Backstage at Hanshin Racecourse.
Barbatos tugged at the sports jacket draped over her shoulders, wondering how to toss it off with a cool, effortless flair without getting tangled.
"Whoever came up with this idea—throwing your clothes and then having to pick them up—it's just ridiculous!"
It didn't seem so strange when she watched it on live streams, but now that it was her turn to throw and retrieve her own jacket, it felt totally awkward. Couldn't they at least have a staff member to pick it up for her?
"Ahh~"
She practiced the motion of swinging the jacket off, then couldn't hold back a sudden yawn.
She'd slept wonderfully last night—in bed by nine, determined not to carry any fatigue into today. But maybe she'd slept a little too long, because a drowsy haze still clung to her.
She hoped it wouldn't affect her performance. Then again, once she started running, sleepiness usually just vanished.
Pulling her phone from her pocket, she was about to leave it in the locker room and head out when a new LINE message popped up—from Seiun Sky.
"Something urgent? But the voice message is only one second long."
She tapped play. The noisy ambiance of the racetrack filled her ears, followed by Seiun Sky's voice.
"Go get 'em!"
A simple cheer, sent through the phone, yet it was enough to make her lips curl into a smile. She played the message again. "Go get 'em!"
'Heh, talk about tsundere.'
Just yesterday, when she'd asked Seiun Sky to cheer for her, the other girl had teased that she wouldn't get any encouragement if she lost.
All the drowsiness melted away in that moment. She set her phone down, threw the jacket over her shoulders again, and thought, 'Let's show them how the Wind Archon runs!'
--+--
"And next to take the stage—the Uma Musume whose debut race has already made her the number one fan favorite!"
Barbatos stepped slowly into the spotlight as the race caller and commentator made the announcement. She had to marvel at the sheer power of her online fans—they'd actually pushed her popularity votes all the way to first place. Laying low was clearly not an option this time.
With a sharp, stylish flick, she sent the red jacket flying off her shoulders. Her dark hair streamed in the wind as if she'd already won—not standing at the starting line, but celebrating a victory.
"Lane thirteen, number seven—Barbatos!"
"Barbatos leads the popularity votes by a huge margin—so much so that even the second most popular Uma Musume trails far behind!"
As the commentator spoke, the race caller chimed in smoothly, "To have so many fan votes in her debut race—it seems a lot of viewers have taken a liking to this new competitor, Barbatos. So just how high is her popularity?"
The two of them worked in tandem, building excitement and guiding the audience through the event.
But this time, even though the race caller played along, she actually had no idea just how many votes Barbatos had racked up. Their job covered everything from entry-level races to major G-series events—it was impossible to keep track of every newcomer.
Unless an Uma Musume was already famous, a rookie like this usually flew under her radar. That was more the commentator's department.
"Well, as we all know, Uma Musume who place in the top three in G1 races usually gain over 100,000 fans."
"Those who win a G1 can sometimes reach over 160,000, and repeat champions or racers with multiple G1 wins—especially the crowd-pleasers—can even hit 240,000."
"Beyond 240,000 supporters? That's basically the pinnacle—the heavyweight champions of popularity among Uma Musume."
"Most newcomers start with only a few hundred fans, sometimes even just a few dozen."
Before revealing Barbatos' numbers, the commentator laid out the usual figures to set the stage—and set the crowd on fire.
Half-playing along, half-genuinely shocked, the race caller asked, "Don't tell me Barbatos has already crossed 100,000 fans in her debut?"
Nothing like that had ever happened in history—not a single case. How could an unknown, debut Uma Musume possibly attract that level of support? Why would anyone become a fan of someone with no track record?
"You're not far off. The number of votes Barbatos has received so far is…"
The commentator paused. Even though he already knew the figure, it still left him dry-mouthed and disbelieving.
After a moment, he forced the words out: "330,000."
"Wow! For her very first race, Barbatos has reached a staggering 3…?"
The race caller's jaw moved, but no sound came out. She'd meant to follow up professionally, but—what number had he just said?
Spectators at Hanshin Racecourse, and viewers watching the live broadcast from all over, seemed to be collectively muted. Even the elementary school kid in the stands tooting on her mini-horn fell silent.
Just as the commentator had said, many well-known fan-favorite Uma Musume had around 100,000 to 200,000-plus supporters. 330,000 might not seem that much higher, but the higher you go, the harder it is to grow your fanbase!
Even the Tracen Academy student council president, the one they called the "Emperor"—Symboli Rudolf—only had 420,000 fans!
"Something's got to be wrong here."
Minamizaka's expression was stiff. In sports, performance was what mattered—popularity was superficial. But 330,000? That was just absurd!
Skilled with computers and fully capable of doing so, he almost wondered if Barbatos had hacked the official site and edited the vote count herself.
"That's a little insane."
Seiun Sky was also shaken. She'd been right there when Barbatos went live, showing her face and asking for vote support. She knew it was happening.
But just how many Chinese viewers had been watching Barbatos' stream?!
Spectators around the venue glanced at each other, as if trying to spot Barbatos' fans among them—only to see the same confusion reflected in their neighbors' eyes. So who exactly was Barbatos? And where were all her fans?
Barbatos, who had just picked up her jacket and was about to head backstage, nearly stumbled. 330,000?
That was more than three times the number of people who'd watched her livestream!
Right at that moment, as the 330,000 figure left everyone in stunned silence, the live stream's chat suddenly sprang to life.
A flood of "Ehe~" messages, written in pinyin and Chinese characters, began to fill the screen.
Mixed among them were comments like, "All my little fans, check in now!" and other shout-outs from fans of streamers Barbatos had collabed with before.
"Surpassing 240,000 fans makes you one of the top Uma Musume today—but breaking 320,000? That's the stuff of legends!"
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.