The second debut race.
Fujiwara Shirayuki versus El Condor Pasa.
The two of them were classmates, and they were also friends. Precisely because of that, this race required even more care.
They knew each other too well.
There was one particular trait among Uma Musume. The closer their relationship was, the more fiercely they fought on the track. The intimacy they shared off the track was directly proportional to the intensity of their battles on it.
The moment El Condor Pasa learned that Shirayuki would be her opponent, she immediately grabbed Shirayuki's hand and launched into an excited speech.
"This kind of speed duel is the true proof of friendship, deeesu!"
Nearby, Grass Wonder wore an openly envious expression.
"I want to race Shirayuki too…"
Yes, Uma Musume truly loved racing against their friends. To them, it was an even more intimate activity than inviting a friend over to their house.
Understanding each other's feelings through direct competition was, in a way, the Uma Musume method of communication. Fujiwara Shirayuki had gradually come to understand that too, so when she faced El Condor Pasa, she answered without hesitation.
"Then let's settle it, El!"
The scene shifted to the racecourse.
Fujiwara Shirayuki sat in the runners' waiting room. The race was about to begin, and she was extremely nervous.
Even though she had already grown familiar with races after going through so many events and exams, the thought of stepping onto the course for a real, official race still made her heart pound uncontrollably.
This was her first race in Central.
She had to make a name for herself here and pave the way for all the races to come. The Three Goddesses had given her one chance to become a Uma Musume. Shirayuki intended to use that chance to fully understand the spirit and resolve of Uma Musume, and the reason they kept striving toward the very top of the world.
She slapped both cheeks sharply and clenched her fists.
"Alright!"
She had to show enough spirit to prove herself to everyone.
Led by the staff, Fujiwara Shirayuki stepped onto the course. In that instant, she saw the grandstands packed full of spectators.
Thump.
Her heart jolted hard.
Seeing the crowd from the stands and seeing it from the course were two completely different things. This was the first time Fujiwara Shirayuki had ever truly felt what it meant to have so much attention focused on her.
Her body trembled twice, and she bit down hard on her lip.
All the more reason she could not lose.
"And now, our second most popular runner, Snow Dancer!"
With the announcer's call, Fujiwara Shirayuki stepped onto the stage. The deafening cheers shook her to the core. Every muscle in her body, every vein under her skin, seemed to thrum and dance in time with the wind itself.
In the distance, she spotted Chiya among the crowd, along with all of her companions.
Fujiwara Shirayuki smiled.
She wanted to reassure herself, and she wanted to reassure them too.
Once Shirayuki stepped down from the stage, the most popular runner entered.
The Uma Musume who had achieved brilliant results in various events and mock races before this.
El Condor Pasa.
"Fly, victory, strongest in the world, deeesu!"
She shouted on stage in her usual distinctive way of speaking.
The pre-race introduction segment ended, and the runners gradually entered the gates. El Condor Pasa stopped beside Shirayuki.
"This should be our first official race, right, Yuki-chan!"
"Call me Snow Dancer."
"Sorry… ahem, Snow Dancer. That name is so hard to say. Yuki-chan feels much friendlier."
Forget it. She could call her whatever she wanted.
"That's right. This is our first race."
"Then I'm taking your first time, deeesu! When we get back to class, tell everyone your first wasn't Special Week, wasn't Grass, it was me, El Condor Pasa!"
She puffed out her chest proudly and said something utterly ridiculous.
"I have no intention of handing over my first time here."
"Doesn't matter. The more you resist, the more excited I get. El Condor Pasa is invincible!"
With that, she laughed boldly.
The two entered the gates.
"All Uma Musume have entered the gates. And now, the debut race begins. Which one of them will begin the legend that belongs to her? Let us watch closely!"
As she listened to the sound of the stadium, Fujiwara Shirayuki took a deep breath.
Inside her mind, she could see two perspectives at once. One was the view from inside her gate. The other was the wider view from outside, surveying the entire track.
The greatest advantage of those two perspectives was that she could see her own blind spots, or rather, she could detect other people's movements from a third-person angle. On a racecourse where tactics were becoming more and more important, that advantage was enormous.
The gates opened, and twelve figures shot forward like arrows released from a bow.
Three of them were half a beat slow and fell behind immediately.
Clearly, their concentration was lacking.
Amid the crowd, Fujiwara Shirayuki rapidly searched for the right position.
There were six front-runners in this race. The pressure at the front was huge, so she intended to stay toward the rear of the field at first and avoid wasting energy in early clashes.
