Chapter 224: However, Inspector—would a true champion have their spirit broken after losing once or twice?

"Hey, Wilm."

"Nature! You came to watch!"

Which Umamusume is being welcomed by a friend’s delighted voice despite showing up like a big-shot CEO strolling into work late?

That’s right—none other than me, Nice Nature.

Today is the day Team Pollux, created by Wilm and Trainer Horino, makes its debut.

Our rival squad, Team Altair, isn’t participating, but we were supposed to come scout the races…

…Well, it would’ve been nice if I could have.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it.

"I didn’t make it in time for your race. Sorry about that."

I had a fairly big job scheduled today—something arranged well in advance.

Even if I wanted to see my best friend race, I couldn’t exactly inconvenience the people who hired me.

So I took responsibility and carried out my role properly.

Luckily—if you could call it that—I was only a guest performer, so they let me wrap up a bit early.

After that, I asked my trainer for permission and rushed over here as fast as I could.

Still, that’s just my own situation.

Skipping out on a mock race my best friend planned could easily come across as a little rude, and it wouldn’t have been strange if she’d been upset.

But my friend is very understanding about those things.

Just like now, she simply smiled and forgave me.

"It's fine, Nature. You're busy after all. I'm looking forward to the drama just as much as the race."

"That's kind of you to say, Seat of the Gods."

"No problem at all, Pinnacle of the Umamusume."

We teased each other by tossing around the over-the-top titles the public had recently started giving us.

Honestly, calling me a "pinnacle" is a bit much. It makes me laugh.

Well, I get what they mean.

Unlike Wilm or Teio, I wasn’t a prodigy from the start. I climbed my way up from the crowd—so I’m supposed to represent the highest peak someone like that can reach.

Still, even that’s a pretty low place compared to Wilm’s so-called "Seat of the Gods."

And personally, I don’t think this is the end point at all.

Nice Nature isn’t finished. She can’t be finished.

The me standing here now is just a checkpoint—an unfinished version of myself that becomes the past a second later.

Until I beat the girl standing beside me—brighter than anyone, cooler than anyone, and the one who believes in me more than anyone else—these legs of mine aren’t stopping.

…That said, if I stayed that fired up all the time, my shoulders would never relax.

Today I’m off duty.

Not Nice Nature the racing Umamusume, but simply Nature—the friend who came to watch Wilm.

"So? Did you win against the Dream Trophy seniors?"

"We won—V for victory!"

The expressionless, emotionless girl from the past was nowhere to be found. Wilm flashed a huge smile and raised a V-sign.

Some Umamusume reinvent themselves when they start middle school or high school, sure—but I doubt there’s anyone whose personality changed as much as hers over just three years.

Still… wow.

She actually won.

Symboli Rudolf, Oguri Cap, and Special Week.

Those seniors racing today were among the strongest in the Dream Trophy League.

"That's amazing. If you joined Dream Trophy now, you'd probably dominate right away."

I joked as I hyped her up a bit.

But my best friend immediately grew serious and began thinking.

"No, official races are probably different. We bring out our full strength in those, after all. And my Shiseijo has been shown several times now—people will start preparing countermeasures."

"...Honestly, even if they wanted to counter it, I have no idea how."

A wry laugh slipped out.

Shiseijo.

That’s the name Trainer Horino gave to that realm of hers—and it’s on a completely different level from anything we’ve seen before.

Even compared to the ultimate resolve held by the top runners in Dream Trophy, it lies further ahead.

A mysterious territory that reveals the very essence of our strength.

All realms.

All worlds.

All Umamusume.

All effort.

All will.

It burns everything to ash—and from that ash, reveals a single shining star.

Seeing it once or twice isn’t enough to prepare for it.

No matter how perfect your preparations are, they all turn to ash in the end.

That’s probably why she managed to defeat those seniors today—even though they should have had a massive advantage in technique.

Seriously… this girl has become a terrifying Umamusume.

