Chapter 136. Teio's Goal
Kurofune ate ramen from the famous restaurant Suishoro and also had pork offal soup from Umeya, which was quite delicious. She even finished two servings by herself.
"Phew~ the ramen at the Tracen Academy cafeteria is far inferior to this."
After leaving the food court, Kurofune gave her evaluation.
Shuta An's gaze then fell on Admire Vega. He wanted to see how she would respond to Kurofune's comment.
"Indeed."
Admire Vega's reply was very brief, and she only spoke after clearly noticing Shuta An watching her.
"At least she can speak now," the young man could only comfort himself.
It would have been strange if Admire Vega had continued to stay silent.
What was worth celebrating, however, was that when they returned to the box at noon, Admire Vega, copying Kurofune, also bought an Oguri Cap doll.
Unlike Kurofune, who only bought a medium-sized Oguri Cap doll, Admire Vega bought large dolls of Oguri Cap, Tokai Teio, Symboli Rudolf, and Mr. CB.
Since joining Team Sadalsuud, Admire Vega naturally also benefited from the URA Association's subsidy policy for Uma Musume who had not yet debuted, so buying dolls was not difficult.
Even without that subsidy, Mrs. Kondo's monthly allowance for her daughter was quite generous. During the previous home visit, Mrs. Kondo had even asked Shuta An whether a monthly allowance of 30,000 yen would be enough for the Central Tracen Academy Elementary Division.
For a moment, Shuta An did not know how to answer.
According to Curren Chan's feedback, Uma Musume in the elementary division usually received at most 1,000 yen per month from home. Admire Vega's allowance was thirty times that amount.
However, the four large dolls together cost nearly 25,000 yen, and Shuta An estimated that Admire Vega had spent most of her monthly allowance.
"There's still more than a week until the end of the month. Are your allowances okay?" Shuta An asked as he walked ahead.
Without waiting for Kurofune and Admire Vega to answer, he continued,
"If it's not enough, you can advance some from the team funds. Christmas is coming soon, and there will be a lot of things to spend money on, right?"
"I still have plenty," Admire Vega replied, still very briefly.
"When I have free time, I do logistics for Curren-chan, and occasionally take odd jobs or do extra work, so I've saved quite a bit,"
Kurofune said.
"That's good."
Shuta An felt much more at ease.
At 2:50 p.m., all the Uma Musume participating in the Arima Kinen checked in at the registration desk and prepared to enter the parade ring for the presentation.
Even before they left the underground passage, all the runners could feel the excitement rising from the stands.
Tokai Teio, in gate 9, was naturally the center of everyone's attention. Unlike during the draw ceremony, Tokai Teio was no longer staring at Air Groove, but kept looking toward the outside of the underground passage.
This race was her first encounter with Mejiro McQueen in the Twinkle Series.
As close friends, she knew Mejiro McQueen always regarded her as her greatest rival.
Though it might sound rude, Tokai Teio had never truly regarded Mejiro McQueen as her biggest opponent.
Her goals had always been Oguri Cap, Symboli Rudolf, and those great seniors.
"I told my Trainer I'd win by at least three lengths this time," she thought, listening to the thunderous cheers outside.
Although Mejiro McQueen had suffered a streak of bad luck in a few races during autumn, her popularity remained very high. But she could feel that the overwhelming support outside belonged mostly to Tokai Teio.
It could be said that in front of the new Undefeated Triple Crown, no Uma Musume could steal the crowd's cheers—at least not until the race ended.
The defeat in the Japan Cup had been very hard on Mejiro McQueen. Returning to a long-distance race this time, she was determined to defeat Tokai Teio here and regain the popularity she had lost.
Air Groove, unlike Mejiro McQueen, was aiming for the top three this time. She believed she had little chance of winning first place, so setting her goal at the top three essentially meant aiming for third place—in her view, Mejiro McQueen and Tokai Teio would definitely take the top two spots. As a member of Team Rigil, Air Groove supported neither of them.
"As long as I get third place, I'll be on par with Mejiro Dober's record, and I'll have an explanation for my fans," she thought.
In a corner, another Uma Musume stood alone, her gaze constantly sweeping over Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen, and Air Groove.
"They all have such strong presence..."
Dai Yuusaku clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself.
As this year's Gold Cup-winning Uma Musume, Dai Yuusaku's season had not been bad: second in the Sankei Osaka Hai, fifth in the Mile Championship, fifth in the Kyoto Daishoten—she was at the level of a strong graded-race contender.
However, her previous performances in races of 2500 meters or more had been poor, so very few people favored her this time. As for the media experts, none believed Dai Yuusaku could finish in the top three, much less win the Arima Kinen.
Of course, Shuta An had noticed Dai Yuusaku when gathering pre-race information.
He also vividly remembered the tragic accident involving Mejiro McQueen in the Arima Kinen in the Dream World.
In that race, Dai Yuusaku's performance had truly exceeded her limits. After all, she never produced such a brilliant performance again.
But in Shuta An's view, in this real-world Arima Kinen, there was no need to treat Dai Yuusaku as an imaginary enemy.
"Because Tokai Teio can fully unleash a final spurt on the same level as Dai Yuusaku. A final 3F of 35 seconds is not a problem for Teio at all."
He believed that Tokai Teio, after several years of targeted training under him, could surpass Dai Yuusaku, who would only produce a once-in-a-lifetime final burst.
Still, when planning before the race, Shuta An reminded Tokai Teio that she had to go all out in this Arima Kinen and not slack off after moving to the front.
"This is the Arima Kinen, the most important race of the year. Many fans will be watching, and many casual fans who have only heard Teio's name but never seen her race will be joining in the excitement. Teio wouldn't want her fans to hear that Tokai Teio's performance was just average, would she?"
The moment he said that, Tokai Teio's fighting spirit surged.
"I'll win by at least three lengths!"
Shuta An made no promises. He simply provoked the Undefeated Triple Crown, and she was instantly ignited.