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[Pokémon Adventure: Riding the Hype!]
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By the time Kuroha returned to the stands, the four little Umamusume were huddled together with their heads nearly touching, whispering about something.
"What are you girls talking about?"
He asked as he sat back down in his original seat.
"Trainer Kuroha!"
The four of them immediately straightened up in unison.
This time, though, there was much less stiffness than before.
Twin Turbo even flashed him a grin, showing a row of cute front teeth.
"We were guessing what place Teio would finish in!" Twin Turbo answered first.
Even though the outcome itself was already basically certain, Kuroha still asked gently, "Then what places did you all guess?"
"Well obviously first place!"
Twin Turbo said with a laugh. "And then Twin Turbo's gonna become an undefeated Umamusume together with Teio!"
"...There's no such thing as two undefeated Umamusume in the same generation."
K.S. Miracle deadpanned.
Zephyr smiled lightly and said in her usual poetic tone,
"Like a swallow chasing the spring wind, Teio's footsteps will surely be the first to skim across the finish line."
"...Will Teio really stay undefeated?!"
At the side, Nice Nature quietly watched the track below, a thought flashing through her mind.
As classmates, of course they had run alongside Tokai Teio during training sessions at Central Tracen Academy.
Teio usually crossed the line in first.
Still, training runs like that did not really reveal an Umamusume's true strength.
But Nice Nature had her own unique way of judging who was stronger.
It was simple.
All she had to do was gather her mental strength and release her debuff skills at Tokai Teio.
But no matter how many times she tried, the result was always the same.
She could not move her.
Whether it was speed, stamina, power, or will, she could not shake Teio in the slightest.
She had even gone to ask Teio after their runs whether she had felt anything strange.
And Teio's answers were always the same, delivered with a carefree smile:
"Did I feel uncomfortable anywhere during the race? Nope~"
"Was I feeling irritated inside? I'm Tokai Teio. How could I possibly get bothered by that!"
"Nature, you're so nice. But it's okay. I'm invincible, you know!"
That string of answers had made Nice Nature realize something before the other Umamusume of the same generation had.
The gap between people like her and Tokai Teio...
It probably was not as small as the two-length or three-length difference they saw in those side-by-side runs...
...
"Welcome to Nakayama Racecourse. The next event to begin is the G2 Turf 2000-meter trial race."
"And now, please welcome the competitors!"
The girls had already begun entering the track below.
The announcer's voice rang throughout the venue over the speakers, clearly introducing each competitor.
When he got to "the favorite, Tokai Teio," a considerable wave of cheers broke out from the stands.
On the giant screen at Nakayama Racecourse, Tokai Teio appeared in her warm-up gear, her ponytail tied high, stepping lightly into the field.
She waved toward the spectators around the venue, a bright smile spread across her face.
Unlike veteran Umamusume like March, who carried a colder, sharper air, Teio naturally loved sharing joy and excitement with the crowd and her fans.
"Teio! Over here, over here!"
Twin Turbo jumped to her feet and waved like mad, not caring whether Teio could see her or not.
Kuroha watched his own girl on the screen, the corner of his mouth lifting unconsciously.
That sudden declaration from before the race was still echoing in his mind.
Unrivaled beneath the heavens, huh...
That really did sound like something Teio would say.
...
The race began very soon after.
The instant the gate opened, ten figures shot out like arrows loosed from a bow.
From above, Kuroha could see that Teio's start was rock-solid. She did not rush to the very front, instead firmly taking second place.
She stayed tight to the rail, controlling her rhythm perfectly.
Kuroha and the four girls beside him quietly watched the race below.
As the race developed, the announcer's live call described the subtle jostling for position and tactical movements that appeared at each key distance marker.
But Teio seemed completely unaffected. With nothing more than simple, efficient strides, she stayed in a position that was impossible for the girls behind her to easily catch.
While the others were disrupting one another, she simply remained tucked smoothly behind the frontrunner.
The entire process looked effortless.
In the stands, the four girls had all fallen silent by now, watching Tokai Teio's brilliant form on the track, each of them thinking her own thoughts.
From above, Kuroha quietly watched it all and nodded inwardly.
Teio's race sense, pace management, and intelligence had all become noticeably more mature than last year.
At this point, Central races no longer seemed to have any real weaknesses for her.
"That's really nice..."
Suddenly, he heard a soft murmur beside him.
Kuroha turned his head and found that it had come from Zephyr.
This Umamusume, always gentle and poetic, was resting her cheek in her hand, staring intently at the chestnut-haired figure on the track.
Deep in her eyes, something was flickering.
Longing.
"Teio's definitely going to challenge the Classic Triple Crown, just like McQueen challenged her own summit. And she'll probably succeed too..."
Zephyr murmured, as though she were asking someone else, yet also talking to herself.
Kuroha paused, then instead of answering directly, asked softly, "What about you, Zephyr? You girls could challenge the Classic Triple Crown too."
Zephyr froze for a moment.
Then she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, lowered her eyes, and said quietly, "As for me... I don't have anything I can prove just yet."
Kuroha's brows moved slightly.
Beside her, K.S. Miracle also said, "Right now, we still can't become the ones who create miracles."
The two of them were speaking in that slightly airy, electric sort of way, but what lay underneath was simple and clear.
They were not strong enough.