…Actually, scratch that. There’s never been a time when she wasn’t terrifying.

From beginning to end, Hoshino Wilm has always been my shining star.

---

"So, what race are we on now?"

"The third race is about to start. Teio’s production—Junior-Class Middle Distance Reality Check Tournament."

"Ahh…"

The name was so awful I couldn’t help but chuckle—but I couldn’t really argue with it either.

It was accurate.

The Umamusume lining up on the field now stood at the starting line, which was acting as a makeshift gate.

There were plenty of girls worth watching.

But the ones to focus on were those two.

Sakura Laurel, from Team Pollux.

And Narita Brian, from the same stable as Tokai Teio.

The girls likely to form the core of next year’s Classic races.

Among them, the one who drew the eye first—unsurprisingly—was Brian.

"Yeah… she’s unbelievably well-developed for a junior. Seriously."

That was my first comment when I saw Brian standing at the start line, arms folded as she waited.

This might be an Umamusume thing, but once you’ve raced enough, you develop a sense for how dangerous an opponent is.

And my instincts were telling me that Narita Brian was the real deal.

Wilm glanced the same way and shrugged.

"Well, it’s Teio’s trainer. When it comes to developing pure physical talent, he’s probably on the same level as Ayumu… actually, maybe three ranks below."

"That’s still pretty rude."

"Not really. Ayumu is a hundred steps ahead of a normal trainer, so that still makes him incredible."

"Right… the scale itself is broken."

Sure, Trainer Horino is crazy.

Second only to my own trainer.

"In terms of pure physical development, she’s probably the best here… her build is on another level."

"Honestly, Nature two years ago was about the same."

"Hey, I wasn’t that muscular. I’m the tactical, brainy type."

"If someone with a top-three physical spec in the senior class can call themselves brainy…"

"Says the ridiculously broken hyper extreme god gorilla."

"Ooh ooh."

"So you were a gorilla girl all along."

Anyway.

Narita Brian is definitely a future champion.

Maybe she can’t reach us right now… but in one or two years?

Who knows.

She had that kind of potential.

Meanwhile, the one likely considered Brian’s rival—or maybe even the favorite depending on who you ask—was Sakura Laurel of Team Pollux.

"Her physical development is probably a step behind… maybe?"

"Yeah… well, that’s unavoidable. You can’t expect someone to reach Brian’s level."

"Oh? That’s surprisingly modest. I thought you’d say Trainer Horino could do it."

I had expected Wilm to snap back with something like, "What? She’s not inferior. Are you insulting Ayumu?"

Instead, her bitter tone made me feel like the ladder had suddenly been pulled out from under me.

And then she put it right back with her next words.

"Well… it’s only been a month since her full bloom began."

"Huh?"

Wilm scratched the back of her head.

My eyes widened.

…A month?

Laurel’s full development only started then?

"Wait. Brian supposedly hit full bloom almost as early as possible, right? Are you saying there’s nearly a one-year gap between when she and Laurel started developing?"

"About nine months, yeah. Apparently Laurel’s legs were unstable because of the way she used to run. Since she’d been pushing herself for so long, her full bloom took a while to arrive. So instead, they spent all that time preparing—fixing her running form and racing style. Then about a month ago her development finally kicked in, and all that preparation made her grow rapidly to where she is now."

…

Yeah.

I mean, I thought I understood.

Trainer Horino is a monster.

Even if my trainer and I put our heads together, we still couldn’t match his understanding and insight into racing.

Honestly, he might even beat us in straightforward strategy.

He just doesn’t stand in the spotlight much—that’s the only reason he isn’t more famous.

He’s a genius on par with Wilm… maybe even greater.

Or perhaps a natural disaster.

A monster who changes the entire environment just by existing.

I thought I understood that.

But still—

One month?

She started blooming one month ago and she’s already catching up to Brian at the end of the junior class?

