Chapter 24. A Long-Awaited Encounter on the Eve of the Satsuki Sho (Part 2)
However, just as Tokai Teio shifted outward to secure space and prepare to advance, Mori Becker aboard Rough Habit instantly noticed the movement.
As a Hall-of-Fame jockey from New Zealand, his race instincts were exceptionally sharp. The moment he sensed Tokai Teio's intention, he immediately guided Rough Habit diagonally outward, directly cutting off the path Tokai Teio intended to use.
"Tsk."
Shuta An and Tokai Teio reacted with identical annoyance at the exact same moment.
Realizing there was no room to force the issue, the young man decisively abandoned the idea of advancing here. He calmly guided Tokai Teio back toward the rail, settling once more at the rear of the field.
"That was a slight loss." Matsumoto Shoichi stared at the big screen and spoke quietly. "He already committed to accelerating there, but got blocked before he could move up. It's essentially wasted stamina."
"The overseas jockeys really are incredible." Uchimura Masanori could not help sighing. "Even Shuta-kun has moments where he gets shut down."
"Our country's jockeys are basically greenhouse flowers in comparison—"
Matsumoto Shoichi continued in a low voice.
"Aside from someone like Shuta-kun, who's practically a natural monster, only jockeys like Yutaka Take — people willing to polish themselves overseas — have any chance of closing the gap."
His eyes remained fixed upon the race.
"These elite overseas jockeys are terrifyingly sharp. If this were Japan, Teio's move just now—besides Take-san, Okabe-san, and Shibata-san, probably nobody else could've defended against it in time. And even those three would struggle if their mount's ability fell too far below Teio's level."
Uchimura Masanori frowned deeply.
"I just hope Shuta-kun finds a way through. If Mori Becker keeps marking Teio this tightly, things will become troublesome."
He unconsciously tightened his fists.
"Teio cannot lose… He carries the hopes of our entire country."
Matsumoto Shoichi turned slightly, glancing toward the foreign spectators behind them who were also cheering for Tokai Teio.
Then he corrected him calmly.
"No. Teio carries the expectations of fans all over the world."
—
After passing the end of the backstretch, the field entered the second bend.
Because of Mori Becker's defensive move earlier, Shuta An clearly understood that Rough Habit's jockey was now vigilantly guarding against Tokai Teio's every action. Since that was the case, he simply stopped trying to force anything.
He allowed Tokai Teio to continue following quietly at the rear, maintaining an ordinary rhythm while conserving energy.
"I refuse to believe Rough Habit doesn't still want to win this race himself," Shuta An thought inwardly while continuing his steady push-riding. "There's no way Becker can afford to keep watching only us forever."
Meanwhile, Veander cross and Jim Wallker established a first-half pace of sixty-three seconds for the opening 1000 meters.
A slow race.
And for Tokai Teio, that was favorable.
Having already recognized the tempo clearly, Shuta An remained completely unhurried. Randwick Racecourse possessed a final straight exceeding 400 meters in length — only roughly one hundred meters shorter than Tokyo Racecourse's famous stretch.
That was more than enough.
Enough for both him and Tokai Teio to hunt everything down.
Tokai Teio herself was equally unconcerned.
Since her attempt to advance early had been denied, she and Shuta An naturally returned to the same conclusion once again—
Wait until the final straight.
After all, she refused to believe that once the decisive phase truly began, all four rivals ahead would still remain entirely focused on suppressing her.
…As they approached the entrance to the final straight, Shuta An noticed something immediately.
Excluding Veander cross, the other three jockeys had all begun angling outward in preparation for their final acceleration.
Because every one of them had reached similar conclusions, each horse shifted to a different extent.
Rough Habit, closest to Tokai Teio, moved out the widest.
Durbridge, furthest ahead, angled outward the least.
But regardless of their positioning—
with just over 300 meters remaining, the moment Shuta An lifted his eyes, Veander cross's hindquarters were already directly in front of him.
"Do I even still need to angle out?"
