Chapter 121. Faintly Perceived Anomaly
Admire Vega was scheduled for the seventh race. Her roommate had entered her into a 1600-meter event.
On ordinary simulation race days, the Academy handled entries in a rough-and-ready way, simply grouping all the race distances together. Elementary school, middle school, high school — everyone ran in the same pool.
But because so many Uma Musume had signed up today, the Academy had deliberately arranged the races by grade.
As a result, Admire Vega's field consisted entirely of elementary school Uma Musume.
Even though she was only a recent entrant and still relatively inexperienced among the younger girls, that was still far easier than facing middle or high school competitors.
Shuta An did not see the name he was hoping for in the first few races, but he still watched every one with care.
After each race, Minamisaka and Kitahara would discuss the performances of the girls who had just run with him.
A few Uma Musume performed quite well, and Shuta An also gave them proper praise — though of course, he had no intention of recruiting any of them.
Minamisaka tried inviting a few girls to join his team, but none of them accepted.
"No wonder," he said with a helpless shrug after his failures. "My team hasn't won a G1 yet. It really isn't very attractive to elementary and middle school girls."
Kitahara, on the other hand, had not made a move yet.
Several of the girls had looked quite promising to him, but with the number of girls already on his team, and with a friend nearby who had unusually sharp judgment, his real target this time was a lower grade.
When the girls for the seventh race began warming up, Shuta An also received the entry list.
"Oh…"
He immediately spotted Admire Vega's name.
"Number five?"
Muttering to himself, he looked up toward the warm-up area and quickly found the figure he wanted to see.
Why did she look so down? She didn't seem excited at all.
Was she not the kind of girl who enjoyed racing?
Shuta An frowned slightly, but said nothing.
"What, Ann-san noticed something?" Kitahara asked quickly when he saw the change in his friend's expression.
"Nothing," Shuta An replied. "I just feel like the quality of elementary school Uma Musume entering the Academy recently is much higher than in previous years."
Kitahara let out a small laugh. "I thought Ann-san had found a girl he liked."
"The race hasn't even started yet," Shuta An said flatly. "If I could judge an Uma Musume's talent just by looking at her now, I wouldn't be human."
"I have to wait until after the race."
Minamisaka, standing nearby, had already drifted into thoughts about how he should phrase his next invitation.
For him, his team's results were a clear disadvantage. His friends had all trained G1-winning Uma Musume, while the best horse girl in his own stable had only won a G2.
"No wonder ambitious girls don't want to choose my team," he thought with a sigh.
After finishing her warm-up, Admire Vega stepped gracefully into the starting gate as instructed by the Academy staff.
Unlike the other girls in the same race, she quickly settled into position the moment she entered.
Elementary school Uma Musume usually had little to no experience with starting gates before simulation races. Most of their time was spent on light training and academic work, with far fewer opportunities to get used to race conditions.
Being able to adapt so quickly the first time she entered the gate was clearly a sign of talent.
Shuta An noticed that she showed none of the hesitation, nervousness, or awkwardness many girls displayed on their first try.
He nodded in approval.
"She's adaptable," he said.
And because she adjusted to the gate so naturally, Admire Vega got off to a clean and sharp start, immediately surging to the front.
"This Uma Musume named Admire Vega has a very fast start," Kitahara said. "She seems suited for front-running tactics."
"Or maybe she just got too excited and charged straight ahead," Shuta An replied.
Once Admire Vega took the lead, her expression remained calm, as if she had not done anything unusual.
She kept pace according to her own rhythm, and none of the girls behind her could close the gap.
The first 600 meters came in at 36 seconds.
That would be considered a slow pace in the Twinkle Series, but among a field of elementary school girls, Admire Vega was already comfortably ahead.
"She'll probably ease off a bit now," Kitahara guessed, drawing from his experience watching simulation races.
But after entering the final straight with a seven-length lead, Admire Vega did not slow down.
Instead, she accelerated again.
Shuta An narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
It wasn't that Admire Vega had eaten something she shouldn't have. Rather, what he sensed was something deeper in her running posture.
It felt as though she was using a body that did not quite belong to her, moving forward without any sense of restraint.
That was not a good sign.
Shuta An always believed that when victory was already secured, the right thing was to conserve strength.
If Tokai Teio and the others ran like this, he would praise their performance first — then scold them for not taking proper care of their bodies.
"Maybe she thinks this race is very important, so she wants to win as decisively as possible," he guessed, trying to reason it out normally.
But when Admire Vega crossed the finish line smoothly, he discarded that explanation.
"No," he murmured.
"What's wrong?" Kitahara asked, having noticed the oddness in Vega's run. He turned to look at Shuta An, then blinked.
"Admire Vega is strange," Shuta An said quietly. "I feel like she's carrying some kind of concern she hasn't spoken about."
"I thought she looked like she was having a lot of fun," Kitahara and Minamisaka said at the same time.
"Was that really enjoyment?" Shuta An shook his head.
"But at least one thing is certain."
He looked toward the field with a calm, focused gaze.
"She's an extremely talented Uma Musume."
After saying that, he started walking forward.
"Huh?" Kitahara was about to follow, but Minamisaka stopped him.
"If Shuta-kun is going to recruit her, it wouldn't be right for us to follow, would it? Didn't we all go separately when we recruited girls just now?"
"That's true," Kitahara said, stopping in place.
"But even though Admire Vega won by a wide margin, her opponents were still only elementary school girls. The intensity wasn't that high, right? Could the worries Ann-san sensed really be that serious?"
"Maybe Shuta-kun just finds girls with hidden problems more difficult to train," Minamisaka suggested casually.
Shuta An, of course, had no idea what his friend was saying.
He simply kept walking toward Admire Vega, who was already surrounded by the other trainers from the Academy.