"Chiya, wake up!"
Fujiwara Chiya felt a sudden weight sink into his stomach.
The next second, his whole body bounced off the bed.
He opened his eyes and saw Akikawa Yayoi sitting there in white pajamas, grinning from ear to ear. Chiya rubbed his stomach, still half-dead from sleep.
"Director… you're up early."
"Today is New Year's Day! The year begins with the morning. Spend the first day well, and the whole year will follow!" Sitting on top of Chiya, Akikawa Yayoi patted his chest. "Come on, get up. Breakfast is going to get cold."
Chiya took the clothes she handed him and sat up in a daze. He stumbled into the bathroom, splashed water on his face, and finally came back to life.
Seven days had passed since that earthshaking Arima Kinen.
The calendar had turned to January 1st.
New Year's Day.
When he reached the living room, Fujiwara Chiya sat down at the dining table. From upstairs, Hayakawa Tazuna also came down.
Her smooth long hair spilled down her back. She wore only a light brown top, leaving her fair, slender legs bare beneath it. With every step, a flash of white peeked in and out of sight.
When she saw Chiya, Tazuna gave him a little wave.
"Morning, Chiya."
"Tazuna, why aren't you dressed properly?!" Akikawa Yayoi came out of the kitchen and immediately scolded her when she saw that carefree outfit.
"What's the big deal? It's not like there are any strangers here."
Tazuna sat down beside Fujiwara Chiya and leaned lazily against him. Chiya stroked her hair, and her two soft brown ears swayed happily.
He turned on the television.
A talk show featuring uma musume was playing.
"Once again, congratulations to Miss Snow Dancer for becoming Uma Musume of the Year. Is there anything Miss Snow Dancer would like to say to everyone?"
"Hmm, yes. There are many things I want to say…"
"Why are they still airing this?" Fujiwara Chiya could not help grumbling. "They've replayed it more than twenty times already. Don't people get tired of watching the same thing?"
"Two lengths in the Japan Cup. One length in the Arima Kinen. Those are results worthy of going down in history. No amount of praise is too much. And the fact that they're still airing it after twenty reruns just means everyone still wants to watch it, doesn't it?"
Tazuna raised her foot and brushed it lightly against Chiya's calf, smiling sweetly.
"Isn't she incredible? That little girl who was once left behind has now run ahead of everyone. And a certain someone's effort had quite a lot to do with that."
Her emerald-green eyes looked at Fujiwara Chiya. The corners of Tazuna's lips lifted.
"You've done wonderfully. As a trainer, and as an uma musume."
"I guess."
Feeling Tazuna's foot gradually wandering toward more dangerous territory, Fujiwara Chiya coughed a few times.
At that exact moment, Akikawa Yayoi brought the food over.
"Don't eat too much in the morning. Save some room for lunch. And you, Tazuna, don't start causing trouble on the very first day of the year."
Akikawa Yayoi kicked Tazuna's foot away.
Tazuna sulkily lowered it.
Playing around a little wouldn't hurt.
"Are you going to the shrine later?" Akikawa Yayoi asked as the three of them sat together.
"We'll go after breakfast," Fujiwara Chiya answered.
"I won't be joining you."
"Why not?"
"There's work at Central. I have to put in overtime."
"Overtime on New Year's?" Tazuna set down her chopsticks. "Then I'll go too."
She wanted to go out with Chiya. She really did.
But recently, Akikawa Yayoi had been drowning in work. She woke up before dawn and only came home after dark. Tazuna had seen all of it.
Sure, she found it annoying that Yayoi kept getting in her way.
But she also could not bring herself to go outside and have fun while Yayoi worked overtime alone.
"No need. It's mostly approval paperwork. I have to sign it myself. Even if you came, you wouldn't be able to help much."
"I see… Then I'll go out with Chiya?"
"Mm. Just remember to come back tonight. Don't stay out overnight."
"That's fine. Even if we stay here, we can still manage. It'll just be hard on Yayoi, since she'll have to cover her ears."
"Hey!"
After breakfast, Fujiwara Chiya and Hayakawa Tazuna went outside.
At the same time, Shirayuki came over from the other side. Special Week, Grass Wonder, and the others were with her.
"Good morning, Trainer Chiya, Miss Hayakawa," Grass Wonder greeted them. "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year."