If he had not been riding against the wind atop Tokai Teio, Shuta An genuinely felt he might have laughed out loud.
Switching the whip into his left hand, he first flicked it lightly beside Tokai Teio's left eye.
It was merely a signal.
A warning.
If his acceleration proved insufficient, the whip would vanish from his sight… and land against his hindquarters instead.
But how could Tokai Teio possibly allow that?
She had absolutely no interest in being whipped.
The instant the whip entered her field of vision, Tokai Teio immediately changed leads.
And in the next instant—
her speed exploded upward.
"Whoosh—!"
In merely a few strides, she swept past Rough Habit.
Mori Becker had still been fully concentrated on attacking the fading Weetulta ahead when Tokai Teio's figure abruptly appeared within the corner of his vision.
His expression instantly changed.
"Not good—I forgot Tokai Teio was behind me!"
But by now, it was already too late.
Weetulta occupied the space between Rough Habit and the rail, making it impossible for Becker to close the opening again.
Tokai Teio surged through effortlessly.
Within only a few more strides, she overtook both Rough Habit and Weetulta in one motion.
The moment Shuta An sensed Tokai Teio's acceleration had fully ignited, he immediately abandoned any intention of using the whip.
Instead, he intensified his push-riding even further.
Every action focused on one purpose—minimizing Tokai Teio's physical expenditure while preserving the maximum possible momentum.
Ahead, jockey D. Oliver aboard Durbridge suddenly heard the thunder of hoofbeats rapidly approaching from behind.
Instinctively glancing backward, his pupils contracted violently.
The shock made his whip slip straight from his hand.
Tokai Teio was charging forward with overwhelming momentum.
Unstoppable.
Meanwhile, Jim Wallker aboard Veander cross was the final jockey to notice them.
By the time he realized Tokai Teio was already there, Shuta An and Tokai Teio had overtaken Durbridge along the inside rail and surged into second place.
"So fast!"
Jim Wallker no longer had time for careful judgment.
He immediately began swinging his whip in fierce windmill motions with his right hand, desperately trying to preserve Veandercross's speed all the way to the finish line while simultaneously sealing the narrowing gap between Durbridge and the leader.
Tokai Teio stared ahead calmly.
"The opening's getting smaller… forcing through there would be difficult now."
However—
Shuta An never intended to force Tokai Teio through the shrinking inner gap at all.
Once again, he flashed the signaling whip beside her left side.
At the same time, he kept Tokai Teio pressed tightly against the rail, forcing a brutal inside overtake while directly enduring the arc of Jim Wallker's swinging whip.
"Thwack!"
One strike landed hard against Shuta An's calf.
Pain shot upward instantly, causing his expression to tighten briefly.
But the young man endured it entirely through sheer willpower.
His push-riding never weakened.
And Tokai Teio did not betray that sacrifice.
With fifty meters remaining—she surged past Veandercross completely.
And immediately began widening the gap.
"Tokai Teio takes the lead!! He's shaken off every rival behind him!!"
The live commentator's voice exploded across Randwick Racecourse.
At almost the exact same moment, Matsumoto Shoichi and Uchimura Masanori embraced each other violently within the grandstands while photographers around them frantically snapped pictures nonstop.
"Shuta-kun and Teio did it!! We won!!"
Matsumoto Shoichi shouted loudly enough for his voice to nearly crack.
"Amazing… amazing… amazing…"
Uchimura Masanori's entire body trembled uncontrollably.
With only ten meters left before the finish line, Shuta An suddenly tightened his legs against Tokai Teio's flanks.
Using extraordinary core strength, he straightened his back completely, twisted his upper body toward the grandstands—and swung a beautiful celebratory whip high through the air with his left hand.
Because he momentarily stopped pushing, Tokai Teio naturally began easing her speed the instant she crossed the finish line.
But that brief pause also gave Shuta An enough freedom to shout against the roaring wind—
"Teio!!!"
Then he turned back immediately, lowered his body once more, and gradually guided Tokai Teio down from racing speed.
