Uma Musume: To The Top!!

At the competitor tunnel.

Inside the broad corridor, where the light was somewhat dim, dozens of Umamusume about to take part in the race had already gathered.

In the corners, several girls who knew one another were chatting quietly in groups of two or three.

And yet, the pre-race atmosphere, which should have been filled with fighting spirit, now felt strangely out of place.

On many faces, there was even an indescribable sorrow and helplessness.

At one side of the tunnel, a powerful woman with a body packed with knotted muscle was walking toward an orange-haired girl with shoulder-length hair, who was leaning against the wall in a daze.

"Elmaamul, how are your preparations for this race?"

That deep voice broke Elmaamul out of her thoughts.

She lifted her head with little interest and looked deeply at the newcomer.

"…Sixton, good afternoon."

"Oh! Good afternoon."

Arriving beside this old acquaintance, Sixton copied Elmaamul and leaned her back against the wall as well.

Then she gently nudged the other girl's arm with her elbow and lowered her voice.

"Hey, what do you think?"

"…What do I think about what?"

"I mean, do you have any tactical plan for this race? Come on, secretly tell me."

"…"

Elmaamul cast a speechless glance at the friend beside her, then sighed self-deprecatingly.

"What plan could there be? Go out there, run the race, then wait to lose. That's all."

"No way, right?"

The muscular woman tilted her head, her eyes widening in surprise.

"You're Elmaamul. You don't even have the slightest chance if you fight for it?"

Elmaamul fell silent for a moment. Only after a long while did she let out a faint sigh.

"Although my pride as an Umamusume would never allow me to give up on a race… to be honest, I don't have the slightest chance of winning."

The current her was no longer the high-spirited, invincible prodigy of last year, who had stepped into the second stage of Domain while still in her classic year and overpowered Europe's many strong older-generation contenders.

Last year, on the track, she had been easily defeated by that gray-haired monster from the Far East, Oguri Cap.

And this year, even at the start of the year, before the new generation of monsters led by Suave Dancer and Mejiro McQueen had fully risen, she had already been treated like a speed bump by Generous and mercilessly run over again and again on the track.

Not only that, when facing other European Domain opponents of the same level, she had also lost more often than she had won.

Over this year that was neither especially long nor short, Elmaamul had seen herself clearly.

She had also seen this cruel world clearly.

Now, though her spirit had not disappeared, reality had already worn down her edges. She no longer had the same sharp, exposed brilliance as last year.

"Oh… I see…"

Hearing that, Sixton paused for a moment. Then, instead of offering any comfort, she placed both hands behind her neck, looked up at the dim ceiling of the tunnel, and sighed softly.

"Thinking about it, it really is ironic. Last year, at least, we stood on the same starting line and faced that Oguri together."

"But now that this generation has come along, you still have some name recognition, while I've completely become a roadside stepping stone no one cares about…"

This year, she had also lost until she was numb.

Who could have imagined that just one short year ago, she had still been a dominant-class Umamusume who ruled Great Britain?

Yet this year, she had fallen straight from the altar.

She had become a roadside filly who could barely even squeeze into Europe's top thirty.

The world really was fickle…

Just as the veterans inside the tunnel were licking one another's wounds and speaking quietly—

In an instant—

It was as if an invisible hand had seized every throat in the corridor.

All sound vanished strangely at the exact same second.

The dozens of Umamusume in the tunnel turned their heads in unison, pupils tightening as they silently looked toward the entrance.

Whoosh—

In the next instant, a deep, dense, almost materialized wave of terrifying pressure swept violently down the dim tunnel toward them, like a Demon King awakening from the abyss.

And at the center of that suffocating pressure, two figures entered the competitor tunnel side by side.

One wore a pure-white racing outfit. Her expression was cold as frost, and not a trace of warmth could be found in her violet eyes.

She was like a god seated high above the clouds.

The other wore a gorgeous outfit of blue, white, and gold. A wild, arrogant smile rested at the corner of her mouth.

She was like a queen preparing to dance to the music at a banquet.

Tap, tap, tap.

Heavy footsteps slowly sounded.

In the eyes of every Umamusume present, the two before them were clearly only walking forward at an ordinary pace.

Yet the violent, invisible aura surrounding them struck outward in waves like the eye of a hurricane erupting.

That terrifying presence left no room for even the slightest thought of resistance.

Faced with these two true rulers standing at the peak of their generation, the originally crowded Umamusume in the tunnel instinctively held their breath.

They retreated to both sides by instinct. Like Moses parting the sea, they forcibly opened a broad path through the crowd.

They allowed the two girls to pass through the mass of people without the slightest obstruction and walk to the very front of the tunnel.

Click.

The two rulers stopped at the same time.

Standing at the very front of the starting tunnel, bathed in the sunlight spilling in from the exit, Suave spoke first.

"McQueen, are you ready to cry?"

Suave crossed her arms, tilted her head slightly, and asked with a light smile.

McQueen did not even turn to look at her. She merely gazed quietly ahead and answered in an indifferent tone.

"I've long since prepared myself to make you cry at the finish line."

"Oh~ You really dare to say that."

Suave did not mind in the least. Instead, she excitedly licked her lips, and a cold light suddenly flashed through her eyes.

"When we reach the final phase, I hope your legs don't go weak while you're staring at my back from behind."

"Rest assured."

McQueen lifted her chin slightly and finally turned her head just a little.

"I will only ever look at the scenery ahead of me. As for the losers I leave behind, they have never been worthy of more than a glance from me."

Boom—!

The undisguised smell of gunpowder and pressure between the two clashed once more.

It made the elite Umamusume behind them, who were forced to listen to their trash talk, break out in cold sweat.

Is this something we're allowed to hear?

We aren't going to be silenced afterward, are we?

At that moment, the racecourse broadcast burst out at just the right time with a roar powerful enough to ignite the blood of the entire venue.

"Ladies and gentlemen—!"

"Welcome to the pride of Ireland, Leopardstown Racecourse!"

"The skies are clear today, without a cloud for miles. It is simply a perfect day arranged by the heavens themselves so that we may witness the birth of a legend!"

"Oooooooooh—!"

Along with the commentator's passionate shout, tens of thousands of spectators in the stands erupted into cheers like a tsunami.

The deafening sound waves even made the competitor tunnel tremble faintly.

"Coming up next, the fifth race is the legendary battle the entire world is watching, the race all fans of Umamusume competition have been eagerly awaiting—the G1 Irish Champion Stakes!"

"And now, upon this emerald battlefield, it is about to officially begin!"

"Now! Please welcome our first participating Umamusume—onto the stage!"

(End of Chapter)

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