She left.
Not just walking away from Narita Top Road...
She directly abandoning the training grounds altogether. Technically, it was skipping class, but Garden Gale couldn't muster the energy to worry about the consequences right now. Alone, she arrived at Team LOCK's private training track, carrying nothing but a heavy heart.
Air Shakur and Fine Motion glanced at her briefly from afar—but quickly looked away.
After all, the training grounds were hers to use whenever she wished, thanks to the previous arrangement. Neither noticed anything particularly off about Garden Gale's mood.
Yet her expression remained complicated—cold, empty.
…An indescribable complexity stirred inside her.
Why had she gotten so angry?
Garden Gale had asked herself the same question repeatedly. She knew it didn't fit her usual personality at all—timid, anxious, withdrawn. The very definition of socially anxious meant avoiding confrontation, not jumping headlong into anger. Yet today, she'd blown up spectacularly, utterly out of character.
Besides…
She and Curren Chan weren't even that close.
They were just dormmates who happened to get along a bit better than average. So why had she lashed out so furiously?
Maybe I do care, after all…
Maybe I couldn't help but care.
Her feelings tangled into knots.
So complicated she couldn't even put it into words.
Taking deep breaths—
Again, again, she filled her lungs with crisp, clarifying air, gradually clearing her muddled mind.
No matter how she looked at it...
Garden Gale had shot her mouth off again.
When she'd lost control, the bottled-up anger had exploded into sheer arrogance, throwing out wild boasts that neither Narita Top Road, nor Curren Chan, nor Admire Vega stood a chance against her. And worst of all, she'd boldly declared she would defeat Admire Vega at the Wakagoma Stakes.
She crouched silently beside the path, covering her face.
…Ugh.
Why did I get so worked up? Why do I always act like such a middle-school edgelord?
Even calling herself that felt overly generous.
Garden Gale was painfully aware of the huge flaw in her personality: sometimes she ran from everything; other times, she acted impossibly proud, arrogant, utterly insufferable.
It troubled her deeply—because she never knew how others might perceive her.
Restless and anxious, she rose to her feet, gently massaging her temples.
Whatever.
She sighed. Really, whatever.
Although she recognized this glaring flaw, Garden Gale also understood clearly that no matter how deeply she regretted her past behavior, nothing would ever change it. The only solution was to keep her eyes locked forward, anchor her heart to the future, and run towards it.
Exactly.
—Therefore:
Garden Gale decided she'd keep running forward.
The future she'd anchored herself to was simple—to defeat Admire Vega.
But it would be a tough road ahead.
Actually, her current predicament was strikingly similar to her earlier encounter with Narita Top Road: in both cases, she'd rashly thrown down the gauntlet due to unforeseen circumstances, only to discover her opponents were leagues above her. She now had no choice but to catch up quickly—and then defeat them fair and square.
She sighed again, fully acknowledging her flaws.
Yet…
She couldn't change now. The one absolute certainty was that she absolutely could not embarrass herself! Losing after all her big talk would invite merciless ridicule—"Is this really our so-called prodigy? Pathetic!"
Just imagining that humiliation sent chills down her spine.
Especially since Admire Vega was a seasoned Umamusume with multiple consecutive graded stakes wins.
She was a far greater threat than Narita Top Road.
Garden Gale felt a pang of regret about wasting [Color Change (Road to Glory · Iron Will)] here.
She slapped her forehead softly. The lengths she'd go to avoid social death were honestly ridiculous. Killing a chicken with a butcher's knife? No—more like slaying a chicken with a legendary sword! She'd copied Narita Top Road's peak condition; a skill powerful enough to clinch a G1 championship, and she'd wasted it on a mere practice burst.
Worse still, she'd been caught in the act.
First, she'd artificially raised everyone's expectations of her strength.
She definitely wasn't that strong. And second, after seeing her performance, Admire Vega hadn't backed down—instead, she'd openly challenged her. That alone spoke volumes about how powerful Vega truly was. After all, how else could she dominate consecutive graded stakes?
Thinking about it a newfound urgency gripped Garden Gale's heart.
She finally understood clearly:
She had no choice but to start training seriously and immediately.
She cleared her mind, casting aside all distractions—and entered a state of complete focus, returning to rigorous training. Here, on this track, she'd be reborn.
"One, two, three, four… One, two, three, four…"
Humming quietly to the rhythm of a four-count beat, Garden Gale ignored Air Shakur and Fine Motion watching her from afar. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself, slowly stretching and warming up until she smoothly transitioned into serious training mode. Her goal was simple: become stronger, surpass her limits—and surpass Admire Vega.
At the same time, she reviewed her experiences from using the [Golden Skill · Infinite Adaptation].
Admittedly, activating it earlier was wasteful—but not entirely pointless. The experience taught her invaluable details about refining her technique. As Garden Gale reflected, she clearly saw what she needed to improve, and from there—
She threw herself wholeheartedly into training.
...
Two hours later:
"I've never seen her train this seriously before," Air Shakur commented, finally looking away.
"Who, Garden Gale-san?" Fine Motion adjusted her hairpiece thoughtfully before suggesting brightly, "Then how about inviting her to ramen later? I recently discovered a fantastic ramen shop!"
She raised a finger with a charming flourish, as though struck by sudden inspiration. Fine Motion wasn't overthinking things; if Garden Gale intended to keep using Team LOCK's facilities, building a closer friendship wasn't a bad idea. Not to mention, getting on a prodigy's good side certainly couldn't hurt.
Air Shakur gave an exaggerated shrug. "I'm worried that if we get too close, she'll end up copying both our running styles."
Despite her teasing words, her body betrayed her sincerity, already heading towards Garden Gale. "All right, let's invite her for ramen—and maybe beg her not to steal our moves?"
"Hey, it's not that easy to copy someone!" Fine Motion replied with a laugh.
...
Meanwhile, Garden Gale glanced briefly at the Selas System interface, reviewing her latest mission.
[Mission]: Chameleon
[Time Limit]:1 Month
[Mission Objective]: Master and integrate the running styles of three different Umamusume.
[Reward]: Character Color-Change Card x1
[Progress]: 1/3
She promptly closed the system.
I'd rather die than have to cling and flirt to achieve this mission!
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she immediately noticed Air Shakur and Fine Motion approaching—
—GAH!
---
A/N: Who described my girl as a little wild boar? Couldn't they have used a cuter analogy? Although it's mean, I'll admit I laughed out loud when I saw it