"Rampage, I'd like you to be perfectly honest with me. What do you actually think of my sister?"
"She's creepy, she's annoying, and she radiates a perverted aura so repulsive that I wouldn't get near her or speak to her if she weren't a rival. She's essentially a sewage treatment plant in the shape of a horse girl."
"That's a bit much, don't you think?"
That day, Rampage was spending time with Tachyon. Unlike her sister, Flora—whom Rampage acknowledged as a rival but absolutely refused to see in private—Tachyon was someone he'd happily hang out with whenever their schedules aligned. He'd even been roped into acting as her guardian for trips to places that required adult supervision. In short, the two of them had built a remarkably solid rapport.
"If she heard that, I think my sister might actually die," Tachyon remarked.
"Sounds great. Get her on the phone; let's give it a shot."
"It's not that I'm uninterested in the results, but please understand that it's our family that has to deal with the fallout."
"Don't worry. I'll at least show my face at the funeral."
"Knowing her, she'd probably just come back to life if you showed up. It's a genuine concern."
"What kind of monster is Flora that we can both seriously believe she'd resurrect herself?"
The way these two spoke of Flora was bordering on the truly disrespectful—and one of them was her own flesh and blood. Perhaps the fault lay with Flora for being the kind of person who inspired such comments from her sister. As they traded barbs, Rampage kept his hands steady on the steering wheel.
"Anyway, why the sudden question? Did Flora tell you to fish for her reputation or something?"
"It's simple, really," Tachyon replied. "You clearly despise my sister. And yet, you acknowledge her strength and treat her as a true rival. It's a fascinating contradiction. You even consulted her about the juniors recently. I was curious as to why. If it were me, I would never rely on someone I felt that way about."
"Whether I like her or not has nothing to do with her ability," Rampage said flatly.
He understood Tachyon's point. If he liked Flora, the rivalry and the consultations would make sense. Instead, his personal feelings were the exact opposite. But to let those feelings cloud the facts was, in his eyes, irrational.
"Does my distaste for her change her track record or her years of experience? No. It's about the right tool for the right job."
"So, you give credit where credit is due… In that case, how would you evaluate Agnes Flora as a horse girl?"
They hit a red light. Pulling the handbrake, Rampage lit a herb cigar for the first time in a while. It wasn't that he was feeling unstable; he just used to smoke these back when he and Flora were at each other's throats. It felt like a natural reflex. As the smoke curled into the air, the light turned green, and he eased his Impreza forward.
"Simply put—she's the girl who was obsessed with me. She ran her races with me as her sole focus; she lived to fight me. But because of that obsession, she took that Japan Cup. And now, she's grown into a powerhouse capable of taking on the world. I hear she's aiming for a G1 overseas next… Honestly, I think she'll do well. She might even take the whole thing."
"Oh? That's a much higher evaluation than I expected."
"Well, she was my defining rival during my active years…"
In terms of raw ability, there were no rivals he trusted more than her and Ikuno. The only problem was that while he trusted the rival, he didn't trust the person's character at all.
"If I'm being honest, I think my absolute peak was my final run."
"Not the Arc de Triomphe? Not the BC Classic?" Tachyon asked.
"Yeah. How do I put this… I mean no offense to Lady or Dyna, but that race was just on a different level. It was the culmination of years of history."
He could say with absolute certainty that his highest point was that final race. Facing the greatest rivals in the greatest possible setting—that was his prime. Even if he had lost that day, he wouldn't have felt a single regret. He would have likely accepted defeat with a smile and congratulated the winner.
"If she'd just settled down a bit after that, we probably could've been good friends…"
"If that were the case, I could have invited you to my room more often. I could have even bragged about you to Cafe and Pokke," Tachyon sighed.
""God, she's so annoying,"" they said in perfect unison.
They really were on the same wavelength. Both reflecting on that fact, they continued to enjoy their day off to the fullest. Eventually, Rampage drove Tachyon back to her house… only to run straight into Flora, who apparently had the day off as well. A silence fell between them. As Tachyon beat a quick retreat into the house, Rampage spoke first.
"I'm surprised. You didn't immediately come lunging at me."
"Even I have a sense of shame," Flora replied. "I'm hardly going to cause a scene in front of my family home."
"Then don't do it at the Training Center either."
"That's different."
She's too good at playing the "normal" girl when she wants to, Rampage thought irritably.
"Are you ready for the Japan Cup?"
"Hehe. Of course. I'm aiming for back-to-back victories."
"Can you actually do it? Against that lineup?"
The question slipped out with genuine concern. Objectively speaking, the Japan Cup field was monstrous. Teio and McQueen were entered, and Ikuno was nonchalantly joining the fray right after the Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Flora looked away as if the remark had hit a sore spot.
"Well… I'll do my best. I figure any opponent is easier to handle than you were, Rampage."
"You've got a lot of nerve saying that to the girl who won the Arc."
"Eh? But you're retired, aren't you?"
"Are you actually serious right now?"
Rampage felt a cold sweat. He looked at her, baffled. Flora, seemingly missing his point, began ticking off the names of the other runners.
"And then from overseas, there's El Condor Pas—oh, that's right! She won the Arc too, didn't she?!"
"Don't you dare forget that… Poor El. She's never going to find peace at this rate…"
"Well, she lost in the Japan Cup, and your world record at the Arc completely overshadowed her existence anyway."
"Stop, stop! Her dignity is already at zero!"
(Somewhere else, El Condor Pasa feels a phantom spear pierce her pride.)
"Anyway, yes. I'll give the Japan Cup everything I've got."
"Don't think you've dodged the subject… Good grief."
Scratching his head, Rampage looked at Flora as he opened the car door. Flora stared back, desperately trying to suppress the flutter in her heart at his sharp, piercing gaze.
"Don't you dare lose," Rampage said. "Not if you're going to carry the title of being my rival."
With that, he drove off. Those words would undoubtedly become a source of immense strength for Flora. Carving them into her heart, she prepared to face the Japan Cup.
"That worked out well, Sister. You got a nice comment out of him."
"...Tachi-chan. I'm going to do my best."
"You'd look a lot more heroic if you weren't bleeding from your nose like a broken dam," Tachyon remarked.
Data: The Broodmare, Mejiro Rampage
In the world of horse racing—often called the "sport of kings"—the pedigree of Mejiro Rampage was, frankly, nothing to write home about. If one had to find value, it was only in her maternal grandsire, Shinzan. On the other hand, she held a high status as an outbreeding success.
The characteristics of Mejiro Rampage's offspring were their sturdiness and intelligence, with a high tendency to produce "dual-threat" runners capable on both turf and dirt. This versatility often proved to be a headache for trainers and owners, who struggled to decide which path the talented foals should take.
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