A few days later.
Tracen Academy, stadium.
A sea of people filled the stands.
In a world utterly devoted to horse racing, even an ordinary debut race could draw a massive audience.
Among them were not only ordinary humans, but also many Horse Girls in school uniforms from the academy, all watching intently.
"A new trainer... I heard he picked Special Week the moment he saw her? That new Horse Girl from Hokkaido?"
In the stands, a chestnut-haired, blue-eyed Horse Girl in a light green skirt gazed down at the track.
Silence Suzuka—one of Tracen Academy's star athletes.
Her love for running made it a habit for her to watch her juniors closely.
"Well, this is the first match for a new trainer and a new Horse Girl. If they lose, it's going to look pretty bad..."
Nearby, a few other Horse Girls clicked their tongues.
A debut race was the first major hurdle every new Horse Girl had to clear.
Failing to win within the set time limit could even result in losing one's qualification as a Horse Girl—banned from ever setting hoof on the track again.
The competition was fierce.
Alongside newcomers like Special Week, many experienced students from Tracen Academy were also competing.
"..."
Silence Suzuka said nothing.
In her eyes, Special Week had the ability to win—it all depended on how she performed.
Hopefully, that trainer could bring out her full potential.
On the track—
The Horse Girls entered their starting gates.
Special Week glanced left and right. Many of them were even her upperclassmen.
"Hoo..."
Shff—
"It's fine, I'll be fine. I've come this far, I have to win this race and become Japan's—no, the world's number one Horse Girl..."
She took several deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves.
"This time, I'll try that 'genetic technology' power the trainer mentioned. I wonder how strong it really is..."
Special Week decided to tap into Setsuna's enhancement, just to see.
"Tch, I'll crush you!"
A white-haired Horse Girl beside her bared her teeth in challenge.
"Eek!"
Special Week flinched.
In that brief moment—
Clack—
The gates opened.
More than a dozen Horse Girls in racing uniforms burst out like arrows loosed from the bow.
"They're off!"
The commentator's voice rang out with passion.
"Ah, it looks like Number 14 got off a half-beat late—she's still frozen up!"
"In the lead right now is Number 9, followed by Number 4, with Number 2 hugging the inside lane..."
"Number 14 Special Week seems to have been daydreaming—this isn't looking good..."
No sooner had the words left his mouth—
Special Week gathered all her strength, braced, and launched forward.
BOOM!!—
A sonic boom exploded across the track.
The surface of the track dented under the recoil.
A blast of compressed air formed behind her, the shockwave rippling outward.
Bang!—
Before the judges could react—
A white flash streaked down the track.
Genetic Ascension—one of the three great Ascensions alongside Mechanical and Psionic—had no small potential.
A second-tier Genetic Ascension could grant a modified body physical abilities that defied physics.
Even though Horse Girl modifications didn't need to go that far, compared to naturally bred Horse Girls—products of long-term selective breeding—Special Week was like a goddess descending to earth.
The Horse Girls on the track only felt a fierce wind whip past them.
"Special Week! Special Week's off! What just happened?!"
"Ohhh, we can't even see her movements!!!"
On the straightaway, almost no one's eyes could keep up with that streak of white light.
Only when she slowed slightly through the curves could they catch sight of her figure.
Her tail was stretched almost into a straight line from the sheer speed.
"Special Week taking the curve! First corner! Second corner!!!"
"Special Week is far ahead! She's already cleared the final corner!!"
"Ohhh she's going for the sprint! She's crossed the line!!!"
The commentator rattled off updates like a machine gun.
Her speaking speed still couldn't keep pace with Special Week's running.
Bang—
Special Week crossed the finish line, completing the race.
"Yay! Mom, I won!!!"
The little Horse Girl hadn't yet realized just how absurd her feat was. She waved to the crowd in greeting.
She also snuck a glance at her idol, Silence Suzuka.
"..."
Suzuka's mouth was slightly open, her expression frozen in disbelief.
At that moment, the other Horse Girls were still a long stretch from the first corner.
Their steps slowed unconsciously, all staring wide-eyed at Special Week at the other end.
The referee looked at the timer, rubbed his eyes.
Unable to believe it, he pinched himself.
Then he double-checked with his equally bewildered colleague before hoarsely announcing the result.
