Chapter 33: The Radiance of the Grand Appreciation Festival

When I thought about what race should come after the Autumn Handicap, the Mainichi Okan seemed like the perfect choice. The distance was good, the location was good—overall, it felt just right.

It also looked like Grass-chan would be running, so we decided to race together. I hadn’t raced with Grass-chan since last December, so it felt like it had been ages.

And just when I thought that, I learned that Suzuka-san would be running the Mainichi Okan as well. And on top of that, even El-chan was entering. It was starting to feel like the whole field would be full of people I knew.

School also became lively again now that everyone had returned from summer camp.

Stay-senpai seemed to have been training hard with McQueen-san; worn-out shoes and scraped-down horseshoes were scattered across the floor from all their practice. King-chan, who was ridiculously sunburned, apparently trained her stamina by swimming in the ocean. From the stories Spe-chan told about her camp—barbecue, watermelon, seafood bowls, curry—it sounded like she mostly just ate. Was she really okay?

The Autumn Handicap itself wasn’t particularly different from usual. The main issue was just the summer heat. Even the horseshoes felt heavier, though that was probably just my imagination. Still, 1600 meters is nice. Maybe because the Derby was such a long 2400-meter slog, this felt even easier in comparison.

The only real problem came during the post-race interview.

I answered the usual questions, and when I mentioned at the end that my next race would be the Mainichi Okan, the whole place instantly buzzed like a kicked beehive. I feel like something like this happened once before…

After things settled down a bit, a kind reporter informed me that Suzuka-san would also be entering. Yes, I already knew.

As we moved into the latter half of September, the Autumn Fan Grand Appreciation Festival was held. Last year, King-chan had dragged me out of the dorm while I was napping, but this year—somehow—I ended up as the poster girl for Stay-senpai’s yakisoba stall.

If I hadn’t agreed to this, I would’ve been forced to enter the student council’s eating contest.

No way would I win that when Spe-chan was participating! Who could possibly beat the monster who sold out the limited-time triple-stacked hamburger all by herself in just one day? I honestly respect King-chan and Taiki-senpai for daring to enter that contest.

On the day of the Grand Appreciation Festival, Stay-senpai somehow got me changed into my racing outfit and dragged me off to the stall.

Then she pulled out a headband with the word "Tyrant" written on it and a sash reading "I Am the Strongest." Before I knew what was happening, they were strapped onto me.

From what I heard, she’d lost a bet to a friend. The punishment was to work as the stall’s poster girl while wearing her racing outfit and those accessories. The condition didn’t specify who had to do it, so it became my problem instead.

No wonder she’d been in such a suspiciously good mood when she asked if I wanted to help as the poster girl. I’ve been tricked! Well… not tricked exactly, but this wasn’t what I imagined.

While I stood there holding the sign—(Does “poster girl” literally mean a girl holding a sign?)—Stay-senpai, her trainer, and for some reason McQueen-san all worked efficiently to prepare the stall.

The stall’s name was "Gold Yakisoba," which was whatever, but the menu had surprisingly many varieties. The classic Grand Prix Yakisoba, the chili-packed Tyrant Yakisoba, the seafood-filled Gold Ship Yakisoba, the "Recommended" Dream Yakisoba… and more.

And then, at last, the gates opened.

Customers flooded into the venue all at once.

Before I even had to raise my voice to call them in, Gold Yakisoba instantly had a massive line. So I ended up guiding people to the end of the line instead.

But this was surprisingly fun. Tons of people came, but everyone treated me so kindly that it didn’t feel bad at all.

Normally, fans are way up in the stands, so we don’t get to talk directly. Being cheered for right in front of me felt refreshing. Some people even clasped their hands together and prayed at me for some reason, while others couldn’t stop laughing when they saw my sash and headband.

A lot of people took photos of me too. I remembered that taking photos of Uma Musume in their school uniforms was prohibited, but right now I was very much in my racing outfit. It was basically like I was saying, "Go ahead and take as many as you want." Well, it doesn’t hurt anything, so it’s fine.

Sales were excellent too. By late morning, both the chili stock and the seafood stock were already close to running out.

Stay-senpai was amazing of course, but McQueen-san’s spatula skills were unreal. And the most impressive of all was Stay-senpai’s trainer, who handled everything from taking orders to passing out finished dishes at incredible speed. Trainers really are all elites. If it were me, I’d probably mess up just calculating change.

It was embarrassing when people I knew started showing up.

The first to arrive that morning was my Trainer. I’d already seen him bursting into laughter the moment he looked at me—he came together with Spe-chan’s Trainer, both of them trying and failing to keep straight faces.

Next came Grass-chan and El-chan. At first, both of them were unusually hyper when they talked to me, but then they suddenly shifted into a calm tone, ending with "I’m looking forward to the Mainichi Ōkan," before leaving. Even on a day like this, they refuse to let their minds drift away from racing—do they like racing too much?

And then, unbelievably, Sei-chan showed up with Spe-chan in tow. She was supposed to be competing in the eating contest, yet both her hands were already full—one with a banana, the other with a carrot. She mumbled something unintelligible with her mouth full, but… is she really going to be okay?

After that, the Brat Trio also arrived.

We message each other from time to time, but actually meeting face-to-face feels like it’s been a while. Well—technically, I did spot them during the winning live after my last race, so I guess we did meet, sort of?

It seemed to be their first time seeing my racing outfit up close, because the moment they got a good look, all three of them started seriously debating what exactly was different between this and my outfit during races and lives. So I smacked them.

Also, the three idiots all tried the Tyrant Yakisoba together and ended up nearly crying, which made it even funnier.

Next, my father showed up. Apparently my mother couldn’t come because she had something else to do.

With his eyes welling up, he hugged me tightly and said, "You’re da strongest, y’know."
Please don’t do that. It’s way too embarrassing with people watching.

As the Grand Appreciation Festival drew to a close, Suzuka-san arrived.

The moment she saw me, she froze in place and just stared—stared at me.

Then she said one thing:

"But even so, I’m still faster."

And with that, she dashed off.

Stay-senpai, having witnessed it, gave me a big thumbs-up.

Ugh… total chaos.

Also, a whole swarm of tiny, ill-mannered Uma Musume brats appeared at one point. They chatted with Stay-senpai like they knew her well, but… who were those kids?

In the end, the main event—the eating contest—was won by Spe-chan with ease. From start to finish, it was a dominant display, like a yokozuna bulldozing through the ring. The scene where she declared, "I’ll become the Uma Musume who eats the most deliciously in Japan!" was uploaded to the academy’s official UmaTube channel and apparently got a huge number of views.

King-chan and Taiki-senpai collapsed somewhere around the third corner. Everything that remained afterward ended up in Spe-chan’s stomach, since she had already finished her portion.

With the Grand Appreciation Festival over, autumn finally began in earnest—prime napping season.

However, that also meant races at Tokyo Racecourse were starting up again, so if I tried to sleep in on my day off, the cheering might wake me up. It hasn’t happened yet, but if things get as noisy as they did during the Derby, even I won’t be able to sleep through it.

As for my Trainer, he’s been busy thinking about how I should run in the Mainichi Ōkan, and lately he’s been neglecting taking care of me. I mean—there’s no point giving me an overly complicated strategy; I can’t remember it anyway. He should spend a little more time keeping me in a good mood.

The other day, when I asked a younger fluff-loving girl for advice on a good napping spot, she told me something interesting—that while satellites have amazing components like cameras, the computers acting as their “brains” are weaker than game consoles. And at that moment, I suddenly understood why the whole thing felt oddly familiar.