Orfevre had a dream.
"The long final stretch at Tokyo—at last, the girls in the back have their chance to shine! Here she comes! The golden tyrant, launching her assault from the outside of the pack! With sheer dominance, she crushes every horse girl on the track!"
"Radiant Dyna is trapped on the rail, cut off by the girls on the inside—she can't fight Orfevre head-on anymore! Orfevre has broken through completely! Final one hundred meters—she's miles ahead! No one on the field can challenge her!"
"Orfevre, go! First place! A four-length victory! She has washed away the humiliation of losing to Radiant Dyna since her debut! Today, the glory of the Derby shines on Tokyo Racecourse!"
She had won.
Dyna had finished thirteenth.
Orfevre stood in front of her, glancing sideways with a faintly contemptuous look at the girl who seemed on the verge of tears. But the corners of her own mouth kept curling upward.
So this is what losing feels like, huh? Tell me—how does it feel?
You had sixty percent of the fans behind you, and you still finished thirteenth in the Derby. With a result like that, how are you supposed to face the media? Face your fans?
Now you know what I went through, don't you, Radiant Dyna?
Orfevre never said a word, but delight was written all over her face.
And then, the Dyna who had been wiping sweat from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand suddenly stood up, stepped forward, twisted at the waist, and drove a clenched fist straight into the side of Orfevre's face.
The impact sent Orfevre flying several meters.
Then she woke up.
Coughing hard, she found herself on the floor.
She had fallen out of bed.
"…To have a dream like that. I really am losing it."
She patted her face, and just then someone knocked at the door.
Throwing on a coat, she went to answer it.
"Big Sis Orfevre, there was a really loud noise from your room just now. Is everything okay?"
Half-asleep, Camellia looked up at her with open concern.
Even after being jolted awake by the dream, Orfevre still noticed, in some distant corner of her mind, that Camellia had somehow heard her fall despite the excellent soundproofing between their rooms. But she had no intention of digging into that. Horse girls with unusually sharp hearing weren't exactly unheard of.
"It's nothing. I just dropped something," Orfevre said softly, rubbing the girl's head. "You still need your sleep. Go back to bed."
Only when she saw Camellia return to her room did Orfevre close the door again.
Lately, Camellia had been worried about her.
She might have been a child, but growing up in an orphanage before Orfevre took her in had made her more mature than most girls her age. She understood, in her own way, the relationship between Orfevre and Dyna.
And because of that, she had started imagining all sorts of terrible things.
Like Orfevre breaking under the pressure and jumping off a building.
It was the kind of dramatic nonsense the adults in the house would never let her read about, but she had still seen enough of those romance novels to have the idea planted in her head.
When she heard the crash just now, she had honestly thought Orfevre might have slit her wrists.
Still, seeing that her sister's mental state seemed fine, Camellia decided she had worried too much.
After all, Big Sis Orfevre was going to become the tyrant of the turf. This much adversity shouldn't be enough to crush her. Dyna was her rival. During their racing careers, the two of them were bound to clash again and again, bloodying each other on the track.
For now, Camellia thought, Orfevre's goal was probably just to beat Radiant Dyna once.
"Mmm… someday I want to become a graded-race horse girl like Big Sis Orfevre too. As for G1s… just getting to run in one would be enough."
That was how she saw it.
It was five in the morning.
Orfevre changed into her training clothes. Ikezoe, Catch the Whale, and Curren Chan were all still asleep. She slipped downstairs without making a sound.
"Morning, Orfevre."
Gold Voyage was leaning against the front entrance as though she had known all along her little sister would come down at this hour. Orfevre was long used to her eldest sister's uncanny way of appearing exactly where she needed to be.
"Morning, Sis. What are you doing up today?"
Only after saying it did she notice what Voyage was wearing: a bright red training tracksuit—the unmistakable Tracen uniform. After retiring, Voyage almost never wore it anymore.
"I'm running with you. It's been years since I last did, so I might be a little rusty. Don't laugh at me, okay?"
Voyage said it lightly, but the smile on her face sent a chill crawling down Orfevre's spine.
Orfevre knew her sister's record too well. Faced with someone like that, the cold seeped all the way into her bones. It was like standing before a veteran warrior who had survived a hundred battles and still burned to fight another.
"...Okay."
Even to her own ears, the answer sounded unconvincing.
No matter how much her sister had weakened, she was still a G1 winner. A horse girl who had taken a Hong Kong G1. Not some little thing like Orfevre, who still had barely won anything at all.
Gold Voyage had run in more G1s than Orfevre had races, period.
Standing on the private training grounds of the Gold household and feeling the aura rolling off her sister shift into something sharper, Orfevre had a very bad feeling.
That pressure… was her sister planning to kill her in this workout?
For the first time, Orfevre realized just how small she was compared to horse girls who truly possessed that kind of presence.
This was stronger than what Dyna had shown in the Satsuki Sho.
No—more accurately, Dyna had only been half-baked.
"When you're ready, our little battle begins," Voyage said with a broad grin. "Your goal today is simple: in the chase work, get past me. I don't care how. Beat me with speed. Trip me. Slam into me. Squeeze me off my line. As long as you get in front of me, you pass."
The instant she finished, a violent gust erupted around them.
The next moment, the only sound in Orfevre's ears was wind.
When she focused again, Voyage was gone.
All that remained on the ground was the deep gouge from her starting step.