"First place, Special Week."
"9.63 seconds. She's set a new world record."
"???"
Normally, if a Horse Girl broke the world record in her debut race, the stadium would erupt in a roaring cheer.
Any newcomer capable of breaking the world record on debut was an unprecedented dark horse—a beacon of the future.
Seeing such a race in person would be a rare privilege.
But right now, the stadium was silent.
The audience exchanged looks, still unable to process it.
What just happened?
This was a 1600-meter debut race!
She'd beaten the world record by a factor of ten!?
If someone beat the record by a second or two, people would marvel at their talent and celebrate the birth of a new star.
Beat it by a little more, and suspicions of doping might arise.
But finishing the entire race in under ten seconds—no one could fathom what had just occurred.
Had the Three Goddesses descended to earth?
Or had Horse Girls learned magic?!
From the sonic boom at the start, it seemed she'd briefly broken the sound barrier during her sprint.
"A supersonic Horse Girl?!"
Everyone felt like they'd just discovered a new species.
Was this even scientific?! Was it even sane?!
"Ah ba ah ba..."
The chairwoman stood slack-jawed, her fan slipping from her fingers with a clack.
She now had a new understanding of Setsuna's words: "The Starsea Empire can raise Horse Girls far better."
"Eh?..."
Special Week glanced at her own time and froze.
She knew genetic tech was powerful, but this was beyond ridiculous.
When she'd been running at full tilt, she hadn't thought about anything—just that in an instant, she'd reached the finish.
"Trainer? Seriously?"
"You're going to make sports meaningless at this rate!"
Special Week felt like the passion of sports had been coldly crushed by ruthless technology.
Thankfully, Setsuna was reasonable and promised she could train and compete on her own merits in the future.
After the race, a crowd of Horse Girls vaulted from the stands, swarming around her in multiple rings.
"Special Week-senpai!!"
Hearing Horse Girls much older than her call her senpai nearly scared the little filly to death.
"Special Week-senpai, how have you been training lately?!"
"You just signed a contract with a trainer recently, right? Could you please introduce us?!"
"Please, Special Week-senpai!!!"
Surrounded by Horse Girls she'd always seen as seniors, Special Week felt a crushing pressure.
All eyes were on her, trying to figure out how she'd managed such an incomprehensible performance.
After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd in the stands erupted in a deafening roar.
"God of Horse Racing! This is the God of Horse Racing!"
"Special Week is a Horse Girl blessed by the Three Goddesses!!"
Fans whistled, waved, and cheered wildly at her.
For them, there was only one explanation for how Special Week had run an entire debut race at more than ten times the world record speed.
With results like this, forget the upcoming Satsuki Sho, Kikuka Sho, or Shuka Sho—no Horse Girl from anywhere in the world could be her match.
Her ability was on a completely different level, leaving every other Horse Girl hopelessly behind.
"A new era of Horse Girls has arrived!"
"Special Week will be Japan's ultimate champion!!!"
Her fanatics didn't care that this was only a debut race—they were already popping champagne in celebration.
With a tenfold speed advantage, whenever Special Week was on the track, the rest of the competitors might as well fight for second place.
The sheer gap left no room for hope of catching up.
"Eh..."
Faced with the frenzy of the audience and her surrounding peers, the freshly victorious filly actually began to feel a twinge of guilt.
"Special Week-senpai, could you please introduce us to your trainer?!"
"What's your training like? What events do you do each day? What do you have for lunch and dinner?"
"Is your trainer still accepting Horse Girls??"
She was bombarded with questions from all sides.
"I..."
"Actually, I..."
Coming from rural Hokkaido and having only recently moved to the city, Special Week had never experienced this kind of overwhelming attention.
She didn't know who to answer first or where to even start.
Amid the commotion—
A figure approached in a light green school uniform, long chestnut hair swaying.
Silence Suzuka.
She carried the gentle authority of a senior big sister, and the crowd of Horse Girls instinctively made way for her.
She stopped in front of Special Week, looking at her with both concern and curiosity.
"How did you do it? Can you tell me?"
"That kind of running... it's really hard on the body, isn't it? Are you okay?"
As a fellow Horse Girl, Silence Suzuka knew exactly what kind of risks such a race entailed.
