The winner's stage!
Just like the name implied, only the victorious horse girls were qualified to stand at the center as the main act.
The others who finished with high placings took the role of backup dancers, performing for the fans in the stands.
Horse girls already had an idol element to them by nature. After winning a race, they were expected to offer a performance on top of it. As today's winner, she was of course supposed to go on stage together with Vodka.
But this announcement brought a slight shock to Frankel.
For her, the post-race stage performance was actually harder than the race itself.
Special Week going up on stage, the winner's stage live, awkwardly crashing and burning…
Then Oguri Cap going up as well, with the same kind of disaster.
In an instant, once those memories fully resurfaced, Frankel's expression turned very strange.
But… as a horse girl, she couldn't run away!
Being stiff and awkward on stage could be chalked up to various reasons. Not going up on stage at all, however, was a question of attitude.
That would be disrespectful to the other horse girls dancing beside her, discouraging to the fans, and even an insult to the profession itself.
Besides, in her previous life she had been a dedicated spectator who lived for the fun of it. If she ran away now, wouldn't that be way too boring?
"Alright, I understand."
In that case… she could only learn from Cap-sama and Totta-chan and go for it!
If Oguri Cap and Special Week could go on stage even when they couldn't dance, then she could too!
The peerless prodigy girl with a gallant bearing made up her mind.
The next moment, this wine-red haired girl, overflowing with presence, stepped forward with elegance and strode toward the stage.
…
A few hours later, the once gallant, absolutely stunning girl left the stage with a dark expression, one hand on the wall for support.
"Th–this is the worst…"
The next morning.
In the clubroom, a handsome black-haired young man crossed his legs, ready to check the post-race commentary on Frankel's debut from the day before.
He opened the official race website and began to search.
The moment the page loaded, a string of headlines made Mochizuki Toru raise an eyebrow in mild surprise.
"Shocking: the much-anticipated super rookie Vodka beaten by a mysterious dark horse?!"
"A monster named Frankel descends: sweeping the field from the outside lane!"
"Incredible! A genius with the potential to become the next-generation king after Air Groove is born!"
"Special Week-style faceplant reenacted! A must-see winner's stage performance with massive contrast!"
Among the top trending news items, every single one of them… was about Frankel, the horse girl he transformed into.
When he saw the first three, full of praise, Mochizuki Toru's lips curled in a pleased smile.
But when his eyes fell on the fourth headline and he caught the words "winner's stage," his expression froze.
Grinding his teeth, Mochizuki clicked into the article, and the photo that greeted him was…
The awe-inspiring king who had ruled the track… tripping on the winner's stage and falling right onto Vodka, the backup dancer next to her, knocking her down.
A scene of indescribable shame, a brand-new piece of fresh black history from just yesterday, crashed straight into Mochizuki Toru's brain.
Forced to take part in the winner's stage, Frankel had been stiff as a board under the lights. She couldn't just stand there motionless, so she tried imitating the moves of Vodka beside her.
As she copied and copied… she stumbled, lost her footing, and toppled straight onto the diligent, dancing Vodka!
That one moment, instead of killing the mood, somehow sent the audience and reporters into a frenzy of excitement. A storm of shutter noises erupted.
"Damn this cursed black history!"
What Mochizuki hadn't expected, however, was that when he scrolled down into the comments section under this black-history record…
The replies were the complete opposite of what he'd imagined.
The criticism, disappointment, and mocking he had prepared himself for were nowhere to be seen.
"Daya-chan, who only likes Sega games: The race was so cool, and the performance after was super cute too. A horse girl this fun is totally worth being a solo oshi, just like Mejiro McQueen!"
"Digital Carbon: Such a dazzling, entertaining horse girl. She's got the regal aura of a Western monarch, but she's also a bit clumsy. I love it."
"Jet-Black Skyscraper: So all her stage practice time was spent on race training instead? Understandable."
…
To his surprise, most of the comments were actually positive.
Among the top replies, there were even horse girls expressing their understanding, and some users announcing they'd started following Frankel.
Many casual viewers were regretting that they'd missed such an interesting debut race.
"This kind of contrast… is actually making people like her more?"
"Plus… this was Frankel's very first race. At the very least, she showed the right attitude and didn't run away, so it didn't cause any backlash at all."
Mochizuki froze for a moment, but he quickly put the pieces together and figured out the reason.
After all, her opponent had been Vodka, a rising star already famous throughout Tracen Academy thanks to her repeated wins in practice races. Her popularity was far above that of an average debuting horse girl or a random graded-stakes runner.
Plenty of people saw Vodka as a future G1 champion.
Even so, just Vodka's loss alone wouldn't have drawn that many views. The critical factor was how absurdly entertaining the entire race had been.
The overwhelming favorite, Vodka, with a perfect start…
Versus the total long shot at the bottom of the odds board, Frankel, who had flubbed the break.
The top pick vs. the very last pick, such a huge contrast in expectations, then Frankel's five-length demolition of the field, and finally her recreating the legendary debut winner's stage wipeouts of Oguri Cap and Special Week…
With so many elements stacked together, a mere debut race now had more heat than plenty of G3 or even G2 events.
As the protagonist of the race and its ultimate winner, Frankel had quite literally become famous overnight.
"In that case, next time…"
Mochizuki's expression turned a little strange.
He couldn't possibly be stiff and clueless on stage every single time, right? He couldn't be like Meng Lei, getting humiliated on stage over and over again.
He had to find a way to learn proper stage performance!
At the same time.
Inside the student council office.
A tall, imposing horse girl with a commanding presence sat behind the desk, head lowered as she dealt with paperwork.
She was none other than the "Emperor" of the Japanese racetracks, the one who had climbed to the very top of Tracen Academy: Symboli Rudolf.
After achieving dazzling success and retiring in glory, Symboli Rudolf had taken on the role of student council president, working tirelessly to cultivate outstanding Japanese horse girls.
Beside Symboli Rudolf stood a petite, lively girl, lifting her knees high as she paced back and forth, clearly in high spirits.
Tokai Teio, who had watched the race the day before, spoke up with a bright grin.
"President, have you heard? A super dark horse has appeared!"
"She might be a super monster with the potential to surpass even you and me!"
Vodka.
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N/T: Hi everyone, I'm Zuru, an inexperienced translator and non-native English speaker, so if you notice any mistakes in the text, please let me know in the comments so I can fix them. By the way, I have a Patreon. There isn't much there yet, but it would really help me if you could consider joining.