"First favorite! Number twelve! Tokai Teio!"
The female commentator's passionate words were blurred by the onslaught of the rain, but Celestial Weave could still feel the thunderous cheers of the crowd penetrating the walls, a testament to the immense expectations placed upon her opponent.
She leaned against the cold wall, her two black horse ears drooping listlessly. Her eyes, hidden beneath her bangs, stared intently at the ground, as if trying to decipher some secret from the uninteresting floor.
"My very first debut race... and I have to face a genius like her?"
Celestial Weave sighed softly, a bitter smile gracing her lips, a helpless acknowledgment of her circumstances.
"First, Mom suddenly falls gravely ill and into a coma, forcing me to take on part-time jobs to cover the medical bills."
"I gave it my all just to get into Tracen Academy, with no energy left to even celebrate, only to be hit with the news that our family's funds are nearly depleted."
"I didn't even have time to look for a trainer. I just signed up for the debut race on my own, hoping that with a bit of luck, I could place in the top three. The prize money would ease the pressure a little..."
"But I was so busy with work that I never even checked the roster for this race. It's only now that I realize I'm up against that kind of genius..."
Muttering to herself, Celestial Weave kicked the wall behind her. The clang of steel against concrete echoed through the otherwise empty entryway, lingering for a long moment.
"This is my second life, and I'm still so useless."
She took a deep breath, forcing all her frustration and stress back down into the pit of her stomach. She'd vented enough; any more complaining would only add an unnecessary burden to the upcoming race.
Celestial Weave straightened up, her body once again bearing its full weight. With nimble fingers, she retied the red ribbon in her hair, forming her signature single ponytail.
This was no time for self-pity. It was time to go.
As if in response to her resolve, the commentator's voice echoed from the track.
"Number thirteen, Celestial Weave!"
Answering the call, the black-haired, black-eyed horse girl stepped out into the pouring rain.
What Celestial Weave didn't notice was that as she focused all her attention on the racecourse, a cold, mechanical voice sounded in her ear.
"Detection... successful..."
"Horse Girl... Reproduction... Engaging..."
"Scenario... construction complete..."
"World Line, overwriting."
Behind her, a bright red, round alarm clock suddenly materialized in the entrance tunnel. The tick-tock of its pendulum echoed down the deserted corridor.
"Initial mission construction successful."
"Objective—Champion of the Debut Race!"
The moment Celestial Weave's feet touched the green turf of the track, she truly understood what the name "Tokai Teio" meant.
Without the concrete walls to block it, the roar of the crowd rushed into her ears, completely unobstructed. The sheer heat of their passion felt like a raging fire, so intense that it seemed to evaporate the gray curtain of rain. A cloud of whitish steam swirled around her the instant she appeared, and the unbearable heat made her feel, for a dizzying moment, as if she were being roasted over an open flame.
But it's raining right now, isn't it?
The sensation, so contrary to common sense, vanished the moment she became aware of it. The searing heat felt like nothing more than a hallucination.
But for some reason, her instincts told her that the bizarre moment had not been a mere illusion.
Perhaps this was something every horse girl experienced when she stepped onto the track.
The competitive spirit, the will to win, the reasons you absolutely could not lose, the outcome of failure you could never accept—all these thoughts and feelings merged with the sight of a powerful opponent, creating a battlefield that, while only existing for a few minutes, was absolutely real.
The battlefield of the horse girls.
Celestial Weave looked up, her gaze following the direction where the heat had been most intense. A petite horse girl with a white, crescent-moon-shaped bang was facing away from her, enthusiastically waving to the cheering stands.
"So that's... Tokai Teio."
Celestial Weave stared at the small figure, nearly swallowed by the downpour, and for a long moment, she couldn't tear her eyes away.
"Such cheers, such passion... Is this what the audience expects? A true star of tomorrow."
She narrowed her eyes. The rain fell like a curtain, blurring her vision, yet it somehow allowed her to almost feel the tangible heat of the cheers surrounding Tokai Teio.
"She's amazing, isn't she? Tokai Teio."
A strange voice spoke beside her, pulling her back to reality.
Celestial Weave turned to see a horse girl with reddish-brown hair playfully twirling a lock of it around her finger, her gaze fixed on the distant Tokai Teio.
Seeming to notice Celestial Weave's gaze, the horse girl smiled and introduced herself first.
"My name is Nice Nature. Despite the name, I'm not actually that talented. You can just call me Nature."
Nice Nature blinked her brown eyes at Celestial Weave.
"What about you? I don't think I've seen you around. Are you a new student this year?"
Just as Celestial Weave was about to respond to the kind gesture, the commentator's voice echoed across the racetrack, interrupting her.
"All racers, to your gates!"
Hearing the announcement, Nice Nature mouthed "Let's talk after the race" to Celestial Weave, gave a small wave, and ran off toward her starting gate.
"Not that talented... huh?"
Celestial Weave watched the kind horse girl and muttered to herself.
She shook her head, said no more, and slapped her cheeks, entering her own number thirteen gate.
Within the narrow space, all Celestial Weave could see was the green track before her.
The roar of the crowd, the voice of the commentator—in that moment, every sound seemed to sync with the beat of her own heart.
BANG!
With the sound of the starting pistol, the gates flew open. The power she had been holding back erupted in an instant. Celestial Weave shot onto the track, the world around her distorting with speed, like looking through a pane of frosted glass that separated the racers from the audience.
On the track, there is only the battlefield.
Celestial Weave gritted her teeth, pushing forward with all her might. Even though she was moving fast enough to break through the curtain of rain, she still couldn't break free from the pack.
Because on this track, everyone was a horse girl.
Because everyone standing on this track possessed that same incredible speed.
Celestial Weave squinted, her frustration mounting. Through the gaps in the crowded pack, she watched as a streak of white light, seeming to pierce the very rain itself, pulled further and further away from her until, just before a turn, it vanished from sight completely.
For a horse girl, a race is brief. But for Celestial Weave, it felt agonizingly long. She knew from the start that she had already lost, yet she was forced to be swept along by the crowd, running the entire course.
The torment only ended the moment she crossed the finish line.
Her breathing heavy, Celestial Weave stood among the other racers, her gaze fixed on the white crescent bang of the girl ahead, who was already basking in the crowd's cheers. In the gray rain, only one person could be the star.
"Is it over...?"
"...But... of course, I still feel... so frustrated."
Her vision blurred as she looked at the cheering crowd. The next second, the world in her eyes suddenly dissolved into a vortex of reversed white lines. Her eyes flew wide open, but nothing had changed.
This wasn't a hallucination born from her dazed state. It was reality.
"What—"
Before she could finish her thought, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in her mind.
"Initial mission failed... commencing reset."
"Current failure count: one."
The sound of grinding gears filled the air, like some great machine being fueled for production. A scorching mist, like that from steel being plunged into a furnace, filled her vision.
When Celestial Weave opened her eyes again, she was standing in the entrance tunnel once more.
A round, red alarm clock stood at her feet, its pendulum swinging with a steady tick-tock.
-------
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