"Yo-hallo! Trainer!"
Suddenly, Gold Ship popped up behind Fujiwara Chiya and slapped his backside.
"Oho. Nice texture. Good."
"Gold Ship!"
"I have officially eaten Trainer's first tofu of the New Year."
"Ara~ that's not quite right, Gold Ship," Hayakawa Tazuna said with a smile. "You should say I ate it first."
"What?! Someone beat me to it? Miss Hayakawa… don't tell me you were the hidden boss all along?"
"Can you two please not discuss this so seriously…?"
Shirayuki walked up beside Fujiwara Chiya, and he stroked her ears.
"Onii-sama~"
Seeing this, Rice Shower also came over.
"I brought some little rice cakes for Onii-sama."
"Thank you, Rice Shower."
Fujiwara Chiya stroked her head as well, and Rice Shower happily nuzzled into his hand.
"Speaking of which, Trainer, a reporter invited me to a talk show. What do you think I should wear?" Gold Ship asked, sidling up to him.
"They invited you? Why?"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Gold Ship puffed out her chest. "I was second place in the Arima Kinen, you know. Why wouldn't they invite me?"
Now that she mentioned it, Fujiwara Chiya remembered.
Gold Ship's performance in the Arima Kinen had been… impressive.
When the race reached the final corner, Gold Ship had launched from thirteenth place at the very back, charging all the way forward. Among the rear pack, she displayed a terrifying closing kick that even surpassed Shirayuki's.
But perhaps her acceleration timing had been too late. There was still a small gap between Gold Ship and Shirayuki.
At the time, Fujiwara Chiya could clearly see that Gold Ship still had strength left. Just as he thought she was about to explode forward and chase Shirayuki down, she did something that nearly made his jaw hit the floor.
Gold Ship simply stopped accelerating.
She held the position where she could stay second without being overtaken, then calmly let Shirayuki pull farther away.
What the hell was she thinking?!
Two thousand five hundred meters was beyond Shirayuki's best distance. It should have been the perfect distance for Gold Ship.
But it was as if she thought catching Shirayuki was too much of a bother, so she just decided to coast and stay in second.
Who races like that?!
And it was not the first time Gold Ship had slacked off on the track.
The drawback of the End Closer style was that if the front group ran too quickly and the field stretched apart, judging the timing of the chase became incredibly difficult. Go too early, and you burn out your finishing kick. Go too late, and you cannot catch up.
Even with Fujiwara Chiya's experience, he could not guarantee a perfect call every time, let alone Gold Ship.
So when she misjudged the timing and realized she could not catch up, Gold Ship simply stopped trying.
No matter how much Shirayuki accelerated up front, Gold Ship cruised leisurely from behind. Her expression practically said, I can't win anyway, so why bother running?
Fujiwara Chiya had been so angry he wanted to curse.
But then Gold Ship said something that left him speechless.
"Think about it, Trainer. Even if I ran my heart out, I might still not win. In that case, instead of gambling on that tiny chance, isn't it better to preserve my body, prepare for the next race as soon as possible, and win that one instead? Then we're even, right?"
He had to admit, there was a little logic in what Gold Ship said.
But still.
The nature of an uma musume was to fight for victory with everything she had.
Wasn't Gold Ship's nature growing in the wrong direction?
Thanks to her, Fujiwara Chiya still had no idea what Gold Ship looked like at full strength.
Even so, taking second place in the Arima Kinen had far exceeded his expectations. Her straight-line charge from the back was absolutely ridiculous. Powerful uma musume like El Condor Pasa and Special Week had all been thrown behind her.
Even if things had not gone exactly as Fujiwara Chiya imagined, there was no denying that Gold Ship was an extremely capable uma musume.
Sending her to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe might actually give them a fighting chance.
Which meant Shirayuki would have one more opponent to deal with.
Looking at the uma musume beside him making a weird face, Fujiwara Chiya covered his eyes.
He really did not want to admit that this thing was one of his rivals.
"Gold Ship."
Fujiwara Chiya patted her shoulder.
"On the day of the interview, I hope I get to see that silver-haired girl who once made my heart skip a beat."
"Trainer…"
Gold Ship's eyes widened, deeply moved.
"I understand. On that day, I'll show up wearing my cow costume."