"...THE WEATHER'S BEEN GREAT THESE PAST FEW DAYS, AND THE TRACK IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.
"IT'S PERFECT RACING WEATHER! HERE'S HOPING ALL THE RUNNERS PUT ON A GREAT PERFORMANCE!"
The host and commentator's voices echoed through Tokyo Racecourse, but standing in the entry tunnel, Inari Kagura was so distracted they reached her like the droning of mosquitoes—vague and hard to make out.
Summer training camp was over, and Kagura had returned to everyday life. Back at the end of September, Rudolf had won the St. Lite Kinen with a track-record-breaking performance. As a comeback race after her break, it was an outstanding result, and it had sent her fans' confidence soaring. The internet was now flooded with things like "The Triple Crown is basically guaranteed," "No suspense at all!" and "The Emperor is great—nothing more needs to be said!"
Riding close behind Rudolf's surge in popularity was the enormous margin from Kagura's debut race. That female reporter's article had brought a huge amount of attention to her outlet, and it had also earned Kagura quite a bit of popularity in turn. When Kagura had chatted with her before, the reporter had even thanked her, and asked whether she could come interview her again next time. Kagura hadn't refused, but that wasn't exactly up to her. What if too many reporters showed up next time and she didn't make the cut?
Why are people so obsessed with giving everyone nicknames...?
Just thinking about the things people had been saying about her online lately gave Kagura a headache. If it were just some especially embarrassing nickname, she could laugh it off—but instead, the internet had started calling her "The Return of Mejiro Ramonu," which had left even her completely baffled as to why. She had even run into Mejiro Ramonu at school recently and gotten teased about it a little.
Setting all that aside for the moment, Kagura had entered this race on Tojo-san's advice—pick one race as her autumn comeback, treat it as a tune-up, and that was how they had settled on the Saudi Arabia Royal Cup. And the most direct result of the enormous buzz the interview had generated was—
"...AND NOW ENTERING THE TRACK, THE FIRST FAVORITE—INARI KAGURA!"
The moment the announcer outside finished introducing the entrants, the entire racecourse exploded with an ear-splitting roar—or maybe shriek was the better word. As Kagura stepped onto the track, the noise hit her so hard her head buzzed. She was starting to think she ought to copy a few of her classmates and buy herself a pair of ear covers.
"Kagura~ do your best!"
"Kagura~ good luck!"
Of the people Kagura knew, only Ardan and Nice Nature had made it out today, thanks to scheduling conflicts and various personal reasons affecting everyone else. Other than them, there were only Speed and Mejiro Iris, two elderly ladies with time to spare, and Mejiro Palmer, who had pestered Mejiro Iris into bringing her to watch the race.
And besides the usual familiar faces, Nice Nature had apparently picked up a little blue-haired kid on the way over. Right now she was holding that little Umamusume in her arms near the edge of the stands while they watched. Kagura recognized her—she had seen her before in that clothing store when she went shopping for swimsuits.
"Inari Kagura-senpai!! Blow your opponents away with a Runaway! Go!!"
The blue-haired little Umamusume waved and shouted from Nice Nature's arms.
What was that kid's name again... Wheels? Pump? Something like that...
Kagura waved back in response. She clearly remembered that she had a little fan a lot like Tokai Teio, and that they had actually met in person—but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't remember the girl's name.
"You in gate eight! You're that Support Umamusume from Central, right? Inari Kagura?"
Once she had finished adjusting her gear and checking that nothing was wrong with her shoes and the rest of her equipment, Kagura stepped into her gate. Then she heard a voice from the neighboring stall, brimming with fighting spirit.
"Hello?"
"I've heard about you. You left your debut opponents way behind, huh? And now you're skipping open races and jumping straight into a graded race? Your trainer sure has confidence in you. But this is a graded race, not some kiddie playground like an open race. I hope you really do have what it takes to stand here."
Kagura could hear the challenge in that voice from the next gate over. And she knew it too—an Umamusume winning her debut by dozens of lengths wasn't unheard of. But doing that in a graded race was vanishingly rare. The opponents you met in a graded race were on a completely different level from debut-race competition, even if it was only a GIII.
"Thank you for the warning, senpai. I'll keep it in mind."
Cautious by nature, Kagura had no intention of underestimating her opponents. Even without that warning, she had planned to give this race her full hundred percent.
"...SIXTEEN HUNDRED METERS. WEATHER: SUNNY. TRACK CONDITION: FIRM..."
As she listened to the conditions being read out, Kagura bent slightly at the waist and settled into her starting stance.
What she couldn't quite figure out was one strange thing she had noticed: ever since she started racing, as long as the field was large enough, she always seemed to end up in gate eight. At 1600 meters, it didn't really matter to her which gate she started from—but this had happened several times in a row by now. If it was all just coincidence, then her luck was a little too good.