Inside the commentary booth, the live commentator had already raised both arms overhead in excitement.
"The world's Tokai Teio!! This is the brilliance of an Undefeated Triple Crown champion!!"
"Are the people at Moonee Valley Racecourse watching this?!"
"I want to see Tokai Teio's name on the Cox Plate entry list this spring!! Please—let me see it happen!!"
While Shuta An celebrated the victory, Tokai Teio herself remained immersed in the sensation from moments earlier.
The feeling of forcefully overtaking through the inside lane.
The sharpness of that positioning.
The timing.
The acceleration.
"So this kind of overtake…is possible too."
That realization quietly surfaced within her mind.
"If I can do it in the Dream…"
Tokai Teio slowly tightened her thoughts.
"Then I can absolutely do it in reality too."
—
The next morning, Shuta An and Mejiro Dober woke almost at the same time.
The young man turned his head slightly, his gaze falling upon the hand Mejiro Dober still stubbornly held against his. Her eyelashes trembled faintly, the subtle stiffness in her breathing making it obvious she was pretending to remain asleep. Shuta An glanced at the time displayed on the monitor above them, and after a brief pause, silently abandoned the idea of teasing her.
Carefully loosening their intertwined fingers, he quietly rose from his seat and took his toiletry bag toward the lavatory. Along the way, he checked the remaining flight time.
"Still thirty minutes until landing…"
he murmured inwardly while washing his face beneath the running water.
"Book an hourly room near Nakayama Racecourse, take a quick shower, change clothes, then head directly to the owner's Box."
As cold water ran across his fingertips, the young man continued organizing the day's schedule in his head.
"If Teio wins, the celebration gathering will have to wait until tomorrow. If I attend a post-race banquet today, I definitely won't make it home in time for dinner tonight."
Then, almost unconsciously, his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
"But that final inside overtake in the Dream World last night really was beautiful…" Shuta An lowered his gaze slightly. "The reporters afterward were all discussing that route choice."
Even now, the image remained vivid in his mind. Tokai Teio's explosive acceleration through the narrow rail-side opening, the instant judgment beneath crushing pressure, the overwhelming sense of inevitability when horse and jockey synchronized completely—
It was enough to leave even him lingering in the aftertaste.
—
By the time Shuta An returned to his seat, Mejiro Dober had already stopped pretending to sleep.
She lowered her eyes quietly while organizing her own toiletry bag, her movements restrained and elegant, though the faint redness lingering at the tips of her ears had yet to fade completely.
Hearing footsteps approach, she merely nodded silently before standing up and heading toward the lavatory.
Shuta An watched her retreating figure for several seconds, a faint smile unconsciously surfacing at the corner of his lips.
Neither of them spoke.
But both understood clearly that the relationship between them had already crossed an invisible boundary. Even if nothing dramatic had changed overnight, they still needed time to slowly adapt to this newly altered distance.
"Speaking of which…" the young man leaned back into his seat, rubbing the bridge of his nose helplessly. "I'll probably have to deal with Ms. Ramonu's questioning later."
Thinking about Mejiro Ramonu's terrifyingly sharp intuition immediately gave him a headache.
"In the past, we interacted as equals—" he muttered inwardly. "But now I might actually have to call her 'senior.'"
Then another thought surfaced.
"Though honestly, I still don't know whether Ms. Ramonu is older or younger than me. If she's older, maybe the psychological pressure would actually be easier to deal with"
His thoughts drifted aimlessly until the aircraft finally landed at Haneda Airport.
After disembarking, Shuta An briefly explained the day's schedule to Mejiro Dober while walking through the terminal with their luggage.
Mejiro Dober listened quietly beside him, her suitcase rolling softly across the floor. When he finished speaking, she tilted her head slightly.
"Of course, I'll stay with my Trainer—"
The young man's eyes curved faintly with amusement.
"You can use a different form of address now, can't you?"