"That’s insane…"

"Well, Ayumu is my Ayumu. Heh."

As I stood there speechless, Wilm puffed out her nonexistent chest proudly.

So Laurel’s basically been a proper racer for only about a month…

Even from my perspective, she already looks pretty dangerous.

Honestly, she might even be scarier to face than Brian.

"But the real thing to watch isn’t her power," Wilm said.

"It’s her skill."

"Huh? You’re saying that to me?"

"Of course I am. Nature’s definitely strong on the technical side too, but you specialize in schemes and tactics. Laurel’s direction is quite different from yours."

…Huh. For Wilm to say something like that so plainly—now that’s a little unusual.

She’s the type who openly praises things she genuinely finds impressive, sure. But for her to think another racing Umamusume is "amazing" in the first place is pretty rare.

Which makes sense when you think about it.

You only call something amazing when it’s something you couldn’t do yourself, something difficult, or something surprisingly good given someone’s experience.

For Wilm—who measures everything against the memories and experience of someone with the greatest talent in history—it’s easy to imagine how high the bar must be.

Even if Laurel’s only been in full bloom for a month, it’s hard to imagine she could impress Wilm with her overall ability already.

So maybe she’s just exceptionally gifted in one particular area.

There was also that comment about her "reckless running style."

Maybe she’s like Teio—the type whose natural racing instinct outpaces what her body can physically support.

…Honestly, I’d been a little down about missing Wilm’s race earlier, but this might end up being more interesting than I expected.

---

While I was talking with Wilm, Teio—still sulking about losing to Wilm again—joined us, and the three of us returned to our usual Three-Star lineup.

Honestly, it’s a little questionable that people’s attention gets drawn to us almost as much as the race itself—but by now we’re used to it.

And so we casually watched the third race finally begin.

"That said, the result is basically already decided."

"Oof. Brutal."

"The fact you’re calling it brutal means you think that girl’s going to lose too, Wilm."

As Teio laughed wryly, I turned my gaze to the group of runners launching forward.

There was only one front-running Umamusume in this race, and a few girls had stumbled at the start, but the pack was still fairly tight.

Well, that’s normal. Races often have no frontrunners at all.

But thanks to a certain someone, I’ve gotten used to completely abnormal races, so something about this still feels a little strange.

Now then.

The much-anticipated Brian settled into a forward position toward the back of the leading group, while Laurel slotted in right behind her.

Both positions were natural—and excellent.

But…

…You can tell just by watching.

She’s matching Brian’s pace. Laurel’s marking her closely.

"That’s rare for Team Pollux—a marking strategy."

"At Laurel’s current level, it’d be difficult for her to just run freely and win. And she doesn’t seem like the type who runs purely in her own style like me, Teio, or Brian."

"Hmm?"

Teio answered halfheartedly, but to me this was a pretty familiar topic.

Honestly, girls like Wilm or Teio—who run purely on their own terms—are the real exceptions.

Normally, racing means watching how your opponents move and finding an opening in a split second.

Winning by brute-forcing your specs like Wilm does, or by grabbing opportunities purely on instinct like Teio—that’s the rarest of the rare.

…Or at least it should be.

Lately, the girls I’ve been racing against have all been like that.

"It’s not like we can’t see the other runners, you know," Teio said. "Even when I’m running up front, I’m watching how the others move and how far away Wilm is."

"And even when I’m running a huge escape," Wilm added, "I’m wondering how close the chasing pack will get, or what kind of interesting world they’ll show me."

"Teio aside, that just sounds like curiosity and fighting instinct for you."

"No, no, I’m cautious too. Especially with someone like Nature—if I’m not careful, I could easily fall into one of her traps."

"Though if it comes down to it, I’ll just burn everything down."

"Teio, she’s your rival—do something about this tyrant."

"She’s your rival too."

Even while chatting like that, our eyes stayed fixed on the race.

As expected, since these were junior-class runners with little experience, the race was fairly primitive—straightforward in its development.

