Winning Ticket pushed forward hard, her strides eating up ground as she rushed to the front positions. She settled right behind Biwa Hayahide, close enough to feel the spray of dirt from her hooves.
But that wasn't enough. Not even close.
She wanted to go one step further, surpass Hayahide completely, and charge straight to the very front. Face the finish line head-on with nothing between her and victory.
"Just keep going forward like this," she muttered to herself, teeth clenched. "Target: first place."
Her speed climbed fast. Winning Ticket passed Biwa Hayahide in one smooth motion, slipping by on the outside.
"Tickezo's already launching her attack? This early?" Biwa Hayahide's eyes narrowed. "I won't be caught that easily."
She bumped her speed up a notch and overtook Winning Ticket right back, reclaiming her position with practiced ease.
During the early race, she'd been using stamina-maintenance skills the whole time. Yeah, she'd burned quite a bit fighting for front positions at the start, but her stamina was still in decent shape. Preferred Position was a recovery skill that prevented fatigue from building, keeping her fresh. Between that and her other recovery skill, Biwa Hayahide's tank wouldn't drain too fast.
At least not until the late corners hit.
Getting past her was really tough for Winning Ticket. The gap between their skill sets was showing.
But that was it, Hayahide had one more recovery skill, but it was designed for long-distance races and wouldn't trigger in a race this short.
"In the corner, Winning Ticket is launching fierce attacks on Biwa Hayahide! Isn't this a bit reckless?!"
Up in the booth, Hayato leaned forward. "Races can't be won on passion alone," he said into the mic, his tone almost conversational. "Strategy and tactics matter just as much."
Hayato paused, watching Winning Ticket throw everything into her chase. "Maybe we can already see Winning Ticket's inevitable loss coming..."
Hayato was actually happy to see this play out, though. Without Winning Ticket draining Biwa Hayahide's stamina early on, the late race would be way harder for anyone else to win. This was doing his Uma Musume a favor.
If that's the case, the real opponent is just Narita Taishin.
Meanwhile, King Halo didn't join the front competition at all. She used corner recovery on turns, straight recovery on straights, uphill acceleration or recovery on slopes, skills cycling through like a perfectly tuned machine. When an uma musume tried passing her, she'd pop an acceleration skill just to hold position, running with total ease.
This was probably the most relaxed race she'd run so far.
When one Uma Musume tried competing with her for track position, King Halo's raw power just shoved her right out. The physical dominance was undeniable. After that, no uma musume dared come within half a step of her space.
"Got a problem with that?"
They seemed straight-up afraid of King Halo now. When she fought for track position, she showed absolutely no mercy, deliberately competing just to drain your stamina and assert dominance.
"Let them get cocky for now." Her gaze stayed rock solid, watching the two chase each other up ahead with obvious interest. "The final victory still belongs to me anyway."
Way back in the pack, Narita Taishin stayed patient the whole time, advancing with barely any acceleration. By mid-race, she'd worked her way up to twelfth position.
This ranking was exactly where she wanted to be. After all, from the start, she'd burned the least stamina of anyone. Conserving energy, waiting for her moment.
The track curved ahead, the final corner looming.
"The uma musume are about to enter the final corner! The decisive battle is coming! Who will break through first?!"
"Right here! Full force! I'm winning this race!" Winning Ticket's speed exploded, her body surging forward as she blew past Biwa Hayahide.
She grabbed the lead for one beautiful moment, the front position finally hers.
But seeing the corner approach, Biwa Hayahide accelerated hard, her competitive fire igniting. She shook off Winning Ticket with a burst of speed that sent dirt flying. "Tickezo, you're underestimating me, aren't you? Think this is all I've got?"
Even before clearing the corner, she had zero intention of giving up the front position. She wouldn't be overtaken by Winning Ticket.
Other uma musume were one thing. But not her, not Tickezo.
This was a BNW rivalry, and that made them take it seriously. Pride was on the line here.
"How?! Biwa Hayahide was running so far ahead at the start, why does she still have this much strength left?!"
"Will Biwa Hayahide win this race and claim her first classic crown?!"
"I can run even faster." Winning Ticket sensed serious trouble brewing. She gave chase with everything she had, legs burning as she pushed past her limits.