When Dyna walked through the gates of Tracen with a sandwich in hand, she nearly got stopped by security.
Even though the guard already knew she had a special pass, the sight of a horse girl strolling into the academy while eating still triggered him on instinct.
"Sorry," he said awkwardly. "I know you've got clearance, but when I see a student breaking school rules, I react before I think."
"It's fine," Dyna said with a smile, not bothered in the least. "It just means you're serious about your job. And that's a good thing. Anyway, if there's nothing else, I'll head in?"
That little detour behind her, she tossed the sandwich wrapper into a bin—and immediately her tail shot upright.
A cold stare was fixed on her from somewhere.
It swept over her from top to bottom.
Dyna's senses picked it up at once.
But when she looked around, there was no one obvious. The fur on her ears and tail remained fluffed up as she made her way toward Wada's training room, where she began to hear some strange sounds coming from inside.
"No more! Please, no more, Miss Aristocrat!"
"No, Senior Sharp Wind—this is necessary! Otherwise it won't work!"
It was Sharp Wind and Aristocrat. Mixed in with their voices was the steady thudding of repeated impacts.
Dyna's first thought was that a fight had broken out in the training room.
Had Aristocrat gotten into it with Opera O? And why hadn't Wada stopped them?
Alarmed, Dyna shoved the door open.
"What are you all doing?!"
The only thing that answered her was a sandbag, printed with Gold Ship's face, flying straight at her.
Unlike the suspended training bags she was used to, this one had no rope attached.
Which meant—
Bang!
The sandbag smashed into her chest.
The force behind the punch that had launched it was so great that Dyna, clutching the bag, was sent tumbling several meters backward before she hit the ground.
"Oof… cough. That's heavy."
She did not feel much pain. Her back had twinged when she hit the floor, but the main impact had been absorbed by her chest, which was probably the only reason she had not flown even farther.
"Senior Dyna!"
Aristocrat darted over, scooped the sandbag up one-handed, and tossed it into the corner. Only when she saw Dyna sitting up unharmed did she finally breathe again.
For a moment she had honestly thought Dyna had been seriously injured by the bag she had punched away at full strength.
Rubbing her chest, Dyna muttered, "I'm fine. I've got enough padding there. But where did you even get a thing like that?"
Aristocrat fell silent for a moment.
The reason was simple, but she was embarrassed to say it out loud. It sounded childish.
Still, after a brief struggle, she admitted it.
"Gold Ship's prank really got under my skin. I needed a way to vent."
"Ah… I see. In that case, fair enough." Dyna could understand immediately. Gold Ship's pranks often crossed the line. They might not physically injure someone, but everyone's tolerance for that sort of thing was different. "Still, next time, maybe don't do this in the training room, okay? If Wada had been the one opening the door, we'd be calling an ambulance right now."
"I know." Aristocrat's fist clenched so hard it popped in the air. "But I've calmed down now. This kind of venting doesn't actually solve anything. We're going to meet on the track eventually. When that happens, I'll crush her underfoot instead."
That raw power was terrifying.
It was hard for Dyna to overstate just how much she wanted to avoid physical contact with a horse girl like this. If Aristocrat lost control of her strength in a moment of emotion, Dyna did not want to imagine being anywhere nearby.
Horse-girl strength was not something to joke about.
Even though Dyna kept insisting she was fine, Aristocrat ended up carrying her—literally, one-handed—to the academy infirmary. Only after the school doctor confirmed there was no serious injury did Aristocrat finally relax.
"I told you, I'm okay." Sitting in a chair with a freshly bought soda in hand, Dyna took a sip and nearly got scorched from the inside by the carbonation. She stuck her tongue out. "Wow… I haven't had fizzy drinks in a while."
"You're one to talk about pressure," Aristocrat murmured, still tense. "How is your own training going, Senior Dyna?"
Since preparing for the Derby, Dyna had scarcely had time to pay attention to anyone else. Now that she had a moment, she asked back about Aristocrat.
"My trainer says I'm already at the peak level of an unraced horse girl," Aristocrat said, turning the can upside down in her hand. "At this point, all I need to do is keep adjusting and wait for race day."
"That's great." Dyna beamed. "Then once you've debuted, we can go to summer camp together. I've already got the venue arranged."
"...Summer camp? With me?"
Aristocrat looked genuinely confused.
She knew enough about Tracen to understand what summer camp meant. It was the privilege of strong teams. When she had chosen Wada, she had done so assuming there would be no camp at all.
"Of course," Dyna said, draining the rest of her drink and tossing the can neatly into the trash. "Make sure you pack your bags."
Only a few days earlier, Troph had finally replied with confirmation that the camp venue was secured. Dyna had practically been ready for bed when the message arrived, and instead had spent the entire night wide awake with excitement.
They had talked until morning. All Troph would say was that a relative in Dubai had arranged the place.
And when Troph was secretive like that, Dyna got even more curious.
Who exactly was coming?
There was no way it was Seabird-senpai. She had a company to run—why would she care about some horse girls' summer camp? Dyna didn't know the Dubai racing scene well enough to guess anyone from there.
It couldn't possibly be Frankel, could it?
Of course not.
Frankel's name in Britain was far bigger than that of some obscure Japanese horse girl. There was no reason someone like her would show up.
The thought made Dyna laugh at herself.
After all, Japan's Triple Crown was mostly something Japan cared about.
To the rest of the world, it was the Japan Cup in November that truly mattered.
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 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 139)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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