You could call it a pure contest of strength.

There was no one with the control skills to manipulate the field like I do.

And no monster like Wilm who could simply break away from the entire pack.

Brian was impressive, sure—but the race itself was still functioning normally.

She was simply aiming to break out from her forward position, not obliterating everyone and running away with it.

"Yeah… a peaceful race."

"You’re one to talk, Nature. That pace is ridiculously fast for juniors. Most of them are probably going to lose their finishing kick at this rate."

"Everyone’s focusing on Brian, so she’s basically setting the pace. If there were someone like Nature in the race, they could’ve prevented Brian from running at full strength. But everyone’s too busy with their own races. Well… everyone except Laurel."

Umamusume have running styles, and if they’re not in the proper position within the pack, they can’t run cleanly.

For example, if a front-runner gets swallowed by the pack, they’ll panic or lose their rhythm.

On the other hand, if a runner suited for the back suddenly takes the lead, their fighting instinct weakens because there’s no one ahead of them.

For better or worse, most Umamusume have no choice but to entrust themselves to the race’s flow within the pack.

…With a few exceptions.

And the pace of that pack is usually controlled by the frontrunner.

But in this race, Brian had taken control of it instead—which was a pretty dangerous development for everyone else.

If I had been running in this race, just like Wilm said, I’d probably have manipulated everyone’s awareness and the overall pace to prevent Brian from ever unleashing her true run.

…Though to be fair, the junior-class me wouldn’t have been capable of something like that yet.

Anyway.

The race had about 600 meters remaining.

They rounded the third corner and entered the final turn.

That’s when Brian made her move—and Laurel followed right behind.

"There they go."

"Looks like those two are the only ones left."

"A predictable result. If this turns into a simple contest of specs, Brian wins."

"Well, it probably won’t end that simply. Just watch."

Brian used her overwhelming power to surge forward, breaking out of the pack.

Laurel, meanwhile, stayed glued to her—matching the acceleration perfectly without losing an inch.

Honestly, it was impressive enough that I almost let out a surprised "Whoa."

"Laurel can’t beat Brian in pure leg power, right? How did she keep up with that?"

"Oh, I was thinking the same thing. That burst speed is incredible."

"Heh heh heh… that’s Laurel’s style. A sudden, violent surge—rapid acceleration created by drastic pace changes! She’s incredibly good at using her ankles. That’s pure talent."

"...Wait, that’s basically how I used to run. Are her legs really okay?"

"Apparently Ayumu somehow modified her body so it’s fine. Or something like that. I dunno."

"That sounds way too suspicious—both your trainer and your understanding of him."

Well, if that man says it’s fine, then it’s probably fine.

…Though solving a problem an Umamusume usually has to live with for her entire career in a little over half a year is, yeah—pretty outrageous.

Anyway, back to the race.

"Oh, Brian just glanced back."

"She got conscious of her—yep, that’s the end."

"Huh? Wait, what do you mean?"

I frowned at Wilm as she shrugged.

But in the very next moment, I understood.

Ah. I see.

So that was Laurel’s win condition.

That’s why she marked Brian so relentlessly and clung right behind her.

This one goes to Trainer Horino’s strategy.

"Whoa… that’s creepy. What even is that?"

Teio sounded genuinely put off.

I looked again at Laurel’s running…

…and felt a strange sense of discomfort.

"Huh? Her pace is all over the place…? No, wait—it isn’t…?"

"Heh. Surprised? That’s Laurel’s bizarre running technique! She keeps her running inertia intact while subtly raising and lowering her step pitch every stride. It’s this weird method that completely scrambles the instincts of strong runners who can normally sense their rivals’ presence. I call it—Random Gear Change!"

"Is that really a technique you’re supposed to develop in the junior class!?"

I’d been thinking about it earlier, but Umamusume perform best when they run at a position suited to them—in other words, when the distance between themselves and other runners is just right.

