It hurts!
Although Narita Brian had been the one to tell Shirayuki to use everything she had, taking that solid hit still felt awful. It was like being struck by a car. Narita Brian lost her balance on the spot and drifted toward the outside lane.
The timing had been terrifyingly precise.
It happened exactly as they entered the turn.
Narita Brian's original plan had been to overtake Shirayuki before entering the corner and seize the front position. If Shirayuki wanted to pass her afterward, she would have been forced to go outside.
But that instant burst of acceleration and the body check had completely disrupted Narita Brian's plan.
She had been countered.
The pain in her shoulder had a definite effect on her. Yet faced with Shirayuki's attack, Narita Brian was not angry. Instead, the corners of her mouth rose.
Interesting!
Even more interesting than she had imagined!
Narita Brian had always longed for wild battles. She entrusted her body to instinct, relying on the heat of racing as she climbed step by step to become a Triple Crown winner. After that, however, there were very few races that could make her heart pound.
Until she saw that Arc.
Narita Brian's blood had burned along with it.
Right now, she only had one thought.
She wanted to have a battle between beasts with Shirayuki!
Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, Narita Brian shifted her body and chased after Shirayuki. The instant Shirayuki had struck her, Shirayuki had already returned to the inside lane. The gap between them stretched to two metres. On the curve of the track, that two-metre difference was enough to force Narita Brian to run seven or eight extra metres compared with Shirayuki.
The watching uma musume showed expressions of excitement and awe.
The Empress's running was simply too domineering.
She had actually overpowered Narita Brian for a moment!
It was the first time they had ever seen the Triple Crown winner suffer in a clash.
If they had been the ones on the track, the moment they were forced outside, victory would probably have slipped away from them.
Orfevre narrowed her eyes, staring without blinking at that white figure.
Her body didn't sway… Has an impact of that level already become nothing to the Empress? Her body seems even stronger than it was half a month ago.
Beside her, Fujiwara Chiya touched his shoulder.
Not bad.
The pain was within an acceptable range.
At the instant of impact, Shirayuki had used the method Yaeno Muteki had taught her.
Gōriki.
In other words, at the moment of skin contact, she tightened her muscles while aligning the direction of force with the point of contact. Just now, when Shirayuki leaned into Narita Brian, she adjusted the angle and turned it into a diagonal lean. It looked like an ordinary collision, but in reality, she had pressed most of her body weight into it.
The effect was fairly good.
Right now, Shirayuki had only just entered the door. She could barely manage an active strike, but if she were struck passively by several opponents at once, she still would not be able to endure it.
That attack had cut down a good portion of Narita Brian's stamina.
Next, Shirayuki needed to keep creating advantages for herself.
Shirayuki slowly increased her speed while widening the distance between herself and the inside rail.
Just as Shirayuki was about to use a front-running style to repeat her previous tactic and continue eating away at Narita Brian's stamina, Narita Brian had no intention of playing along.
With a bang, she accelerated from an unexpected position.
She charged directly to Shirayuki's side.
"Drop all those useless things. I didn't race you so I could step into your traps—"
What Narita Brian wanted was a pure battle, one that abandoned every scheme.
Hearing those words, Shirayuki's eyes flickered.
Fine.
If Narita Brian said that, then Shirayuki would stop relying on schemes too.
She would win with pure strength!
Following Narita Brian's steps, Shirayuki also began to increase her speed. On the final turn, Narita Brian actively moved toward Shirayuki. She wanted to overpower Shirayuki, seize the inside lane, and force her away.
Two years ago, when Narita Brian had been racing, the Central racecourse was still very gentle.
After the reforms last year, the racing environment changed. But by then, Narita Brian had already transferred to the Dream Trophy and no longer raced against those competitors.
Because of that, Narita Brian had once fallen into a period of gloom.
And finally, today, Narita Brian could fully satisfy her hunger for racing.
The wind roared.
The sounds of body colliding against body rang out again and again.
Narita Brian's stamina drained rapidly. At this rate, she might not have enough strength left for the final sprint. Even so, Narita Brian remained intoxicated by that pain and fatigue.
She had never run such a satisfying race before.
Bang!
After clearing the final turn, Shirayuki's shoulder jolted, forcibly pushing Narita Brian aside.
She lowered her body, rolled her ankles, and sprinted forward.
Narita Brian wanted to follow, but by this point, her breathing had completely fallen apart. The mistimed acceleration, the stamina wasted on the outside of the turn, and the endurance cut away by pain left her without the strength to keep behind Shirayuki.
The gap between them gradually widened.
"Finish line—!"
With the shout of the student acting as judge, Shirayuki crossed the finish line first.
Stopping while panting heavily, Shirayuki felt a numb sensation spreading through her arm.
She had not expected that after being ambushed by her, Narita Brian would not avoid her. Instead, she had actively moved closer.
After more than three collisions, Shirayuki realised she could no longer react properly. At the moment of skin contact, she could not tighten her muscles in time, nor could she adjust the direction of force. Her mind was more exhausted than her body. For the later impacts, she had relied entirely on her physical strength to force her way through.
She was still inexperienced.
If she could train it to the level of a conditioned reflex, she would no longer need to keep paying attention to the distance between Narita Brian and herself.
But even as an unfinished technique, it was already enough to deal a heavy blow to her opponent.
Narita Brian's stamina had been worn down completely by Shirayuki, while Shirayuki still had enough leg strength left for the final sprint.
Covered in sweat, Narita Brian walked over to Shirayuki's side.
"Brian-senpai, I apologise for being rough just now."
Hearing that, Narita Brian reached out, patted Shirayuki's shoulder, then gave her a thumbs-up.
"That was a damn satisfying run. Let's race again next time."
Narita Brian deeply regretted that she had never gone on an overseas expedition during her peak.
If she had been able to race those people, she surely would have been able to satisfy her starving appetite.
"Shirayuki-senpai!"
"Senpai!"
The little foals around them rushed forward all at once, surrounding Shirayuki in the centre. They pulled out handkerchiefs, wiped Shirayuki's sweat, and excitedly asked her to train with them.
Seeing Shirayuki barely managing to respond to them, Narita Brian smiled faintly.
She turned around and saw Air Groove walking over.
"How was it?"
"Beyond expectations."
Even without physical clashes, it would have been extremely difficult for Narita Brian to win. Whether in stamina or technique, Shirayuki now surpassed her.
"But there are still many shortcomings."
Toward the latter half of the clashes, Narita Brian had clearly felt Shirayuki's mistakes.
Her counterforce had grown weaker and weaker, and her body had changed from the rock-like hardness at the beginning into something soft and yielding.
Precisely because of that, Narita Brian looked forward to it.
The Shirayuki who would one day grow into her peak would surely bring her another surprise.