"So this is the full power of a Gold Family horse girl? No matter how many times I see it, it's truly terrifying."
"C.B., do you feel it? That dangerous aura... it's no less than the cruel racetrack of our time, is it?"
In the stands, Symboli Rudolf, who was always paying attention to all the movements of his team, was also sitting with her former rival, Mr. C.B. As the "Emperor," she was always extremely sensitive to this kind of aura that could pose a threat to her, and she also felt the drastic change in her even more intuitively.
"Mm, although her strength may be a little inferior, this fighting spirit is indeed very outstanding." C.B. was also very clear about her meaning. Looking at her on the track, every step she took, her fierce aura grew by a point. Her whole body exuded the "aura of a leader." She also turned her head slightly and asked another figure behind her with approval, "As expected, every horse girl of the Gold Family has infinite potential. Don't you think so, Gold-san?"
"...Nakayama is still far from it."
And behind them, there was now an unexpected figure. Stay Gold, dressed in black, had quietly come to the racecourse without greeting anyone. She looked down at Nakayama Festa, who had undergone a huge transformation in these few months, and her tone was still without a trace of fluctuation as she said calmly, "This level of fighting spirit might be enough to be a leader in other families, but in our Gold Family, she's only at the level of bullying Orfevre."
"Leader" refers to an existence that can act as a "leader" in a horse girl family or a horse girl group. It does not mean the status of the head of the family, nor does it mean that this horse girl is the one with the best results in the family. But there is no doubt that it is a strongest person with an extremely strong fighting spirit who can defend the honor of the family and the group.
And in the horse girl group, excellent results are often the standard for a leader. In a small family, a horse girl who can win a major prize can completely become the leader of the family. And as the "Emperor," Symboli Rudolf is a relatively typical representative. Her strength is strong, and her fighting spirit is also extremely high. In the family, there is almost no second person who can compete with her in terms of aura.
And now, the strong fighting spirit she was showing, and the fierce aura like a beast, could be said to be completely equipped with the temperament of a leader. The horse girls in the same race, in front of her, would probably be scared to the point of not daring to speak, and even have a gate miss in the race.
But as Stay Gold said, their Gold Family was not lacking in horse girls with a leader's temperament. From herself, Dream Journey, Gold Ship, and Nakayama Festa to Nagayama Komachi... besides a certain horse girl with the highest talent but the most cowardly personality, Orfevre, each of them possessed the aura and potential of a leader.
"It's just that... to be able to stimulate her potential, with Kitano's personality, he probably wouldn't let her go this far... did she push herself to this point?"
"It's obvious that if she didn't want to win, she wouldn't have been able to accept such a long period of cruel training."
And C.B. also, in one sentence, revealed the thoughts of her, who had been pushing herself into a desperate situation under Oguri's supervision for these few months. A hint of interest, but also a deeply hidden vigilance, appeared on her face as she said, word by word, "It's really as he said. This child's determination might really be able to create a miracle."
"Hmph, but McQueen will definitely win!"
However, the conversation of the three adults made Tokai Teio, who had been holding her honey drink on the side, a little dissatisfied. I wonder if it was because she was being ignored by the president and the others, or because everyone was looking forward to her performance, that this quasi-undefeated Triple Crown horse girl was a little jealous. She said in a sour tone, "I'm very clear about McQueen's ability. She won't be scared by this kind of thing. And speaking of a leader's temperament, she can do it too! There will definitely be no problem!"
"Oh? Is that so?"
However, her words, spoken in a slightly sour tone, couldn't help but attract her attention. This family head, whose pupils were so dark that one couldn't see her expression at all, also showed a hint of a smile on her face and asked tentatively, "Then, if she won't be scared because she has the potential of a leader, then you're in danger, little girl of the Tokai family."
"As far as I know, your leader temperament is not as strong as our little Gold Ship's at all. Then on the track of the Kikuka Sho, you'd better not be scared by her."
"I won't!"
As she had expected, she had only provoked her with a few simple words, and she had immediately had an extremely violent reaction. And this also made her, who did not know everything that had happened in the academy, vaguely feel her different emotions towards him.
And in fact, it was just as she had thought. During this period, she had not had much contact with him, but as the voice in her heart became clearer and clearer, her hostility towards him, Nakayama Festa, and Gold Ship in his team also deepened, and had even reached the point where she couldn't wait to have a showdown with them in the Kikuka Sho.
Originally, after learning that she had withdrawn from the Kikuka Sho and had instead participated in the Tennō Shō (Autumn), and that she had lost the opportunity to completely defeat her and prove that she was much stronger than her, had made her a little unhappy. Now, everyone's idea that she would shine brightly made her even more unhappy.
