Now, it was time to fly freely.
Garden Gale tirelessly experimented with her running style, shifting rhythms and techniques, changing speeds constantly. She raced like the wind over open plains—unfettered, unstoppable, a fleeting shadow nobody could catch, leaving everyone else behind to simply watch freedom itself dash by.
...
By the end of training...
"You're amazing, Shakur! Seriously, how'd you even come up with that?" Garden Gale shouted excitedly.
She wiped away her sweat, jogging over to Air Shakur and Tokai Teio with a beaming smile.
Air Shakur's own smile never left her face.
She felt genuine joy at being able to help Garden Gale, proof that her data analysis wasn't meaningless after all. For so long, she'd lost faith in her own calculations after enduring defeat after crushing defeat. But now, those shattered fragments of confidence were slowly, gently being pieced back together.
Garden Gale wasn't the only one who'd found redemption.
Air Shakur had, too.
Even if she'd never spoken of her past, Air Shakur had once been a near Triple Crown winner herself. She'd secured victories at both the Satsuki Sho and Kikuka Sho, only to fall heartbreakingly short at the Japan Derby by the slimmest margin imaginable—
Seven centimeters.
If her story had ended there, it might have remained just a bittersweet regret.
But reality wasn't fiction. It didn't simply end with the final race.
After that devastating loss, her dreams collapsed. An overseas campaign ended in miserable failure, and back home, she finished near-last in the Japan Cup. Even at the Osaka Hai—despite giving her all—she lost to a complete dark horse, missing the win by a single position.
Loss after loss piled up, each defeat tearing away at her desperate hope to reclaim victory.
When countless data simulations revealed she'd lose the Triple Crown by precisely those seven centimeters every single time, despair nearly broke her. And then—worst of all—she lost again, this time to Tokai Teio, a rookie who hadn't even officially debuted.
Utterly demoralized, she'd seriously considered retirement. Standing on the track again seemed like begging for humiliation.
Yet…
Holding onto one last, tiny sliver of hope, she chose to persist, to explore even the faintest chance. And now—because she hadn't given up—she'd met the girl standing before her:
Garden Gale.
Despite her outwardly cool, untouchable beauty—something beyond mortal reach—Garden was also adorably earnest and a little bit goofy. That infectious, honest smile even softened Air Shakur's own edgy grin, her sharp-toothed expression losing its threatening edge.
"Glad it helped," Air Shakur replied simply.
She paused, then added cheerfully, "Make sure you win the Satsuki Sho—and the whole Triple Crown too, while you're at it."
Garden Gale's smile collapsed instantly, turning into something like a disappointed kitten's pout. "You sure have high expectations! The Triple Crown's no joke—every Umamusume out there is desperate to win it."
After her experience with the Japan Derby instance, she knew exactly how brutal a G1-level competition could be.
"But you have to win, too," Garden Gale added suddenly.
She might've been socially awkward, but she wasn't oblivious. She knew Air Shakur's own challenges intimately—particularly the upcoming Tenno Sho Spring, the infamous 3200-meter endurance race, longest among the G1 events.
Air Shakur blinked, momentarily stunned.
Then she gave a firm, confident nod. "Yeah—I'll win."
Nearby, Tokai Teio opened her mouth—only to close it again. She realized she'd been totally excluded from the conversation. While the two older girls discussed their upcoming races, she was just an underage rookie who hadn't even debuted yet. She had no event to boast about, no topic to naturally join.
The only option was to forcibly cut into their conversation.
"Um…"
Tokai Teio put on her most polite-yet-awkward smile, interjecting lightly, "You two have been ignoring me for quite a while now—can I join in?"
She posed it innocently enough, clearly voicing her desire.
Or rather, it wasn't an act at all.
"Ah!" Garden Gale slapped her forehead, embarrassed.
Oh no.
She really had forgotten Teio entirely.
She'd been so utterly absorbed by her new running technique and improvement that she'd completely blanked.
"GG-san…" Seeing her interruption work, Tokai Teio seized the opportunity. "You really are incredible! Do you two often discuss things like this? You seem super close—you've even learned Shakur's running style!"
It sounded casual, but beneath the surface lurked hidden daggers.
Garden Gale scratched her head in confusion.
She had no idea why Teio suddenly seemed so bubbly… Well, Teio was always energetic anyway.
Whatever.
She answered casually, "Yeah, I guess we get along."
Right now, all Garden Gale wanted was to hurry back to her dorm and re-enter the instance—to finally unlock the [Sky-High Teio Step].
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T/N: so coooked so fucking coooooooooked also, honestly... air shakur x garden gale kinda the ship for me... a socially anxious girl x a rough delinquent looking type girl OMGGGG