Uma Musume: To The Top!!

Inside the competitor tunnel.

As the commentator's voice rang out, one Umamusume after another, each strong enough to be considered a powerhouse on the European stage, began walking out toward the racecourse.

However, whenever they passed the two figures standing at the very front, those girls, usually proud and arrogant in their own right, were like herbivores encountering apex predators. One after another, they retreated and went around them.

Some did not even dare breathe too loudly, hurrying away as if fleeing.

Above the arena, the commentator's penetrating voice rang out with each Umamusume's entrance.

"The next Umamusume to appear was once Great Britain's iron chariot! On this sacred racecourse, she once challenged the gray-haired monster from the Far East head-on!"

"After one year, she returns to this place. Can she once again display the glory of the past and that indestructible, terrifying power?"

"The sixth favorite—Sixton!"

"Ah, I've already fallen all the way to sixth favorite? I thought I could at least get fourth…"

Inside the tunnel, Sixton sighed helplessly.

"What else did you expect? In your current condition, even fifth would be difficult. You came in second-to-last in your last race."

"Can't you wish me well for once?"

Ignoring her friend's jab, the muscular woman took a deep breath. Her somewhat helpless gaze instantly became as steady as iron.

"Then, Elmaamul, I'll head out first!"

She turned her head and gave Elmaamul a solemn wave in farewell. Then, with firm resolve, she walked out.

Elmaamul watched her departing figure, then turned her gaze toward those two overwhelmingly arrogant figures. Her fist could not help clenching slightly.

After two more Umamusume left—

"The next Umamusume to appear—"

The commentator's voice rang out once again.

"The ruler of the Eclipse Stakes! With a peerless and terrifying final kick, she once stepped over the backs of the world's strongest!"

"Today, this battle-hardened veteran will surely prove her sharpness to everyone once more!"

"Please welcome the third favorite—Elmaamul!"

Hearing her name, Elmaamul took a deep breath and stepped forward.

But as she passed Mejiro McQueen, her steps hesitated for an instant.

In the end, she stopped.

Turning her head toward the purple-haired girl, she spoke softly.

"Hello, Mejiro McQueen."

Hearing that, McQueen was visibly startled.

But the good upbringing engraved into her very bones made her immediately incline her head slightly and reply with elegance.

"Hello, Elmaamul."

Elmaamul looked at her, a trace of complexity flashing through her eyes.

"I wonder if that Oguri Cap ever told you about me."

"When she came overseas to contest this race, the one who followed close behind her and took second place was me."

"…"

McQueen paused at first, then nodded with a light smile.

"Oguri-senpai did mention you to us. She said you were the only opponent who made her feel pressure."

That was, of course, a lie.

With Oguri Cap's naturally airheaded personality, where she thought of little besides eating and running, how could she possibly take the initiative to talk about who she had defeated back then unless someone deliberately asked her?

But in order to protect the pride of the Umamusume before her, McQueen chose not to say the truth.

"…Is that so?"

Elmaamul's eyes flickered. Then she turned and left.

She waved once more to McQueen, then turned her head and gave Suave Dancer a slight nod.

After doing all of this, the Umamusume from the old era straightened her chest once more and strode out of the tunnel.

Watching Elmaamul's back as she left, Suave crossed her arms, and a playful smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"McQueen, want to guess who the first favorite is?"

No sooner had she spoken than the commentator's voice followed.

"The next Umamusume to appear is the uncrowned queen who rules the French racing scene!"

"…"

Inside the competitor tunnel, Suave, who had only just said that, froze. Then she turned away somewhat awkwardly.

"It seems the first favorite isn't you."

McQueen smiled.

Suave took a deep breath, but she could not think of any trash talk to fire back with. In the end, she could only shut her mouth sullenly.

"She crushed Generous's supremacy head-on and seized that supreme honor and glory for her own crown!"

"Having claimed three consecutive G1 victories, she has now set her sights on the crown of the Irish Champion Stakes!"

"The pride of France, the second favorite—Suave Dancer!"

"That's me."

Suave abruptly spoke in a cold voice, as if she were a completely different person from one second ago.

Then she no longer looked at Mejiro McQueen. She stepped directly into that boiling sunlight.

"Ooooooooooh—!!!!"

"Suave Dancer! Suave Dancer!"

"Go, Suave Dancer! Show us the pride of a Derby Umamusume!"

The instant Suave appeared, the sound surging through the entire arena seemed to be pushed to an unprecedented peak.

Countless people were shouting her name.

Feeling the passion and wishes flooding toward her from every direction, the strongest active Umamusume in France, the future ruler of the era, spread her arms slightly as if savoring something.

Then, all at once, she gathered herself and walked onto the track.

"The final Umamusume to appear—"

The commentator took a deep breath.

"She is the new-generation gray-haired monster from the Far East, the brightest new star of the Shining Generation, and an Umamusume carrying the glory of Mejiro on her shoulders!"

"Since descending upon the European stage, she has swept up every G1 crown claimed by the victors before her with the force of a raging storm!"

"She too defeated the ruler Generous head-on. She is the strongest Umamusume of the new generation—unbeaten, unrivaled, and feared by all!"

