The day of the Hanshin Daishoten finally arrived.
Once the race began, Gold Ship settled into the middle of the pack, holding sixth place. For a three-thousand-metre long-distance race, both stamina and endurance mattered, and in both areas, Gold Ship had an overwhelming advantage.
Fujiwara Chiya might not understand what went on inside Gold Ship's head, but he understood her body.
His empathic training ability had never disappeared. He could feel the state of Gold Ship's body.
And because of that ability, Chiya had discovered something.
Gold Ship had been faking it the whole time.
Back when he used to assign her twenty laps of running training, Gold Ship would finish and collapse like she was about to die on the spot. Her eyes drooped, her tongue hung out, and she looked like she might pass away at any second.
Chiya had been so frightened that he would hurriedly lay her down, wipe off her sweat, and help her cool down.
At the time, Chiya had thought Gold Ship simply lacked stamina. Because of that, he had even reduced her training load.
Then, after Chiya gained his empathic ability, he saw Gold Ship putting on that half-dead act again and immediately felt something was off.
So he focused carefully.
And then he realized she was completely fine!
Gold Ship was faking it. She was pretending she was at her limit so Chiya would give her time off.
This girl was seriously…
Chiya had no idea what to say.
In the past, Chiya had thought Seiun Sky was the king of slacking off. Now another contender had appeared, one capable of standing on equal ground with her.
She did not train properly. She did not race properly.
What kind of uma musume was that?
Chiya could not find the right words to describe her.
In the end, he had to borrow Gold Ship's own words.
"I, Gold Ship-sama, am the one and only! No branches, no knockoffs!"
But precisely because of that, Chiya had also realized just how powerful Gold Ship really was.
The training he arranged for her was all medium-to-high intensity physical conditioning, yet Gold Ship handled it with ease. Clearly, her body was in absurdly good condition. Her stamina had already far exceeded the average standard.
Judging from Gold Ship's performances, Chiya believed she was absolutely among the first-rate uma musume. She simply disliked going all out.
If she thought overtaking an opponent was too much effort, she just would not overtake them.
That was also why Chiya had never once worried about Gold Ship's health.
He worried that Rice Shower, Mejiro Dober, and the others might train themselves into illness. He worried that Nice Nature might injure herself by crashing into something.
But he would never worry about Gold Ship having any sort of problem.
This girl would never let herself suffer even half an ounce of hardship.
Chiya estimated that even when Gold Ship retired, her body would still be as good as new. Perfectly healthy. Ridiculously intact.
Honestly, that was not a bad thing.
Injuries were unavoidable for uma musume. Even Shirayuki had been tormented by a muscle strain for quite some time. Yet Gold Ship had broken that curse. If she could graduate in a brand-new, undamaged state, then in a sense, that would also count as making history.
After saying all that, Chiya only wanted to express one thing.
Gold Ship was smart.
And she was strong.
Stronger than every other racer here.
For you, beating them does not require going all out at all, does it?
"It's Gold Ship!"
The announcer's voice rang across the racecourse.
Gold Ship, who had been running along the inner lane in the middle of the pack, seized the moment when the uma musume in front of her made a mistake. With a sharp sidestep, she slipped forward, and without dropping speed, she planted her next stride toward the outside lane.
Watching Gold Ship move, Shirayuki also simulated the decision in her head.
A moment later, she realized Gold Ship's choice was exactly the same as her own.
Accelerate on the outside. Block position. Then wait for the opening…
Now!
As if their thoughts had overlapped, Gold Ship moved perfectly along the optimal route Shirayuki had calculated.
Before long, she rose to third place.
At the same time, the race entered its final corner.
"All racers have cleared the corner smoothly! Leading the race is Juman Daizoku! In second, Taiyo Shinki! In third, Gold Ship!"
The cheers from the crowd grew louder and louder.
In this race, Gold Ship was the only competitor with a GI victory to her name. The two in front of her were both GII winners. They were certainly not weak, but there was something fundamentally different about Gold Ship.
That overflowing sense of power.
After Chiya had estimated Gold Ship's true strength, he no longer worried about the result.
Because the Unsinkable Ship was about to weigh anchor.
"Yee—haw!"
Gold Ship let out a strange cry and kicked off.
Like a ship splitting the waves, she burst between the two racers in front of her. The leg strength she had been saving the entire race erupted in that instant. On the final straight, Gold Ship grew faster and faster.
"Gold Ship is accelerating! Gold Ship is accelerating!! She has passed Taiyo Shinki! She has passed Juman Daizoku! She has taken the lead!! What blistering steps! What powerful strides!"
That surging sense of strength made one thing obvious.
Gold Ship had never once taken her daily training seriously!
Then, just as Gold Ship opened up a three-length gap from second place, her speed suddenly slowed.
It was as if the leg strength she had saved up had finally been spent. Her pace gradually flattened out.
Even so, second place still could not catch her.
That early lead had exhausted the other racer's stamina completely. The difference in raw ability was now painfully clear.
In the end, Gold Ship crossed the finish line with a three-length lead.
"She crosses the line! The winner of the GII Hanshin Daishoten is—Gold Ship!!"
"Yeehoo!"
Gold Ship bounced around at the finish line.
"Trainer! Did you see that?!" she shouted toward Chiya.
This girl still held back at the end.
If she had sprinted all the way through at that earlier speed, Gold Ship could have led second place by at least six lengths.
But it did not really matter.
Chiya had already gotten used to Gold Ship's habit of slacking off even on the racecourse.
Rather, only Gold Ship would dare slack off during an actual race.
Chiya clapped for her, offering his congratulations.
"Hahahaha! I, Gold Ship-sama, am the final boss of all final bosses!!"
Bathed in the crowd's cheers, Gold Ship laughed with outrageous confidence.
After the race ended, Chiya took everyone to a yakiniku restaurant in Osaka.
Halfway through the meal, Gold Ship suddenly asked, "Oh, right, Trainer. Do you have any plans tonight?"
"No…"
Before Chiya could finish, he suddenly realized something and immediately changed his answer.
"Actually, yes. I have work."
Obviously, Gold Ship was creating an opportunity for him!
An opportunity to go out with Shirayuki. No matter how many times he got one, Chiya would never complain.
"Is Shirayuki going with you too, Onii-sama?" Rice Shower suddenly asked.
"Mm. She is."
"Rice wants to go too!"
"...Huh?"
"Rice wants to go with Onii-sama too. Rice will wait outside for Onii-sama."
"This…"
Are you planning to wait outside the inn?
No, wait. Last time, Rice had not asked to follow him at all. Why did she suddenly want to come along today?
Chiya looked at Rice Shower's stubborn expression and began to wonder if she had discovered something.
"Trainer," Gold Ship said, throwing out a sentence Chiya could not understand at all, "I was thinking, since we've got the chance, why don't we throw a pajama party? What do you think?"