Clack!!
With the sharp sound of the gate flying open, Kagura burst out—only, she was clearly a beat slower than usual.
"ALL RUNNERS HAVE BROKEN PERFECTLY FROM THE GATES—NOT QUITE! INARI KAGURA FROM GATE EIGHT HAD A SLOW START!"
The host's voice carried a hint of surprise, and of course Kagura heard it too. This slow start hadn't been part of the plan. She had only hesitated for a moment over what tactic to use, and that was enough.
Tch, a slow start again. Next time I really need to decide my strategy earlier...
Because she had come out a little late, Kagura fell into the middle-rear of the pack, behind the Pace Chaser group. But this time, the slow start didn't rattle her for long, because she had never intended to explode off the line right from the start in this race.
It's a graded race... better play it safe.
Kagura lowered her speed slightly and calmly observed the Umamusume around her.
"INARI KAGURA HAS DROPPED BEHIND THE PACE CHASER GROUP, AND THE TRACK LOOKS A BIT CROWDED!"
There was genuine concern in the host's voice. Kagura had the odd feeling this announcer cared about her a lot. Thinking back to Rudolf's races, where there were often fanboy hosts on commentary, she couldn't help wondering whether this one was one of her fans too—or maybe just a power-scaler.
The reason it felt crowded was simple: the other Umamusume weren't even in the same speed bracket as Kagura. Everyone around her felt too slow. It was nothing like the feeling she got when sparring with her friends. So having already experienced far worse slow starts, Kagura wasn't worried in the slightest. After tangling with top-tier monsters more than once, she had long since grown used to temporary setbacks. As she judged the speed of the opponents around her and adjusted her position, the race neared the first turn—and that was exactly the opening she had been waiting for.
Everyone's going to try to save ground. If that's the case, they'll all dive for the rail at once. It'll be jammed to death on the inside. With a body this short, if I get swallowed in there, I probably won't make it back out... so I'll just blast past on the outside!
The moment they entered the turn, many of the Umamusume began angling inward to fight for the rail. Kagura was at the very back of the Pace Chaser group, and with no trailing runners behind her, she didn't have to worry about cutting anyone off. So the instant they hit the bend, she abruptly kicked up her speed and shot straight toward the far outside lane—
"INARI KAGURA, CURRENTLY IN LAST PLACE, HAS SUDDENLY SWUNG ALL THE WAY OUT WIDE!! WHAT IS SHE TRYING TO DO?!"
Running that wide added a great deal more distance than hugging the inner rail. For Umamusume already tight on stamina, going so far outside was a very unwise choice. It meant spending a huge amount of extra energy, enough to risk losing speed midway through the race.
But Kagura knew that even if you doubled 1600 meters, she still wouldn't run out of steam.
"INARI KAGURA HAS ACCELERATED FROM THE FAR OUTSIDE!! THE RACE HAS ONLY JUST PASSED THE QUARTER MARK!"
"WHAT IS SHE TRYING TO DO?! SHE'S STARTING TO OVERTAKE THE RUNNERS AROUND HER!!"
"...TH-... DOES THIS COUNT AS A CHASING STYLE? BUT ISN'T KAGURA'S TIMING FOR ACCELERATION WAY TOO EARLY?"
Ardan had always assumed Kagura was a Front Runner, so the huge slow start at the beginning had nearly scared her out of her skin. When she saw Kagura trapped in traffic at the back, her heart had leapt into her throat. But as always, Kagura had found yet another new way to surprise her—or maybe terrify her was more accurate.
"Inari Kagura-senpai!! Go!! Crush them!!"
"Kagura-oneesan!! Go!!"
"Haha~ Turbo-chan and Palmer-chan are both so excited. Do you really like Kagura that much?"
Nice Nature felt like Twin Turbo was about to spring right out of her arms, and Mejiro Palmer beside her had nearly yanked her skirt down in excitement. Laughing, she rubbed both little Umamusume on the head.
"Kagura-oneesan is super cool, okay?!"
"Inari Kagura-senpai's form... ah..."
"Ahh... Kagura-sensei...! So cool... I'm dying..."
Under the voices of the two little Umamusume, Nice Nature thought she heard some other girls in the stands behind them saying strange things, along with the sound of something heavy collapsing to the ground. But when she turned around, all she saw were two elderly Umamusume.
The seats behind us are way more chaotic than I expected...
She had no idea what was happening back there, but from the sounds of it, the place was nearly as noisy as a marketplace.
"What a roller coaster... this kid always manages to pull some kind of stunt that scares the life out of you. More importantly, can anyone really master both Runaway and End Closer at the same time?"
Mejiro Iris had been sure Kagura was in trouble, but only let out a long breath of relief once she saw her come tearing out from the rear and begin passing one opponent after another.
