"A heartbreaking near miss! Japan's closest brush with Arc glory in Uma Musume history!"
"A Japanese Uma Musume shocks France by winning the Prix Marcel Boussac!"
Those two explosive headlines practically dominated the entire paper that day.
Symboli Rudolf had not slept a wink all night. She had watched every race from the first event of the day to the very last, but the two results that stunned her most were these:
Shining Dyna, against all expectations, had won the Prix Marcel Boussac.
And Nakayama Festa had fallen just a neck short in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Rudolf had known that Dyna had gone to France with Nakayama Festa as a sort of caretaker. What she had not known was that Dyna had somehow entered a G1 in France—and actually won it.
How had she even figured out the foreign registration process?
Nakayama Festa had naturally been too busy with prep races and training to help much, and according to all the information gathered so far, Dyna was not a particularly social horse girl. In a place as unfamiliar as France, there was no way she should have been able to find herself a trainer or anyone in a similar role.
"Unless another horse girl was helping her. But who?"
No matter how much Rudolf thought about it, she could not figure it out.
What was beyond dispute, though, was that Shining Dyna had, in a single night, become a horse girl the whole of Japan was talking about.
And in doing so, she had also proven that she could handle Longchamp's heavy going.
Tracen Academy was anything but calm that day.
For once, Gold Ship was slumped over her desk in class with dark circles under her eyes. The night before, her older sisters had dragged her into watching the races together. When the Prix Marcel Boussac came on, they heard the boss lady's name—and then saw that, across the entire field, the only one wearing a bright red training outfit was the boss lady herself.
For the first time in her life, Gold Ship genuinely thought she might be hallucinating.
And when Dyna entered the track, she honestly looked a little lacking in spirit to outside observers. Yet for some reason, the moment she went into the gate, Orfevre—who had been perfectly normal up until then—suddenly seemed to go completely mad.
If Stay Gold and Dream Journey had not both grabbed hold of her, she might have punched a hole clean through the television.
Orfevre insisted the one entering the gate had red hair.
The whole family thought she ought to get her eyes checked.
Before the race ended, nobody believed the boss lady could win. Everyone's attention was focused on the horse girls named Fine Mind and Soul Mist. In most people's eyes, the title could only come down to those two.
As for the sixth favorite, Danshan Dream, and the ninth favorite, Shining Dyna—who were those nobodies supposed to be?
Especially Shining Dyna. She had won a debut race in Japan, then immediately come to France. To the French, she looked like someone who had shown up just to get crushed.
And with how amateurish she appeared, not even knowing she was supposed to wear proper racing silks in a G1, her bright red training outfit drew even more attention.
Unfortunately for her, most of that attention was skeptical, mocking, or both.
To make matters worse, Longchamp that day had been little better than a swamp. Watching this chestnut-haired horse girl struggle just to pull her feet free of the ground, most people had already mentally stamped her with the label sinker.
And yet once the gates opened, the quality she displayed as the only deep closer in the field was completely at odds with the cluelessness she had shown before the race.
This sort of ground isn't even close to the heavy tracks Miss Cody's Wish used to run on...
The only real incident on the final straight seemed to be some sort of collision between Shining Dyna and Danshan Dream. But according to the runners themselves, no such thing had happened.
Even as she said so, Miss Danshan Dream's face remained faintly flushed, and one hand was still clutching the arm she had apparently been bumped on.
She had not felt any pain.
Nor had she been blocked.
The only word she could offer in description was:
"...Soft."
Shining Dyna's finishing kick was unbelievably sharp. And she ran the false straight at Longchamp as though she had done it countless times before. In the final stretch, it was as if she had hit the nitrous.
She surged past Soul Mist.
For one instant, Soul Mist thought she saw a flash of red hair. Her fighting spirit flared higher than ever—but even so, she still could not catch Dyna.
One photographer had captured the precious moment this race—the first ever won in a massive upset by a Japanese Uma Musume—was decided.
And that was the image printed in Japan's newspapers.
At the line, Dyna's mouth was open so wide it looked as if she could swallow an entire basin. Her whole body was so caked in mud that the original red of her outfit was no longer visible. The sportswear clinging tightly across her chest blurred everything in motion. Half a length behind her was Soul Mist, equally spent, with nothing left to give.
"So you really entered a G1 on sheer impulse without even preparing proper racing silks?"
Nakayama Festa walked down the gangway, shooting Shining Dyna a distinctly different look.
Dyna clutched the brim of her baseball cap tightly. A blue mask covered her still-not-entirely-faded blush.
"Y-yes..."
Nakayama Festa's mouth suddenly curved into a huge grin. Paying no attention whatsoever to the odd looks from the other passengers, she slapped Dyna on the shoulder and burst out laughing.
"Ha! Hahaha! Do you have any idea how hilarious it was seeing that bright red training outfit out there on the track? But when you won the Prix Marcel Boussac—you looked even cooler."
The force of that slap made Dyna's whole body jolt. She swallowed nervously.
Was Nakayama Festa trying to silence her because she had stolen her spotlight...?
With the lollipop still in her mouth, Festa withdrew her hand from Dyna's shoulder and caught Dyna's slightly cool hand instead, laying it flat between them at chest level.
"This is your pay for these past few days, and your winnings too. Use it to fix up the shop a bit. And maybe you ought to find a trainer to coach you properly. You've got talent. Unlike me."
From her pocket, she pulled out a check she had prepared in France beforehand and smacked it down into Dyna's palm.
"And another thing—if you can avoid Orfevre, then avoid her. I've got no idea what kind of grudge there is between you two, but the moment she saw you, she nearly smashed the TV. If that idiot ever comes to your shop and starts causing trouble, just say the word."
"Whether you keep running or not from here on, remember this: you're already a G1 horse girl, one standing above tens of thousands. If you run into Orfevre—that fish-trash who still hasn't even won her debut—just crush her under the weight of your G1 status."
Nakayama Festa turned and walked ahead empty-handed.
Just before she disappeared into the crowd, she raised her left hand high and gave it a wave.
"The truth is, taking you to France was a gamble. I was betting that Shining Dyna was a golden phoenix. And thanks to you, someone like me—who never wins—managed to win once."
"Thanks."
"Shining Dyna."
Then Nakayama Festa vanished into the crowd.
Only after a delay did Dyna raise a hand of her own and answer softly,
"Thank you too... Nakayama Festa."
On the cab ride back to the shop, Shining Dyna's emotions were all over the place.
So... there really were good people in the Gold family after all.
Yeah.
Only then did she remember to look at the check Nakayama Festa had left her.
When she saw the number written on it, she rubbed her eyes.
In addition to the base pay they had originally agreed on, the check had another 910,000 euros added to it.
Sitting in the back seat, Dyna carefully tucked the check into an inner pocket close to her body.
Then she patted both cheeks, trying to summon the strength to resist the jet lag.
"It's time to reopen the shop."
And somewhere unseen, Nakayama Festa's card quietly took on a gilded sheen.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
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)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
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
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
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
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