"BIWA HAYAHIDE'S CAUGHT UP! The second and third most popular are running parallel through the final corner! This is insane!"
Behind them, something shifted.
"Still no movement from the first favorite, but wait—NARITA TAISHIN HAS APPEARED ON THE OUTSIDE! Is she preparing to shift gears rightnow to catch up with the uma musume ahead of her?!"
The corner battle passed in a flash of hooves and flying dirt. Winning Ticket still couldn't get past Biwa Hayahide, she'd locked down second place. Hayahide led the pack into the straight.
Then Narita Taishin charged up from the far outside, her speed absolutely insane.
"What?!" Winning Ticket's head whipped around. From that far back?!
Seeing Narita Taishin break through like that, the shock was written all over Winning Ticket's face. Compared to a month ago, her rival had completely transformed into something else.
For this one chance, this single moment, Narita Taishin had poured in crazy amounts of effort. She'd imagined this race countless times in her head, thought through countless late-acceleration patterns, and simulated this racecourse over and over until she could run it in her sleep.
She didn't know that any of this mental preparation actually counted as developing her ultimate skill. The hours of visualization, the repeated mental runs, all of it had been training her body and mind for this exact moment.
She only knew that running this way would let her win.
"This is great, Hayahide, Tickezo!" Her voice rang out, filled with joy despite the burning in her lungs. "I can finally compete on the same stage with you both! We promised to enter the Derby together, didn't we?"
For our dreams, we all have to give everything here!
Narita Taishin had always known she was the weakest of the three. The thought had haunted her for months.
Narita Taishin wasn't super confident about accepting the BNW title. After all, Biwa Hayahide and Winning Ticket both had really impressive records, multiple victories under their belts. And her? She didn't have that same shine.
So many times she'd wondered how she should face them. What right did she have to stand alongside them?
"But not anymore!" Her eyes blazed with determination. "Let's keep running together! AAAAHHH!"
BOOM!
Her right hoof sank deep into the turf, muscles coiling like springs. Then she surged forward with power that seemed to shake the ground itself. Air rushed past her face like wind in a storm.
Her speed surged so hard it felt like a detonation.
Only Hayato could see it from the booth, her body flashing with rainbow-colored light that radiated outward in spreading rings, beautiful and terrifying all at once.
Nemesis activated!
The unique skill with its gold border gleamed in his vision: After the final corner, when surging forward from the middle pack, accelerate with overwhelming force.
Nemesis. The Goddess of Vengeance.
At this moment, Narita Taishin was stronger than she'd ever been in her entire life. Every failure, every loss, every moment of doubt, all of it had made her grow. This was her unique skill, and the activation conditions were so harsh she'd only triggered it once in her entire racing career.
Also, the only time so far.
Even in-game, getting her to activate it a second time would be crazy difficult. The conditions were specific: there had to be a final corner in the race, Taishin had to be chasing from the middle of the pack, and she had to successfully pass an uma musume before the skill would even trigger. Without repeated training until it became muscle memory, this skill was nearly impossible to pull off.
Up ahead, Biwa Hayahide noticed Taishin closing in. Her teeth ground together as she accelerated hard, throwing everything into maintaining her lead.
"Taishin!!"
But it wasn't enough. She couldn't stop Taishin's rapid approach, that rainbow-colored surge eating up the distance between them.
In her battle with Winning Ticket for the front position, she'd already burned through way too much stamina.
"WHAT A SURPRISE! NARITA TAISHIN FROM THE BACK OF THE PACK HAS SUCCESSFULLY BROKEN THROUGH! Ladies and gentlemen, this is it! The FINAL SPRINT for BNW's ultimate showdown!"
Hayato's voice rose with genuine excitement. "This is the first time all three of them have raced together! Who's going to take it?!"
"Will it be the monster's older sister, BIWA HAYAHIDE?! The four-race winner who shattered the Yayoi Sho record, WINNING TICKET?! Or NARITA TAISHIN with her incredible burst power that came out of NOWHERE?!"
The slope rose ahead, the final challenge before the finish line.
"THEY'VE HIT THE SLOPE!"
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Btw, the illustration will be on the comment.