At the same time, on the other side of Hong Kong—
As news of Kuroha's high-profile arrival spread, the factions that had been quietly observing—or simply focused on their own training—finally couldn't stay calm.
Inside an upscale private gym.
"Nice Nature! Did you even listen to a word I just said?!"
A slightly frazzled female voice shattered the quiet.
The speaker was a female trainer who looked fairly young. Right now, she was holding a tablet, hopping around as she paced in front of a rubber training horse.
"Hm? Oh… yeah, yeah. I heard you." The black-haired Uma Musume called "Nice Nature" leaned back in a lounge chair with a towel around her neck. Heat still radiated faintly from her body after an intense session.
But her attention clearly wasn't on her trainer.
With one hand, she held her phone, thumb flicking rapidly as she absentmindedly read a trending web novel. Without looking up, she replied lazily, "So Kuroha's here. Got it."
"Got it and you're still this calm?!" The young trainer looked like she was about to explode.
"That's Kuroha! Chasing Light's head trainer—the guy who led his team to sweep the Far East circuit and then took two G1s in Europe!"
"And now he's here in person. That means that Far Eastern 'ash-gray monster' is getting serious!"
"Whether it's pre-race planning or tactical design, he's terrifyingly good!"
"You're always acting like this—aren't you afraid she'll take the Hong Kong Mile title right out from under you?"
"If she takes it, she takes it." Nice Nature yawned and turned a page in the novel, sounding utterly unbothered. "Winning and losing is normal. If I'm just not as good, then I lose. What—am I supposed to bite her or something?"
"Y-You…!" The trainer got choked up so hard she couldn't even continue.
Unlike the seasoned veterans, her coaching career was still short.
The reason she'd been able to lead a Hong Kong top-class Uma Musume like Nice Nature was, to a large extent, pure luck—she'd met this absurdly talented girl right as she started branching out. And the two of them were close personally.
Which created a problem—
Her gifted Uma Musume routinely treated her advice like background noise.
"And besides…" Nice Nature suddenly set her phone down and lifted her head. A sly, mischievous glint flashed through her black eyes. "Even if that Far Eastern Uma Musume—Oguri Cap—really does win… so what?"
"Her trainer, Kuroha, is one of us Tōkō people too, isn't he?"
She shrugged, acting like it was obvious. "If I lose to an Uma Musume trained by a compatriot… that's not even that embarrassing, right?"
"Mmm… if you need a little emotional support later, Trainer, you can use that as your excuse."
"…!"
The young trainer stared for a long moment, then her whole face flushed red.
"Nice Nature!! You idiot! I'm talking about something serious here!"
Her furious shout made even the gym feel like it trembled. Nice Nature squinted one eye and dug a finger into her ear.
"I'm gonna get you a sports drink. You stay here and reflect on your behavior!" the trainer snapped, stomping out with heavy steps.
The door slammed shut with a bang.
The gym fell quiet again.
On the chair—
Nice Nature watched her trainer's departing back. The flippant smile on her face slowly sank into something deeper.
She locked her phone screen and tossed it aside.
"Haa…"
Tilting her head back, she stared up at the glaring white ceiling and let out a long sigh.
"Idiot trainer…"
"Winning was never going to be that simple."
Nice Nature understood.
In Hong Kong media, Central's Far East circuit often got mocked as some "country bumpkin track."
Before Oguri Cap burst onto the scene, overseas expeditions rarely amounted to anything.
But… wasn't Hong Kong the same?
Everyone ruled their own little patch of land. Who was really more "noble" than who?
"Two straight overseas G1 wins…"
Nice Nature raised her hand and stared at her palm, her expression slowly turning heavy.
"That's a record I don't even dare to dream about."
"How terrifying…"
Her voice echoed softly in the empty room. "Can I really win?"
No one answered.
...
At the same time—
Hong Kong, on the turf oval of Kuroha's high-end training grounds.
Thud-thud-thud—!!
Heavy, savage hoofbeats hammered like war drums, tearing at the grass and kicking up the sharp stink of wet soil.
A golden figure was tearing down the track at full speed.
Completely different from Nice Nature's lazy atmosphere, this Uma Musume radiated a suffocating sharpness—like a blade drawn bare.
The entire training ground was empty. Only she was here, racing the wind alone.
Boom!
With the final step slamming down, the blonde girl gradually slowed and stopped beyond the finish line.
Sweat slid down her delicate features. Blonde hair, blue eyes—an exotic beauty that made her look almost unreal.
But she wasn't some tourist model.
She was a powerful foreign Uma Musume.
As a lucrative international G1, the inaugural Hong Kong Mile naturally drew in plenty of elite overseas contenders like her.
The blonde girl walked to the bench at the side, grabbed a towel to wipe her face, then picked up the phone that had just vibrated.
On-screen were three short messages in English:
[Miss Dangerous Course, intel confirmed. Chasing Light's head trainer, Kuroha, has arrived in Hong Kong. He is expected to personally oversee Oguri Cap's final adjustments.]
Dangerous Course stared at the text without expression for a moment, then swiped and shut the screen.
It was intel she'd arranged for a while back—she'd hired a few local paparazzi to gather information on the competing teams.
After all, she'd only just arrived. She wasn't familiar with the place, and she didn't even fully understand the language. If she wanted to know her enemy, she needed methods like this.
"Oguri Cap… huh?"
Dangerous Course murmured softly. Her ears twitched slightly, and something sharp lifted in her gaze.
Unbidden, her mind replayed the Irish Champion Stakes from months ago—
That ash-gray figure, ghosting through the air at the very last moment, cutting out of the pack like a phantom and defeating Europe's strong contenders head-on.
Yes. That race—
She had been there.
Dangerous Course was, in the first place, one of Ireland's top-class Uma Musume of the Senior Year generation.
It was just that due to a conflict in her schedule, she'd been in recovery at the time.
So she'd watched as a spectator—
watched with her own eyes as that "monster" tore Europe's pride to shreds.
"A Domain…"
Dangerous Course drew in a deep breath. A strange light ignited in her eyes, as if something was stirring in the depths.
Even Elmaamul—who also possessed a Domain—wasn't a match for that ash-gray monster. Not even close. Not even a third of her.
Do I really… have a chance?
"…."
After a moment of silence—
Crack.
She clenched her fist hard.
"No."
"Racing has never been a game that only looks at numbers." Dangerous Course lifted her head, staring out at the Hong Kong turf with razor-sharp focus.
"Schedule planning. Humidity. Track condition. Even the angle you take into the turns…"
"Everything—everything can change."
"This isn't Ireland, and it isn't the Far East."
"This is Hong Kong."
"The back that Elmaamul couldn't catch…"
She tossed her phone into her bag, stepped back onto the track, and settled into her starting stance.
"I'll catch it."
(End of Chapter)
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