"A great start!"
"Almost all the horse girls break from the gates at the same time!"
"So who's going to seize the lead?"
"Pushing forward—pushing forward—she's taken the front-running position!"
As the race began, the commentator's pace accelerated with it.
To Suluo, the twenty-four-girl pack looked like a dense black tide surging across the track.
"Huh? Why aren't those strong ones fighting for the front?" he asked, confused, seeing that Yaeno Muteki and the other big names had no intention of forcing their way into the lead.
Beside him, Fujimasa March answered kindly.
"Everyone has their own preferred running style. In a race as important as the Derby, they usually stick to what they're best at."
"And with this many competitors… if you choose the wrong position even a little, you can get swallowed by the pack."
"As long as you're not stuck somewhere that prevents you from accelerating when you need to, it's fine whether you're nearer the front or the back."
"I see."
Suluo looked closer.
And sure enough—Oguri Cap was right in the middle of the group, boxed in with horse girls both ahead of her and behind her.
Ohhh. So this is what it means to get swallowed by the pack.
If she wanted to speed up, someone was blocking her path. If she tried to conserve stamina, the runners behind would keep pressing in.
Oh yeah—Oguri got tricked!
Seeing Oguri Cap in what looked like a disadvantage, Suluo's mood shot up.
But elsewhere, watching the same race, Kitahara's mouth curved into a smile.
"Yes! Exactly right!"
"That's it—that position!"
"Everything is going according to plan!"
Fujimasa March's analysis was correct: in a high-intensity race like the Derby, being trapped in a crowd where you can't accelerate or slow down is extremely dangerous.
But that was only true if Oguri Cap's strength was still at her previous level.
The Oguri Cap of today was different.
"Go, Oguri—show them your full power!"
Under Kitahara's expectant gaze, surrounded on all sides, Oguri Cap's eyes sank slightly.
Kitahara told me that at times like this, I need to stay calm.
Deep breath…
Don't let my steps fall apart. Feel the power flowing through my body—then pour it into my legs.
This isn't the time to sprint yet, so I need to minimize stamina loss as much as possible.
Within the crowd, Oguri Cap subtly adjusted her form—until she seemed to melt into the pack itself.
In the stands, Symboli Rudolf narrowed her eyes at the sight.
"Who taught her that running style? Interesting."
Adjusting her form to blend into the group—reducing wind resistance, lying in wait within the pack, recovering stamina…
That kind of wild, unconventional decision-making… Oguri Cap really was something.
"But… strategy alone won't win you the race."
And then—Oguri Cap moved again.
On the bend, the gray-haired girl shifted her posture slightly, slipping from the inside of the pack to the outside line.
And she took the corner at an astonishing angle—leaning hard as she carved around the turn from the outer lane!
Save stamina on the straight.
Save even more stamina on the corner.
Then, at the most critical moment—
explode it all at once!
"…!"
Running in second behind the leader, Yaeno Muteki sensed a strange presence from behind and frowned.
What was this restless, uneasy feeling?
Did something happen in the back?
Her mind snapped through the situation at speed.
The leading group was about to finish the final corner—after the turn came Tokyo Racecourse's famous final uphill stretch, the last straight.
She didn't know what was happening behind them, but—
Now was the best moment to seize the win!
The instant the lead group hit the home straight, Yaeno Muteki's eyes sharpened, her steps surging forward into the wind—
And in a single burst, she cleanly overtook the front-runner!
At that moment, the speed of the Satsuki Sho champion fully revealed itself!
"Yaeno Muteki is launching!"
"Is she about to display the pride of the Satsuki Sho winner?!"
"No!"
"Mejiro Ardan is moving with her! Sakura Chiyono O is charging too!"
"They have no intention of handing the Derby crown over to anyone!"
On the final straight, the top contenders unleashed their finishing kicks together. The screaming wind tore at their hair, and in their eyes burned only one thing—
a hunger for victory.
"I won't lose to you!"
"I'm going to pass you!"
"Haaaah—!!"
The three horse girls shouted on the track, driving their will into their legs like bullets being forced into a magazine.
Heat flooded their bodies, and their awareness began to blur—
And then!
A chilling, unnatural cold crawled up their spines and into their brains. Their hazy consciousness snapped instantly clear.
A shiver.
A shiver they couldn't suppress.
The heart-stopping sense of being watched by a monster surged through the leading trio.
By instinct, they turned their heads—
And finally saw the source of their terror.
The gray-haired monster, long ash-white hair streaming loose, flew down the track. Her blue-green eyes cut through the air like icy blades, carving a suffocating arc!
A crushing pressure slammed into them like layered, roaring waves!
Before they could even react—
Oguri Cap swept past them from the outside like a ghost.
Impossible!
How did she still have this much stamina at this stage?!
Yaeno Muteki was stunned.
This was the final uphill stretch of Tokyo's course—so why did Oguri Cap climb it so effortlessly?!
Pff!
Pink cherry blossoms burst into bloom—!
The first to react among the three was Sakura Chiyono O.
A blazing fire ignited in her eyes, letting her push forward again even under Oguri Cap's overwhelming pressure!
"I can't fall here!"
"Maruzensky-senpai is watching!"
"How can I fall at a place like this?!"
Pure emotion gathered inside the cherry-blossom girl. Her longing to realize her dream surged so fiercely that, in that instant—
she reached the state of a Domain—!
In an ordinary race, with her Domain awakened, she would surely have taken victory…
But—
Her opponent was also a master who could wield a Domain.
On the final straight, the burning cherry blossoms chased the gray-white streak of light—
"Finish line—!!!"
Two figures blasted through the goal, the commentator's voice tearing across the sky—
"The Derby winner has been decided—!"
"The winner is the gray-haired monster—"
"OGURI CAAAAAP—!!"
....
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