Tap, tap, tap...
Heavy footsteps struck the hard ground like war drums, pounding against the heart of everyone present.
Special Week slowly emerged from the dark tunnel.
At that instant, it was as though a spotlight had deliberately fallen upon her. May sunlight poured down without restraint, outlining her upright figure in dazzling gold.
She narrowed her violet eyes slightly as they adjusted to the glare outside.
Almost simultaneously, a wave of sound erupted from the stands with enough force to tear away the roof.
"Special Week—!!"
"Special Week—!!"
Countless fans waved glow sticks as their cries merged into a tremendous wave surging toward the undefeated Satsuki Sho champion. Their voices carried fervor, expectation, and an almost pilgrim-like reverence.
In the commentary booth, Hosoe raised her voice excitedly. "Special Week has appeared! She's finally here! Look at that composed stride! The venue is already shaking beneath overwhelming cheers! This is the reception of a home favorite!"
Yamamoto-sensei added admiringly, "Her bearing is exceptionally relaxed. She seems completely unaffected by the environment. As expected of a runner who has defeated so many powerful opponents, she is already beginning to carry the dignity of a champion."
In Team Rigil's observation area,
Fuji Kiseki folded her arms and stared through the densely packed crowd at the brown-haired girl. Special Week's unhurried bearing drew a sigh from her, accompanied by complicated emotion.
"She really is today's protagonist..." Fuji Kiseki narrowed her eyes, as though seeing the girl's past through her present glory. "She's completely different from when she first arrived."
Who could have imagined it? When Special Week first entered the academy, she had been an earnest girl who became anxious over poor course aptitude and took everything too seriously. She had been like an unpolished gemstone—astonishingly promising, but still immature.
Now Special Week looked like a crowned "champion." Merely standing there, without saying a word, she placed invisible pressure upon every challenger. Her composure and confidence were the absolute authority accumulated through victory after victory.
Maruzensky leaned against the railing with an amused smile. "Indeed. Who could have guessed she would reach this point so quickly? Her growth has been like riding a rocket."
Even those who had recognized her ability early and believed she would become one of the next era's protagonists never imagined that era would arrive so soon—or that Special Week would become so strong.
Her rate of evolution had passed beyond anything the word "prodigy" could describe. It belonged to the realm of "monsters."
Maruzensky's gaze deepened.
She still remembered the Satsuki Sho with perfect clarity—
the figure tearing through the air like black lightning on the final straight.
Even Grass Wonder, who wielded [ZONE], had been completely defeated by Special Week.
ZONE was an umamusume's ultimate realm, a forbidden gate only chosen prodigies could touch.
Yet Special Week had displayed power surpassing Grass Wonder even then.
"It shouldn't be so easy for her today, though."
A low voice entered the conversation.
Narita Brian stood behind them.
Rather than looking at Special Week, she watched the chestnut-haired figure warming up below—
Silence Suzuka!
As someone who had also awakened [ZONE], Narita Brian could clearly sense a completely different presence emanating from her former teammate. It was not ordinary fighting spirit, but resolve tempered and refined through countless trials—the "conviction" possessed only by someone who had passed along the boundary between life and death.
Two runners in the field had visibly awakened [ZONE].
Maruzensky merely smiled. She naturally understood Narita Brian's meaning.
After all, she possessed [ZONE] herself and knew that sensation well.
Only Fuji Kiseki looked at them in confusion.
She was a first-rate umamusume herself, but she had never personally experienced a realm as profound as [ZONE].
Air Groove studied the pair with uncertainty.
Because she knew their circumstances, Air Groove keenly realized what they were implying.
"Apart from Grass Wonder, is there a second umamusume here who has awakened [ZONE]?"
Her heart jolted.
It could not be Special Week.
Otherwise, Narita Brian would not have spoken that way.
After thinking for a moment, she reached the answer—Silence Suzuka.
"That legendary Runner has entered that realm too?"
A chill ran down Air Groove's spine.
Hana Tojo did not participate in their discussion. She held onto a yellow-haired umamusume in school uniform and sternly instructed her, "Opera O, stay here and don't wander off. Watch this race carefully!"
This was a newcomer she had only recently discovered. The girl possessed extraordinary talent, but she was also a troublesome problem child.
"Rest assured. Naturally, I shall properly appreciate a race like this. Otherwise, would I not appear entirely incapable of appreciating beauty?"
T.M. Opera O still wore her relaxed smile, as though everything remained within her grasp.
Yet careful observation revealed an unusual degree of seriousness and caution in her pupils.
She was still an undeclared rookie, but even she could sense that these umamusume were anything but ordinary.
Especially the one called Special Week.
"That umamusume..."
T.M. Opera O spoke silently within her heart.
"Even I can tell she will be difficult to handle."
Elsewhere,
Tracen Academy's Student Council President, Symboli Rudolf, stood at the highest point of the stands with Tokai Teio.
"Teio," Symboli Rudolf asked in a calm, dignified voice, "who do you think will win?"
Tokai Teio folded her hands behind her head and considered the question.
Her gaze moved among Special Week, Grass Wonder, and Silence Suzuka.
"On paper, Special Week-senpai should be the strongest," Tokai Teio answered conventionally. "Her finishing kick is too powerful, and her momentum has reached its peak."
"That is correct."
Symboli Rudolf acknowledged the answer.
Judging purely from recorded stats, Special Week was unquestionably the strongest umamusume in the race.
Her speed, stamina, and explosive power were all top-tier.
But victory did not depend upon recorded stats alone, especially in the Japanese Derby—a race famous for "luck."
"I really want to support Suzuka-senpai, but I still think Special Week-senpai has the better chance."