Mejiro Dober's face immediately flushed red. Even her voice softened considerably afterward.
"I understand. I'll stay with Ann today."
Unlike Australia, there was naturally no private airport pickup waiting for them in Japan. Meanwhile, the NHK production staff were still busy organizing equipment and luggage nearby. Since both sides would reunite at Nakayama Racecourse later anyway, the crew tactfully chose not to follow immediately.
After all, even documentary directors understood the importance of giving their subjects personal space.
After taking a taxi to the hotel near Nakayama Racecourse, Shuta An deliberately booked two separate hourly rooms.
Entering his room, he quickly removed his clothes and headed straight into the shower.
Even though the first-class cabin had been comfortable enough, spending over ten consecutive hours aboard a plane still left an unpleasant sense of fatigue clinging to his body.
As warm water cascaded down over his shoulders, Shuta An finally remembered to check the reward granted by the Attribute Viewer after last night's Dream World race.
But after reading the contents, his expression froze slightly.
The reward this time…was not for him.
"Your excellent route judgment and positioning allowed the audience and commentators to witness an unforgettable performance. Such brilliance deserves to remain in this world. Through this race, Tokai Teio has gained deeper inspiration regarding positioning and acceleration path selection."
"Teio comprehended something from this race?"
Shuta An frowned unconsciously beneath the shower.
"Why would the Attribute Viewer specifically mention her…"
A possibility surfaced in his mind almost immediately.
"Could it be she also participated in that Dream World race?"
But after several seconds of silence, the young man shook his head with a faint self-deprecating smile.
The thought faded there.
After drying himself off, Shuta An changed clothes, reorganized his luggage, and finally stepped out of the room only after hearing Mejiro Dober call from outside.
"Let's go," he said while carrying his suitcase. "Time to head to Nakayama Racecourse."
Standing beside him, Mejiro Dober carried a faint scent of fig fragrance. It was obvious she had spent considerable effort grooming herself after showering.
Even without carefully observing, Shuta An could tell she had lightly applied makeup. And when their hands briefly touched, the smooth softness against his palm clearly revealed the use of hand cream.
The young man pursed his lips slightly.
But in the end, he still chose not to comment.
Dober was far too shy. If he openly praised her appearance right now, she would probably become so embarrassed she wouldn't know where to look.
After leaving the hotel, Mejiro Dober was the first to speak.
"Teio-chan drew the outermost gate this time, right?"
Walking slightly ahead, Shuta An nodded.
"Gate eighteen. Furthest outside. Not exactly ideal."
"But this is Nakayama Racecourse." Mejiro Dober thought carefully before continuing. "The opening straight isn't short. As long as Teio accelerates early enough, there shouldn't be major issues, right?"
"But precisely because she drew the outermost gate, she'll be forced to expend extra stamina early just to avoid losing position." Shuta An shrugged lightly. "That alone is already a disadvantage."
Mejiro Dober fell silent briefly before nodding.
"That's true."
After arriving at Nakayama Racecourse, Shuta An had no intention of waiting at the entrance for the NHK production crew.
Back in Japan, NHK would already be switching to a different photography team. The staff who had accompanied them to Australia could finally take a proper break.
Only the director remained unchanged.
And because of that, he already knew exactly which owner's Box Shuta An would be using today.
After sending the director a brief message, the young man simply led Mejiro Dober toward the Box first.
"Will Teio win today?" Mejiro Dober suddenly asked while walking beside him.
Then, after a brief pause, she added quietly:
"How confident are you in Teio?"
Shuta An stopped walking.
He turned around slowly and looked directly into Mejiro Dober's eyes.
"One hundred percent."
There was not the slightest hesitation in his answer.
"I believe Tokai Teio can do it. Even the outermost gate won't stop her desire to win."
As a fellow Triple Tiara champion, Mejiro Dober naturally understood the weight hidden behind those words.
After several seconds of silence, she lowered her gaze gently and offered her blessing toward the junior waiting for battle ahead.
"I hope everything goes smoothly."