At normal Horse Girl speeds, a sudden deceleration or fall could easily mean a shattered bone—and possibly the end of a career.
But Special Week had run at an absurd speed approaching the sound barrier without so much as a scratch. No matter how she looked at it, it didn't make sense.
Suzuka knew full well where a Horse Girl's physical limits lay—there was no way they could withstand near-supersonic speeds.
The starting sonic boom had sounded more like a missile launch than a race.
"..."
Facing the senior she had once admired so deeply, Special Week hesitated for a moment.
Then, taking a deep breath, she confessed:
"Actually... I'm not that amazing."
"That wasn't my own strength just now—it was my trainer, using some unknown technology and magic, who enhanced me."
"I'm sorry... I'm not the genius you think I am. I just wanted to try the 'Genetic Ascension' effect he talked about—I never imagined it would turn out like this..."
Strangely, after the brief joy of victory, Special Week didn't feel especially happy.
She clenched her fists, stretched a little—there wasn't even the slightest sign of fatigue.
After undergoing Genetic Ascension, even running tens of thousands of meters in one go would be easy.
It was overwhelming—power that surpassed every other Horse Girl.
But sadly... this power didn't truly belong to her.
Special Week didn't understand Genetic Ascension, superpower factors, or any of these advanced technologies. She only instinctively felt that this was power her trainer had given her.
It wasn't the same as the gradual gains earned through daily, honest training.
"Your trainer enhanced you?! He didn't give you illegal drugs, did he?" Tokai Teio frowned.
She thought of those unscrupulous trainers who would drug Horse Girls to get results—burning through their potential and lifespans to make quick money before vanishing.
"No, no, no!" Special Week frantically waved her hands.
"Trainer isn't that kind of person. He really cares about me. This was called... Genetic Ascension, I think?"
Even if she didn't fully understand it, her body didn't lie.
She could clearly feel the enhancements throughout her body, and there were no side effects.
And really, she couldn't imagine an empire-leading starship commander stooping so low as to drug a rookie Horse Girl just for profit.
"Ho~" Yayoi Akikawa and several other Horse Girls drew out the sound as they looked her up and down.
"Should we call you lucky... or naive?"
"If any other Horse Girl had power like yours, she'd be so happy she couldn't sleep—after all, every race's championship would basically be yours."
A gray-haired, gray-eyed Horse Girl crossed her arms.
Oguri Cap, for her part, was more interested in how Special Week had managed such an absurd performance.
"Mm..."
"It's not the same!" Special Week insisted.
"Trainer is amazing, but... but I think relying on my own strength is still more important!!"
She argued her case with conviction.
Her feelings were complicated.
Her trainer hadn't been exaggerating—he really could make her the number one Horse Girl in Japan, even the world.
But the ability he'd given her was so outrageous it felt unreal.
At this rate, she wouldn't even need to wake up before dawn for grueling training, or carefully watch her diet and figure.
Training? Could years of hard work ever match the power of a single day of Genetic Ascension?!
And Setsuna had mentioned there were still magical enhancements, exoskeleton augmentations, and other mixed reinforcement methods.
...
With such absolute technological superiority, she could run casually and still leave other Horse Girls eating her dust.
If everyone got the same boost, sports would just become a contest of whose technology was better.
It all felt... a bit wrong.
"..."
Silence Suzuka and a few other Horse Girls quietly nodded.
They understood what Special Week meant.
"Let's go see your trainer later. Anyone else with questions can come along," Special Week suggested after a moment's thought.
She took out a small communicator—a gift from the shipgirls—that could contact the Commander anytime if needed.
"Mm..."
"But before that, there's one more thing you haven't done, Special Week." Oguri Cap patted her back.
"What?" The little filly jumped.
From the track, the host's enthusiastic voice rang out:
"Up next, the stage reserved only for winners—"
"Special Week, in her very first race, has shattered the world record with overwhelming dominance, taking first place in her debut!"
"What kind of performance will she bring us for her first time on stage?!"
"Ha??!!" Special Week let out a cry of despair.
The victor's stage—every winning Horse Girl had to perform like an idol.
When Setsuna had given her the genetic enhancements, he hadn't added anything to boost her dancing talent.
The two of them had completely forgotten about this part.
"Mom, Trainer, I really can't dance!!!"
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