Tokai Teio followed her honest judgment.
To her, Special Week was synonymous with invincibility in this generation.
Symboli Rudolf nodded to show she understood.
"Then who do you think will win, President?" Tokai Teio asked curiously.
Symboli Rudolf gave an answer Tokai Teio had never considered.
For a moment, Tokai Teio simply froze.
Her eyes widened as though she had heard an absurd fantasy.
The President had asked the question herself, so how could she have no answer?
And she was Symboli Rudolf, the "Emperor"!
Seeing Tokai Teio's stunned expression, Symboli Rudolf smiled helplessly.
"My thoughts are similar to yours. According to the data, Special Week does possess the advantage. But I see more than you do, and that makes the course of this race even harder for me to predict."
"Even someone as strong as you can't predict it?"
Tokai Teio's voice changed in shock.
"No," Symboli Rudolf replied, her gaze deepening as though she were staring toward a distant future. "Strictly speaking, even if I were one of the runners, I could not guarantee victory with absolute certainty."
"Really?!"
Tokai Teio was completely stunned.
She had never imagined that Special Week and the others had already become so powerful.
Even the "Emperor" standing at the summit felt threatened.
While the spectators studied the entrants, the runners below also observed one another.
Iron Guardian, famous for observing opponents and responding with a reactive strategy, gathered information with particular care. Her eyes possessed an ability that displayed an opponent's stats. Although the figures were not guaranteed to be perfectly accurate, they offered a useful approximation. This was her secret weapon for surviving Central's ruthless racing environment.
"So that is... the [Monster] of this era!"
When Special Week entered, Iron Guardian's wandering gaze brushed across her. In that instant, her umamusume instincts sensed a violent threat—the pressure of a predator at the very summit of the food chain.
Iron Guardian's body went rigid.
A chill surged from her tailbone to the crown of her head. Cold sweat poured down and soaked her back.
Special Week had not deliberately released any aura.
She simply stood there like a towering mountain, inspiring the despair of something impossible to cross.
"She's... different from us..."
Iron Guardian's pupils contracted in disbelief.
"We're not even on the same level!"
"Simply standing there, she is something beyond everyone else... a monster!"
Nearby, the fiery Heart of Flame had been waving her fists toward her fans in the stands, drawing repeated cheers. When Special Week appeared, the overwhelming roar caught her attention and made her turn. The instant she saw that figure, however, Heart of Flame froze as though bound by magic, her smile becoming stiff and distorted.
"Seriously? That's Special Week? Her popularity is really this overwhelming?!"
She murmured with a tremor in her voice.
She had believed herself completely prepared.
But before a true "monster," all her bold declarations to the cameras suddenly seemed pale and powerless.
King Halo clenched her teeth nearby.
Her fingernails dug deep into her palms, but even that pain could not calm her.
She stared at the figure commanding everyone's attention, frustration and jealousy filling her heart.
More than either of those, she felt utterly suppressed and powerless.
She forced several words through her teeth, so softly they were almost inaudible.
Gravity flashed through Seiun Sky's eyes.
Though she still looked lazy, the eyes that usually seemed half asleep had become exceptionally cautious.
"Does she feel even stronger now...?"
A seemingly relaxed smile remained on her face, but ripples spread through her heart.
"While I was getting stronger, Special Week was getting stronger too—and even faster. How hopeless."
As everyone's attention remained fixed on Special Week,
footsteps sounded from the tunnel once more.
El Condor Pasa and Grass Wonder finally entered the course.
Their reactions upon seeing Special Week could not have been more different.
Fighting spirit instantly blazed in El Condor Pasa's blue eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, she strode directly toward Special Week.
Grass Wonder paused uncertainly.
She stared deeply at Special Week.
In the end, she followed behind El Condor Pasa.
"Spe-chan!"
El Condor Pasa stopped before Special Week, planted her hands on her hips, and raised her chin. "I've come to fulfill our promise!"
Special Week looked mildly confused. "What promise?"
"Didn't I say we would settle things in an official race?!"
El Condor Pasa cried excitedly.
"You were the only one who said that."
Amusement entered Special Week's voice.
"I never agreed. Besides, you had already lost to me."
"Damn it!"
El Condor Pasa's face reddened at the retort.
She clenched her fists and declared loudly,
"I'm definitely winning today! Just watch me!"
"Come back when you've woken up, then."
Special Week's lips curved into a perfectly measured sneer.
"You!"
El Condor Pasa stamped her foot in anger.
"Hmph! Don't get smug. You only won the Satsuki Sho because you hadn't encountered me yet!"
"That sounds like an excuse. Use your ability to prove it to me."
Special Week stopped teasing El Condor Pasa and became somewhat serious.
"Of course! That's exactly what I intend to do!"
El Condor Pasa met Special Week's gaze with equal seriousness.
"When you lose, I won't comfort you even if you cry!"
"I return those words to you exactly as they are."
Their exchange was like the clash of two blades, scattering fierce sparks through the air.
The atmosphere around them seemed to grow heavy beneath their presence.
With their exchange finished, each turned toward her own starting gate.
Behind them,
Grass Wonder watched in silence.
Her gaze lowered slightly, long lashes concealing the emotions in her eyes.
She clenched her teeth and fists, frustration filling her heart.
"Spe-chan..."
Watching Special Week and El Condor Pasa behave as though she did not exist made her feel terrible.
Their confrontation had been fierce and pure, while she seemed like an irrelevant outsider.
An unprecedented darkness took root within her, making her still more determined to defeat both El Condor Pasa and Special Week.
"Just wait..."
she whispered inwardly, her voice cold and resentful.
"I will show you who truly rules this race!"
...
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