And yet, although those two Umamusume were saying things that sounded a little downcast, the light in their eyes was still bright.
"What it really means is that our trainer still doesn't think our current level is enough for the Classic Triple Crown."
Twin Turbo suddenly chimed in with a grin.
"Our trainer didn't sign us up for a Satsuki Sho trial race. She entered us in some other open-class races instead. She said..."
She paused, thought for a moment, then imitated a serious tone:
"Higher-grade races are not automatically better, Twin Turbo. You're still growing."
"Colliding head-on with powerful Umamusume and entering graded races with too much intensity won't do your future any good. I'm doing this for your sake... something like that."
After saying that, the twin-tailed girl pouted.
"No matter what I say, she won't let me run in the Classic races. It's so annoying!"
"..."
Kuroha found himself at a loss for words after hearing that.
A faint glow flashed in his eyes as he took in the conditions of the four girls before him.
As the Blessing Power in his body grew stronger by the day, his other abilities had grown alongside it.
In less than a second, Kuroha had taken in all four of their physical data.
And then...
He felt that Twin Turbo's trainer was making a great deal of sense...
Aside from Nice Nature, the base stats of Twin Turbo, Zephyr, and K.S. Miracle were all hovering around the low 300s.
Even their stronger values were only close to 400.
To put it bluntly, among Central Classic-year Umamusume, those three were, at best, ordinary open-class racers.
If they continued racing in the normal way, then having careers that included one or two G3 victories would already count as very good.
Their trainer's judgment was not wrong.
For girls like them, the best possible path was to polish their strength in open-class races, become familiar with the tracks, and then choose one graded race that suited their own strengths and try to seize a moment of glory there.
There was nothing wrong with that.
And in fact, aside from Team Chasing Light under Kuroha, that was the standard strategy used by most other Umamusume teams.
Nice Nature, on the other hand, was in much better shape.
Her overall values were around the 500 mark.
That was already almost equal to the level of some of the Japanese Derby entrants back in Tamamo Cross's era.
It had to be remembered that back then, even the Derby-winning Umamusume, Chiyo, had only been a little over 600 in-race, setting Domain aside.
It could be said that Nice Nature's physical talent ranked in the upper-middle tier even among Central Umamusume as a whole.
That was probably one of the reasons her trainer had thought it through carefully and decided to let her challenge the Classic Triple Crown.
"But!"
Just as Kuroha was sorting through the four girls' data in his mind, Twin Turbo suddenly slapped her thigh and shouted, pulling his attention back.
"Nature's different!"
She whipped her head around, staring at the figure on the track.
"I think Nature totally has what it takes to challenge the Triple Crown too!"
"Huh?!"
Nice Nature's eyes went wide.
How had the conversation somehow turned onto her?
"Mm-hmm! I really think Nature could become Teio's fierce rival!"
Twin Turbo nodded as she spoke.
"Look, look! She already won first place!"
"And in our usual training runs, she's often only about two lengths behind Teio too... Yup, Nature's amazing! She's really amazing! Basically just amazing all around!"
"H-hold on..."
Nice Nature's face instantly flushed bright red.
The red spread from her pale neck all the way to the tips of her ears. She looked like she might start steaming at any second.
"There's no way I can do that..."
"Hm?"
Twin Turbo glanced at her, then broke into a broad grin.
"Hehe, I believe in Teio, and I believe in Nature too!"
"You're awesome too!"
"Ugh..."
Nice Nature sank into silence.
At the side, Kuroha watched the girls interact with an amused smile.
Even though he himself had not said a single word to comfort them, these girls still managed to maintain such positive, optimistic hearts.
Every Umamusume was shining with her own unique light.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons the Three Goddesses treated every Umamusume with such equal warmth and gentleness.
Then, suddenly!
"Waaaah!"
A deafening uproar erupted throughout Nakayama Racecourse.
Everyone froze, then whipped their heads around toward the track below.
The race had already advanced to the final straight.
At the exact instant when the Umamusume were about to begin their sprint...
That small figure moved.
Boom!
Like a long-slumbering bolt of lightning suddenly roaring awake, Tokai Teio's figure tore through the air in an instant!
She had been holding steady in second place, but now she forced her way through the outside of the frontrunner with an almost overbearing style.
One second.
Two seconds.
In less than three, that small figure had already completed the pass.
But that was only the beginning.
After overtaking, Teio did not slow down. She did not adjust.
Thump thump thump!
Her speed was still climbing at a terrifying rate!
Even as the girls behind her chased with all their might, they realized in horror that the distance between them and that small figure was widening before their eyes.
One length.
Two lengths.
Three lengths...
At trackside, the cheers of the crowd had vanished at some point.
Every single person was staring at that figure.
That figure streaking down the final straight like a comet.
The final 310-meter straight was crossed by her with overwhelming visual force.
At the instant her flying ponytail crossed the finish line, the timer board snapped into place.
For one second, all of Nakayama Racecourse fell into dead silence.
Then-
"She's across the line!!!"
The announcer's voice exploded out, unable to contain his excitement.
"What an astonishing finishing kick!"
"So this is the overwhelming dominance of Chasing Light's new generation?!"
"The winner of the Yayoi Sho is-"
The announcer sucked in a breath and shouted the name with all his strength:
"Tokai-Teio!!!"
(End of Chapter)
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