Equinox took a while to wake up. Though in Gotham Song's understanding, it felt less like her charge was taking time to wake up, and more like she was taking her time deciding to open her eyes.
Was there a difference between those two things? Of course there was. The former meant Equinox was only just waking up. The latter meant she'd already been awake for a while and was only now willing to open her eyes.
Still, Gotham Song was not the sort to casually slander her own Umamusume. Anyway, even if her charge really had been pretending to sleep the whole time, there wasn't much Gotham Song could have done about it even if she knew, so there was really only one attitude she could take.
What else was there to do? Spoil her, obviously. She was her own Umamusume.
Sigh, why did it feel like Equinox was starting to go bad too?
Gotham Song didn't quite know how to put it. She could only sigh in silence, and didn't dare pinch Equinox's cheek too hard.
What if her charge really was still asleep, right?
Ah, how gentle of you, Miss Gotham Song.
She was even in the mood to mock herself like that. But in the end, she still woke Equinox up well ahead of time—
If you don't get up soon, you'll miss your debut race, you know, Miss Charge Who Won't Wake Up.
Yes. That was more or less the kind of abstract, bizarre inner monologue she was having, even if she would never say it out loud.
...
When Equinox woke up, she looked as dazed as ever. Gotham Song wasn't surprised in the slightest. She simply... well, supported her charge through washing up and getting ready, then helped her change into the Racing Outfit that felt almost fated: like Kitasan Black's, it carried a strong traditional flavor, though its colors leaned more toward red and white.
Really, Racing Outfits were something with quite a few details worth noting. Generally speaking, most Umamusume would not choose to wear one for their debut race or before major races like G1s.
Of course, that was not any kind of hard rule. In truth, when to put on a Racing Outfit was entirely up to the Umamusume herself.
In other words, while Racing Outfits were usually only seen at top-level races, there was nothing wrong with wearing one for a debut race if that was what she wanted.
After all, the "victory" in Racing Outfit represented absolute confidence in taking the win. In other words, putting one on was simply declaring your own victory in advance. It didn't mean anything else.
And so, especially after the Twilight Song era, more and more Umamusume really had started stepping onto the track in Racing Outfits from the very beginning.
That was honestly a little funny to Gotham Song. When she herself debuted as Twilight Song, she hadn't worn a Racing Outfit at all—she'd been one of the ordinary Umamusume in gym clothes instead!
In any case, in recent years, debuting in a Racing Outfit had taken on a whole new meaning.
To all spectators and all opponents, I once again declare: I will take victory. I will take every victory.
At the very least, if you entered your debut race already wearing a Racing Outfit, that was generally understood to be what you meant.
It was arrogant. Daring. Prideful. But at the same time, it fit perfectly with the atmosphere that ought to exist between Umamusume.
You were supposed to have the courage to declare victory. You were supposed to have the confidence to declare victory. You were supposed to have the ability to say, before the race even began, I will win everything, and leave every Umamusume who wants to compete with me utterly defeated...!
If she herself were an Umamusume only just debuting now, perhaps she too would have felt that same powerful urge. To bring that kind of force onto the track before the race even began... that really was something old fossils like them could never experience.
At that thought, Gotham Song blanked out for a moment. Back then, she truly could never have imagined it, could she—that there would come a day when she herself would casually refer to herself as an old fossil?
Forget it, forget it. Since that wasn't something people of her era had been obsessed with, there was nothing much to say about it.
Patiently, she adjusted every last ribbon and strap of Equinox's Racing Outfit, then carefully smoothed out her hair as well. After that, Gotham Song took off her own hair ribbon and used that one touch of different color from her black hair to make the most disharmonious spot on Equinox's red-and-white figure.
"Does this count... as proof that Trainer-sama will be running together with little Equinox?"
"...Mm, yes. It does. Proof that we'll be running together, little Equinox. Do your best in your debut race, okay?"
Gotham Song froze for a moment before answering with a smile. How could it not count?
If a piece of herself was staying by Equinox's side, then naturally, that meant she would be conquering the racetrack together with her.
Thinking about it, the other girls running today were really pitiful. Not only did they have to face an already outrageously overpowered Equinox, they also had to face a version of Gotham Song that was practically smurfing and slaughtering the field.
Other people's idea of smurfing used hand grenades. Hers?
She was probably using rocket launchers...! Don't ask why not a nuclear bomb. Because that wouldn't be smurfing anymore—that would just vaporize all the fish outright.
"Do your best in your debut race. I'm still waiting for the day you'll step onto the track together with me."
Once all of you girls who promised you'd run with me make your wishes come true, maybe then I can officially announce my retirement...
And then hurry up and run far, far away—just disappear straight out of everyone's world, I guess?
Gotham Song thought that half-jokingly. Running away was the joke, but the retirement part was serious. By then, after all, she would probably already be in her second or third senior year. It would be time to make way for all the little ones behind her, and for the geniuses yet to come.
No one would like a Demon Lord who ruled the track for ten whole years, right?
That was what Gotham Song thought, and so that was what she decided.
And when Equinox heard what it was Gotham Song was waiting for, her eyes lit up brilliantly.
"To challenge Trainer-sama... O-okay. I'll work hard and catch up."
One day, I'll make Trainer-sama listen to me. Completely. In everything...
Looking at Equinox's face tightening as if failing to do that would kill her on the spot, Gotham Song found it oddly amusing. She rose onto her tiptoes and pinched Equinox's cheek, then pointed toward the door.
"All right, it's almost time. Ready to welcome it—your very first appearance before everyone, Equinox?"
"...I was ready long ago, Trainer-sama. I'm going."
"Mm. I'll be waiting for your triumphant return."
