Chapter 114.
As the grueling incline of the Yodo Slope began to burn in her calves, Rice Shower ruthlessly extinguished the sudden, tempting urge to sweep past Meisho Centro and apply early pressure on Mihono Bourbon.
I will run strictly according to his blueprint.
the Black Assassin resolved, keeping her breathing steady and her stride perfectly disciplined.
If I push forward right now, it might rattle Bourbon-san, but it could just as easily trigger a defensive protocol and make her even more flawless. I cannot take that gamble.
Abandoning any rogue tactical impulses, Rice Shower prioritized absolute stability. Today was about securing a definitive, undeniable victory.
At the absolute front of the pack, Glory Charge was dictating a 600-meter split of 36.0 seconds.
"The pace isn't overly hot yet. Factoring in the 3000-meter marathon distance, an opening 600 meters in 36 seconds is fundamentally standard."
Shuta An analyzed from the VIP Box.
"That's because literally no one is fighting her for the front, right?"
Kurofune tilted her head, watching the monitors.
"She screamed to the press that she would take the lead at all costs, and on an unmapped 3000-meter circuit, nobody wants to bleed stamina challenging her. It honestly looks like Glory Charge is going to get a completely free, comfortable escape."
"Is she really going unchallenged?"
Admire Vega murmured, her dark eyes detecting an invisible, chaotic current rippling beneath the surface of the race.
"It might look that way on paper, but we are only 600 meters in."
"I mean... probably not?"
Kurofune second-guessed herself, her confidence wavering under Vega's sharp intuition. She immediately glued her eyes back to the jumbo-tron, wondering what she had missed.
Shuta An had initially agreed with Kurofune's straightforward assessment, but Vega's ominous observation made him narrow his eyes and meticulously scan the front's biomechanics.
Rice Shower and the rest of the leading pack are completely dialed into their cruising rhythms. Nobody in the trailing group is burning fuel to fight for early positioning. So... is the anomaly coming from Mihono Bourbon?
As the broadcast camera cut to a tight close-up of Mihono Bourbon's face, the young man leaned closer to the glass.
Is it just my imagination?
Shuta An's mind raced.
Why does Bourbon's aura feel so incredibly turbulent?
—
A few dozen yards away in the Stakeholders' area, Trainer Kuronuma's face had drained of all color.
As her Master, no one in the world understood the intricate, cybernetic psychology of the "cyborg" better than him. And right now, HER machine was violently glitching.
Bourbon's emotional dampeners are failing—
Kuronuma gripped the steel railing so hard his knuckles turned white.
You have to hold on, Bourbon. Do not break.
He had no idea what was triggering this catastrophic emotional fluctuation, but Kuronuma knew with terrifying certainty that Bourbon was being dragged off her optimal operational track.
What exactly is happening out there?!
Desperate for answers, Kuronuma shot a frantic glance toward Shuta An, only to find the prodigy Trainer looking equally puzzled.
Even he can see she's unstable, but he doesn't know the cause either. It has nothing to do with Rice Shower's positioning.
Kuronuma deduced, his stomach twisting into knots.
I have to run diagnostics with her immediately after the race. I have to find the trigger.
—
Down on the Kyoto turf, Mihono Bourbon stared dead ahead at Glory Charge's swaying back. Deep within her processing core, a bizarre, highly corrosive, and entirely alien emotion began to flood her system:
Irritation.
If I were at the front—
Bourbon's synthetic gaze locked onto Glory Charge like a targeting laser. For the first time in her pristine, logical career, the cyborg began to actively, irrationally fantasize about usurping the front.
While Glory Charge had successfully executed her kamikaze start, she was fundamentally limited by her own anatomical ceiling. The moment she hit the unforgiving incline of the Slope Road, her cruising velocity visibly hemorrhaged. Consequently, the safety cushion she had built over Bourbon completely evaporated. Before they even reached the midpoint of the first turn, Bourbon was practically breathing down her neck, threatening to run neck-and-neck with the pacesetter.
Watching from the stands, Kuronuma knew Bourbon wasn't deliberately disobeying orders by closing the gap—Glory Charge was simply falling backward into her lap—but he was still paralyzed by anxiety.
Do not accelerate here— Bourbon, there is still an ocean of turf left to run.
Kuronuma whispered a desperate prayer that could never reach the ears of his Satsuki Sho Queen.
When Rice Shower realized Bourbon was suddenly riding Glory Charge's flank, her initial calculation was that Bourbon had abandoned her Master's restraint order. But the Black Assassin quickly corrected her read.
No. Glory Charge is bleeding speed on the incline. But she didn't struggle with inclines this badly during the Kobe Shimbun Hai. Is the psychological terror of the 3000-meter distance making her unconsciously hoard her stamina?
Rice Shower's amethyst eyes tracked the compression of the front, processing the shifting variables in real-time.
Will Bourbon-san take this opportunity to take over?
Rice Shower seamlessly adjusted her stride, preparing a binary tactical response. If Bourbon accelerated past Glory Charge, Rice would instantly downshift into third gear, step out of the shadows, and openly mark her, applying suffocating, undeniable pressure. If Bourbon held her ground, Rice would melt back into her cruising rhythm and continue to bide her time.
My stamina is great. As long as I don't let Bourbon-san sever the tether between us, I control this race.
Rice reasoned.
—
Meanwhile, trapped in the front, Mihono Bourbon was fighting a violent war within her own mind. The absolute front of the pack was dangling right in front of her face, effortlessly within reach.
Overdrive engaged! Seize the front! That position inherently belongs to me!
Her predatory instincts screamed.
Override. Execute Master's directive. You must maintain patience. Do not engage.
her logical programming fought back.
Bourbon's icy expression fractured, shifting rapidly as the internal conflict raged. Ultimately, her absolute loyalty to Kuronuma won out. She violently suppressed the burning urge to accelerate, forcing her stride to decelerate just enough to let Glory Charge keep the lead.
Glory Charge, hearing the thunder of hooves right on her flank, had fully braced herself to be overtaken and crushed by the cyborg. But to her profound shock, Mihono Bourbon closed the gap on the uphill... and then simply surrendered, tucking back into the slipstream.
I knew it! Even the great Mihono Bourbon is too terrified of the distance to challenge me for the lead!
Glory Charge's ego violently inflated. Drunk on her own perceived dominance, she turned her head, flashing Bourbon a smug, highly provocative smirk laced with undeniable mockery.
Every single pixel of that arrogant smile was recorded by Mihono Bourbon's optical sensors.
In that exact fraction of a second, Mihono Bourbon felt a profound, agonizing regret that she hadn't simply crushed Glory Charge when she had the chance. Glory Charge had grossly misinterpreted Bourbon's ironclad loyalty to her Master as a manifestation of athletic weakness, and she was tap-dancing on the cyborg's pride.
Inside Mihono Bourbon's chest, a terrifying, unquenchable inferno ignited. She didn't have a name for this raw, blistering emotion. It was a chaotic fury she had never experienced in training, in a race, or in her entire manufactured life.
But as the flames consumed her logic circuits, she only knew one absolute truth.
I am going to seize the advantage the second we enter the second bend. I will reclaim the position that belongs to me.
And in the blinding heat of that newfound rage, Mihono Bourbon completely forgot about the Assassin lurking in her shadow.