A week later, at a Racecourse… "Oh my! Orfevre, who got second place in her previous race, is now in even worse form this time around, barely clutching tenth place! Is the Golden Tyrant destined for failure? Has her career already reached its peak at her first Debut Race?"
Ikezoe, Curren Chan: "…"
Everything about this race was filled with surprises. Orfevre's initial performance was pretty good; she didn't start late or have any issues. She was focused like never before. With such a start, Ikezoe and Curren Chan had thought Orfevre was finally going to give her all this time, and they had inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then came a series of mishaps. First, despite Orfevre's perfect start, she immediately made a huge misjudgment. With seven Uma Musume choosing to run as Pace Chasers, she still chose to go to the front, trying to squeeze out to the Front Runner group, but ultimately couldn't find a good position.
Then, in the middle of the race, Orfevre accelerated too early, but while accelerating, she still couldn't break out of the crowded pack, causing her effort to fail and dropping her to the back of the group.
Finally, in the final straight, as the other Uma Musume began to sprint, she only belatedly started to burst forward, but halfway through her surge, she stopped for some unknown reason… As a result, among the fourteen Uma Musume competing, she directly fell to tenth place.
It was a terrible sight; she committed so many blunders that it almost seemed like she was intentionally trying to lose. At this moment, Ikezoe also rubbed his face; he couldn't bear to look at Orfevre, who was now lying on the Racecourse, motionless like a dead fish.
"Um… Onii-chan, don't be so sad."
"Perhaps Orfevre is just not feeling well. Look, she hasn't seemed very energetic lately; maybe she has been staying up too late?"
At this moment, even Curren Chan couldn't comfort Ikezoe with teasing. Even though she hadn't run her Debut Race yet, after so many days of training under Ikezoe, Curren Chan's grasp of race rhythm and her judgment of race situations were already good enough for her to run GIII races.
And now, facing Orfevre's running skill, even the gentle Curren Chan was at a loss for words. It wasn't just terrible; it was legitimately worse compared to an Uma Musume who had never trained before. This was truly a far cry from Orfevre's performance during her Debut Race, where she, despite not following conventional tactics, still dominated the Racecourse with absolute power, earning her the title "Golden Tyrant" after her very first race.
"Onii-chan, don't be so sad, it's not your fault…"
"No, Curren Chan, I am to blame. I was the one who encouraged Orfevre to participate in this race. I thought it would make her more confident, but I didn't expect it to backfire."
Ikezoe covered his face with his hand, and after a long while, he barely recovered, sighing deeply as he said:
"I'll wait for Orfevre in the lounge. She needs some comfort right now. Curren Chan, could you… help me buy some snacks? I think Orfevre would appreciate it."
"Onii-chan… you're too kind."
However, even in the face of Orfevre's terrible performance, Ikezoe still showed immense tolerance, which made Curren Chan feel a little jealous. Watching Ikezoe's silently departing figure, Curren Chan pouted slightly and said unhappily:
"Honestly, Onii-chan spoils Orfevre too much. Curren Chan is getting a little upset now~"
Saying this, Curren Chan didn't forget to kick the air, as if venting her small dissatisfaction. But despite that, Curren Chan still listened to Ikezoe and walked towards a dessert shop outside the Racecourse, planning to buy some sweet snacks to console Orfevre with Ikezoe.
After a while, Curren Chan arrived at the dessert shop. Facing the staff, she resumed her usual cute demeanor, hiding all her emotions in her heart as she said:
"Hello, one melon parfait, one tiramisu, and… three classic iced black teas, with sugar~"
"Okay, coming right up. Please wait a moment, little girl... Here are the things you ordered plus a special complimentary pastry just for you~"
"Ah, for me? Thank you very much~"
Curren Chan's cute face quickly earned her the favor of the staff. She was used to receiving such small complimentary gifts from staff. She knew how cute she was since childhood and was very adept at using it to gain harmless perks.
Curren Chan found a table and sat down to wait, delicately tasting the small pastry given to her. Just then, as the shop door opened, a few people entered, chatting.
"Did you see the race? I really didn't expect Orfevre to perform so poorly."
"Yeah, I did. Sigh... I also didn't expect Orfevre to perform even worse this time—Ah, two blended coffees for us, please."
Upon hearing Orfevre's name being mentioned, Curren Chan's ears involuntarily twitched. Especially when she heard that the two women were talking about Orfevre's performance, she immediately paid attention. Uma Musume have incredibly sharp hearing, and especially so when focused; Curren Chan could clearly hear the soft conversation of the two women not far away.
"Honestly, you said Orfevre would be the favorite to win this time. Tenth place, really? You weren't screwing with me, were you?"
"How could I! I've been following Orfevre since her Debut Race! You don't know how cool and dominant Orfevre was in her Debut Race! She was incredibly powerful!" One woman was clearly a fan who had followed Orfevre since her Debut Race, but she was still very disappointed by Orfevre's performance this time.
"And in the last OP race, she was also second. I just thought she just had a bad day then, but this time I was full of confidence. Who knew Orfevre would perform so badly this time!"
"Huh? Really? Was Orfevre strong enough for her to be called dominant? Then why did she perform so badly this time?" The other woman, who seemed to have only recently gotten into Uma Musume races, immediately asked.
"I don't know either, but from her Debut Race, Orfevre's physical condition must not be bad. Even if she hadn't trained during this period, she shouldn't have regressed so much, right? So her Trainer must've been the problem!"
"I saw Orfevre's Trainer in the newspaper, what's his name again… Ikezoe Kenichi? Anyways, he's way too young! He's probably just another lucky newbie who happened to draw a good card and then ruined a promising talent."
"Huh? Really? Isn't that such a pity?"
"—Clang."
At this moment, Curren Chan, who was nearby, finally couldn't take it anymore. She stood up, a little flustered for the first time, almost tripping over her chair. This action immediately drew the attention of others in the shop. Curren Chan silently turned to look at the women. When the two women saw an Uma Musume with a cute face smiling and walking towards them, they also became slightly wary.
For some reason, though their first impression of this Uma Musume was that she was very cute, the feeling she was emitting was unexpectedly very intimidating.
"Hehe, big sisters, I heard your conversation just now, you know?"
Curren Chan looked at the two women with a fake smile, as if her inner sanctum had been touched, and said to the two women, word by word:
"Although I'm not sure where you heard it from, the Trainer you're talking about is the second most outstanding Trainer of this generation, you know? If this Trainer was the one at fault, how could he have such an honor?"
"I'm also a student from Tracen Academy, so I can't pretend I didn't hear such slander~"
Although Curren Chan was smiling and her tone was very gentle, the extremely oppressive emotion in her words could no longer be suppressed at this moment, scaring the two women in front of her into trembling, not daring to say anything.
"W-we're sorry, we didn't know what we were talking about… Pl-please, please forgive us…"
"Hehe, then that makes things easy~"
Curren Chan no longer bothered with the two women much; she just smiled and retracted her Aura, then took the items she bought from the staff member—who was also too scared to speak—paid, and left. (T/N: Girl actually used her Aura on normal humans)
As for how awkward the atmosphere in the shop was afterward… Curren Chan truly didn't want to think about such things right now. She only knew that she needed to find Orfevre. To tell Orfevre the words she had wanted to say to her, buried in her heart for a long time, it was finally time to have a proper talk with her.
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Bum Jin Woo gets brutally mogged by Curren Chan in terms of aura.
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.