The gradually lengthening distance put pressure on Narita Brian, the gap widening with every stride. If this continued, defeat was certain. She had no choice but to increase her speed.
"This feeling..."
Narita Brian felt her own limit pressing down on her.
Mayano Top Gun and Narita Brian were breaking away from the pack, leaving everyone else behind!! Four lengths, five lengths... There were still six hundred meters left in the race. Would they be okay maintaining this pace!?"
The venue erupted with tsunami-like shouts and cheers, the noise crashing over everything.
"Go, Brian!"
"Brian!"
...
Narita Brian saw all the members of Team Rigil through the blur of motion. Fuji Kiseki, Air Groove, Hishi Amazon, and others were desperately cheering her on, their voices rising above the crowd.
The not-quite-clear voices of Maruzensky and Rudolf were also ringing out somewhere in the chaos.
"Everyone… they're all watching me…"
BANG!
Narita Brian burst forward again with explosive acceleration, passing Mayano Top Gun and pulling ahead by nearly half a length in one breath.
In terms of speed, she still couldn't match Mayano Top Gun. Her lower stamina was one reason. Her leg injury, preventing her from going all out was another, holding her back from her true potential.
Seeing this monster-level showdown had already made the horse girls behind lose their will to chase, the gap was too brutal to even consider closing.
"Gyaaaaaaah~~"
At this moment, the race had devolved into a one-on-one duel between two horse girls, neither yielding an inch. Mayano Top Gun sped up to pass Brian, Brian sped up to pass Mayano Top Gun, side by side, passing and repassing in an endless cycle.
Mayano Top Gun glanced at Narita Brian beside her, feeling somewhat excited and a bit worried, with a flash of competitive spirit igniting in her chest.
"Ugh, Maya won't give up either... ugh, final descent!" She gritted her teeth and accelerated again, pushing harder.
Hearing that line, Hayato thought she'd awakened a unique skill, but then realized her speed hadn't increased that much beyond her current pace.
Her dad was a pilot, so she always talked in aviation terms. It's just her random thing.
"Top Gun grabs the lead! Brian's chasing from the outside, not letting an inch slip, and Top Gun pushes back from the inside, toe-to-toe all the way!"
"Is the inside ahead or the outside... side by side... the outside seems slightly ahead... so fast!"
"They'd already pulled seven lengths ahead of the horse girls behind, the gap insurmountable!"
"Not a single horse girl is choosing to sprint and accelerate. Have they run out of stamina?"
"The final 50 meters..."
...
"To others, I must seem completely different from before... But I haven't changed at all... not even my will—"
"—It burns like a blazing fire!"
In the final moment of the race, Narita Brian finally broke through her limits and found her former self, that unstoppable force she'd lost.
The Triple Crown champion's peak was still there, waiting for her to reclaim it.
"HAH!!!"
BOOM—
Narita Brian kicked out a sonic boom, creating a slipstream that rippled the air around her.
"Narita Brian has taken the lead..."
"Crossing the line!"
"Brian crossed the finish line first by a narrow margin!"
Just a nose difference, but it proved her current strength beyond any doubt.
"First place is Narita Brian, second place is Mayano Top Gun!"
"Narita Brian's perfect revival!"
Having crossed the finish line, Narita Brian stood proudly, her chest heaving. This victory was naturally hers by right.
"Congratulations, Brian-san! I'll let you have this victory." Mayano Top Gun, who'd lost the race, wasn't discouraged at all. She smiled as she issued her declaration of war. "But how about we set our real showdown at the Tenno Sho Spring? Brian-san!"
Narita Brian looked toward the cheering audience above and said resolutely, her voice carrying over the noise, "Yeah. If I can win once, I can win a second time, many times. My path of infinite glory has just begun. I'll be participating in the Spring Tenno Sho."
—
"Thank goodness, Brian won." Sakura Laurel couldn't help but shed tears of joy, hugging Marvelous Sunday tight.
"Eh? Laurel, weren't you cheering for Mayano-chan?"
"I was! I was!" She wiped her tears, not knowing how to explain the mess of emotions. "Anyway, both are fine. This way, I can participate in the Tenno Sho Spring with them."
After wiping her tears, she spotted Hayato and Seiun Sky in the distance. She came, too?
—
"Seiun, it's okay if you want to give up. We can adjust the schedule."
That was the first thing Hayato said after watching the race, his voice careful.
At this point, Hayato was getting cold feet about the whole plan.
