Having her ankle grabbed again, Seiun Sky's face went through about five different shades of embarrassment. She pushed through it, tied the red ribbon properly, and finally climbed down from Hayato's shoulders. "Done!"
Hayato slowly lowered her down and let out a long breath. That had been way more dangerous than it looked.
Seiun Sky stepped back to admire the hanging ribbon with a satisfied look on her face. Too bad she'd rushed over here without preparing a proper wish lantern or message plaque. Next time, she was definitely bringing a whole lantern.
"My turn!" King Halo laughed.
"Absolutely not. One person was enough." Hayato's shoulders were still aching.
"Tch!"
After leaving their memorial items, it was time for the actual prayers. The prayer hall stood right next to the sacred tree, with a long black table set up in front. On the table sat three different styles of fortune charms that visitors could take after praying. Some people liked writing on their charms or attaching four-leaf clovers to them.
Seiun Sky tossed some coins into the wooden offering box, then lightly rang the bell, clapped her hands twice, brought them together against her chest, and recited with complete seriousness, "Please let Seiun catch a big fish just like Trainer."
The others followed suit. Two claps, then hands together, standard prayer procedure.
King Halo was extremely serious, murmuring softly, "I want to become a first-class Uma Musume. I want to win the Triple Crown. Please, please make it happen."
Silence Suzuka's lips moved without sound, but she casually glanced toward Hayato, curious what wish he'd make.
Hayato half-jokingly thought to himself, "Give me a fair-skinned and beautiful Uma Musume."
The moment the thought finished, he snapped his mouth shut. Three pairs of eyes were staring at him like he was an idiot.
Wait, did they hear that? No way, right?
"Trainer just thought something weird, didn't he?" Seiun Sky's eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him repeatedly, wearing this expression as she'd seen right through everything.
"No, I didn't. You misheard. I clearly didn't say anything just now." Hayato firmly denied it and immediately turned it back on her. "What about you? Who exactly were you calling a big fish?"
He'd barely moved his lips and made almost no sound. How could they have possibly heard him?
"Don't change the subject. Confess, and I'll go easy on you. What were you just thinking?" Seiun Sky pressed relentlessly.
Seiun Sky hadn't caught the whole thing, but standing close to him, she'd picked up the last few words. Now she was curious.
"If you say your wish out loud, it won't come true, so I can't tell you."
"That's convenient—"
Just then, Hayato spotted three more Uma Musume climbing the shrine steps.
"Huh? The Scattered Triple Crown?" Hayato couldn't help but blurt it out.
"What scattered... what Triple Crown?" Seiun Sky blinked.
What did that have to do with making wishes?
Seiun Sky followed Hayato's gaze.
Now she was even more curious. The name alone sounded really powerful. Were they incredibly strong Uma Musume?
King Halo perked up. "Triple Crown? Are they challengers?"
The three arrivals were known as the New Heisei Three, successors to Oguri Cap's generation.
Winning Ticket, the Derby Uma Musume. She couldn't go three sentences without mentioning the Derby. Her biggest dream was participating in it.
Narita Taishin, the Satsuki Sho Uma Musume. She'd once beaten the other two in the Satsuki Sho, a prep race for the Classic Triple Crown.
Biwa Hayahide, older sister of the monster Narita Brian. Her signature achievement was winning the Kikka Sho championship.
Seeing all three of them together, Hayato felt genuinely surprised. These were outstanding Uma Musume from the generation after Oguri Cap. If they didn't have trainers yet, he'd love to recruit them too.
Though his wallet might actually die if he tried.
"Trainer, you still haven't told me what Scattered Triple Crown means." Seiun Sky grabbed Hayato's sleeve and tugged.
"One crown each, put them together, and you get three crowns as Scattered Triple Crown?" Hayato tapped her forehead with his finger.
"Oh." After being tapped, Seiun Sky nodded like she understood, though her expression suggested she absolutely didn't.
"People! There are people here!" Winning Ticket got super excited when she spotted them. "Are you here to pray for the Derby too?"
