Chapter 44: Japan Cup (Part 2) End

The chasing Uma Musume still aren’t coming.
Ah—Witolum Pedes suddenly kicks into another burst of speed.
Even after passing the 500-meter mark, she still has this much power left? She’s pulling farther and farther away.

El Condor Pasa in second place breaks forward, but the gap only widens.

She has entered a complete solo run. Is even the world too small for this Uma Musume? It’s Witolum Pedes—Witolum Pedes. There’s absolutely no sign of her slowing down. If anything, she’s still accelerating, climbing faster and faster. Is her dominance really this overwhelming?

Thunderous applause erupts from the stands.

Maintaining an absurdly large lead, she charges up the slope.

The final 200 meters.

Witolum Pedes in front. Witolum Pedes still in front. She’s getting even faster—how far will she go?

No one is coming from behind. No one can come. No one is being allowed to come. The gap just keeps growing.

World, behold—this is Witolum Pedes. With a shocking display of speed, she crosses the finish line!

Witolum Pedes’ Pov

Time passed in a flash, and before I knew it, the day of the Japan Cup had arrived.

I woke to the shrill ringing of my alarm and went to get changed.
For some reason, I feel better than usual today. Even Stay-senpai said I looked lively, so it must be true.

At the racecourse, King-chan dragged me around by the hand for some reason, so I couldn’t take a nap. But I’m in a good mood today, and I wasn’t sleepy enough to nap anyway, so whatever.

While I absentmindedly watched the earlier races, it became race time before I knew it.

After the trainer’s final check, I headed to the paddock.
Come to think of it, there was supposed to be some amazing Uma Musume coming from overseas today… but no matter where I looked, I didn’t see anyone who seemed like that.

A few Uma Musume were speaking English, but that was about it. There was none of the unusual foreign Uma Musume I’d imagined.
Well, I don’t understand English anyway, so maybe they were saying something interesting and I just didn’t get it.

El-chan was happily chatting away in English. Wow… she’s kind of cool.
Honestly, it would be scary if someone spoke to me, so I kept my distance.

The trainer’s instructions were the usual: a full breakaway run. Since no other Uma Musume seemed likely to attempt a breakaway, he told me I could set my own pace. I think he told me other things too, but I probably forgot.

Foreign or not, once we’re in the gate, all you can do is run. And at least I didn’t see anyone who looked like they might suddenly hop on a unicycle…

I think I got a good start. At the very least, I definitely didn’t stall. I don’t see any Uma Musume ahead of me for now.

I slip inward while pushing harder with my legs, taking the lead. Soon, nothing but the turf fills my vision.

After that, all I have to do is stick to the inside rail and go around once. Just once… but wow, it’s still long. I remember thinking something similar during the Derby.

Passing the first corner… something feels off. The pace feels slower than usual. I have a lead, but I should speed up a little more.

Thanks to my subtle pace adjustments afterward, I think I’m maintaining a solid lead. I haven’t looked back, but the sound of their footsteps is pretty far away, so it should be fine.

Well, “pace adjustment” basically just means if I think it’s a bit slow, I speed up a little. But still.

Hmm… maybe because I’m feeling good today, I’m less tired than usual. Or maybe the stamina training is finally paying off.

Even though no one’s footsteps are catching up, we’re already nearing the final stretch. Come to think of it, I haven’t entered “the zone” at all today. I’d kind of like to enter it at least once before the end.

Well, since I’m more energetic than usual today, I’ll try running at full max speed. I can think of it as training to set a record in the Arima Kinen.

With each step, I push even harder, surpassing my previous stride. The shock traveling through my legs grows with every impact, and my body launches forward as if bursting apart.
With every increment of acceleration, turf and dirt scatter behind me, kicked loose by my power, and my legs rotate smoothly like a finely tuned machine. Cutting through the air, turning the headwind into a tailwind, I advance.

The 200-meter marker comes into view, but the acceleration I’ve started can’t be stopped—not by anyone, not even by me. The figures of the spectators blur past faster and faster, their noise fading into nothing. All that remains in my sight is the long, straight green path ahead.

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(I preserved the long spacing as in the original.)

I should have crossed the finish line just like that.

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The moment I passed the finish line, an impossible sound erupted from my right leg.
Crack! A sharp, tearing noise ripped through my ears. At the same time, searing pain shot through my entire body and seized me without mercy. My vision warped from the agony, and I lost my balance, tipping hard to the left.

When I slammed into the inside rail, the impact rippled through my body like a shockwave.
In my next step—when I tried to force myself forward—this time a stabbing pain pierced my left leg. My legs felt heavy, as if they no longer belonged to me.

Still moving at a speed I couldn’t kill, my unsteady steps carried me only a few more paces before I lost balance entirely and crashed to the ground. The moment the cold turf touched my cheek, my consciousness was dragged into darkness and vanished.

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When I finally woke up, the first thing I saw was my parents and my Trainer, both with tear-streaked faces. The next thing that hit me was the pain radiating through my entire body.

Retracing my memories, it seems I spectacularly wiped out during the race. I guess all this pain is from slamming into the ground when I fell. Even if it was during a race, the fact that I managed to fall while running straight on soft turf… honestly, I’m hopeless.

Still, maybe because I was going so fast, it looks like I was unconscious for quite a while. Through the window, the sky was already pitch-black.

As I was thinking that much, my parents and Trainer finally began calming down, and the doctor beside me started explaining my current condition.

According to him, while I was running, my legs couldn’t withstand the speed and several bones were shattered. The first to break were a few bones around my right ankle, which were pulverized into fragments, and several ligaments around that area tore. On top of that, one of the something-or-other ligaments in my knee was also damaged. And because I landed in an impossible position, my left leg ended up with torn ligaments connecting the small bones near the tip, and some tendon—whatever its name was—is on the verge of inflammation.

Listening to all that made me queasy. I mean… your bones can actually shatter from a race? I’d heard boxers and American football players say you need to be ready to break bones, but I didn’t think Uma Musume racing was in the same category. Isn’t that terrifying?

When I asked how long recovery would take, he said they needed more tests, but even at best, it would be several months before I could walk normally. And then, after hesitating a moment, he added something far harder to say: I would probably never race again.

Well… yeah. I wasn’t planning on racing again anyway. I was going to retire after the Arima Kinen, so in a way, the timing worked out.

…Or at least that’s what I was telling myself, but now my legs are starting to hurt. Looks like the anesthesia is wearing off.

Okay, maybe it didn’t “work out.” I wanted to retire, sure, but I definitely didn’t want to experience this level of pain.

And—Trainer, please stop crying. I’m the one who wants to cry here. Ow ow ow…

Well, at least my hands still work. I guess I’ll spend the next while lying in bed, gaming nonstop.