles whitened. This was not the first time he had brought a horse girl into a G2 race—but he needed this race to become his first G2 title.
His heart and mind seemed to drift far away. His lower body felt strangely weightless, as though he were about to float up into the clouds. The sensation pressed on him in a way he could not describe, and one of his feet began bouncing unconsciously.
Bang!
The sharp, ringing crash of the gate release echoed through the entire Kyoto Racecourse.
Shinji's eyes locked onto gate six.
That was where he would see Offside Trap emerge.
The roar of the crowd erupted around him all at once, so overwhelming it was like being swallowed by the sea. He could not distinguish any names, any words, anything at all.
He did not care.
He only watched.
Then, before he could even fully process what he was seeing, he heard the first clear sound that broke through the roar—a sharp intake of breath from Sakura Laurel.
It was followed by the hard slam of Narita Brian's fist striking the rail.
Only then did Shinji truly see it:
the gate had opened, and Offside Trap had broken late, expressionless, just beginning to run from behind the rest of the field.
He pressed his lips together as he saw the gap already opened up ahead of her.
The part of him that had seemed to float skyward snapped back down at once. Slowly, Shinji lifted his head and looked up at the sky.
The heavy clouds had spread out across it, diffusing the sunlight so that he could stare straight toward it.
Offside Trap… now, more than ever, I truly believe…
Beside him, Narita Brian had seized one of his shoulders. The pain of her grip made the muscles in his cheek twitch.
"Is there still a chance?"
This horse girl—winner of the Classic Triple Crown, five-time G1 champion—had lost her composure in that single instant. She could not keep her voice from rising. Her golden eyes were filled with panic and fury, and even the rims of them had gone faintly red.
Shinji did not answer.
He only looked back toward Offside Trap, still running at the rear of the field.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
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From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 27
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