Mount Mitou was located in Okutama-machi, within the Greater Tokyo area. So when Kitasan Black finished her training on Friday afternoon, it took just a few hours by car for everyone to return from the mountain to downtown Tokyo.
After disembarking at the station near evening, they swiftly transferred onto the subway heading to their hotel.
Just as during previous G1 events, giant screens on buildings near the subway station displayed racing highlights, promotional posters of famous Uma Musume, and commercials for the upcoming races.
Two of the prominently featured Uma Musume were very familiar—Special Week, who had always helped Kitasan in her training, and Grass Wonder, who had participated in training races.
Inside the subway carriage, individual songs of these Uma Musume played continuously from overhead speakers. Passengers everywhere could be seen with Uma Musume illustrations on their backpacks or phone cases.
Having been excited even before leaving Mount Mitou, Kitasan now eagerly looked left and right, occasionally pressing herself against the subway window, wide-eyed and tail wagging excitedly.
"Woooow! Is this what the Dream Trophy looks like? It feels even bigger than the Classic Triple Crown!"
"Kita-chan, don't lean against the window like that. It's dangerous…"
Not reacting to Kitasan's enthusiasm, Silence Suzuka gently cautioned from beside her.
"And it might inconvenience other passengers…"
Still pressed to the glass and staring outside, Kitasan suddenly froze. She glanced around, noticed other passengers looking at her curiously or holding back laughter, and hurriedly sat down properly, offering an apologetic smile and slight bow.
Holding a fresh-looking event pamphlet, Yasui Makoto glanced up briefly.
"Of course it's lively. The Dream Trophy participants are all famous Uma Musume from previous seasons."
"I know that already. It's just that before my debut, I never realized how big it actually was… Plus, I've only watched Teio-senpai's Dream Trophy before."
Unconsciously asserting herself as an unwavering "Teio-only" fan, Kitasan then curiously eyed the pamphlet in Yasui's hands.
"Oh right, Trainer. When did you buy that pamphlet? How come I didn't notice?"
"I picked it up at the subway station."
He waved the pamphlet a bit, turning a page. "The association was handing them out for free. Didn't you grab one?"
"Free? Ah—I was just focused on catching the train…"
Momentarily stunned, Kitasan's expression dropped in disappointment.
But a moment later, another pamphlet appeared from beside her. Surprised, she looked over to see Rice Shower smiling shyly from beyond Silence Suzuka.
"Kita-chan can have this one. Rice already finished looking through it."
"Really? Thanks so much, Rice-senpai!"
Gratefully accepting the pamphlet with both hands, Kitasan eagerly began flipping through it immediately.
Even before leaving for training at Mount Mitou—or rather, even before preparing for her exams—she'd already been looking forward excitedly to two major races during summer vacation.
The first was the Takarazuka Kinen, where—just like with the Tenno Sho (Spring)—she'd gone to watch Gold Ship-senpai's performance.
Yet, not only she, but probably every Uma Musume fan there had been stunned.
That race had once again seen her senpai struggle with entering the starting gate, just like at the Tenno Sho (Spring).
Not only that, after finally entering, Gold Ship had seemed particularly restless.
Even from her spot far away in the audience stands, Kitasan had seen clearly—and vividly remembered—what happened next:
For no discernible reason, Gold Ship-senpai suddenly started arguing with the Uma Musume in the next gate.
Then, raising her leg dramatically, she placed it against the gate's partition, as if preparing for a showdown with her neighbor.
At that exact moment, the gates slammed open.
In the Twinkle Series, the commentator's opening call was merely to assist broadcast viewers and radio listeners.
The only true signal marking the start of the race was the opening of the gates.
Just like a starter's pistol in human races—once opened, the race would absolutely not be halted unless a serious accident affected all competitors.
And so, naturally, due to her position at that moment, Gold Ship-senpai started late.
It was visually obvious: by the time she and the neighboring Uma Musume finally began moving, the other runners had already rushed out to a lead of nearly ten lengths.
At the time, Kitasan had still naively hoped that maybe, with her senpai's abilities, she might somehow make a comeback.
Reality quickly crushed that wishful thinking.
Ultimately, Gold Ship-senpai finished the Takarazuka Kinen 15th—second-to-last—failing to achieve a historic third consecutive victory.
Before, Kitasan would only have thought about comforting her senpai—indeed, she'd rushed over immediately after that race to do just that.
But sometime later, overhearing Yasui Makoto and other senpai talking, she realized that Gold Ship's dramatic gate incident had impacted far more than just race results.
Sponsorships, endorsements, even stocks had all plunged dramatically in value.
If memory served, she recalled a figure of around 12.1 billion yen being mentioned.
Kitasan had no clear concept of exactly how large a sum 12.1 billion yen was—but instinctively knew it must be incredibly huge.
This made her worry even more about Gold Ship, wondering whether this loss might cause lasting damage.
Cautiously inquiring further, however, she was surprised to discover that there hadn't really been any serious repercussions.
"Damn it! I wanted to win my third straight Takarazuka Kinen with style… Oh well! Guess I'll just win all three G1s in the second half instead!" Gold Ship had loudly declared after a long silence, surrounded by comforting juniors, seniors, and friends.
"Damn it, my investments… Seriously, this is just… No choice, I guess. Well, it's Gold Ship—what can we do? Let's just figure out the recovery later…" Supposedly, even some merchants badly affected by that incident could only helplessly say as much.
All in all, due to this unpredictable event, Kitasan's previous Takarazuka viewing experience had felt rather surreal and strange.
The second race she'd been eagerly looking forward to watching was exactly why they had come back to Tokyo from Mount Mitou this weekend:
The Summer Dream Trophy.
She'd long known this special G1 race featured outstanding senior Uma Musume from previous generations, always preceded by extensive preparations, aiming to present fans with a true all-star event.
Perhaps because she had just been thinking about Gold Ship-senpai, while flipping through the pamphlet now, she didn't immediately pay attention to her familiar seniors Special Week or Grass Wonder.
Instead, her eyes unconsciously settled upon an Uma Musume whose name also included "Gold"—
"Gold…no, Dream Journey."
Muttering the name aloud, Kitasan flipped pages thoughtfully.
"Gold Ship-senpai's older sister is running in this Dream Trophy too…"
"More accurately, she's Gold Ship's eldest sister," Yasui Makoto remarked casually, also reading his pamphlet. "With such a big family, Gold Ship actually has several sisters."
He continued, "The promotional theme for this Dream Trophy is the 'Golden Generation,' so they specially invited this eldest sister from the Gold family… Probably to match the symbolic meaning of the promotion."
"That sounds like it makes sense…"
Flipping a few more pages, Kitasan curiously looked up at the others.
"Speaking of which, Rice-senpai probably never raced Dream Journey-senpai. Suzuka-senpai should have…"
Halfway through her words, Kitasan suddenly froze, a look of embarrassment quickly spreading across her face.
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T/N: the goldship incident