On the day of the Osaka Cup, an unexpected drizzle fell from the sky.
Under the dim, overcast weather, Saint King Halo kept glancing upward. Dark clouds blocked out the sun. The cloud cover was thin enough that patches of blurred blue still showed through, mixed with faint traces of sunlight.
Teraizumi Shinji noticed where her gaze kept drifting and looked up as well. A few spectators had already begun appearing in the stands in scattered groups. He was not entirely sure how they had gotten in so early, though perhaps Hanshin Racecourse had rolled out some new policy. Either way, it had nothing to do with the runners and trainers currently on the field. All of their attention needed to be fixed on the race about to begin.
He stamped hard on the turf beneath his feet. The light rain had not done much to change the condition of the track. Which meant that for Erimo Dandy and Seiun Sky, the footing had barely changed at all. They could still execute the tactics they were best at.
Of course, maybe Matikanefukukitaru might be the one to revive here instead.
Shinji's eyes fell on the girl still clutching a crystal ball and a few cards. The mysterious way she carried herself left him unsure what exactly she was doing. She looked so much like a fortune-teller that the thought of divination immediately came to mind. But he did not know Matikanefukukitaru well enough. Going by common sense, no horse girl should be doing something so bizarre right before a race.
Leading Saint King Halo to the place where the starting gates would soon be rolled in, Shinji pointed her attention toward the path just after the break from the gate. She followed his gaze without hesitation.
"Seiun Sky probably won't push the early pace too hard in this race. If another horse girl is truly determined to take the lead, there's even a good chance Seiun Sky will simply give up the front."
As he spoke, Shinji's mind ran through all the data and notes he had gathered on Seiun Sky these past few days. Through a telescope, he had observed how she had consciously been training her control of a forward position. For Saint King Halo, that was not especially good news.
A horse girl who fought with her head—if she could use pace and flow to stretch out the field or compress it into a crowd—then even with the Noble synergy's ability to adapt to all kinds of tempos and situations, Saint King Halo would still need much sharper judgment on when to accelerate.
With her outstanding speed and grit, Shinji could say with confidence that Saint King Halo's raw ability ranked among the best in the field. But this was not Tokyo Racecourse. She could not rely purely on the homestretch to create her chance to win.
"You can't let yourself drop too far back, but don't get pinned too deep on the inside either. If you break well from your gate, you can consider letting the horses on the outside go first, then move up early on the backstretch. Even if it costs you a bit of leg, you can turn it into a grit battle late."
As he said that, he pointed toward the entrance of the third corner.
"Don't move up too late. If you wait until the uphill section through the bend, and the field gets crowded, then your only way forward will be from a very wide lane. That'll waste too much of your legs. The backstretch is your best chance. Move into mid-position there, then judge the flow from there. By the connection between the third and fourth corners, you should already be moving into the front group. Got it?"
Saint King Halo nodded and etched every word into her mind. She knew she was no match for Seiun Sky in tactical scheming. So she had to bring out her own strengths instead of exposing her weaknesses.
"And if Nishino Flower is here, she'll probably be very aggressive about taking the lead. Pay attention to that. If Nishino Flower gets the front, you absolutely cannot let yourself fall too far behind. Don't sit right on the boundary between the leader group and the betweener group. Nishino Flower's lead always looks scary, but her actual pace isn't that fast. You need to judge that correctly."
As he said this, Shinji's eyes shifted to Gold City, who was also out on the turf surveying the course. Though she had a sharp finishing kick, Shinji's instincts told him she would choose a forward position today as well.
The horse girls all understood the nature of Hanshin. It favored speed at the front. If they had the ability to secure a good position early, none of them would willingly gamble on chasing from the rear. In that regard, Shinji believed Erimo Dandy, Matikanefukukitaru, and the other contenders all understood this too.
The opening of this race was inevitably going to be a brutal fight for position. And for Saint King Halo, that was no small test.
As the starting gates finally rolled into the infield, Shinji led Saint King Halo a couple of steps farther forward and watched as the gates slowly took their place. His gaze stopped on stall number three. That would be Saint King Halo's starting point today. An inner draw—if anything, it demanded even more from her.
The noise from the stands grew louder and louder as the crowd poured in. In the front rows, Shinji could already spot many familiar trainers. He did not know them personally, but he was certain he had seen several of those faces at the mock races.
They're here to watch her fail, he thought, though it did not bother him in the slightest.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Saint King Halo's body tense slightly. Shinji lightly brushed her ear with his fingers.
Her long, upright ear twitched. She turned to look at him. Shinji merely smiled, earning an irritated and puzzled glance in return.
Horse girls' ears were sensitive places. Touching her like that in broad daylight, in front of everyone, was more than a little abrupt. But more than embarrassment, Saint King Halo wanted to know why he had done it.
Unfortunately for her, she never got an answer. By the time she entered the underground tunnel, Shinji still had not explained himself.
Shinji then made his way up to the upper viewing platform instead of taking a place down near the front. It was not that the chatter and judgment from the others would bother him. He simply preferred to watch the race in peace. There was no reason to stay among trainers who had already, in effect, declared themselves his enemies.
That was what he told himself as he climbed the stairs.
Then, on the platform, he spotted a figure looking back at him with equal surprise.
It was Saint King Halo's mother—Goodbye Halo.
He had assumed she would not come to watch Saint King Halo race, so her presence here was a genuine surprise. But he quickly hid that reaction and put on a polite smile.
Goodbye Halo rolled her eyes.
After that conversation they had before, she already had a pretty good grasp of what kind of man Teraizumi Shinji was. The politeness he showed her was only surface-deep. The instant she touched the boundaries of his convictions, he would turn and bare the sharp, aggressive edge of his nature without hesitation.
"I thought you wouldn't come."
His tone carried a faint trace of mockery. Not openly insulting, not quite sarcastic either—just enough to make the meaning sting.
Goodbye Halo's face darkened, but she said nothing. She could not quite tell what emotional current lay beneath his words, so she chose not to respond at all.
Trainer and horse girl's mother stood at opposite ends of the platform in brittle silence, and even when Hayakawa and Akikawa Yayoi arrived, nothing about that tension changed. Yayoi had come wearing an eager smile, taking this newly promoted G1 very seriously—but the strange, half-hostile atmosphere between the two quickly smoothed all expression off her face.
Hayakawa could only sigh inwardly. She knew the relationship between those two would remain like this for a while yet.
So instead she moved to Shinji's side and leaned toward his shoulder.
"How is she?" she asked softly. "I mean, how ready is Halo?"
Shinji did not avoid her closeness, even though her breath brushing his cheek made him itch a little. He only nodded.
And in that tiny motion, Hayakawa caught something in his profile—something that looked very different from what he showed for Offside Trap.
When Offside Trap raced, Shinji always radiated confidence. But what she saw now was not confidence.
It was trust.
Confidence and trust were not the same thing. Trust was what remained when there was no absolute certainty, and yet you still chose to believe.
With that thought in mind, Hayakawa looked toward the exit of the underground passage, where the horse girls were finishing their final preparations, waiting only for the starting signal.
Her fingers slowly curled together.
Halo… do your best.
For yourself. And for everyone. Don't let anyone down…
For once, the secretary—who always prided herself on fairness—allowed herself to think in such partial terms.
Join here to read ahead.
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