"I don't care who you are. Today's protagonist is me." The defiance flared hot in her chest as she chased after Air Groove, refusing to be left behind.
But after the moment she entered the turn, regret hit her like cold water. In terms of raw stamina, she matched Air Groove stats, but she didn't know that Air Groove had a blue skill preferred position to recover her stamina, while Biwa Heidi had nothing. The difference was immediate and brutal.
Sweat beaded on her forehead almost instantly, her breathing already starting to labor. "What's going on? These two's stamina consumption—"
Biwa Heidi made a split-second call, adjusting her stride to run with smaller steps as she positioned herself directly behind Air Groove. Using her as a windbreak would reduce stamina drain and give her a fighting chance to keep up.
Slipstream activated, the skill notification popped up in Hayato's vision.
Hayato immediately pulled up the description, scanning through it fast.
Slipstream (Normal/Gold)— When running close behind an uma musume in front, slightly reduces the wind resistance you experience.
His shoulders relaxed a fraction. Good, this wasn't some incredibly overpowered skill that would completely change the race dynamics.
Behind the Air Groove and Silence Suzuka, Biwa Heidi was truly experiencing the gap between herself and the two in front of her. The reality of it was intimidating, making her feel small without them even trying.
Air Groove's speed was still increasing, pushing higher and higher. Heidi realized with a sinking feeling that she couldn't keep up with this pace, that she was already falling behind despite her best efforts.
Under Air Groove's relentless pursuit, Suzuka could only pull ahead by six lengths before the gap stabilized. Still extremely dangerous, the kind of lead that could evaporate in seconds. The final winner remained completely unknown.
"In the corner, the competitors are engaged in fierce pursuit! Currently, Silence Suzuka is still in the lead, with Air Groove having passed Biwa Heidi to take second place!"
Suzuka did have the Rosy Outlook skill in her arsenal, but that was for medium-distance focused, and this race was too short for it to matter. So her skill didn't restore stamina either, but Suzuka didn't need that kind of support.
Running a mile wasn't difficult for her at all, not with her current stats.
"Hey, hey, Rudolf! What's this now? Is that speed really okay?" Maruzensky's voice had climbed higher, disbelief bleeding through as she witnessed something that shouldn't be possible.
Logically speaking, this kind of speed had already exceeded the normal limits an uma musume could handle without consequences, but Suzuka didn't seem affected at all.
No signs of strain, no breakdown in form.
It was strange, unsettling even. Based on Maruzensky's experience and feel for racing, her instincts screaming that something was off, nothing about Suzuka's performance seemed wrong on the surface.
"Maybe that guy didn't lay all his cards on the table." Rudolf's fingers tapped against her arm, her mind working through possibilities. "He's still hiding something we haven't seen."
Rudolf was equally shocked by Suzuka's growth, the way she'd reached Air Groove's level in just three months when that kind of improvement should have taken a year or more. Judging from her decades of experience, even if Suzuka's speed matched Air Groove's perfectly, she'd still have a hard time winning this race.
The gap in stamina was too large, and using a great escape strategy made victory even more impossible against someone like Air Groove, who knew how to counter it.
"Using escape runner tactics against an opponent far stronger than yourself is pushing it." Rudolf's voice was quiet, almost like she was talking to herself. "It's reckless."
"Yeah." Even Maruzensky had to agree with that assessment now, her earlier excitement fading into concern.
Escape running worked on the premise that your speed far exceeded that of other uma musume, that you could win through the distance accumulated in the early stages before anyone could catch you. If you couldn't reach that overwhelming speed advantage, victory would slip through your fingers.
With just this level of distance separating them(6 lengths), what did it matter if Suzuka could still accelerate later? She'd still lose when Air Groove made her final push.
"Wait, Rudolf, look! Suzuka, she seems like she can still accelerate?" Maruzensky's hand shot out, gripping Rudolf's arm.
Just when they thought Suzuka's defeat was inevitable, the track brought new suspense that made everyone lean forward in their seats.
"Go, Suzuka! You can do it!" Taiki Shuttle was still cheering with everything she had, not noticing the subtle changes happening on the track below.
Even with her stamina depleted to dangerous levels, Suzuka's speed wasn't slowing down the way it should. In fact, she was still accelerating somehow, her form as clean as it'd been at the start.
"It's the downhill." Rudolf's eyes widened as understanding hit. "The course—"
Yes, the downhill section.
The Hanshin Racecourse had the flattest track surface of any major venue. The first thousand meters were all flat ground with almost no elevation changes, perfect for maintaining a consistent speed.
But starting after the thousand-meter mark, there was a four-hundred-meter downhill with only a two-meter drop. Because it was downhill, it was incredibly energy-efficient with almost no stamina consumption required to maintain speed.
Escape runners were absolutely in their element on this track, and Suzuka had trained for exactly this scenario.
After a month of focused training, Hayato had already taught Suzuka the downhill skills she needed. Her speed on slopes was no joke, and now everyone was about to see why.
Downhill Speedster activated in Hayato's vision, followed immediately by Final Push lighting up.
Uma musume without experience didn't even dare to accelerate on downhill turns like this. Too much speed could send you flying off the track entirely, crashing into the barriers.
From this moment on, Air Groove could no longer match Suzuka's acceleration, the gap between them widening with each passing second.
Suzuka pulled away from those behind her, completely dominating now with a seven-length lead that kept growing. The crowd's roar reached a new pitch.
"Air Groove is pursuing relentlessly from behind! Biwa Heidi has fallen behind Air Groove by one length. Has she already lost her chance to catch up?!"
Air Groove leaned her entire body forward, head lifting as she swung both arms like blades with desperate, driving force. In her extreme forward-leaning posture, her speed on the downhill increased even further, her natural talent and pure determination compensating for the lack of specific skills.
She was no slower than Suzuka had been in her senior years, her downhill experience fully unleashed, if anything, she might have been even faster. The gap closed once more, shrinking meter by meter.
"So intense! Air Groove is still relentlessly pursuing, her speed increasing again! Can Silence Suzuka maintain her lead?!"
The real showdown had already begun, and they hadn't even passed the final corner yet. Hayato's hands gripped the railing so tight his knuckles had gone white.