As expected, the front-runners began fighting fiercely for position as soon as the race started. Their bodies bumped together as they pressured each other to give way. The race had barely begun, and already some of them had burned through a great deal of stamina.
A good position mattered, of course, but so did weighing the gains against the losses. If the other side backed down and yielded, then fine. But if you ran into someone stubborn who refused to give way no matter what, then it simply was not worth it.
After observing the front group, Fujiwara Shirayuki searched for El Condor Pasa. She looked around but could not find her. In the end, through Fujiwara Chiya's perspective, she located her.
Directly behind.
El Condor Pasa was right behind her.
And more than that, she had not even taken the more favorable diagonal-rear position for accelerating.
Why? Why block my line of sight like this?
If Fujiwara Shirayuki had only been racing with one perspective, she truly would not have noticed El Condor Pasa's movement. No one knew she was practically racing with a god's-eye view. In the distance, Fujiwara Chiya was staring fixedly at El Condor Pasa.
What is she sneaking around for? What kind of sky-soaring stunt are you planning?
Fujiwara Chiya had already investigated all the race entries beforehand. Among all the runners, El Condor Pasa posed the greatest threat to Shirayuki. Her final burst was terrifyingly fast, among the top tier of this year's newcomers.
If it came down to a pure acceleration duel, Shirayuki might not be able to beat her.
That meant the key to the race would be positioning and timing.
Shirayuki had to accelerate before El Condor Pasa did, but without moving too far forward too early.
That would not be easy.
She had to predict El Condor Pasa's move in advance.
Can I really do it? With my experience as a rookie trainer?
In the stands, Fujiwara Chiya hesitated.
Then he looked toward his Uma Musume, all waiting eagerly for Shirayuki's victory. He saw Mejiro Dober with her hands tightly clasped together, and in the end he gritted his teeth.
This was not a question of whether he could do it.
He had to do it.
Fujiwara Chiya focused every bit of his attention on El Condor Pasa.
There had once been a time when Chiya's concentration nearly caused him to jump out of the stands. But through relentless effort, he had cultivated two separate modes of thought.
One was himself.
The other was Shirayuki.
Aside from their shared senses, the differences between them had grown more and more distinct. Their ways of thinking had diverged as well. Shirayuki was gradually developing feminine instincts. Chiya did not have those tendencies.
And because of that split, Fujiwara Chiya had gained the ability to divide his mind in two. While Shirayuki thought independently, Chiya's side could also think deeply, separately yet in sync. That meant he would no longer run into the old problem of becoming so focused that he forgot who he was.
His two hearts had already learned how to beat separately without interfering with each other.
The potential of his two brains was being drawn out at this very moment.
Fujiwara Chiya watched El Condor Pasa.
Shirayuki ran with all her focus.
To be safe, Fujiwara Chiya had still asked someone to physically hold him back.
"Rice, if I do anything stupid, make sure you stop me."
"Yes! Rice absolutely won't let Onii-sama run off!"
Fully aware of his past record, Rice Shower clung tightly to Fujiwara Chiya's hand, just in case he did something reckless if Shirayuki stumbled or got hurt.
For a Uma Musume, restraining an adult man was as easy as restraining a baby. If Rice Shower wanted to, she could pin him to the ground without the slightest difficulty.
With that safeguard in place, Fujiwara Chiya no longer had anything to worry about.
By then, the race had already passed the third turn, and the Uma Musume were beginning to make their moves.
First came the ones in front. Because they had burned so much stamina fighting for position at the start, several of them were already showing signs of losing steam. Sweat covered their foreheads, and their breathing had become heavy and ragged.
Once the front line accelerated, their movements visibly slowed.
The gap between them and the others grew larger and larger.
They're running out of stamina. Should I go around them?
Fujiwara Shirayuki thought quickly. She glanced at the marker by the rail.
Five hundred meters left to the finish. That was a distance where she could commit fully.
But her current position was bad. The three exhausted Uma Musume ahead of her were beginning to line up side by side. Passing them would require moving all the way out wide, so Fujiwara Shirayuki chose to wait.
The moment those three became staggered, a gap would appear. In their current state, there was no way they would stay side by side through the bend.
Following behind Shirayuki, El Condor Pasa kept her eyes locked on her.
This position, directly behind, was a blind spot. From the start of the race until now, she had remained in that exact place, never once entering Shirayuki's line of sight.
She had chosen it deliberately. It was the perfect ambush point.
