"All racers, please take your positions!"
Rin Akasaka's voice echoed through the Tokyo Racecourse. Hearing the command, Nakayama Knight shook her head to clear her mind and walked towards her gate. But in those short few dozen meters, she couldn't help but turn her head to look at her again and again.
There was nothing special about her, just like before. If there was, it might be the non-standard equipment she was wearing, which was out of place with the other central horse girls. But what could that represent? It only showed that her so-called Kasamatsu Tracen couldn't even provide a standard set of equipment.
After comforting herself a little, she walked into the gate and quietly waited for the starting pistol.
BANG!
The gun fired. Thirteen horse girls burst from the gates. But this uniformity only lasted for an instant. The moment after all the horse girls had started, a red streak of light tore through all the encirclements with an unstoppable force, like a drawn blade, splitting the track into two halves.
The winner, and the losers.
The losers included Nakayama Knight, World Ace, Deep Brillante, and a total of twelve other horse girls. And the winner's name was only one—
Celestial Weave.
The moment the demon blade was drawn, the false peace was instantly shattered. In fact, most of the horse girls at the central Tracen didn't expect to have very good results, nor did they ever fantasize about defeating a prestigious family even once. They just followed their trainers' words, step by step, and completed their mediocre and uninteresting careers. Most of them would win a few Open-class prizes, a few might have a chance to win a G3, and only a few with excellent talent who were unwilling to be mediocre would have a chance to snatch a G2 under the heavy pressure of the prestigious families.
This lukewarm environment had long since made most of the central Tracen horse girls lose their so-called fighting spirit. The winner was often decided before the race even began. In a silent exchange, they had reached a tacit peace. Not just her, but all the horse girls would silently rank the order of this race in their hearts. After knowing that they couldn't win, they would naturally choose to give up. In this, a country horse girl from the local circuit would naturally be tacitly ranked last by all of them.
But now, in this one instant, the roar of the hot air blast from Celestial Weave's charge had shattered all their fantasies. This horse girl whom they all looked down on, whom they had already tacitly agreed would be last, had left them all behind with her terrifying Great Escape. A... local... horse girl?!
Nakayama Knight gritted her teeth. Then what was the point of her fighting so hard to get from the local circuit to the central one?! She disregarded tactics, disregarded stamina, and desperately charged forward. Under the shock brought by her opponent, she had already forgotten about competing for the championship. What she wanted now was just that little bit of pitiful pride.
If she could just get close to her, even if it was just for a fleeting moment of surpassing her, she would have a reason to calm herself down. Yes, my failure was not because I couldn't outrun this country horse girl. I was just blinded by a momentary anger.If I did it again, a calmer me would definitely be able to pull that country horse girl down from the championship throne.
But just as she was about to accelerate, her body completely refused to listen to her. No matter how much she wanted to run, her legs seemed to be resisting something and refused to charge forward. "Eh?"
Her heart was pounding, and strength was continuously flowing to her limbs. Her legs were clearly signaling that they wanted to run, but why? Why couldn't she accelerate?
Her eyes were filled with confusion. She looked at the red streak of light ahead and, in a daze, suddenly remembered a line from an animal documentary she had watched as a child. "In nature, when a weak creature encounters a strong one, the only thing it can and should do is—"
"Flee."
She lowered her head and looked at her running legs as if she understood something. It wasn't that she couldn't run, nor that her body was unwilling to run, but that it was afraid to run forward. Her instincts were already afraid, timid. Never mind getting close to her, it even wanted to stop on the spot and turn around and run in the opposite direction.
"How... is that possible..."
"On a race like this... how could there be such a monster?!"
The moment she realized her instincts, her will collapsed. She didn't even dare to chase. How could she convince herself that this race was just a temporary setback? Gradually, she couldn't even maintain her original speed. The horse girls who had caught up surrounded her in the group. She could only watch as that red streak of light disappeared from her sight at a speed she could never hope to reach.
"Number seven, Celestial Weave! It's her signature Great Escape again!"
"She's already left all the other horse girls behind! Can she maintain this speed until the end?!"
"The answer is yes! Easily yes! Absolutely yes! She will leave all the other horse girls behind with this unparalleled Great Escape, just as she did in her local races!"
"Go! The hero from the countryside! Let the people of the central circuit see your brilliance!"
Rin Akasaka's commentary was almost frantic. And it was precisely this kind of commentary, which seemed to have been exchanged for everything she had, that had allowed her to stand out from the local circuit and come to the central one. The audience, whose hearts were already boiling because of the race, became even more uncontrollable after hearing her commentary.
A racetrack with only prestigious families was too boring. A racetrack with only the central Tracen was too boring. For the sake of victory, the prestigious families would only pursue the safest running styles and tactics. In the eyes of the experts, every race had a subtle and wonderful confrontation. But in the eyes of the ordinary audience, all they could see was one repetitive race after another. No matter how flowery the commentator's words were, the racetrack they could see would not change. As for the horse girls from the central Tracen, they were even more boring. What was the point of watching a race where the rankings were decided before it even began?
So, her speed, her Great Escape, that crimson streak of light that seemed to shatter all the red tape, was what allowed the audience to feel a long-lost excitement. This is what a horse girl race should be like, the young audience thought, clenching their hands and shouting.
And some of the older spectators had already shed tears unconsciously. They looked at the track and remembered the past. So dazzling... it's almost like being back in that—
Miracle Generation.
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