That single sentence left Narita Taishin beside her completely speechless. She hadn't even wanted to greet Hayato's group in the first place.
"Oh, you're that—that Gazing at the Sky girl!" Winning Ticket suddenly slapped her forehead. "I saw your race!"
"Hah?" Seiun Sky's cheek twitched. She quickly corrected with a strained smile, "My name is Seiun Sky, thank you very much."
"Oh, whoops! Got it wrong, huh?" Winning Ticket scratched her head sheepishly.
Then she immediately launched into it again. "Hey, do you know about the Derby? It's super amazing! Are you also preparing to enter the Derby? Is that why you came to pray?"
"Tickezo, that's enough." Narita Taishin sighed heavily. "I really can't stand you. Not every Uma Musume gets the chance to participate in the Derby, you know."
"She just debuted, right?" Biwa Hayahide adjusted her glasses and flipped her fluffy gray curls. "Even if she wanted to enter the Derby, it would have to be next year at the earliest."
Seiun Sky explained with a polite smile, "Sorry, but Seiun really won't be participating."
Suzuka watched the exchange quietly, standing slightly behind Hayato.
Listening to their conversation, Hayato felt increasingly uneasy. Hayato had to ask. "The Derby you're talking about is it this year's?"
"Yeah! Are you participating?" Winning Ticket turned to him enthusiastically, then noticed he had neither ears nor a tail. Her face went red. "Oh! Sorry, I mistook you for uma musume."
King Halo stepped forward, placing one hand on her hip in this model-like pose, looking at them with obvious challenge in her eyes.
"Since you're planning to participate in this year's Triple Crown races, that makes us rivals." She flipped her hair. "Allow me to introduce myself properly. Standing before you is a first-class Uma Musume, King Halo herself. Oh ho ho ho ho..."
Winning Ticket practically vibrated with excitement, like she'd found another kindred spirit, "Wait, so that means you're also entering the Derby?!"
King Halo looked incredibly proud. "To challenge the Triple Crown, naturally I have to participate in all of them."
"This is gonna be so fun! We can race together and—"
"Tickezo, calm down," Taishin muttered.
Hayato had completely tuned out their conversation. His brain was busy calculating just how screwed they were.
King Halo, you might not realize this, but your path to the Triple Crown just got about ten times harder.
Even as the "Scattered" Triple Crown, their combined strength was no joke.
Especially Biwa Hayahide, the older sister of the "Blindfolded Monster" Narita Brian.
As the monster's sister, how could she possibly be weak? Not only was she not weak, but she was also the strongest of the three standing here.
Her debut race had been won with a ten-length lead, beautifully called the "Victory Formula." She could calculate the entire process of a race and work out the optimal solution like it was a math problem.
And she'd done all that just to show Narita Brian, who'd lost her fighting spirit from never finding worthy opponents, that even winning could be interesting and challenging.
Biwa Hayahide was the one who'd broken the 3000-meter Kikka Sho record.
More importantly, Biwa Hayahide was also a gray-haired Uma Musume, which connected her to Oguri Cap's generation. Combined with how they competed against each other while also supporting one another, just like Oguri Cap's group, they earned the title of New Heisei Three.
The Kikka Sho was already disadvantageous for King Halo, and now there was another monster to deal with. The outcome looked even more uncertain.
Hayato glanced at King Halo, who was still going on about her Triple Crown ambitions to an increasingly excited Winning Ticket.
Yeah, this was going to be rough.
"Trainer looks worried," Suzuka observed quietly.
"That's because Trainer just realized what he's gotten us into," Seiun Sky whispered back with a grin. "Look at his face."
"I can hear you both," Hayato said flatly.
"Oh! Do you have a Trainer already?" Winning Ticket suddenly noticed Hayato properly for the first time. "That's so cool! I'm still looking for one who understands the Derby!"
"The Derby isn't everything for everyone, Tickezo," Taishin said tiredly.
"It is to me!"
Biwa Hayahide just smiled knowingly behind her glasses, as she'd already calculated exactly how this whole conversation would play out. "So absurd...."