Amid the fervent celebratory atmosphere, this year's battle for the strongest newcomer Umamusume came to an end.
The race brought Inari Kagura a huge surge in popularity. She only realized how huge after she returned to school following her performance, woke up the next day, and glanced at her follower count. Originally, she had a little over 1.5 million followers. In less than a single day, that number had already climbed by almost a hundred thousand. Even Kagura found that growth speed unbelievable.
After this race, the title "Miko Princess Who Chased the Light" also began spreading widely across Japan's internet. Even people outside racing circles who did not follow professional races now knew of the Umamusume named Inari Kagura. Kagura had wondered whether there was anything she could do to stop such an embarrassing title from spreading, but after thinking it over, she realized there was no way for her to restrain the netizens. Besides, it was not exactly a bad thing. In the end, Kagura could only helplessly let them do as they pleased.
Also, after the Winner's Concert ended yesterday, Inari Kagura received several invitations. Curren Chan sent her a DM asking whether she had time today to go check out and review some restaurants together. Apparently, Curren Chan had recently found a few new shops she wanted to visit, and wanted to do some kind of collab with Inari Kagura while they were at it. Agnes Digital simply wanted to invite Inari Kagura out for a meal. And after Kagura returned to the dorm, Mejiro Ardan had asked whether she wanted to go out for fruit cake together.
Although Kagura did want to accept, in her current situation, she really did not dare.
She could not relax for even a moment because of this victory. Coming up next was the final G1 race at the end of a newcomer's debut year, the Hopeful Stakes. The Hopeful Stakes was already right in front of her, and she still had to prepare for her next race.
[Curren Chan]:Eh!? Kagura-sensei, you have another race in a few days!? Is it really okay for your schedule to be that tight?
After waking up this morning, Kagura saw Curren Chan's reply. She sent back that it was no problem, then got up, washed, changed clothes, and prepared to head out for training.
Leaving the dorm, Inari Kagura instinctively started toward the cafeteria, only to remember afterward that, because she was preparing for her own race during this period, Trainer Tojo had told her not to go into the Cafeteria and mess around with food, and to focus on training instead. So Inari Kagura had handed Rudolf's usual nutrition plan over to Trainer Tojo, asking her to help carry it out and supervise Rudolf to avoid another overweight incident like last time.
A little after seven in the morning, Inari Kagura arrived near the training grounds. Usually, at this hour, Tracen students had not come out yet. Most of them were in general education classes at this time. Inari Kagura could appear on the track only because she scored full marks on every exam and had obtained lecture exemption status.
"Hm?"
However, when Inari Kagura walked beside the track this morning, she saw someone who surprised her a little—Mr. C.B.
Inari Kagura had heard a bit about Mr. C.B.'s schedule. When her trainer had come to school to thank Inari Kagura before, she had mentioned that Mr. C.B. slept very late, then got up past nine in the morning… and that she was usually too lazy to bother coming to school. So seeing Mr. C.B. at this hour really did surprise Inari Kagura.
"Morning, kouhai!"
"C.B.-senpai? Why are you here so early?"
"I slept well last night, so I woke up early today. I didn't have anything to do, so I figured I'd come to school and run a couple laps. Then I just happened to run into you, kouhai."
What comforted Inari Kagura was that Mr. C.B.'s complexion looked much better now. She looked full of energy. It seemed she had successfully adjusted herself back.
It was true that Mr. C.B. had nothing to do because there were no more races for her to run before the end of the year, but the part about coming to school to run a few laps and coincidentally meeting Inari Kagura was complete nonsense. Before coming, Mr. C.B. had specifically asked her trainer where Inari Kagura usually appeared around seven in the morning these days. After learning that Kagura had been training during this period, she had come running over here.
"Kouhai, are you here to train?"
"Yes. The Hopeful Stakes is coming up soon, so to maintain my condition, I'm planning to run every day."
"Ehh~ Then want to run together?"
...
Inari Kagura naturally did not mind training with someone else, so she quickly agreed to Mr. C.B.'s suggestion.
Mr. C.B. realized that it had only been half a year or so since she had trained with Inari Kagura, yet this time, keeping up was already becoming strenuous. Inari Kagura's normal speed had risen dramatically because of honkaku, and on top of that, Mr. C.B.'s own body had been a little weak recently. So during today's training, Mr. C.B. fell slightly behind.
Still, even if I were in good condition, running side by side with Kagura-kouhai now without falling behind… would probably already be a little difficult, wouldn't it? Oh my, does this mean I'm… getting old?
After seeing Inari Kagura's performance in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, and now feeling this while running, Mr. C.B. suddenly realized something: perhaps she already counted as one of the old ones. Compared to a young girl like Kagura, after all, Kagura was the youngest debuting Umamusume in recorded history. Her debut age was far younger than the other students'.
With her competitive spirit slightly stirred, Mr. C.B. tried to chase Kagura, only to discover that raising her speed a little still was not enough to catch up. Inari Kagura looked as if she were racing against someone, and judging from her movements, she seemed to be simulating some kind of situation where she was in a trailing position.
Does Kagura-kouhai have times when she falls behind too?
Mr. C.B. could not help thinking of that question. To be honest, after feeling Inari Kagura's strength, she found it hard to imagine Kagura being in a trailing position unless she had an extremely slow start. But she had also seen Kagura's running style. When she had that sort of huge slow start, Inari Kagura would directly swing wide and charge up by relying on her speed and stamina advantage. There was hardly any place where technique was needed.
Why does it feel like… Kagura-kouhai is racing someone else?
The longer they ran, the stronger that strange feeling in Mr. C.B.'s heart became. Inari Kagura was running very seriously. She did not look like she was training at all, but rather like she was earnestly competing against someone. Yet Mr. C.B. could not see anyone else on the track. There was not even any moving object on the track that could serve as Inari Kagura's reference point. And very clearly, Kagura's gaze was not on her at all. In other words, even if Inari Kagura really was racing someone, it was not with her. Although she knew that if she raced Inari Kagura now, there was only one possible outcome: defeat…
It hasn't even been that long, and I already can't outrun my kouhai… Ahh, her talent really is astonishing…
...
Inari Kagura focused on running at the front. In her field of vision, in a place Mr. C.B. could not see, another red-and-black-haired Umamusume was running ahead of her.
"If you want to pass me, kid, you'll still need more practice~"
The Umamusume running ahead of her was Eclipse, who had been following her all along. The reason Eclipse had appeared on the track today to serve as Inari Kagura's training partner was, according to her, because yesterday's race had restored quite a bit of her power. She now had enough leeway to come out and train with Inari Kagura. It was just that other people still could not see her.
Come to think of it, according to Eclipse-san, as long as I win and gain enough attention, Eclipse-san's power can recover?
"That's right~ So work hard and help me win a few more races, okay~"
It was clear that being able to freely manifest on the track and run again had put Eclipse in quite a good mood. Seeing Eclipse getting better day by day made Kagura quite happy too.
As for why Eclipse had suddenly become interested in coming out to train with her, aside from the fact that she now had enough power to spare, there was another reason she had not told Inari Kagura. As Kagura grew, her strength had already reached a new height. Eclipse could now feel a sense of threat from Kagura.
Although I can still lead like this right now… if it were a distance like two thousand meters… without using that power, I'd probably only be three or four lengths ahead at the end.
Eclipse roughly estimated the distance and speed, and quickly judged the result of this simulated race in her heart.
Eclipse had watched Kagura's growth the entire time as well. She was also looking forward to it. Perhaps in the not-so-distant future, she truly would be able to wait for the opponent she had spent her whole life waiting for, yet never found.
Kid, just how far can you grow?