"I'm quite good at arguing, but..."
And her gaze also refocused on the track. With the widening of the dangerous smile on her lips, her tone also finally had a hint of teasing as she said, "That McQueen of yours is now so scared that she can't even get into the gate."
"...Eh?"
Following her gaze, Teio, after a slight daze, also turned her gaze to the track with great surprise. At some point, the usual gate-entry-difficulty specialist, Nakayama Festa, this time had entered the gate one step ahead of everyone else. The other horse girls, after seeing her enter the gate, only then, with the help of the staff, entered the gate with trepidation.
And Mejiro McQueen was even more conspicuous. She had rolled her tail into a ball in her palm, her palm tightly gripping her tail and pulling it outward—this, for any creature with a tail, was an extremely painful way, but she was using this method to calm herself down before stepping into the gate.
"This child... what on earth is going on? This kind of aura that can eat people alive... can a horse girl have it?"
"So scary. Is this Gold Ship's older sister? Nakayama Festa. I heard someone commented on her as a bad card before. It seems that's not appropriate."
Finally, with the help of the staff, the successfully entered Mejiro McQueen had no time to care about how many tail hairs she had just pulled out. Instead, she focused her attention on the gate in front of her. Her heart, which had just been shaken by her appearance, was once again burning with a raging fire.
The achievement of consecutive wins in the Spring and Autumn Tennō Shō was now within reach. Even if there were some variables, she was determined to win!
"This Tennō Shō (Autumn) is Suzuka-san's area of expertise, a 2000-meter counter-clockwise track."
"But this time, the heavy track is my opportunity to win against her! I will definitely win and win honor for the Mejiro family!"
As for her... she really wasn't sure about her tactics and performance. She recalled every race she had paid attention to that she had participated in. It could be said that she couldn't guess at all what tactics she, who was casual in every race, would adopt in this race, because she had no tactics at all!
Not having received formal education, she was a complete opposite of Tokai Teio and her. She had no routine. Every race depended purely on her performance and mood. This also made it impossible for her to formulate a tactic against her, and she could only adapt to the situation.
Now, I can only hope that she is not good at heavy tracks, and that my hard strength is far superior to hers.
"The race has just begun, and I already have a premonition of losing..."
And on the other side, Mejiro Ryan, after feeling her beastly aura, even though as an older sister, she was more stable than McQueen, she couldn't help but feel a strong sense of threat.
She had clearly attached great importance to this race, but this sudden variable had also caught her off guard. Now, what she was thinking was no longer whether she could win the race, but whether she and McQueen, who were carrying the mission of the Mejiro family, could win this race.
Strong, really too strong! Nakayama Festa, as expected of a horse girl from the Gold Family! She has infinite potential!
"So, on the track, I'll just cover McQueen a little." She had determined her position in this race. She had to protect her younger sister and safely win this Tennō Shō (Autumn). If she was swallowed by this "beast" that was eyeing her covetously, this fear would not be so easy to eliminate...
The horse girls, who had each determined their own tactics, all stared intently at the gate in front of them. The racecourse, which was silent for a moment, everyone was nervously waiting for the signal of this slaughter...
"Clang!"
Finally, with a red light on, all the gates opened! And four afterimages were the first to step out of the competition, one step ahead of all the other participating horse girls!
"The gate is open! Oh—there's an anomaly! Except for Mejiro Ryan, McQueen, Silence Suzuka, and Nakayama Festa, all the other horse girls have had a more or less missed gate! This gate start is very unfavorable. Is it because of the weather?"
"Number 4, Silence Suzuka, has taken the escape horse position first! But McQueen and Ryan behind are biting very tightly! Nakayama Festa is also biting McQueen tightly! The four horse girls are squeezed together! A four-horse parallel at the beginning!"
Are they biting so hard? And upon hearing this news, Silence Suzuka was also a little surprised. Her proud [Explosive Escape] actually did not open a large distance with them at the beginning. But soon, she also understood the reason why McQueen was following so closely behind.
Everyone knew that the advantage of her [Explosive Escape] was the insurmountable gap in length that she had pulled away in the early stages, stretched to a point that was difficult to make up. Coupled with her second acceleration, which was not fast but could pull away again, in a two-thousand-meter race, her stamina distribution could be said to be just enough.
But this time was different. The heavy track had accelerated her stamina consumption. And now that McQueen was so dead set, it was to force her to accelerate and consume her stamina even faster...
But now, it seemed that she had no other choice but to accelerate. Her tactic was only one. If she could not open a gap with the other horse girls in the early stages, and with her stamina exhausted, she, who was not good at bursting out, would find it very difficult to win the race.
