After several hours of practice at the karaoke place, all three of them had gotten the basics down. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough that they wouldn't embarrass themselves on stage anymore.
"Thank you so much for helping us," Hayato said as they wrapped up.
"No problem! Now we can have proper races without worrying about the victory stage stuff," Winning Ticket beamed. "Good luck with your debut, King Halo!"
"Same to you for the Yayoi Sho," King Halo replied, actually looking somewhat grateful for once.
Biwa Hayahide adjusted her glasses with a knowing smile. "We'll be seeing each other again soon enough. On the track."
"Looking forward to it," Hayato said.
The next few days passed in a blur of final preparations and some training. Before they knew it, King Halo's debut race was here.
"Trainer, what running style should I use to win this race?"
Even though King Halo was already super confident she could win, she still wanted Hayato's advice before heading out. She'd come to completely believe that Hayato genuinely had the ability to help her claim the Triple Crown.
Looking at King Halo's current stats, Hayato nodded with satisfaction.
King Halo
Speed: 176+33
Stamina: 147+34
Power: 178+30
Guts: 159+32
Wisdom: 180+36
Turf Aptitude: A | Dirt Aptitude: G
Distance Aptitude: Sprint A, Mile B, Medium B, Long C
Running Style Aptitude: Runner G, Pace-Chaser B, End-Closer A, Late-Surger D
Inherent Unique Skill: Call Me King - Low Star/Colored - If she can perform calmly on the track, at the remaining 200m mark, demonstrates true ability with a massive speed increase.
Skill 1: Corner Adapt - Normal/Yellow - Slightly increases velocity when entering corners
Skill 2: Homestretch Haste - Normal/Yellow - Slightly increase velocity in the last spurt
Skill 3: Concentration - Normal/Yellow - Becomes proficient at gate starts
Skill 4: Corner Recovery - Normal/Blue - Passes through corners on optimal path, slightly recovers stamina
Her improvement was huge. Stats just as high as Seiun Sky's, if not higher. She'd been genuinely serious about training.
Seiun Sky seems to be slacking off constantly. I need to watch her more closely once we're back.
Hayato shot a disdainful look at Seiun Sky beside him.
Catching the side-eye, Seiun Sky looked confused. "Trainer? What's wrong? Not feeling well?"
"No, I'm fine."
For a race as straightforward as a debut, there was nothing to hesitate about. Hayato turned back to King Halo. "Front. No, runaway-style again. Just crush them completely from start to finish."
"Huh?" King Halo froze. "Trainer, I don't think I'm suited for runner style, though. Won't be a runner—"
"Doesn't matter." Hayato cut her off. "Running doesn't require overthinking positions or timing. As long as your abilities far exceed your opponents', there's nothing to worry about. Just crush them with pure power."
Hayato had spent enough time as a player to be familiar with all the secret shortcuts that other trainers in this world didn't know about.
In classic races, sure, you had experienced champions who knew the rules and respected boundaries. You could work your way up from the back of the pack if you had the skill and patience.
But debuts? These girls would crash into each other before letting someone pass. He'd seen it happen over and over. Second place might as well be last place, there was only one winner here, and everyone knew it.
They'd race with the mentality of "I'd rather break the rules than let you win."
"The Great Escape style is your best shot," he said firmly.
King Halo's frown deepened. "But won't fighting for the lead burn through my stamina—"
"Fighting for position in the middle of that mess will burn just as much. Trust me." Hayato seen too many promising debuts ruined by one desperate Uma Musume deciding rules were optional. Even with King Halo's ridiculous stat advantage, one bad collision could end everything.
Some player swore by raising wisdom to 200 before touching speed for their end-closers and late-surger. Better skill activation rates, they said. There was even this famous saying in trainer circles: "Don't add speed points until wisdom reaches 200."
Hayato thought that was complete bullshit.
Speed was fundamental. You couldn't play it safe early and expect to dominate late. That kind of passive approach just handed control to your opponents.
That's why Hayato developed general-purpose skills for King Halo from the start with exactly this plan in mind.
No matter what running style an Uma Musume favored, Gold Ship excluded, because that girl operated on her own logic entirely, frontrunning was the safest debut strategy.
(As you know, sometimes we have higher stats than other Uma Musume NPCs, but when we skip in OP, G3, or G2 race, suddenly we end up in 2nd or 3rd place.)
The prerequisite for a runaway strategy was having abilities that far exceeded your opponents. King Halo met that condition. With her four skills, she could easily establish a crushing advantage.
'Even if she didn't want to, when her speed and abilities far outclassed her opponents, she'd be forced to become a front-runner anyway.'
With this condition in place, taking risky positions like End-Closer or Late-Surger wasn't necessary.
"Alright, I understand." King Halo's expression went completely calm. When she got serious, she truly had the presence of a first-class Uma Musume.
This was something ordinary Uma Musume couldn't pull off.
"Go on. Go tell everyone your name is King Halo, a first-class Uma Musume of the King family."
"Hmph, of course I will."
"Just leave it to me!"
---
The illustration King Halo on the otherside