Giving up all the GI races in spring and running the Tenno Sho Autumn instead would also be a good choice. Avoiding battle was also a form of victory, after all.
"Huh? Then can I challenge the Classic Triple Crown? If my opponent is Halo-chan, then I..."
"No."
Halo King challenging the Triple Crown was already set in stone and couldn't possibly change. He'd made that promise when signing the contract with her. Promises couldn't be easily changed, not without breaking trust.
If they adjusted again, having Halo King challenge the short distance, and Seiun Sky challenge the Classic Triple Crown, that would indeed be the best arrangement possible.
"Trainer, are you being too biased? Why can't I?"
"Biased? Of course not." Hayato glanced at her, then looked elsewhere, speaking very seriously despite his wandering gaze. "Of course I'm not biased. I'm having you challenge the Spring Set because you're the ace of our team. You're the strongest. Besides you, no one can do it."
"A-ace?"
"What else? Suzuka can't run long distances, and Halo even less so. Only you can dominate the Tenno Sho Spring."
The Tenno Sho Spring was such a classic race, how could Hayato as trainer, not get involved? Should he retreat before even fighting and hand victory over on a platter to someone else?
Hayato wasn't being reckless about this. Hayato had confidence before letting Seiun Sky participate, but he still wanted to ask her opinion first.
"Then let's not change it." Seiun Sky repeated the word "ace" several times in her mind, feeling quite pleased with how it sounded.
"They're your upcoming opponents. So, what do you think? Scared?" Hayato glanced at the relaxed Seiun Sky, pointing down below at the two exhausted horse girls.
Seiun Sky gave him a calm and composed expression, utterly unbothered. "What do I have to be scared of? Trainer will definitely have a way to make me win, right?"
"That's true, but..."
"How confident is Trainer?" Seiun Sky asked again, her eyes searching his face. She'd been wondering if she was misunderstanding something about his hesitation.
"About eighty percent. Originally it was ninety percent before..." Hayato felt a bit embarrassed admitting it. Narita Brian without her peak condition wasn't the scary part. The main issue was Mayano Top Gun, who'd already awakened her zone and was clearly at her peak.
If Mayano Top Gun was already this strong, what about the real protagonist of Tenno Sho Spring, Sakura Laurel?
"Eighty percent?" Seiun Sky nearly jumped up in surprise, her ears perking straight. With such a high win rate, was he still this hesitant? Did he want one hundred percent or something?
Hayato did want one hundred percent. The kind where even with a late start, being blocked, skills failing, she'd still win. That kind of absolute certainty.
"Then how confident is Mayano-chan about beating me?"
"If it's you two months from now, less than forty percent." Hayato paused, then added more details.
"But don't mistake your opponent. Your real opponent isn't Triple Crown champion Narita Brian, nor is it Mayano Top Gun. It's your roommate, Sakura Laurel. She has a sixty percent chance of beating you."
"Sakura Laurel? Sixty percent?!"
"Is this what you're worried about?! You scared me there!"
She patted her chest in relief. "Trainer, to not let down your expectations, I've decided I still want to take the gamble. Fate and all that, you only know if you can break through it by trying. How can we just give up like this?"
"Uh..." Hayato froze, looking dubiously at Seiun Sky as she got serious, her expression determined. "Aren't you underestimating your opponents too much? Your roommate isn't as simple as she looks."
"No, Trainer, please rest assured. I'm very serious, and I'm not underestimating my opponents..."
Trainer just thinks they're too strong, that's all. But I'm not backing down.
"So we're not changing it?"
"Right, we're not changing it."
"Actually, if it's next year, there's a one hundred percent chance..."
"I know what Trainer wants to say. You just want me to train harder, right? It's fine, bring it on."
"That's what I was waiting to hear from you."
"Eh?"
Seiun Sky's eyes went wide, jaw practically dropping. She couldn't believe it. Had he really been waiting for that word all along? Caught somewhere between shock and disbelief.
---
It's impossible, right, to give the spring set title to Seiun Sky with unknown enemies? That's why, willingly or not, we have to take an era that's quite strong for spring tenno sho.
That's why it messed up with the timeline from the Triple Crown BNW era to Narita Brian's. Sorry..... By the way, hope you enjoy it :)
ps: Don't worry, I'm not mocking Narita Brian to use it as a stepping stone in this story. She is a lonely wolf who is always chasing shadows, which is why the sakura laurel must be needed for her own happiness.