If you think about it on a larger scale, even Wilm isn’t exempt. Her “realm” has always shown its true power when other Umamusume close in on her.

So imagine sensing someone behind you suddenly accelerating and closing the gap—

…and then, just as suddenly, feeling the distance open again.

Anyone would get confused. You’d lose your sense of distance and your rhythm would break.

This has nothing to do with skill.

Even I’d probably be affected if I were running and consciously aware of her.

"Probably wouldn’t work on Wilm or Teio though."

"Well, I can measure distance by listening to footsteps and tell she’s actually running at a constant speed."

"And I’d just instinctively know, ‘Yeah, I can ignore that.’"

"What even are you two…"

I sighed at my absurdly overpowered friends.

Facing Laurel’s irregular running, Brian’s pace faltered and her form wavered slightly.

Then, with 200 meters remaining, Laurel suddenly burst forward.

Brian couldn’t respond in time.

Eventually—by the faintest margin—she was overtaken.

Brian hurriedly accelerated to strike back, but the repeated disruption had clearly taken its toll. Compared to the start of her sprint, her acceleration now was weaker.

In the end, Laurel crossed the finish line half a length ahead.

"Ohhh, what a beautiful giant-killing. Her relentless marking and skill based on pure talent really shone."

"Simple, but effective. Mental interference through running. Just like Wilm said—Brian lost the moment she started focusing on Laurel."

"You say that like it’s easy, but I could never do something like mental interference. Seriously… how do you guys manage mind control in the middle of a race? Are you characters from a battle manga or something?"

"And you’re the one saying that?"

Even while talking, of course, I was observing my future rivals.

Laurel, who had taken first place, stood beyond the finish line catching her breath. Her shoulders rose and fell as she looked up at the sky and pressed a fist to her chest.

…Ah.

That’s bad.

That’s the face of someone who just figured something out.

Whenever an Umamusume makes that face, they grow like crazy afterward.

Yeah… scary.

Unlike a berserker like Wilm or a confidence monster like Teio, someone like me finds the appearance of a new powerful rival pretty terrifying.

…Though honestly, I can’t say I dislike it.

Clashing with strong opponents isn’t so bad.

It’s by struggling against great obstacles that your sense for running and your technique sharpen.

Drawn toward a dazzling star—reaching for something that feels impossibly far away…

I still have so many things I lack.

Someday, running against her will probably become fuel for me too.

Meanwhile—

"So, from Teio’s perspective, did the ‘reality check’ work?"

"Yeah. I’d say so. She looks properly frustrated."

Brian, who had finished second, was staring at Laurel.

…No, not staring.

With that sharp gaze, glowering would be the more accurate word.

Her expression was completely blank, as if every emotion had been stripped away. Yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

She was just like Teio two years ago.

Losing to someone she had never even considered a rival—

Right now she must be drowning in emotions she can’t accept: disbelief, humiliation, regret, and above all, shame.

A setback she probably would never have experienced otherwise.

And now Narita Brian was tasting it.

But in the end, that’s exactly what makes an Umamusume grow.

That’s what Teio, Wilm—and perhaps Trainer Horino—wanted to give her.

A future where she wouldn’t settle for "good enough," but would climb to far greater heights.

Maybe…

maybe Narita Brian was gaining that very thing right now.

Man…

Two powerful rivals appearing at once.

Looks like I’ll have to start preparing countermeasures for the future champions.

---

By the way, in the final race—

"Ughhhh—dammit! Trainer, you carrot-brained idiot!! There’s no way I could win that!!!"

The last member of Team Pollux, Bridge Comp, shouted in frustration after losing to Daiichi Ruby by nine lengths.

…Though honestly, the fact that she managed to stay within that distance against a top-tier Dream Trophy runner is pretty impressive.

She just doesn’t stand out because the rest of the lineup is so ridiculous.

But yeah…

She’s definitely a member of Team Pollux, all right.