"Ugh, man..."
Rampage let out a heavy sigh, her fingers still tapping away at the keyboard while her eyes remained glued to the racing footage playing on her monitor. Next to the video player, dozens of browser tabs were constantly being switched and refreshed. While this chaotic workspace was just another ordinary Tuesday for Rampage, the real issue was the content of the video itself.
As the footage reached its conclusion, she finally closed the tab and picked up her coffee mug.
"What's got you down? It's rare to hear the world-renowned 'Dictatorial Tyrant' making such a stressed-out sound."
"It'd be harder not to sound stressed. You watched the Kikuka Sho too, didn't you?"
"Of course I did," Okino replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Narita Brian had just become the third Undefeated Triple Crown Umamusume in history, and the manner of her victory was nothing short of terrifying. She hadn't just won; she had completely swallowed Offside Trap's absolute best effort and crushed her with overwhelming, merciless power. Even from the perspective of Okino, who had trained Tokai Teio to an undefeated Classic Triple Crown of her own, Brian's strength felt entirely unnatural.
"It's a completely different kind of strength compared to Teio. Honestly... in a way, she might have even surpassed her."
"Teio's bread and butter is her incredibly flexible muscles and joints, which give her that signature, spring-like leap," Rampage analyzed, staring at the empty screen. "But in Brian's case, she tucks her chin in and drops her head so low it practically grazes the turf. By unleashing her Full-Body Drive from that extreme forward lean, she generates an explosive, monstrous stride. A single step of hers is two to three times larger than an ordinary Umamusume's."
"When you realize her stride matches someone of your height, it becomes genuinely terrifying," Okino remarked.
During her active racing days, Rampage had stood at 175 centimeters, and she had since grown to 184 centimeters. That towering height and the massive stride it produced had been one of the ultimate secrets to her own legendary strength. Brian, on the other hand, stood at just 160 centimeters—a massive gap of over 15 centimeters.
"And that is exactly why I had her keep running against you."
The sudden voice made them turn. Hana Tojo had entered the room.
"Wait, Hana-san... don't tell me you paired her up with me specifically so she could grasp the Full-Body Drive?" Rampage asked, her eyes widening.
"Bullseye."
To overcome her limits, Brian had actively absorbed Lady Saber's ultra-low forward lean and synthesized it with Rampage's Full-Body Drive. Since Brian naturally favored a low-slung running style to begin with, mastering the combination had been shockingly easy for her. Hana's initial goal in forcing Brian to train alongside Rampage was to push her limits against a stronger opponent, but the ultimate objective had been to force Brian to experience the raw, terrifying power of the Full-Body Drive firsthand so she would understand its necessity.
"During the summer training camp, I even negotiated with the Mejiro family to have Monsuney come out and coach her," Hana added with a smug smile.
"Whoa, hold on. I didn't hear a single thing about that!" Rampage complained.
"Because I specifically asked them to keep it a secret."
"Direct instruction from Monsuney... Yeah, no wonder she's a total cheat code right now," Okino muttered, shaking his head.
From Hana's perspective, she had spent her own active career being thoroughly tormented by the sheer power of Rampage's Full-Body Drive, so she knew exactly how devastating it was. Furthermore, she knew that Sakura Laurel—who had crossed the ocean to tackle the Arc de Triomphe—would return home significantly stronger, regardless of her placement. Laurel's spectacular second-place finish in France proved Hana's instincts were entirely correct.
When Brian had told her that she wanted to grow strong enough to be a worthy rival to Laurel, Hana immediately thought of the one thing that even Flora—the legendary Umamusume who actually won the Arc—could never beat: Rampage's Full-Body Drive.
"So she actually went ahead and mastered it..." Okino sighed, crossing his arms. "Man, Teio and I had to bleed through our teeth just to get the hang of that technique."
"From your perspective, Okino, how does Brian's version look?" Hana asked.
"Hmm... Her upper and lower body aren't perfectly synchronized just yet. But even then, if we're talking percentages, she's already sitting well over eighty percent. From here on out, it's just a matter of her refining it to her own personal perfection."
"Then I still have plenty of work to cut out for her. Thank you for the valuable insight," Hana said with a polite nod, turning on her heel and leaving the room.
Rampage and Okino could only look at each other in shared disbelief.
"Okinocchi... be honest. Do you actually want to face that version of Brian on the track?"
"I want to run away as fast as my legs can carry me."
"Same here. I can only offer my deepest condolences to next year's Senior class. If it were up to me, I'd skip every single race where she's on the ballot."
"Haaaah... What the hell am I going to do about this year's Arima Kinen... See ya, Rampage..." Okino groaned, dragging his heavy feet back toward his desk.
Rampage watched him go and tried to force herself back to work, but Brian's terrifying performance refused to leave her mind. She had told herself before that worrying about the distant future was pointless and that she should focus on the present, but now she couldn't stop her brain from trying to construct a counterstrategy against Brian.
Because there was one undeniable reality staring her in the face.
"Maya is going to crash headfirst into her..."
Among Mayano Top Gun's future historical races, there was one particular matchup that was so legendary, so fiercely contested, that it had achieved mythic status: the Grade II Hanshin Daishoten. A brutal, breathless, one-on-one duel against Narita Brian.
As Maya continued to climb the ranks through her Classic and Senior years, a clash with Brian was completely unavoidable. And to make matters even more chaotic, Sakura Laurel would eventually throw herself into that mix as well. Rampage had always known this storm was brewing on the horizon... but now that the reality was taking shape right before her eyes, she couldn't help but hyper-fixate on it.
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