That scared me—thank goodness I can reach little Equinox's cheek if I stand on tiptoe and raise my hand... If I had to jump on top of that, wouldn't that be humiliating beyond belief?
Breaking out in a cold sweat, Gotham Song watched Equinox leave the room and head toward the racetrack where she would be today's protagonist.
What a nostalgic moment, stepping onto the stage for your debut race.
Then again, it was actually something Gotham Song herself had never truly experienced. Her first debut race, back when she debuted as Twilight Song, had begun with her opening her eyes already on the racetrack. And her second debut race, the one as Gotham Song...
Back then, she'd still been a nobody. Naturally, there couldn't have been many people there to witness her stepping onto the stage.
So under these circumstances, facing something like this for the first time, how would Equinox react?
Curious, Gotham Song walked to the window and looked down.
Luckily, Equinox's room was not very high up, so she could see the scene on the street clearly enough. And from Gotham Song's vantage point, the crowd had already gathered long ago.
Of course, it was nowhere near the ridiculous number of people that showed up whenever she herself took the stage, but still!
It was by no means a small crowd. Countless fans had come from all across Japan just to witness what could fairly be called the coronation of a new king: Equinox's moment.
An ordinary debuting Umamusume would never receive this much attention, of course.
But Equinox's identity was simply far too special. Just how special?
Her older sister Kitasan Black had completed the Classic Triple Crown and now, in her senior years, was still an Umamusume of tremendous strength. And her Trainer, Gotham Song, was a legendary figure certain to leave her name behind in the entire history of Umamusume.
So it was no exaggeration to say—
Even the smallest scraps of news about Equinox drew masses of attention. Under the announcement for her debut race were countless messages full of expectation, along with all manner of noisy chatter.
Did Equinox read those words from people looking forward to her debut when she had spare time?
Gotham Song did not know. But no matter what, something like that had to be a heavy burden, didn't it?
So many people were watching Equinox's coming run. So many people were watching the achievements she was about to claim. And under so many eyes, even the slightest mistake would be magnified countless times over, wouldn't it?
This was a road that was never going to be easy.
In truth, even Gotham Song herself hadn't adapted well when that kind of massive attention first fell on her. If she hadn't been in that near-maniacal state of obsession back then, having that many people watch her might really have interfered with her races...
Well, in any case, Equinox—my adorable charge—just how far can you go?
Can you break through the obstacles born from countless people's expectations, cross the barriers even I cannot see, walk your own road, and then...
Soar into the heavens?
From the shadows where Gotham Song watched unseen, Equinox calmly accepted the cheers and gazes of countless people. She was so composed it was almost as if she felt no burden from it at all. Gotham Song found that difficult to believe, yet amid that very disbelief, Equinox kept moving forward, step by step, passing through the crowd.
She was calm. She never hesitated. She pressed ahead with unwavering certainty, as though she had accepted all that glory and meant to show everyone watching her what true strength and true splendor really were...
She looked almost like the heir destined one day to inherit the empire of the Demon Lord herself.
And in truth, what was the underlying color of most of the people gathered here?
Actually... the overwhelming majority of the people who had come to welcome Equinox were Gotham Song's fans.
Because Gotham Song was her Trainer. Because Equinox was Gotham Song's partner Umamusume. That was why Equinox had received such enormous attention.
That was why, under the eyes of so many people, she had gone from a nameless nobody to the focal point who had no choice but to keep winning.
After all, Gotham Song had never lost.
Wasn't this the girl whose Trainer had spent her own time and energy on racing for her sake?
Wasn't this the child who had no choice but to inherit and shoulder that vast, undefeated legend?
If that was the case, then what kind of answer sheet would you hand in?
...
Those dark clouds hung above the clear sky, forming a violent vortex that the crowd itself could not sense, yet which came surging down toward Equinox all the same.
Walking among everyone on her way toward the racetrack, Equinox could feel it. Even if only unconsciously, the eyes of the people lining both sides of the road were not looking at her purely.
What were they seeing through her body?
They were looking at her Trainer-sama, surely.
Through her present self, they were peering at future years and yesterday's glory. In their eyes, idle Equinox actually had a more fitting name.
Gotham Song the Second—or perhaps Gotham Song, once again.
Sensitive and clever as she was, Miss Umamusume could sense that. Gotham Song was always using that doting tone to tell her, you little thing, you're always so vacant, but most of the time Equinox only acted that way in front of Gotham Song.
Of course she understood what everyone else's expectations of her really were. And if it were another Umamusume, realizing that might make her at least somewhat unhappy.
After all, Umamusume possessed a very strong sense of self. To be treated entirely as though you were someone else—any Umamusume would react quite strongly and unhappily to that.
It was an insult. A form of disregard. A way of refusing to treat an Umamusume as herself—
But!
Equinox did not care in the slightest.
Or rather, she welcomed it.
Her own Trainer-sama was already one of a kind in all the world. Forget other people looking at her as though they were seeing her Trainer-sama—even Equinox herself sometimes thought that way.
In that case...
Then let these people see for themselves what kind of figure the invincible Umamusume from spring, inheriting Gotham Song's glory and name, ought to cut...!
Equinox held her head high and straightened her back. Not a single gaze from anyone else slowed her steps.
Because—
That afternoon long ago, she had already made her decision. She would run for one person alone, and as for everything else...
Sorry. You're all latecomers.
Equinox curved her lips into a smile and touched the blue ribbon as though drawing strength from it.
Trainer-sama will run together with me... and that alone is enough!
---
T/N: yeah no excuse this time :sob: WAIT NO I WAS STARTING NEW TLS SO HA! yeah sorrrey heres the 4 chapters!
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