According to her trainer, Shirayuki would probably look for her acceleration point somewhere between four hundred and five hundred meters from the finish.
That would be El Condor Pasa's moment to strike.
If she burst out from that hidden position, cut sharply across to block the route, and overtook Shirayuki from the side at the exact moment the three runners ahead opened a one-person gap, then she could completely close off Shirayuki's only path forward.
At that point, Shirayuki would only have two choices.
Either stay behind and accelerate together with her, or go far out to the wide lane and waste several extra meters of leg power to pass.
Either way, El Condor Pasa would have the advantage.
In peak speed, El Condor Pasa and Shirayuki were nearly equal.
So as long as she got in front of Shirayuki entering the final turn, Shirayuki would never be able to get past her.
That was the trainer's tactic.
The entire point was to interfere with Fujiwara Shirayuki's acceleration.
El Condor Pasa fixed her eyes on the three Uma Musume ahead of Shirayuki.
As their positions began to shift, El Condor Pasa counted silently in her head.
Three seconds. Two seconds. One second.
The instant a gap large enough for one runner was about to open, El Condor Pasa moved.
Got you!
A grin spread across her face as her rapidly swinging arms looked like the wings of a monstrous bird.
Sorry, Shirayuki, but this is racing. This is tactics! Don't go calling me unfair! Hindering your opponent is part of the race too!
El Condor Pasa stepped outward in a flash, taking the outside line.
Just as she was about to burst forward, a white figure appeared directly in front of her.
El Condor Pasa's eyes flew wide open.
What!?
It was Shirayuki.
She was still here.
Her perfect tactic had given El Condor Pasa perfect confidence. She had been absolutely certain she had stayed in Shirayuki's blind spot this whole time. Her acceleration timing had been flawless. There had not been a single opening in her plan.
And yet Shirayuki moved at the exact same instant as her, as though she had read her intentions perfectly. The two of them reached the outside line with almost no difference in timing at all.
A coincidence? Luck!?
She did not know. She could not understand it.
El Condor Pasa was shaken. She had never imagined her perfect plan would be seen through by Shirayuki.
Do you have eyes in the back of your head!? How could you possibly have seen that!?
Cold sweat ran down El Condor Pasa's face.
"I see…"
In the stands, Fujiwara Chiya rubbed his chin.
So that was it. El Condor Pasa was trying to block my route at the last moment.
No wonder Nase Fumino had said she found a way to counter Shirayuki. A blind-spot tactic like that was incredibly hard to defend against. If Shirayuki had really been trapped behind her there, winning this race would have become vastly harder.
Fortunately, the plan had failed.
Fujiwara Chiya had caught it in time.
"Snow Dancer!" El Condor Pasa gritted her teeth.
"Yo, monster bird!"
Shirayuki glanced back at the shocked face behind her.
El Condor Pasa's expression shifted.
If the tactic failed, then there was only one thing left.
Pure strength.
But now the situation had reversed. She had failed to cut Shirayuki off and instead found her own path blocked. If she wanted to pass, she would have to go even wider.
Forget it! I'm El Condor Pasa! There's no way I'm losing here!
"Come on, Snow Dancer!"
"El Condor Pasa is accelerating! El Condor Pasa is accelerating with three hundred meters left in the race!"
So fast!
Fujiwara Shirayuki's eyes sharpened at the explosive force El Condor Pasa unleashed.
The tactical battle was over. The advantages that could be built had already been built.
Now all that remained was to pour out every last drop of strength she had.
"Snow Dancer!!"
"Monster bird!!"
The two of them sprinted forward with everything they had.
"It's El Condor Pasa and Snow Dancer! El Condor Pasa and Snow Dancer!" The announcer's voice echoed across the stadium. "The race has become a two-woman showdown! Who will claim victory here!?"
The two of them broke free from the pack and rushed toward the finish.
Just a little more. Just a little more!
El Condor Pasa clenched her teeth.
Fujiwara Shirayuki bent low, stretching her ankles to their absolute limit.
Sweat was already blurring her vision.
"Is it El Condor Pasa!? Or is it Snow Dancer!?"
Her heart was burning. Her blood was boiling.
As she stared at the finish line right in front of her, Fujiwara Shirayuki felt it with absolute clarity.
The desire to cross it first.
Stronger than anyone else.
She threw all of her strength onto her right leg, and the instant it struck the ground, Fujiwara Shirayuki launched herself forward.
"Across the line!! The winner is Snow Dancer!!"
Deafening cheers exploded across the racecourse.