Half a month passed in a blink.
As the overseas horse girls returned home one after another, the afterglow of that earth-shaking Japan Cup slowly faded with time.
In the meantime, while everyone looked forward to the biggest stage play of the year—Arima Kinen—people also busied themselves with New Year preparations.
During this window, a number of newcomers broke out of their shells.
They're the girls who completed True Blooming this year and are about to step into their Classic Year.
One by one, they brimmed with ambition, yearning to become the next legend engraved in history.
In the discussions among Central trainers and pundits, this generation's timing felt… delicate.
Not only did they benefit, in their True Blooming year, from Central's reform linking into Regional races; more importantly, they happened to cleanly sidestep the peak seasons of Chasing Light, Oguri Cap, and Super Creek.
You could say they've drawn an era that's very favorable for spreading their wings.
And among these talented rookies, the strongest and most dazzling of all—
Without a doubt, it's the girl who just crushed the G1 Hopeful Stakes by eight lengths:
Mejiro McQueen.
Heir to the long-distance bloodline of the illustrious Mejiro family and a member of the now-blazing Chasing Light squad, this 2008-class prodigy is, beyond question, Central Tracen Academy's premier super rookie.
…
On the training ground, Mejiro McQueen had just finished a high-intensity set of sprints and walked to the rail to cool down.
"McQueen, nice work~"
Aoi Kiryuin cheerfully handed her a towel and water bottle.
McQueen accepted with a smile. "Thanks, Aoi-nee."
She dabbed away the sweat beading at her brow, then picked up her phone from the bench and flicked through the news.
As expected, the top headlines across horse-girl media were all still trumpeting her emphatic win from a few days earlier.
"The New Age White Lightning!"
"Another Ash-Grey Monarch Arises!"
"Mejiro's Strongest Successor—Eyes on the Classic Triple Crown!"
"Chasing Light's Next Monster—Hopeful Stakes, No Suspense!"
Reading the over-the-top praise, McQueen didn't beam; instead she let out a small wry laugh and shook her head.
"The strongest successor, huh…"
"I'm still far from it."
People only saw how effortlessly she seemed to run on stage.
They didn't see how crushing the burden behind that "effortless" really is. She feels it most keenly herself.
Beyond the outside gaze, there's the expectation of elders and onee-tachi, the stamp of "Chasing Light," and a family vow that's been carried to this day.
All of it weighs heavy on her shoulders, reminding her she must not tarnish that heritage.
"…But things are getting clearer now."
She locked her phone and lifted her eyes toward the oval of turf.
Vmm—
A blazing tracer rose inside the girl's pupils, almost spilling out as visible light.
At the far end of her gaze—
Across the wide grass, six sky-piercing streams collided, tangled, and crossed in the mist—each packed with surging will and power.
Those were her five senpai from Chasing Light—plus the ash-grey monster from Kasamatsu—Oguri Cap.
They weren't even using any pro training devices; it was the most basic of all work—parallel running duels.
And yet the sweat they flung, the wind-pressure their strides whipped up, and those six palpable, interlocking Domains made the whole track feel like ten overlapping sanctums that ordinary hooves could never trespass.
"The second step of Domain… and Inari One-senpai and the other two even feel on the verge of stepping further."
Within her "True Self" sight, the six top-flight horse girls stood like mileposts before McQueen.
They told her, plainly: what you've achieved so far, to true elites, is just child's play.
"Hah~"
The tracer dimmed. McQueen exhaled a long breath.
She flexed and uncurled her fingers. "Right now, I'm only half a step short."
Her trainer's words from not long ago still rang in her mind. "McQueen, the 'second step' of Domain appears when heart, body, and technique round out and your talent is redeemed. Your talent's unquestioned, and both tech and heart are already there."
"What limits you now is only your physical build."
"You're still, no matter how gifted, a rookie whose True Blooming hasn't even passed a year."
"So don't rush. Take it slow."
"At worst—a month. The moment you step into your Classic Year, the door to Domain will swing open for you."
She relaxed her fist.
Letting the fresh fatigue roll through her after training, McQueen quietly watched the parallel-run that looked like a whole other world.
"No matter how many times I watch… senpai-tachi are just too strong…"
…
Inside the Mejiro Training Facility's trainer room.
Kuroha was staring at a system panel only he could see.
[Mejiro McQueen]
[Track Aptitudes: Turf A / Dirt E]
[Distance Aptitudes: Short G / Mile C / Medium S / Long S]
[Running Style Aptitudes: Front Runner A / Pace Chaser A / Late Surger D / End Closer F]
[Unique Skill: The Duty of Dignity Calls Lv.4] (Umamusume Wiki)
[Domain: Awakening in progress]
[Skills: Prudent Positioning; Focus; Bad Conditions ○; Corner Adept; Hydrate; Spring Runner; Stamina to Spare; Final Push; Highlander; Long-Distance Straightaways ○] (Umamusume Wiki)
[Speed: 674 / Stamina: 704 / Power: 655 / Gut: 604 / Wit: 748]
"…So it's my turn to handle a pure stat monster again?"
Even Kuroha was taken aback by how absurd McQueen's numbers looked.
Back in the Regions, when his team was only Fujimasa March and Inari One, they could reign by raw numbers alone.
After moving into Central, everyone's stats were closer; wins hinged on technique, race sense, and Domain.
But now he felt it again—the brute force of "stat checks."
At the Hopeful Stakes, Kuroha could feel it: the gap between the new generation and McQueen wasn't "eight lengths" in spirit—it was a chasm you can't measure in mere lengths.
After the race, the girl even pouted to him that the front-running pace had been painfully slow—so slow she nearly surged past mid-race to take the lead herself more than once.
He'd honestly been at a loss how to answer that.
"…Still, it's a good problem to have."
If McQueen keeps developing at this clip, by the time the Classic Triple Crown kicks off next spring, all her stats could hit the 800–900 band.
Add the passive boosts once her Domain hits the second step—
Then the Satsuki Sho might greet the first Classic-Year runner in history to break 1000 across the board…
Maybe it's because both she and Tokai Teio had been on structured training long before True Blooming.
Kuroha suspected the physical ceilings for those two might exceed even the current Chasing Light roster.
At present, Inari One boasts the highest numbers in the squad; even she hovers around the low 1300s overall, with peaks nearing 1400—that's likely her limit.
But McQueen is built different.
With this innate physical headroom, 1400 may be nowhere near her ceiling.
"At this rate, little Teio probably has the scarier potential… though," Kuroha's gaze drifted to the far side of the infield, "that kid still has a ways to go before True Blooming."
"—"
He rose, closed the panel, and stepped back out toward the winter sun, the air inside Central Tracen feeling just a little brighter than before.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 500 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]