"!"
Running in second place, Minami Kaku clenched her teeth instinctively, Xingyun Liuge's figure reflected in her amber eyes.
Who exactly… is this girl?
Minami Kaku was also a student at Kasamatsu Tracen. She wore her waist-length black hair with a few white streaks mixed in, and the red ribbon tied across her forehead conveyed her determination to win.
She had originally intended to seize the very front and control the pace of the field herself. But Xingyun Liuge had appeared out of nowhere and shattered that plan outright, forcing her to abandon her frontrunner strategy and switch to a pace-chasing one instead.
That was also the most direct reason she was the first to have her rhythm disrupted by Xingyun Liuge's runaway lead.
How could there possibly be two frontrunners in the same race?
So when the gap between Xingyun Liuge and the rest of the pack began to widen, Minami Kaku made her decision and accelerated decisively.
What kind of frontrunner could possibly resist the chance to take command of the field's rhythm?
If she could wrest first place back from Xingyun Liuge, then maybe she could still win.
No—that was wrong.
Her goal had always been singular:
Victory.
Not maybe she could win.
What she wanted was victory, and victory alone!
Minami Kaku drove her foot hard into the ground. A powerful rebound surged up from the earth beneath her, flooding through her limbs in one rush.
She wanted to win this race.
She wanted to stand on the winners' stage.
She wanted to debut.
So this was only an 800-meter track.
All she had to do was believe in herself—and sprint with everything she had!
Inside her heart, Minami Kaku cried out:
I'll win! I am going to win!
As Minami Kaku abruptly accelerated, panic spread even further through the pack. In that instant, it no longer mattered whether a horse girl had chosen a pace-chasing style or a stalking style. If the gap widened any further, then defeat was all but certain.
The race had only just begun, yet almost the entire field had already lost their composure. They squeezed their stamina dry in desperation, terrified that the figure in front—who looked as though she could run all the way to the end of the world—would carry that lead to the very finish.
The announcer shouted,
"The race has only just begun, but the pace is already stretched as taut as a fully drawn bowstring!"
The commentator picked it up at once.
"Xingyun Liuge has pulled away from the field, and Minami Kaku has boldly chosen to pursue! Incredible nerve, incredibly decisive judgment! The rest of the pack has been forced to speed up as well, and the race is getting faster and faster—but!"
And yet, for some reason, the first favorite, Fujimasa March, and the second favorite, Oguri Cap, had not accelerated.
Both horse girls were using pace-chasing tactics, but once Xingyun Liuge forcefully sped up the race with her dominant frontrunning, they had instead slipped into the stalking tier.
Had they failed to adapt to the abruptly disrupted rhythm?
Or was it intentional?
A cold gleam flashed through Fujimasa March's eyes.
They took the bait just like that? How reckless.
She had no intention of blindly following a pace set by someone else. A truly capable horse girl needed the ability to adjust on the fly—not rush into a thoughtless charge.
At the same time, her gaze shifted slightly, catching sight of the other gray horse girl running beside her in her peripheral vision—
Oguri Cap.
A faint smile rose to Fujimasa March's lips.
Yes. That was the sort of rival she ought to have—someone who either crushed the field with tactics, or stayed calm, controlled her own tempo, and waited for the perfect instant to erupt.
And Fujimasa March believed that instant would not be far off.
"Three hundred meters remaining! Minami Kaku is making her full sprint—can she catch up? No, she can't! The gap is still one full length! Xingyun Liuge's hold on first place remains unshaken! Could it be that Xingyun Liuge is about to become the dark horse of this debut race?"
"To win the title as the seventh favorite!"
The moment those words rang out, the crowd's excitement surged.
After all, who did not love a classic underdog story?
And more than that—this horse girl was rumored to have once been wheelchair-bound because of illness. If she could now rise again on the racetrack like a reborn phoenix, what could be more stirring than that?
But at that very moment, just before the final bend—
Fujimasa March and Oguri Cap accelerated at the same time.
The two gray horse girls were startled by each other's timing. Almost simultaneously, they caught each other's movement from the corners of their eyes—but in the very next instant, they both put their attention back on the track.
The important thing was not the one running beside them.
It was the one controlling the entire race from the front.
Xingyun Liuge still held first place firmly in her grasp.
Dragging her down from that throne—
that was what the horse girls behind her needed to do.
Originally, both Fujimasa March and Oguri Cap had intended to wait until the final 200 meters before making their move. But Xingyun Liuge had thrown the rhythm of the entire race into chaos, and now they had no choice but to accelerate early.
Otherwise…
The two horse girls reached the same conclusion:
If we don't move now, it may already be too late!
Xingyun Liuge had slowed only slightly while taking the bend. There was still not the slightest sign of her fading. She remained roughly thirteen lengths ahead of them. If they wasted any more time, they might not catch her at all.
As the two horse girls launched their move together, the crowd erupted into cheers once more.
That was how races were supposed to be—
back-and-forth struggles, surprise challengers, drama.
Wasn't that only natural?
"I'm done."
After finally making it through the bend, Minami Kaku—who had been straining at high intensity the whole way—gave what amounted to a concession of defeat.
She had burned out.
The horse girls still trapped in the pack were more or less in the same state.
Only Fujimasa March and Oguri Cap surged forward, forcefully overtaking the rest.
By now, even someone who knew nothing about horse racing could see it clearly:
This had become a duel between three gray horse girls.
Fujimasa March and Oguri Cap were rapidly shrinking the distance between themselves and Xingyun Liuge.
Would they win?
The final 100 meters.
Both horse girls drew on every last ounce of strength they had. Gasping for air, enduring the fire burning through their lungs, they finally reached Xingyun Liuge's trailing shadow.
Salty sweat streamed down from their foreheads, nearly plastering their bangs to their skin. The sensation was awful.
But compared to the ultimate goal of victory, this was nothing more than a trivial price to pay.
Fujimasa March gritted her teeth. She could almost taste iron in her mouth. Her pupils had narrowed to the limit, and she had pushed her stamina nearly past its breaking point, but—
She still could not catch up.
They were so close now.
So close that it felt as though just one more effort, one final push, would bring her alongside.
And yet—
That single length between her and Xingyun Liuge might as well have been an impassable chasm.
No matter what she did, she could not close it.
Why?
Am I… going to lose?
For Fujimasa March, who had always been an outstanding student since childhood, failing to debut was an enormous blow. She had wanted to win this race in one clean stroke. No matter who stood in front of her, she had to win!
But what could not be done, could not be done.
That one-length gap was the difference in absolute ability.
If she could not win, then she simply could not win.
Because she had changed into sturdy new racing shoes, Oguri Cap's start had been flawless. Her acceleration had come without the slightest problem.
She had even surpassed Fujimasa March, pulling half a length ahead of her.
Now all she had to do was erase the remaining half-length between herself and Xingyun Liuge—
No, one more burst.
Just one more burst, and she could overtake Xingyun Liuge and win the race!
Oguri Cap clenched her teeth, drew in a deep breath, and tensed her calves straight.
Grip the ground with the ball of the foot—
then, like in swimming, drive through the ankle!
Boom!
Dirt exploded upward.
"!"
Oguri Cap stared in shock.
Xingyun Liuge had used the exact same bursting technique.
But instead of reducing the half-length gap between them, it widened back out into a full length.
Oguri Cap saw Xingyun Liuge tilt her head toward her and smile, as if saying:
You may come this far—
but no farther.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter100)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 60
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 50
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 50
The Way the Umamusume Look at 31
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 26
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 26
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