Tokai Teio stood quietly, expression blank.
She chose not to approach them right away, instead silently observing the pair from the shadows.
...
A fatal weakness?
Garden Gale froze in place.
She knew exactly what Air Shakur was talking about. Her critical flaw had already shown itself clearly during the Wakagoma Stakes. When switching from Tokai Teio's style to Air Shakur's, she'd suddenly lost speed—so drastically that Admire Vega had nearly overtaken her. Had her finishing acceleration not been absurdly powerful, the championship might've slipped away along with her speed.
It was undeniably a fatal flaw.
An OP-level race had nearly ended in disaster. Against tougher opponents—especially in G1-level events—there wouldn't be room for such mistakes. If she wanted to win the Satsuki Sho, Garden Gale would need to perfect the timing of her switches.
She needed a seamless, perfect transition.
With that realization, Garden Gale abandoned her immediate plan to train and sat down on the bench next to Air Shakur. The two sat beneath the dim glow of a streetlamp, its weak light carving out a small world around them, isolating them from the surrounding darkness.
Only the two of them existed in this small space, quietly facing each other.
"A weakness?" Garden Gale asked plainly.
"Yeah." Air Shakur nodded. "I'll skip the small talk and get straight to the point."
"When you mimic racers like Teio or myself, your body's inherent limitations become obvious. Everyone has a unique physique—you can only imitate others within the limits of your own physical structure."
"But honestly…" Air Shakur smiled appreciatively. "You've handled this extremely well."
Garden Gale gave an embarrassed little smile.
Well, yeah, that's because I'm cheating… It's all thanks to the Selas System.
But Air Shakur wasn't done yet.
"That part's manageable. But your issue with switching running styles—that's something you can't overlook. I reviewed your race footage from the Wakagoma Stakes. When you changed styles, you lost momentum so badly you almost forfeited the lead."
"That sudden drop in speed—it's extremely serious."
She's exactly right.
Garden Gale opened her mouth but said nothing.
Clearly, Air Shakur had done thorough research. Even without the Selas System, her theoretical analysis had led her to discover the exact problem that Garden Gale urgently needed to fix.
It was something even the Emperor herself couldn't fully answer, because no one had faced a situation quite like this.
But...
Would Air Shakur have a solution?
She couldn't help feeling hopeful as she turned expectantly toward her friend.
"Hey, don't look at me like that," Air Shakur chuckled, scratching her nose. "Alright, let me explain it like this—think about a frog—"
Right at that moment—
"Hello~!" A cheerful voice interrupted as a blue-eyed Umamusume leaned in, smiling brightly, radiating her endless energy.
...
From the shadows, Tokai Teio couldn't bear it anymore.
Seeing them seated so closely on the same bench pushed her over the edge—just like Garden Gale couldn't tolerate her running-style problem any longer. Straightening her clothes, forcing her usual sunny smile back into place, Teio walked purposefully toward the bench.
"Tokai Teio?" Garden Gale nearly jumped.
Truthfully, she hadn't even seen her lately. She'd been buried in training, savoring the feeling of improvement, fully dedicated to reclaiming her champion's heart. Protecting her Triple Crown ambition left no room for trivial distractions—or so she thought.
Teio puffed out her cheeks. "It's 'Teio-san'—!"
She doesn't even call me by Teio anymore?
Hearing her full name felt oddly distant. Teio hid her surprise carefully, waiting for a response.
"Yo~ Teio," Air Shakur interrupted casually, breaking the awkward silence with her delinquent-charm greeting.
"Sit down, Teio-san." Garden Gale's voice carried genuine curiosity. "What brings you here? Something urgent? I seem to be really popular lately," she finished dryly, slightly annoyed by the coincidence.
Why does everyone always show up together?
"Nothing special, really," Teio replied lightly, shaking her head. She began organizing her words carefully—but suddenly stopped when Garden Gale simply nodded, turned back to Air Shakur, and ignored her entirely.
For the second time tonight, Garden Gale brushed her aside like she wasn't even there.
"So, your example?" Garden Gale prompted Air Shakur. "Let's continue where we left off…"
"Forget it."
Interrupted by Teio's arrival, Air Shakur lost her train of thought and shrugged dramatically, collapsing theatrically against the bench. "I'll get to the point, Garden. You know I DJ, right? In my work, there's always one issue: transitioning smoothly from one track to the next. You can't play one song for hours straight."
"It's impossible."
"So transitions are essential. How do we do it? We create variations—lower the pitch or gradually adjust tempo, slowly aligning the track closer to the next one. Once it feels right, you smoothly switch over in one go… That's it."
"Does that make sense?"
Air Shakur looked at Garden Gale hopefully.
Garden Gale scratched her head blankly. "Not really."
"Fine, let me simplify it for you," Air Shakur sighed. "Think of each song as a running style. When transitioning between songs, you gradually introduce the next song's tempo or pitch, right? So if you do that with running styles—start blending techniques from your next running style, easing your body into that new rhythm—then the final switch will be seamless."
"Flow…"
"Create a fluid transition between styles."
Of course, Air Shakur wasn't suggesting a perfect instantaneous change. That was impossibly difficult and risky.
Instead, she envisioned numbers moving fluidly, each running style no longer rigid. If Garden Gale wanted to change her style, she'd gradually adjust her body toward the new stance and rhythm, subtly ramping speed and posture. By doing so, at the moment of the switch, she'd only have that last, small percentage left to overcome.
Could this really be the answer?
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T/N: oooh yes that could work, it wouldnt be perfect perfect but the speed loss will be drastically reduced
also poor teio, all benches got the teio chair