"Maybe that girl Kagura... actually doesn't know how to run Front Runner at all? What if what she can do is Pace Chaser and End Closer, and she just runs so fast while pacing that it looks like Runaway?"
"Even Maruzensky wasn't that fast back then..."
Mejiro Iris found it hard to believe, but what Speed said wasn't entirely unreasonable. Compared to Front Runner and End Closer, a combination of Pace Chaser and End Closer did sound at least a little more plausible.
"The race is only a little past halfway, and Inari Kagura has surged from last all the way into first with astonishing speed!!"
"I've heard she hasn't even reached honkaku yet, and she's been charging the whole time on the far outside. Can her stamina really support such a reckless move?!"
The commentator remembered having a similar doubt the last time he had called one of Kagura's races here at Tokyo Racecourse. Back then, too, Kagura had proven herself through sheer ability—on a terrible track, no less, she had still used a Runaway strategy to lead from start to finish. But today she had blasted the entire way around the far outside, and after a slow start at that. Could a child who hadn't even reached honkaku really do something like this?
And yet as he watched Kagura pass every one of her rivals and continue to open the gap at a frankly terrifying pace, charging toward the next turn without slowing in the slightest, even he found himself hoping to see the image of her crossing the finish line alone.
"If all of you are going to run this slowly, then I'll just have to take advantage of that... senpai."
Kagura had no intention of holding back in the first place. If the pack behind her still didn't want to spend the stamina to accelerate, then she wasn't going to be polite about it.
That thing up front... what the hell is she?! One thing if she cuts straight to the far outside, but she's still staying out there without coming back in! Is her stamina bottomless!?
Second place was already nearly six lengths behind Kagura. At this point, even if the others still needed to manage their stamina, there was no way they could afford not to speed up. Objectively, yes, it slowed the rate at which the gap was growing—but only slowed it. The distance was still increasing.
"THE PACE OF THE RACE HAS BEEN DRAGGED BRUTALLY HIGH! IF THE RUNNERS BEHIND DON'T ACCELERATE NOW, THEY'RE IN DANGER! EVERY RUNNER IS INCREASING SPEED TO VARYING DEGREES—BUT THE GAP STILL ISN'T SHRINKING!!"
"WHAT KIND OF MONSTERS ARE THE UMAMUSUME AT CENTRAL?! WHY WOULD SOMEONE LIKE THIS BE IN SUPPORT UMAMUSUME?! OR DO YOU NEED THIS LEVEL OF TALENT JUST TO QUALIFY FOR SUPPORT STAFF?!"
The host and commentator's excited voices whipped up the crowd as well. Screams, cheers, applause—noise overflowed through the racecourse in an unending uproar. To the runners left behind, it sounded especially grating, but there was nothing they could do. They had already accelerated as hard as they could without losing speed, and still they couldn't close the gap.
Against the noisy, jubilant frenzy of the stands, the despair and wailing on the track formed a stark contrast. Kagura was like the celestial body that eclipsed the sun, stealing every eye for herself and casting boundless darkness over everything behind her. Just like Tracen's motto—just like that line people had once used, centuries ago, to describe an eclipse—
One horse in front, and all the rest lose their light!
"INARI KAGURA IS THE FIRST THROUGH THE TURN AND INTO THE FINAL STRAIGHT!! SH-SHE'S ACCELERATING AGAIN!! AFTER RUNNING LIKE THAT FOR A FULL LAP, SHE STILL HAS ENOUGH LEFT TO SPEED UP?!"
"THE OTHER RUNNERS BEHIND ARE ACCELERATING TOO, BUT THE GAP ISN'T SHRINKING—IT'S WIDENING!! IT'S STILL WIDENING!!"
"THAT'S JUST RIDICULOUS!!!"
The other Umamusume on the track cried out in despair.
If you were standing close enough to the course, you could clearly hear a whole chorus of "Kaki!!" rising from the track.
"So fast, so fast!! Inari Kagura is darting across the track like a shadow!! No one has the ability to close the distance anymore!!"
"INARI KAGURA HAS ONCE AGAIN DEMONSTRATED HER OVERWHELMING STRENGTH, UTTERLY DOMINATING THIS RACE THROUGH ABSOLUTE ABILITY!!"
"INARI KAGURA CROSSES THE FINISH LINE—WITH A MASSIVE GAP!!"
As the commentator's excited, exhilarated voice rang out across the course, thunderous applause erupted in the stadium, and an enormous cheer swallowed the entire venue whole.
Already across the finish line, Kagura kept jogging forward to bleed off her speed, gradually slowing as she raised both hands and smiled, waving to the crowd.
"Thank you—! Thank you, everyone, for the applause and cheers!!"
---
T/N: welcome back inari kagura
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