"Today, on the track of Leopardstown, she will surely leave behind a legendary footprint unlike any other!"

"The first favorite—Mejiro McQueen!!!"

To someone unaware of the circumstances, the commentator's words might have even sounded like he was overpraising her to set her up for failure.

But in this moment, inside Leopardstown Racecourse, it only stirred the crowd's passion even further.

In an instant—

A wave of cheers even more fervent than those for Suave Dancer boiled the entire arena over, crashing down like a mountain roaring and a sea howling.

But at this moment—

At the competitor tunnel, Mejiro McQueen slowly closed her eyes.

She gently shut out all the noise and frenzy of the outside world.

The moment she opened her eyes again, two clusters of pure-white, blazing lightning surged up in her violet pupils, dazzling beyond compare, like stars igniting in the infinite heavens.

"Shadow—"

The power of Domain surged through her body.

She stepped forward, out of the shadows.

And into the sunlight.

In an instant, endless cheers rushed in, carrying the emotions, wishes, and passion of more than a hundred thousand people, drowning the place like a tsunami.

This was the treatment reserved for a candidate for the strongest in the world.

It was also the acclaim that the one standing at the peak of the era ought to bear.

A faint, almost imperceptible realization flashed through the eyes of the Mejiro girl. Then she slowly stepped toward the racecourse.

…

Above the arena.

Kuroha stood tall before the huge floor-to-ceiling window, arms crossed.

He quietly looked down at the boiling racecourse below. There was not even the slightest trace of nervousness on his face. He was as calm as a stagnant pool.

On the other side of the stands, Dancing Brave was seated with Suave's training team.

She first looked down at Suave and Mejiro McQueen on the track, then discreetly swept her gaze over Kuroha's utterly calm profile.

For some reason, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

An extremely intense unease surged inexplicably from the bottom of her heart.

"Suave…"

A rare trace of worry appeared in Dancing Brave's eyes.

At the same time, in the front row of the ordinary spectator seats below, where the crowd's voices surged like a storm, an elderly woman with a head full of silver hair and an aged face sat upright in the foremost seat, both hands resting on a cane.

When the dark-skinned girl in blue, white, and gold stepped proudly onto the racecourse—

An incredibly bright light burst from the old woman's cloudy eyes.

On her wrinkled face, a smile of incomparable relief and pride blossomed.

…

The focus returned to the track.

The Umamusume performing their final warm-ups before the gates now looked unusually strange.

They clenched their silver teeth, cold sweat covering their foreheads.

Some Umamusume were even nervously tugging hard at the hair of their own tails.

It seemed that only those faint flashes of pain could calm them down even slightly.

Because—

The presence radiating from the two figures standing at the very front was far too immense.

They were like two boundless mountains piercing straight into the clouds, towering beyond reach and pressing heavily on everyone's heart.

That suffocating, terrifying aura was like a materialized gravity field, making even breathing feel incredibly difficult for the Umamusume around them.

"They really are two monsters…"

Before the race had even begun, the hearts of many Umamusume had already sunk.

Ahead of them.

At this very moment, Suave, who had already taken her place before the gate, no longer had even the slightest trace of confusion in her mind.

She breathed deeply again and again, calming her heart and steadying her spirit, perfectly accumulating every trace of strength in each muscle of her body.

She was trying to raise her racing condition to an unprecedented peak.

Then she turned her head slightly and glanced at Mejiro McQueen not far away, whose eyes were lowered just as calmly as still water.

Looking at the light swaying in McQueen's pupils, Suave's eyes lifted faintly at the corners. Still, she drew her mind inward, devoting everything solely to this race.

"Next, all Umamusume, please enter the gates!"

Along with the commentator's command, fifteen gates slowly came into view one after another.

Clang—

The moment her own gate closed heavily, Suave felt the whole world suddenly go quiet.

Within the world of her senses, the roaring voices, the commentator's voice, the chaos inside her heart, and even the expectations her companions had placed on her before the race all receded like the tide.

Between heaven and earth, aside from the gate before her that was about to open and the finish line in the distance…

Only that person remained, just three gates away.

That white figure was constantly stirring up a terrifying presence powerful enough to shake heaven and earth.

"Mejiro McQueen… come on!"

Suave abruptly closed her eyes.

The instant she opened them again, a dazzling red-gold afterglow briefly flashed deep within them.

Then it vanished into those blade-sharp eyes.

All gates were closed.

As the stirring march began playing above Leopardstown Racecourse, the tens of thousands of spectators who had been cheering wildly fell silent for this briefest span of time.

The entire racecourse sank into a suffocating dead silence.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for that decisive moment to arrive.

"All Umamusume are in the gates!"

The commentator's voice echoed over the silent racecourse.

"Then, the G1 turf, 2,012-meter Irish Champion Stakes, watched by the entire world—"

The lights changed abruptly.

Bang—!

The gates sprang outward at the same time.

"The race begins!"

Along with the commentator's voice, fifteen swift figures in racing outfits of every color burst from the gates like cannon shells.

Carrying unshakable resolve and an overwhelming thirst for victory, they charged out with thunderous force!

(End of Chapter)

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