A few months ago, in the Takarazuka Kinen, the reason why she had been arrested by Ryan was also the same. Even if she had won the Takarazuka Kinen, the extra 200 meters had still exceeded her stamina distribution. It was also a matter of course that she was surpassed by the accelerating and bursting Ryan.
"In a heavy track situation, do I still need to accelerate faster? This is forcing me to exhaust my stamina."
"But..."
And at this very moment, her peripheral vision glanced slightly behind her. After knowing that she was also following closely behind, a gratified smile couldn't help but appear on her lips.
McQueen and Ryan had been wrong about one thing from the very beginning. They thought that she had stepped onto the track again because she still wanted to run and wanted to continue to win. But in fact, she had never stepped onto the track for herself from beginning to end... she was here to win more time for her trainer.
And in this Tennō Shō (Autumn), whether it was her winning or her winning, as long as she could save her dear trainer, then who the winner of this race was, she could not care less!
And in this race, if my chances of winning are now not great... then I might as well cause them some more trouble with all my might?
A wicked smile appeared on her lips. Faced with the pressing McQueen and Ryan behind her, her legs once again exerted a little more force! An invisible gust of wind also began to envelop her!
And the sudden change in her aura also made McQueen and Ryan on the track's faces change. Of course, they could tell what state she had now entered.
This is—her [Domain]! It can let a horse girl enter a state of full-power spirit for a short period of time!
"Silence Suzuka! She has accelerated again! She is in the lead, and has once again opened a gap with the horse girls behind her!"
"So fast, so fast! Her [Explosive Escape] has reappeared! Can she break her 1000-meter record on that silent Sunday?"
"Did she open her [Domain] so early? But in the second half of the race, her stamina will not be enough!" And in the stands, Special Week was also startled by her tactic. However, at this time, Tamamo Cross on the side shook her head and said calmly, "No, on the contrary, from the time she was forced to accelerate by them, she was already very difficult to win. Now pulling away is a good choice! An escape horse can often decide the rhythm of this race!"
Saying this, an evil smile couldn't help but appear on her face. It was an expression mixed with excitement and schadenfreude as she grinned and said, "On a heavy track, to run at a speed and rhythm that surpasses a good track—now, the rhythm of all the horse girls in this race will be messed up. No one can save their stamina and run slowly."
"...By the way, from the beginning of the race, the black aura on her body has been appearing." And just as her words had fallen, Special Week, whose doubts had just been answered, had raised a point of her own doubt, pointing to her, who was just a little behind Ryan, and couldn't help but ask, "If Suzuka's [Domain] is that kind of gathered gust of wind, then her black aura, is it the manifestation of her [Domain]?"
"—How is that possible? Who can keep their [Domain] open for so long? This thing is for a short period of time. It's good to last for about ten seconds. How could it be..."
However, just as she was casually answering her question, she also vaguely discovered something was wrong... soon, not just her, but Oguri, Gold Ship, and on the other side, Invincible, C.B., and the others, all couldn't help but show a look of belated horror.
"Wait—how could she have kept her [Domain] open from beginning to end?!"
"...This is her resilience." However, now, only he, who knew her history, after being surprised by this scene, had a slight understanding—he thought, if in the world of horse girls, the Takarazuka Kinen that she had run for her human mother, Nobuko, was won in a similar way, right?
Keeping her [Domain] open throughout the race, as if she had an endless resilience, even if she had no consciousness to control it, among the horse girls, she could definitely be called a monster-like existence.
"We can't go on like this!"
And on the track, faced with her, who was once again in the lead, feeling the strong wind pressure coming again, and under the pressure of her terrifying [Domain] behind her, Mejiro Ryan finally made up her mind and began to accelerate towards the front of McQueen.
"Ryan-nee?!" McQueen's peripheral vision witnessed her running a little bit in front of her, using her own body to help her block the strongest wind pressure. In the wind, her voice was also clearly heard in her ear.
"McQueen, I'll block the wind pressure for you. You save some stamina for the final sprint! In this Tennō Shō (Autumn), only you have a chance to win for the Mejiro family!"
"Be very careful. The one behind you is not a horse girl, but a pitch-black cheetah!"
In the wind, her voice, holding back the wind pressure, entered her ear. And at this time, she also more clearly felt the extremely dangerous aura from behind her rapidly approaching...
Under her pitch-black [Domain], the tangible black aura had wrapped her body so much that it was a bit unclear... only a pair of wine-red eyes were flashing with a bloodthirsty luster in the darkness, staring deadly at the prey in front!
In her mind now, there were no other thoughts. She had only one idea, only one goal—victory!
....
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